PP411W Half Unit
Political Economy Applications for Public Policy
This information is for the 2023/24 session.
Teacher responsible
- Professor Andrés Velasco
- Professor Vanessa Rubio-Márquez
- Professor Adnan Khan
- Professor Lant Pritchett
Availability
This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳-Sciences Po), Double Master of Public Administration (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳-University of Toronto), MPA Dual Degree (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Tokyo), MPA in Data Science for Public Policy, Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
Pre-requisites
Students are expected to have done basic courses in economics.
Course content
This course is designed to build an understanding of the nature and drivers of change in public policy and prepare students to develop persuasive policy recommendations. It will use political economy analysis and illustrate the use of the range of concepts and techniques from other courses in economics and political science in the diagnosis of policy change.
During this course, students will deepen understanding of the concepts and techniques presented in other courses and introduce additional concepts from political economy to augment the tools being taught in the core economics courses. In other words, this course will integrate powerful instruments from economics with the drivers of political decision-making to understand and interpret real policy cases and to explore avenues for policy change. A detailed reading guide will be provided before the first class.
The structure of the course revolves around comprehensive discussions on two major themes. These themes will be picked from topics including economic growth and development; poverty and inequality; the theory and practice of public policy. The faculty will discuss the theme from different perspectives in four weeks, and the fifth week will involve a panel discussion among the faculty with active student participation. Students will then write an essay on the theme for a particular context.
Teaching
This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and