PED-210: Public Finance in Theory and Practice

Semester: Fall

Credit: 1.0

Syllabus: Click here for syllabus

Faculty: Jay Rosengard

Schedule

Day Time Location
First Day 9/3
Meet Day T/Th 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM L280
Review F 8:40 AM - 10:00 AM L230

Description

Examines policy options, with their strategic trade-offs and operational implications, for the design and implementation of public finance in both high-income countries and developing/transitional economies. Covers the role and size of the public sector, including the rationale for public sector interventions such as market failure and distributional concerns; public resource mobilization via direct and indirect taxation (including the economics of taxation, taxation of income, wealth, consumption and trade, tax incentives, tax compliance and enforcement, and tax reform, as well as domestic user charges); public expenditure policy, including assessment of government social protection programs and public sector efficiency and effectiveness; fiscal balance and deficit financing; and fiscal decentralization and intergovernmental fiscal relations. Emphasizes utilization of theoretical and applied techniques in a comparative context for evaluation of the impact of alternative resource mobilization and expenditure policies on allocative efficiency, social equity, and macroeconomic stability. Heavy use of case studies. No economics course prerequisites.