Matière
Public policies in the face of environmental challenges
Description
This course takes the microeconomic concepts studied in the first year and applies them more concretely to three public policy issues: competition, innovation and environment. The use of these concepts remains non-technical and highly intuitive, so that the course is accessible to all students (from Sciences Po Strasbourg or elsewhere) without any pre-requisites.
The course deals with three questions that can arise in a market economy. These questions have in common the problem of market failure, which requires the implementation of public policies.
- How can a high level of competition be ensured in a market? This requires the implementation of competition policy. We will begin by analysing the objectives and instruments of competition authorities before examining their main areas of intervention, namely mergers, abuses of dominant positions and cartels.
- How can the market be made more innovative? The answer is to encourage R&D. But R&D is a highly uncertain and costly activity. Moreover, there is the problem of appropriating research results. We will see how innovation policy can be used to overcome these obstacles.
- However, innovation and the resulting economic activity of production and consumption inevitably have damaging effects on the environment. This brings us to the central question of the course: Is an efficient market economy compatible with environmental protection?
Much of the course will be devoted to this dilemma. We will begin by examining the position of economists on pollution and the solutions they propose to limit it. Particular attention will be paid to the international dimension of environmental problems and to their inter-temporal dimension through the concept of sustainable development.
Compétences visées
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Understand the key concepts of environmental economics
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Understand the course in a language other than French
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Be able to structure ideas to provide a precise and coherent response to a problem
Discipline(s)
- Sciences économiques
Syllabus
1. How to ensure a high level of competition in a market ?
2. How can the market be made more innovative ?
3. Is an efficient market economy compatible with environmental protection ?
Bibliographie