Background-
Students of the faculty will be offered, at the beginning of the first semester, an online course under the platform of Coursera, which was developed by Stanford University professors. As of now, over 110 leading universities worldwide offer courses in Coursera. Tens of thousands of students all around the globe will take the course at the same time. Most of them, however, will not receive any credit. Some of them will receive a certificate from Coursera testifying that they finished the course successfully. Tel Aviv University students can receive 2 credits for this course, as it is considered as a third division course.

Course Description-
The course will seek to enrich students with basic knowledge and understanding of how the state functions in the socio-economic sphere, while presenting and analyzing those main policymaking tools that are available to it. This basic knowledge is important for every resident and especially for those with voting rights. No previous knowledge of math, economics or law is assumed.

The course will cover the tax system and how the government balances between tax collection and government expenditures, as well as explain basic terms and discussions about: social welfare (happiness), the function of social welfare, public goods, externalities, inequality, poverty, minimum sustainability, the tension between social division of goods and effectiveness (efficacy ?), minimum wages versus wage subsidies (negative income tax), GDP (gross domestic product), free trade, optimal tax models, capital gains tax, family taxation, gift taxing (philanthropy), the consequences of globalization (with an emphasis on international tax) and an attempt to predict the necessary adaptations to the future workplace (market).