Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2501915 Environmental Sciences | OB | 2 | 2 |
It is recommended to have studied the subject Human Uses of the Earth System of the 1st year.
Contextualization
The subject Environmental and Natural Resources Economy (EARN) belongs to the subject "Economics for the environmental sciences" of the Degree in Environmental Sciences
taught by the Faculty of Sciences. This subject concentrates all the subjects of economics, that are distributed by professors of the Faculty of Economy and Company.
EARN contributes essentially to the process of learning and learning of the 2nd Course because it introduces concepts and tools of the economy that are shown basic to better
understand the relationship between human and natural systems. In particular, we explore the biophysical analysis of the economic process, in what use humans use
the different resources and services that the Earth system offers us.
In addition, it participates in the professional training of the students given that it fosters learning in a series of general competences (among them, the ability to reason
critically and improve self-employment strategies), transversal (for example, to know how to select and generate the information necessary to understand the economic
dynamics of the present and its relation with the environment and the use of natural resources) and specific (to distinguish the biophysical aspects of human activity and
to identify and analyze the impacts environmental aspects of economic activity) that will be very useful for future professionals in the analysis, conservation and
management of the environment and natural resources.
Training objectives
The objective of the subject is double, on the one hand, to understand the basic concepts of the economy that should allow us to understand human systems as systems
open to the entry of energy and materials, and to the waste exit. That is, we study the biophysical functioning of economies, what is knownas"social metabolism"
and the role that naturalresources play in maintaining the economic system.
At the end of the course the student will have a clearer idea of:
i) The basic concepts of the economy and its use in environmental sciences;
ii) The basic literature of the methods and concepts presented;
iii) The relationship between the economic process of human systems and the land system, as well as the different approaches used to analyze this interaction.
FIRST PART
1. The economic system and the environment. Economy and ecological economy: conceptual and methodological aspects.
Basic Reading:
2. Markets and prices: supply and demand.
Basic Reading:
3. Production and costs.
Basic Reading:
4. Market structures: competitive markets and non-competitive markets.
Basic Reading:
5. Fundamentals of public sector intervention.
Basic Reading:
6. Macroeconomics: the economic system from an aggregateperspective.
Basic Reading:
7. Macroeconomic accounting and environmental accounts.
Basic Reading:
SECOND PART
1. Ownership and access to natural resources
a. Typology of property rights and their relationship with the management of natural resources
b. Governance of the Commons: Theory and Examples. Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons
c. Processes of access and exclusion to natural resources
d. Examples: global commons (sea and atmosphere), biopiracy, land-grabbing
Basic reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 431-434.
Additional Reading: Aguilera 1992; GRAIN 2014.
2. Analysis of non-renewable resources
a. Resource base and reserves
b. The Hubbert curve
c. Hotelling's rule: optimal resource extraction path
d. Backstop technologies
e. The rule of El Serafy
f. EROI or energy rate of return on energy investment
g. Nuclear energy, waste, time and discount
Basic Reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 110-118, 382-417.
Additional Reading: Romero 1997: 77-102; Espinoza et al., 2019.
3. Analysis of renewable resources
a. Sustainable performance. Biological vs economic models
b. Forest economics: technical forestry shift; Faustmann's rule; forest environmental services
c. Fisheries economics: biological model and economic model
Basic Reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 418-458.
Additional Reading: Romero 1997: 103-159.
4. Instruments of environmental economic policy
a. Externalities
b. Optimal level of contamination
c. Internalization of externalities
d. Pigou and green taxation
e. Coase and the emission rights market
f. Payment for environmental services
Basic Reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 131-230.
Complementary Reading: Martínez and Kosoy 2007; Puig and Freire 2007; Romero 1997: 29-50.
5. Monetary valuation and the environment
a. Ecological value and economic value
b. Families of economic valuation methods
c. Total economic value
d. Discount rate
Basic Reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 231-328.
Additional Reading: Agüero et al. 2005; Romero 1997: 51-76.
6. Cost-benefit analysis
a. Economic and political democracy
b. Arrow's impossibility theorem
c. Kaldor-Hicks compensation criterion
d. Relationship between efficiency and equity
e. Risk, uncertainty and irreversibility
Basic Reading: Martínez Alier and Roca Págs. 231-328.
Additional Reading: Munda 1996.
7. Multi-criteria evaluation
a. Methodological foundations (substantive andprocedural rationality, complexity and post-normal science).
b. Structuring of a multi-criteria problem (alternatives and criteria, weighting of the criteria).
c. Main discrete multi-criteria approaches (Utility approach, MAUT; Improvement methods; NAIADE).
d. Examples
Basic Reading: Munda 2004.
Additional Reading: Falconí and Burbano 2004.
1. Master class
The teacher will perform an analytical conceptualization and an updated synthesis of each of the study topics shown in the didactic units.
The objective of this activity is to facilitate the transmission of knowledge and the motivation for the analysis of the relationship between human activity and the environment,
which are focused in order to promote active and cooperative learning.
2. Practical sessions
They are structured into three types of activities:
1) exercise and examples on scientific writing
2) research, interpretation and analysis of economic variables and their relation with the environment
3) presentation and discussion of a group essay.
With these activities the students will not only consolidate the knowledge learned in the master classes but will learn to do individual and group research, analyze information, synthesize it, defend it, and discuss it.
3. Field work
Visit to a venue or institution which stands out in terms of integral management of production and/or waste management.
4. Tutorials
The process of learning and acquisition of competences will be supervised by the teacher through individual and / or group tutorials.
The teacher of the subject will be available to the students to solve the doubts and follow the evolution of the mentioned process of learning and acquisition of
competences of the students.
5. Virtual campus
In face-to-face teaching, the Virtual Campus is a useful tool, so that students have a complementary space where they can access different types of materials
that the teacher considers essential to advance in the learning process of the subject. To access it you just have to go to the website of the UAB and there you will find the link
(http://www.uab.es/interactiva/default.htm), or be directly on the campus webpage virtual (https://cv2008.uab.cat/).
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Field work | 4 | 0.16 | 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 |
Solving problems classes 1st part. Activities, exercises, data information research, debates | 9 | 0.36 | 5, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 14, 12 |
Solving problems classes 2nd part. Work development | 9 | 0.36 | 5, 2, 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 14, 12 |
Teaching master class | 45 | 1.8 | 5, 3, 9, 10, 13, 12 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Teaching laboratory preparation following the professor guide | 30 | 1.2 | 5, 2, 10 |
Tutoring | 10 | 0.4 | |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Bibliography search information | 12 | 0.48 | 2, 15, 14 |
Reading and theory study | 52 | 2.08 | 2, 15 |
Teaching laboratory preparation | 23 | 0.92 | 2, 1, 15, 14 |
The evaluation of the subject will be based on the continuous evaluation of the process of acquisition of knowledge and skills by the students.
The evaluation of the first part is as follows:
The evaluation of the second part is as follows:
To make an average of the different continuous assessment tests, it is necessary to obtain a minimum of 3 out of 10 in each of the tests.
Students who have failed the continuous assessment with a grade between 3.5 and 4.9 will have the right to a final theoretical exam. To be able to take the exam, the student must have been evaluated in a set of activities whose weight is at least 2/3 of the total grade for the subject.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Group essay (part 1) | 12,5% | 13 | 0.52 | 5, 2, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 14, 12 |
Group essay (part 2) | 25% | 14 | 0.56 | 5, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 14, 12 |
Written test (part 1) | 37,5% | 2 | 0.08 | 5, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 12 |
Written test (part 2) | 25% | 2 | 0.08 | 5, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1, 15, 14, 12 |
(Basic literature in bold)
Blanco, J.M. (2008) Economía. Teoría y práctica. 5ª ed. MC Graw Hill.
Common, M., Stagl, S. (2008) Introducción a la Economía Ecológica, Ed. Reverté.
Krugman, P., Wells R., Olney, M.L. (2012) Fundamentos de economía, 3 ed. Ed. Reverté.
Martínez Alier, J., Roca, J. (2013). Economía ecológica y política ambiental, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 639 p. Biblioteca CC.SS. E17.80 Mar, Biblioteca Ciencias 504.03 Mar
Munda, G. (1996): “Cost-benefit analysis in integrated environmental assessment: some methodological issues”, Ecological Economics, Vol. 19: 157-168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0921-8009(96)00048-1
Romero, C. (1997). Economía de los recursos ambientales y naturales, Alianza , Madrid, 214 p.
Samuelson, P., Nordhaus, W. (2005) Economía 18a. Edició, Mc. Graw Hill.
Agüero, A.A., Carral, M., Sauad, J.J., Yazlle, L.L. (2005): “Aplicación del método de valoración contingente en la evaluación del sistema de gestión de residuos sólidos domiciliarios en la ciudad de Salta, Argentina”, Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 2: 37-44. Versión electrónica disponibleenhttp://redibec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/rev2_04_2005.pdf
Aguilera, F. (2008). La nueva economía del agua. Los libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 160 p. Biblioteca CC.SS. E17.60 Agu
Aguilera, F. (1992): “El fin de la tragedia de los comunes”, Ecología Política, Nro. 3: 137-145. Disponible online en http://www.ecologiapolitica.info/novaweb2/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/3.pdf
Azqueta, D. (2002). Introducción a la Economía Ambiental, McGraw Hill Profesional, Madrid, 420 p. Biblioteca CC.SS. E17.80 Azq. Biblioteca Ciencias 504.03 Azq
Carpintero, O. (2005). El metabolismo de la economía española. Recursos naturales y huella ecológica (1955 – 2000). Fundación César Manrique, Lanzarote, 636 p. Libro completo disponible en:http://www.fcmanrique.org/recursos/publicacion/elmetabolismo.pdf
Espinoza, V.S., Fontalvo, J., Martí-Herrero, J., Ramírez, P., Capellán-Pérez, I. (2019): “Future oil extraction in Ecuador using a Hubbert approach”, Energy, Vol. 182: 520-534. Disponible en http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.061
Falconí, F., Burbano, R. (2004). Instrumentos económicos para la gestión ambiental: decisiones monocriteriales versus decisiones multicriteriales. Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 1: 11-20. Versión electrónica disponible en http://www.redibec.org/ccount/click.php?id=2
GRAIN (2014): Hambrientos de tierra: los pueblos indígenas y campesinos alimentan al mundo con menos de un cuarto de la tierra agrícola mundial. Disponible online en https://www.grain.org/es/article/entries/4956-hambrientos-de-tierra-los-pueblos-indigenas-y-campesinos-alimentan-al-mundo-con-menos-de-un-cuarto-de-la-tierra-agricola-mundial
Jacobs, M. (1997). La economía verde. Icaria Editorial, Barcelona, 431 p. Biblioteca CC.SS E17.80 Jac
Madrid, C., Velázquez, E. (2008). El metabolismo hídrico y los flujos de agua virtual. Una aplicación al sector hortofrutícola de Andalucía (España).Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 8: 29-47. Versión electrónica disponible en http://www.redibec.org/ccount/click.php?id=46
Martinez Alier, J., (2005). El ecologismo de los pobres. Un estudio de conflictos ecológicos y lenguajes de valoración, Icaria, Barcelona. Biblioteca CC.SS. E17.01 Mar, Biblioteca Ciencias 504.03 Mar
Martínez Tuna, M., Kosoy daroqui, N. (2007). Compensaciones monetarias y conservación de bosques. Pagos por servicios ambientales y pobreza en una comunidad rural en Honduras. Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 6: 40-51. Versión electrónica disponible en http://www.redibec.org/ccount/click.php?id=33
Munda,G. (2004). Métodos y procesos multicriterio para la evaluación social de las políticas públicas. Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 1: 31-45. Versión electrónica disponible en http://www.redibec.org/ccount/click.php?id=46
Pearce, D., Turner, K. (1995). Economía de los recursos naturales y del medio ambiente. Colegio de Economistas de Madrid Celeste, 448 p. Biblioteca CC.SS. E17.80 Pea, Biblioteca Ciencias 504.03 Pea
Puig, I., Freire, J. (2007): “Efectos de las políticas ambientales sobre la competitividad”, Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Vol. 6: 52-61. Versión electrónica disponible en http://redibec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/rev6_04.pdf
Ramos-Martin, J. (2001): “De Kyoto a Marrakech: historia de una flexibilización anunciada”, Ecología Política 22: 45-56. Versión electrónica disponible en http://www.ecologiapolitica.info/ep/22.pdf
Ramos-Martin, J. (2004). La perspectiva biofísica de la relació home-natura: Economia Ecològica, en J. Valdivielso (Ed.), Les dimensions socials de la crisi ecològica, Edicions UIB, Palma de Mallorca, 316 p. Biblioteca CC.SS E17.01 Dim
No need for specific software.