Public Expenditures

Website: http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~ysung/
Email: ysung@ntu.edu.tw
Drop-in Open Office Hours: See here

This course is listed as Public Economics I, the first part in the graduate-level Public Economics sequence in our department.
We will cover the core topics in the public expenditures literature, with an emphasis on the micro-economic theory of public goods.
Attention will also be paid to non-market activities (e.g., altruism, politics, etc.) and institutional issues.

Chinese Version

1:20~4:10pm Monday in Classroom 2 of the School of Social Sciences Campus.

Calculus and graduate-level microeconomics.

A midterm exam and a final exam, each accounting for 40% of your final course grade.
There will also be 2 in-class quizzes, each accounting for 10% of your final course grade.

Extra credits may be earned by submitting an optional term paper.

The Theory of Externality, Public Goods, and Club Goods, R. Cornes and T. Sandler, 1996(2e), Cambridge U.P. [C&S]

 7  Lecture Schedule and Readings: (Calendar)

A. Basic Theory:

1. Pareto Efficiency: Pure and Impure Public Goods (Note)
2. Market Equilibria and the Free-riding Problem (Note)
3. Preference Revelation and Mechanical Design (Outline) | (Note)
   
4. Private Provision of Public Goods (Note)
   In-class Midterm Exam

B. Extensions:

1. Externality and CPR Problems (Note)
   
2. Public Choice and Public Goods: Intro / Ch1 / Ch2 / Ch3 / Arrow
   
3. Empirical Estimation of Public Good Demands (Note)
   Take-Home Final Exam Download

Here

Those who plan to write a thesis in this field are encouraged to submit a concise term paper of 8-10 pages.
For the term paper, you may either apply the public good theory to analyze what happens in the real world,
or extend the results of an existing article by making its assumptions more realistic.

To write with style, you are encouraged to read an article by William Thomson:

The Young Person's Guide to Writing Economic Theory, Journal of Economic Literature, 1999, 37:157-83.

School Year 2013

 11  Sample Exams: Available for Download

2008 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

 Announcements 

• Please check this page regularly for new announcements!
• Please notify me if you find any broken links on my website.
• As a courtesy to your fellow classmates, please turn off your cell phones.
• Term papers may be submitted electronically by email in text, PDF or MS Word format.
  Please name your paper file by your student ID number, e.g., B86303001.txt or B86303001.doc.

 Relevant Information 

Interesting Economists:

• Theodore Bergstrom (UCSB)
• James Andreoni (UCSD)
• Hal R. Varian (UC-Berkeley)
• Mathew Rabin (UC-Berkeley)

Reference Sites:

• The Economist
• Wall Street Journal