Courses in Public Policy Studies (Division 396)

PPS 529/Poli. Sci. 529. Statistics.

Prior coursework in calculus or concurrent enrollment in Math 413, and permission of instructor. Previous coursework in statistics is not required. (3). (Excl).

This course covers descriptive statistics, probability theory, probability distributions (normal, binomial, Poisson, exponential), sampling distributions, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. It also includes an introduction to experimental design. The emphasis in the course in on preparing competent users and consumers of basic statistics. Some attention is paid to the mathematical underpinnings of statistical theory so that students are prepared to go on to the SPP econometrics course (SPP 571).

PPS 555/Econ. 555. Microeconomics.

Permission of instructor. (4). (Excl).

This course begins a two-term sequence designed to provide students with an understanding of the economic implications of public policies and with analytic tools useful in system design and policy planning. Major topics include production, costs, prices, resource allocation, governmental involvement in economic activity, and the operation of market systems.

PPS 556/Econ. 556. Macroeconomics.

(4). (Excl).

The course analyzes the determinants of a country's living standards in the long run and how a country can influence those standards by its saving-investment policies. It explains how business cycles arise and how they can or cannot be stabilized by policy actions. It also analyzes inflation, unemployment, the balance of trade, exchange rates, interest rates, and other widely-watched indicators of economic success. The course gives students a chance to act as policy makers. Students break into small groups, pick a country, and analyze that country's macroeconomic problems: inflation; budget deficits; unemployment; private investments; and trade deficits.

PPS 573/Econ. 573. Benefit-Cost Analysis.

Econ. 555. (4). (Excl).

This course teaches students how to evaluate government programs. It covers the mechanics of benefit-cost analysis, how scarce or unemployed resources should be priced, the choice of a proper time discount rate, treatment of income distribution issues, environmental benefits, intergovernmental grants, and regulatory problems. An essential part of the course is a term project – each student selects a program and does a benefit cost evaluation of it.

PPS 585/Poli. Sci. 585. Political Environment of Policy Analysis.

Permission of instructor. (3). (Excl).

This course focused on the political environment within which policy analysis takes place. In the United States, public policies are formulated and implemented in a political system of widely-shared power by participants with many different, and often conflicting, goals. To be effective, policy analysts and public managers must understand this political system. The goal of this course is to provide the student with some of the background necessary to develop strategies for dealing effectively with the political environment of policy and administration.