B2035 - ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC POLICY

Learning outcomes

The course will offer students a multidimensional perspective on the dynamic links between human societies and the environment, using insights from environmental, resource and ecological economics. The course will particularly focus on the design, implementation and implications of economic policies aimed at improving environmental sustainability, without affecting human prosperity. Several types of policies will be analysed and discussed, including fiscal policies (taxes and subsidies), pollution permit markets, public spending policies, behavioural interventions and financial policies. The mitigation and adaptation to climate change will be the main applied focus. At the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the ongoing environmental policy debate.

Course contents

The course takes place in the first half of the autumn semester. The course will cover the following topics:

- Basics of environmental economics

- The rationale for environmental policy-making

- Market-based policies vs command-and-control regulation

- Carbon pricing: carbon taxes and emission trading schemes

- International environmental agreements; Paris Agreement

- Sustainable finance policy-making

- Behavioural change; strategic interactions; social norms

While the course will include a basic introduction to environmental economic theory, interested students are invited to consider the ‘Environmental Economics’ course.

Readings/Bibliography

The recommended textbook for this course is:

- Perman, R., Y. Ma, J. McGilvray, M. Common, Natural Resource and Environmental Economics (4^th ed., 2013), Pearson Addison Wesley. Available at: https://almastart.unibo.it/permalink/f/10694hg/39UBO_ALMAE_DS5151329130007041

Alternative (more basic) textbooks include:

- Tietenberg, T., and Lewis, L., Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (12th ed., 2024), Routledge

- Harris, J.M., Roach, B. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach (5th ed., 2021), Routledge

Further resources will be in the form of academic articles or policy reports. All readings will be available on Virtuale or through UniBo subscriptions.

Teaching methods

The course will be a combination of frontal lectures, in-class exercises and student-led presentations/discussions.

Assessment methods

The grade for this course will be the combination of:

• Participation (10%). This will be evaluated considering attendance and active participation to both lectures and tutorial classes.
• Group-work (30%). Each student will self-allocate to a topic group (of roughly three members). Topics will be chosen among the ones provided by lecturer, but alternative topic proposals can be considered. Each group will have to submit an essay.
• Exam (60%). A written exam will take place at the end of the course. The exam will last 1 hour and may include open essay-style questions, exercises and/or multiple choice questions.

Grading is as follows:

• <18 fail
• 18-23 pass
• 24-27 good
• 28-30 very good
• 30L excellent

Teaching tools

All the course material (slides, readings etc.) will be made available on Virtuale. Suggested textbooks will be available at the UniBo library.

Office hours

See the website of Emanuele Campiglio

See the website of Alessandro Tavoni