Graduate Public Finance

This course will cover issues in the optimal design of tax and social insurance policies, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Topics include efficiency costs and incidence of taxation, income taxation, transfer and welfare programs, public goods and externalities, optimal social insurance, and welfare analysis in behavioral models. I would like to thank Raj Chetty, who’s Public Finance Course provides much of the inspiration and material for this syllabus, notes, and slides.

Reading List

The course consists of 6 lectures, each lasting 2.5 hours.

Session 1: Tax Incidence

Session 2: Efficiency Cost of Taxation

Session 3: Optimal Income Tax

Session 4: Social Insurance & Unemployment Benefits

Session 5: Workers Compensation & Disability Insurance

Session 6: Corporate Tax