6 ECTS credits
168 u studietijd

Aanbieding 1 met studiegidsnummer 1023757BNR voor alle studenten in het 2e semester met een verdiepend bachelor niveau.

Semester
2e semester
Inschrijving onder examencontract
Niet mogelijk
Beoordelingsvoet
Beoordeling (0 tot 20)
2e zittijd mogelijk
Ja
Inschrijvingsvereisten
Students must have taken ‘Intermediate Micro-economics' or 'Micro-economie' and 'Intermediate Macro-economics' or 'Macro-economie', before they can enroll in ‘Sustainability Economics'.
Onderwijstaal
Engels
Faculteit
Faculteit Sociale Wetensch & SolvayBusinessSchool
Verantwoordelijke vakgroep
Business Technology and Operations
Onderwijsteam
Cathy Macharis (titularis)
Tom Vermeiren
Maja Lardot
Onderdelen en contacturen
24 contacturen Hoorcollege
24 contacturen Werkcolleges, practica en oefeningen
120 contacturen Zelfstudie en externe werkvormen
Inhoud

Everything revolves around the interaction between the economic system and the socio-ecological system. First, the current theories and the new thinking frameworks should be discussed. Subsequently, one can go deeper into various topics that lie at the interface and therefore completely in the domain of Ecological economics.

The course contains the following aspects:

  • The place and significance of environmental issues in economic theories
  • The effects of economic activity on ecosystems and their theoretical framework
  • The constraints that developing ecosystems place on economic growth
  • The different ways to conceptualize and measure sustainability at the global and national level, as well as at the corporate level
  • Why and how is the environment valued, in money or otherwise?
  • Environmental policy and its effects on companies

More specifically:

  • Etymological, epistemological, historical and theoretical foundations of the study of the interaction between the economic and ecological domain
  • Basic model of the environmental economy (weighing control versus damage costs; valuation of damage or benefits of environmental conservation; Coase theorem; role of the government incl. overview of quality goals and risk approach)
  • Analysis of the key concepts of environmental economics: externalities, public goods, carbon tax, permits, etc.
  • Discussion of the central concept of "value" and critical analysis of the main methods for valuing environmental goods.
  • Environmental policy instruments (evaluation criteria; permits; levies; tradable emission permits (mainly applied to EU system in climate policy); deposits, subsidies, etc.; optimal mix)
  • Discussion on carbon emissions trading (EU Emissions Tracking Scheme, ETS, compensation, etc.)
  • The international dimension of environmental issues (with a focus on trade and climate change)
  • Discussion of the relationship between economic growth, environmental quality and well-being
  • Discussion of key concepts in the economy/ecology debate: entropy, circularity, evolution, etc.
  • Complementary contributions to traditional economic theory: theory of habits, technological constraint, alternative indicators of GDP, etc.
  • Discussion of the analysis of the principles of environmental asset management (importance of taking uncertainty into account and its relation to time through discounting) through different examples such as economic analyzes related to climate change or biodiversity
  • Circular economy" includes (i) the analysis of the basic economic models for the extraction of non-renewable resources and (ii) the interaction of different policy instruments used to arrive at a more circular economy model of production, consumption and recycling.
  • Placing these complementary concepts in the perspective of the transition theory (niche theory, cooperation, citizen participation, essential economy, etc.)
  • Be open to transdisciplinary approaches and the logic of co-creation to shed light on understanding the role of social economy initiatives in the ecological and social transition
  • Evaluation methods for assessing projects under uncertainty (deciding under uncertainty including option value; updating; cost benefit analysis; cost effectiveness; participatory decision making)
  • Inspiring examples by Firms
Studiemateriaal
Digitaal cursusmateriaal (Vereist) : Slides, Lectures and Papers
Bijkomende info

Sustainable development was defined in the Brundtland report as: "Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations".

Economics is about choices and needs and sustainability touches on that at its core. Meanwhile, there are different interpretations and frameworks of the concept of sustainability and how the economic, social and ecological can be brought together. There clearly is tension between the evolution of the economic system and ecological boundaries, and a transition to a different way of thinking and living is imperative. HI and TEW students need to understand these frameworks and the social challenges and receive guidelines on how to deal with them. What opportunities are there for companies in this transition and how can they deal with the various challenges imposed on companies through environmental and other regulations. Every company has to deal with sustainability issues and we have to arm our students for this and also give them an extra advantage by taking this much needed knowledge to companies.

Leerresultaten

Algemene Competenties

  • Creating insight into the complexity of sustainability issues and framing these within universally/globally recognized sustainability frameworks (eg SDGs)
  • Developing the understanding of future managers in the multidirectional and complex relationships between economic systems and socio-ecological systems
  • Provide students with facts, concepts, theories and analytical tools to help analyze these relationships
  • Improved awareness and understanding of what these relationships mean in terms of business management in the 21st century. Attention is paid to both local and global developments
  • Make sustainable, innovative and resilient choices based on knowledge of- and insight into economic processes
  • Striving for ethical, deontological and socially responsible thinking and entrepreneurship while reflecting on one's own actions (self-awareness competence)
  • Gain knowledge about the effects of economic activities on the environment, the constraints ecosystems place on these activities, and the ways in which economics science has conceptualized this two-way relationship
  • This knowledge should enable the student to be critically aware of the effects companies have on their environment and to develop well-informed and responsible management strategies

 

Beoordelingsinformatie

De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
Examen Schriftelijk bepaalt 100% van het eindcijfer

Binnen de categorie Examen Schriftelijk dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:

  • Schriftelijk Examen met een wegingsfactor 100 en aldus 100% van het totale eindcijfer.

Aanvullende info mbt evaluatie

Not applicable.

Toegestane onvoldoende
Kijk in het aanvullend OER van je faculteit na of een toegestane onvoldoende mogelijk is voor dit opleidingsonderdeel.

Academische context

Deze aanbieding maakt deel uit van de volgende studieplannen:
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: Standaard traject
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor politieke wetenschappen
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor rechten
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor sociologie
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor wijsbegeerte en moraalwetenschappen
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor management en beleid van de gezondheidszorg
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: Verkort traject na vooropleiding Professionele bachelor Bedrijfsmanagement met Afstudeerrichting Accountancy-fiscaliteit of Financie- en verzekeringswezen
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: Verkort traject na vooropleiding Professionele bachelor Bedrijfsmanagement met Afstudeerrichting Logistiek Management of Professionele bachelor toegepaste informatica
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: Verkort traject na vooropleiding Professionele bachelor Bedrijfsmanagement met Afstudeerrichting Marketing
Bachelor in de toegepaste economische wetenschappen: minor onderwijs
Bachelor of Business Economics: International Business (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)