Economic Setting of Public Policy

This course is designed to help students use economic reasoning to analyze public policy.  It is centered around the government budget and the revenue and public spending choices that need to be made in the context of balancing the government budget.  We will learn about revenue sources and expenditure needs, and the balance between spending and the resources needed for such spending.  An important goal of the class is to have students apply economic concepts to current public policy issues.  Students learn not only economic concepts, but also how to explain them to decision-makers.  The culmination of the course is a team project where students will design a solution to current budgetary problems.