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Topics in Political Economy B

Module Code: ECU44102/ECU44104

Module Title: Topics in Political Economy B

  • ECTS Weighting: 10/5
  • Semester/Term Taught: Semester 2
  • Contact Hours: 22 hours of lectures and approximately 11 hours of seminars
  • Module Personnel: Lecturer - Dr Nicola Mastrorocco

Module Content

The course will be primarily based on the reading of recent research academic papers and the in-depth discussion of their theories, empirical methods, and results.

Module Learning Aims

The course will introduce students to the field of political economics, which applies the toolbox of economic analysis to the study of politics.

The course will be organized around a series of topics:

  • The economic analysis of taxation in both developed and developing countries
  • Problems of tax evasion and tax avoidance
  • The economics of migration and refugee crisis
  • Gender inequality
  • Organised Crime and corruption
  • State repression and state violence
  • The economics of anti-poverty measures
  • Terrorism
  • Populism

This module aims to:

  • provide students with an exposure of the some of the most important topics of political and public economics. The course will cover both theoretical and empirical papers
  • introduce student to the variety of ways in which economists think about political economy and, more precisely, at the interplay of political science and economics.
  • provide students interested in interdisciplinary work with a bridge between subjects as diverse as economics, political science, sociology, history, and philosophy;
  • Political economy uses tools from economics (mainly game theory and econometrics) to study how political actors, institutions, and choices shape economic or political outcomes. Hence, students will be exposed to various concepts in game theory (e.g., Nash Equilibrium, Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium) as well as methods in empirical analysis (OLS, Instrumental Variable, Panel Data).
  • provide students with the skills to write and argue coherently and persuasively; and
  • provide students with the intellectual foundations on which an undergraduate dissertation can be written.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

10 ECTS

Having successfully completed this module, students will be able to:

  • Confidently discuss papers in the field of Political Economy;
  • Critically evaluate contributions to the field of Political Economy;
  • Solve theoretical models;
  • Discuss the results of empirical models;
  • Propose original research ideas in the field of Political Economy.

5 ECTS

Having successfully completed this module, students will be able to:

  • Confidently discuss papers in the field of Political Economy
  • Critically evaluate contributions to the field of Political Economy Solve theoretical models;
  • Discuss the results of empirical models.

Recommended Reading List

The course will be primarily based on the reading of recent research papers and the in-depth discussion of their theories, empirical methods, and results. The set of readings will be available at the beginning of the course.

The following books are recommended as supplements to what is covered in the lectures.

  • Besley, Timothy: Principled Agents? Oxford University Press [2006] (henceforth: Besley)
  • Mueller, Dennis: Public Choice III, Cambridge University Press [2005] (henceforth: Mueller)
  • Persson, Torsten & Guido Tabellini: Political Economics, MIT Press [2000] (henceforth P&T)
  • Shepsle, Kenneth: Analyzing Politics, Norton [2010] (henceforth Shepsle)

Module Pre Requisite

This course is open to a multi-disciplinary audience. However, students should have completed one module in Intermediate Economics (EC2110 & EC2111) successfully. Exceptions to this rule are to be discussed with the Lecturer.

Students taking the module for 5 ECTS or 10 ECTS should have completed part A (ECU44101) for 10 ECTS.

Assessment Details

10 ECTS (ECU44102): Students will hand in one problem set (10%) and one essay (40%) based on their reading of the literature for each term. A final exam accounts for 50% of the overall grade.

5 ECTS (ECU44104): Students will hand in one essay (20%) and one final written exam for 80% of the grade.

Module Website

Blackboard.