Public Economics I

Catalog description

This course covers core issues in the design of optimal government policies, and the empirical analysis of those policies in the world. In addition, this course will familiarize students with the basic empirical methods and theoretical models in applied microeconomics. Emphasis is placed on connecting theory to data to inform economic policy. Specific topics include efficiency costs and incidence of taxation, income and corporate taxation, optimal tax theory, tax expenditures and tax-based transfer programs, welfare analysis in behavioral models, and social security and retirement policy.