Issue 29, September 2021

The XXVIII Meeting on Public Economics, (A Coruña, May 27 and 28, 2021), together with the editorial board of the journal e-publica, organized a round table that sought a general reflection on university teaching and learning in the times of COVID 19. A multifaceted look was pretended and therefore the choice of the participants took into account their different profiles: institutional representatives, legal experts, teachers, students, and coordinators of educational innovation projects were invited. This manuscript collects some of the most relevant opinions held by these participants, and ends by stating new questions with the purpose of continuing this teaching conversation in the next academic course ("Third year of Pandemic").

An easy version of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model fits in an undergraduate macroeconomics course and it is easily linkable with the PS-WS model determination of the equilibrium rate of unemployment. Putting the Beveridge curve does not create math difficulties in the model, it is able to be graphically represented and, the most important, it allows to copy the example of important economic facts and explain the operation and consequences of public labor policies. The determination of the equilibrium rate of unemployment from a simplified version of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model fits well into an undergraduate macroeconomics course, and it can be easily linked to the conventional version of the PS-WS model. Incorporating the Beveridge curve does not generate math difficulties in the model, it allows for simple graphical representations, and, most importantly, it makes it possible to replicate relevant behavioral aspects of the real economy, and to explain the workings and sometimes uncertain consequences of public labor policies.

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has prompted diverse changes in the Higher Education teaching during the last two years. This has provoked a couple of challenges for all university agents but some opportunities and chances for getting better teaching and learning methodologies and resources too. Among these, the use of digital platforms and tools in the blended learning and online education is one of the clearest ones. This use may increase the motivation and participation of the students. This paper presents a teaching-learning experience developed into courses on Economic Theory at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, both in Spanish and English, from 2019 to 2021. However, this can be generalized to any kind of Public Economics and other related economic and business areas. This proposal supposes a novelty in the teaching of Economic Sciences at higher education. The aim has been improving the motivation and participation of our students, using gamification approaches through escape room activities. We have adapted this methodology to the digital framework using educational Breakout games. The changes introduced allow students to learn and review theoretical, graphical, and mathematical contents. Additionally, the results show they complete some other horizontal competences such as cooperative work, creativity and imagination, critical reasoning, resolution of practical cases, and the control of ICTs. The experienced shows students improve not only their motivation but also their academic results. Finally, the perception of the participants in this innovative project is that it significatively improves the quality of the learning process.

These pages present a book review of Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo’s Mitos y realidades del Estado de Bienestar. This work, a mixture of essay and handbook, complements traditional books of Public Economics and the new perspectives centered on policy evaluation. In contrast to previous literature, the author provides a deep analysis of the roots of the Welfare State, putting it in the context of historical mechanisms for protection against risk and dissects the main drivers of its surge and consolidation, elements to which our discipline has not devoted much effort. In addition to examine and contextualize the dimension and evolution of modern Welfare States, the main strength of the book consists in a meticulous analysis of this institution nowadays based on an exhaustive review of empirical evidence. In this way, this book constitutes a very valuable complement the undergraduate student in Economics and it is very likely to be welcomed in other majors like Sociology and Political Science.