Description

Various seminars (10h):

Various seminars, hosting academics as well as stakeholders and policy makers will complete the four recuring topic courses on environmental and technological transitions issues.

Topic 1: Global Warming and Geoengineering (DORRIES Matthias, University of Strasbourg) :

Anthropogenic climate change presents an extremely challenging environmental issue for the 21^st century. This course will address this issue from several perspectives. We will first trace how knowledge about global climate change emerged during the Cold War, a development closely linked to computer modelling. We will then look at how major global institutions (IPCC, COP conferences) synthesize this new knowledge to provide and pass policy recommendations. These global institutions have been searching for a consensus and common political action, but have been heavily criticized by climate change denialists funded by powerful groups like the oil industry. In light of global political indecision, issues of local adaptation have come to the forefront. We will look at several case studies of how adaptation works on a local level, and also address issues of misadaptation. We will then look at “energy transition,” including such technologies as nuclear fusion, geothermal energy, and renewable energies. Moreover, in the last decade, funding for research on geoengineering, or climate engineering, has grown significantly. We will critically examine the promises and problems that come with these technological solutions. Finally, we will address larger ethical implications of global climate change, discussing such concepts as the Anthropocene, the Gaia hypotheses, degrowth, environmental justice, and intergenerational equity. 

Topic 2: Bioeconomy and bioeconomics (TBC – PYKA Andreas, University of Hohenheim) :

To be announced later 

Topic 2: Twin-Transitions (BIANCHINI Stefano, University of Strasbourg) :

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to the European Union and to the world. The “twin transition” represents a framework that integrates sustainability into the digital transformation strategies, and thus enables organizations to operate more efficiently and sustainably at the same time. To achieve this ambition, policy-makers need to step up investments in key digital technologies (artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, …) as well as in the relevant skills, but also ensure that the deployment of these technologies is compatible with ecological ecological boundaries. In light of the ongoing policy and academic debate, the course provides an overview of the main challenges associated with the transition towards a green, digital and resilient economy – e.g., How sustainable digital technologies could enable a carbon-neutral EU by 2050? How can we quantify the environmental impact of digital technologies? The course also discusses the various strategies and policy instruments that can promote “twin transition”. 

Topic 3: Innovation and Inequality (CIARLI Tommaso, UNU-MERIT) :

Many of the properties of technical change are related to inequalities. For instance, innovations has positive and negative impacts on different individuals: some gain, while others loose from them. At the same time, diversity is a crucial incentive for firms to create new products, and the concentration of knowledge befits innovative activities. The basic process of economic development and structural change of regions is accompanied by growing inequalities (in wealth, wages, productivity, firm size, etc). Such inequalities have driven innovation-led economic growth, at least since the industrial revolution. Institutions tame those negative impacts on inequality, by redistributing resources between those who benefit and those who loose from innovation led growth and structural change. However, redistributing wealth has only a marginal effect in addressing the unequal impacts of innovation. For innovative activities to be less unequal, the decisions about the direction of innovation need to be more inclusive. That is, innovative activities need to be influenced by different component of a society, which face the positive and negative consequences of those innovations. A more inclusive innovation process s also likely to benefit the rate of innovation and therefore growth, by reducing the misallocation of talents to innovative activities. During these lectures, we will better understand how innovation may lead to and benefit from inequality. The role of institutions in assuring that more people benefit from innovation led growth and structural change. And the relevance of a more inclusive society in guaranteeing a more equal and stronger innovation-led growth. 

Topic 3 : Automation, digitalisation, employment and growth (BORSATO Andrea or LORENTZ André, University of Strasbourg):

A common feature that characterises technological change and the related advances is the powerful trend toward mechanization and automation of production activities. This phenomenon has been noticed since the classics and play an important role in the analysis of capitalist economies by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx. Moreover, such a tendency holds across countries and sectors characterised by different capital intensities and broadly occurs irrespectively by changes in relative prices. Though imprecise, we call this overall process as a natural trajectory, in order to remark the long-term trend toward the substitution of inanimate energy to human and animal effects, and more recently also of inanimate information processing to human cognition and control. This course aim at discussing the causes and the consequences of this trend, and the theoretical and empirical literature on the quantitative and qualitative employment impact of technological change. We compare the relative explanatory power of competing economic theories, while detailing the macro, sectoral, and microeconomic evidence on the issue with references to advanced economies. Attention is paid to the technologies around the Fourth Industrial Revolution to understand whether arguments à la “this time is different” have empirical ground.

Topic 4 : Digitalisation and the Economics of Data (SAVONA Maria, Luiss and University of Sussex) :

To be announced later 

Topic 4 : Digitalisation of Transactions, Blockchains and Data Protection (GUICHARDAZ Rémy and PENIN Julien, University of Strasbourg) :

This comprehensive course offers an exploration of concepts in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency economics, examining their transformative potential and implications for organizations within various sectors of the economy. Through a rigorous examination of theoretical frameworks, practical applications, and case studies, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted dynamics surrounding these disruptive technologies. Beginning with a foundational examination of blockchain technology, students will delve into the historical evolution and fundamental principles underlying distributed ledger systems. Through an exploration of consensus mechanisms, cryptographic principles, and network architectures, students will gain insight into the inner workings of blockchain networks, including distinctions between public, private, and permissioned implementations. In the realm of cryptocurrencies, students will explore beyond the realm of Bitcoin, analyzing alternative digital assets such as Ethereum and Ripple.  The course will then shift focus to the economic implications and opportunities presented by blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Through a macroeconomic lens, students will analyze the impact of digital currencies on traditional monetary policy frameworks, as well as their potential to disrupt traditional financial institutions and payment systems. Furthermore, students will explore the concept of tokenization and its applications in digitizing real-world assets.

Compétences visées

• Acquire a broad overview of the issues at stake with the long-run dynamics and transformations of economies and economic systems, technological as well as environmental transformations and their consequences
• Confront theoretical, academic arguments with the issues and concerns of decision makers and stakeholders on these issues

Disciplines

• Sciences économiques

Contacts

Responsable(s) de l'enseignement

• Andre Lorentz