ECON 8470 - International Public Economics

3 Credit Hours
Prerequisites: ECON 8080 or PMAP 8141 or MBA 7030.
Description
This course is a survey of topics in international public economics with an emphasis on world-wide practices. The purpose of the course is to provide students with case studies of international experiences developed using standard tools of public economics so that students can analyze these and other topics outside the classroom. The course uses the concepts of public economics (public goods, externalities, economic efficiency, equity, and income distribution) to analyze issues such as the following: Which level of government should provide which goods? How should a tax system be structured in developing, transitional, and developed economies? How many levels of government should exist? How can taxes be more effectively collected? At the end of the class, students will be familiar with the more important policy questions facing countries around the world and will be better equipped to analyze alternative policy reforms.