This concentration stresses the analysis and understanding of public-policy issues. Participants will learn how to apply the disciplines of economics and political science to analyze public-policy problems and to understand how public policy is formulated and implemented. Students begin by taking foundation courses in the two disciplines. The principles learned in these courses will then be applied to specific policy areas in the elective courses. The concentration culminates in an interdisciplinary capstone course focusing on the economic, moral, and political considerations entailed in analyzing and evaluating public policy and its purposes. In a typical program, a student would take ECON 101 and ECON 102 as a first- or second-year student, PSCI 310 in the sophomore year, 1.5 units of electives following these foundation courses, and the capstone course, ECON/PSCI 440 , in the senior year.

Requirements of the Program

The concentration encompasses 3.5 units in economics and political science. All students are required to take the three foundation courses and the capstone course. The foundation courses are ECON 101 (Principles of Microeconomics), ECON 102 (Principles of Macroeconomics), and PSCI 310 (Public Policy). The remaining 1.5 units will be selected from the electives designated as appropriate for the concentration. Economics majors must take at least 2 units in political science, excluding the capstone course, and political science majors must take at least 2 units in economics, excluding the capstone course. Other majors must take at least 1.5 units in each department.

Required Courses (offered every year)

ECON 101 Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 102 Principles of Macroeconomics
ECON 440/PSCI 440 Capstone Seminar in Public Policy
PSCI 310 Public Policy

Economics Electives (not offered every year)

ECON 331 Economics of Development
ECON 335 Economics of Immigration
ECON 336 Environmental Economics
ECON 338 International Trade
ECON 339 International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics
ECON 342 Economics of Regulation
ECON 343 Money and Financial Markets
ECON 347 Economics of the Public Sector
ECON 358 Economics of Health
ECON 378 Economics of Women and Work
ECON 383 American Economic History

Political Science Electives (not offered every year)

PSCI 300 Congress and Public Policymaking
PSCI 313 Making U.S. Foreign Policy
PSCI 342 Politics of Development
PSCI 355 Immigration, Citizenship, and National Identity
PSCI 361 Globalization

PSCI 363 Global Environmental Politics

PSCI 372 U.S. Foreign Policy since World War IIPSCI 380 Women and Politics
PSCI 461 U.S. Defense Strategy in the Twenty-first Century
PSCI 462 U.S. Foreign Policy after the Cold War
PSCI 470 Power, States, and Markets: The Making of Modern Social Order
PSCI 480 Science and Politics

The codirectors from the two departments, economics and political science, will certify when students have completed the concentration. Courses taken for the concentration may also count for the major.