Political Economy: Foundations and Recent Applications

(4 Credits)

This is a course on political economy introducing students to (1) the social choice foundations of political economy and (2) more recent approaches that use tools from economics. Overall, the course addresses some of the basic approaches to the interaction of individuals, firms, markets and non-market agencies such as governments, regulatory bodies and administration. First, we start with some theoretical approaches that stem from the social choice literature and highlight the tensions between individual preferences and collective choice. Then, we examine more recent empirical approaches to the interaction of economical and political agents. The course will broadly cover a selection of the following topics: autocracies vs democracies, the political economy of China, voting rules and electoral systems, political agency, government failure, collective action. Prerequisite: MATH-SHU 9 Precalculus Fulfillment: Economics elective; Social Science Focus Political Economy 200 level.