This course utilises fundamental microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts to explore how and why governments intervene in markets, and investigate how public policies can influence long-term economic development. More specifically the module examines the theory and practice of the allocative, stabilisation and redistributive roles of government. This involves analysis of theory and practice in relation to taxation and expenditure decisions and an understanding of how EU fiscal rules and government debt sustainability impact on fiscal policy.

Market failures and allocative role of government: public goods and externalities. Natural Monopolies and the economics of regulation. Infrastructure investment and Cost Benefit Analysis. Taxation: incidence and partial equilibrium analysis; labour taxes and the incentive to work. Fiscal policy, EU fiscal rules and government debt sustainability.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: Identify the market distortions caused by externalities, public goods and other sources of market failure and summarise the various policy interventions that can be applied to correct failures. Describe EU fiscal rules and their evolution over time and explain how these impact on the implementation of fiscal policy Discuss the key determinants of government debt sustainability Describe the various tools governments and independent regulators use to regulate markets and their impact on both consumers and producers

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: Recognise the efficiency/equity trade-offs involved in most public finance decisions made by policymakers

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The module is delivered using the standard lecture/tutorial framework. A key pedagogical strategy is to base the lectures on contemporary data, where possible drawn from faculty research, and examples from the Irish, European and global economy thus providing where possible an international dimension to the module content. The module develops students' critical thinking abilities, not merely through the mastery of key concepts and techniques, but also through a questioning approach to the body of knowledge which is facilitated primarily in the interactive smaller group weekly tutorial sessions. Guest lectures from expert practitioners and academics provide further insight into the main policy issues covered in the module. Overall, the module improves students' knowledge and understanding of the economics of public policy and directly contributes to one of UL's key graduate attributes that students are agile and curious.