wir890 - Climate Economics (Vollständige Modulbeschreibung)

This course aims at giving students an understanding of reasons, objectives and economic instruments for climate policy. Students first get acquainted with the natural science of the climate where anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions constitute the source of man-made climate change. The latter is then explained from an economic perspective as a global environmental externality calling for environmental regulation to avoid substantial market failures. Game theoretic analysis of international negotiations and agreements provides key insights about the fundamental problems of free-riding and efficient climate policy design. Beyond theoretical propositions, 15 the lecture will critically discuss past and contemporary climate policies such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, or the EU Emissions Trading System

atural science of climate change; environmental externalities and market failures; environmental regulation (emission taxes, standards, tradable permits, etc.); international environmental agreements; critical appraisal of climate policy implementation

Roger Perman, Yue Ma, Michael Common, David Maddison and James McGilvray. Natural Resource and Environmental Economics. Addison Wesley. 2011 (4th edition).

Daniel J. Phaneuf and Till Requate. A Course in Environmental Economics: Theory, Policy, and Practice. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

At the end of the lecture period

1 term paper or
1 presentation or
1 written exam or
1 oral examination or
1 portfolio or
1 project report