Dr Stephane Wolton CON 5.08

This course is available on the MPA in European Public and Economic Policy, MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy, MPA in Public and Social Policy, MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, MSc in Economics, MSc in Economics (2 Year Programme), MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change and MSc in Political Science and Political Economy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Students must have completed Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics (EC400).

Students should have completed courses in intermediate level microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics.

An advanced treatment of Political Economy, covering theory, evidence and current issues. The course material will expand students’ capacity to think about policy relevant issues at the intersection between economics and political science, and will cover democratic and autocratic politics. Topics include election as information aggregation; politics as a principal agent problem; political economy and public finance; constitutional rules and policy outcomes; bureaucracy; media; special interest group politics; legislatures; political parties; direct democracy; rebellion and terrorism; democratization; international conflicts.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 11 hours of seminars in the LT.

At least two written assignment for handing in per term (assignment will include some work with data sets provided by the instructor).

Most of the reading is from journal articles; lists will be supplied at the start of each term. Two books supply the basic framework: T Besley, Principled Agents? Selection and Incentives in Politics, Oxford University Press, 2005 and T Persson & G Tabellini, Political Economics: Explaining Political Outcomes, MIT Press, 2000.

Assessment path 1
Exam (50%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (50%) in the ST.

Assessment path 2
Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.

Students taking MSc Economics or MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics will be required to submit an extended essay at the beginning of the ST; for such students, the written examination and the extended essay will each count for half of the marks.