Public Policy Economics and Analysis

Course Code: PUBLG005

Course Tutor: Dr Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (Department of Political Science) and Dr Roland Kappe (Department of Political Science)

Assessment: One 2hr unseen written examination

About this course
This is a course of ten lectures that prepares the student for the understanding and analysis of public policy and its reform. The aim of the course is to provide the student with the ability to understand the economic approach to public policy analysis, evaluation and implementation. It is taught through a mixture of lectures and case studies in order to provide practical as well as theoretical understanding to the student with little economic background.

By the end of the course students will:

• have an understanding of the concept of economic efficiency as a societal objective, and how it interrelates with other desirable societal objectives (such as equity);
• understand the concept and methods of cost-benefit analysis, so that the student is able to formulate the framework that might be able to be applied to a specific public policy
• have a basic understanding of the concept of market equilibrium, its efficiency consequences and the imperfections that impact this relationship; and have a basic understanding of the economic approach to questions of public provision and regulation.
• Case studies include: Health Service Allocation; Wealth and income redistribution policies; Road Transport; Life and Death Issues and valuing life; Valuing Wildlife; Uncertainty and Risk (eg.Nuclear Power); Valuing Future Generations Impacts (CS: Valuing Climate Change); Market Imperfection and Efficiency; Privatisation - Public Provision or Correction? (CS: Health Service), Regulation - Correcting Externalities (standards, taxes, subsidies)