Time Schedule:
Christine Wong
SIS 490
Seattle Campus
Content varies from quarter to quarter.
Class description
Transition from Communism: the role of government and public finance
The transition from a planned to a market economy requires the withdrawal of government from many spheres of production and a shift from the use of direct allocation mechanism to the use of prices and taxes and other indirect levers of economic management. Because the process requires dismantling similar control levers and installing similar new institutions in these countries, the problems encountered are also broadly similar. Financing government has emerged as a central problem in almost all transition economies. This course looks at the broad range of experiences and identifies the problems they face in transforming their systems of taxation, from tax policy, tax administration, to issues of decentralization.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Students should have some familiarity with transition economies and/or developing countries.
Class assignments and grading
This is a writing course. Grades will be based on the following 1. a class presentation (based on the course paper) – 20% 2. a course paper (10 pages) – 30% 3. a final exam – 50%
