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. Those environmental goods are not easily traded in a market because of their public good characteristics. And pollution to an economist is an unintended byproduct - an externality - 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 like noise from a train track to the biggest one of them all, climate change. We discuss how to judge a particular amount of pollution - is it economically efficient, is it fair? Pollution characteristics - does the location of polluters and polluted matter, does pollution accumulate in the air or water? - determine how we go about trying to establish optimal levels of pollution - for example air pollution in Oslo.

We will discuss ways to "put a price" on the environment and to carry out cost-benefit-analysis to decide whether projects that have environmental impacts - such as a new highway into Oslo - are worth carrying out.

Students also 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, or outright banning substances.

Finally, students will think about how green technology is developed and can be incentivized by policy.

Language of instruction is English.

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After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of 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
• 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
• use economic analysis to assess environmental regulation
• understand empirical evidence regarding environmental problems and potential solutions
• critically assess economic analyses directed at environmental problems

General competence

The student is more able to

• use English as the professional language in Economics
• use environmental economics insights in a professional setting, for example for cost-benefit analysis or concerning sustainability issues

Lectures with active student participation.

Admission to the programme.

The exam in the course is a supervised exam of 4 hours.

The following aids are permitted:

• One dictionary (Native language-English/English-native language or English-English)
• Calculator (see regulations for the use of calculators in the programme description)

Lectures, group work, written assignments, supervision, seminars, exercises in the simulation and skills centre and self-study.

The following coursework must have been approved in order for a student to be permitted to take the exam:

• Assignment 1. Individual subject note. Scope: 1500 words (+/- 20 %). Feedback on the subject note from the lecturer and fellow student(s).
• 100% attendance at the seminar on welfare and the health services.
• 100% attendance at the workshop on pathophysiology.
• Assignment 2. Group subject note. Scope: 1,500 words (+/- 20 %). Feedback on the subject note from the lecturer and fellow student(s).

Supervised individual written exam, 5 hours.