Analysis of Political Decisions

Political Science 168                     Spring 2000

Tues-Thurs 2:15 – 3:30                         Social Sciences Building, Rm. 311

Michael C. Munger                                Questions?  Send an email:  munger@acpub.duke.edu

Office: Perkins Library, Room 301b                                         office phone: 660-4342

Office Hours: 1:15 - 2:00 pm, T-Th, and by Appt.                   home phone: 781-0338

More information can be found at

Prof. Munger's Web Page

Overview

To "analyze" means to break into parts. Analyzing political decision making requires using simplifying assumptions to identify the key parts of political conflict. This course tries to take on a deceptively simple question: Why is it that the decisions implied by a political process make little sense from an economic perspective, and advice from economists is so often ignored by politicians? It turns out that the goals, and the process of decision-making itself, are very different. To understand either, the student must study political and economic decisions separately, and then begin to "analyze" the conflict between the two spheres of decision.

Textbooks

Analytical Politics, Melvin Hinich and Michael Munger, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Analyzing Policy: Conflicts, Expertise, and Democracy, Michael Munger, W.W. Norton, 2000.

Grades

Your grade for this class will be derived from performance on a midterm exam, a final exam, homework assignments, and a short (five to ten page) policy memo, as well as class participation. These will have the following weights:

ITEM:                                                 WEIGHT:

1. Midterm:                                     20%
In class, 60 minutes, short essay and problems

2. Final Exam:                                         20%
Essay format, in scheduled exam period (Wed., May 2, 2000, 7 – 10 pm)

3. Policy Memo:                                       20%
Paper will be graded on both content and style. Must be typed.

4. Homeworks                                           30%
Handwritten answers to problems assigned in class. Homeworks due on Thursdays.

5. Class participation:                             10%
Ask or answer questions! Students are expected to have done the reading before class.


TOTAL:                                                   100%
 

DETAILED SCHEDULE:

PART I: Political Choice

Week 1 (1/13): Introduction: Economic Choice and Political Choice

Readings:

Week 2 (1/18 & 1/20): The Problem of the Collective: Engineering and Romanticism

Readings:

Week 3 (2/1 & 2/3): Practical Politics: The Existence of the Middle

Readings:

Week 4a (2/8): Calhoun's Concept of "Concurrent Majorities" Week 4b (2/8): Uncertainty and Policy Preferences Week 5 (2/15 & 2/17): Constitutions and the Problem of Institutions
    Readings:

Make-up (Sunday, 2/20):   In-class Midterm Exam  2:15-3:30 pm

PART II: Economic Choice

Week 7 (2/22 & 2/24): Policy Analysis and Policy Conflicts: Introduction

Readings:

Week 8 (2/29 and 3/2): Markets

Readings:

Week 9 (3/7): Evaluation and Market Failure

Readings:

Week 10 (3/21 & 3/23): The Limits of the Policy Analysis Paradigm

Reading:

Week 11 (3/28 & 3/30): Comparing Politics and Markets

Reading:

Week 12 (4/4 & 4/6): Introduction to Welfare Economics

Reading:

Week 13 (4/11 & 4/13): The Political Choice of Regulatory Form

Reading:

Week 14 (4/18 & 4/20): Now, YOU try it

Reading:

  Week 15 (4/25): Semester Review

Reading:

Reading Period: 4/27 – 4/28

Final Exam: Wednesday, May 3, 7-10 p.m.