Syllabus
• Introduction o Four questions of public finance o Facts on governments around the world o Why study public finance now?
• Economic Rationale for the Government o Efficiency of the markets o Market failures o Distributive justice o Paternalism o Efficiency equity trade-off
• Public goods o Types of public goods o Efficient provision of public goods
• Public choice o Voting o Majority rule
• Government Bureaucracy o Principal agent problem o Rent-seeking
• Externalities o Private solutions to externalities o Public solution to externalities
• Expenditure programs o Education o Pension systems o Health care and health insurance
• Financing public programs o Taxation and economic efficiency o Tax incidence o Government borrowing
• Choice of taxation o Optimal taxation - Ramsey rule, equal sacrifice o Capital and other tax bases
Annotation
Basic principles of public finance.
The course is organized at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles
University. Course in english.