OVERVIEW

The Course aims at providing students with analytical tools for studying the public sector economics and the role of the State within the Economy. The course gives students a thorough grounding in the principles underlying the role of the State, the welfare state, and the design of the tax system. The main objective is to enable students to understand the practical problems involved in implementing these principles.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and understanding.
Students should acquire knowledge and capacity of understanding the principles underlying the role of the State within the Economy, in the production of goods and services, in the income redistribution, in regulating markets and in stabilizing the economic cycle.

Applying knowledge and understanding.
Students should be able to critically evaluate the effects of the public intervention on the markets, within the national and international context: assessing how taxes affect the choices of economic agents, particularly on employment and production decisions, on organizational choices, investment and financing.

Making judgments.
At the end of the Course, students must be able to apply the acquired knowledge in order to formulate an independent judgment and a critical thinking on the proposals and decisions of public finance and of public economics. They will be able of analyzing the main economic effects of alternative hypotheses of tax reforms (tax structure, welfare, income distribution, public expenditure) implemented at different government levels (central and local).

Communication skills.
Students will acquire the technical terminology to relate to civil servants, agents and institutions that are related with the fiscal and economic variables.

Learning skills.
Students will acquire appropriate skills to improve the studying of specific topics in public finance and public economics.
The course will offer students different methodologies for assessing the impact of economic and fiscal policies. On this basis, students will be able to understand how the withdrawal choices and spending by the public operator affect organizational choices, investment, employment and the economic system production.

LEARNING OUTCOMES (FURTHER INFO)

Recommended prerequisites are the knowledge of: the basic principles of Microeconomics, the competition system (supply and demand functions); income and substitution effects

TEACHING METHODS

Attendance is recommended. The teaching will include lessons, seminars, classroom discussions and  homework.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Part I (Institutions)

• Welfare Economics and Public Intervention.
• Public expenditures. The relevant financial balances for the Public Sector.
• Efficiency in the production/provision of public goods. Market failures.
• The Italian tax system.
• The economic effects of taxation on resource allocation and income distribution.
• International aspects of national taxation on goods and services.
• Redistribution and Welfare State.

Part II (Topics)

• Natural monopoly, market regulation and tariffs.
• Public debt.
• Tax evasion.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The textbook and other additional supports (slides, homework texts, ...)  will be posted on Aulaweb

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

BARBARA CAVALLETTI (President)

MATTEO CORSI

MARCELLO MONTEFIORI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Sem: I

19 sept. 2016 - 15 dec. 2016

Class schedule

PUBLIC FINANCE

EXAMS

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Alternatively written/oral examination in English

Exam schedule