B3173 - Topics in the Management and Valuation of Environmental Goods and Services

Learning outcomes

The purpose of this course is to use topics of current interest in environmental and resource economics, which cover theoretical approaches, applications and policy design, to further enhance the ability of students to analyze and present these issues. The course builds mainly, but not exclusively, on the material of courses such as “The Economics of Climate Change” and "The Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services" for the selection of the specific topics. Topics related to frontier research and policy issues in environmental and resource economics, along with new approaches such as the current development of epidemic-economic models, or the link between competition policy and sustainability, will be introduced, and the students will be asked to prepare an essay which will be presented in class. The objective is twofold: first to provide students the opportunity to conduct deeper analysis on issues which could be useful for advanced research or applied policy, and second to enhance their ability to present these complex issues to an audience.

Course contents

The course builds mainly, but not exclusively, on the material from the courses “The Economics of Climate Change” , “The Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” and “Resource Valuation and Decision-Making Methods” for the selection of the specific topics.

Topics to be analysed:

1. Valuation and climate change: The social cost of carbon (SCC)
2. Estimating the SCC when the impact is on GDP levels
3. Estimating the SCC when the impact is on GDP growth
4. Tipping points in climate change policy
5. Spatial analysis in climate change
6. Vulnerability to climate change: National and regional approaches
7.  Adaptation to climate change as a public good
8.  Infectious diseases and land-use climate change
9.  Climate change and financial markets
10.  Biodiversity valuation
11.  Biodiversity hot spots and bioprospecting
12.  Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in the developing world: Evaluation of alternative policy rules
13.  Deep uncertainty, ambiguity and the design of climate and resource management policies
14.  Management of depletable and renewable resources: (a)Mathematical modelling (b) Applied policy issues

Structure: The topics above will be discussed during the first five class meetings. Students will then declare a topic with the professor and begin working on their essays in consultation with the professor during class meetings. The sequence of presentations will be decided after the students have sufficiently advanced their topic. Presentations will take place during the last class meetings. The actual number of presentation meetings and the rest of the presentation details will be determined by the number of participating students.

Format:

• The essay should follow the standard format of Title page, Introduction, Body, Conclusion and List of References and should be between 4,000 and 5,000 words long (not including title page, tables, graphs and references).
• Any of the commonly used writing styles for economics can be used to format the essay, the text citations, and the List of References. For example,

• the APA style https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/, or
• the Chicago style https://www.scribbr.com/chicago-style/format-paper/ ).

• The presentations should be prepared using PowerPoint or Beamer and should be 15-20 minutes long. An additional 5 minutes will be devoted to questions following the presentation.
• Two files, the presentation and the written essay, should be submitted electronically
• The first file – the presentation – should be named as follows: “Last name_First Initial_99905 (Presentation)” and should be submitted by the day of the presentation at 24:00. and sent by email to: anastasio.xepapadeas@unibo.it [mailto:anastasio.xepapadeas@unibo.it] .
• The second file – the essay – should be named as follows: “Last name_First Initial_99905 (Essay)” and should be submitted by the day of the exam according to the announced exam program (three dates) at 24:00 and sent by email to: anastasio.xepapadeas@unibo.it.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Reading materials: Students should begin by consulting the relevant readings used in the three courses: “The Economics of Climate Change”, “The Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” and “Resource Valuation and Decision-Making Methods”. Students should then supplement these sources with additional material to broaden their knowledge of their specific topic. Some suggested readings are available on Insegnamenti online (IOL)

Important note: All text that is part of someone else’s research work should be properly acknowledged using citations.

Teaching methods

Lectures accompanied by slide presentations and consultations with students.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods

The final grade will come from the grade for the presentation (25% of the final grade) and the grade for the essay (75% of the final grade).

The maximum possible score is 30 cum laude. The grade is graduated as follows:

<18 failed
18-23 sufficient
24-27 good
28-30 very good
30 e lode excellent

Teaching tools

Presentations, some suggested readings and additional teaching material are available on Insegnamenti online (IOL).

Office hours

See the website of Anastasios Xepapadeas