Dr Giles Atkinson, S513. Other teacher involved: Dr Susana Mourato, S416

Compulsory for MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation. Optional for MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies, LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Urban Policy, MSc Management and Regulation of Risk, MSc Human Geography (Research), MSc Urbanisation and Development, MSc City Design and Social Science, MPA Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public Policy and Management/MPA International Development/MPA European Public and Economic Policy and MSc Environment and Development. Other graduate students are welcome to attend if their course regulations permit.

This course is concerned with the foundations and practical use of applied economics in the context of project appraisal and policy evaluation and will include the following content. Introduction to economic aspects of project appraisal and cost-benefit analysis. Efficiency, equity and distributional concerns. Measurement of costs and benefits with a specific emphasis on non-market valuation methods such as stated preference approaches. The application of project appraisal methods to policy sectors such as transport and the environment. Seminars will focus extensively on practical case studies of the appraisal of projects by for example development agencies such as The World Bank. Examples particularly from environmental, health, development and transport policy in the developed and developing world.

Twenty hours, in total, including lectures and seminars in the LT.

Detailed reading lists will be provided to support each course component. Emphasis will be placed on texts, case study material and state-of-the-art contributions to, for example, the literature on non-market valuation. For an overview and introduction to the main issues covered by the course, students may wish to consult the following: DW Pearce, G Atkinson and S Mourato, "Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis" Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2008; AE Boardman et al, Cost-Benefit Analysis: Concepts and Practice, 2006 (chapters 1 and 2); P Champ et al, A Primer on Non-market Valuation, 2003.

A two-hour unseen written examination in the ST.