Prospectus

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Welfare State Economics

Course
2016-2017

Admission requirements

Students are highly recommended to have intermediate knowledge on public economics, see e.g. Public Finance of Rosen and Gayer.

Description

Governments implement welfare state programs to protect their citizens to social risks such as falling sick, becoming unemployed, ageing or the occurrence of health costs. These programs, that range from public benefits to the regulation of private insurance markets, have a strong impact on the income, well-being and the behavior of individuals. Welfare state programs are typically justified by equity and public responsibility, but at the same time the growth of public expenditures force governments to make more efficient use of existing resources. This gives rise to a tension between equity and efficiency considerations.

This course provides an economic perspective on the design of equitable and efficient welfare state programs. The course starts with exploring the fundamental arguments for state intervention and the provision of social insurance, using concepts from insurance theory. Next, attention will be devoted to different welfare state interventions, including cash benefits (such as unemployment insurance, sick pay, disability insurance and pensions) and benefits in kind programs (e.g. health care). Throughout the course, these programs will be assessed along the line of equity and efficiency measures, using insights from the empirical literature on the effect of welfare state interventions on individual behavior and social outcomes.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to assess the concepts of the welfare state from an economic perspective:

  • Students are able to identify the key equity and efficiency arguments for the provision of various welfare state programs

  • Students understand the concepts of insurance theory and their implications for the provision of social insurance.

  • Students can critically evaluate empirical applications about individual behavior in the context of the welfare state.

  • Students are able to apply their knowledge on real life welfare state programs, of which they can evaluate, judge and communicate their pros and cons.

Timetable

On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.

Mode of instruction

The course consists of seminars on the one hand and interactive meetings with student presentations (and discussants) on the other hand. In these presentations, students use articles and reports, so as to critically assess the provision of welfare state programs in various countries.

Course Load

Total course load 140 hours: – Hours spent on attending seminars 14 (7 × 2 hours) – Hours spent on attending meetings with student presentations 14 (7 × 2 hours) – Written exam 3 hours – Time four studying compulsory literature and completing assignments 109

Assessment method

Gradings will be based on presentations and discussion during the interactive meetings (25% weight), together with a written exam at the end of the course (75% weight). We offer a re-examination for the written exam if the grade was lower than 5.5, but not for presentations. Note that an insufficient score for the written exam – i.e., lower than 5.5 – cannot be compensated by a high score for the presentation.

Attendance and active participation is compulsory for both the seminars and interactive meetings. In principle, students may be exempted for attendance once, but only if they inform the teacher on this beforehand and if in this meeting they are not scheduled for their presentation assignment. If students miss more than one seminar or meeting, they cannot receive gradings.

You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.

Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have taken the first sit and have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.

Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be available one month before the start of the course.

Reading list

N. Barr (2012), Economics of the Welfare State, fifth edition, Oxford University Press

Individual journal papers are announced later on blackboard.

Registration

Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.

Contact

Pierre Koning:
p.w.c.koning@law.leidenuniv.nl