96685 - Green and Landscape Economics and Policies

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will acquire basic knowledge related to the principles of business economics, markets, and economic policies, with particular reference to the floriculture and green sector, both in the public and private spheres, at the territorial and corporate levels. The student will be able to assess the dynamics of the sector's markets and the development opportunities for businesses, developing the ability to critically evaluate and communicate the investigated and collected data effectively in various contexts for the sector's evolution. Lastly, the student will be able to independently assess investments and management in companies within the specific sector, taking into account the availability of financial resources from national and international sector policies, as well as environmental and rural legal guidelines.

Course contents

Module 1 - Economics and Business (30 hours, 18 lecture and 12 supplementary)

Learning Unit 1. Elements of Microeconomics: Production, Consumption and Theory of the Firm (6 hours)
Production and consumption, Characteristics of the firm and enterprise; theory of the firm: industry and production level choices, supply, conditioning factors, firm and consumer surplus

Learning Unit 2. Elements of Microeconomics: Market Structures, Demand , Supply and Equilibrium (6 hours)
Market structures: definition, forms, mechanisms; The theory of supply and demand, market equilibrium, supply and demand determinants, supply and demand curve, supply and demand elasticity, budget constraint; indifference curves.

Learning Unit 3. Elements of Welfare and Environmental Economics: Efficiency, Equity and Sustainability (6 hours)
Welfare economics: efficiency and equity, market distortions; environmental economics: nature of common resources, externalities, markets and the environment.


Module 2 - Agricultural and environmental policy: evolution and reforms (30 hours, 18 lecture and 12 supplementary)

Learning Unit 1. The process of European integration.
Evolution of the institutional structure of the European Union through the treaties. Enlargement and creation of the eurozone. European institutions. The decision-making process and the main forms taken by European law.

Learning Unit 2. Evolution of the CAP.
Birth of the common agricultural policy: priorities principles and lines of action. The mechanisms of operation of price and market policy. Early initiatives in favor of agricultural structures. Main problems that emerged and process of CAP revision in the 1980s. The stages of CAP reform from Mac Sharry to Agenda 2000. Fischler reform.

Learning Unit 3. The first pillar of the CAP.
The objectives and structure of the new CAP. Direct payment scheme. Active farmer. The single common market organization (CMO). Modulation. Flexibility. National implementation.

Learning Unit 4. The second pillar of the CAP.
Objectives, fields of action and instruments of rural development policy. Institutional architecture. Subsidiarity and governance. Risk management.

Learning Unit 5. The transition period 2021-22 and planning 2023-27

Learning Unit 6. Common market organization, urban green policies.
Producer organizations. Market standards, consumer information. Urban green policies. From Law 10/2013 to the National Urban Green Strategy: goals and actions. Biodiversity and ecosystem services.


Supplementary teaching (24 hours)
Laboratory activities are an integral part of the teaching and are aimed at strengthening the understanding of the topics covered in the classroom, as well as facilitating the alignment of prior knowledge. Students will also be required to independently construct, albeit with the assistance of the lecturer:
- seminars given by experts in the field
- classroom exercises
- application of agri-environmental measures in a farm case study.

Readings/Bibliography

Modulo 1:

Marcella Corsi, Alessandro Roncaglia , Nuovi lineamenti di economia politica, Laterza, Bari (3° edizione), ISBN: 9788859300373

Modulo 2:

1. Franco Sotte, La politica agricola europea. Storia e analisi. Firenze University Press, 2023.
2. Commissione europea, La politica agricola comune dell’Unione europea, Lussemburgo, 2017
3. Frascarelli A., La politica dei mercati agricoli dell’UE per il periodo 2014-2020: un’analisi degli strumenti, Agriregionieuropa, anno 12 n°46, 2016
4. INEA, La PAC 2014-20, Una guida pratica per una visione di insieme, INEA - Osservatorio PAC, 2014
5. Albani C., De Filippis F., Frascarelli A., Leporati S. (a cura di), LA PAC 2014-2020, L’evoluzione normativa, Coldiretti, 2015. Commissione Europea, I pagamenti diretti agli agricoltori 2015-2020, Lussemburgo 2017
6. Mantino F., La riforma delle politiche di sviluppo rurale 2014-2020, Agriregionieuropa anno 9 n°35, Dic 2013.
7. Commissione europea, Panoramica della Politica di sviluppo rurale 2014.
8. La politica di gestione del rischio in agricoltura, Agriregionieuropa, n.47, 2016

Teaching methods

The course is conducted through face-to-face lectures with power point video projection with the possibility of seminars given by subject matter experts.

Assessment methods

The knowledge and skills imparted by this teaching are assessed as follows: oral examination at the end of the teaching course possibly preceded by written tests in itinere.


Preparation of a business development project applying the main agri-environmental measures of regional RDPs: the above project is developed during the course.

Teaching tools

Lectures supported by presentation slides, with quizzes created with Mentimeter

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Canavari

See the website of Giulia Maesano