Curriculum

An economic policy is a course of action that is intended to influence or control the behavior of the economy. Economic policies are typically implemented and administered by the government (federal, state, and local). They are the end results of economic planning: the decisions governments make to influence the production, consumption, and redistribution of wealth. This course provides a deep discussion of theoretical concepts and empirical tools to understand the design and effects of economic policy from the local to the international level in a variety of areas that are organized into two sections. Section I explores micro-level policy issues such as social safety net, workforce development, and topics in regional and global economic development, while Section II investigates how contemporary macroeconomic policy and institutional design explain dramatic events in the international economy. In Section II, we will focus on specific macro policy issues like the exchange rate crises in Argentina and, more recently, in Russia, the 2012 labor market reform in Spain and the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economy. The course is intended to develop a framework for linking policy design and economic outcomes of agents in the economy. As part of the course assessment, students will be organized into teams and cast into different roles to advise stakeholders on policy and program design and evaluation in a simulated professional setting. 

Students will learn about the factors that influence policy making in the United States, what happens to policy as it makes its way through the system and gets played out on the ground, and the role of high-quality, mixed methods policy analysis in these processes. Students will engage these objectives by reading and participating in class discussions of theories of policy making and implementation, as well as by engaging in practical policy brief writing exercises. 

This course introduces the process of using data and data science techniques to explore and examine problems or issues related to social policy. Data science is a new powerful approach or discipline that combines various aspects of statistics, programming, mathematics, computer science, and visualization techniques. In this course, we will learn the fundamentals of methods for harnessing and analyzing the vast quantities of new and heterogeneous data using the Python programming language. 

This course provides the foundational tools for analyzing the economics of education. It will provide several different explanations for why people go to school, including both the signaling and human capital models. Methods for estimating the returns to schooling (i.e. income boosts that can be attributed to education) will be applied and covered in detail. These methods include regression, difference-in-difference, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables. These tools will also be used to analyze other important questions within education, such as the impact of smaller classes and the importance of teachers. Finally, depending on time and student interest other topics will be explored, such as student debt, school accountability, and higher education finance. 

The premise of this class is that along with traditional approaches to policy analysis, it also is important to have tools and concepts to understand policies “on the ground”—how they directly affect people and organizational practices. How are policies implemented, understood, adapted, augmented, worked around, or resisted in particular organizational contexts? This course would introduce students to important basic ideas of ethnographic fieldwork, both from a historical perspective on how ethnographic field studies have been used to understand organizations in the past (and the concepts that have been developed in these studies) and from the perspective of newer, contemporary approaches (e.g., the use of video interaction analysis methods). The course would also locate policy as one among several social scientific conceptions of how organizations change. Finally, the class will consider the role of human learning in how policies are experienced and implemented. The culminating assignment for the class will be a small fieldwork study in which students investigate a context in which a policy has been implemented and seek to understand through ethnographic methods (e.g. interviews, observations) how the policy is experienced and understood by relevant organizational stakeholders. 

This course explores economic, social, and environmental determinants of population health and wellbeing, and how health and wellbeing in turn impacts economic productivity and social disparities. In particular, students will learn about the fetal origins hypothesis, historical and recent developments in fertility, health disparities, the role of environmental pollution, trends in mortality, mental health, and subjective wellbeing. Each topic will be paired with the review of a empirical method, deepening the understanding of research techniques and their applications to real-life problems. 

This course explores individual, organizational, and social factors that influence how leadership is defined and enacted in organizations. This exploration highlights theories and models of effective leadership, providing opportunities to build knowledge, develop your own perspectives, and practice the leadership skills necessary to face the challenges of leading organizations for positive impact in complex environments. We will explore the concept of leadership as a set of organizational responsibilities that are socially conditioned and shaped by different cultural values, social contexts, and individual identities. Readings and activities will cover leadership issues such as: aligning and articulating connections among organization mission, strategy, and culture; recognizing and countering bias to support evidence-based decisions, inclusion, and equity; modeling emotional intelligence; and, developing and inspiring new, emerging leaders.

*This course is jointly offered with the MS in Leadership and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program. MSLOC charges a $400 fee for staffing, technology, and during courses with an on-site component. MSLOC also might charge additional fees for assessments or simulations. 

Teams of 3-5 students participate in a structured research-to-practice experience to solve a policy or business problem that a government agency or business faces. Supervised by a professional advisor, participating students have the chance to work with actual data from the selected fields, develop data-driven policy options or business strategies, and deliver an on-site presentation of recommendations to government officials or business executives. Choose from a wide range of projects from 4 content areas, receive a blend of lectures, guest speakers, discussions, and complete with an intensive site visit of an organization located in the U.S. for an exceptional learning experience. Typically, this experience includes a 3-day travel component and an associated program fee.

Education Capstone: From early childhood to postsecondary education, from school choice to higher education finance, students have the opportunity to work with senior leadership from consulting firms, federal/state/local education agencies, or international organizations to identify burning issues, define a scope of work, develop analytical approaches, and conduct research with the aim to improve education access, equity, or quality. Students will meet regularly with their professional advisor, work with team members on project deliverables, and travel to the client to present findings and policy options to the organization executives on-site. 

Health Strategy Capstone: Teams of 4-6 students will work collaboratively to solve a real-world problem raised by a client. Students will work directly with a professional advisor from the client organization, likely including hospitals, healthcare providers, government agencies, and public health communication companies. They will develop a research plan, analytical approach, and a report or business brief. Students will travel to the client to deliver a final presentation with policy options and recommendations. 

Workforce Development Capstone: Workforce development programs and policies promote access to employment opportunities and the mastery of job-related knowledge and skills. Effective workforce development programs support education and employment-related needs of the targeted population and help economic growth. Students will work in teams of 4-6 to evaluate the effectiveness and return on investment of a workforce development program or policy for a federal/state/local government agency. Students will develop a policy brief and present findings and policy implications to the client on-site.

Management Consulting Capstone: In this 10-week capstone experience, students are organized into teams of 4-6 and cast into the role of management consultants to advise businesses executives on issues ranging from talent acquisition and retention, regulation compliance, marketing, and strategic planning. Students will simulate a consulting engagement by developing a statement of work and analytical approach, facilitating meetings with different stakeholders, managing client expectations, and presenting final business recommendations to the client on-site.