Public finance, also called public economics or the economics of the public sector, is the study of government policy, both expenditure and taxation. On the positive side, it uses applied econometric tools to discover the consequences of policy on economic outcomes and the well-being of individuals. On the normative side, it builds on the theory of welfare economics to provide a framework for evaluating government policies and how to improve them.
Faculty in the Field
Primary Appointment within the
Economics Department
Primary Appointment outside the Economics Department
Ross School of Business
Ford School of Public Policy, Institute for Social Research, & School of Education
Recent Graduate Student Placement Locations
University of Tennessee
Mount Holyoke
University of Southern California
Colgate University
Joint Committee on Taxation
Villanova University
London School of Economics
George Washington University
Bosphorus University
Rutgers University
University of Alabama
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Yale (postdoc)
Northwestern College of Iowa
Carnegie Mellon University
Ashoka University
University of Tubingen
Cornell Law School
University of California-Irvine
Brandeis University
Office of Tax Analysis of U.S. Treasury (2)
Seminars, Reading Groups, Lunches, etc.
Public Finance Seminar series (Monday afternoons)
Awards
The Willard G. Manning Memorial Award for the Best Research in Health Econometrics, 2023 winner, Amanda Kowalski.
National Institute of Health Care Management Research Award, 2021 finalist , Amanda Kowalski.
American Society of Health Economists Medal, 2019 winner, Amanda Kowalski.
Daniel Holland Medal of the National Tax Association, 2017 winner, James Hines.
Daniel Holland Medal of the National Tax Association, 2012 winner, Joel Slemrod.
