Public Economics and Fiscal Policy II
ECON 2450B
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
The course covers core applied topics related to the design of public policies. It is the second course offered in the Public Economics sequence, following Econ 2450A (although taking Econ 2450A is not required in advance of this class). The first half of the semester (taught by Raj Chetty) will cover partial equilibrium empirical methods to measure tax incidence and efficiency, behavioral welfare analysis, corporate taxation, and economic mobility. The second half of the semester (taught by Rebecca Diamond) will focus on urban economics and local public economics, including spatial equilibrium, public goods/non-market amenities, and housing, place-based, and
land-use policy. Modeling and empirical methods will be taught
concurrently in both parts of the course.
Course Notes
Students are encouraged to take Economics 2450a before taking 2450b. In addition to the requirements above, you are strongly encouraged to review i) labor supply concepts (Hicksian elasticity, Marshallian elasticity, income effects); ii) “dynamic programming” and “optimal control methods”; iii) constrained optimization and the envelope theorem.
Recommended Prep
Prerequisite: (Economics 2010a AND Economics 2010b) OR (Economics 2020a AND Economics 2020b).
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
