ØASØK4200 Environmental Economics Course description

Economic activities impact the environment. Plastics end up in the ocean, producing one T-shirt consumes thousands of liters of water, and salmon farmers pour toxic chemicals into the seas to fight lice infestations. Economists see the natural world around them as providing environmental goods and services that we all enjoy, such as a lake to swim in, drinking water, or a forest that filters the air. Pollution to an economist is an unintended byproduct of activities that are otherwise desirable, like flying to New York, assembling computers, or eating dinner.

This course teaches students to think like economists about a wide range of environmental problems, from small, local ones to the biggest one of them all, climate change. Students learn about the economics of environmental regulation. We can try to reduce pollution in many ways: by providing information, `nudging´ people to `do the right thing´, subsidizing clean technologies, taxing emissions, creating cap-and-trade markets, banning substances, or signing up to international environmental agreements. The students learn how pollution crossing borders complicates the picture, and how trading goods affects where - and how much - pollution takes place. They will consider what taxing pollution means for other parts of the economy, and they will think about how green technologies are developed.

ØASØK4100 Microeconomics

Different forms of assessment are used in the programme that are adapted to the learning outcomes of the different courses. Suitability assessments are carried out on a continuous basis. The forms of assessment used are intended to support learning and document that the students’ competence is adequate in relation to the applicable learning outcomes, and to be in accordance with the programme requirements. The students will receive advice and supervision and have their performance assessed during the programme.

Exams and practical training are assessed in accordance with the applicable rules set out in the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges, the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet and the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet.

The forms of assessment are described in the individual course descriptions. All passed exams and practical training will be stated on the diploma, along with the title of the student's bachelor's thesis.

Suitability Suitability assessments of all students are carried out on a continuous basis throughout their studies, cf. the Regulations concerning Suitability Assessment in Higher Education. Diplomas for the completed programme will only be awarded to graduates who are suited to practise the profession. A student who represents a potential threat to the physical or mental health, rights and safety of his/her patients and colleagues is not suited for the profession.

Suitability assessments are made on a continuous basis throughout the study programme and will be included in the overall assessment of the students' professional and personal suitability for work as health personnel. Students who demonstrate little ability to master the social educator profession must be informed of this at the earliest possible stage of the programme. They will be given supervision and advice on how to improve or be advised to leave the programme. Special suitability assessments are used in special cases, cf. the Regulations concerning Suitability Assessment in Higher Education.

Exams and assessment All courses conclude with an exam. The assessment is based on the learning outcomes for the course and decides whether the student has achieved the specified learning outcomes. In theoretical courses, the grades used are pass/fail or letter grades from A to F, with A being the highest grade and E the poorest pass grade. The grade F means that the student has failed the exam, meaning that the learning outcomes have not been achieved. The grades pass/fail are used for the assessment of practical training.

Most courses have required coursework that must be approved before the student can sit exam. See the course descriptions for more details.

Resit and rescheduled exams are carried out in the same manner as the ordinary exam unless otherwise specified in the course description.

For exams where a percentage of the exam papers are selected for assessment by an external examiner, the external examiner's assessment shall benefit all the students. In such cases, one external and one internal examiner will first grade the selected papers. The internal examiner then continues grading the remaining papers together with another internal examiner. The assessments from the first part are summarised to serve as guidelines for the assessments carried out by the two internal examiners. The course descriptions state which exams this arrangement applies to.

The grade awarded for a written exam can be appealed, cf. Section 5-3 of the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges and the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet. It is not possible to appeal the grades awarded for oral and practical exams. In a group exam, the result of an appeal will only have consequences for the candidates who have submitted the appeal. This means that all members of the group do not have to participate in the appeal.

Assessment of supervised practical training The supervised practical training is assessed as passed or failed. Three elements must be passed in order for students to pass a period of practical training:

• Compulsory attendance
• Learning outcomes
• Suitability

To pass the supervised practical training, the student must have met the compulsory attendance requirement. A minimum attendance requirement of 90% applies to practical training courses. If the maximum limit for absence is exceeded, the student can make up for the practical training/teaching activities missed if practically possible. If it is not possible to compensate for the absence, the whole period of supervised practical training must be retaken. This will result in delayed progress in the programme.

External programme supervisor

The study programme has an external programme supervisor in accordance with the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet. The external programme supervisor is charged with evaluating the programme's structure and coherence, including the relationship between the learning outcomes as described in the programme description, the work and teaching methods and assessment arrangements. The external programme supervisor should normally supervise all the courses in the programme over the course of a three-year period and provide feedback and advice that the academic environment can use in its further work on the quality of education.

Approval

The programme description is based on the National Regulations relating to a Common Curriculum for Health and Social Care Education, adopted by the Ministry of Education and Research on 6 September 2017, and the Regulations on national guidelines for social education programmes adopted on 15 March 2019.

Most recently approved by the Head of Department 9 April 2025.

• Basics: Externalities, public goods, Pareto efficiency, market failure, optimal pollution.
• Static pollution (local air pollution)
• Environmental regulation with economic instruments (taxes, subsidies, cap-and-trade)
• Dynamic pollution (climate change)
• International environmental agreements
• Trade in goods and pollution
• Green innovation
• Green taxes and the double dividend
• Behavioral environmental economics

Lectures with active student participation.

None.

There is one final 4-hour exam at the end of the semester.

One dictionary (Native language-English/English-native language or English-English)

Calculator (as specified in regulations for use of calculator)

Grading scale A - F.

An external examiner will together with the internal examiner grade the exam.

Svenn Jensen