This specialisation engages students in the question of financing government and the interaction of tax, spending and fiscal policies with the market economy in an era of fiscal austerity, growing inequality and economic disruption. Students examine the policies, institutions and regulatory structures for raising public finance, and for managing public expenditures. Students will examine principles and conceptual benchmarks of public finance policy including efficiency, equity and redistribution, and administration and compliance and will learn about the politics of taxation and expenditures. They will understand the core features of budget and fiscal institutions in the executive, legislature and role of the judiciary. Particular emphasis is given to the way in which taxes and expenditures interact with, shape and are themselves affected by market, household and individual decisions in the contemporary national and global economy.