ECON 431 - Public Finance

This course examines government taxation and expenditures. It relies on theoretical and empirical research to explore how government affects the allocation of resources and the distribution of income. The first portion of the course considers taxation in the presence of externalities and public goods and analyzes the effect of social security, unemployment insurance, and social welfare programs on labor supply, savings, and government revenue. The second portion focuses on models to estimate the distributional burdens of taxation, theories of optimal commodity and income taxation, and incentives for investment by firms. Alternate years. Prerequisite(s): ECON 361, ECON 371, and ECON 381 (4 Credits)