Learning objectives
The ultimate goal is to provide students with the critical tools needed to assess the adequacy of public policy in contexts characterized by different levels of development and different degrees of modernization of society and markets.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
The course aims to provide students with the basics of public economy, to analyze the most relevant reasons, from a theoretical point of view, to support the need for state intervention in the economy and to describe briefly the main elements of the welfare state. The analytical direction of the course is divided into three parts. The first will analyse the principal market failures that warrant corrective action by the state, based on the criteria of efficiency and maximization of social welfare. The second section complements the first, starting with a critique of the utilitarian approach it considers the existing relationship between income growth and improvement of living conditions of the population and underlines the lack of a necessary connection between these two elements. On the basis of this observation it is possible to justify state intervention in the economy in order to improve the living standards of citizens. The final part of the course describes how state action responds specifically to the requirements of social protection and redistribution highlighted in previous sections.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Bosi, Corso di scienza delle finanze, Il Mulino, Bologna.
A. Sen, Libertà è sviluppo, Mondadori Editore, Milan.
Teaching methods
Class and seminar project
Assessment methods and criteria
The assessment is a written test, consisting of open questions within a time limit.
Other information
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