COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: PUBLIC FINANCE

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
BAF 222	C	4	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Dr. Etleva Gjonça egjonca@epoka.edu.al , Dr. Etleva Gjonça by appointment
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Elective
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	Room E-213, Meeting time 12:45-15:30
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:
Course Description:	BAF 222 - Public Finance: This course offers a general introductory survey of the field of public finance. The topics include: when market fail, methods of government intervention, program and project evaluation, major state and local taxes and their effects, and financial relations. Study the productive and allocate role of government and of other aggregations of individuals, as well as the interaction among politics, economics and ethics. Course includes welfare economics, the theory of public goods, collective choice problems, cost-benefit analysis, and governmental public finance. Analyze of the equity and efficiency effects of major taxes, including the personal income tax, the corporate income tax and the social security tax.
Course Objectives:	The objective of this course is to examine the role of economic analysis in the strategy, evaluation and implementation of public policy. Public finance issues are paramount to economic and political discourse all over the globe, as one of the primary roles of the government is to generate resources from its people to spend the money raised for the benefit of the people. The primary course objective is to provide the students with the tools, and the skills to master these tools, in order to understand the underlying concepts entailed in public finance.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Public finance is the field of economics that studies government activities and the alternative means of financing government expenditures.
2	Governments are organizations formed to exercise authority over the actions of people who live together in a society and to provide/finance essential services.
3	Government goods and services are not sold in markets.
4	A mixed economy is one in which government supplies a considerable amount of goods and services and regulates private economic activity.
5	Externalities are costs or benefits of market transactions not reflected in prices.
6	Public goods are goods for which exclusion is impossible.
7	Public choice involves decisions being made through political interaction of many persons according to pre-established rules.
8	A political equilibrium is an agreement on the level of production of one or more public goods, given the specified rule for making the collective choice and the distribution of tax shares among individuals.
9	Cost-Effectiveness analysis is a technique for determining the minimum-cost combination of government programs to achieve a given objective.
10	Taxes are compulsory payments to government.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Review of the Syllabus: Introduction to the Course
2	Individuals and Government (Pg. 2 – 32) Individuals, Society, and Government Governments and Political Institutions The Allocation of Resources between Government and Private Use The Mixed Economy, Markets, and Politics The Structure of State and Local Government Expenditure Financing Government Expenditure Market Failure and the Functions of Government: How Much Government is Enough? Aging Populations: Implications for Public Finance
3	Tools of Microeconomic Analysis (Pg. 36 – 54) Indifference Curve Analysis Analysis of Production and Costs Profit Maximization, Competition, and Supply
4	Efficiency, Markets, and Governments (Pg. 55 – 79) Positive and Normative Economics Normative Evaluation of Resource Use: The Efficiency Criterion Markets, Prices, and Efficiency Conditions Market Failure: A Preview of the Basis for Government Activity Equity Versus Efficiency Positive Analysis Trade-off between Equity and Efficiency
5	Externalities and Government Policy (Pg. 98 – 140) Externalities: A Classification and Some Examples Internalization of Externalities Property Rights to Resource Use and Internalization of Externalities: The Coase Theorem Environmental Protection Policies in the United States Markets for Pollution Rights in Practice: Sulfur Dioxide Allowances, and Capping and Trading the Right to Emit
6	Quiz 1 & Public Goods (Pg. 144 – 172) Characteristics of Public Goods Provision of Private Goods and Public Goods: Markets and Government The Demand for a Pure Public Good Efficient Output of a Pure Public Good Public Policy Perspective National Defense and Homeland Security The Free-Rider Problem
7	Public Choice and the Political Process (Pg. 176 – 219) The Supply of Public Goods through Political Institutions: The Concept of Political Equilibrium A Model of Political Equilibrium under Majority Rule Uniqueness and Cycling of Outcomes under Majority Rule The Political Process Political Parties and Political Equilibrium Voting on More than One Issue at a Time: Logrolling Special-Interest Groups and Their Impact on Political Equilibrium Bureaucracy and the Supply of Public Output
8	Review for the Midterm Exam
9	Midterm Exam
10	Cost-Benefit Analysis and Government Investments (Pg. 226 – 257) The Budget Process Economic Analysis for the Budget Process: Achieving the Least-Cost Means of Accomplishing an Authorized Objective Cost-Benefit Analysis Analysis of Government Investments: Cost-Benefit analysis in Practice
11	Introduction to Government Finance (Pg. 412 – 441) Purpose and Consequences of Government Finance Principles of Taxation How Should the Burden of Government Finance Be Distributed? Criteria for Evaluating Alternative Methods of Government Finance Alternatives to Taxation Government Enterprise
12	Taxation, Prices, Efficiency, and the Distribution of Income (Pg. 445 – 478) Lump-Sum Taxes: A Benchmark Standard for Comparison The Impact of Taxes on Market Prices and Efficiency Further Analysis of Tax Incidence General Equilibrium Analysis of the Excess Burden and Incidence of Taxes Taxes, Government Expenditures, and the Distribution of Income
13	Quiz 2 & Budget Balance and Government Debt (Pg. 489 – 521) The Federal Budget Balance The Impact of Recessions and Public Policies Economic Effects of the Federal Budget Balance Government Debt Burden of the Debt National Saving and Government Budget Balance
14	Review for the Final Exam

Prerequisite(s):	Introduction to Economics.
Textbook(s):	David N. Hyman, Public Finance, 11th edition, Cengage Learning2014 ISBN 978-1-285-17395-5 or later edition.
Additional Literature:
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Thorough understanding of public finance principles and concepts.
2	Provide the necessary tools to becoming masters of public policy implementation.
3	Understand the underlying practical trade-offs associated with public finance.
4	Prepare the students to become informed consumers.
5	Provide the students with the tools and concepts to engage constructively in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of public finance policies.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Banking and Finance (3 years) Program
1	The students gain the ability to look at the problems of daily life from a broader perspective with an increased awareness of the importance of moral/ethical considerations and professional integrity in the workplace.	5
2	They develop their knowledge and understanding of banking and finance including concepts, theories, and analytical tools that serve both in national and international markets.	4
3	They gain an understanding of the role of financial management in business firms and the essentials of corporate finance and further develop their knowledge in the field.	2
4	They are able to apply valuation models to estimate the price of different financial assets, measure risk and describe the risk-return tradeoff.	2
5	They are provided with the knowledge and understanding of the regulatory framework and functioning of banking system and central banking as well as international banking system.	2
6	They are able to understand and use fundamental economic theories and tools to solve economic problems in banking and financial services industry.	5
7	They have the ability to develop and utilize accounting, financial and economic data as well as other information to solve different business problems by making use of basic mathematical and statistical models.	4
8	They are expected to develop their numerical and IT skills as well as knowledge of databases in order to address the significant development in the delivery and use of financial services known as FinTech.	3
9	They develop their ability to think critically, do research, analyze, interpret, draw independent conclusions, and communicate effectively, both individually and as part of a team.	4
10	They are provided with opportunities to acquire the necessary skills and competencies to develop professionalism in the banking and financial services industry or to move on to further study within the discipline.	3

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Quiz	2	10
Final Exam	1	40
Other	1	10
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	4	64
Mid-terms	1	1	1
Assignments	10	1.1	11
Final examination	1	1	1
Other			0
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

Students are expected to have gained a comprehensive understanding of public finance. Meanwhile, students are expected to adhere to the ethical code of conduct of the EPOKA University.