Aims:

Familiarise you, quantitatively and qualitatively, with important issues in environmental economics and environmental policy making such as (1) anthropogenic global warming, (2) the sustainable use of resources such as fish and forests and (3) environmental pollution.

Give you hands-on experience in how to model complex economic + environmental systems.

Help you understand the basic natural processes affecting the environment.

Introduce to you the main tools and challenges involved in environmental valuation.

Show you ways to determine the efficient level of pollution and discuss the instruments available to policy makers to reach such targets.

Engage you in the discussion about the role externalities and public goods play for environmental policy making.

Show you ways to determine the optimal use of renewable and non-­renewable resources that includes intertemporal optimisation of utility.



Suitable For: Suitable for 2nd and final year students from Economics (L100 / L101 / L102), BSc Economics and Statistics (LG13), BSc Economics and Geography (LL17), BA Philsophy and Economics (VL51) and BASc Science Pathway (Y000/Y001). Students with backgrounds different from the above should contact the course tutor to discuss suitability.



Prerequisites: Students should have taken courses equivalent to our first year modules ECON0002: Economics and ECON0010: Mathematics for Economics. Taking ECON0114: Computational Methods for Economists prior to taking ECON0052 is recommended, alternatively, completing ECON Skills Lab sessions D1-D4 is recommended.



Assumed knowledge: The prerequisites cover a good familiarity with the key results from linear algebra and the calculus of several variables, in particular in optimization, and some elementary familiarity with ordinary, linear, differential equations and their solutions. A general familiarity with Economics at the level of the ECON0002 of an equivalent 30 credits in Economics, both the micro- as well as the macro-aspects, is also strictly required. An aptitude for computational and simulation work is highly recommended, as acquired through ECON01114 and/or the Economics Skills Lab.