In this course, Dr Paul Burke will teach you how economic approaches can be used to improve the management of valuable, but often under-priced, environmental assets.

Course overview

Australia and the world face serious challenges in the form of local, national, and global environmental problems and in sustainably managing important resources such as fish stocks and fresh water. Economics provides an important framework to understand the causes of these challenges and the best policy approaches for addressing them.

In this course, Dr Paul Burke will show how economic approaches can be used to better manage our natural environment. You will learn how environmental policy goals can be achieved in a cost-effective manner if the appropriate policy settings are put in place.

The course will cover issues in the design of conservation policies and the successful use of economic approaches in managing air pollution, biodiversity, local salinity, and key resources such as fisheries. The economic concepts of market failure, externalities, public goods, and market-based instruments will all be covered. The course will also review how ideas from the relatively new field of behavioural economics can be incorporated into environmental policy.

The convenor will share insights into how economic ideas for environmental and resource management can be successfully communicated to policymakers, stakeholders, and the public. The day involves highly interactive learning and case studies from Australia and overseas. The course is tailored to the non-economist; no prior knowledge of economics is required.

Course convenor

Dr Paul Burke

Paul Burke is a Fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. He works on the economics of energy, the environment, and developing countries. His ongoing research includes analysis of the suitability of economic approaches to reducing China’s emissions from coal use. Paul was formerly an economist with Mekong Economics Ltd conducting research and project management for the World Bank and other aid donors. He teaches postgraduate courses in Environmental Economics and in Microeconomics at the ANU and has won a College prize for his teaching excellence. Paul is a frequent contributor to the Australian policy discussion on economic approaches to environmental challenges.

Course date:9.30am–4.30pm 19 July 2016
Venue: Crawford School, ANU
Enrol: T 02 6125 2154 E csee@anu.edu.au
Cost: $1,100 GST incl; Group discounts applicable