Unit Budgeting and Public Policy
- Course
- Politics, administration, territory
- Study-unit Code
- A001480
- Curriculum
- Management delle amministrazioni e dei servizi
- Teacher
- Enza Caruso
- Teachers
-
- Enza Caruso
- Hours
- 63 ore - Enza Caruso
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2023
- Offered
- 2023/24
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Economico-statistico
- Academic discipline
- SECS-P/03
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
The course's main topics focus on the normative framework of welfare economics, the features of an imperfect world, and market failures as a condition for public intervention. Efficiency issues will be developed together with equity issues. We will also treat the theories of justice for income and wealth redistribution and the theories of taxation. We will briefly review mechanisms of social choice: Wicksell's problem of correct preferences revelation; Arrow's theorem of impossibility which has proven that no optimal voting rule can be designed; the theory of bureaucracy behaviour. Finally, we will discuss two major central issues of the current Italian debate and reform process.
The first is the new national budget law and procedures for budgeting. Fiscal discipline and public finance balance arguments will be addressed by analysing the new accounting and public finance law No 196/09 on the reform of the entire national budget process. The second is the theoretical and institutional framework of fiscal federalism and intergovernmental relations, with a detailed review of the Italian experience and the implementation of the reformed Titolo V of the Italian constitution. We will explore fiscal equalisation models designed by law No 42/09 and the legislative decrees related to its adoption.- Reference texts
P. Bosi, Corso di scienza delle finanze (ottava edizione), il Mulino, Bologna, 2023.
Reference books:
[i] M. Baldini e S. Toso (a cura di), La finanza pubblica italiana. Rapporto 2022, il Mulino, Bologna, 2023.
[ii] R. A. Musgrave, Finanza pubblica, equità, democrazia, il Mulino, Bologna, 1995.
[iii] M. Degni e P. De Ioanna, Il bilancio è un bene pubblico, Castelvecchi, Roma, 2017.- Educational objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with rigorous theoretical and institutional training in the field of public economics and public finance.- Prerequisites
In order to be able to understand the main topics covered in the course, students should know notions of Microeconomics and Public Finance, with particular reference to the consumer theory, the producer theory and the taxation theory. Students, who have passed Economics and Public Finance exams in their undergraduate courses, are expected to handle those basic notions successfully. This precondition is valid both for attending and not attending students.- Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars.- Other information
Attendance: strongly recommended- Learning verification modality
The examination consists of a written test and an oral test. The written test contains three sections: each worth 10 points and the available time is two hours. The first part contains closed questions covering topics of Public Economics studied during the first part of the course; the second and the third parts consist of open questions covering Public Finance topics developed in the second part of the course. Students should take the oral exam if their written test scores get at least 18/30. The oral test aims to verify students' ability to use technical language to explain public economics and public finance issues. The oral test time depends on the performance of the interview (typically from 15 to 30 minutes).- Extended program
The main topics are:
[1] Welfare economics - Efficiency and equity issues in public economics.
[2] Market failures: market power, externalities, theory of public goods and theory of asymmetric information.
[3] Theories of redistributive justice.
[4] Tax system. Benefit principle and ability to pay principle. Definition of progressive taxation, horizontal and vertical equity.
[5] Public choice, Arrow's theorem and mechanisms of voting.
[6] Budget decision and bureaucracy; Italian public finance and public finance balance rules;
[7] The Italian national budget law: structure and process; the reform of accounting and public finance law No 196/2009; the European fiscal rules, the fiscal compact and the law No 243/2012 concerning the equilibrium of the public budget.
[8] Fiscal federalism and intergovernmental relations; public functions between levels of governments and tax assignments; intergovernmental transfers; equalization models; the law No 42/2009 and related legislative decrees.