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Bowie State University
Public
Finance
ECON
522
Term 2 (Nov 2nd – Dec 15th, 2002)
Weekends 2/3,16/17 NOV:7/8, 15 DEC
09:00-17:00
Heidelberg – Patton Barracks Education Center
Dr. Mehdi
Mohaghegh
Office Hours: 1/2 hour
before the beginning of each class
E-mail: mmohaghe@norwich.edu
Syllabus
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Public finance covers
theory and practice of the allocation, distribution, and stabilization roles of
the government at national, state, and local levels. The concern in this course is with the economic role of
government and its impact on the functioning of the private organizations and
on the well being of citizens. In this
course, we learn how the decentralized decision making of a private property
economy combined with government policies results in an allocation of resources
that leads to a maximum amount of satisfaction.
The prerequisites for this course are ECON 201 and ECON 203, or ECON 505, or permission of the instructor.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
By the end of this course, the students will understand
1. the basic reasons for governmental activity.
2. the relative size and role of the government in the United States, both historically and currently.
3. the measurement of the opportunity cost of government activity.
4. the structure of government expenditures and revenues in the U.S.
5. the effects externalities have on the ability of markets to achieve economic efficiency and the methods government uses to internalize the negative and positive externalities.
6. the concept of political equilibrium and its determinant.
7. the nature and use of cost-benefit analysis for determining the relative merits of government projects over time.
8. the
effect of the government transfers programs on the work incentive of recipient
and on resource allocation in the country.
THE INSTRUCTOR:
The instructor, Professor
Mehdi, as his students at Norwich University where he works as a tenured full
professor call him, received his Ph.D. in Economics from Clark University in
1986. He has taught different economics
and financial management courses in the MBA and Military graduate programs of
Norwich University and in the Maryland in Europe Graduate Programs. Professor Mehdi’s research interests
include: Applications of public finance and managerial finance theories to
economies of developing countries; Empirical studies in financial and portfolio
management; Consequences of trade policies in developed and developing
economies; and Economic policy analysis.
TEXT:
Hyman, D. (2002). Public Finance—A contemporary
application of theory to policy, Seventh Edition. Fort Worth, TX:
Harcourt College Publishers.
Students are urged to keep abreast of current events in the economy. Periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the Business Section of New York Times are recommended. To obtain data on all the economic and financial activities of the government go to www.whitehouse.gov and click on Gateway to Government, then click on the President’s Cabinet and the home pages of the Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, 5th Edition. (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological
Association.
Explanation: The APA citation style, or variations on it, has become the standard for most professional journals, regardless of discipline. Maryland in Europe Graduate Programs has adopted a policy to require this style guide for all student papers. For PA students, the book is now required reading in PUAD502 - Qualitative Research
Methods and supplementary reading for all other courses. This policy is meant to enhance student writing, encourage standard scholarly citations in all student papers, and discourage plagiarism.
If you have already taken PUAD502, you have probably been introduced to the basic concepts of the style guide but you may not have bought the 5th Edition. If you are nearly finished with your degree program, you might be able to "fake it" through your last few courses without the book. If you are relatively new to the program, I recommend you buy the book and start using it for every class.
A working copy of a document titled "The APA Way: A tutorial for the Master of Arts in Administrative Management - Public Administration", dated April 2002 is available at http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~kboyd/APA-PA.htm. The document is under revision and will be updated periodically.
TEACHING POLICY:
The instructor will lecture on major topics of each chapter and assigns
questions and problems from the covered chapter. The students must read the chapter and be prepared to discuss the
results for the assigned questions during part of the next class session. The rest of the class will be devoted to
covering of new chapter (s). The
students are expected to read their notes and the materials in the book to be
able to effectively participate in the discussions leading to proper answers
for the assigned end-of-the chapter questions. Each student is also required to
present a recent article, addressing a contemporary public economics issue, in
class. The instructor will provide a
list of these articles during the first class session and the students are
required to select one of the literary papers from the list and decide on the
date for its presentation in class.
ATTENDANCE:
Attendance is required and will be taken by the instructor. The number of classes a student can miss due to TDY or other emergencies will be in accordance with the academic rules and regulations of UMUC-Europe.
MAKE-UP POLICY:
Make-up exams are to be avoided.
Only under special circumstances such as illness or duty reasons will a
student be permitted to take a make-up exam.
The students are also expected to provide a documented proof in order to
be permitted to take a make-up exam.
PLAGIARISM:
Plagiarized papers, reports, or exams, will receive a grade of zero, whether copied in whole or in part. See the European Division Catalogue for UMUC policy on academic dishonesty and plagiarism. Use your own words to write the term paper. If you are directly including a piece from a source in your paper, use quotation marks and properly reference it at the end of your paper.
TERM PROJECT:
Each student is expected to write a paper on the following topic. The paper should be nine pages long and should include a cover page, a table of contents and a page at the end for the references cited. Use double spacing and 12 fonts in typing your paper and turn it in no later than December 15th.
Almost all the economists agree
that ensuring social security’s financial soundness and stability is
important. What can be the best
approach to alleviate the problem faced by Social Security Administration in
the U.S.?
In your paper you need to identify the nature of the problem with social security, discuss the remedies proposed for saving it whether through changes in the structure of the current system or through complete or partial privatization of it, and finally explain the impact of the suggested remedies on the national saving, investment, and economic growth in the United States. The following books that will be on reserve at the library can be helpful in writing your paper:
1. Aaron,
H.J. & Shoven, J.B. (1999). Should the United States
Privatize Social Security? Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press
2. Diamond, P.A. ed. (1999). Issues in privatizing social security: Report of an expert panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
EVALUATION AND
GRADING POLICIES:
Evaluation |
|
Chapters |
Date |
Grading
Distribution |
|
Exam 1 |
|
1 – 5, 18 |
Nov. 17 |
20% |
|
Exam 2(Take Home) |
|
6 - 12 |
Dec. 8 |
20% |
|
Final Exam |
|
8 - 17 |
Dec. 15 |
25% |
|
Term Project |
|
|
Dec. 15 |
20% |
|
Presentations and Class Participation |
|
|
15% |
|
COURSE OUTLINE:
|
Weekend |
Topic(s) |
Chapter (s) |
|
Nov 2/3 |
Efficiency, Markets, and the Economic Basis forGovernment activity. |
1-2 |
|
Nov 2/3 |
Externalities and Government Policy |
3 |
|
Nov 16/17 |
Public Goods |
4 |
|
- |
Public Choice and the Political Process |
5 |
|
- |
Fiscal Federalism and State and Local Government Finance |
18 |
|
Nov 17 |
Presentations by Students in part of the afternoon class |
|
|
Dec 7/8 |
Government Expenditures and Policy, Selected Issues |
6-9 |
|
- |
Financing Government Expenditures, Selected Topics |
10-12 |
|
Dec 8 |
Presentations by Students in the afternoon class |
|
|
Dec 15 |
Taxation: Theory and Structure, Selected Topics |
13-17 |
Welcome to the course!