Dr J Leape, KSW. G408 and Dr H Kleven, LRB. R518

This course is for BSc Economics, BSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc Economics and Economic History, BSc Economics with Economic History, BSc Environmental Policy with Economics, BSc Geography with Economics, BSc Government and Economics, BSc Philosophy and Economics and BSc Social Policy and Economics.

Students should have completed Microeconomic Principles I or II (or equivalent).

This is a course in theoretical and applied public economics using intermediate economic theory. Topics include issues of equity and efficiency and alternative theories of the role of the state. Recent research in behavioural economics and its implications for welfare analysis as well as for savings and pension policy. Models of public goods and externalities, including environmental policy. Who really pays taxes: issues of tax incidence and tax evasion. Income inequality, poverty alleviation and the role of welfare programmes in theory and in practice. Health and education policy. The effects of taxes and transfers on labour supply and migration; incomes and behavioural responses at the top of the income distribution. The optimal taxation of commodities and incomes. Current topics in public finance.

The main institutional references will be to the UK and the US, but some attention will also be given to broader international experience.

Lectures EC325: 20 MT and LT.

Classes EC325.A: 20 Sessional.

The recommended textbook for the course is Jonathan Gruber (2011) Public Finance and Public Policy, 3rd edition, Worth Publishers. Many of the readings will be journal articles.

A three-hour written examination in the ST.