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? How limiting are the external constraints on public finance? What is the degree of inequality in Finland? Should local communities be supported by the government and if yes, how? How should usage of common goods such as natural resources be regulated?

Research groups

Public Economics Research Group

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.

Members
JP
Jukka Pirttilä

Chair of the group, Professor
jukka.pirttila at helsinki.fi

Kwabena Adu-Ababio

Member, PhD student
kwabena.adu-ababio at helsinki.fi

MH
Marja-Liisa Halko

Member, University Lecturer
marja-liisa.halko at helsinki.fi

KH
Kristiina Huttunen

Member, Research Professor
kristiina.huttunen at vatt.fi
Homepage

Arttu Kahelin

Member, PhD student
arttu.kahelin at aalto.fi

AK
Arttu Kauhanen

Member, PhD student
arttu.kauhanen at helsinki.fi

EK
Eugen Koev

Member, PhD student
evgenii.koev at helsinki.fi

AK
Aliisa Koivisto

Member, PhD student
aliisa.koivisto at helsinki.fi

KK
Kaisa Kotakorpi

Member, Research Professor
kaisa.kotakorpi at vatt.fi

Anustup Kundu

Member, PhD student
anustup.kundu at helsinki.fi
Homepage

ML
Matti Liski

Member, Professor
matti.liski at aalto.fi

JM
Juuso Mäkinen

Member, PhD student
juuso.p.makinen at aalto.fi

TM
Topi Miettinen

Member, Professor
topi.miettinen at hanken.fi

KP
Kimmo Palanne

Member, PhD student
kimmo.palanne at aalto.fi

TP
Tuomas Pekkarinen

Member, Research Professor
tuomas.pekkarinen at vatt.fi
Homepage

TS
Tuukka Saarimaa

Member, Professor
tuukka.saarimaa at aalto.fi
Homepage

RU
Roope Uusitalo

Member, Professor
roope.uusitalo at helsinki.fi

Upcoming Seminars

17 Sep 2019

Labor and Public

Divided they Fall. Fragmented Parliaments and Government Stability (with Davide Cipullo and Luca Repetto)

  • Felipe Carozzi
  • LSE

1 Oct 2019

Labor and Public

Optimal taxation of capital income with heterogeneous rates of return

  • Aart Gerritsen
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam

15 Oct 2019

Labor and Public

Firm- and individual-level responses to labor immigration

  • Cristina Bratu
  • Aalto University

29 Oct 2019

Labor and Public

First year of the Finnish Basic Income Experiment

  • Jouko Verho
  • VATT

12 Nov 2019

Labor and Public

The Crime Ladder: Estimating the Impact of Different Punishments on Defendant Outcomes (with Martti Kaila and Emily Nix)

  • Kristiina Huttunen
  • VATT and Aalto University

26 Nov 2019

Labor and Public

The Impact of Local Property Taxation on Firm Growth and Location: Evidence from Flanders

  • Sander Ramboer
  • VATT

10 Dec 2019

Labor and Public

RESCHEDULED TO SPRING 2020

  • David Seim
  • Stockholm University

12 Dec 2019

Labor and Public

Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop

  • Labor and Public Economics PhD Workshop

10 Dec 2019

Labor and Public

Siblings’ Effects on College and Major Choice: Evidence from Chile, Croatia and Sweden

  • Andrés Barrios Fernandez
  • VATT

26 May 2020

Labor and Public

  • Labor/Public PhD workshop

17 Mar 2020

Labor and Public

Cancelled

  • Aline Bütikofer
  • NHH

14 Apr 2020

Labor and Public

TBA

  • Hanna Virtanen
  • Etla

28 Apr 2020

Labor and Public

TBA

  • Petri Böckerman
  • JYU

12 May 2020

Labor and Public

TBA

  • David Seim
  • Stockholm University

26 May 2020

Labor and Public

TBA

  • Zohal Hessami
  • University of Mannheim
Helsinki GSE