Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2500259 Political Science and Public Management | OT | 3 | 2 |
2500259 Political Science and Public Management | OT | 4 | 0 |
It is highly advisable to have passed the “Political Economy” 1st year course and the “Economic Policy and Public Sector Economics” 3rd year course.
This is a 4th year subject, and, as a consequence, of specific formation. It provides the instruments required for the economic analysis of a variety of government revenue sources, particularly taxes. Tax analysis can be undertaken from two perspectives. On the one hand, according to efficiency and equity criteria, the principles to be fulfilled by a tax system have to be specified. Both tax design and tax reform must be based on these principles. On the other, who bears the tax burden has to be ascertained.
The objectives of the course are the following:
1. Achieving a good knowledge of the instruments of government financing.
2. Analyzing the economic effects of different types of taxes.
3. Discussing rigorously the consequences of a variety of taxes in terms of efficiency and equity.
1. INTRODUCTION
A comparative analysis of government revenues and expenditures in Spain and in Europe. The economic role of the public sector. Efficiency and equity: the fundamental theorems of Welfare Economics. The government budget constraint. Major public expenditure programs. Major components of the tax system. Tax principles.
2. TAXATION AND EFFICIENCY
Lump-sum taxes and distortionay taxes. Taxes and excess burden. Consumer surplus and producer surplus. Income effects, substitution effects and excess burden. Analysis of excess burden with demand and supply curves.
3. TAXATION AND EQUITY
Tax equity: the ability-to-pay principle and the benefit principle. Progressivity, proportionality and regressivity. The effects of taxes on income distribution. Tax incidence. Partial equilibrium models and the role of elasticities. The Harberger model of tax incidence in general equilibrium.
4. INCOME TAXATION
The taxation of personal income. Definition of income. Exclusions, deductions and credits. The choice of the tax unit. Economic effects of the personal income tax. The Negative Income Tax. The taxation of corporate income.
5. SALES AND CONSUMPTION TAXES
Sales and excise taxes. Monophasic and multiphasic taxes. Excise taxes as an externality-corrective device. The Value Added Tax. Types of Value Added Tax.
6. SOCIAL SECURITY AS A TAX
Objectives and institutional design of social security. Social Security in Spain. Benefits: retirement, unemployment, survivors and disability. The payroll tax for social security. Employer share and employee share. The role of the relationship between taxes paid and benefits received.
7. WEALTH TAXATION
The case for and against taxing wealth. A classification of wealth taxes.The property tax. Inheritance and gift taxes.
8. FISCAL FEDERALISM
The case for and against a decentralized system of government. Community formation and the optimal size of jurisdictions. TheTiebout model and “voting with the feet”. The financing of decentralized levels of government. Subcentral financing through taxes, transfers and debt. Intergovernmental grants.
The course will have the following activities:
- Lectures, in which the instructor shares with students the basic issues of the topic. Attending lectures becomes essential to acquire the basic knowledge to be supplemented with personal effort.
- Practical classes, including activities undertaken jointly by students and the instructor, i.e., solving problem sets, case studies or discussing current economic issues, or presentations by students.
- Recommended activities, such as attending seminars or lectures.
- Autonomous activities by students, such as studying additional material or solving case studies.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Case studies | 15 | 0.6 | 4, 3, 12, 11, 10 |
Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 4, 1, 3, 5, 6, 14, 8, 9, 13 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Tutorials and essays supervision | 15 | 0.6 | 11, 10, 16 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Study, preparation and other activities | 80 | 3.2 | 1, 2, 8, 12, 11, 10, 16 |
Evaluation of the course will be on a continuous assessment basis with the following criteria:
1. Two written exams, to be carried out on established dates, with weighs 40% each.
2. Two case studies, to be delivered on established dates, with weighs 10% each.
The instructor will set the dates along the first week of the course. Students will strictly respect the above-mentioned dates. Otherwise they will not be evaluated.
To pass the subject, the average grade of the two written exams should not be less than 3.5, and the total average not less than 5.0.
In case plagiarism is detected, the grade assigned to the activity will be 0.
In accordance with article 112.3 of the UAB Academic Regulations, a make-up exam will be scheduled by the Faculty. This exam is addressed to those students who have taken at least the two written exams, and who have obtained a final grade (weighted average of the set of evaluation activities) not lower than 3.5, but below 5.0. The final grade for those students passing the re-take will be 5.0.
In accordance with article 117.2 of the UAB Academic Regulations, the evaluation of those students who have been enroled before may consist of a single synthesis examination. The students who wish to be evaluated this way should contact the professor at the beginning of the semester.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Case study | 10% | 3 | 0.12 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 9, 12, 11, 10, 13, 15, 16 |
Case study | 10% | 3 | 0.12 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 8, 9, 11, 15 |
Written exam | 40% | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 5, 14, 8, 12, 11, 10, 16 |
Written exam | 40% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 1, 2, 3, 7, 5, 14, 8, 9, 11, 15 |
Albi, E., González-Páramo, J.M, R.M Urbanos i I. Zubiri (2017), “Economía Pública, Volums I i II,” Ariel Economía Barcelona, (Fourth edition)
Esteller, A. (coordinador) et al.: “Economía de los impuestos”. Ediciones Universitarias McGraw-Hill.
Stiglitz, J.E. I Rosengard, J.K. (2000), “Economics of the Public Sector”, Norton & Company: New York and
London (Fourth edition)
No specific software is required, beyong a word processor and the use of spreadsheets