This policy-oriented module offers an introduction to the role and limits of government interventions in the microeconomic management of developed economies. Overall, the emphasis is placed on: (i) the identification of most common market failures and the options available for government to address them; (ii) the choice and design of economic and regulatory policies to mitigate these market failures.
The module also touches on the drivers of government failures and the interactions between economics and politics as constraints on the design of public policies, including a wide range of policy issues and trade-offs.
More specifically, focuses on three aspects of the economy. First, the module examines competition policy by studying monopoly industries: the sources, creation and exercise of monopoly power and the principles and practice of monopoly regulation.
Second, the module examines issues surrounding the urban economy. Cities are the locus of global economic dynamism. Dense urban spaces provide advantages to firms, by improving their access to markets and prospects for innovation, and workers, by increasing both their productivity and their leisure opportunities. However, density also causes problems in the form of greater congestion, higher housing costs, and elevated risk of disease exposure. We will examine key policy issues in this context, based around the monocentric city model.
Finally, the module covers a broad range of concepts, theories, and topics related to the economics of health and health care. It builds on the insights of microeconomic theory and has a focus on how governments balance efficiency and equity concerns in setting health policy.
- Module Supervisor: Nicholas Reynolds
- Module Supervisor: Katharine Rockett
- Module Supervisor: Eric Smith