The Political Economy of Hard Policy Problems

This class tackles the “hard problems” of public policy. While governments are cajoled and enjoined to produce economic growth, do something about economic inequality and social mobility, and improve the life chances of millions through purposive action, actually delivering in these areas of policy is incredibly hard. These areas constitute ‘“hard problems” for policy for two main reasons. Economically, we don’t have much of a clue about how to do many of these things. Politically, there are powerful interests and entrenched ideas that like these areas of policy just as they are and work hard to keep them “hard problems.”