Political Economy: Empirics

3 credits · Graduate

This graduate course in political economy addresses the interactions among citizens, profit-maximizing firms and a vast class of non-market agents, such as governments, public administration and regulatory institutions. The class emphasizes the operative implications of non-market institutions in affecting and constraining firm strategy and individual behavior. Topics and cases cover economic and political institutions, economic policy, lobbying, clientelism, bureaucracy, regulation, antitrust, activism and the media. We corroborate the analytical framework with real-world applications, ranging from the US historical experience to cross-country comparisons, to develop insight in interpreting fundamental politico-economic constraints.