GRA 5920 The Political Economy of Government: Public Policy and Reform - RE-SIT EXAMINATION
APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2012/2013
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GRA 5920 The Political Economy of Government: Public Policy and Reform - RE-SIT EXAMINATION Responsible for the course Rune Sørensen Department Department of Economics Term According to study plan ECTS Credits 6 Language of instruction English Introduction This is one of the School’s four courses dedicated to core questions in political economy, in this case public policy and the reform of public services. It is primarily designed for students taking the MSc in Political Economy and therefore assumes some knowledge of political processes and policy making. The central themes include models of political decision-making, public service provision, redistribution policies, public administrating, state-owned companies and local government. Learning outcome The course addresses the following topics: 1.Theoretical models of political decision making 2. The impact of public institutions, including budget-making, use of state-owned companies, use of various types of competition, the growth of public spending and fiscal federalism. Prerequisites Bachelor degree qualifying for admission to the MSc Programme Compulsory reading Books: Le Grand, Julian. 2003. Motivation, agency, and public policy : of knights and knaves, pawns and queens. Oxford University Press. kap.1-kap.8. Collection of articles: Compendium of Journal Articles Other: A list of compulsory readings will be provided on It's learning or in class. During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination. Recommended reading Books: Tsebelis, George. 2002. Veto players : how political institutions work. Princeton University Press. 317 Other: Individual journal articles and book chapters available in the library and/or electronically will be recommended as further reading. Course outline Welfare Economics versus Political Economy The median voter model (extended) Distributive politics model The swing-voter model The political agency model Bureaucracy and delegation Bureaucracy, motivation and state-owned companies Competition in the public sector The growth of the public sector Fiscal federalism and local government Computer-based tools It's learning Learning process and workload A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours. 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 the course homepage/It's learning or text book. |