This course is available on the MSc in Economics (2 Year Programme). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

New course for the 2027/28 academic session.

How to apply: These courses are intended for MSc Economics, MSc Economics (2 Year Programme), and MSc EME Students. Any external student must have successfully completed EC400 or EC451 in September and/or have approval of the Department of Economics.

Deadline for application: Please apply as soon as possible after the opening of course selection for all courses.

For queries contact: Econ.msc@lse.ac.uk

Pre-requisites:

Students must have completed EC400 or EC451 before taking this course.

Additional requisites:

In exceptional circumstances, students may take this course without EC400/EC451 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 public economics that examines how governments provide insurance against social and economic risks over the life cycle, with a particular focus on health, retirement and labour market policies.

The course studies the design of social insurance programmes, including unemployment insurance, pensions and retirement systems, disability insurance, health insurance and healthcare. It introduces the economic principles underlying insurance provision, public intervention and behavioural policy design, including moral hazard and adverse selection and examines the role of public policy in addressing market failures, externalities and inequalities in health and welfare.

Topics may include: social security and retirement policy; health economics and health insurance; health inequalities and healthcare; labour market risks and social insurance; public goods and externalities; behavioural public economics; and modern methods for evaluating social insurance programmes and public interventions.

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
1 hour of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Two marked assignments.

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;
   

Exam (100%), duration: 120 minutes, reading time: 15 minutes in the Spring exam period.

This course is IRDAP-enabled, meaning that resit and deferred assessments will take place in August at the end of the academic year.