ADVANCED PUBLIC ECONOMICS

This course offers insights from Public Economics on topics related to:
- public intervention, with particular emphasis on the design and effects of welfare and family interventions aimed at reducing inequalities and anti-poverty policies
- empirical methods for public policy analysis
- deepening the understanding of the economics of benefits and taxes, with a particular focus on tax-benefit systems' design and on the effects on economic agents' behavior.
A written examination will assess the knowledge acquired by the students.

1. Knowledge and comprehension skills:
1.1. understanding problems and challenges in the design of welfare (including family-related) programmes and tax systems in modern market economies;
1.2. understanding the combined effects of taxes and subsidies on the choices of economic agents;
1.3. understanding the techniques suitable for assessing the effect of public intervention.

2. Applied knowledge and comprehension skills:
2.1. using statistical indicators at national and international level to evaluate the characteristics of welfare and tax systems;
2.2. calculating the convenience of taxpayers to participate in the labor market, also with a gender perspective, in the presence of a variety of taxes and subsidies;
2.3. assessing the effectiveness of specific public interventions and policies.

3. Use of independent judgment:
3.1. to critically interpret the choices of the welfare and tax legislator;
3.2. to understand the impact of welfare programmes and tax systems on the economic choices and outcomes along the life cycle
3.3. to assess economic issues through analytical methods.

The course requires the knowledge of the topics covered in a course of Public economics at a three-year degree programme level.

1 Public Economics: introduction to the course
2 Equity and Efficiency issues in tax design
3 Labour earnings taxation: background and challenges
4 Optimal tax and transfer design
5 Empirical evidence on behavioural responses to tax-benefit design
6 The economic consequences of disability; Disability Insurance
7 Design and effects of welfare programmes
8 Fetal origins, societal responses and early life interventions
9 Gender Gap, Child Penalty and Family Policies

Reading material for the course is made mostly of academic papers from scientific journals. The full list will be available on the Moodle page for the course.

the exam consists of a written test, composed of 3 to 6 questions, which aims to verify the learning of the concepts and the ability to apply them. There is no oral exam.
- Duration of the written exam: 1h-1: 30h
- Each answer is worth a variable number of points depending on the question.
- The final grade of the task is given by the sum of the points obtained in the answers.
- The exam is passed if the sum is at least 18.
- If the sum of the points exceeds 30 the "lode" will be awarded.

Questions can be:
- theoretical
- analytical
- multiple choice questions
- charts, tables and fiscal indicators to be commented.

The Moodle website will include examples of exam questions.

written

18-23: sufficient learning outcomes and applied skills in familiar contexts
23-28: good learning outcomes and applied skills in familiar contexts
28+: excellent learning outcomes and applied skills, extending also to possibly unfamiliar contexts.

he course is organized in:
a) lectures,
b) classroom exercises, with Active learning sessions guided by the teacher during the course.
c) individual study.
Students are encouraged to attend classes in an active way.