Seminar Contemporary Issues in Public Economics

The seminar -Contemporary Issues in Public Economics- introduces students to the scientific literature in selected fields of Public Economics. In the current term, we will focus on issues related to public economics in federalist states (e.g., local tax competition, municipal amalgamations, vertical grants). We will read some of the key contributions to these fields. You are expected to work through these contributions (the main readings) and – whenever necessary – consult background literature. The course will be reading-intensive! Written assignments are kept to a minimum to keep the workload manageable. Rules of the seminar: 1) Participation is mandatory in all sessions. 2) You are expected to prepare for the sessions by working through the mandatory readings. 3) To receive 6 ECTS, you need to a.) give two presentations on two different topics from the list of topics. One presentation will be on a main reading, another one on an additional reading on another topic, b.) write a short term paper (5-6 pages in English) on a topic related to the main reading presented, c.) make significant contributions to the discussions throughout the course. Non-presenters are expected to participate actively in the discussion, comment on the presentation and discuss the content of the main readings in class. 4) The grade depends on the quality of the term paper and the presentations only. The term paper accounts for 50 % of the final grade. Term paper and both presentations have to graded at least 4.0 (passed). see moodle-course Bemerkung see moodle-course Voraussetzungen We recommend that you have completed one course in the M3(a/b) Governance and one course in Econometrics (M1(a) Leistungsnachweis presentation including essay Lerninhalte see moodle-course FB 07 Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre We recommend that you have completed one course in the M3(a/b) Governance and one course in Econometrics (M1(a) presentation including essay Uni Kassel SoSe 2014 Lehrveranstaltungspool FB 07 Univ-Prof. Bischoff Ivo