Public Finance

3. PURPOSE OR OVERALL OBJECTIVE
This course focuses on the role of the government in the economy. The aim is to provide an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, analyzing the benefits of possible government policies in terms of efficiency and distribution, and the response of economic agents to the government's actions. The course covers tax and social expenditure policies, social insurance programs, public goods, and the interaction between different levels of government. Special emphasis is on current policy issues such as social security reform, health care reform, and income tax reform at national and international level. The course focuses on the basics of microeconomics with applications for the public sector. It has an emphasis on intuitive reasoning of these problems according to the microeconomic models, and review of experiences through empirical papers on the subject. 

During the course students' should achieve understanding of some of the most important problems in public finances by analyzing the following questions: What level of government must provide certain goods? How should the tax system be structured? How many levels of government should be? How can they be effectively collected higher taxes? How can they be designed intergovernmental transfers to achieve equity and efficiency

4. BASIC SKILLS THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE
5. ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS: THEMES AND SUBTHEMES
6. DIDACTIC STRATEGIES AND METHODOLOGIES
7. RESOURCES
8. CRITERIA AND POLICIES OF MONITORING AND ACADEMIC EVALUATION