GRA 5916 The State and the Market: Core Concepts in Political Economy
GRA 5916 The State and the Market: Core Concepts in Political Economy
This is a political economy course that focuses on business and politics at the national level. The course covers several fundamental core concepts in political economy relating to the operation of the state and the market. The central themes include political and market institutions, the rationale for market regulation and public services, decision making and resource allocation, and the deliverance of public and private goods.
This course provides students with an introduction to the concepts at the core of political economy in general, in terms of institutions, policymaking, and market regulation. Students will explore problems of democratic decision-making, including questions of equality and efficiency, debates about market failure, government failure and the supply of public, private and strategic goods, and the rules, organizations and policy tools involved in the operation of states and markets. Core questions include institutional design, policymaking, the delegation of power, public service delivery, privatization and regulation, the changing nature of the welfare state, public choice analyses of the growth of state spending, and whether democracy causes or impedes market-driven economic growth.
- Students will gain a thorough understanding of research methods in public policy, governance, political economy and comparative politics, and be in a position to engage critically with the research-based literature in this field.
- Students will be able to analyze political, economic and social institutions and organizations, the relationship between them, and the dynamics of stability and change. Students will be applying analytical tools and empirical knowledge to practical political economy and public policy problems in new settings.
- Students will gain experience in identifying and assessing policy problems, choosing appropriate analytical tools and applying them to current issues in governance, political economy and public policy.
- Students will be able to assess and evaluate public policy options and actual policies in terms of both efficiency and justice.
- Students will be in a position to assess the economic, ethical, social and political dimensions of public policy, and to evaluate it in term of norms such as the rule of law, transparency, accountability and legitimacy.
- Students will be able to adopt a global perspective on political economy and public policy and understand the parameters within which policy is developed and implemented at the national level.
- Introduction to political economy and the state-market relationship
- Market failures, state failures and the supply of public, private and strategic goods
- Political and market institutions, decision-making, lobbying, and public choice analysis
- Public services, the welfare state, privatization, liberalization and modernization
- Macroeconomic policy, budgets and the growth and containment of state spending
- The relationship between states and markets, democracy and capitalism, the rule of law and economic growth.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on It's learning or text book.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Term paper Exam code: GRA59162 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.