For students:

Public Economics

  • What is the right level of tax progression?
  • What are the consequences of basic income?
  • How should universities be financed?
  • What is the right way to support poor people?
  • How should the pension system be financed?
Data visualization

Public economics provides a framework for thinking about the planner’s or the government’s intervention to the market. To this end, microeconomic models are used to assess how various market failures, inefficiencies, and inequalities can be corrected.

Much of modern public economics is related to inequality. The market economy does not necessarily produce a socially desirable distribution of income, and government intervention is again needed. Public economics research can inform policy discussion about the impacts of inequalities, how effective public policies are in reducing them, and how policymakers can address possible tradeoffs between economic efficiency and distributional equity.

At the core of public economic analysis are various policy measures, including taxes, provision of public goods, and regulatory actions. Research in contemporary public economics is increasingly empirical.  Impact evaluation methods and sufficient statistics approaches are used to attempt to credibly estimate the impact of policy instruments and reforms on taxpayer and individual behavior.

For Master's students interested in these topics, here is a list of recommended courses.

University of Helsinki and VATT Institute for Economic Research are part of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research, led by Professor Kaisa Kotakorpi of Tampere University.

Chair

  • Jukka Pirttilä

    Deputy Academic Director of Helsinki GSE, Professor @ University of Helsinki

Members

PhD Students

  • Jerry Montonen

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Juan-Pablo Montero

    UC Chile / Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Ciprian Domnisoru

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Tom Zohar

    CEMFI

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Fedor Iskhakov

    Australian National University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Otso Hao

    University of Oxford

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Econometrics
    • Seminar

  • Matthew Rabin

    Harvard University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Colloquium

  • Morten Sæthre

    NHH Norwegian School of Economics

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Akseli Väliviita

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Kwok Hao Lee

    National University of Singapore

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Pedro Carneiro

    UCL

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Julia Wirtz

    University of Bristol

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Johannes Hörner

    TSE

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Colloquium

  • Nhi Cao

    Hanken School of Economics

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Development Economics
    • Brown Bag Seminar

  • Lena Hensvik

    Uppsala University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • David Myatt

    LBS

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Hernán Seoane Bernadaz

    Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Macroeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Catalina Franco

    NHH

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Seminar

  • Miika Päällysaho

    VATT

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Biliana Yontcheva

    Hamburg University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Ludmila Matyskova

    University of Alicante

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Florian Oswald

    University of Turin

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Olivia Masi

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Ben Goldman

    Cornell University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Daniel Cunha Byström

    Gothenburg University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Job Talk

  • Markus Reisinger

    Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Raissa Fabregas

    University of Texas at Austin

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Development Economics
    • Seminar

  • Erika Povea

    NHH

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Job Talk

  • Adrien Wicht

    University of Basel

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Macroeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Alexander Frug

    UPF

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Nicolas Gendron-Carrier

    McGill University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Giuseppe Sorrenti

    University of Lausanne

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Javier Feinman

    PSE

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Development Economics
    • Seminar

  • Simen Markussen

    Frisch Center

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Joshua Weiss

    University of Bristol

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Macroeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Piero Gottardi

    University of Essex

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Daniel Hauser

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Jakob Vanschoonbeek

    KU Leuven

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Gianluca Antonecchia

    KU Leuven

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Gilat Levy

    LSE

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Colloquium

  • Ana Costa Ramon

    University of Zurich

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • César Barilla

    University of Oxford

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Marta Morazzoni

    UCL

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Macroeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Alina Ozhegova

    Aalto University

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Julien Grenet

    PSE

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Luise Eisfeld

    University of Lausanne

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Xiyu Jiao

    University of Gothenburg

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Econometrics
    • Seminar

  • Arnaldur Stefanson

    University of Iceland

    The content of this event has not been announced yet. Please check back later.

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar