ECON4624 – Public Economics - Public Policy
Course description
Course content
This course covers the impact and effectiveness of public policies. The course discusses the reasons for government intervention in the economy, the benefits of government policies and their costs, taking into account individuals and firms’ responses to the government’s actions. The course covers social insurance programs (including unemployment and disability insurance), public goods and externalities, cost-benefit analysis and governmental provision of education. Students will learn to read, understand and critically assess research in the area of public economics, and be introduced to a variety of theoretical models and empirical methods to evaluate public policy research questions.
Learning outcome
Knowledge:
You should be able to
- explain market failures that warrant public provision of social insurance, and discuss theoretical and empirical literature on the moral hazard cots of social insurance
- explain how we can determine the optimal level of public goods, analyse when the private sector is not likely to provide optimal levels of a public good and discuss challenges in public goods provision
- approach a cost-benefit analysis using economic tools
- discuss reasons for public provision of education be familiar with the literature on the returns to education
Skills:
You should be able to
- identify policy problems in public economics
- explain the economic contents and trade-offs captured by theoretical models
- identify the assumptions, relevance, and limitations of different empirical methods
- assess arguments appearing in the policy debate relating to the impact of public policy
Competence:
You should be able to
- read and understand reports and journal articles that make use of the concepts and methods that are introduced in the course
- be able to make use of the course content in applied exercises and your own academic work, for example in analyses that are part of the master’s thesis
Admission to the course
Students admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
Students not admitted to the Master’s programme in Economics or the Master’s programme in Economic Theory and Econometrics (Samfunns?konomisk analyse), can apply for admission to one of our study programmes, or apply for guest student status.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
You must fulfill one of these prerequisites:
- Bachelor`s degree in Economics, or equivalent.
- ECON3220 – Microeconomics 3 / ECON4220 – Microeconomics 3, or equivalent.
Recommended previous knowledge
- Students who do not have ECON3150 – Introductory Econometrics / ECON4150 – Introductory Econometrics or equivalent, are advised not to take this course.
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with ECON3624 – Public Economics - Public Policy.
Teaching
Lectures and seminars.
Voluntary tuition activities:
- A term paper
- An oral presentation
Course responsible can at the beginning of the semester update the syllabus list by changing no more than three articles, though in a way that it will not change the overall scope or thematic content of the course.
The syllabus also includes any lecture notes that will be made available for the students in Canvas.
Examination
A 3-hour written school exam.
Exam papers with comments from examiner
Examination support material
Usage of a dictionary during the examination is allowed, subject to prior inspection by SV-info.?See guidelines for further details.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.
See also our information about resitting an exam.
Students who wish to retake the exam in a later semester are not guaranteed that the course will be given with the same content and syllabus, or that the examination scheme will be the same.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- How to use AI as a student
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.