78362 - Taxation Policies and Environmental Issues

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Moduli: Emanuela Randon (Modulo 1) Fabio Zagonari (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Rimini
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Economics of Tourism (cod. 8847)

Learning outcomes

The course starts with an exposition of the different market failures (externalities, public goods, market power, asymmetric information), with emphasis on tourism and environmental issues. The course then focuses on taxation policies as remedy to market inefficiencies. After a general introduction on taxation principles, the student will learn the most advances in environmental taxation in promoting green growth as well as the most recent applications of taxation on tourism sector (road tax, tourist tax, congestion pricing).

Course contents

1 Introduction

Reasons for government interventions. Market failures. Normative vs positive economics. Paternalism vs individual failures.

2 Externalities and Public Goods

Problems and Solutions. Environmental and Health Externalities. Applications to tourism sector.

3 Principal indices of public finance

Taxes and spending: descriptive statistics. Government budgeting.

4 Taxation in Theory and Practice

4.1 Taxation in Europe and around the world

4.2 Tax inefficiencies and their implications for optimal taxation

4.3 The equity implications of taxation: income distribution, transfers, welfare programs

4.4 Tax incidence

4.5 Taxes on labor supply, consumption, savings.

4.6 Taxation and tourism market

5 Sustainability paradigms (e.g., Economic general equilibrium vs. Ecosystem services, Weak vs. strong sustainability, de-growth vs. a-growth)

6 Sustainability issues (e.g., duty, equity, efficiency, justice)

7 Renewable resources

8 Non-renewable resources

9 Pollutions

10 Policies for resource uses (e.g., regulations, taxes, subsidies)

11 Policies for pollution productions (e.g., taxes, subsidies, standards, permits)

Readings/Bibliography

Jonathan Gruber, Public Finance and Public Policy, Fifth Edition, 2016, Worth Publishers, Chapter: 1,2,4,6,7,18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

D.W.Pearce and R.K.Turner, Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf

Assessment methods

Written examination, 90 minutes long and based on 3 questions. Notes or other materials are not allowed.

Teaching tools

Zagonari, F. (2016) Four Sustainability Paradigms for Environmental Management: A Methodological Analysis and an Empirical Study Based on 30 Italian Industries, Sustainability 8: 1-34

Zagonari (2018) Responsibility, inequality, efficiency, and equity in four sustainability paradigms: insights for the global environment from a cross-development analytical model, Environment, Development and Sustainability

Office hours

See the website of Fabio Zagonari

See the website of Emanuela Randon