PUBLIC ECONOMICS

The course is among those characterizing the Degree programme in Economics. 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.

Mandatory priority Exams: see https://www.unive.it/web/fileadmin/user_upload/cdl/et4/doc/propedeuticitaET4_sett2023.pdf

1. The public sector in Italy
2. Motivations for public intervention
2.1 Welfare Economics and social choice
2.2 Market failures
2.3 Public goods
2.4 Esternalities
3. Public sector revenues
3.1 Taxation theory: general aspects and basic concepts
3.2 Taxation: distributive principles
3.3 Issues in the design of personal income taxation
3.4 Distortionary effects of taxation
3.5 Tax incidence in partial equilibrium analysis
4. The Italian tax system
4.1 National taxes
4.2 Regional and local taxes

- H.S. Rosen - T. Gayer, Scienza delle finanze, McGraw-Hill CREATE CUSTOM PUBLISHING, last edition (EDIZIONE RIDOTTA PER CA' FOSCARI).
The program might be supplemented with handouts during the course available on Moodle.

Suggested readings:
- P. Bosi - M. C. Guerra, I tributi nell'economia italiana, Il Mulino, Bologna, Edizione 2023.

The exam is written and involves theoretical questions, graphical analyses and numerical exercises.
The written test (lasting max 2 hours) consists of some questions aimed at verifying the learning of concepts and the ability to apply them to concrete cases.
There is no oral exam.
- The final grade of the task is given by the sum of the points obtained in the answers.
- The exam is passed if sum of points is at least 18.
- If the sum of the points exceeds 30 the "lode" will be awarded.
- The questions can be: (i) theoretical, (ii) analytical exercises, (iii) numerical exercises, (iv) multiple choice questions.
Exercises and examples of exam questions with the solutions will be included in Moodle.

The course is organized in:
a) lectures,
b) classroom exercises,
c) individual study.
Students are encouraged to attend classes in an active way, reading the chapters of the book before coming to class and doing the exercises (available on the Moodle platform).

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