Public Economics for European Union

Unipi Team Leader: Luca Spataro, Department of Economics and Management  

The member states of European Union retain ultimate responsibility for economic policy within the economic and monetary union. Therefore country-level governments have still to deal with several issues related to Public Economics: in fact, they are still responsible for taxation, provision of public goods and social transfers and intervention in case of market failures. However, given the process of European integration, these aspects of Public Economics must be considered in a different perspective as governments have to make efforts to coordinate and harmonize their policies and to deal with the increasing role of supranational authorities. There is therefore the need to develop, analyse and disseminate the discipline of Public Economics in a perspective that highlights how the issues and instruments typically covered by this discipline should be applied in a context of a union of states in general and of the European Union in particular.As a matter of fact, the Europe 2020 strategy poses strong emphasis on targets such as growth, employment and poverty reduction. In addition, it also directly addresses the issue of governance and asks for additional commitments and coordination between member states. Therefore, the Europe 2020 strategy requires analyses and instruments covered by Public Economics but in a perspective that outsteps the classical problems and tools that a single-country government faces, even in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. While these coordination and harmonization processes pose a challenge, they also bring significant benefits for the whole institutional system.The module on Public Economics for European Union aims to provide to its participants a solid background in public economics, exploring how the problems and tools of public economics can be used within a supranational and union environment in general and within the European Union in particular. These aspects are extremely important in the education of future European citizens, economists, politicians and decision-makers.

Start date: 01-09-2014

End date: 31-08-2017

EU Grant: 30.000 €

Project website: https://publicecoeu.ec.unipi.it/