ACE3013 : Rural Environmental Policy Evaluation (2009)
| Semester 1 | 10 Credits |
| ECTS Credit Value | 5.0 |
Summary
This module introduces students to a range of economic techniques that may be used to inform cost-benefit analysis (CBA). These methods and the CBA framework are discussed in detail with particular reference to their use in incorporating environmental values into project and policy evaluation. Finally, alternative approaches to the evaluation of environmental impacts are discussed.
Aims
(i) To raise students' awareness of the economic and other approaches that can be used to evaluate projects and policies that impact on the environment;
(ii) To provide students with a basic understanding of cost-benefit analysis and its applications to projects with significant environmental impacts;
(iii) To introduce students to a range of economic techniques used to estimate environmental costs and benefits;
(iv) To introduce students to an alternative approach to cost-benefit analysis.
Outline Of Syllabus
What are environmental values?
Cost-based approaches to environmental valuation
Cost benefit analysis (CBA)
Contingent valuation
Travel cost methods
Hedonic pricing
Quality of Life Assessment (QLA)
Environmental valuation in practice
Intended Knowledge Outcomes
By the end of these lectures and after undertaking additional reading, students should:
(i) appreciate the theoretical basis of cost-benefit analysis in economics and its strengths and limitations when applied to project or policy appraisal in the environment;
(ii) understand the rationale behind environmental valuation and be able to explain the limitations of making decisions based solely on the economic valuation of environmental goods and services;
(iii) understand the different categories of environmental values and explain how they arise;
(iv) be able to describe and critically evaluate some commonly used techniques for estimating the costs and benefits of policies and projects in the environment.
(v) be able to compare CBA with at least one alternative technique (e.g. Quality of Life Assessment) for evaluating projects and policies with significant environmental impacts.
Intended Skill Outcomes
Students should have developed their core skills in questionnaire design, written communication and problem solving through the assessed exercise which will ask them to design and evaluate a contingent valuation questionnaire that could be used to assess the benefits associated with some change in the level of environmental goods or services.
Teaching Rationale And Relationships
Lectures provide the basic knowledge framework and appropriate further reading will provide insight into a range of issues of how the environmental impacts associated with policies and projects in the countryside can be evaluated for appraisal purposes. Open discussions within lectures will provide an opportunity to articulate and critically evaluate alternative approaches to the evaluation of policies and projects with significant environmental impacts. They will also provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate that, when appropriate, they can suggest new hypotheses, and show initiative and orginality in approaching evaluation.
Reading List
- Cost - Benefit Analysis and the Environment (Essential reading)
Author: Hanley and Spash
Notes: 1993, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham - Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment (Essential reading)
Author: Pearce DW. and Kerry Turner R.
Notes: 1990, Harvester Wheatsheaf, London - Economic Valuation of the Environment : Methods and Case Studies (Essential reading)
Author: Garrod GD. and Willis KG.
Notes: 1999, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham - Redesigning Environmental Valuation (Essential reading)
Author: Powe, N. 2007, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Notes: 2007, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham - Cost Benefit Analysis (5th edition) (Recommended reading)
Author: Mishan, EJ & Quah, E
Notes: 2007, Routledge, Abington
Staff
| Mr Guy Garrod |
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