Taxes, Public Sector Desicion-making and Economic Policy

The course gives a basic understanding of collective decisions, collective goods, and government control. The course covers organization and incentives in government production, and how decision makers are affected by government controls and taxes.

Knowledge

You learn

• How collective decisions about economic policy are taken
• The arguments for design of government controls
• How decision makers in the private sector are influenced by taxes and government controls

Skills

You should be able to analyze

• The assumptions of different collective decision making arrangements and how they work
• Collective goods and externalities that are not taken care of in the market
• Production and financing of welfare services and how they can be organized inside and outside the public sector -
• Design of the tax system and how taxes influence decision makers
• Competition and allocation of functions within the public sector, the relationship between central and local governments

General competence

You should be able to

• read and understand reports and research articles dealing with issues discussed in the course

2 hours of lectures every week. Information about tutorials and compulsory activity will be announced at the beginning of the term.