30508 - PUBLIC ECONOMICS
Department of Social and Political Sciences
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 44
Course Director:
LAURA BONACORSI
LAURA BONACORSI
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
Pensions, healthcare, public debt, taxes, inequality and redistribution are all topics at the centre of the economic debate in virtually all contemporary democratic countries, representing crucial concerns for many of their citizens and often driving the political agenda. Should we encourage Government intervention in the economy? On what grounds? What are the different instruments the Government can use in order to achieve its goals? And what should these goals even be? The aim of the course is to equip students with the intellectual framework needed to attempt reasonable answers to these difficult questions. The course builds on robust theoretical and empirical arguments, together with sound institutional analyses, in order to achieve an in-depth understanding of Government reasons to intervene and ways of intervention.
CONTENT SUMMARY
Introduction to Public Economics
General theoretical and empirical tools
Social choice
Public debt
Public goods
Externalities
Social security
Pensions
Healthcare
Education
Inequality and redistribution
Income support
Taxation: personal income tax, consumption tax, corporate tax
Other topics in public economics
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to:
- Identify the main pros and cons of Government intervention in the economy.
- Understand the reasons and the role of Government expenditure.
Discuss the impact of major public interventions.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
At the end of the course student will be able to:
- Explain the aims and limitations of Government intervention in the economy.
- Assess critically many important topics commonly debated by the public opinion and related to the role and the action of Governments in Europe and around the world.
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Practical Exercises
DETAILS
Exercises: in-class exercises are proposed as a way to use and elaborate theory, concepts and tools presented during class lectures, their purpose is to strengthen understanding and ability to elaborate theory and concepts and to apply them to real case situations.
Assessment methods
| Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
x | x |
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students will be assessed according to their ability to recognize basic concepts regarding the general issues in Public Economics. The exam will be in written form with open-ended questions, numerical exercises, multiple choice questions and true/false questions (with justification).
Students will be assessed based on two partial written exams (option A) or a general (option B). No minimum grade is required in the first partial exam in order to gain access to the second. The overall grade is a simple average of the grades of two partial exams, rounded upwards.
Three multiple choice quizzes will be administered in class via Bboard. Each one is made up by 10 questions (30Q in total). If they score at least 24/30 in total, students get an extra point (+1) on their final grade (computed with either option A or option B).
Teaching materials
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Slides and supporting material will be provided by the instructor and posted on BBoard.
Book: J. GRUBER, Public Finance and Public Policy, Freeman and Worth, 7th edition, 2022
Last change 21/05/2026 13:55