040515 KU International Energy Management (MA) (2016W)

Course Outline:

The purpose is to survey international energy markets and to cover their characteristics, which are: dependence on exhaustible resource, the importance of externalities (largely environmental, e.g. SO2, CO2, etc.) and the influence of public ownership or regulation of utilities. And above all, this business is characterized by dramatic changes due to the world-wide deregulations and privatization of formerly nationalized and regulated industries, not to mention the recent turmoils in energy markets (high oil prices, interruption of gas supplies from Russia, global warming and emission trading). Thus the lecture gives an overview of international energy markets followed by theoretical parts addressing these three crucial aspects; resources, pollution and utilities - including policy issues but restricted to applying the theory of public choice (at any rate under-applied in management investigations) albeit environmental issues are sidelined to another course. A particular emphasis is on the international differences in organising and regulating the energy industry and recent developments in power industries all over the world.

Major Topics:

Survey of international energy markets
Exhaustible resources
Alternatives (backstops)
Oil price jumps (and falls)
The Politics of Int. Energy Markets
Externalities briefly: Global Warming, Energy Taxes
Public interventions (ownership, regulation)
Topical issues of privatization and deregulation (U.K., EU, US - California, Austria)
Electricity markets