Public finance (2020/2021)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide students with rigorous economic tools for the modern analysis of public policies. We will review the justifications for the economic role of the state, focusing on the role of public expenditure, taxation and regulatory policies. We will supplement the analysis of theoretical models with evidence from Italian public policies. We will focus on the underlying motivations behid public interventions and on the effect of public policies in terms of efficiency and equity. At completion of the course students should be able to: - Understand and evaluate critically the justifications for the public intervention in the economy. - Analyse and assess rigorously public policies on the basis of economic theory. - Master the economic analysis of the main italian taxation tools.

-Positive and normative public finance; the fundamental theorems of welfare economics; market failures (externalities; public goods; asymmetric information).
-Government revenues and expenditures: a taxonomy.
- Revenues: impact on individual decisions and fiscal incidence; tax policy in a modern fiscal system.
- Social expenditure: the pension system; the health care system.
- Social choice theory

A specific attention will be devoted to the institutional features of the Italian system.