Two - Year Master Degree in Economics

PUBLIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

PUBLIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

Academic year 2022/2023

Sommario del corso

• Course objectives
• Results of learning outcomes
• Course delivery
• Learning assessment methods
• Program
• Teaching tools

Course objectives

This course examines the role of government in modern private economies, focusing on the topic of market failures. Under ideal conditions, competition promotes economic efficiency, leaving little role for the public sector. In some circumstances, however, private markets fail and government intervention to restore efficiency may be desirable. Market failures to be analyzed include public good provision, externalities, imperfect competition, and asymmetric information.

Results of learning outcomes

• The course will provide students with an advanced knowledge of standard public economic theory and empirical public economics. After attending the course, the student is expected:
  to be able to manage quantitative microeconomic tools to analyse market failure problems and related government interventions; 
• to have notions on how public economic theory can be fruitfully applied for undertaking sound empirical analysis of policy making concerning public good provision, market power control, and environmental regulation;
• to learn how to effectively organize ideas mainly in written form, by summarizing, discussing and criticizing the results of academic research in public economics;
• to understand the main building blocks of public economic theory and to acquire the toolkit for undertaking further research work in public economics.
• to understand the main empirical strategies aimed at studying public economic theory.

Course delivery

Upfront lectures and student presentations. Lectures will be based on the textbook and on current research in public economics. Students will have to choose and present a research paper in about 30 minutes.  

Learning assessment methods

Given the COVID situation, the assessment has changed. There will be a multiple-choice exam on MOODLE. Questions cover all the material, including the research papers presented by the students. Wrong answers are going to be penalized. Those students who pass this test with 18 or more, may be asked to be orally examined using Webex. On top of that, on a voluntary basis, students will present a public economics research paper, which is going to be part of their assessment. I invite these students to take the exam in the very first exam session. 

Message from the department: "

Ogni studente/essa è invitato/a a leggere con attenzione il Codice etico di Ateneo (disponibile al link: https://www.unito.it/sites/default/files/allegati/01-08-2014/cod_etico_comunita_universitaria.pdf) nei cui principi morali – a maggior ragione in questa situazione, nella quale le modalità di esame che dovremo adottare vi responsabilizzano di più – siamo tutti sicuri che vi riconoscete. Siete uomini e donne che presto troveranno collocazione nel mondo del lavoro: noi docenti abbiamo cieca fiducia nelle vostre qualità umane e a quelle ci appelliamo.

Tuttavia il rischio che i principi meritocratici vengano inquinati da condotte non consone è immanente ed è per tale ragione che ciascun docente continuerà, con ancora maggiore rigore, a sorvegliare lo svolgimento delle prove di esame, orali e scritte, agevolato dagli strumenti di analisi inferenziale dei numerosi dati a nostra disposizione e dei software anti-plagio e anti-copiatura (per es. TURNITIN https://www.unito.it/node/4686), per evitare che il rispetto del merito sia appannaggio solo di alcuni.

Oltre che moralmente riprovevoli, sono comportamenti anche illeciti che saranno puniti nei modi e con le sanzioni amministrative che il regolamento su Procedimento e sanzioni disciplinari nei confronti degli studenti prevede (https://www.sme.unito.it/sites/u005/files/allegatiparagrafo/20-07-2016/regolamento_sanzioni_disciplinari_scuola_di_management_ed_economia_0.pdf)”."

Program

Public economics and economic efficiency:
- Pareto-efficiency of competition and First Theorem of Welfare Economics
- Lump-sum transfers and Second Theorem of Welfare Economics 

Departures from efficiency:
- Public goods
- Club goods and local public goods
- Externalities
- Imperfect competition
- Asymmetric Information

Class schedule

• Teaching materials
• Exams and finals
• Go to Moodle
• Visit the forums