Environmental economics and non-market valuation 2400-EN3SL275A
The seminar covers the technical aspects of writing a bachelor's thesis: choosing and narrowing a research topic, formulating research questions and hypotheses, the structure of a thesis, searching for and organising the literature, sources of data (including international statistical databases, survey data and experimental data), methods of verifying research hypotheses, and the rules of academic writing and referencing.
The substantive part of the seminar covers the following groups of topics:
1. Theories of optimal use of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (fisheries, forests, minerals and energy resources; sustainability and intergenerational equity).
2. Economic instruments used to address environmental problems (Pigouvian taxes, tradable emission permits, subsidies, environmental standards, voluntary agreements) and the comparison of their efficiency and distributional effects.
3. International and global environmental problems (climate change, transboundary pollution, biodiversity loss) and the economics of international environmental agreements.
4. Methods of non-market valuation: revealed preference methods (hedonic pricing, travel cost method, averting behaviour) and stated preference methods (contingent valuation, discrete choice experiments), including survey design, econometric modelling of preferences (e.g. multinomial, mixed and latent class logit models) and benefit transfer. These methods can be applied to the valuation of environmental goods and ecosystem services, health and health-risk reductions, as well as cultural goods.
5. Behavioural aspects of valuation: the relationship between individual preferences for non-market goods and individual characteristics such as risk preferences, social norms, altruism, time preferences or environmental attitudes.
During the seminar students select their topics, prepare successive stages of their theses (research proposal, literature review, methodology, empirical part) and present them to the group. Feedback from the seminar leader and other participants is an integral part of the work.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Learning outcomes
The main outcome of the seminar is the writing and defence of a bachelor's thesis related to the broadly understood field of environmental economics and/or non-market valuation, together with the ability to carry out an economic analysis, prepare a written study and present its results.
Knowledge:
After completing the seminar the student has extended knowledge of environmental and natural resource economics and/or non-market valuation, including the theoretical foundations, the main economic instruments of environmental policy and the methods of valuing non-market goods
Skills:
The student is able to collect relevant sources and carry out a literature review. The student can correctly interpret and explain the phenomena described in the thesis, and analyse their causes and course, using appropriate economic theory and research methods. The student is able to formulate research hypotheses, select and apply suitable data and quantitative methods, and critically discuss the results. The student works independently on the thesis and on the theoretical and practical problems related to it, and is therefore able to acquire knowledge on his or her own, use it appropriately and communicate it in oral and written form in English
Social competences:
The student understands the need for continuous learning and updating of knowledge. The student is able to set priorities in the preparation of an independent research project, plan work over a longer period of time, meet deadlines, present the results to an audience and respond constructively to criticism
Assessment criteria
Credit (pass) is granted on the basis of the preparation of successive stages of the bachelor's thesis, in accordance with the schedule agreed at the beginning of the seminar. The assessment takes into account:
– selection of the thesis topic and preparation of a research proposal (research question, hypotheses, planned data and methods);
– preparation of a literature review;
– presentation of work in progress during seminar meetings and participation in the discussion of other students' projects;
– submission of consecutive chapters/drafts of the thesis within the agreed deadlines;
– submission of the complete bachelor's thesis meeting the Faculty's formal and substantive requirements.
Regular attendance and active participation in seminar meetings are required. The final grade for the thesis is given in the course of the thesis defence, in accordance with the Faculty's rules.