Public Economics

This is a complete listing of all economics courses. Not all courses are offered each year.
Click here for a list of currenly offered courses.

14.420 Environmental Policy and Economics
Prereq: 14.01; 14.30 or permission of instructor
Explores the proper role of government in the regulation of the environment. Explore the tools necessary to estimate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations to evaluate a series of current policy questions, including: Should air and water pollution regulations be tightened or loosened? What are the costs of climate change in the US and abroad? Is there a "race to the bottom" in environmental regulation? Students help design and execute a cutting edge research project that tests whether air pollution causes infant mortality. Graduate students are expected to complete additional assignments.

14.471 Public Economics I
Prereq: 14.04
Theory and evidence on government taxation policy. Topics include tax incidence; optimal tax theory; the effect of taxation on labor supply and savings; corrective taxes for externalities; taxation and corporate behavior; and tax expenditure policy.

14.472 Public Economics II
Prereq: 14.04
Theory and evidence on government expenditure policy. Topics include the theory of public goods; social insurance programs such as social security and unemployment insurance; health care policy; redistribution and the welfare state.

14.474 Advanced Topics in Public Economics
Prereq: 14.124
Introduction to current research in public economics, with a focus on the impact of taxation and government policy on household and firm behavior.

14.475 Environmental Economics and Government Responses to Market Failure
Prereq: 14.04
Theory and evidence on regulatory, tax, and other government responses to problems of market failure. Special emphasis on developing and implementing tools to evaluate environmental policies. Topics include cost-benefit analysis, measurement of the benefits of non-market goods and costs of regulations, and the evaluation of the impact of regulations in areas such as financial markets, workplace health and safety, consumer product safety, and other contexts.