Public finance is the field of economics concerned with government expenditure and revenue. It examines both why and how governments should or should not intervene in markets. “How should the government tax people?”, “Who bears the burden of a tax?”, or “How can government spending alleviate poverty?” are exemplary questions public finance tries to answer in a rigorous way.

The course provides students with a formal framework in which such questions can be addressed. Topics include: public goods and externalities, optimal taxation, tax incidence, health insurance, and social security.

Throughout the course, we will employ our acquired knowledge of public finance to create a simulation of an economy in which a player can make decisions about government policies.



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