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Semester | spring semester 2020 |
Course frequency | Every spring sem. |
Lecturers |
Stephanie Armbruster (stephanie.armbruster@unibas.ch)
Beat Hintermann (b.hintermann@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
Content | Public economics focuses on the role of government in a market economy. It can be separated into the sub-topics Expenditure, Taxation and Fiscal Federalism. This course covers the first two subtopics during the first half of the semester, whereas the third topic is taught in a companion course by Prof. Schmidheiny in the second half of the semester. Government intervention is justified by market failure due to three broadly defined reasons: Externalities and public goods, asymmetric information and distributional concerns. These define the role of government in terms of expenditure and taxation and provide the theoretical and normative foundation for the course. We will cover a range of empirical applications in the area of public economics. These include a number of papers in environmental economics (which is a subfield of public economics), but also analyses of taxpayers’ response to taxation. This course is highly recommended as a preparation for the Master Seminar in Public Economics. It can be taken in the same semester as the seminar. The course includes 12 lectures and 6 exercise sessions, which will be taught by Dr. Stephanie Armbruster. For more details, please consult the syllabus, which is available on ADAM and on the WWZ's website. |
Learning objectives | The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the role of government policy in a market economy, and of the main challenges that arise in the context of the regulation of externalities and generating government revenue. Students become acquainted with a series of modeling approaches suited for different contexts, based on textbooks and selected papers published in the public economics literature. |
Bibliography | Tresch, Richard: “Public Finance: A Normative theory”, 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2015. Kaplow, Louis: "The theory of taxation and public economics". Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Plus selected papers published in the literature. |
Weblink | Weblink to ADAM |
Admission requirements | Previous enrolment in a BA-level course in public economics (either at the University of Basel or elsewhere) is recommended, but not required. |
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 |
Modul Kernbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften für Fortgeschrittene (Master's Studies: Sustainable Development (Start of studies before 01.08.2017)) Specialization Module: Markets and Public Policy (Master's Studies: Business and Economics) |
Assessment format | end-of-semester examination |
Assessment details | There will be one homework set, which counts for 20% of the total grade. The written exam covers the remaining 80% of the grade and will take place in the last lecture of the course (7.4.2020). written exam: 07.04.20; 08:15-10:00. |
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 |