[EC3351] Public Finance (by Prof Chia Ngee Choon)

10% - class participation
20% - mid-term
30% - project
40% - final

A great prof who teaches well. Personally, I like the module allocation as it is very evenly spread out, so your grade won't get affected too badly if you scew up one component.

This module focuses on micro economic concepts, even though public finance sounds very macro. Fortunately, for the benefit of those who forgot most of their Ec2101, Prof Chia often goes through them briefly before she delves deeper. The topics in this module include welfare economics, subsidies and tax expenditure analysis, and how they affect the utility of the individual, hence the micro theory emphasis. A lot of graphical analysis is required, so make sure you practice your graphs well before the exam!

10% - class participation
20% - mid-term
30% - project
40% - final


i took this module in 2011/12 sem 1.
I will say Prof Chia Ngee Choon is one of the best lecturers around in the Economics Department together with Serene Tan. She can articulate her points and statements well though you may find her fast at times. You will find her to be someone well organized in her thoughts and she goes through the lecture materials in a very systematic manner.

The content covered include Market failure, Externalities, Public Choice Theory and we go for mid terms. After that, she will cover Expenditure analysis, Negative Income Tax, Tax Analysis, Tax Incidence, Income tax and Capital Income tax. The finals only test the topics which are covered after mid terms.


I must warn you that the workload for this module is very heavy. First, there is a project to be completed which is very time consuming. You will have to brainstorm for your own project topic, do relevant research on it, apply the analysis learnt in the module and finally do an oral presentation just for the 30%. After the project, you will definitely appreciate public finance much better, it is also good preparation if you are intending to do honours thesis. Second, you have to study and prepare for both midterms and finals. For midterms, content covered is relatively manageable. However the preparation for finals is a different story. You will have alot of graphs to remember on how to draw and reproduce, more than 20 to be exact. There is no easy way out, you just have to keep practicing on the drawings until they become etched in your mind to perform in the finals. Hence, studying for the exams was definitely not an enjoyable process.

However, you will certainly have a clearer picture of public finance and enhance your understanding and appreciation of microeconomic theories learnt after this module. Taking this module is just like running a marathon, the process is gruelling, arduous and you may feel like giving up, but when you complete it you will find it satisfying and worthwhile.