Economics of the Environment
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ECO-6003B - Economics of the Environment
Introduction
For this assessment, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of a young economics graduate
working in the Government Economic Service as an environmental economist. Your job is
to help your Minister prepare to discuss environmental challenges in front of parliamentary
committees, meetings with international counterparts, lobby groups, or simply journalists.
The Minister is very busy, and is not an expert in (environmental) economics, but likes to be
well prepared for their meetings.
Your task is to prepare and submit a short Policy Brief that addressed a current environmental
problem of your choice, briefly frames it within the context of (environmental) economic theory,
and argues for a well-motivated policy intervention aimed at tackling the issue.
As the Minister has little time, the brief must not exceed 1363 words (+10%). Luckily for
you, this report will also contribute 50% towards your final mark in this module!
The essay must be an individual effort and the deadline for submission is June 6, 2022. The
assignment must be submitted electronically via BB (Turnitin).
What is a policy brief?
A policy brief is ‘a concise summary of a particular issue, the policy options to deal with it,
and some recommendations on the best option [. . .] aimed at government policymakers and
others who are interested in formulating or influencing policy.’1
According to FAO (2011), a policy brief should...
▷ Provide enough background for the reader to understand the problem.
▷ Convince the reader that the problem must be addressed urgently.
▷ Provide information about alternatives/provide evidence to support one alternative.
▷ Stimulate the reader to make a decision.
To achieve its objectives, a policy brief should be short and to the point. It should not go into
all the details, but rather provide clear information for the reader to understand the issue and
come to a decision.
A good policy brief is based on firm, impartial, credible evidence and reasoning. Ideally, your
evidence comes from different sources and the theory should be based on accepted methods
and principles.
Successful briefs focus on insights rather than on methodology. Your Minister, and the readers
are interested in what you found and what you recommend, they do not need nor want to
know all details of the methodology.
1FAO, Food Security Communications Toolkit (2011), 4.1 – available here.
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ECO-6003B - Economics of the Environment Spring 2021/22
What should you do?
The aim of this piece of work is to demonstrate your ability to deploy your knowledge and
showcase your understanding of environmental economics and to communicate it effectively.
I expect you to identify the relevant market failures and frame any suggested corrective policy
within the relevant theoretical context. You may provide empirical evidence from different
sources, but need to be aware of its possible limitations (is this a published piece of work?
Has it been peer-reviewed? Etc.).
As this is an assessment item pertaining to current events, I would expect you to focus on
an issue that is relevant to current (or at least recent) debates. I am happy for you to be
inspired by a news story reported in a reputable, English-language news outlet (e.g., The
Financial Times, BBC News, the Wall Street Journal, etc.) as your inspiration – make sure
you acknowledge any sources you refer to!
As a first step, you should summarise the issue, providing sufficient information to make your
analysis understandable to a reader without prior knowledge of the problem at hand.
You should then demonstrate your understanding of environmental economics by framing and
analyzing the issue you selected making use of the concepts covered in the module.
Your final step is to recommend a policy measure (i.e., a target and an instrument) aimed at
solving the problem you are discussing. It is particularly important that you explain to your
Minister why you think this is the ‘best’ instrument for the job!
The markers will look for relevance, originality, coherence, balance, and use of detail. The
ability to present your essay clearly and fluently, with correct grammar and spelling, of the
required length and using a word processor is integral to the assessment. The rubric of this
assignment has been posted on BB.