Assignment:
Prompt & Key Information:
For your final paper, you will explore a specific government policy of your choosing by writing a policy brief for your final paper. It should be 5 doublespaced pages. You should cover the relevant public economics motivation (see Chapter 1, and/or all the theory studied in class relevant to market failures and redistribution externalities,public goods, political economy, information asymmetries, and taxation)Provide a brief history of the policy. Explain the problem using public economics/microeconomics theories from our class. Explain how and whether the policy corrects the problem. Who gains? Who loses? Feel free to discuss any relevantsocial, political or economic factors that may bolster or impede the policy. Any prescription for altering the policy in the future? You may choose a federal, state or local policy. You may choose a policy or problem discussed in any chapter of your textbook, but you must cite additional resources in your writing.
More Guidelines:
The paper should be 5 to 6 pages long, not including graphs and tables. The paper will contain three broad sections. In section 1, please write about the background of your chosen public policy. You can discuss the historical, social, political or economic background relevant to the topic or policy. Discuss only those aspects that are relevant to the policy, the government level and your overall thesis. Not everything will be relevant. Be sure to include the public economics motivation. In the second section of your paper, you will elaborate on the public economics motivation (theory).
Choose a model or theory that we studied in class that applies to your policy. These models or theories will usually relate to market failures (externalities, public goods, information asymmetry - adverse selection and moral hazard), preference revelation and aggregation (political economy; fiscal federalism), redistribution and efficiency (taxation chapters), or budget and debt issues. Explain the relation between your topic (or policy) and public economics theory. What does the theory predict? Was the policy designed to correct the underlying problem posited by the public economics theory? Draw graphs as needed to explain your model and predict.
See if the data or information you have found from a credible source (government or international organization's data) support the predictions of the model. For example, does a tax on carbon dioxide actually reduce emissions? Why or why not? Who bears the burden of the tax? Your third section is the conclusion. You can elaborate further on whether the policy has fulfilled the underlying public economics motivation. Who gains and who loses from it? Was it designed well? Feel free to touch upon anyrelevant social, political or economic factors that may bolster or impede the policy. Any prescription for altering the policy in the future?
Other things to remember:
Avoid plagiarism and cite your sources. Use credible economics sources. Try toinclude information from at least one book or academic journal article/NBER working paper/university economics working paper. Economist.com, the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and government websites, international governmental organizations' websites are also credible resources.
• Use APA format.
• 12 point Times New Roman font,
• one-inch margins, double-spaced text.
• No cover page.
• List your cited sources at the end.
• Include the appendix with tables and charts.
• Email file to me as a .doc/.docx/.