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| Semester | fall semester 2019 |
| Course frequency | Every fall sem. |
| Lecturers | Jean-Philippe Nicolai (j.nicolai@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES: The course investigates public economics under the assumption of non standard agents. Students will explore three fundamental aspects of this discipline: how relaxing the assumption of neoclassical economics can modify the role of government and its intervention; how to curb externalities and finance public goods under non-standard agents; and how the main results in public finance are altered. The course is divided into THREE parts: i) behavioral biases and paternalistic temptation, ii) motivation, iii) social preferences and public goods. The first part of the course focuses on behavioral biases and provides insights on paternalistic regulation. Students will be familiarized with behavioral biases. The nudges will be studied with a special focus on health and energy. The concept of salience, mainly developed by Chetty, will be introduced and we will examine whether salience means a need of information or a new form of paternalism. Then, we will focus on Fahri and Gabaix (2015) who develop a theory of optimal taxation with behavioral agents. The second part is dedicated to motivation and to the crowding-out effect. After defining the crowding out effect, several evidence of such an effect will be studied and we will analyze Benabou and Tirole which provide economic explanations of crowding-out effect. The third part is devoted to social preferences and public goods. Evidence of social preferences will be presented with two main explanations - the warm-glow and the norms - and applied to the provision of public goods. Finally, we will explore the decision of tax evasion under social interactions. |
| Bibliography | TEXTBOOK: The course will be based on the following book: Policy and choice / William J. Congdon, Jeffrey R. Kling, Sendhil Mullainathan. Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2011. |
| Weblink | Weblink to ADAM |
| Course application | Registration: Please enrol in MOnA. EUCOR-Students and students of other Swiss Universities have to enrol at the students administration office (studseksupport1@unibas.ch) within the official enrolment period. Enrolment = Registration for the exam! |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Module: Core Competences in Economics (Master's Studies: Sustainable Development) Specialization Module: Markets and Public Policy (Master's Studies: Business and Economics) |
| Assessment format | end-of-semester examination |
| Assessment details | There is an exam of 2 hours at the end of the semester: December 12, 2020, 12.15 in room S15, Economics Department |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Registration: course registration |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,1 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Business and Economics , studiendekanat-wwz@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Faculty of Business and Economics |