Public Finance
Year: 2008-2009
Course credits: 20
Course code: LQGS
Semester: 2
Course co-ordinator: Dr Konstantinos Angelopoulos
Lecturers: Dr Konstantinos Angelopoulos and Professor Campbell Leith
Prerequisites: None
Course description
The course equips students with the necessary knowledge to understand and analyse issues arising in modern public finance. These refer to the usefulness and limitations of government involvement in the economy and how tax, spending and debt policy can be used/mis-used. The course empirically explores deviations from benchmark optimal policies, offers explanations for such deviations based on government failures, and suggests ways to ameliorate such failures. As such, the course is of relevance to students interested in both developed and developing economies. The background requirement is the knowledge of basic principles of economics, as taught at the undergraduate level, including the standard mathematical and statistical tools expected at that level.
Learning and teaching methods
Ten 2-hour lectures
Course text
There is no single textbook that can cover the whole course. Instead, a mixture of textbooks and journal articles will be suggested. Representative readings include:
- Hillman, A.L. (2003). Public Finance and Public Policy: Responsibilities and Limitations of Government, Cambridge University Press.
- Mueller, D. (2003). Public Choice III, Cambridge University Press.
- Gemmel, N. and Kneller, R. (2001). ‘The impact of fiscal policy on long-run growth’, European Economy, vol. 1, pp. 98-129.
- OECD’s Classification of the Functions of Government (CoFoG) at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/0/2666146.pdf.
Assessment
- Coursework (25%) and examination (75%).
- Coursework: 1 essay.
- Examination: two-hour written examination taken at the April/May examination diet.