This course takes incentives of politicians into account to form a better understanding of the formation of policy and the role of different political institutions in shaping economic policy.
Lernziel
In principles courses of economics, the functioning of markets and ways in which the government can shape and influence are discussed. The implicit assumption thereby is that the government will act in the interest of society at large. This course takes incentives of politicians into account to thereby form a better understanding of the formation of policy and the role of different political institutions in shaping economic policy. The course will consist of three blocks. In the first, the basic issues and the tools of modelling political equilibria will be discussed. These will subsequently be used to look into redistributive policies. The focus thereby is on how the interplay between democratic institutions and self-seeking individuals, lobby groups, and parties determines the degree of redistribution in a society. By taking also intertemporal issues into account, the third part allows us to analyse public debt levels, pensions, capital taxation and economic growth.
Voraussetzungen / Besonderes
An introductory course in Economics is required to sign up for this course.
Leistungskontrolle
Information zur Leistungskontrolle (gültig bis die Lerneinheit neu gelesen wird)