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

  • Aapo Stenhammar

    University of Bonn

    Opening Borders: Self-Selection and Labor Market Returns to Migration During the EU Enlargement

    • Hanken
    • Job Talk

  • Ramin Izadi

    VATT

    Preschool Expansion RCT: Results

    • VATT
    • Seminar

  • Sarah Duffy

    University of Oxford

    Climate Change, Adaptation, and Sovereign Risk

    • Aalto University
    • Job Talk

  • Davide Luparello

    Pennsylvania State University

    Why Do Contract Workers Earn Less? Evidence from India’s Auto Industry

    • Job Talk

  • Camilla Christensen

    University of Copenhagen, CEBI and CenTax

    Are People Systematically Inactive Across Financial Decisions? Linking Evidence from Mortgage and Retirement Saving Decisions (with Henrik Yde …

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Joakim Wikström

    VATT

    From Breakthroughs to Derivatives: How Grants Redirect Inventors

    • Industrial Organization
    • PhD Seminar

  • Lachlan Paterson

    Aalto University

    The role of training providers in integration training

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • PhD Seminar

  • Tuuli Tähtinen

    IFO

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Pauli Murto

    Aalto University

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

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Benjamin Hattemer

    University of Helsinki

    From Free to Fee: How Emission Permit Allocation Affect Firms

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Juho Nuutinen and Nhi Cai

    Hanken

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

    • Behavioral Economics
    • Brown Bag Seminar

  • Toan Le

    University of Oxford

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Jacob Moscona

    MIT

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

    • Colloquium

  • Dionissi Aliprantis

    École Normale Supérieure (ENS) de Lyon

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

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Giacomo Brusco

    University of Tübingen

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Gonzalo Arrieta

    University of Zurich

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

    • Behavioral Economics
    • Seminar

  • Yajna Govind

    Copengahen Business School

    TBA

    • VATT
    • Seminar

  • Francesco Vona

    University of Milan and FEEM

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

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Nagore Iriberri

    University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

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

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Mateus Mysliwski

    NHH

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

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Selina Clarke

    University of Helsinki

    Effects of mining pollution

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • PhD Seminar

  • Jonas Cederlöf

    IFAU Uppsala

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

    • VATT
    • Seminar

  • Rachel Ngai

    LSE

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

    • Colloquium

  • Aspasia Bizopoulou

    VATT

    Anti-Discrimination Laws and the Careers of Women

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Marta Santamaria

    University of Warwick

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

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Amit Dekel

    Aix-Marseille School of Economics

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Laura Khoury

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Laura Khoury

    Paris Dauphine-PSL University

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Sander Ramboer

    VATT

    Local Property Tax Incentives for Wind Farm Development

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Nicolas Schutz

    University of Mannheim

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

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Nicolas de Roos

    University of Liverpool

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

    • Colloquium

  • Julia Salmi

    Hanken

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

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Alessandro Pizzigolotto

    University of Copenhagen

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Ferenc Szucs

    Stockholm University

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

    • Colloquium

  • Mikko Silliman

    Aalto University

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

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Jakob Beuschlein

    Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin) / the Berlin School of Economics / Humboldt University of Berlin

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Ossi Tahvonen

    University of Helsinki

    Long-term effects of a youth cash transfer

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • PhD Seminar

  • Alina Ozhegova

    Aalto University

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

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Mikko Silliman

    Aalto University

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

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Juanna Schrøter Joensen

    University of Chicago

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

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Thomas Douenne

    University of Amsterdam

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

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Pauline Vorjohann

    University of Exeter

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

    • Behavioral Economics
    • Seminar

  • Xinrong Zhu

    Imperial College London Business School

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

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Viola Asri

    CMI

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

    • Development Economics
    • Seminar

  • Andreas Asseyer

    Freie Universität Berlin

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Ellen Sahlström

    Aalto University

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • PhD Seminar

  • Sara Bagagli

    LSE

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

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Stefano Lombardi

    VATT

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

    • Lunch Seminar

  • Pia Nilsson

    University of Helsinki

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

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Dirk Czarnitzki

    KU Leuven

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

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Juho Junttila

    University of Helsinki

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • PhD Seminar

  • Luca Braghieri

    Bocconi University

    Behavioral and Information Frictions in News Consumption: Evidence from Social Media

    • Colloquium

  • David Jaeger

    University of St Andrews

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • James Best

    Carnegie Mellon University

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Denvil Duncan

    Indiana University

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Giorgio Pietrobissa

    LSE

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

    • Trade, Regional and Urban Economics
    • Seminar

  • Ludovica Gazze

    University of Warwick

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

    • Environmental Economics
    • Seminar

  • Salvatore Piccolo

    University of Bergamo

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

    • Industrial Organization
    • Seminar

  • Eric Taylor

    Harvard University

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

    • Colloquium

  • Justine Knebelmann

    Sciences Po

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

    • Development Economics
    • Seminar

  • Davide Cipullo

    Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

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

    • Labor & Public Economics
    • Seminar

  • Justus Preusser

    Bocconi University

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Martin Vaeth

    Paris School of Economics

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar

  • Pau Roldan-Blanco

    Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

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

    • Macroeconomics
    • 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

  • Gabrielle Fack

    Dauphine University

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

    • Economics of Education (Educa)
    • Seminar

  • Milena Almagro

    Chicago Booth

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

    • Colloquium

  • Martino Banchio

    Bocconi University

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

    • Microeconomics
    • Seminar