This course will provide a working knowledge of modern theoretical and empirical techniques to investigate the design of tax policy and the responses of economic agents to it. The goal is to develop critical thinking to analyze fiscal policies in a real-world context. While the emphasis will be on the revenue side of public economics, we will also cover a few important aspects of government expenditure. Some of the topics that will be covered include optimal tax policy; tax avoidance and evasion; bunching at kinks and notches; commodity taxation; provisioning of public goods; among others.
bhanu.gupta@ashoka.edu.in