Course Description
Public economy of metropolitan areas and selected special metropolitan fiscal problems in the areas of public expenditures, revenues, and fiscal administration.
Athena Title
METRO FISCAL PROB
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in POLS 8840
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed for students interested in studying the issues and methodology used in state and local fiscal analysis. The goals of this course include providing a general knowledge of the range of important issues in state and local government finance. Special emphasis will be given to fiscal problems in metropolitan areas. Secondly, the instructor strives to provide an overview of the kinds of analytic approaches used in fiscal analysis, particularly the techniques drawn from microeconomics. Third, the instructor wishes to develop some feel for the availability and employment of government financial economic data, particularly as it applies to local problems. The research paper assigned to the class requires the use of the tools of microeconomics to analyze fiscal problems facing state and local governments.
Topical Outline
I. Course introduction II. The use of microeconomics as an analytical tool III. Microeconomics and public expenditures IV. Evaluation of revenue sources V. Criteria for revenue analysis VI. Property taxes VII. Other state and local taxes VIII. Intergovernmental aid IX. Metropolitan fiscal health X. The issue of cutbacks
Syllabus