70049 - GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

Anno Accademico 2022/2023

  • Docente: Marco Casari
  • Crediti formativi: 8
  • SSD: SECS-P/02
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese
  • Modalità didattica: Convenzionale - Lezioni in presenza
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Laurea Magistrale in International Relations (cod. 9084)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The aim of the course is an understanding of the major sustainability issues the world is currently facing: overharvesting of renewable resources, biodiversity loss, and, above all, global climate change. By the end of the course, students are expected to comprehend these issues with respect to their scientific basis, economic incentives, and management policies.

Contenuti

The course objective is to provide the tools for the understanding of the economics of climate change at the national and global level. It studies the interconnections of ecological issues with economic and political processes.

Lectures will be organized around the following topics:

• The Anthropocene

• The science of climate change

• Social and economic impacts of climate change

• Mitigation as a social dilemma

• Economic models of climate change

• Mitigation as risk management

• Inequality in climate responsibilities and impacts

• Mitigation between the present and the future

• Ecological transition using carbon prices

• Ecological transition as a system transition

• The political economy of climate policies

• Adaptation

• Geoengineering

Testi/Bibliografia

Lectures and readings will be in English. The textbook is William Nordhaus (2013) The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World, Yale University Press

Other readings will be made available on Virtuale: some are required while others only recommended. The site will be updated continuously and it is recommended to check weekly.

Metodi didattici

Lectures with slides presentation

 

LECTURES WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE SECOND SEMESTER IN THE BOLOGNA CAMPUS

 

 

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

This is an intermediate-level economics class. The class will require a considerable effort, especially if you aim at a good grade. The assessment will be about your level of understanding and your ability to work with the concepts. Memory is a pre-requisite to a successful exam, but the ability to repeat concepts will not be the crucial element.

Midterm exam. The midterm is written and will comprise 4-6 questions about topics/lectures 1-9. Answers are short essays that focus on defining concepts, illustrating theories, reporting empirical evidence, providing interpretations, solving numerical exercises. The focus will be on the material in the required readings and the slides. The midterm counts for half of your overall grade. There will be only one opportunity to take the midterm exam, on March 29th. The grade earned in the midterm will be valid until the end of the solar year (2022). If you fail the final exam, or reject the overall grade, you will have to re-take the full final exam as if you never took the midterm.

Final exam. If you have taken the midterm, the final exam will be only about the second half of the program (topics/lectures 11-29) and will count for half of your overall grade. The full final exam is written and will comprise 8-12 questions. Again, answers are short essays that focus on defining concepts, illustrating theories, reporting empirical evidence, providing interpretations, solving numerical exercises. The focus will be on the material in the required readings and the slides.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Slide presentations
Frontal lectures

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Marco Casari