PEPSHP Political Economics

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Ing. Petr Harasimovič (lecturer)
Ing. Petr Harasimovič (seminar tutor)
Ing. Monika Jandová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ing. Antonín Slaný, CSc.
Department of Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Lydie Pravdová
Timetable of Seminar Groups
PEPSHP/1: No timetable has been entered into IS. P. Harasimovič
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
The course Political Economics deals with the role of political processes in forming economic policy. In particular, it is focused on answering these questions:
- What and how determines economic policy?
- What are the consequences for the efficient allocation of resources?
- What political institutions are able to minimize efficiency losses caused by political decision-making?
Main objectives of the course:
- to introduce mechanisms how political conflict affects economic policies;
- to analyze the relationship between different economic variables and different types of economic policy;
- to asses the influence of political institutions (like the form of government or voting systems) on the efficiency of resource allocation.
Syllabus
  • 1 Introduction of the course
  • 2 Introduction to the public choice theory (aggregation of individual preferences, Arrow Impossibility Theorem, remedies of AIT)
  • 3 Theory of electoral competition (Downsian electoral competition, median voter, probabilistic voting, lobbyism)
  • 4 Agency problem in politics (political rent, commitment problem)
  • 5 Partisan politics (ideological preferences)
  • 6 General redistributive politics (social insurance and unemployment insurance policies)
  • 7 Specific redistributive politics (interest groups)
  • 8 Voting systems (comparison of majoritarian and proportional voting systems)
  • 9 Political systems (comparison of presidential and parlamentary democracies)
  • 10 Long-term consequences of political competition (political cycles, government debt)
  • 11 Long-term consequences of political competition (capital taxation, economic growth)
  • 12 Dictatorial vs. democratic regimes
Literature
  • Political economics :explaining economic policy. Edited by Torsten Persson - Guido Tabellini. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000, xix, 533 s. ISBN 0-262-16195-8. info
Assessment methods
The course consists of lectures and seminars.
The course is completed by a written exam.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: max. 20 cizích studentů; cvičení pouze pro studenty ESF
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/spring2009/PEPSHP