04722 - Public Economics

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be able to understand the functioning and the issues of the main instruments of public intervention such as taxation, public expenditure programmes and regulation.

Course contents

Part I - Theoretical rationales of public intervention.

Public economics and welfare economics. Market failures: theory of public goods.

Part II - Theory of taxation

Public revenues. The progressive tax: methods for implementing the progressivity. Progressivity measures and redistributive effects of income taxation. Equity of taxation. The tax design of personal income taxation. The distortionary effects of taxation on agents' choice.

Part III - The Italian tax system

Introduction to the Italian tax system: Irpef and Iva.

Part IV - The economics of the welfare state: an introduction

Theoretical rationales and ways of provision of welfare state benefits. Pensions. The dilemma of social assistance expenditure: universalism vs selectivity. Tax-benefit schemes (negative income tax, basic income/flat income tax).

Part V - Macroeconomic effects of public budget

Built-in-flexibility and the indicators of fiscal policy. Public debt (the Ricardian equivalence theorem, the issue of debt sustainability).

Readings/Bibliography

M. Baldini, L. Rizzo, Flat tax. Parti uguali tra disuguali?, Il Mulino, 2019.

P. Bosi, (a cura di), Corso di Scienza delle finanze, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023, 9th edition [chapters I, II (only par. 1), III, IV, VI and VIII (only parag. 1 and 4)]. The text is also available on the web site www.pandoracampus.it

A. Santoro, L'economia delle tasse. Cosa sono e come dovrebbero cambiare, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2025 [chapters I, II, III e V].

P. Bosi, M.C. Guerra, I tributi nell'economia italiana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2025 [Introduction, chapters I, II, III, IV, VIII, X]. The text is also available on the web site www.pandoracampus.it

Additional teaching material will be available online during the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures and tutorials.

Assessment methods

The exam is aimed to verifiy the following teaching objectives: 1) knowledge of the theoretical tools which have been illustrated during the lectures, 2) capability to apply those tools to the analysis of the real and financial effects of the public sector intervention in the economy.

All students take a written exam.

Examples of past exam questions will be made available on line.

With regard to assessment, the use of AI is prohibited. Any such use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.

The maximum possible score is 30 cum laude. The grade is graduated as follows:

<18 failed
18-23 sufficient
24-27 good
28-30 very good
30 e lode excellent

Teaching tools

The teaching materials will be made available by Virtuale platform.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Toso