Economics of the Environment and Natural Resources

Presentation

The curricular unit of Environment and Natural Resources Economics has as main objective to make the students aware of the immediate need and to include the environmental variables in the decision making process. Taking into account that the majority of the current environmental problems are originated in human behavior and in the economy, it is intended to show students that it is possible to change our behavior in order to have a sustainable economic growth and compatible with the environmental balance. This curricular unit is extremely important in the training of students of economics, since it is urgent to change behavior both individually and economically, even if this means in the first instance an economic decline.

Part of this Programme

Economics

Level of Qualification|Semesters|ECTS

| Semestral | 5

Year | Type of course unit | Language

3 |Mandatory |Português

Code

ULHT32-5799

Recommended complementary curricular units

Microeconomics

Prerequisites and co-requisites

n/a

Professional Internship

Não

Syllabus

1. Introduction
2. Main Environmental Problems and Solutions
3. Efficiency and Markets
4. Market failures: Externalities, Public Goods and Environmental Policy Instruments
5. Pollution Control Instruments in Perfect Information
5.1. The Pollution Problem.
5.2. Definition of Pollution
5.3. Economic Policy Instruments and their Objectives
6.Theory of Environmental Demand
6.1. Availability to Pay
6.2. Types of environmental goods
6.3. Search measures
6.4. Search for environmental goods
7. Methods of valuing the environment
7.1. Hedonic Price Method
7.2. Contingent Valuation Method
7.3. Cost of Transport Method
8. The Future Discount
8.1. The consequences of the discount.
8.2. Discount over several periods.
9. Natural Resources.
9.1. Non-renewable resources
9.2. Renewable resources
9.3. Renewable energy
9.4. Fisheries economics
9.5. Theory of games
9.6. Cooperation and incentives
10. Final considerations

Objectives

This curricular unit aims to raise awareness of environmental problems and their impacts on the economy. Alerting to the importance of variables environment Students and natural resources in economic decisions and introduce environmental awareness. It is intended that the student identify environmental problems, recognize their impacts on the economy and economic development and be able to delineate sustainable solutions and pathways to the economy taking into account the environmental balance.
Students should:
Realize the importance of including the environment variable in economic decisions.
To acquire knowledge about the ways of regulating environmental problems.
To acquire knowledge about the relevant analytical instruments.

Teaching methodologies and assessment

The course is expected to solve practical exercises with the use of the necessary mathematical instruments as well as the resolution of individual assessment sheets on the subject taught. In the classroom, students are called to participate actively, either by responding to questions posed or by reflecting on proposed topics. Students are further encouraged to elaborate a research paper on a topic of choice related to the environment or natural resources that will allow them to deepen a topic of their interest.
The evaluation has 3 essential components:
-A research work on one of the proposed proposals
- 2 Tests
- Readings of scientific articles of the area.

References

KOLSTAD, Charles, Environmental Economics,OUP USA; 2 edition. 2010

BJORNDAL, Trond et als., Advances in Fisheries Economics, Blackwell Publishing, 2007

BJORNDAL, Trond and Munro, Gordon, The Economics and Management of World Fisheries. Oxford University Press. 2012

TITENBERG, Tom and Lynne Lewis, Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, Routledge; 11 edition, 2018 

NEHER, Philip, Natural Resource Economics; Conservation and Exploitation, Cambridge University Press, 1993 

BAUMOL, William J., OATES Wallace E., The Theory of Environmental Policy, Cambridge University Press, 1993. 

HARRIS, Jonathan M., Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: a Contemporary Approach, Routledge; 4 edition. 2017

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