Econ 310:  Seminar in Public Finance (Fall 2006)

 

Reading List

 

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Reading List:  This is a list of readings for the course.  You should be prepared to discuss the book chapters listed as well as the citations marked with a *.  During the semester, additional readings may be assigned.

 

I.          Introduction

 

Chapter1, 2 (Sept. 8)

 

Empirical Methodology, Econometrics Review

 

Chapter 3 (Sept 11, finish Sept. 13)

Lecture Notes 9/11

 

*Meyer, Bruce, “Natural and Quasi-Experiments in Economics,” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 13(2), April 1995. (available via JSTOR) or here (Sept. 13)

Lecture Notes 9/13

 

Bound, John, David A. Jaeger, Regina M. Baker, “Problems with Instrumental Variables Estimation When the Correlation Between the Instruments and the Endogeneous Explanatory Variable is Weak,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 90, No. 430. (Jun., 1995), pp. 443-450. (available via JSTOR) or here

 

In-Class Handouts:

Reading an Empirical Paper

Regression Output

 

Research Papers (reading and writing) (Sept. 18)

 

Thomas L. Wyrick. The Economist’s Handbook: A Research and Writing Guide Chapter 9 pages 131-142.

 

II.         Externalities

 

Chapters 5-6 (Sept. 18) (slides for ch 5 ; slides for ch 6)

 

Coase, Ronald. “The Problem of Social Cost” Journal of Law and Economics, 1960.

 

*Chay, Kenneth Y. and Michael Greenstone, “Air Quality, Infant Mortality, and the Clean Air Act of 1970”, NBER Working Paper No. 10053, October 2003. accessible via: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10053 or here (Sept. 18)

 

Jin , Ginger Zhe and Phillip Leslie. (2003). “The Effect of Information on Product Quality: Evidence from Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, (May 2003), pp. 409-451. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/003355303321675428 or here.

 

*Nordhaus, William. (2005). “Life After Kyoto: Alternative Approaches to Global Warming,” NBER Working Paper No. 11889. accessible via: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11889.pdf  or here (Sept. 20)

 

Nordhaus, William and Joseph G. Boyer. (1999). “Requiem for Kyoto: An Economic Analysis of the Kyoto Protocol,” Manuscript accessible via: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/Kyoto.pdf or here.

 

Economist, September 9, 2006. “The heat is on.” pp. 11-12. (accessible via economist.com or here.)

 

Public Goods, emphasis on Education-Finance and Reform

 

Chapters 7, 11 (Sept. 25, Sept. 27) (slides for ch 7; slides for ch 11)

 

*Hoxby, Caroline M., editor The Economics of School Choice. 2003, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (read: Preface and Introduction) (Sept. 25)

 

*Betts, Julian R. and Tom Loveless, editors, Getting Choice Right: Ensuring Equity and Efficiency in Education Policy. 2005, Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C. (read: chapters 1 & 2) (Sept. 27)

 

School Choice; Vouchers

 

*Ladd, Helen F., “School Vouchers: A Critical View,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 16, No. 4. (Autumn, 2002), pp. 3-24. (available on JSTOR or here) (Oct. 2)

 

Epple, Dennis and Richard E. Romano, “Competition between Private and Public Schools, Vouchers, and Peer-Group Effects,” American Economic Review, Vol. 88, No. 1. (March 1998), pp. 33-62. (available on  JSTOR or here) (Oct. 2-I’ll comment on, read if you like)

 

*Hsieh, Chang-Tai and Miguel Urquiola, “The effects of generalized school choice on achievement and stratification: Evidence from Chile’s voucher program,” Journal of Public Economics 90 (2006) pp. 1477-1503. (available via ELSEVIER or here.) (Oct. 4)

 

*Stinebrickner, Ralph and Todd R. Stinebrickner, “What can be learned about peer effects using college roommates? Evidence from new survey data and students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” Journal of Public Economics, 90 (2006), pp. 1435-1454. (available via ELSEVIER or here.) (Oct. 11—b/c no class on Oct. 9)

 

Finance/ Crowd Out

 

Chapter 10 (slides for ch 10)

 

* Baicker, Katherine and Nora Gordon, “The effect of state education finance reform on total local resources,” Journal of Public Economics, 90 (2006), pp. 1519-1535. (available via ELSEVIER or here.) (Oct. 16)

 

Midterm Exam I (Oct. 18)

Questions and Explanation of Format for Midterm Exam I

 

III.       Social Insurance and Redistribution

 

            Introduction

           

            Chapter 12 (slides for ch 12) (Oct. 23)

 

                        Social Security

                       

                        Chapter 13 (slides for ch 13) (Oct. 23)

 

*Coile, Courtney and Jonathan Gruber. (2000). “Social Security and Retirement”. NBER Working Paper #7830. (available via http://papers.nber.org/papers/w7830.pdf or here.) (Oct. 23)

 

Handout for Coiler and Gruber paper

 

Medicaid and the Uninsured

 

Chapter 15-16 (slides for ch 15; slides for ch 16) (Oct. 25)

 

*Cutler, David M. and Jonathan Gruber. (1996) “Does Public Insurance Crowd Out Private Insurance.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 111, No. 2 (May, 1996), pp. 391-430. (available via JSTOR or here.) (Oct. 25)

 

*Currie, Janet and Jonathan Gruber. (1996). “Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 104, No. 6. (Dec., 1996), pp. 1263-1296. (available via JSTOR or here.) (Oct. 30)

 

Poverty and Income Inequality, Welfare

 

Chapter 17 (slides for ch17) (Nov. 1)

 

*DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor and Cheryl Hill Lee. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-231, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2006.  (accessible via http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf ) (Nov. 1)

 

Handout on Census Report (Nov. 1)

 

*Aron-Dine, Aviva and Isaac Shapiro (Revised October 13, 2006), “New Data Show Extraordinary Jump in Income Concentration in 2004.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  (accessible via: http://www.cbpp.org/7-10-06inc.pdf ) (Nov. 6)

 

*Krugman, Paul. “Whining Over Discontent” Op-Ed Column, New York Times, September 8, 2006. (Nov. 6)

 

*Piketty, Thomas and Saez, Emmanuel. “Income inequality in the United States, 1913-2004 (Updated version of the QJE article). (available via http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezOUP04US.pdf ) (Nov. 6)

 

Piketty, Thomas and Saez, Emmanuel. (2003). “Income inequality in the United States, 1913-1998.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118:1–39.

 

Solon, Gary. (1992). Intergenerational income mobility in the United States. American Economic Review, 82(3):393–408.

 

Bjorklund, Anders; Mikael Lindahl and Erik Plug. (2006).“The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, (August 2006), pp. 999-1028.

 

McClelland, Peter D.  (1990). The American Search for Economic Justice.  Basil Blackwell, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

 

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick (1986). Family and Nation. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego.

 

Deaton, Angus. (1997). The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconomic Approach to Development Policy.  Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. (Chapter 3)

 

Welfare Reform

 

*Pear, Robert and Erik Eckholm, “A Decade After Welfare Overhaul, a Shift in Policy and Perception” New York Times, August 21, 2006. accessible via http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/washington/21welfare.html?ex=1313812800&en=3bd83021ded17ec2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss (Nov. 8)

 

*Blank, Rebecca M. (1997). “Policy Watch: The 1996 Welfare Reform” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 169-177. (accessible via JSTOR or here). (Nov. 8)

 

Rogers, Diane Lim and Alan Weil. (2000). “Welfare Reform and the Role of Tax Policy” National Tax Journal, Vol. 53 no. 3 Part 1 (September 2000) pp. 385-402

 

Hungerman, Daniel M. (2005). “Are church and state substitutes? Evidence from the 1996 welfare reform” Journal of Public Economics, 89 pp. 2245–2267

 

The Green Book accessible via http://aspe.hhs.gov/greenbook/ (This is a nice link to explore federal programs.  How does the government spend money?)

 

Welfare to Work & Illegitimacy

 

*Meara, Ellen and Richard G. Frank. (2006). “Welfare Reform, Work Requirements, and Employment Barriers,” NBER Working Paper 12480.

accessible via: http://www.nber.org/papers/w12480 (Nov. 13)

 

Chapter 21 (slides for Chapter 21) (Nov. 13)

 

*Grogger, Jeffrey. (2003). “The Effects of Time Limits, the EITC, and Other Policy Changes on Welfare Use, Work, and Income Among Female-Headed Families,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May 2003, 85(2): 394–408. (available via JSTOR or here)(Nov. 15) (Nov. 13)

 

Dye, Jane Lawler and Harriet B. Presser. (1999). “The State Bonus to Reward a Decrease in ‘Illegitimacy’: Flawed Methods and Questionable Effects,” Vol. 31, No. 3. (May-Jun., 1999), pp. 142-147.

 

Joyce, Theodore; Robert Kaestner and Sanders Korenman. (2002).  “Welfare Reform and Non-marital Fertility in the 1990s: Evidence from Birth Records,” NBER Working Paper 9406.  accessible via: http://www.nber.org/papers/w9406

 

Peters, H. Elizabeth; Robert D. Plotnick and Se-Ook Jeong. (2001).

 “How Will Welfare Reform Affect Childbearing and Family Structure Decisions?” Institute for Research on Poverty (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Discussion Paper no. 1239-01.  accessible via: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp123901.pdf

 

Political Economy

 

Chapter 9 (slides for Chapter 9) (Nov. 15)

 

Holt, Charles A., Anderson, Lisa R. (1999). “Agendas and Strategic Voting.” Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 622–629. (accessible via JSTOR or here.) (Nov. 15) (This describes the “experiment” we will be conducting in class.)

 

Political Economy in the News

 

Outcome of Ryan Trial

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/local_story_107111835.html

 

Press release from Buchanan’s Nobel Prize

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1986/press.html

 

Jack Abramoff

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/15/lobbyist.probe.ap/index.html

 

 

Progress Reports Due on November 15 Email Progress Reports to me by Tuesday, November 21

 

IV.              Taxation in Theory and Practice

 

Chapters 18-20 (slides for Chapter 18, slides for Chapter 19, slides for Chapter 20) (Read on Your own between Nov. 15 & Nov. 27)

 

*Burman, Leonard E. and David Weiner. (2005). “Suppose They Took the AM Out of the AMT?” Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Discussion Paper No. 25 (August 2005). accessible via: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311212_TPC_DiscussionPaper_25.pdf  (Nov. 27)

 

*Bernstein, Fred A. “Why Some Homeowners May Not Be Smiling for These Cameras” New York Times, August 20, 2006. accessible via: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/realestate/20nati.html?ex=1313726400&en=a4a3b077d86669ad&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

(Nov. 27) (also pp. 692-693)

 

Maag, Elaine. (2005). “Taxes and Marriage for Cohabiting Parents” Published: May 23, 2005 by The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. accessible via: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000788_Tax_Fact_5-23-05.pdf 

 

Kotlikoff, Laurence J. and David Rapson. (2005). “Would the Fair Tax Raise or Lower Marginal and Average Tax Rates,” NBER Working Paper 11831. accessible via: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11831.pdf 

 

Chapter 24 (slides for Chapter 24) (Nov 29)

 

*Alan J. Auerbach. (2005). “Who Bears the Corporate Tax?  A Review of What We Know.” NBER Working Paper 11686.  accessible via: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11686.pdf  (Nov 29)

 

Midterm II in Class on December 4th

Questions and Explanation of Format for Midterm Exam II

 

Presentations December 6th, 11th, and 13th