Behavioral Environmental Economics Summer School
行為環境經濟學 暑期課程
August 30-31, 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan
Organizers:
Taiwan Association of Environmental and Resource Economics
Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica
Center for Global Change and Sustainability Science, National Taipei University
Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, Executive Yuan
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: August 15, 2018
The Taiwan Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (TAERE) and the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica and the Center for Global Change and Sustainability Science, National Taipei University and Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, Executive Yuan are pleased to announce the first TAERE Summer School in Environmental and Resource Economics for students, researchers and professionals.
The School will take place from August 30 to 31 at the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. The main theme covered by the 2018 Summer School is Behavioral Environmental Economics.
Normative environmental analyses based on the efficiency and cost-benefit criterion at times implied unambiguous policy treatments of environmental problems. However, standard policy instruments such as the Pigovian tax recommended by the environmental and public economists were often unpopular. Aggressive policy actions against climate change also often met with a cold acceptance. Citizens’ assessment of the riskiness of many environmental issues also diverged from many “objective” risk measures for them. While some of these divergences could be explained by the disparity between the individual interest and the collective social interest, or by concerns about the potential re-distributional effects of some “efficient” policies, modern behavioral economics has found abundant evidence that individuals’ preferences may not be so narrowly defined as in the standard economic theory. And these findings about human nature could have profound implications on the design of environmental policies. The aim of TAERE 2018 Summer School is to provide participants with a comprehensive picture of behavioral economics applied to the environmental issues and the basic toolkit required to conduct relevant researches. Therefore, the topics of the 2018 Summer School include:
| • | Behavioral economics and the environmental issues: Overview of the current and potential role of behavioral findings in environmental economics and policy, with specific reference to the incompatibility between the predictions of the standard economic theory and observed behaviors (e.g., sunk cost fallacy, status quo bias, anchoring, fungibility and mental accounting). |
| • | Reference dependent preferences: Environmental valuations and the empirical evidence of “nonstandard” preferences (e.g., reference dependent preferences like loss aversion and the observed disparities between valuations of gains and losses; disparities between the Willingness-to-Pay and the Willingness-to-Accept). Policy implications will be discussed. |
| • | Intertemporal choice in the perspectives from the behavioral theories: Intertemporal preferences and discounting values of future outcomes (e.g., exponential and hyperbolic discounting; present bias and commitment devices; reference dependence and discounting of future gains and future losses). |
| • | Fairness and social preferences: E.g., altruism, trust and reciprocity, and social norms; empirical findings and policy implications. |
| • | “Where are we going?”: Potential role and limitations of behavioral findings and policy design; possible future priorities/directions for environmental behavioral economics. |
The course will be presented in lectures supplemented by small group exercises on chosen topics.
INSTRUCTORS
| • | Jack L. Knetsch, Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| • | Y. Eko Riyanto, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
PARTICIPATION FEE
The fee covers lecturer expenses, downloadable course material, morning and afternoon teas, and two lunches and one dinner included in the School programme. It does not cover accommodations.
* TAERE members: Free of charge (to become a member)
* Non-members: The participation fee is 100 USD (or 3,000 TWD) per person for non-members.
ADMISSION
The Summer School aims at graduate students, postdocs, academic and policy researchers, and professionals from all levels with an interest in behavioral economics and environmental economics.
Summer School Program. Here
Reading list. Here
Summer School Secretariat: taereservice@gmail.com