ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

Session 1: Overview: Economy-Environment linkages, Causes of environmental problems

Session 2: Environmental Valuation: Welfare measure, Total economic values, production function approach

Session 3: Environmental Valuation: Travel Cost Method, Hedonic Pricing Method

Session 4: Environmental Valuation: Contingent Valuation Method

Session 5: Environmental valuation: Choice Experiment

Session 6: Climate change: Overview, impacts of climate change, adaptation behaviour

Session 7: Pollution Economics: Optimal pollution

Session 8: Pollution economics: Taxes, Subsidies, Cap and Trade and carbon market

There will be one final examination and one homework assignment. Your final grade will be determined as follows:

• Final assignment: 60 points
• One mid-term assignment: 40 points

Total: 100 points which is equivalent to grade 10 (Vietnamese grade system)

The mid-term assignment will be a presentation on a particular environment problem in Vietnam. List of potential topics can be seen at the end of this course outline. The final assignment is an essay, which bases on the presentation with more elaboration. The average length of the essay is 3-4 pages. The mid-term and final assignment should contain discussions of economic tools in addressing environmental and resource problems.

Session 1 

Field B. & M. Field (2009). Environmental Economics, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, USA. Chapter 1.

Polasky, S., Kling, C., Levin, S., Carpenter, S., Daily, G., Ehrlich, P., Heal, G. and J. Lubchenco (2019) Role of economics in analyzing the environment and sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116 (12) 5233-5238

What is an environmental economist?  https://www.environmentalscience.org/career/environmental-economist

Session 2

Pearce, D. (2001) The economic value of forest ecosystems. Ecosystem Health, 7(4), 284 – 296.

Barbier, B. (2007). Valuing ecosystem services as productive inputs. Economic Policy, 22(49), 177-229.

Vincent, J., Ahmad, I., Adnan, N. Burwell, W., Pattanayak, S., Tan-Soo, J. & K. Thomas (2015) Valuing Water Purification by Forests: An Analysis of Malaysian Panel Data. Environmental and Resource Economics. DOI 10.1007/s10640-015-9934-9

Session 3

Kipperberg, G., Onozaka, Y., Bui, L. T., Lohaugen, M., Refsdal, G., & Sæland, S. (2019). The impact of wind turbines on local recreation: Evidence from two travel cost method – contingent behavior studies. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 25: 66–75.

Laszkiewicz, E., Czembrowski, P., and J. Kronenberg (2019) Can proximity to urban green spaces be considered a luxury? Classifying a non-tradable good with the use of hedonic pricing method. Ecological Economics, 161: 237-247

Session 4

Carson, R., Mitchell, R., Hanemann, M. Kopp, R. Presser, S. and P. Ruud (2003) Contingent Valuation and Lost Passive Use: Damages from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Environmental and Resource Economics 25: 257–286.

Dung, Loch and Young (2019) Inferred valuation versus conventional contingent valuation: A salinity intrusion case study. Journal of Environmental Management 243: 95-104.

Session 5

Gundlach, A., Ehrlinspiel, M., Kirsch, S., Koschker, A., & Sagebiel, J. (2018). Investigating people’s preferences for car-free city centers: A discrete choice experiment. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 63: 677–688.

Lee, J.-S. (2018). The environmental costs of Asian dust damages in Korea: applying a choice experiment. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 20(3): 641–654.

Session 6

Tol, R. S. J. (2018). The Economic Impacts of Climate Change. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 12(1), 4–25.

Fankhauser, S. (2017) Adaptation to Climate Change. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 9:2.1–2.22

Wood, S. & R. Mendelsohn (2015). The impact of climate change on agricultural net revenue: a case study in the Fouta Djallon, West Africa. Environment and Development Economics, 20, pp 20-36.

Crick, F., Eskander, S. M. S. U., Fankhauser, S., & Diop, M. (2018). How do African SMEs respond to climate risks? Evidence from Kenya and Senegal. World Development, 108, 157–168.

Session 7

Field B. and M. Field (2009). Environmental Economics, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill, USA.  Chapter 5, 13

Sterner, T. (2003) Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management. RFF Press Book. USA. Chapter 6, 7, 8.

Session 8

Aldy, J. & Stavins, R. (2012) The Promise and Problems of Pricing Carbon: Theory and Experience. Journal of Environment & Development 21(2) 152–180.

McKitrick, R. (2016) A Practical Guide to the Economics of Carbon Pricing. SPP Research Paper. University of Calgary.

Kaufman, N., Obeiter, M. And E. Krause (2016) Putting A Price on Carbon: Reducing Emissions. World Resource Institute – Issue Brief.