PUBLIC ECONOMICS

Knowledge and understanding. To provide the analytical knowledge needed to understand the fundaments of public intervention and its effects on the allocation and distribution of resources.

Applying knowledge and understanding.  To enable students to apply their knowledge to the economics of the public sector, to understand official documents and reports, and to evaluate different models of public intervention.

Making judgments To train students to use data to be able to develop autonomous opinions and critical understanding  on public intervention 

Communication skills To enable students to use technical terminology, diagrams and tables to express their opinions to experts and non- experts.  Oral and written communication skills will be also stimulated through classroom activities - such as discussion and seminars- and written examinations.

Learning skills. To stimulate learning skills through power point presentations and discussions to enable students to  upgrading autonomously their knowledge and to prepare them for post-graduate courses. 

Examination consists of a written test: students are required to answer 4 open-ended questions.

Learning assessment may also be carried out orally on line, should the conditions require it.

• Market failure
• Efficiency condition with public goods
• Median voter theorem and applications to large elections
• Describe the criteria for project evaluation and three methods of cost-benefit analysis
• Describe and discuss the Tiebout model
• Effects of social security on saving
•  Discuss the problem of the burden of public debt
• Tax incidence in perfect competition
• Tax incidence in monopoly
• Effects of personal taxation on labour supply