1 - 6 of 6 results for: POLECON

In a globalized world, managers and investors are increasingly realizing that politics matter as much as economic fundamentals. Micro-level decisions made by local politicians in Brazil or India, national-level strategies of countries like China and Russia, and multi-national regimes, policies, and norms are all affecting global businesses in significant and often surprising ways. This course examines the full array of political risks confronting businesses today, from creeping expropriations to sudden shocks like national debt defaults and coups to emerging threats like cyber exploitation. Students will learn about impediments to assessing political risk and how to tackle them; develop strategies for managing political risk in a systematic way; and craft tools for mitigating the downside effects of political risk to business. Each session will include customized case studies and mini-simulations for students to walk in the shoes of senior managers confronting these challenges.

This course extends the foundations developed in P680 by applying techniques of microeconomic analysis and game theory to the study of political behavior and institutions. The techniques include information economics, games of incomplete information, sequential bargaining theory, repeated games, and rational expectations. The applications considered include agenda formation in legislatures, government formation in parliamentary systems, the implications of legislative structure, elections and information aggregation, lobbying, electoral competition and interest groups, the control of bureaucracies, interest group competition, and collective choice rules. Also listed as Political Science 351B.

This course surveys emerging research in political economics as it applies to developing societies, emphasizing both theoretical and empirical approaches. Topics will include: corruption and "forensic" political economics, institutional reform and democratization, ethnicity, conflict and public goods provision, and the role of trade and financial innovations in political development. The aim of the course is to bring students to the frontier of the field and develop their own research. Graduate level proficiency in microeconomics and empirical methods will be required.

This course is offered for students requiring specialized training in an area not covered by existing courses. To register, a student must obtain permission from the faculty member who is willing to supervise the reading.