I am convinced that if we want to change the way governments work, the best place to start is in the classroom. And knowing that some of tomorrow's leaders could be attending my classes encourages me to teach with the highest educational standards.

The courses I currently teach follow the principle of "learning by doing". My students work hard, but they learn many of the skills that good public administrators and public policy makers must have. This is a highly competitive world and students must be ready for it!

Undergraduate students taking my fiscal and budgetary policy course (PA450) learn how to put together a budget document. This training shows students the basics about socioeconomic analysis, the analysis of expenditure and revenue history, as well as revenue forecasting. Like it happens in many jobs, students are expected to work in teams that analyze data and elaborate budget briefings for decision makers(Click here to download the syllabus).

The graduate level course (PA650 Seminar in Public Financial Management) constitutes the second step of this training. Here, students learn more advanced techniques to assess the financial condition of a local government. As part of their training, they are expected to analyze the financial condition of a local government of their choice (Click here to download the syllabus). This experience gives them a hands-on experience to financial management but also teaches them some of the limitations that analysts have when preparing these kind of studies.

Here are some examples of the things that my students learn in class:

Financial Condition Analysis for Solana Beach, California prepared by Marlon Wijesekara, Ilyas Hussein, Brett Julian and Matthew Slotman (Fall, 2010): (Click here to download).

Financial Condition Analysis for Portland, Maine prepared by Philip Tran (Fall, 2009): (Click here to download).

Readings in public financial management. Portfolio of synopses compiled by the students enrolled in my Fall 2010 seminar in Public Financial Management): (Click here to download).

Readings in public financial management. Portfolio of synopses compiled by the students enrolled in my Fall 2008 seminar in Public Financial Management): (Click here to download).

Syllabus for the "Research and Reporting" course (PA497) (Click here to download the syllabus).