Description

Public Policy Analysis introduces students to the complex, intricate and messy world of public policy-making in democratic institutions. This course will be divided into two parts. In the first section of the course, we will (re)visit the hurdles to achieving policy goals in American democracy with its systems of separation of powers, checks and balances and federalism. How do we theorize about the policy process? How does a problem become something worthy of gaining agenda status? How are policies formulated and passed? The second part of the course will focus on strategies for analyzing the policy process including the role of and tools of the policy analyst including common tools such as cost-benefit analysis and applied microeconomics.