ECON 3403 [0.5 credit] Introduction to Public Economics: Expenditures

Winter, 2021

Professor: Frances Woolley

Synchronous session: Tuesdays 10:35 to 11:25 a.m. (see notes below)

Office hours (group sessions) Tuesdays 3:00 to 4:00

Office hours (individual meetings) Tuesdays 4:00 to 5:00

TA: Matarr Sambou.

Course description: The role and nature of the government sector in the economy, the theory of public goods, the equity and efficiency effects of public expenditures, voting rules and fiscal politics, techniques of public expenditure analysis, and intergovernmental fiscal relations.

Preclusions and prerequisites: Precludes additional credit for ECON 3003 (no longer offered) and ECON 3408 (no longer offered). Credit will not be given if taken concurrently with or after ECON 4402 (no longer offered) or ECON 4403. Prerequisite(s): ECON 1001 and ECON 1002 or ECON 1000 or FYSM 1003.

Class format: Video lectures on CuLearn (asynchronous), approximately 2 hours per week, plus one hour per week (synchronous) session for problem solving, examples, break-out groups or discussion.

Synchronous sessions: Links to the synchronous sessions will be sent via email and posted on culearn. Participation in the synchronous sessions is strongly recommended but not mandatory. Because I want to protect the privacy of students participating in the sessions, and encourage attendance, I will not be taping the synchronous sessions. Students are not required to have their computer video on during the mandatory sessions, but will need computer audio to participate in discussions. Students who are unable to attend the synchronous sessions are strongly advised to reach out to me (Prof Woolley) for guidance, form their own study groups with other students in the class, and attend the group session office hours.

Office hours: Prof Woolley will be holding weekly office hours Tuesdays from 3:00 to 5:00, as noted above. TA Sambou will hold additional office hours prior to exams, and when major assignments are due. TA office hours will be announced on CuLearn under “office hours”.

Textbook: Economy, Society and Public Policy. Free on-line textbook available at https://www.core-econ.org/espp/

Evaluation:

Note on evaluation, expectations and late policies:

Skill-building assignments: Skill-building assignments will be marked on a pass/fail basis. Students who submit their assignments on time, submit their own original work (except where group work is authorized), and have made a good attempt to complete the entire assignment will receive a passing grade. Students receive two marks per passing grade for the first 5 assignments submitted, and 1 mark per passing grade for the next 5 assignments submitted. No marks are given for late assignments, however there is a make-up assignment (see week 12) for students who are unable to complete one or more of the skill-building exercises.

Midterm exam: The midterm exam will be a mix of multiple-choice, short answer (problem solving) and essay type questions. There will be no make-up exam for students who are unable to write the midterm; students who are unable to write the midterm will have the weight of the midterm shifted to their final exam. Similarly, students who do better on the final exam than on the midterm exam will have the weight of the midterm shifted to their final exam.

Chart assignment: Download data from Statistics Canada, Finances of the Nation, or another source of high quality, reliable, Canadian data. Use the data to create a clear, well-labelled graph, and write 500 to 750 words describing the graph. More information on expectations and evaluations will be given in the lectures and on culearn. Students who have a valid reason for being unable to complete the chart assignments on time must submit the declaration of illness form (found here https://carleton.ca/registrar/wp-content/uploads/self-declaration.pdf) as soon as practically possible.

Final exam: The final exam will be cumulative, and similar in format to the midterm exam.

Requests for Academic Accommodation:

You may need special arrangements to meet your academic obligations during the term. For an accommodation request, the processes are as follows:

Pregnancy obligation: Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website:

Religious obligation: Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website:

Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability re- quiring academic accommodations in this course, please contact the Paul Menton Centre for Stu- dents with Disabilities (PMC) at 613-520-6608 or [email protected] for a formal evaluation or contact your PMC coordinator to send your instructor your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term. You must also contact the PMC no later than two weeks before the first in- class scheduled test or exam requiring accommodation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with your instructor as soon as possible to ensure accommodation arrangements are made. For more details, visit the Paul Menton Centre website.

Survivors of Sexual Violence: As a community, Carleton University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working and living environment where sexual violence will not be tolerated, and where survivors are supported through academic accommodations as per Carleton’s Sexual Violence Policy. For more information about the services available at the university and to obtain in- formation about sexual violence and/or support, visit: https://carleton.ca/sexual-violence-support.

Accommodation for Student Activities: Carleton University recognizes the substantial benefits, both to the individual student and for the university, that result from a student participating in activities beyond the classroom experience. Reasonable accommodation must be provided to students who compete or perform at the national or international level. Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, see the policy at: For more information on academic accommodation, please contact the departmental administrator or visit: https://students.carleton.ca/course-outline.

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