Prof Robin Burgess SAL.3.03 and Prof Philippe Aghion SAL.2.30

This course is available on the MRes/PhD in Economics and MRes/PhD in Economics and Management. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course will cover advanced topics in environmental economics where current research is active. It is intended to introduce research students in economics to the latest research in environmental economics and to serve as an input into the research work of these students. This course complements Environmental Economics for Research Student I in the Autumn Term.

The course explores the literature on the implementation of adaptive and mitigation policies. In particular:

• Growth and the environment;
• Adaptation and social protection;
• Climate justice;
• Conservation and biodiversity: terrestrial and oceans;
• Clean air and water;
• Energy equality;
• Cost of environmental regulation;
• Behavioural economics and environmental policy;
• Trade and the environment;
• Migration and the environment.

30 hours of lectures in the WT.

This course is delivered through lectures totalling a minimum of 30 hours across Winter Term. Attendance is compulsory.

Students will discuss papers in lectures.

The course combines theory and empirics and has a strong applied focus. There is no textbook for the course. Students will instead be required to engage with academic papers at the frontier of the literature, as well as with historic seminal works.



The following are examples of some essential readings students can expect to engage with, though the course will evolve with the literature in this field:

• Jayachandran, S., 2022. How economic development influences the environment. Annual Review of Economics, 14, pp.229-252.
• Banzhaf, S., Ma, L. and Timmins, C., 2019. Environmental justice: The economics of race, place, and pollution. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(1), pp.185-208.
• Dasgupta, P., 2021. The economics of biodiversity: the Dasgupta review. Hm Treasury.
• Burgess, R., Colmer, J. M., & Greenstone, M. (2023). The economics of marine conservation. Working Paper.
• Duflo, E., Greenstone, M., Pande, R. and Ryan, N., 2013. Truth-telling by third-party auditors and the response of polluting firms: Experimental evidence from India. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128(4), pp.1499-1545.
• Kremer, M., Leino, J., Miguel, E. and Zwane, A.P., 2011. Spring cleaning: Rural water impacts, valuation, and property rights institutions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(1), pp.145-205.
• Burgess, R., Greenstone, M., Ryan, N. and Sudarshan, A., 2020. The consequences of treating electricity as a right. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(1), pp.145-169.
• Abito, J.M., 2020. Measuring the welfare gains from optimal incentive regulation. The Review of Economic Studies, 87(5), pp.2019-2048.
• Allcott, H., 2011. Social norms and energy conservation. Journal of public Economics, 95(9-10), pp.1082-1095.
• Barrows, G. and Ollivier, H., 2021. Foreign demand, developing country exports, and CO2 emissions: Firm-level evidence from India. Journal of Development Economics, 149, p.102587.

Problem sets (100%) in the WT.

There will be three assessment exercises in WT.  These assessment exercises may include preparing a research paper proposal, an empirical exercise analysing data, a computation exercise, solving a theoretical exercise, or evaluating a recent unpublished working paper. Each assessment exercise will carry equal weight.