Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description

CODE ECN4203

 
TITLE Environmental Economics

 
UM LEVEL 04 - Years 4, 5 in Modular UG or PG Cert Course

 
EQF/MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Economics

 
DESCRIPTION The unit start with a historical look at the development of environmental concerns and solutions in the economic literature, and of policy awareness both at national, regional and international level.

From there onwards the class turns into a series of researched PowerPoint presentations given by each student of group of students in turn.

Topics include:
Sustainable development
Water Resource Management
Solid and Liquid Waste Management
Renewable and non-renewable resources
Marine Pollution Control
Air Pollution Control
EIAs and SEAs
Environmental Policy

Study-unit Aims:

To encourage students to learn about the environmental problems and their solutions from an economist's perspective by research, and to communicate their findings with their peers through PP presentations and class discussion.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

Understand the real life environmental problems and their solutions with the use of the economics literature.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

Learn to research a topic using a scientific approach and present the findings to their peers.

Environmental economics assesses the economic importance of environmental degradation; looks for environmental causes of degradation; and designs economic incentives to slow, halt and reverse that degradation.
The programme includes a number of seminars with students' presentations given on a number of topics.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMCS (PEARSON) - TOM TIETENBERG AND LYNEE LEWIS

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS - KERRY TURNER AND DAVID PEARCE (HARVESTER AND WHEATSHEAF)

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite Study-unit: PUBLIC FINANCE

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Project

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment See note below Yes 30%
Examination (2 Hours) See note below Yes 70%
Note: Assessment due will vary according to the study-unit availability.

 

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2026/7. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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