Economics and Finance

FLAVIANA PALMISANO

This course is designed to help students to achieve a solid grasp of the theory of public finance by applying the basic tools of microeconomics. The course trains students in areas relevant to the needs of business and government's institutions and provides the necessary background for advanced graduate studies.
Topics covered include: the theories of collective decision processes (voting, Condorcet winner, Arrow's theorem, median voter theorem, social welfare functions); market failures (public goods, Samuelsonian public goods; merit goods; externalities; club goods and fiscal federalism); interest group, bureaucracy and rent seeking; fiscal constitution and public budgetary process; analysis of public expenditures; theories of taxation (progressive, regressive and proportional taxation; issues of efficiency, effectiveness and equity; optimal taxation; commodity and income taxation; tax shifting and tax incidence; Italian tax system); deficit financing and public debt (Ricardian equivalence, Lucas and Barro model, intergenerational shifting of debt burden; sustainability and Domar's model) cost-benefit analysis.

At the end of the course students will be able to use concepts, models and theories to describe and justify public intervention in the economy and to evaluate its effects from the point of view of efficiency and equity. Finally, they will be able to describe the main taxes applied in Italy.

The course is designed for students with good knowledge of microeconomics.

The course covers the following topics:
Public choices and social welfare functions.
Market failures: externalities and public goods.
Models of bureaucracy and interest groups in public decision processes.
Public budgets and fiscal constitution.
Public reveneus: the Italian tax system.
Theories of public debt.
Central and local government; local public finance.

Francesco Forte, MANUALE DI SCIENZA DELLE FINANZE (seconda edizione), Giuffrè Francis Lefebre Ed.,
2020

INTRODUZIONE

CAPITOLO I

CAPITOLO II (paragrafi 1-9 e 13-16)

CAPITOLO III (Parte prima e parte terza)

CAPITOLO IV

CAPITOLO V (Parte prima, paragrafi 1-5 e 8-12; Parte seconda)

CAPITOLO VI

CAPITOLO VII (Parte prima e Parte seconda)

CAPITOLO VIII

CAPITOLO IX (Parte prima:, paragrafi, 2 e 2.1; Parte seconda: sezione I, sezione II paragrafi 1-5; Parte
terza; Parte quarta: paragrafi 1-6 e 8-9; Parte quinta: paragrafo1; Appendice tavola 1)

CAPITOLO 10 (Parte prima, paragrafi 1-4; Parte seconda, paragrafi 5-7)

Additional material will be provided during the course

Frontal instruction

In person

To be defined. More information will be provided during the course.

Descrive the case of negative externalities as a maket failure