Public Finance: Resource Allocation and Fiscal Policy

Catalog description

Develops a mathematical and highly analytical understanding of the role of government in market economies and the fundamentals of public economics and related issues. Topics include generalizations and extensions of the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, in-depth analysis of social choice theory and the theory on implementation in economic environments, public goods and externalities and other forms of market failure associated with asymmetric information. The theoretical foundation for optimal direct and indirect taxation is also introduced along with the development of various consumer surplus measures and an application to benefit cost analysis. Topics of an applied nature vary from semester to semester depending on faculty research interests.