University of Kent

Description

The aim of the module is to introduce students to public economics and how it informs and shapes policy decisions related to taxation and government expenditure. The main topic areas are as follows: the size and composition of government expenditure in the UK and other major economies; the efficiency arguments for public expenditures: public goods, market failures, merit goods; the distributional arguments for public expenditures: the equitable provision of basic goods and essential services (education, healthcare); the allocation of expenditure responsibilities across levels of government (central, regional, local); the financing of government expenditures in the UK and other major economies: taxes, user fees, property income; the pattern of taxation in the UK and other major economies: personal income tax, corporate income tax, national insurance contributions, consumption taxes; the efficiency effects of taxation: corrections of market failures, and distortions of market allocation; the distributional effects of taxation; the trade-off between redistribution and efficiency.

Learning outcomes

The module will enable students to:

• understand the key arguments for public expenditure in terms of improving economic efficiency
• understand the key arguments for public expenditure in terms of providing a more equitable distribution of resources
  
• understand how taxation affects economic efficiency
  
• understand how taxation affects the distribution of resources
  
• develop knowledge of and be able to critically analyse the size, composition and structure of government expenditures in the UK and other major economies
• develop knowledge of and be able to critically analyse the pattern of the various methods of taxation size in the UK and other major economies
  
• understand the impact of the government’s taxes and expenditures on labour supply, investment and growth
  
• understand the trade-off between redistribution and efficiency

Reading list

J Stiglitz, Economics of the Public Sector, 3rd ed, Norton, 2000
J Hendricks and G Myles, Intermediate Public Economics, MIT Press, 2006

Factsheet

Credits	15 [7.5]
Level	Intermediate
Term	Spring
Availability
Exclusion
Pre-requisites & Co-requisites:	Stage 1 Economics (modes A or B), Mathematics for Economics and Business (modes A or B) and Statistics for Economics and Business
Assessment	20% coursework, consisting of one class test and one 1,500 word essay 80% written examination
Contact hours	24 lectures, 11 seminars