Prof Frank Cowell, SAL 3.25A

Prof Camille Landais, SAL.3.23

Prof David Seim

This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Environmental Economics, MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, MSc in Economics, MSc in Economics (2 Year Programme), MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc in Environmental Policy, Technology and Health (Environmental Economics and Climate Change) (LSE and Peking University) and MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Students must have completed Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics (EC400).

In exceptional circumstances, students may take this course without EC400 provided they meet the necessary requirements and have received approval from the course conveners (via a face to face meeting), the MSc Economics Programme Director and their own Programme Director. Contact the Department of Economics for more information (econ.msc@lse.ac.uk) regarding entry to this course.

A graduate course in the principles of public economics and topics in public economics.

Principles of public economics cover: Welfare analysis; concepts of fairness, equity and efficiency; social welfare. Policy design: social insurance, income taxation. Taxation; household and firm behaviour. Public goods and externalities. Behavioural public economics; implications for welfare analysis and policy.

Topics in public economics may include: Behavioural responses to taxation. Empirical strategies in public economics. Poverty, inequality and optimal low-income support. Compliance problems. Inheritance and wealth taxation.

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of seminars in the AT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the WT. 1 hour of seminars in the ST.

There will be a reading week in Week 6 of AT and in Week 6 of WT (no lectures or classes in those weeks).

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 60 hours across Autumn Term, Winter Term and Spring Term.

Two marked assignments per term.

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, Updated Edition, 2015;

• R Boadway and K Cuff, Tax Policy: Principles and Lessons, Cambridge University Press, 2022

Exam (50%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Essay (50%, 6000 words) in the ST.