SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT
Thayer Watkins |
Fall 2006
Office: DMH 214
Hours: M 2:00-3:00, W&R 4:00-6:00,
Tel. No. (408) 924-5420
ECONOMICS 205A
Economic Analysis for Public Decision Making
Textbook:
Elaine N. Pierroz and Thayer Watkins, Economic Practices
Manual, Office of Planning and Research, State of California.
(Available from Maple Press, 481 E. San Carlos, San Jose, CA)
In addition to this text there will be numerous assignments from the
course websites:
http://www.applet-magic.com/e205ag.htm
Nature of Course: This course covers a sequence of methods of economic
analysis of the sort that economists are required to carry out. The goal of
the course is cost benefit analysis (CBA), but it is expedient to cover
a number of less complex methods first. The first
technique to be covered, fiscal impact analysis, is the simplest
conceptually. It involves estimating the impacts on local governments'
revenues and costs of a project such as a housing development. This
requires detailed forecasts of the economic and demographic changes which
result from the project. The second method covered, input-output analysis,
is used to estimate the impacts of change in interdependent systems.
Usually input-output analysis is concerned with interdependence of
industries but it can also be applied to interdependent regions or
countries. The third area of analysis in social accounting systems such
as national and regional income accounts and flow of funds analysis. The
proper approach to such topics requires some consideration of the theory of
what determines the spatial structure of a city or a region. The fourth
major area of analysis is the assessment of the financial feasibility of
economic development projects. This leads into the more comprehensive
scheme of cost-benefit analysis for assessing the economic desirability of
a project. There are a variety of case studies, many in the area of water
development projects, used to illustrate the methods covered.
This course is a mixed media online, inclass course. It meets
in class every Wednesday but there are lectures that are available on line.
The instructions for accessing the lectures and the quizzes
are at:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/webct205a.htm
Grading: Grades will be based upon one term paper, twelve quizzes,
two midterm examination, three major
homework assignments, and a final examination. The
weighting is 30% for the term paper, 10% for all of the quizzes and 15% for
each midterm, 10% for the homework and 20% for the final examination.
The term paper involves explaining, critiquing (criticizing) and
augmenting a cost-benefit study which has been published.
Tentative Schedule
| Week | Topic | Reading |
| 1 | Introduction
|
EPM:Introduction,
Fiscal Impact Analysis, Economic Welfare
Analysis,
Cost Benefit Analysis,
Water Development
Projects in China,
Narmada River
Project in India
|
| 2 | Population and
Employment Impacts | EPM:2,3;
The Tanganyikan Groundnuts Scheme,
Population Projection,
Cost
Benefit Analysis,
Old River
Control Structure
|
| 3 | Income and
Housing Impacts | EPM:4,5
BCA1,
BCA2,
CBA3,
Office du Niger,The R100/R101 Airships,
Consumer Theory, Benefits,
Costs, Hayami-Peterson
|
| 4 | Land Use and
Environmental Impacts
Fiscal Impacts |
EPM:6&7,
Australia's Snowy Mountains Project,
Fiscal Impact
Analysis,
|
| 5 | First Midterm Examination |
Huey Long, Origin of Depression,
Recovery for Depression, Money in the
Depression |
| 6 | Public Services | EPM:8,
NAWAPA,
Two Approaches to CBA, Iran Dams,
Dez Dam, Spaceguard,
Input-Output Analysis |
| 7 | Comparing Alternatives | EPM:9,
HW Assignment
One |
| 8 | Surveys and Sampling | EPM:App. E,
Reilly's Law,
HW Assignment Two & Three
|
| 9 | Surveys and Sampling |
HW Assignment Four,
Cohort Survival Projection,
Regional Advantage, Regional
Development Policy,
Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway,
1974-75 Recession |
| 10 | Project Analysis |
Ghana,
Ghana's Volta River Project |
| 11 | Second Midterm Examination |
| 12 | Benefit/Cost Analysis |
TVA's Tellico Dam
Interdependence
World Bank Studies |
| 13 | Benefit/Cost Analysis |
Profitability & Net Social Benefit,Economic Base Model
HW Assignment Three
Industrial Complex Analysis
World Bank Studies |
| 14 | Benefit/Cost Analysis | World Bank Studies,
CBA and imperfect competition |
| 15 | Benefit/Cost Analysis | World Bank Studies |
References:
- Thomas Palm and Abdul Qayum, Private and Public Investment Analysis,
South-Western Publishing Co. 1985
- William Miernyk, Elements of Input-Output Analysis.
- Robert Sugden and Alan Williams, Principles of Practical Cost-Benefit
Analysis, Oxford University Press, 1978.
- John F. Kain, John R. Meyer, and Martin Wohl, The Urban
Transportation Problem
- Allen V. Kneese and Blair T. Bower (eds.) Environmental Quality
Analysis
- Lawrence G. Hines, Environmental Issues: Population, Pollution, and
Economics
- Norris Hundley, Jr. The Great Thirst: Californians and Water,
1770s-1990s
- Brent M. Haddad, Rivers of Gold: Designing Markets to Allocate Water
in California, 2000.
- Llad Phillips and Harold L. Votey, Jr., Economic Analysis of Pressing
Social Problems
- Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert
- Stan Fischler, Moving Millions: An Inside Look at Mass Transit, Harper & Row, 1979.
- Charles J. Hitch, Decision-Making for Defense, University of California Press, 1966.
- Roland N. McKean, Efficiency in Government Through Systems Analysis, 1958.
- Llad Phillips, The Economics of Crime Control, Sage Pub., 1981.
- Tom Rallis, City Transportation in Developed and Developing Countries, St. Martin's Press, 1988.
- Eldor Olin Pederson, Transportation in Cities, Pergamon Press, 1980.
- Herbert Levinson and Robert Weant (eds), Urban Transportation:
Perspectives and Prospects, 1982.
- Judith Rees, Natural Resources, Economics, and Policy, Routledge, 1990.
- Craig Reese, Deregulation and Environmental Quality: The Use
of Tax Policy to Control Pollution in North America and Western Europe,
Quorum books, 1983.
- Horst Siebert, Ingo Walter, and Klaus Zimmerman, Regional Environmental
Policy, New York University Press, 1979.
- Chester McGuire, International Housing Policies, Lexington books, 1981.
- Bernard Gutting, Taxation, Housing Markets, and the Markets for Building
Land, Springer-Verlag, 1987.
- Stevens Redburn and Terry Buss (eds), Public Policies for Distressed
Communities, 1972.
- Philip Jacobs, The Economics of Health and Medical Care, Aspen
Publications, 1991.
- Steven Eastaugh, Financing Health Care, Auburn House, 1987.
- Rueben Kessel, Essays in Applied Price Theory, University of Chicago,
1980.
- Aaron Wildavsky, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Art and Craft of
Policy Analysis, 1979.
- Jeffrey Pressman and Aaron Wildavsky, Implementation: How Great
Expectations in Washington Are Dashed in Oakland, 1974.
- James E. Anderson, David W. Brady and Charles Bullock, III, Public
Policy and Politics in America, 1978.
- William Tucker, Zoning, Rent Control and Affordable Housing, 1991.