Fall 2015 - 60100 - PA393K - Applied Microeconomics for Policy Analysis

Course Description/Objectives: The primary purposes of this course are: 1) to provide students with little prior economics a thorough grounding in the principles of microeconomic theory and their applications to public policy issues and problems, 2) to foster teamwork skills in conducting policy analysis, and 3) to build and improve students’ communication skills. The course will be conducted through class lectures, student presentations and discussions, as well as an in-depth market-failure analysis. Student teams will present material and co-lead class sessions. A teaching assistant will be available during weekly office hours and by appointment and will lead regular review sessions. Theory and principles learned will be applied via problem sets, brief policy memos, in-class exercises and a market-failure analysis. Course completion should prepare students to perform advanced microeconomic policy analysis on the job and to pursue advanced study in related courses.

Course Requirements: You are responsible for materials covered in class and all assigned readings. You are expected to participate in class discussions and to complete all assignments on time; late assignments will be downgraded automatically for each day late. Students are to prepare and present market-failure analyses in groups of 3 or 4 (max.). Final grades, using pluses and minuses (e.g., A, A-, B+), will be based on:

Class Presentations & Participation 20%
Problem Sets (4) 20%
Midterm Exam (1) 30%
Market-Failure Analysis 30%

Required Textbooks (available at Co-op East & online):

R. Pindyck & D. Rubinfeld, Microeconomics, 8th (or recent) Ed., Pearson Education/Prentice-Hall, 2013
R. Blank & W. McGurn, Is the Market Moral? Brookings Institution Press, 2004
C. Wheelan, Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, Revised Ed., Norton, 2010
D. Baker, Taking Economics Seriously, Boston Review Books/MIT Press, 2010