Tasos Xepapadeas

Speaker: Anastasios Xepapadeas, Professor of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business

Title of Lecture: Environmental and Resource-Use Networks

Abstract:

There is a convergent consensus among scientists that many social, economic and financial phenomena can be described by a network of economic agents and their interactions. In particular, social and economic networks play a central role in the transmission of information and the diffusion of knowledge; in the spread of diseases; in the provision of mutual insurance; and in the development of prosocial or antisocial activities. Networks of individuals, firms or countries and their interactions could affect in various ways – such as emissions, technology choices or harvesting – the ambient environment, the use of natural resources and the flow of ecosystem services, and eventually individual and social well-being.

The purpose of this lecture is to develop network structures associated with the environment and resource use and explore issues such as environmental and resource-use outcomes associated with network structures, the existence of efficient networks, the importance of local interactions or the way in which sustainability concepts can be formulated in a network context. Results could provide insights about the potential need to design policies based on network structure.