Spatial, Transport and Environmental Economics

This specialization focuses on the economic dimension of regions, urban areas and real estate. Some examples of fundamental questions that we address: why and where do which types of people and firms increasingly want to cluster in space? Why do some cities thrive, while others struggle? What does economic theory teach us about policy challenges that metropolitan areas face, such as crime, segregation, traffic congestion and environmental pollution? How is the growth and decline of cities impacting the building stock? What are the consequences of spatial planning for a region's development potential? What are the costs and benefits of constructing ‘green’ buildings?

The master's programme equips the students with the state-of-the-art of academic insights to analyze these and related policy questions and provide them with an evidence-based foundation.

In the courses, we take a microeconomic perspective and use applied econometric techniques. Hence, this high-quality one-year programme offers students the theoretical knowledge and applied methodological skills to tackle complex problems at a high level of abstraction, while emphasizing the need to translate theoretical solutions into clear-cut evidence-based policy advice.

This specialization focuses on the economic dimensions of transport, traffic, mobility and accessibility. Some examples of fundamental questions that we address: how can we address pressing societal challenges such as congestion, and the associated pressure on urban environmental quality? How can we maintain the accessibility of regions and cities, and meet global environmental pressure from transportation? What are the spatial and economic aspects of these challenges? How can we analyze them from an economic perspective, and how can economics help in analyzing, evaluating and formulating policies to address these?

The master's programme equips students with the state-of-the-art of academic economic insights to analyse and answer such questions and provide them with an evidence-based foundation.

In the courses, we take a microeconomic perspective and use applied econometric techniques. Hence, this high-quality one-year programme offers students the theoretical knowledge and applied methodological skills to tackle complex problems at a high level of abstraction, while emphasizing the need to translate theoretical solutions into clear-cut evidence-based policy advice.

This master’s programme focuses on the economic dimensions of local, regional, and global environmental challenges, the use and depletion of natural resources, and the role of market-based policies to incentivize the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and technologies. These questions are important both for improving the sustainability of our current living standards and for fighting the devastating effects of climate change. The programme discusses how government and society can rise to the challenge of managing environmental quality, natural resources, and the energy transition effectively. 

Some examples of fundamental questions that we discuss are: What policies can best address pollution and other negative consequences of economic activities? What characterizes efficient exploitation of renewable resources (such as forestry and fishery) and non-renewable resources (such as fossil fuels and minerals), and how does this differ from a free-market outcome? How do environmental policies induce innovation, and what role do technology policies play in environmental regulation? How can climate policies avoid being undone by the unintended consequences of market responses like “carbon leakage”, the “rebound effect” or the “Green Paradox”?

The master's programme equips the students with the state-of-the-art of academic economic insights to analyse and answer such questions and provide them with an evidence-based foundation.

In the courses, we take a predominantly microeconomic perspective and apply state-of-the-art theory and econometric techniques. Hence, this high-quality one-year programme offers students the knowledge and practical skills to tackle complex problems at a high level of abstraction, while emphasizing the need to translate theoretical solutions and empirical evidence into clear-cut policy advice. You will learn techniques to measure the value of natural resources and the costs and benefits of pollution abatement, including analytical models as well as stated preference and ”revealed preference” methods. You will study the challenges of regulating greenhouse gas emissions, including issues of taxation, international trade, and the design of international environmental agreements such as the Paris Accord. You will learn to evaluate intertemporal tradeoffs in managing natural resources, carbon budgets, and technological change. The role of market-based incentives and behavior-based “nudges” in improving environmental and societal outcomes will also be discussed. Economic models will be substantiated by teaching the latest empirical findings in economic literature.