Teacher
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BRANCA Giacomo
(syllabus)
1. Introduction: the discipline and its area of work; trade-off between use and conservation of resources; the circular economic system; renewable & non-renewable resources and environmental economics; the concept of sustainability. Literature review: basic terminology and concepts of NR economics; the current intellectual debate; globalization and development; the theory of NR curse.
2. Economic analysis of environment and natural resources: methodological issues, benefits and costs, supply and demand; economic efficiency and equilibrium market (without externalities), markets and efficiency (with externalities). A formal analysis of natural resource management, both for renewable and non-renewable resources. Public policies for environmental protection and the preservation of natural resources.
3. Applied problems related to the economics and policy of renewable resources: a) Forest harvest decision and the economic efficient rotation; portfolio analysis; factors affecting the efficient rotation; impact of nontimber forest values; optimal clear cutting; institutional arrangements for forestry; timber harvesting from national forests. b) Current problems in marine fisheries; the biological growth function; the effort-yield function; maximum sustained yields; efficient rates of effort; the problem of open access; approaches to fisheries management; regulating fishing practices, catch limits; individual transferable quotas (ITQs); taxation (effort and catch). c) Other renewable resources: agriculture, water management, wildlife preservation.
4. Applied problems related to the economics and policy of non-renewable resources: a) Extraction economics for a known stock of minerals, resource exploration and development, extraction of non-renewable resources and sustainability. b) The economics of recycling.
Practical sessions i) Benefit-cost analysis applied to projects and policies for the sustainable management of environmental resources. ii) Methodologies for the monetary evaluation of environmental goods
(reference books)
• Tom Tietenberg, Lynne Lewis. Environmental & Natural Resource Economics. 9th Edition, 2012. Pearson Education, Inc.. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-139257-1. • Lecture slides and video recorded lectures available on the Moodle platform
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