《Public Finance》双语课程教学大纲.docx

1、Public Finance双语课程教学大纲Public Finance(双语)课程教学大纲（2003年制订，2006年修订）课程编号：110110中 文 名：公共财政课程类别：专业主干课前 置 课：西方经济学、财政学、大学英语后 置 课：学 分：3学分课 时：51课时主讲教师：任巧玲、郭晔、毛翠英等选定教材：Harvey S. Rosen: Public Finance, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002（节选）.课程概述：本课程为财政学专业的专业主干课，本大纲适用于财政学本科专业。当前，我国的公共财政体制正在进一步地发展和完善，在这个过程中，充分了解和有效借鉴西方市场

2、经济国家财政领域的基础理论和实践状况十分必要。而在财政学专业课程体系中设置相应课程，正体现出与这一现实要求的协调一致。本课程主要内容包括：财政学的定义及其主要思想；公共品的定义及其提供等问题；外部性的本质及其影响和对策；公共选择的各种机制的讨论与评估；赤字融资及其相关问题等。 教学目的：本课程的教学目的在于使学生在已有知识基础上，重点掌握西方财政学体系中的基本理论观点，也可以了解到西方国家（主要是美国）财政运行的一般情况；使学生能够在不同的具体现实条件中思考运用所学到的相应观点和知识；同时，使学生掌握财政学方面术语的英语表达方式。教学方法：本课程作为一门双语教学课程，使用的是英文教材，课堂教学

3、过程中的内容讲解采用中英文结合方式，英语使用程度需要参考学生的整体接受程度。为强化相关理论知识及其实践运用，本课程根据教学内容进程及其侧重点设置了讨论课时段。同时，本课程大量借助多媒体手段使讲解更加清楚。各章教学要求及教学要点Chapter 1 Introduction课时分配：3课时教学要求：通过本章的学习使学生掌握财政学的内涵及其主要功能，并以此为基础把握两种主要的财政思想。本章重点为财政学的基本涵义。教学内容：1.1 Introduction of Public FinancePublic finance, also known as public sector economics or

4、 public economics, focuses on the taxing and spending activities of government and their influence on the allocation of resources and distribution of income.1.2 Public Finance and Ideology1. Organic view of governmentSociety is conceived of as a natural organismEach individual is a part of this orga

5、nism，and the government can be thought of as its heart. The individual has significance only as part of the community，and the good of the individual is defined with respect to the good of the whole. Thus，the community is stressed above the individual.2. Mechanistic view of governmentGovernment is no

6、t an organic part of society. Rather, it is a contrivance created by individuals to better achieve their individual goalsThe individual rather than the group is at center stage思考题：1. How is public finance defined?2. What are the ideological views concerning the relationship between the individual an

7、d the state?Chapter 2 Public Goods课时分配：12课时教学要求：通过本章学习使学生掌握公共品的界定和内涵，并以此为基础把握公共品的有效提供及其生产方面的基本观点。本章重点为公共品的定义及其供给的局部均衡模型。本章难点为非排他性、公共提供与公共生产。教学内容：2.1 Public Goods Defined1. Public goods are neither excludable nor rival. That is, people cannot be prevented from using a public good, and one persons use

8、 of a public good does not reduce another persons ability to use it.2. Public goods are characterized by non-rivalry and non-excludability in consumption. Non-excludability: the property of a good whereby a person can not be prevented from using it. Non-rivalry: the property of a good whereby one pe

9、rsons use doesnt diminish other peoples use.3. Some important aspects of public goods: Thus, each person consumes the same amount, but not necessarily the preferred amount, of the public good. Different types of public goods: pure and impure public goods; local public goods; congestible goods; etc.

10、The relationship between public goods and public provision: Public goods are not necessarily publicly provided.Public goods that are publicly provided are not necessarily publicly produced.Public goods can be provided privately, and private goods can be provided publicly.2.2 Efficient Provision of P

11、ublic Goods1. Efficient provision of public goods requires that the sum of the individual MRSs equal the MRT, unlike private goods where each MRS equals the MRT, required by Pareto efficiency. MRS: marginal rate of substitution.MRT: the marginal rate of transformation.A Pareto efficient allocation o

12、ccurs when no person can be made better off without making another person worse off.2. Graphically, its shown as “horizontal summation” for private goods, while for public goods it is “vertical summation”. 3. The free rider problemA free rider is a person who receives the benefit of a good but avoid

13、s payment for it. Because public goods are not excludable, the free-rider problem prevents the private market from supplying them. The government, however, can potentially remedy the problem.Casual observation and laboratory studies indicate that people do not fully exploit free riding possibilities

14、. Nonetheless, in the certain cases, free riding is a significant problem.Market mechanisms are unlikely to provide non-rival goods efficiently, even if they are excludable.4. Cost-benefit analysisDeciding that the government must play a role in supplying public goods is only the first step, and the

15、n the government must determine what kinds of public goods to provide and in what quantities.If the total benefits exceed the costs of supplying a public good, the government can provide it and pay for it with tax revenue, making everyone better off.Cost-benefit analysis: a study that compares the c

16、osts and benefits to society of providing a public good. Cost-benefit analysis has a tough job. It does not observe any price signals when evaluating whether the government should provide a public good. The efficient provision of public goods is, therefore, intrinsically more difficult than the effi

17、cient provision of private goods. 2.3 About Privatization1. Privatization: It means taking goods or services that are supplied by the government and turning them over to the private sector for provision and /or production. 2. Public or private production of public goods.Even in cases where public pr

18、ovision of a good is selected, a choice between public and private production must be made: Between public sector and private sector Incentive to improve in efficiency;Difficulty in acquiring and measuring efficiency;Outcome: cost saving and quality of output. Determining whether public or private p

19、roduction will be more efficient:A key factor is the market environment. Public versus private ownership is less important than whether effective competition is present.Another important question is the extent to which complete contracts can be written with private sector service providers. 思考题：1. H

20、ow are public goods defined?2. Why does the free-rider problem induce the government to provide public goods?3. How should the government decide whether to provide a public good? 4. What is the right mix of public and private provision for public goods?Chapter 3 Externalities课时分配：15课时教学要求：通过本章学习使学生在

21、掌握外部性性质和特征的基础上，把握在应对外部性（主要是负外部性，如污染）方面市场和政府的对策。本章重点和难点为外部性的定义及其特征、科斯定理、对外部性的公共对策。教学内容：3.1 The Nature of Externalities1. Externality: the uncompensated impact of one persons actions on the well-being of a bystander. When the activity of one entity (a person of a firm) directly affects the welfare of

22、another in a way that is outside the market mechanism, that effect is called an externality (because one entity directly affects the welfare of another entity that is “external” to it).Simply, an externality occurs when the activity of one person affects another person outside the market mechanism.

23、2. The nature of externalities: An externality is a consequence of the failure or inability to establish property rights. Namely, externalities may generally be traced to the absence of enforceable property rights.3. The characteristics of externalities: They can be produced by consumers as well as

24、firms; Externalities are reciprocal in nature; Externalities can be positive;Public goods can be viewed as a special kind of externality.4. The effect of externalities Externalities lead markets to allocate resources inefficiently. Externalities cause market price to diverge from social cost, bringi

25、ng about an inefficient allocation of resources:In the presence of a negative externality, such as pollution, the social cost of the good exceeds the private cost. The socially optimal quantity is therefore smaller than the market equilibrium quantity; Positive externalities generally lead to under

26、provision of an activity. All of the remedies share the goal of moving the allocation of resources closer to the social optimum.3.2 Private Solutions to Externalities1. Bargaining and the Coase Theorem Coase theorem: the proposition that if private parties can bargain without cost over the allocatio

27、n of resources, they can solve the problem of externalities on their own, if property rights are established. Two important assumptions played a key role in the preceding analysis:The costs to the parties of bargaining are low. Transaction costs: the costs that parties incur in the process of agreei

28、ng and following through on a bargain;1. The owners of resources can identify the source of damages to their property and legally prevent damages.2. MergersIt is to internalize an externality by combining the involved parties. 3. Social conventionsSome social conventions can be viewed as attempts to

29、 induce people to take into account the externalities they generate. 3.3 Public Policies toward Externalities1. Pigovian Taxes Pigouvian Tax: a tax enacted to correct the effects of a negative externality.That is, a Pigouvian tax is a tax levied on each unit of a polluters output in an amount just e

30、qual to the marginal damage it inflicts at the efficient level of output. In essence, the Pigouvian tax places a price on the right to pollute. Such a tax gives the producer a private incentive to pollute the efficient amount.Just as markets allocate goods to those buyers who value them most highly,

31、 a Pigouvian tax allocates pollution to those factories that face the highest cost of reducing it. The taxes give the factories incentive to develop cleaner technologies, because a cleaner technology would reduce the amount of tax the factory has to pay.2. Subsidies A subsidy for pollution not produ

32、ced can induce producers to pollute at the efficient level. However, subsidies can lead to too much production, are administratively difficult, and are regarded by some as ethically unappealing. A subsidy can correct the under-provision of an activity caused by positive externalities, but care must be taken to avoid wasteful subsidies.3. Tradable Pollution Permits (Creating a Market)