URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/E_EC_PEP

Course Objective

The aim of the course is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for policy analyses and expositions later in the Public Policy program. Students will learn the central concepts and theories from the field of Public Economics and will learn how to apply these in policy analysis and advice. The course will seek to strike a balance between on the one hand mastering the analytical and technical skills required to be able to understand and apply micro
- and welfare economic theory for policy analysis and advice (Academic and Research Skills), and, on the other hand, the ability to apply these skills in analyzing and assessing concrete contemporary policy issues (Bridging Theory and Practice). This aim is strived for by the course’s set-up, in which lectures will be used for in-depth discussion and explanation of theory, and tutorials are designed to learn to apply this to concrete policies and to present this to and discuss this with fellow students and teachers (Professional Social Skills). By its very nature, the course will in its applications focus on important contemporary societal challenges (Broadening your Horizon).

Course Content

The course will address topics such as taxation of households and firms, tax incidence, public debt, distributional effects of taxation and public expenditure, theories of the state, efficiency and welfare, optimal taxation and Ramsey pricing, market failure, externalities, and non-local and local public goods. The twelve lectures will seek to not only make the technical treatment and theoretical concepts accessible, but also to draw the links with contemporary policy challenges.

Teaching Methods

The course consists of lectures and tutorial sessions.

Method of Assessment

The grading will be based on
- Assignments;
- Written exam.

Literature

Hindriks, J. and G.D. Myles (2006) Intermediate Public Economics, MIT Press, Cambridge MA. (ISBN-13: 978-0-262-08344-7; ISBN-10:0-262-08344-2).

Target Audience

MSc students in the Public Policy program.

Entry Requirements

Material covered in the first three weeks of Period 1, in the course Microeconomics and Methods.

Recommended background knowledge

Microeconomics and working knowledge of calculus.
Academic year1/09/2431/08/25
Course level6.00 EC

Language of Tuition

  • English

Study type

  • Master