Advanced Seminar Economics, Policy & Econometrics: Economics of Taxation

The module provides insight into important areas of the public economic theory of taxation. This branch of public economics deals with the revenue side of the state and gives an overview of essential concepts of taxation methods and taxation theory. What objectives are pursued through taxation? How does taxation affect the income distribution? How do consumers and producers react to taxation? Who carries the burden of a particular tax? What are the social costs of taxation? The course imparts institutional knowledge and theoretical analysis skills and applies the gained expertise to current examples from taxation policy. Seminar participants analyze selected problems in the economics of taxation from a theoretical as well as practical perspective. Topics could be chosen from the following areas, for example: • Income Tax Schedules • Tax Incidence and Tax Shifting • Taxation and Labor Supply • Tax Competition • Taxation of Multinational Firms • Taxation of Foreign Trade (Tariffs) • Tax Evasion

After participation, students will be able to explain and present specific topics in the economics of taxation and derive recommendations for political action. Students will be able to • identify the goals and guiding principles of taxation based on concrete tax schedules and systems, • recognize conflicting goals of taxation (e.g. regarding revenue versus steering, or performance incentives versus redistribution) and devise compromises to address them, • understand the impact of duties and tariffs on international trade, • devise and evaluate political measures to combat tax evasion

Seminar participants elaborate a topic in the economics of taxation - either independently or in groups (depending on the total number of participants). The examination comprises two parts: 1) Short seminar paper on the selected topic (1/4 of the grade) 2) Presentation on the selected topic (3/4 of the grade) Students should demonstrate their capacity for abstraction (thinking in economic models) and concretization (interpreting and applying the results of the model, deriving recommendations for political action) regarding current topics.

Participants should be familiar with fundamental microeconomic analysis. At the TUM School of Management, this is conveyed in the modules WI000021 "Economics I (Microeconomics)" or WI001056_1 "Principles of Economics"

Seminar participants elaborate a topic in the economics of taxation - either independently or in groups (depending on the total number of participants). The examination comprises a short seminar paper and a presentation on the selected topic.