ECON 454: Public Economics 2022
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ECON 454: Public Economics
August 11, 2022
Final Exam Study Guide
1) Omitted variables bias: Be able to identify an omitted variable and determine the direction of the bias
2) Empirical techniques: Be able to explain the assumptions for the following and how each reduce the possibility of omitted variables
• Randomized Control Trial
• Differences-in-differences
• Regression Discontinuity
• Ordinary Least Squares/Regression
• Fixed effects
3) What is the role of the government in the Economy?
4) Equity-Efficiency Tradeoff
5) Externality Theory: What is an externality and solutions to externalities.
• Coase Thoerem
• Government Taxation/Subsidization vs. Government Regulation
• Internality vs. Externality
6) Public Goods Theory
• What are Public Goods?
• Optimal level of public goods vs. optimal level of private goods
• Free-rider problem
• Government provision of Public Goods and Crowding out
7) Fiscal Federalism
• For the Federal, State, and Local governments: where do they get their tax revenues? Where do they spend their tax revenues?
• Tiebout Model
• Optimal Fiscal Federalism: Be able to identify why a government intervention is taken at either the Federal, State, or local government
• Matching Grant vs. Block Grant vs. Conditional black Grant
8) Public Sector in Education
• Why is Government involved? Be able to clearly explain the potential rational for an education policy proposal.
– Externalities
– Credit Market Failures
– Redistribution
• How does the government intervene in the education market?
• Targeting in the Education Market; Should everything be universal?
• Peltzman (1973) model
• School Vouchers
• Human Capital vs Screening model of education and government implications for both
• The Role of Government in Higher Education
• Matching Grant vs. Block Grant vs. Conditional black Grant
9) Social Insuance Programs
• Know details about major social insurance programs. Why are they offered? Why doesn’t the private market provide a solution? etc.
• Risk-averse individuals
– Why do risk averse individuals want insurance?
– What is actuarially fair insurance?
– what does a risk averse individual’s utility function look like?
• Why does government get involved in insurance markets? What are the market failures? Be able to explain each of these and have examples
– Asymmetric informaiton
– Externalities
– Redistribution
– Paternalism
• Asymmetric information: Adverse Selection vs Moral Hazard
• Consumption Smoothing-moral hazard tradeoff
• Some manifestations of moral hazard
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10) Social Security - Know about the largest program in the United States
• Difference between a funded and unfunded public system
• Why would the government provide Social Security?
• What does the empirical evidence say about Social Security and Retirement? and about private savings?
11) Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation - Know the details. Why provide these types of insurance?
• Benefits: consumption smoothing. Would individuals consumption smooth if the program did not exist? Is there crowding out now that the program exists?
• Costs: moral hazard.
• What does the evidence say about how individuals behave differently now that the programs exist?
12) Medicaid and Medicare. What is the difference?
13) Income Support Programs
• Poverty: What’s the difference between the Official Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure? Why the differences? What are the trends in Poverty?
• Inequality: What are the trends in inequality?
• What is the goal of transfer programs? What’s the difference between transfer programs and social insurance programs?
• Endogenous Labor Supply Model. Do individuals work more or less if the government provides benefits?
• Whats the difference between a categorical, means-tested, universal, and in-kind program?
• Akerlof (1978): What’s the idea and what are the potential problems?
• Nickols and Zeckhauser (1982): What’s the idea and what are the potential problems?
• Know what TANF, SNAP, and SSI are for
• EITC. What is it? How does it push people over the poverty line?
14) Taxation
• What is the largest revenue source for federal, state, and local governments?
• Refundable vs non-refundable tax credits
• Credits vs Deductions
• The Three Rules of Tax Incidence - Who really bears the the burden of a tax policy?
– Statutory vs Economic incidence
– Tax Burden
– Elasticity of Demand and Supply
• Determinants of Deadweight Loss. How does DWL grow as you increase the tax?
• Ramsey Rule. What are the rules for optimal commodity taxes? Vertical Equity and optimality rules
• Optimal Income Taxes.
– With and without behavioral effects.
– Laffer Curve
– Optimal Rule for income taxes
– Vertical Equity vs Behavioral responses
• Tax-benefit linkages
– What are they? Do you have an example?
– Why doesn’t the private sector provide these benefits?
– When are there tax-benefits linkages?
– What does the evidence say on tax-benefit linkages?
2022-08-16