This class is tailored to students with prior knowledge and/or training in (micro) economics. The course will cover a selected set of policy-relevant topics in applied microeconomics. In doing so, we will discuss conceptual foundations particularly empirical methods for establishing causal relationships and apply these to a rich set of policy domains. Starting from evidence on income inequality, the first part of the class (Sessions 1-8) discusses redistributive policies: income taxation, welfare programmes (incl. universal basic income), and minimum wages. We will empirically explore (and quantify) responses to these policies and analyse welfare implications. The last third of the course (Sessions 9-12) discusses corrective policies in the context of externalities. Next to traditional environmental externalities (and conventional, Pigouvian responses such as CO2 taxation), we will also explore the correction of internalities (e.g., in the context of sugar taxation). Note that the course will be centred on policies affecting individual and household decision-making. We will not tackle Macroeconomic questions and hardly discuss the choices of firms.
Instructor
- Christian Traxler , Professor of Economics