Political Economy

This course introduces students to recent research on political economy. It is designed to bring students up-to-date with the theoretical and empirical studies in the political economy literature. The students will gain theoretical insights into collective decision-making, electoral politics, voter behavior, politician behavior, and policy-making processes. Along each step, the implications of these theoretical insights will be discussed, and empirical tests of these implications will be covered. Students will have opportunities to discuss theoretical modeling techniques as well as econometric identification and estimation methods. If time allows, topics of special interest such as media, collective action, and culture and institutions will be covered.