Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide a theoretical framework for interpreting the links between the economic system and the environment and for analyzing the decision-making process of the public operator from both a normative and a positive approach in order to deal with environmental problems deriving from economic activities.

Aims and learning outcomes

The general training objective is the knowledge and understanding of reference methodologies for the analysis of phenomena related to environmental degradation and externalities, the use of natural resources and their interactions with the functioning of the economy, and the process of economic growth and development. To this end, a further learning objective is the knowledge and understanding of reference methodologies for the application of economic and political evaluation processes for environmental change.

The expected learning outcomes to be ascertained are:

Knowledge and understanding. Students should acquire effective theoretical and applied knowledge to understand the relationships between environmental protection, the pursuit of economic efficiency, and market failure. This summarises the criterion of sustainability as the synthesis between the ability to promote growth through the optimal allocation of resources and goods and the ability to preserve the ecological basis of development itself.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. Students should be able to apply knowledge and understanding to critically assess the role of environmental policy and public intervention in orienting and regulating markets and operators towards the goal of sustainability: assessing how public and private choices in environmental matters affect the distribution of resources and income in the national economy, between rich and poor countries in the world and the allocation of resources to future development; assessing the main economic effects of alternative hypotheses of environmental instruments and policies (environmental taxation, pollution certificates, green economy, etc.).

Autonomy of judgment. The student must be able to apply the acquired knowledge with autonomous ability in different application contexts. Students will achieve autonomous judgment skills and a critical spirit on environmental policy proposals and choices at the end of the course. They will be able to investigate the main economic effects of public and private environmental choices, both from the point of view of equity and efficiency.

Communication skills. Students acquire the technical language typical of the discipline to communicate clearly and unambiguously with specialist and non-specialist interlocutors: companies and institutions that relate to environmental and economic variables in the formulation of their decisions.

Learning skills. The student must develop adequate learning skills that will allow him/her to continue to independently deepen the main themes of the discipline, especially in the working contexts in which he/she will operate. The course will provide students with various methodologies for evaluating environmental costs and benefits, characterized by a rigorous formal approach.