Political Economy (course)
Political Economy.
Contents
Syllabus
1. Limits and potential of markets
- Externalities and public goods
- The Coase theorem
- Example: existing markets for pollution permits
- Theory: a simple “mechanism”
2. Public goods provision
- Optimal provision (the Samuelson Lindhal condition)
- Decentralized provision of public goods and free-riding
- The Vickrey-Clarke-Groves mechanism
3. Voting
- Arrow’s Impossibility theorem
- Majority rule
- Alternatives to majority rule
- Majority rule and common values
4. Redistribution
- Normative criteria for redistribution
- Rent-seeking and lobbying
- Fairness and redistribution
5. Federalism
- Normative criteria for federalism
- Distortions
- Geographic federalism vs. functional federalism