#  Ec 2450B: Public Economics and Fiscal Policy II 

 





 Semester:   Spring 

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 Year offered:  2020 

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 Link: [Course Website](https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/43965) 

 

 

 

 The course will focus on a range of topics in public economics including welfare estimation of tax and expenditure policies, including income and commodity taxation, public goods, education, and place-based policies. We will also discuss foundations for government intervention, including market failures such as externalities and asymmetric information. Throughout, the focus will be on using theoretical models to motivate empirical analyses to uncover the desirability of government intervention in the economy and to quantify the welfare impacts of such policies.  
  
The course builds on the lessons of 2450A and in particular relates the empirical findings to the thoeretical results in optimal tax theory.



 

 

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 Attachments- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Spring 2023 Syllabus ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/econ2450b_syllabus_2022-23.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Spring 2022 Reading List ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/econ2450b_reading_list_2022.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 1: Empirical Welfare Analysis ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_1_empirical_welfare_analysis.pptx)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 2: Redistributive Concerns ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_2_-_redistributive_concerns.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 3: Commodity Taxes and Public Goods with Redistributive Concerns ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_3_-_commodities_and_public_goods_with_redistributive_concerns.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 4: Education ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_4_-_education.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 5: Child and Family Policies ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_5_-_child_and_family_policies.pptx)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 6: Place-Based Policy ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_6_-_place_based_policy.pptx)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 7: The EITC ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_7_-_the_eitc.pptx)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 8: Adverse Selection and Insurance Market Failures ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_8_-_adverse_selection_and_market_failures.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 9: Optimal Social Insurance - UI ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_9_-_optimal_social_insurance_-_ui.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 10: Welfare Analysis of Health Insurance ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/topic_10_-_welfare_analysis_of_health_insurance.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 11: Welfare Analysis of Public Health Insurance ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/topic_11_-_welfare_analysis_of_public_health_insurance.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 12: Disability Insurance ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/topic_12_-_disability_insurance.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Topic 13: Behavioral Biases ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/topic_12_-_behavioral_biases.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Race, Kids, and Discrimination ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/topic_11_-_race_kids_and_discrimination.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Tags, Place, and Intergenerational Mobility ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/topic_10_-_tags_place_and_intergenerational_mobility_vsmall.pdf)
- [  picture\_as\_pdf  Bonus topic: Place and Kids ](/sites/g/files/omnuum9171/files/hendren/files/lecture_7_-_place_and_kids.pptx)
 
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