23-36.906.182 Economics of the Welfare State

Lehrende: Prof. Dr. Mathias Kifmann

Veranstaltungsart: Vorlesung + Übung

Anzeige im Stundenplan: Econ. Welfare State

Semesterwochenstunden: 3

Credits: 6,0

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | -

Kommentare/ Inhalte:
Contents:

This course uses methods from economics to analyze the welfare state. The focus is on the economic effects of social health insurance, public pensions, and transfer programs to alleviate poverty. We analyze how these institutions affect the insurance and savings decisions and consider how they lead to intra- and intergenerational redistribution. We examine a number of important policy issues, e.g., the design of transfer programs and the consequences of ageing.

Among the topics covered are:
- Theories of society and the welfare state
- Types of welfare states
- Insurance, Savings and the Welfare State
- Low-income support
- Funded vs pay-as-you-go pension systems

 
The course consists of the lecture and an exercise session.

 
Requirements:

The course requires a good knowledge of microeconomics. In addition, students should be familiar with regression analysis.


Literature:

The course uses the following textbooks:

Barr, Nicholas (2012). Economics of the Welfare State. 5th ed. Oxford: OUP.

Salanié, Bernard (2011). The Economics of Taxation. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Additional literature will be referred to during the course.


Grading:

Exam.

Students can improve their grade up to 0.7 by taking up assignments, e.g., oral presentations of problem sets.