This lecture is an introduction to Environmental Policy a course given at the University of Gothenburg in the spring of 2014. The purpose of the course is to highlight the need of implementing effective environmental policies and thus the course evaluates and discusses already existing instruments and their impact and political feasibility in different settings.
In this first lecture, divided into three parts, Professor Thomas Sterner from the University of Gothenburg gives an introduction to the topic.
Lecture 1 Part 1
The first 10 minutes of this introductory lecture Professor Thomas Sterner introduces himself, the Environmental Economics Department at the University of Gothenburg and the course literature. As the lecturing starts in part 1 Sterner gives an overview of how policy instruments work and explains why it is important to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of the different methods. He discusses the role of incentives exemplifying by how a small policy change in Sweden increased the amount of marriages by three times for a couple of years. Sterner goes on and presents the concept of externalities.
