Public Finance and Economics

Code:

1GE402

Acronym:

EFP

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Economics

Instance: 2016/2017 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://sigarra.up.pt/fep/pt/ucurr_geral.ficha_uc_view?pv_ocorrencia_id=386380
Responsible unit:	Agrupamento Científico de Economia
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Business Administration

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LGES	13	Bologna Syllabus since 2012	3	-	3	42	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Learning outcomes and competences

On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

-Critically analyzing public policy and financial activity of the State, its nature, its determinants and restrictions;

-Understanding political arguments and realizing who decides the priorities of public policies;

- Arguing about the budgetary procedures in Portugal;

-Understanding how and why a subject should be seen as "public problem" requiring government response.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Part 1: Origins of the State and its functions

1-Theories about the origin of the State

2-Types of governance

3-Scope and structure of the public sector in Portugal

4-Reasons for the collective choice

4.1-Allocative efficiency

4.1.1- Public Goods

4.1.2- Common goods

4.1.3- Externalities

4.1.4- Natural Monopolies

4.1.5- Imperfect information

4.2- Equity in distribution

4.2.1- Reasons for public redistribution

4.2.2- Redistribution Instruments

4.3- Stabilization

4.4- Other reasons for collective choice

5- International and UE public finance

Part 2: Theory of Collective Choice and political decision

6-The challenge of the Theory of Collective Choices to orthodox thinking

7- The role of politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups and the clash of values, interests and visions

8- A summary approach to voting rules in direct and representative democracies

9-The manipulation of democratic agenda

9.1- The voting paradox

9.2- The market of votes (logrolling)

10- Economic constitutionalism

11- Written rules versus discretionary power

Part 3: Financial Administration of the State

12- The economic problems of financial decisions

13- The financial decision as a collective decision and the concept of financial management of the State

14- Financial institutions and agents

15- Tax systems

15.1- Notion and typology

15.2- Inspiring Principles

16 -Taxes and other sources of State revenue

17- Brief characterization of the Portuguese tax system

18- State Budget in Portugal and its legal context

19- Public Debt

19.1- Notion and types of public debt

19.2- Major problems of public debt

Mandatory literature

Fernandes, Abel Luís da Costa; A economia das finanças públicas. ISBN: 978-972-40-4337-1
Pereira, Paulo Trigo 070; Economia e finanças públicas. ISBN: 978-972-592-346-7
Fernandes, Abel Luís da Costa; Economia pública. ISBN: 978-972-618-652-6
Diário da República; ; Lei do Enquadramento Orçamental, última revisão
Diário da República; Orçamento do Estado para 2017
Diário da República; Relatório que acompanha a proposta de lei do Orçamento do Estado para 2017
Stiglitz, Joseph E.; New perspectives on public finance: recent achievements and future challenges, Journal of Public Economics 86, 341–360, 2002

Complementary Bibliography

Stiglitz, Joseph E.; Economics of the public sector. ISBN: 0-393-96651-8
Cullis, John G.; Public finance and public choice. ISBN: 978-0-19-923478-3
Rosen, Harvey S.; Public finance. ISBN: 978-007-126788-5

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical and practical classes resorting to official documents where appropriate.
Accomplishment of illustrative exercises.
Throughout the program, some issues of Economics and Public Finance will be discussed. In this context, students with distributed evaluation must work in group, writing and defending an original essay of a maximum of five pages about one of the topics for discussion.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Teste	80,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	10,00
Estudo autónomo	29,00
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Distributed evaluation requires the presence of at least 75% of classes. The count of attendance shall be done in relation to the number of classes in which it was taught the matter subject to assessment.

Distributed evaluation consists of :
- Two tests that will focus on different components of the program. 
- Work in group, which involves a written paper with oral defense.

The first test will have a duration corresponding to a class and it will be held in class. The second test lasting 1h 30m will take place on the exam date. There is no imposition of minimum score on the tests. Students who begin their evaluation in this scheme may choose to submit to the final examination. In this case students perform the exam and not the second test.

Final examination will focus on all lectured program and will last 2h.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final grade of the student subjected to distributed evaluation will be as follows:
1st Test - weighting 40%
2nd Test - weighting 40%
Attendance and participation- 20% ( consisting in participation in classes and group work and discussions in the classroom focusing predefined themes)

Evaluation by final examination
Students who perform the final exam may benefit from the component "Participation and attendance" as long as they fulfill with the requirements for that (accomplishment of the working group, participation in debates and attendance). In this case students must write in the examination that they want this component integrating the final grade.

To pass the course students must have a grade equal to or greater than 9.5.

Classification improvement

It will be according to the assessment rules. In this case students do not benefit from the component ' participation and attendance" even if they have fulfilled the requirements for it.