Spring 2017 - 61595 - PA393L - Advanced Policy Economics

Technology & Industrial Policy in Global High Tech Industry: Moore's Law Edition

Global high tech industries have mostly developed in an environment where national technology and industrial policies have explicitly or implicitly targeted particular industries, in order to advance national economic, development, or security objectives. Roughly the first third of this class is going to be covering the history, politics, and economic theory underlying policy debates over technology and industrial policies, the second third is going to be applying these frameworks to actual case studies of industrial competition in global high tech industries. The last third of the class in 2016 will focus on a specific research topic:  the end of Moore’s Law, and its implications for the global high tech economy, national security, and climate and energy policies.

The LBJ School's Applied Micro for Policy Analysis, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for this class.

In addition to doing assigned core reading every week, students will be reviewing and presenting additional literature in class. Students will also be responsible for designing and presenting a research project in class at the end of the semester. The write‐up of the project will be submitted in the form of a “draft white paper”. Grades will be based on: in-class literature summaries‐ 25%; preliminary project presentation‐ 15%; final project presentation‐ 25%; white paper‐ 35%.

No textbook; students will be asked to read (on average) 2-3 required articles per week. Supplementary readings will be presented in class.