PUBLIC FINANCE

The course is among those characterizing the Degree programme in Business Administration and Management. The main aim of the course is to provide an overview of the issues concerning the State's intervention in the economy. Emphasis will be placed on theoretical foundations of the economic analysis of government intervention and taxation. The course also provides tools for the economic analysis of the main Italian taxes.

1. Knowledge and comprehension skills:
1.1. understanding the motivations of public intervention in the economy and how the collectivity can take into account objectives of equity and efficiency to make public choices and supply goods and services;
1.2. understanding how public goods and externalities influence the choices of economic agents and tools used by the State to bring the economy back to efficiency;
1.3. understanding the economic effects of taxes;
1.4. understanding the characteristics and the functioning of the main Italian taxes.

2. Applied knowledge and comprehension skills:
2.1. using social choice models to determine the efficiency and equity of public interventions;
2.3. knowing how to identify the degree of progressivity and redistribution of different taxes;
2.4. knowing how to apply and critically evaluating income and consumption taxes.

3. Use of independent judgment:
3.1. to interpret the motivations of public intervention;
3.2. to understand the effects of taxes on agents' economic choices;
3.3. to consider economic issues through analytical methods.

The exam of economics must be passed.

The course consists in a first part, where we focus on welfare economics. Then we face the issue of taxation with the relative problemsof equity ed efficiency. Then we study public expenditure and in particular the pension system and ther health system in Italy. Finally, we dicuss the issue of public debt.

Written exam, with questions with mutiple choices and open questions. Both the notions and the capacity of reasoning will be evaluated.

Slides used in class will be given to students.

Rosen-Gayer: "scienza delle finanze"

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