Public Finance I

This course in public economics introduces you to the study of the government role in the economy, and concentrates on taxation. We begin with the basics of why the government intervenes including public goods, social insurance, externalities, and political aspects. We then turn to tax theory including tax incidence and excess burden. These are elaborated upon by discussing the elasticity of taxable income, incentive effects such as on labor supply and savings, and optimal commodity and income taxation. Other topics include corporate and international tax issues, taxation and the financial sector, capital taxation, federalism, tax competition, tax evasion and corruption. An effort is made to relate discussions to the current policy debate.

Offer as needed

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