The actions people take are determined by potential welfare gains. Indeed, the gains from trade are what brings buyers and sellers together in markets. Unfortunately, however, not all private actions raise social welfare when markets are subject to taxes of other distortions. This course obtains general equilibrium shadow (or social) prices to identify welfare improving policy changes in these circumstances.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
Students who successfully complete this course will:
- understand the different ways to measure welfare changes for individuals and know how to aggregate them;
- be able to properly interpret compensated welfare changes and know how they relate to actual welfare changes typically isolated in demand-supply diagrams;
- understand how to construct models and use general equilibrium analysis;
- use general equilibrium analysis to evaluate the welfare effects of policy changes in a coherent way and be able to explain the economic intuition for the results;
- be exposed to the applied welfare and public economics literatures and be able to relate the two literatures using conventional welfare economics tools.
Other Information
See the course outline on the College courses page. Outlines are uploaded as they become available.
Indicative Assessment
- three (3) hour exam at the end of semester
- two assignments - 25% in total
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
3 contact hours plus private study time.Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Jones, C.M., (2005), Applied Welfare Economics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Preliminary Reading
Tresch, R.W., (2002), Public Finance: A Normative Theory, Elsevier Science Academic Press, San Diego and London, 2nd Edn.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $2940 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $4890 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.