Unit Budgeting and Public Policy

Course
Politics, administration, territory
Study-unit Code
A001480
Curriculum
Governo della democrazia ed etica pubblica
Teacher
Enza Caruso
Teachers
  • Enza Caruso
Hours
  • 63 ore - Enza Caruso
CFU
9
Course Regulation
Coorte 2023
Offered
2023/24
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Economico-statistico
Academic discipline
SECS-P/03
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
The main topics of the course focus on the normative framework of welfare economics, on the features of the imperfect world, and on the concept of market failures as a condition for public intervention. The concept of efficiency will be developed through the explanation of the reasons of equity and of the theories of justice for income and wealth redistribution and the theories of taxation. We will briefly review the mechanisms of social choice: Wicksell’s problem of correct preferences revelation; Arrow’s impossibility theorem which proves that no optimal voting system can be designed the theory of bureaucracy behavior. During the course will also discuss two major issues at the center of the current Italian debate, including the new national procedures for budgeting and the new stability law. First, the course will address the arguments of fiscal discipline and the building processes of public finance balances through the analysis of the new accounting and public finance law No 196/09 on the reorganization of the entire national budget process. Second, we’ll go through the theoretical and institutional framework of fiscal federalism and intergovernmental relations, with detailed consideration for the Italian experience related to the implementation of the reformed Titolo V of the Italian constitution. The course will explore fiscal equalization models designed by law No 42/09 and the executive legislative decrees related to its adoption.
Reference texts
P. Bosi, Corso di scienza delle finanze (ottava edizione), Il Mulino, Bologna, 2019.
Reference books:
[i] R. A. Musgrave, Finanza pubblica, equità, democrazia, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1995.
[ii] M. Degni e P. De Ioanna, Il bilancio è un bene pubblico, Castelvecchi, Roma, 2017.
[iii] G. Arachi e M. Baldini, La finanza pubblica italiana. Rapporto 2020, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2021.
Educational objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with a rigorous theoretical and institutional training in the field of public economics and public finance.
Prerequisites
In order to be able to understand the main topics covered in the course, students are expected to have knowledge of microeconomics and public finance, with particular reference to consumer theory, producer theory and taxation theory. Students who passed the exams in Economics and Public finance in their undergraduate courses are expected to handle successfully those basic notions. This precondition is valid both for attending and not attending students.
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars.
Other information
Attendance: recommended
Learning verification modality
The examination consists of two written and oral tests:. The written test consists of 3 parts, each worth 10 points and has a duration of two hours. The first part has closed questions covering topics of Public Economics treated during the first part of the course; the second and the third parts consist of open questions covering Public Finance topics developed in the second part of the course.. Students shall take the oral exam if their written scored at least a minimum grade of 18/30. The oral test aims to verify the ability to communicate using technical language to explain public economics and public finance issues. The duration of the oral test varies depending on the performance of the interview (typically from 15 to 30 minutes).
Extended program
The main topics are:
[1] Welfare economics - concepts of efficiency and equity in public economy.
[2] Market failures: market power, externalities, theory of public goods and theory of asymmetric information.
[3] Theories of redistributive justice.
[4] Tax system. Benefit and ability to pay principles. Progressive tax definition between horizontal and vertical equity.
[5] Public choice, Arrow's theorem and mechanisms of voting [7] Theory of bureaucracy.
[6] Budget decision between politics and bureaucracy; public finance in Italy and public finance balance rules;
[7] Rules of the national budget and the Italian stability law; the reform of accounting and public finance law No 196/2009; fiscal rules in Europe, the fiscal compact and law No 243/2012 concerning the equilibrium of public budget.
[8] Motivations of sub-central levels of government; economic theory of fiscal federalism; distribution of public functions between levels of government; financing local government; economic effects of intergovernmental transfers; equalization models; the law No 42/2009 and its legislative decrees.
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