Teaching modules
ECB030: Energy and Environment
Department: Economics
In this module students are encouraged to address four principal topics that underlie the whole field of sustainability of the modern economy: energy economics, environmental economics, climate change policy and energy industry regulation.
The issues covered in energy economics and environmental economics are related to the students’ developing knowledge of economic theory in their core modules and the objective is to place their knowledge of economic theory into the context of modelling of behavioural responses in real world energy markets and environmental problems.
With this theoretical background, the students are then able to address major policy issues. The chief of these is climate change policy, and the module examines in depth the whole debate arising from the Stern Review on the economics of climate change and the subsequent responses to this.
Core to this analysis is the problem of policy making under uncertainty, and the image that you can see here reflects a famous debate on the optimal split between carbon taxes and carbon permits when there is uncertainty about the social cost of carbon and the marginal abatement cost.
Policy decisions are implemented through the regulation of energy networks and therefore regulatory economics is the final broad topic to be addressed.
