Ecological Economics
MA Sustainable Energy & MA International Management Studies — Winter Semester 2026/27
1 Overall Goal of the Course
The course covers a wide range of interactions between the environment and socio-economic development. Students are introduced to various methods for analyzing economic impacts on the environment, the importance of the environment for economic activities, and the role of social institutions within the context of economy–environment relationships. In this setting, students learn about different policy tools that can address (undesired) external effects of economic activities on the environment and how to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental regulations from an economic perspective. Over the semester, students work on one particular country or region case study, which they present as a poster during a poster conference at the end of the semester.
2 Learning Goals
Upon completion of this seminar, you will be able to:
Expertise:
- Understand the core concepts and analytical perspective of ecological economics
- Explain how different notions of ‘economic development’ relate to the question of ecological sustainability
- Discuss the relevance of trade-offs between social and environmental goals
- Understand how economic activities and the resulting ecological stressors are globally interrelated
Methodological Competence:
- Work with data on socio-economic development and environmental pressures
- Account for environmental stressors at the global level, distinguishing production- and consumption-based perspectives
- Evaluate environmental policy instruments and their underlying assumptions
Social and Personal Skills:
- Conduct and present a country-level analysis as part of a group
- Be able to delineate the assumptions on which your own assessments, and those on others depend when it comes to the discussion of social and environmental challenges
- Take well-founded positions in current debates (e.g. growth vs. degrowth)
3 Course Information
3.1 Prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites. A basic familiarity with introductory economics is helpful but not required. The course is offered jointly for the MA “Sustainable Energy” and the MA “International Management Studies” programs.
3.2 Course Details
- Lecture Time: Wednesdays, 08:30–12:00 (we start 8:30 sharp)
- Lecturers: Claudius Gräbner-Radkowitsch & Anna-Katharina Kothe
- Credits: 5 ECTS (≈ 150 h total workload; about 7 h of self-study per week on top of the weekly lecture)
3.3 Course Resources
- Moodle Room: room 17919
- Passwort will be distributed during the first lecture
4 Schedule and Logistics
Note: This schedule is subject to change as the course progresses. Announcements will be made via Moodle. The latest version of the syllabus will be made available here.
Sessions with two topics on the same date are listed as two rows sharing that date. Each topic links to its session page, which holds the slides and the reading list. The two non-teaching Wednesdays (23.09. and 14.10.) are included for completeness.
5 General References
These texts accompany the seminar as a whole; session-specific readings are on the individual session pages linked in the schedule above.
6 Evaluation and Assessment
The final mark for the course depends on a group country-analysis poster and the students’ performance during the final poster presentation. The posters are prepared in groups of up to 3 people and pitched during the poster conference at the end of the semester.
Full details on the poster — the content and guiding questions as well as the examination criteria and assessment dimensions — are on the dedicated examination page.
I strongly recommend that you spread your study time fairly evenly throughout the semester. It will save you time and effort if you study and practice constantly.
For questions regarding the course content or logistics, please use the Moodle discussion forums.