CrossWorks

Economics and Public Policy

How do economists make public policy recommendations? This course will consider three public policy "hot topics" – health care reform, Social Security and education – from an economic perspective. We will first apply basic economic principles to understand the potential arguments for and against various types of government intervention in these markets. We will then discuss welfare analysis – incorporating different models of social preferences in order to investigate which policies might maximize social welfare depending on the values of voters. The class will incorporate results from a variety of empirical studies to consider the potential costs and benefits of various competing policy solutions.