Short Course Description
The course aims to provide students with an understanding of key concepts and theories in Environmental Economics as well as familiarity with quantitative tools and models for solving problems in natural and environmental resource management.
The main subjects of the course include:
1. Basic concepts in economics: the "invisible hand" and the market mechanism, supply and demand, property rights, public goods, market failures, externalities, sustainable growth, cost-benefit analysis, the phenomena of natural resource scarcity, static efficiency, dynamic efficiency.
2. Economic methods for valuing environmental resources: willingness to pay, use value vs. non-use value, revealed vs. stated preference methods.
3. Land and water resource management: efficient allocation and use of water and land resources, land-use conversion, measures for dealing with market failures, efficient allocation of groundwater and surface water, water demand management and pricing policies.
4. Fishery economics: fisheries /habitat characteristics, fishery modeling, sustainable and efficient fishery, open access, overfishing and extinction, policy measures and regulation.
5. Energy resource management: global trends, renewable energy in power generation - potential and challenges, smart grids, storage and demand management, comparative economic analysis of different energy production alternatives, policy instruments and regulation.
Full Syllabus
