Topic: In the course two different aspects of Environmental Management are discussed. The first part of the course is concerned with voluntary actions taken by firms to protect the environment, i.e. acts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The following topics will be discussed in detail

• Circumstances under which firms can sacrifice profits for CSR activities.
• Desirability of CSR from a social viewpoint.
• Empirical evidence for CSR.
• Mechanism and motivations for strategic CSR.

• Emission trading v.s. emissions tax.
• Impact of different designs of ETS on welfare, abatement efforts and the fiscal situation of the government.
• Empirical investigation and statistical modeling of the European ETS for CO2 permits.

Modus: After a short introduction on the subject, students will prepare presentations on a scientific papers in groups of two and present a summary of its contents in the class. Both students in a group should have read and understood the full paper which they are presenting. After the presentations there will be the possibility for discussions and individual questioning on the subject as well as the methods of the paper. At the end of the semester students should hand in a report (about 15 pages) summarizing the main points of the paper and presenting their opinion on the work. Grades will be given on the basis of:

• the presentation (required for a positive grade)
• written summary of the paper (required for a positive grade)
• course attendance (80% required for a positive grade) and contributions in the course (in particular discussions of the presented papers).

The presentations should

• discuss the research questions posed in the paper, the results as well as the used methods
• last between 30 and 35 minutes
• consist of 15-20 slides
• be submitted latest one day before the presentation via e-mail.

Methods: Since the papers are mostly concerned with

• formal models of the strategic interactions of economic agents and
• the empirical testing of certain economic hypothesis

• Recommended Reading: Reinhardt, Stavins, Vietor - CSR through an economic lens
• Recommended Reading: Lyon, Maxwell - CSR and the environment

• Important: Attendance of the first lecture is required for a successful registration to the course. If you can not attend the first lecture, please inform me via e-mail until 28.02.2012 latest.
• Information regarding the consequences of cheating.
• If you do not want to participate in the course and are registered, please deregister in the UNIVIS in time. All students who are registered at the end of the semester will be graded. If you want to deregister and are already assigned a paper, please also inform me per mail.
• Important: All students who want to participate in the course have to decide on presentation latest by March 8, 2012.
• Important: All students should hand in the termpaper latest by July 8, 2012.
• Important: Students are requested to send me an electronic copy of their slides latest one day before the presentation date!
• Guidelines for writing the term paper