Economic Analysis of Policy-Driven Social Progress in the US
Instructor Dr. Michael Poyker
The course examines the U.S. domestic policies from the Civil War to the present. It focuses both on labor and distributive policies (like minimum wages and cash transfers), policies effective social justice and equity (like social safety nets and residential segregation), and the economic causes and consequences of particular events (like the Great Depression). A specific focus will be on the topics of labor protective legislation, cities, gender, and race, as well as on how economic policy analysis uses big data and econometrics to answer causal questions relevant to policymakers.
There will be two merged lectures per week. In these, I will first provide a brief overview of each topic, and then discuss a related (and mostly recent) academic paper. Some papers are mandatory readings, some are suggested readings (you can try to read the paper but skip technical parts that you don’t understand), and some will be suggested papers for presentation.
The course has three distinct goals. First, it will enable a deep understanding of U.S. economic and societal development since 1865. A better understanding of the past can help in understanding the economy and society we live in today. Second, this class will allow you to apply the economic tools you learned in prior economics classes to have a better perspective on U.S. domestic policies. Lastly, the class will train your ability to read structured but complicated texts, identify their core contribution, and work in groups. Following topics will be discussed: Slavery, Reconstruction, and Great Migration, Dawn of Progressive Movement, Civil Rights Act and Race Politics, Great Depression and Financial Regulation, New Deal, Education Policies and Human Capital, Gender and Social Safety Net, Inequality and social mobility, Locations and dynamics of cities and Segregation, Prohibition, Policies toward Native Americans, Policies toward Afro-Americans, Convict Labor and Mass Incarceration.
Requirements include class attendance, reading and discussing papers (15\%), participation in online discussions (10\%), group presentation (20\%, on November 23rd in class), and a final exam in the form of group research project (10\% for proposal, due November 20th, and 45\% for final project/essay, due December 6th). For the exam presentation, each student group will choose three papers that are related to the research project. These papers must be relatively recent publications or working papers. Please let me know if you have a question about whether a paper is appropriate. If you are working with another student on research and would like to read the same papers (or some subset) together, that is fine. The list of your selected three papers should be due by November 28 at 5 pm. From each student’s set of three papers, one of the papers will be chosen at random for that student group to present. The presentations will be approximately 15 minutes each, depending on the final number of students in the class. The grade will be based on the slides and the presentation. The goal of the research project proposal and presentations is to help students begin the transition from coursework to policy-relevant research. The research project should be a proposal for empirical research that attempts causal analysis or an essay with a review & descriptive paper. The former should present a research question, describe relevant facts/institutional context, and outline a basic economic framework that can be used to answer the question, sources of data, and identification strategy. You don't need to do actual analysis. Both should be approximately 5 pages, double-spaced.