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

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After completing the course, students will acquired the learning outcomes defined in knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

Students will gain insight into:

• The fundamental ideas of the environment as provider of economic goods and services, and of pollution as being the unintended byproduct of economic actions.
• About a range of important environmental problems caused by economic activity, and their economic characteristics.
• Different economic types of regulation addressing pollution.
• The importance of context in economic analysis of the environment.
• Different methods to investigate the impact of pollution and regulations.

Skills

The students will learn:

• How to use economic analysis and modeling to assess pollution.
• How to use economic analysis to assess environmental regulation.
• How to understand empirical evidence regarding environmental problems and potential solutions.
• How to critically assess economic analyses directed at environmental problems.

Lectures with active student participation.

In order to be able to register for the exam, the student must have the following approved work requirements:

Three written assignments, individually or in groups. The scope of the assignment (number of pages) varies depending on the nature of the assignment.

If the assignments are not approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit a new or improved version. The lecturer will provide more detailed information about deadlines for submission.

Written school exam (4 hours).

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

Calculator (as specified in regulations for use of calculator)

Child welfare is a social field whose practice is based on implicit and explicit theories drawn from many different disciplines. Child welfare is also a normative field of activity, which means that it requires critical reflection on the part of the professionals practising it. The course focuses on the child welfare service’s heterogeneous knowledge base and established forms of understanding and presents different perspectives on phenomena of relevance to child welfare. Different understandings of evidence-based practice and the relationship between research-based knowledge, experience-based knowledge and the experiences and wishes of children and families are discussed. The challenges the field of practice and the individual professionals face when new research or new methods or measures are to be implemented/applied in practice are also analysed. The course presents different perspectives on children’s development. A particular focus will be on constructions of children that cast children as participants in everyday life and in the child welfare service’s professional practice

Theoretical perspectives and normative conceptions provide guidance on what we can see and what we look for. The forms of learning are meant to allow students to train their analytical skills in order to understand the professional practice of the child welfare service from a power perspective and in light of the social context in which the child welfare service operates.

The language of instruction is Norwegian.

None.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence: 

Knowledge

The student has

• in-depth knowledge of key knowledge discourses in child welfare and other welfare fields and of different criteria for evidence-based practice
• advanced knowledge of the child welfare service’s heterogeneous knowledge base, interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration, and an understanding of the relevance of theoretical perspectives to professional practice
• in-depth knowledge of theoretical understandings of children and childhood, categorisation processes in the child welfare service’s everyday practices
• advanced knowledge of children’s right to participation and protection and the importance of children as participants in everyday life and in the professional practices of the child welfare service

• advanced knowledge of different perspectives on children’s development
• specialised knowledge and insight into research on care assessments and the importance of a holistic understanding of children and parents
• advanced knowledge of how neglect and abuse occur and are manifested in different ways in children, young people and families in vulnerable life situations
• in-depth knowledge of different perspectives on family work and milieu therapy within and outside institutions

Skills

The student can

• analyse and take a critical approach to the child welfare service’s implicit and explicit knowledge base to make decisions and implement measures in the child’s best interests
• analyse professional issues related to risk assessments and different explanations of children and children’s problems
• take a critical approach to different sources of knowledge and carry out comprehensive care assessments by analysing and assessing the child’s best interest in light of relevant theories and methods

• cooperate with children and parents and other services when obtaining information and assessing measures

General competence 

The student can

• apply knowledge and skills about children, young people and families in vulnerable life situations in new areas in order to carry out advanced tasks and projects
• communicate about professional issues, analyses and conclusions in child welfare work with children, young people and families, partners and the general public

• take a critical and analytical approach to explicit and implicit theories, measures and methods in child welfare practice