Applied Environmental and Resource Economics
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
The course aims to introduce students to applied quantitative methods currently used for the economic assessment of environmental problems and of environmental policies at the micro and macro scale. At the end of the course, students will get acquainted with the basic principles of the different quantitative tools, their practical implementation, and will acquire the capacity to apply them also in contexts which are beyond the field of environmental economics.
Expected learning outcomes
Students will learn basic tools for the quantitative assessment of climate change impacts on economic outcomes, considering both global and country/sectoral impacts. At the end of the course students will be able to develop simple empirical applications using statistical models and stylized general equilibrium models.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
A. Methods for the assessment of economic impact of climate change
- Elements of linear regression tools
- Introduction to climate econometrics
- Ricardian vs panel data vs long-difference models
- Adaptation to climate change and its measurability
- Applications: Discussion of relevant scientific papers
B. Applications
- Introduction to climate and weather variables
- Introduction to STATA software (how to import and manage data; how to build a file.do; how to build dummy variables; basic regression commands (reg, xtreg, clustering rules)
- Exercises on real dataset
- The impact of climate change in agriculture: a global analysis
- Weather and climate impact in Italy
- Estimation of the environmental kuznets curve
- Elements of linear regression tools
- Introduction to climate econometrics
- Ricardian vs panel data vs long-difference models
- Adaptation to climate change and its measurability
- Applications: Discussion of relevant scientific papers
B. Applications
- Introduction to climate and weather variables
- Introduction to STATA software (how to import and manage data; how to build a file.do; how to build dummy variables; basic regression commands (reg, xtreg, clustering rules)
- Exercises on real dataset
- The impact of climate change in agriculture: a global analysis
- Weather and climate impact in Italy
- Estimation of the environmental kuznets curve
Prerequisites for admission
Mathematics, Statistical Methods in Environmental Studies, Environmental economics are strongly recommended.
Teaching methods
The teaching is based on formal lessons, as well as on the presentation and discussion of specific empirical studies (scientific papers) related to the different topics of the course; the classroom exercises can be based on specific homework assigned by the teacher.
Teaching Resources
- Papers and slides provided during classes, lecture notes.
- For the Climate Econometrics part (much of the course), because the field is relatively young, there is no "corpus" of training that is considered standard (and there are not textbooks). What a student need is a very-very elementary econometrics text (there are many).
- Book suggested: RSJ Tol (2019). Climate Economics, RSJ Tol Edward Elgar, 2nd edition. This text covers many different materials in Climate change economics, and only partially overlap with the course content. So, I suggest it to only students particularly interest to this topic.
- For the Climate Econometrics part (much of the course), because the field is relatively young, there is no "corpus" of training that is considered standard (and there are not textbooks). What a student need is a very-very elementary econometrics text (there are many).
- Book suggested: RSJ Tol (2019). Climate Economics, RSJ Tol Edward Elgar, 2nd edition. This text covers many different materials in Climate change economics, and only partially overlap with the course content. So, I suggest it to only students particularly interest to this topic.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam will be oral based on questions and possible practical applications on topics and methodologies presented during the lessons.
AGR/01 - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL APPRAISAL - University credits: 6
Lessons: 48 hours
Professors:
Curzi Daniele, Olper Alessandro
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)