KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING At the end of the course, students are expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and principles of public economics aimed at evaluating, justifying and designing public interventions in the market economy. ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING At the end of the course, students should be able to - identify situations of market failures and develop hypotheses on the effects of such failures on social welfare; - describe the basic mechanisms on the dynamics of public debt; - describe the rationale of public interventions in health, welfare, income support, and education policies; - describe and define the functioning and justification of the direct and indirect taxation system in Italy and Europe. AUTONOMY OF JUDGEMENT At the end of the course, the student will have to demonstrate that she has not only acquired knowledge and concepts, but also that she is able to apply them in the analysis of concrete examples related to global economic history and to the contingent economic and social situation in Italy. COMMUNICATION SKILLS The written exam is aimed at verifying the student's ability to use, effectively, appropriately and with specific language, the concepts learnt during the course. LEARNING ABILITIES At the end of the course, the student will have to demonstrate that she is able to apply the knowledge, skills and minimum competences foreseen in this syllabus.

Students must have already successfully taken the microeconomics exam

Course summary programme The fundamental questions of public economics; introduction to policy evaluation methods for causal analysis. The Welfare State. Health care policies. Public pension systems. Public education systems. Income support programmes. Motivations for public intervention in the economy. Market failures due to externalities. Market failures due to the presence of 'public goods'. Taxation systems in Italy and globally.

• GRUBER Jonathan, Scienza delle Finanze, 2023 (seconda edizione), EGEA editore. Further teaching material will be provided by the lecturer.

Course summary programme 1. Introduction: public economics and the role of the public sector in modern market economies. Economic tools for policy evaluation, and causal analysis. 2. The Welfare State: theories and empirical analysis of social policy provision. 3. Health care systems: motivations for public intervention in health policies, failures of the private health insurance market, individual and collective choices in health insurance. 4. Public pension systems: Motivations for public intervention in pension systems, pension reforms and intergenerational effects, pension calculation systems and consequences for individual welfare. 5. Public education systems: Rationale for public intervention, theories and empirical evidence on measuring the effect of education on individual well-being and social well-being. Measuring the quality of education in OECD countries, and the INVALSI case in Italy. 6. Income support programmes: Rationale for public intervention, theories and empirical evidence on possible failures of income support programmes. 7. Formalisation of motivations for public intervention in the economy. Public interventions due to inefficiencies vs. inequities. Fundamentals of welfare economics. 8. Theories and examples of market failures due to externalities leading or not to public intervention. 9. Theories and examples of market failures due to the presence of 'public goods' leading or not to public intervention. 10. Taxation systems in Italy and globally. 10.1 - Indirect taxes: VAT Value Added Tax in Italy, calculation methods, the problem of tax evasion, the reverse charge method, the problems of VAT calculation in an international context, VAT fraud in an international context. 10.2 - The system of separate taxation of income from financial assets 10.3 - Direct Taxes: IRPEF: progressivity, equity, calculation methods 10.4 - The theory of taxation: the distorting effects of taxes, in terms of efficiency and in terms of equity.

Lectures and classroom exercises

During the lectures, the slides used will be provided

The assessment of learning will involve a written test with four open questions (including numerical exercises) on topics and concepts illustrated in the lecture. For students who have attended at least 80% of the lectures, it is possible to make a group presentation on research topics selected by the students based on guidelines provided by the lecturer. Each student participating in the group test will receive a bonus, assessed according to the quality of the research carried out and of the oral presentation, from a minimum of 0 points to a maximum of 4 points, which will be added to the mark obtained in the written examination.

This course explores topics closely related to one or more goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs)