Reading List
(Weeks indicate times in which readings will be discussed.  In general, it is a good idea to stay ahead of the reading and to try to read the material in advance of the lecture.)

1. Fiscal Functions and Fiscal Institutions (Week 1)

Rosen, Chapter 2 – a useful review of micro concepts; you may also want to review your micro
Text.
Rosen, Chapter 1 – intro to the public sector in Canada: you are responsible for knowing the
general facts about the public sector in Canada

2. The Theory of Public Goods (Weeks 1, 2, 3)

Rosen, Chapter 4;  Assignments 1 and 2

3. Externalities (Weeks 3, 4)

Rosen, Chapter 5;  Assignments 3 and 4

4. Insurance and Asymmetric Information (Weeks 5, 6, 7)

Rosen, Chapter 9, pages 175-185;  Assignments 5 and 6

Your paper must be no longer than 1000 words (about 3 typed double-spaced pages, using normal margins and normal print, if you are used to thinking this way).  Longer papers will be penalized.  The penalty will increase with the amount that you exceed the limit (naturally, there will be no penalty for slightly exceeding 1000 words, but the point at which the penalty will be assessed is not specified, as is true for many legal penalties!).  At the bottom of your paper you must state the number of words in your paper (Microsoft Word provides this information under Review, subheading Wordcount; other wordprocessing packages also provide this information; you may omit the references from your wordcount if you like; be honest, because we have been known to count words!).  You must double-space your paper and leave margins of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) at the top, bottom, and on the right and left sides of the page for ease of reading.

In general, you may want to do some additional research for the paper (beyond the reading list).  Since the paper deals with issues that are real, you can probably find lots of discussion of the legal issues by using the normal search engines on the Internet (there is unlikely to be much written in books yet about the most recent cases).  If you are having trouble finding out what you need, ask a librarian for help.  You should of course provide complete references and footnotes, even to works from the reading list.  Do not plagiarize.  Cheating will be dealt with severely. 

A separate note on use of the internet:  Many students use the internet to do research, in this and other courses.  This is fine, but you should carefully footnote references, just as if you had taken a book out of the library.  Copying material off an internet site and representing it as your own is plagiarism, and the University takes that very seriously.  You should also be aware of the obvious point that the internet does not have anyone controlling it.  Often very useful sources will appear on your search engine side-by-side with sites that are complete garbage.  It is your task, if you use the internet, to differentiate between the two!  Librarians can help you do that.  We have a librarian who works specifically with Management and Economics students, and she would be happy to assist you. 

The detailed assignment for the paper is found below.

Paper Topic

The paper should deal with the subject of public funding for the Olympics, and specifically the decision by Canadian cities and governments to bid for the Olympic games.  Canada has hosted the summer Olympics once in 1976 (in Montreal: the city was left with a $1 billion debt when the games were done).  Canada has hosted the winter Olympics twice (1988 in Calgary and 2010 in Vancouver).  But recently the city of Calgary had a plebiscite on bidding for the 2026 winter games and the voters in the city voted no.  A number of other countries have in recent years decided not to bid for the Games.  Your paper should begin by providing some additional details of the history of efforts in Canada to host the Olympics.  You should then explain what justifications have been offered for government subsidies by those who favour (or have favoured) these subsidies.  What arguments have been made against such subsidies by those who oppose them?  What have the politicians had to say about subsidies to the project?  Using what you have learned in this course about public goods and externalities, describe how an economist might justify public funding for such a project, and what kinds of arguments an economist might make against such funding (in each case, frame your arguments in terms of efficient provision of public goods and/or goods for which there are significant positive externalities).  Are your economic arguments consistent with the arguments made by politicians and others in Ontario for and against public funding (if not, explain why)?  Finally, how do you feel about countries bidding for the Olympics?  Frame your own support for or opposition to the bid in terms of what you have learned in this course.

[HINT: The arguments in this area are not one-dimensional, and some of them may not fit easily into the simple public-goods type models presented in texts.  This is the case for many public projects – you will need to be ingenious in applying the arguments in this course to the topic].

How do we refer to Ontario?: the paper assignment did ask “Are your economic arguments consistent with the arguments made by politicians and others in Ontario for and against public funding”.  In fact, you are not limited to Ontario.  So if you choose to focus on the Calgary games, you should ask what kinds of argument were advanced in Alberta for and against public funding.