Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2501573 Economics | OT | 3 | 2 |
2501573 Economics | OT | 4 | 1 |
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
They have not been established.
The objective of the subject is twofold, on the one hand, to understand the basic concepts of economics that must allow us, on the other, to understand human systems as open systems for the entry of energy and materials and the exit of waste. In other words, the biophysical functioning of economies is studied, which is known as “social metabolism” and the role that natural resources have in maintaining the economic system.
The course also studies the application of economic theory to the analysis and management of natural resources. Decisions on renewable and exhaustible natural resources and on pollution can be based on the balance of monetary costs and benefits. But this approach has limitations. For this reason, the alternative of multi-criteria evaluation of resource management decisions is also proposed.
1. Introduction. The economy as an open subsystem within the biosphere
Main economic figures and aggregates
The income cycle and the generation of added value
Natural resources in the economic process
The laws of thermodynamics and their economic interpretation
The arrow of time and evolution.
2. Monetary evaluation and the environment
Ecological value and economic value
Families of economic valuation methods
Total economic value
Discount rate
3. Instruments of environmental economic policy
Externalities
Optimal level of pollution
Internalization of externalities
Pigou and green taxation
Coase and the emission rights market
Payment for environmental services
4. Cost-benefit analysis
Economic and political democracy
Arrow's impossibility theorem
Kaldor-Hicks compensation criterion
Relationship between efficiency and equity
Risk, uncertainty and irreversibility
5. Multi-criteria evaluation
Methodological foundations (substantive and procedural rationality, complexity and post-normal science).
Structuring of a multi-criteria problem (alternatives and criteria, weighting of the criteria).
Main discrete multi-criteria approaches (Utility approach, MAUT; Improvement methods; NAIADE).
Examples
6. Ownership and access to natural resources
Typology of property rights and their relationship with the management of natural resources
Governance of the Commons: Theory and Examples. Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons
Processes of access and exclusion to natural resources
Examples: global commons (sea and atmosphere), biopiracy, land-grabbing
7. Analysis of non-renewable resources
Resource base and reserves
The Hubbert curve
Hotelling's rule: optimal resource extraction path
Backstop technologies
The rule of El Serafy
EROI or energy rate of return on energy investment
Nuclear energy, waste, time and discount
8. Analysis of renewable resources
Sustainable performance. Biological vs economic models
Forest economics: technical forestry shift; Faustmann's rule; forest environmental services
Fisheries economics: biological model and economic model
9. Trade and environment
Determinants of trade: absolute and relative advantages
Governance of international trade (WTO)
Environmental implications of international trade
Unequal exchange, unequal ecological exchange, and unequal caloric exchange
10. Economics and governance of biodiversity
The timeline of biodiversity governance: from the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) to the Nagoya Protocol (2010)
The generation of value from biodiversity (appropriation mechanisms)
Nagoya Protocol and the Multilateral System of Access to Genetic Resources
Fair and equitable distribution derivedfrom access to genetic resources: monetary and non-monetary benefits
11. Economics and governance of climate change
Greenhouse effect and global warming
Climate change governance (UNFCCC and IPCC)
Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, National Communications and NDC
Compliance mechanisms: emissions markets, clean development mechanism, joint implementation.
12. Analysis of the metabolism of societies
Endosomatic and exosomatic energy consumption
Exosomatic evolution of societies (Peak of oil)
Material Flow Analysis
Energy analysis, energy accounting, eMergy, exergy
Multiscale Analysis of the Metabolism of Societies (MuSIASEM)
1. Master class and guided debates
The teacher will perform an analytical conceptualization and an updated synthesis of each of the study topics shown in the teaching units. The aim of this activity is to facilitate the transmission of knowledge and 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
The practical sessions will consist of presentations and the semi-structured discussion that defines the group. This activity will also serve to relate the fundamental concepts of the subject and give proposals for resolving conflicts both from the perspective of Environmental Economics and from the perspective of Ecological Economics.
3. Tutorials
The learning process and acquisition of skills will be supervised by the teacher through individual and / or group tutorials. The teacher will be available to students to resolve doubts and follow the evolution of the aforementioned process of learning and acquisition of skills of students.
4. Virtual Campus of the subject
Inface-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 basic to advance in the learning process of the subject. To access it, all you have to do is go to the UAB website and there you will find the link, or directly to the website of the virtual campus (https://cv.uab.cat/portada/ca/).
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.
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 | |||
Lecture | 32.5 | 1.3 | 2, 3, 1, 6, 7, 8, 5, 10, 4, 9, 11, 12, 18 |
Practical sessions: Development of group work, presentation and discussion in class | 17 | 0.68 | 2, 1, 5, 10, 9, 12 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Tutorials and follow-up of the work to be carried out | 7.5 | 0.3 | 2, 3, 1, 6, 7, 8, 5, 10, 4, 9, 11, 12, 18 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Reading and studying theory | 70 | 2.8 | 2, 1, 6, 8, 10, 12 |
Search for information | 17 | 0.68 | 5 |
Assessment
CONTINUOUS EVALUATION
The evaluation of the subject will be based on a continuous evaluation of the process of acquisition of knowledge and skills by the student and will consist of:
- 2 partial knowledge exams that may combine multiple choice and thematic questions and that will count for 35% of the final grade each.
- A final essay, which will count for 30% of the final grade.
COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION
By requesting the comprehensive evaluation the student waives the option of continuous evaluation.
The comprehensive evaluation must be requested at the Academic Management (Gestió acadèmica) of the Campus where the degree/master's degree is taught. The request must be filed according to the procedure and the deadline established by the administrative calendar of the Faculty of Economics and Business.
Evidence Type |
Weight in the final assessment (%) |
Duration of the activity |
Is the activity that corresponds to this evaluation evidence to be carried out in person on the date scheduled for the comprehensive evaluation? (YES/NO) |
Exam |
70% |
3h |
Yes |
Essay |
30% |
|
No |
TOTAL |
100% |
|
|
For the retake procedure, no distinction is made between students who have followed the continuous evaluation and those who have opted for the comprehensive evaluation. All will be re-assessed using the same test or evaluation evidence.
The review of the final qualification will follow the same procedure as for the continuous evaluation.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Final Essay | 30 | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 1, 7, 9, 11, 16, 12 |
First partial exam | 35 | 2 | 0.08 | 17, 3, 6, 8, 5, 4, 15, 18 |
Second partial exam | 35 | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 3, 1, 6, 7, 8, 5, 10, 4, 9, 11, 14, 13, 12, 18 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY (basic one in bold characters)
Common, Michael S., and Sigrid Stagl (2005). Ecological Economics: an Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991010751826406709
Daly, Herman E., and Joshua C. Farley (2011). Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications. 2nd ed. Washington: Island Press. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991001531189706709
Costanza, R., Segura, O., & Martínez Alier, J. (1996). Getting down to earth: practical applications of ecological economics. Island Press. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991004699359706709
Martínez Alier, Joan., and Klaus Schlüpmann (1987). Ecological Economics: Energy, Environment and Society. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991001038929706709
Padilla Rosa, E. and Ramos-Martin, J. (Eds.) (2023): Elgar Encyclopedia of Ecological Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-80220-040-9.
Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio., and Roldan. Muradian (Eds.) (2023). The Barcelona School of Ecological Economics and Political Ecology A Companion in Honour of Joan Martinez-Alier. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991010787421306709
There is no need for specific software.