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Subject identification
Subject 10588 - Environmental Policy Tools
Credits 1.2 in-class (30 hours) 2.8 distance (70 hours) 4 totals (100 hours).
Group Group 1, 2S(Campus Extens) Teaching period 2nd semester
Teaching language English
Lecturers
Timetable for student attention Lecturers
Starting time Finishing time Day Start date Finish date Office 09:30h 10:30h Thursday 01/10/2013 06/06/2014 DB216 14:30h 15:30h Friday 01/10/2013 14/02/2014 DB216 Jenny Carolina De Freitas
Fernandes
[email protected] 16:30h 17:30h Friday 17/02/2014 06/06/2014 DB216
Xavier Labandeira Villot There are no defined sessions
Degrees where the subject is taught
Degree Character Course Studies
Master's Degree in Tourism and Environmental Economics Optional Postgraduate degree
Contextualisation
Today tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world, revitalizing geographical areas and contributing decisively to the economic growth of developed and non-developed countries. Besides this positive side of tourism development, much criticism has arisen due to the tourism industry's negative environmental impact. Today, more than ever, it becomes necessary to find a balance between tourism and the environment.
Facing this challenge, it has been created the Master & PhD in Tourism and Environmental Economics. This postgraduate program combines studies in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics with studies in Tourism Economics. Only by combining both disciplines will students reach the knowledge that will allow them to answer the most important challenges that the tourism industry is facing. Students will be taught on economic and environmental theory as well as on the use of econometric and statistical instruments, thus preparing them to face the challenge of a necessary, new, global understanding of the tourism phenomena.
Environmental Policy Tools is included in Environmental Economics Module. Environmental issues are of great importance to tourism activities, as they are subject to the general regulatory constraints and also because the environment is a key factor for tourism output. Therefore, this course is devoted to study the design and effects of different environmental policy tools in this sector. We first recover the concept of externality and characterize it as an environmental problem with different causes and spatial scope, setting up links with previous courses on microeconomics and environmental valuation. We then define different alternatives to internalize such negative external effects: bargaining, conventional command and control approaches and market-based instruments. We specifically address the role of corrective mechanisms to correct tourism externalities and illustrate it for the case of Spain and other economies. The course also
emphasizes the empirical assessment of different policies, with a summary of effects and a discussion of methods to carry out this evaluation.
Requirements
There are no essential requirements more than demanded in order to be admitted at the MTEE
Recommendable
It is highly recommended to have good knowledge on the following subjects:
Environmental Economics
Methodologies of Environmental Valuation
Skills
Specific
1. To evaluate the consequences of tourism over the environment as long as the effect environmental policies have over the tourism economic activity..
2. To know arguments in favor and against different environmental policies and their consequences. To evaluate and to compare the different possibilities of environmental policies..
3. To do case studies about positive and negative experiences in environmental policies..
Generic
1. To organize the structure of a work process..
2. To be familiar with scientific texts. To search for and to classify documents and data bases..
3. To develop a synthetic and a knowledge integration capacity. To be able to form, to express and to defend concepts clearly, accepting criticism..
Content Theme content
1. Introduction
1.1. Plan of the course and sources
1.2. Environmental degradation as an externality 1.3. Type of environmental problems and their scope 2. Regulating environmental degradation: foundations and design
2.1. Bargaining and intervention 2.2. Command and control approaches 2.3. Market-based instruments: taxes 2.4. Market-based instruments: permits
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2.6. Environmental regulation and the economy 3. Regulation in practice
3.1. Applied instruments and their effects 3.2. Green tax reforms
3.3. Emission trading systems
4. Environmental regulation in the tourism sector 4.1. Impacts of tourism sector
4.2. Environmental costs of tourism 4.3. Environmental Policies in Tourism 4.4. Corrective Taxes in Tourism Sector
Teaching methodology
In-class work activities
Modality Name Typ. Grp. Description
Theory classes Theoretical lessons Large group (G) Theoretical lessons on the covered contents.
Practical classes Practical analysis Large group (G) Practical analysis of issues through class discussion of readings, debates and exercises.
ECTS tutorials Tutorial Medium group (M)Tutorials will be encouraged to fully understand the main concepts and contents.
Assessment Final exam Small group (P) A final written exam on course contents is needed to test good knowledge of the given lessons.
Assessment Oral presentation Large group (G) An oral presentation of a given policy, its possible implications, benefits and drawbacks, with a high priority to a proposal of an environmental policy apropiate for tourism-intensive regions.
Other Participation in
class Large group (G) It's important to make public speeches and to be able to form, to express and to defend concepts clearly, accepting criticism
Distance education work activities
Modality Name Description
Individual self-
study Independent workload Homework related to contents covered during lessons, mainly problem sets. Each assigment will be placed on the course website as early as possible. Students are encouraged to work together in solving the problem sets, but individual assigments are required from each student for grading.
Specific risks and protective measures
The learning activities of this course do not entail specific health or safety risks for the students and therefore no special protective measures are needed.
Workload estimate
Modality Name Hours ECTS %
In-class work activities 30 1.2 30
Theory classes Theoretical lessons 16 0.64 16
Practical classes Practical analysis 8 0.32 8
ECTS tutorials Tutorial 1 0.04 1
Assessment Final exam 2 0.08 2
Assessment Oral presentation 1 0.04 1
Other Participation in class 2 0.08 2
Distance education work activities 70 2.8 70
Individual self-study Independent workload 70 2.8 70
Total 100 4 100
At the beginning of the semester a schedule of the subject will be made available to students through the UIBdigital platform. The schedule shall at least include the dates when the continuing assessment tests will be conducted and the hand-in dates for the assignments. In addition, the lecturer shall inform students as to whether the subject work plan will be carried out through the schedule or through another way included in the Campus Extens platform.
Student learning assessment
If the average grade is a passing grade, then it will not be applied the concept of recoverable in any evaluation method.
Final exam
Modality Assessment
Technique Extended-response, discursive examinations (Retrievable)
Description A final written exam on course contents is needed to test good knowledge of the given lessons.
Assessment criteria At end of the theory lectures there will be a final exam. It comprises all the course content until the date (classnotes, recommended readings, problem sets, etc.).
The exam could either be a multiple test, a problem set, short answer questions or a combination of all of them. The duration will be at most 2 hours.
Percentage of final qualification: 50% following path A
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Oral presentation
Modality Assessment
Technique Papers and projects (Non-retrievable)
Description An oral presentation of a given policy, its possible implications, benefits and drawbacks, with a high priority to a proposal of an environmental policy apropiate for tourism-intensive regions.
Assessment criteria For this assigment students will be organized in small groups. Each group will present in class an environmental policy, its implications to the economy, possible strengths and drawbacks. The students must also handle a short written work with the most relevant information. Capacity of synthesis, comunication skills, quality of the overall presentation and students critical attitude will be evaluated. Details to prepare this homework will be given during the course.
Percentage of final qualification: 20% following path A
Participation in class
Modality Other
Technique Attitude scales (Non-retrievable)
Description It's important to make public speeches and to be able to form, to express and to defend concepts clearly, accepting criticism
Assessment criteria It accounts for 10%
Percentage of final qualification: 10% following path A
Independent workload
Modality Individual self-study
Technique Papers and projects (Non-retrievable)
Description Homework related to contents covered during lessons, mainly problem sets. Each assigment will be placed on the course website as early as possible. Students are encouraged to work together in solving the problem sets, but individual assigments are required from each student for grading.
Assessment criteria To fully dominate the technical details of the material presented in the
theory lectures the student must be able to solve two set of problems based on the material presented in class.
Percentage of final qualification: 20% following path A
Resources, bibliography and additional documentation
Basic bibliography
* Baumol, W. J. and Oates, W. E. (1988) 'The Theory of Environmental Policy'. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
* Bohm, P. and Russell, C. (1985) 'Comparative analysis of alternative policy instruments' In Kneese, A. y Sweeney, J. (ed) Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics. North-Holland, Amsterdam.
* Enders, A. (2011) 'Environmental Economics: Theory and policy'. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
* European Environment Agency (2000) 'Environmental Taxes: Recent Developments in Tools for Integration', Environmental Issues Series, 18
* Labandeira, X., Labeaga, J. M. and Rodríguez, M. (2004) 'Green Tax Reforms in Spain', European Environment, Vol. 14, 5, pp. 290-299
* Gago, A. and Labandeira, X. (1999) La Reforma Fiscal Verde. Teoría y Práctica de la Imposición Ambiental. Ed. Mundi Prensa, Madrid.
* Gago, A., Labandeira, X., Picos, F. and Rodríguez, M. (2005) 'Taxing Tourism in Spain: Results and Recommendations', Nota di Lavoro, FEEM
* Gago, A., Labandeira, X., Picos, F. and Rodríguez, M. (2007) 'Environmental Taxes in Spain: A Missed Opportunity', in Martínez-Vázquez, J. and Sanz, J. F. (eds) Fiscal Reform in Spain: Accomplishments and Challenges, Edward Elgar, Northampton (USA)
* Smith, S. (2003) 'Ecotaxes: What Have We Learned, and How Far Should We Go'' Les séminaires de l'Iddri, 8
Complementary bibliography
Selected papers and resources for each subject will be posted in Campus Extens during the course.
Other resources