Undergraduate Course: Public Economics (ECNM10117)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In this course we will develop the tools necessary to analyse policies related to Public Economics from both a theoretical and empirical side. We combine a theoretical understanding of the economic problem with evaluations of effectiveness. Topics are drawn from throughout Public Economics. |
| Course description |
The course draws on many areas of Public Economics with possible topics on Public Goods, Externalities, Economics of Education, Poverty and Income Redistribution, and Income Tax and Behaviour, among others. In each case, we will begin with a theoretical discussion of the economic problem and consider empirical evaluations. Possible empirical applications include estimating the effectiveness of driving bans in urban areas to reduce pollution, determining the willingness to pay for school infrastructure investment, estimating the labour supply response to transfer programmes, and the response to class-size reduction policies in schools. The econometric methods used build on a regression framework and focus on the challenges of estimating the causal effect of a policy in non-experimental settings.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have an equivalent of at least 4 semester-long Economics courses at grade B or above for entry to this course. This MUST INCLUDE courses in Intermediate Macroeconomics (with calculus); Intermediate Microeconomics (with calculus); Probability and Statistics; and Introductory Econometrics. If macroeconomics and microeconomics courses are not calculus-based, then, in addition, Calculus (or Mathematics for Economics) is required. |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Have had the opportunity to develop and demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of key economic issues in the analysis of taxation, public expenditure and the relationship between public and private provision of different classes of goods and services, including theoretical models and empirical evidence, along with associated mathematical and statistical techniques, implications of those models and a deeper understanding of recent research activity in some more specialised areas.
- Have had the opportunity to develop and demonstrate research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
- Have had the opportunity to develop and demonstrate communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding and to collaborate with and relate to others.
- Have had the opportunity to develop and demonstrate personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, teamwork and group interaction, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning.
- Have had the opportunity to develop and demonstrate practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | public economics,public goods,externalities,poverty |
Contacts
| Course organiser | |
Course secretary | |
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