Skip to main content
Skip header

The Economics of Public Choice

Type of study Follow-up Master
Language of instruction Czech
Code 114-0342/01
Abbreviation EVV
Course title The Economics of Public Choice
Credits 4
Coordinating department Department of Economics
Course coordinator doc. Ing. Jan Janků, Ph.D.

Osnova předmětu

1) Introduction to public choice theory
- The basic foundations of public choice theory
- Schools of public choice theory

2) The role of government in the economy
- Allocative inefficiency and market failure
- Effect of government on economic activity, size and efficiency of government

3) Elections and Electoral Systems (I)
- Classical, non-classical and economic theories of democracy
- Rational Choice Theory in public choice, rational ignorance and rational irrationality

4) Elections and Electoral Systems (II)
- Social Choice Theory in Public Choice
- Voting rules and alternative decision-making mechanisms

5) Political-economic cycle
- Political-economic cycles and their macroeconomic consequences

6) Political-budget cycle
- Political-budget cycles, inferior effects of budget deficits and government debt

7) Lobbying, interest groups and rent-seeking
- Lobbying and interest groups, the logic of collective action
- Politics as a mode of redistribution, economic theory of regulation

8) Theory of Bureaucracy
- Traditional and economic theory of bureaucracy
- Rational behaviour of bureaucracy, legislative control of bureaucracy

9) Constitutional political economy
- Social contracts
- Constitutional reforms
- Institutional economics - basics

10) Alternative approaches to the role of the state (I)
- Dictatorship and democracy

11) Alternative Approaches to the Role of the State (II)
- The Austrian School and anarcho-capitalism

12) Behavioral to public choice theory
- Behavioral approaches, the role of irrationality in public policy making

13-14) Experimental approaches to the study of public choice
- Experiment (Economic Classroom Experiment)

Povinná literatura

HILLMAN, Arye L. Public finance and public policy: responsibilities and limitations of government. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0521738057.
SATIS KUMAR, Jain. 2022. Social Choice Theory: An Introductory Text (Springer Texts in Business and Economics). New York: Springer, 2022. ISBN 978-9811696602 .
SELF, Peter. 2021. Government By The Market? The Politics Of Public Choice. London, Routledge, 2021. ISBN 978-0333569733 .

Doporučená literatura

PERSSON, Torsten a Guido TABELLINI. 2000. Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. ISBN 0-262-16195-8 .