Public Economics
Essays for Public Economics Please send ONE essay by mail to bernasconi@unive.it by Saturday, March, 2nd (midnight) Please note that HG refers to the textbook: Hindriks, Jean and Gareth D. Myles, 2006,
Intermediate Public Economics, MIT Press. In order to write the essay, I expect that you read ALL the material marked with *, regardless whether the material is under one particular essay. This because in order to write good essays I expect that you have a general knowledge of all the material covered in *. Then I indicate some additional readings. 1. Discuss the factors that in your view might have been the most important in driving the increase of the public sectors in world economies after World War II; then argue which among such factors you believe will continue to operate in the future and, more generally, discuss how you expect public sectors will develop in the next decades. Readings:
*HM, Chapters 3 and 4
Durevall and Henrekson, “The futile quest for a grand explanation of long‐run government expenditure”. Journal of Public Economics, (2011), vol.95, pp. 708–722
Schwartz and Ter‐Minassian. “The distributional effects of public expenditure”. Journal of
Economic Surveys, (2000), vol 14. pp. 227‐358.
Shelton, “The size and composition of government expenditure”, Journal of Public
Economics, (2007), vol.91, pp. 2230–2260
2. The view of Classical Economists on the role of State in the economy was that “the market should be the rule, and the State the exception”. Discuss the foundations behind such a view and argue how much of the same spirit you think still characterizes modern approaches to the study of public sector economics. Readings:
*Musgrave: “A brief history of fiscal doctrine” in Handbook of Public Economics vol. 1,
Auerbach & Feldstein (eds.).
3. In their review article on the development of general equilibrium theory, Duffie and
Sonneschein write: “the
Intermediate Public Economics, MIT Press. In order to write the essay, I expect that you read ALL the material marked with *, regardless whether the material is under one particular essay. This because in order to write good essays I expect that you have a general knowledge of all the material covered in *. Then I indicate some additional readings. 1. Discuss the factors that in your view might have been the most important in driving the increase of the public sectors in world economies after World War II; then argue which among such factors you believe will continue to operate in the future and, more generally, discuss how you expect public sectors will develop in the next decades. Readings:
*HM, Chapters 3 and 4
Durevall and Henrekson, “The futile quest for a grand explanation of long‐run government expenditure”. Journal of Public Economics, (2011), vol.95, pp. 708–722
Schwartz and Ter‐Minassian. “The distributional effects of public expenditure”. Journal of
Economic Surveys, (2000), vol 14. pp. 227‐358.
Shelton, “The size and composition of government expenditure”, Journal of Public
Economics, (2007), vol.91, pp. 2230–2260
2. The view of Classical Economists on the role of State in the economy was that “the market should be the rule, and the State the exception”. Discuss the foundations behind such a view and argue how much of the same spirit you think still characterizes modern approaches to the study of public sector economics. Readings:
*Musgrave: “A brief history of fiscal doctrine” in Handbook of Public Economics vol. 1,
Auerbach & Feldstein (eds.).
3. In their review article on the development of general equilibrium theory, Duffie and
Sonneschein write: “the