wir361 Environment and inequality: socioeconomic linkages and policy instruments (Vollständige Modulbeschreibung)

There are no prerequisites, but it would be helpful to have taken the course Introduction to Economics beforehand.

After successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Appraise the economic relevance of addressing inequality and environmental issues.
• Quantify inequality using primary economic measurements and indicators.
• Explain how inequality and environmental outcomes are linked.
• Critique the limitations of standard economic analysis in the context of climate change and social disparity.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of various policy instruments available to tackle these global challenges.
• Examine the multifaceted and often conflicting relationships between inequality and environmental policy.

Inequality and environmental issues are multidimensional, complex, and deeply
interrelated. They can trigger self-reinforcing negative effects on human welfare,
impacting economic growth, development, health, and socio-political stability.
Current global trends in inequality are worrisome, while climate change severely
and disproportionately affects economies and well-being.
Addressing these challenges is a priority for economists and central to the Sus-
tainable Development Goals (2030 Agenda). However, policy trade-offs exist: measures to reduce poverty can harm the environment, while environmental policies often create undesirable distributional effects (’incidence’). 

Since these distributive impacts are crucial for political feasibility, a holistic approach
is needed to integrate climate action with poverty reduction. In this course,
we analyze these intertwined themes using state-of-the-art economic methods,
incorporating insights from behavioral economics for a deeper, integrated per-
spective.

Lecture: Provides foundational knowledge on inequality and environmental economics as well as their interconnectedness. Sessions are highly interactive and incorporate regular discussion to encourage active student participation.

Seminar: Deepens insights by analyzing selected applied academic papers, including empirical application using the statistical software R. Also covers basic knowledge in academic writing and presenting.

Core textbooks

• CORE Team. (2017). The economy: Economics for a changing world. Oxford University Press. https://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/
• Perman, R., Ma, Y., Common, M., Maddison, D., & McGilvray, J. (2011). Natural resource and environmental economics (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
• Todaro, M. P., & Smith, S. C. (2020). Economic development (13th ed.). Pearson.

Inequality, environment & wellbeing

• Chancel, L. (2020). Unsustainable inequalities: Social justice and the environment. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
• Piketty, T. (2015). The economics of inequality. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
• Welsch, H. (2022). Wellbeing, nature, and moral values in economics: How modern economic analysis faces the challenges ahead. Routledge.

Key reports

• Chancel, L., Mohren, C., Bothe, P., Muti, S., & Villaverde, P. (2025). Climate inequality report 2025: Climate change — A capital challenge. Why climate policy must tackle ownership. World Inequality Lab. https://wid.world/news-article/climate-inequality-report-2025/
• Chancel, L., Gómez-Carrera, R., Moshrif, R., & Piketty, T. (Eds.). (2026). World inequality report 2026. World Inequality Lab. https://wir2026.wid.world
• IPCC. (2023). Climate change 2023: AR6 Synthesis report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Aufnahmekapazität:
unbegrenzt