Governments play a critical role in efficiently allocating resources, distributing income and stabilising the economy through the effective management of public finances.

With growing inequality within and among different nations, and in an increasingly volatile global economic environment, it is even more important that public finances are managed effectively to meet social and economic goals.

This course provides a broad, up-to-date introduction to the economic analysis of public policy issues. Drawing on microeconomic theory, the course focuses on the development of analytical tools and their application to key policy issues relating to the spending, taxing and financing activities of government. You will be introduced to cutting-edge research in the field, including recent developments in public economics in areas such as behavioural public economics, new empirical methods and policy innovations.

By the end of the course, you will have an appreciation of the analytical methods used in economics for the study of the public sector and the role of the state. By applying the theory to real-world scenarios, you will have a thorough grounding in the principles underlying the role of the state, the design of social insurance and the welfare state, as well as the design of the tax system. Having engaged with these important and challenging problems, you will understand the practical problems involved in implementing these principles.