Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session

Course Description

Explores the role of government in the economy, applying tools of basic microeconomics to answer important policy questions such as government response to global warming, school choice by K-12 students, Social Security versus private retirement savings accounts, government versus private health insurance, setting income tax rates for individuals and corporations.

Prerequisites

14.01 Principles of Microeconomics

Requirements and Grading

There are three sets of requirements for this course:

Readings

The only required reading is my textbook:

Gruber, Jonathan. Public Finance and Public Policy. 3rd ed. Worth Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9781429219495.

Exams

There will be a midterm exam worth 25% of the grade, and a final worth 50%. The midterm will be in class, 85 minutes, and closed book/closed notes.

Problem Sets

There will be 5 problem sets throughout the semester, each of which will consist of both mathematical exercises and essay questions. This requirement will be worth the remaining 25% of the grade. No late problem sets will be accepted for any reason. Grading will be based on the top 4/5 grades (your lowest homework grade will be dropped).

Calendar