A83525 Sustainable Economic Policy and Management

Scuola di Economia e Management
Syllabus
Academic Year 2016/17 Second Semester

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course the student will be able:

  • to collect and elaborate hard data and factual information regarding the critical global economic and business (i.e. environmental change, climate uncertainty, natural resource scarcity, waste disposal, public health, conflicts, security, and human vulnerability);
  • to assess the local economic implications of global dynamics in sample human habitats in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe (urban contexts, rural areas, marginal and extreme lands);
  • to conduct in-depth analysis of global and local uncertainties and strategic foresight exercise in order to explore various possible scenarios (alternative images of future) of local economic realities (, sector, territory, town, region, country, trade block, monetary zone…);
  • to imagine hypothetic solutions for the benefit of local economic realities (communities) as well as of the world-system (humanity), to face the challenges of 21st century.

Learning targets

The course is aimed to provide the critical knowledge needed to understand the global debate on sustainability and to analyze its implications for economic policy and business strategy.

Course Content

From the economic point of view ‘sustainability’ means adding value to the existing resources and assets one hand; and on the other, preventing the rise of scarcity, cost, crisis and burden for the future.

All economic actors, resources, activities, working tools, techniques and assets are inserted within wider natural and human systems: ecosystems, socio-cultural systems and the institutional frameworks (political system).

Any economic system’s long-term performance depends upon its ability to be in harmony with all those wider systems that envelop the economic system.

An economic system’s harmonization with the wider encompassing systems demands policies and practices that accord maximum priority to the environmental and human problems which often transcend the boundaries of the national and regional economic systems due to the inter-system linkages.

This course aims to provide a critical knowledge needed to understand the global debate on sustainability and to analyze its implications for economic policy and business strategy.

Therefore, this course intends to conduct a logical-consecutive teaching of the following short modules (5 lesson hours for each module, on average):

1.     Introduction to sustainable economy: history of idea and key-concepts (Prolusione: la storia dell’idea ed i concetti-chiave dell’economia sostenibile)

2.     Relevance of sustainability in a contemporary World: critical global economic issues (La rilevanza della sostenibilità nel mondo contemporaneo: criticità economiche globali)

3.     The long view: environmental and socio-economic sustainability in a historical perspective, from Neolithics to our times (Sostenibilità ambientale e socio-economica sotto il profilo storico)

4.     Sustainability through the prism of four dimensions: Habitat, Communitas, Ethos and Business (La sostenibilità attraverso la prospettiva di quattro dimensioni: l’ambiente, la società, la cultura, l’impresa)

5.     Measuring sustainability across the contemporary socio-economic systems (Misurare la sostenibilità nei sistemi socio-economici odierni)

6.     Existing policies and emerging paradigms towards a sustainable economy (Politiche esistenti e paradigmi emergenti verso l’economia sostenibile)

7.     Sustainable business management and the next business horizons (La gestione sostenibile d’impresa ed i nuovi orizzonti di affari)

8.     Sustainable development planning: case studies, examples and field reports (Pianificazione per lo sviluppo sostenibile: casi, esempi e racconti dal campo d’azione).

9.     Concluding remarks: new research prospects (conclusione: nuove prospettive di ricerca).

Course Delivery

The course will be conducted in a mixed format, lectures and discussions, requiring active student involvement. In order to ensure open discussions and active participation of the students, special interactive (questions and answers) period is planned at the end of each lesson session.

Lessons begin in the earliest possible date of the academic semester (around mid-February 2016) and will conclude before the end of academic year (around mid-May 2016).

Students are recommended to study the reading materials suggested and handed-out, to follow the class-room references, to explore the university’s library and other sources, and to go through related scientific journals, professional reports, web-sites and media items.

Students are advised to explore and study the material/links indicated prior to the class-room delivery and also afterwards.

The slides projected in the class-room will be uploaded in the course web-site before the end of the course term.

Research-topics and guidelines for a small project in small groups (team work for class-room presentation) and question-topic for an individual written paper (home assignment) will be provided in the second half of the course term.

Prof. Pant, Dr. Marco Brusati and other research staff of the Interdisciplinary Unit for Sustainable Economy, LIUC) will help the students in team-working (group research) as well as in the entire learning process, in class-room as well as in their offices.

The students are required to submit their individual papers (max. 3 pages + references) before the end of the course; the score-marks on the small group projects and written works will be communicated during the comprehensive final oral exam soon at the end of the course term.

Course Evaluation

Syllabus

Session 1
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: D. Raj Pant

Topics:

  • Introduction to Sustainable Economy
  • History of the ‘sustainability’ idea and related concepts

Readings:

Pant, D.R. (ed.)(2004), Antropologia e Strategia (in Italian), Guerini Scientifica, Milan (Italy)

State of the World 2014: Governing for Sustainability, published by Worldwatch Institute (http://www.worldwatch.org/bookstore/state-of-the-world)

Daly, H. E. (1996), Beyond growth : the Economics of Sustainable Development, Beacon, Boston (Massachusetts, USA)

Session 2
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: D. Raj Pant

Topics:

Relevance of sustainability in a contemporary World: critical global economic issues

Readings:

Biermann, F. , Abbot, K., Andresen et al. (2012).”Transforming governance and institutions for global sustainability: key insights from the Earth System Governance Project”, in: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (Volume 4, Issue 1, February 2012), pp. 51–60 (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343512000152)

Daly, H.E. & Townsend, K.N. (1996, 6th edition), Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics, The MIT Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA)

Henderson, H. (1999), Beyond Globalization: Shaping a Sustainable Global Economy, Kumarian Press, West Hartford (Connecticut), USA

Session 3
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: M. Brusati

Topics:

  • The long view of sustainability: a critical historical assessment
  • The interplay of environmental and socio-economic factors, and the rise of complex civilizations: sustainability in a historical perspective, from the Stone Age to the 21st Century

Readings:

Costanza,R., Graumlich, L. and Steffen, W. (Eds) (2007), Sustainability or Collapse: and integrated History and Future of People on Earth, Dahlem Workshop Reports, MIT, Cambridge (Mass.), USA

Diamond, J. (1997), Guns, Germs and Steel, Jonathan Cape/Random House, London

Session 4
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: M. Brusati

Topics:

Sustainability through the prism of four dimensions: Habitat (environment, landscape, biosphere and technosphere) Communitas (demography and social organization), Ethos (identity and culture) and Business (livelihood, economic activities and market)

Readings:

Global Environment Outlook 6. Environment for the Future We Want (2012), published by United Nations Environment Programme

(http://www.unep.org/geo/geo5.asp)

World Development Report: Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development (2014), published by World Bank

(http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTNWDR2013/Resources/8258024-1352909193861/8936935-1356011448215/8986901-1380046989056/WDR-2014_Complete_Report.pdf)

Environmental Performance 2014, Yale University (http://epi.yale.edu)

World Energy Investment Outlook 2014, published by International Energy Agency (http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/WEIO2014.pdf)

State of the World Population (2013), published by United Nations Population Fund (http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/swp2013/EN-SWOP2013-final.pdf)

Global Land Use Database, Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madisson, USA (http://www.sage.wisc.edu/iamdata/)

Vital Water Graphics: An Overview of the State of the World’s Fresh and Marine Waters (2008, 2nd edition), published by United Nations Environment Programme (http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/index.html)

Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue (2009), published by United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization

(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001852/185202e.pdf)

Session 5
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: M. Brusati

Topics:

Measuring sustainability across the contemporary socio-economic systems

Readings:

How's life? Measuring Well-being (October 2013), a report by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (http://www.oecd.org/statistics/howslife.htm)

Measuring well-being. A short handbook for voluntary organizations and community groups (2012), a report by New Economic Foundation

(http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/measuring-well-being)

Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (2009), final report of the Commission by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Jean-Paul Fitoussi

(http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf)

Session 6
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: M. Brusati

Topics:

Existing policies and emerging paradigms towards a sustainable economy

Readings:

Nachtergaele, F., Bruinsma, J., Valbo-Jorgensen, J. & Bartley, D. (2011). Anticipated trends in the use of global land and water resources, SOLAW Background Thematic Report (TR01), published by Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (http://www.fao.org/nr/solaw/solaw-home/en/).

Pant, D.R. (2013), Managing the Global Waste in 21st Century, LIUC Paper No. 263 (http://www.biblio.liuc.it/liucpap/pdf/263.pdf)

Session 7
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: D. Raj Pant

Topics:

Sustainable business management and the next business horizons

Readings:

European Commission, A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility (report on Sustainable and Responsible Business - Corporate Social Responsibility, 25 October 2011)

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2012), Sustainable business practices: IISD's checklist (http://www.iisd.org/business/tools/principles_sbp.aspx)

Session 8
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: D. Raj Pant

Topics:

Sustainable development planning: case studies, examples and field reports from Armenia, Italy, Mongolia, Nepal and Venezuela

Readings:

Hand-outs delivered in the class-room

Web-links provided in the class-room

Session 9
Hours of lesson: 5
Instructor: D. Raj Pant

Topics:

Final discussions and conclusion: new research prospects

Readings:


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