Fall 2016 - 60648 - PA388K - Advanced Topics in Public Policy

Economics, Innovation, and Security examines the relationships among resources, technologies, and national power as countries try to protect themselves in an uncertain global environment.  The course focuses on how countries convert latent power (wealth) into realized power (especially military forces); the challenges that limit efficient management of defense effort; the importance of developing new technologies and the role of government and especially militaries in promoting innovation; the role of particular, scarce resources (notably oil) in global affairs; the causes and effects of globalization of trade and foreign investment in high technology; the debate over the effect of intense economic ties on the likelihood of conflict; and the effects of peacetime defense investment and wartime mobilization on the strength of the broader economy. Students’ grades will be based on class participation (20%), discussion board participation (20%), a short paper assignment (25%), and a final exam (35%). Students should purchase one book at the Co-op East or through another bookseller: Charles L. Glaser and Rosemary A. Kelanic, eds., Crude Strategy: Rethinking the US Military Commitment to Defend Persian Gulf Oil (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2016). Other readings (journal articles and book chapters) will be available on the course’s Canvas site.  The total reading load varies slightly from week to week but averages about 100 pages per week.