Бакалавриат 2018/2019

Экономика общественного сектора

Статус: Курс по выбору (Программа двух дипломов по экономике НИУ ВШЭ и Лондонского университета)

Направление: 38.03.01. Экономика

Кто читает: Международный институт экономики и финансов

Где читается: Международный институт экономики и финансов

Когда читается: 3-й курс, 1, 2 модуль

Формат изучения: без онлайн-курса

Преподаватели: Кивинен Стивен Виллиам, Ракута Наталья Владимировна

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 4

Контактные часы: 64

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course provides a basis for the economic analysis of public policy issues. It analyses the role of public sector in the economy, its functions, management techniques, taxation, and the efficiency of the resources usage. The focus of the course is on the main parts of public finance – taxation and spending. Issues related to the role of the state, public choice, management of public assets and liabilities, and fiscal federalism are also examined. The course develops an analytical framework for the evaluation of public policy. The prerequisites of the course are intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics, calculus.

Learning Objectives

• The main aim of the course is to develop analytical tools and demonstrate their application to key policy issues relating to the spending, taxation and financial activities of the government.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• use main theoretical concepts and models
• be able to analyse the influence of taxation and public spending on the economy
• discuss different questions, related to the public sector, and solve problems

Course Contents

• Introduction to Public Economics
  Introduction. Public Economics. Subject and methods. Government. Historical development. Measurements. Revenues and expenditures. Functions of the Public sector. The minimal state. Market failure. Redistribution.
• Market Failure
  The first and the second fundamental theorems of welfare economics. Pareto efficiency. Source of market failure: competition failure, incomplete markets, information failure, externalities, public goods. The theory of externalities. Coase theorem. Pigouvian taxation. The theory of public goods. Club goods and local public goods. Efficiency conditions for public goods. Mechanism design. Private provision of public goods. Second-best principle. Imperfect competition and government regulation. Welfare loss. Asymmetric information and government solutions.
• Voting
  Public mechanisms for allocating resources: problems of eliciting preferences and reconciling differing views. Voting. Majority voting: the median voter theory and the voting paradox. Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem.
• Rent-seeking
  Special interest groups. Rent-seeking behaviour. Controlling rent-seeking. Theory of bureaucracy. “Principal - agent” problem. Government failure.
• Income, inequality and poverty
  Pareto efficiency versus alternative criteria. Equity and efficiency. Social welfare functions. Alternative theories of the role of the state. Redistribution and its effects. Inequality and poverty. The role of social insurance. Health care. Retirement pensions: funded and “pay-as-you-go” state pensions. Efficiency: effects on savings and retirement decisions. Approaches to income support. Welfare programs, targeting and incentives. Integrating taxes and benefits.
• Commodity taxation
  Types of taxes. The five desirable characteristics of a tax system. Tax incidence in competitive and monopolised markets. DWL and price elasticity. Equivalent taxes. Achieving tax neutrality. Effects of globalisation. Optimal commodity taxation: the Ramsey rule
• Income taxation
  Taxes and labour supply: taxes and the individual budget constraint; income and substitution effects; non-linearities due to progressive taxation. Taxation of capital. Taxes and savings. Distributional considerations. Modelling tax evasion. Policies to reduce tax evasion.
• Theories of the public sector. Efficiency issues
  The size of public expenditures. Wagner’s law, Baumol’s law, a political model, budget-setting, etc. Public provision versus public procurement. Efficiency of public expenditures. Cost-benefit analysis.
• Multiple Jurisdictions
  Fiscal federalism. Arguments for multi-level government. The division of responsibilities. Principles of fiscal federalism: club theory and local public goods, Tiebout hypothesis. Production versus finance. The incidence applied to local public finance. Fiscal competition: problems of multi-jurisdictional taxation; income distribution; inter-governmental transfers.

Assessment Elements

• home assignments
• midterm test
• final exam

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.5 * final exam + 0.2 * home assignments + 0.3 * midterm test

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Hindrics, J. Intermediate Public Economics / Jean Hindriks, Gareth D. Myles. – 2nd ed. – Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2013. – 980 p. – Текст: электронный // DB ProQuest Ebook Central (ebrary) [сайт]. - URL: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3339608&query=Public+Economics

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Mueller, D. C. (2003). Public Choice III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=120731