Pol Economy Public Policy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Political economy studies the reciprocal relationship between economics and politics. The main focus is on the behavior of non-market agents such as politicians, voters, legislatures, government agencies, judicial institutions, NGOs and activist groups, the media, and their interactions with traditional market agents (firms and consumers). Political economy develops systematic frameworks for understanding interactions among these agents, as well as their incentives. These frameworks are then used to study the determinants of public policy both at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels. In this course, students will learn various reasons why the government intervenes in the economy and how political actors constraint and shape government interventions. Along the way, students will be introduced to tools of formal modeling in the political economy literature.