Universität Wien

280234 VO PIK1 Legislation, Policy and Economics (NPI) (2020S)

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

From March 12th on, the course will be held online as webinar.
This will not effect the dates and times or the content of thecourse. For all the remaining lectures, you will receive a ZOOM link (which is the webinar platform we will use). You will need a computer with a camera (as well as spekers and a microphone if you don't have a headset).

Thursday 05.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum Paläontologie "Melchior Neumayr" 2A502 5.OG UZA II
Friday 06.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Felix-Machatschki-Seminarraum Mineralogie 2B284 2.OG UZA II
Friday 06.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum Paläontologie "Melchior Neumayr" 2A502 5.OG UZA II
Thursday 12.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Eberhard Clar Saal Geologie 2B204 2.OG UZA II
Friday 13.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Felix-Machatschki-Seminarraum Mineralogie 2B284 2.OG UZA II
Friday 13.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Eberhard Clar Saal Geologie 2B204 2.OG UZA II
Thursday 19.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Seminarraum Geochemie 2C193 1.OG UZA II
Friday 20.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Felix-Machatschki-Seminarraum Mineralogie 2B284 2.OG UZA II
Friedrich Becke Seminarraum 2C315 3.OG UZA II
Friday 20.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Friedrich Becke Seminarraum 2C315 3.OG UZA II
Thursday 26.03. 09:00 - 12:00 Friedrich Becke Seminarraum 2C315 3.OG UZA II
Friday 27.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Felix-Machatschki-Seminarraum Mineralogie 2B284 2.OG UZA II
Friday 27.03. 13:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum Geochemie 2C193 1.OG UZA II

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course is mainly concerned with concepts about the enivronment-economy relation, and how these concepts translate into policies and legislation.

Topics (selection)
Sustainable Development,
Economic Growth (GDP, technical progress, population growth, innovation, energy, renewable energy sources),
Environmental policies and regulation (goals of environmental policy, determinants and instruments of environmental policy, global institutions of environmental policy and regulation, the Kyoto Protocol and the European Carbon Trading Scheme and Paris Agreement, to name just a few).

The course is split into four lectues:
Lecture1: Content
Differences and similarities of natural sciences and social sciences.
Different (economic; social science) paradigms and their implications for policies and legislation.
Learning outcomes:
You know what a scientific paradigm is.
You are familiar with some essential differences (and similarities) between natural and social sciences.
You are aware that economics and other social sciences are, in principle, multi-paradigmatic.
You are able to connect policies and legislation with their underlying economic rationale and paradigm.
You are aware of, how different paradigms conceptualize the relation between humans and their environment.
You know how Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics and Ecological Economics relate to different paradigms in economics.

Lecture 2: Content
Sustainable Development: Origins and History of the Discourse about Environmental Issues.
Social Ecological Crisis: Current Situation and Discourse.
Learning outcomes:
You are familiar with the term sustainable development and the political discourse around it.
You are familiar with the political discourse about how to deal with environmental issues and problems.
You are familiar with the term Social Ecological Crisis and challenges related to climate change.

Lecture 3: Content
Economic growth/GDP,
Green growth,
Degrowth.
Learning outcomes:
You are familiar with production oriented economic measures of progress.
You are able to see challenges and difficulties to reconcile production (and consumption) growth with environmental protection and conservation.
You are familiar with alternative concepts and indicators of economic progress (besides sustainable development).

Lecture 4: Content
Environmental valuation,
Sustainability measurement,
Environmental policy.
Learning outcomes:
You are familiar with the following methods, concerned with environmental valuation: Cost-Benefit Analysis, Input-Output Analysis, Multi-Criteria Analysis.
You are familiar with the following indices of socio ecological economic outcomes: Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator, Sets of Indicators, Ecological Footprint, Material Input per Service Unit, Sustainable Progress Index, Happy Planet Index, Human Development Index.
You are familiar with principles, strategies and instruments of environmental politics.

Assessment and permitted materials

written exam

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

NPI and PI: The students are able to explore concepts for maintaining or
improving the biophysical basis of economic activities by use of market-based, command-and-control and voluntary measures. They compare the neoclassical economic approach to environmental policy with concepts from institutional and ecological economics. The students can apply political science concepts for assessing different designs of environmental policies in the areas of air, water, soil and sediments. They are able to assess the interdependence of multiple levels of environmental governance (z.B. global, European and national levels).

Examination topics

Everything covered during class.

Reading list

Recommended Literature:
Gowdy, J. and O'Hara, S., 1995. Economic Theory for Environmentalists. St. Lucie Press, Florida, ISBN 1-57444-003-9.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:22