EC426
Public Economics
This information is for the 2015/16 session.
Teacher responsible
Prof Frank Cowell 32L.2.25A, Prof Henrik Kleven 32L.3.16 and Dr Johannes Spinnewijn 32L.3.24
Availability
This course is available on the MPA in European Public and Economic Policy, MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy, MPA in Public and Social Policy, MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, MSc in Economics, MSc in Economics (2 Year Programme), MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc in International Health Policy, MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics) and Master of Laws. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
Pre-requisites
Students must have completed Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics (EC400).
Course content
A graduate course in (i) the principles of public economics and (ii) selected topics in public economics. Principles of public economics Welfare analysis; concepts of fairness, equity and efficiency; social welfare. Policy design: social insurance, income taxation. Taxation; household and firm behaviour. Public goods, externalities and environmental policy. Behavioural public economics, including implications for welfare analysis and savings policy. Selected topics in public economics such as behavioural responses to taxation; empirical strategies in public economics; poverty, inequality and optimal low-income support; compliance problems; inheritance and wealth taxation; global public finance and fiscal governance; political economics.
Teaching
20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the LT.
Attention is also drawn to Issues in Taxation Seminar (Dr Leape and Dr Ian Roxan) LL900: eight Monthly, Sessional.
Formative coursework
Two marked assignments per term.
Indicative reading
Most of the readings will be in the form of journal articles, but some use will also be made of the following texts: A Auerbach & M S Feldstein (Eds), Handbook of Public Economics, Vols I-III, North-Holland; A B Atkinson & J E Stiglitz, Lectures on Public Economics, McGraw-Hill, 1980; G Myles, Public Economics, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Assessment
Exam (50%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (50%, 6000 words) in the ST.
Key facts
Department: Economics
Total students 2014/15: 11
Average class size 2014/15: 11
Controlled access 2014/15: Yes
Value: One Unit