Public Economics (ECON40011)

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

• Describe the fundamental features of government activities, expenditure and taxation, including the main types of taxation and expenditure.
• Understand the key equity and efficiency issues related to using different forms of taxation and transfers.
• Understand the theoretical and practical issues related to designed social insurance systems, such as unemployment benefits and health insurance.
• Evaluate the results from empirical analyses of changes in government policies.
• Critically evaluate policies and policy debates from a public economics perspective.

Generic skills

• High level of development: problem solving; application of theory to practice; interpretation and analysis; critical thinking; evaluation of data and other information; statistical reasoning.

• Moderate level of development: oral communication; written communication; synthesis of data and other information; use of computer software; accessing data and other information from a range of sources; receptiveness to alternative ideas.

• Some level of development: collaborative learning.