Kort om Political Economics

Can you give an example of a problem you go through in the course?
Broadly speaking, the course is about the interaction between economics and politics and the forces that shape economic policy. One example of something we discuss in the course is the question of how much politicians should be paid. Theoretically, paying our politicians more or less may have different possible effects both in terms of who chooses to become politicians and how they behave while in office. In the course, we cover some theoretical models of these effects and also talk about some recent empirical studies regarding politician salaries.

Are there any courses it would be an advantage to pass before this?
Students are expected to be familiar with microeconomics - game theory, in particular - and basic statistical/econometric methods, at the level taught in the BA courses.

Does this course give you abilities to join other courses?
Political Economics is not currently a mandatory prerequisite for any other courses, but the course has clear synergies with several of the other MA courses (see below).

If I like this course, are there any other course I can join which complements this?
Many of the topics included in the course are related to others courses about economic policy, such as Tax Policy and Public Finance. Most of these courses on economic policy will teach you the effects of different policies and perhaps what kind of policy should be pursued from a welfare standpoint. Political Economics complements this by helping us understand how the political system determines which policies are actually pursued in the real world.

In terms of methodology, the Political Economics course draws particularly on methods from game theory and microeconometrics. The MA courses in Game Theory and Advanced Microeconometrics will therefore also be interesting to those who would like to go more in depth with either theoretical or empirical issues in political economics.

What could be a master thesis topic related to your course?

Here are some titles of recent master theses written in Political Economics:

• Paternalistic Policy with Time-Inconsistent Voters – A Theoretical Analysis of Behavioral Political Economy
• The Political Economy of Taxation – A Theoretical Analysis of Tradeoffs between Efficiency and  Equality
• Political polarization in the US Congress and party activism
• Long-term impact of macroeconomic experiences: evidence on preferences for redistribution across welfare state systems
• An Analysis of Political Survival: The Case of the Arab Spring
• Influence, corruption and political institutions

Political Economics udbydes på kandidatdelen, og den fulde kursusbeskrivelse kan læses her.