- Docente: Stefano Toso
- Credits: 8
- SSD: SECS-P/03
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
-
Corso:
First cycle degree programme (L) in
Economics, Markets and Institutions (cod. 8038)
Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Politics Administration and Organization (cod. 8784)
Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Politics Administration and Organization (cod. 8784)
Learning outcomes
The aim of this course is to provide the theoretical elements and the basic knowledge for the analysis of the allocative, redistributive and stabilization role of the public sector. The student will learn the main institutional aspects and the methodology to analyze the economic effects of public intervention in the economy, through public expenditure and fiscal revenue.
Course contents
Part I - Theoretical rationales of public intervention.
Public economics and welfare economics. Theory of public goods and mechanisms of political decision. Externalities. Other causes of market failure.
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. Methodological aspects of personal income taxation. The distortionary effects of taxation on agents' choice.
Part III - Personal income taxation and the Italian fiscal system
The personal income tax. The taxation of capital incomes.
Part IV - Tax-benefit models and income redistribution
Introduction to the welfare state expenditure: theoretical rationales and ways of provision. Social assistance expenditure and tax-benefit schemes. Universalism vs. selectivity.
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). Fiscal policy in the European Monetary Union.
Readings/Bibliography
P. Bosi, (a cura di), Corso di Scienza delle finanze, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015, 7th edition [chapters I, II (only par. 1), III, IV, VI and VIII (only parag. 1 and 4)].
P. Bosi, M.C. Guerra, I tributi nell'economia italiana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017 [chapters I, III, IV, IX].
S. Toso, Reddito di cittadinanza. O reddito minimo?, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.
Additional teaching material will be available during the course in the system AMS Campus - Alma DL - Università di Bologna, at the link http://campus.unibo.it/
Teaching methods
Lectures. One lecture will be dedicated to an interactive discussion among students on a topic which is particularly relevant in the current economic debate.
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 must take a written exam. An oral (non compulsory)
exam is also allowed. Students attending the lectures are expected
to take a mid-term written exam. Student whose mark in the mid-term exam is at least 27/30 are allowed to write a short essay. The evaluation of this short essay will add to the evaluation of the written exam. Examples of past exam questions
will be made available at the link http://campus.unibo.it/.
Students following the lectures and taking the mid-term written
exam pass the examination if and only if their mark is sufficient
(equal or greater than 18/30) both in the mid-term exam and in the
final one.
Teaching tools
A video-projector will be used in some lectures, for presentations with Power Point files.
Office hours
See the website of Stefano Toso