Course 2020-2021 a.y.

1. Introduction Politics and Economics
2. Evaluating Empirical Research
3. Politics/Politicians/Rent-Seeking/Lobbying
4. Aims of Policy: Efficiency
5. Aims of Policy: Equality
6. Aims of Policy: Values and Insitutions
7. Guido Tabellini: The Rise of Populism
8. Guido Tabellini: Behavioral Political conomics
9. Polarization
10. Conflict
11. Social Media
12. Discrimination

• Explain the underlying incentives of policymakers and how they shape policy
• Describe different aims of policy and how they can be in conflict with each other.
• Describe the determinants of the rise of populism, polarization and conflict.
• Recognize the changes social media can bring to a political system.
• Illustrate the different ways discrimination can arise in a society.

• Analyze political decision based on the theoretical framework of political economy
• Evaluate the validity of empirical political research
• Assess how politicians’ incentives influence economic policies
• Critically weight different policy objectives against each other
• Argue for or against specific policies
• Discuss the determinants of the rise of populism and its consequences.
• Hypothesize about the future impact of social media 
• Demonstrate the presence of discrimination in different parts of society

• Face-to-face lectures
• Online lectures

The learning experience of this course includes face-to-face lectures by the instructors. In addition, students are also asked to prepare one group presentation on a research paper. These presentations are used to introduce students to the critical evaluation of empirical research and the contribution of papers to the scientific literature. Further, the presentations are intended to stimulate discussions about the topics discussed in class. This will allow the students to share their views and their insights on current political issues.

The assessment method for students is based on a final written exam. The written exam is based on open questions. It covers all topics covered in class. The open questions are aimed to assess students’ ability to evaluate the acquisition of the aforementioned learning outcomes. The exam accounts for a maximum of 30 points.

Students can take a partial written exam and complete the written exam at the end of the course. The first partial exam focuses on the material covered in the first part of the course. The second partial exam focuses on the material covered in the second part of the course. In this case, the weight is 50% for the first partial exam and 50% for the second partial exam. Alternatively, students can take a final written exam (100%).

The assessment method for non-attending students is based on a final written exam. As for the case of attending students, the written exam contains open questions. It covers all topics analyzed during the course and it accounts for a maximum of 30 points.

Teaching materials are announced before the start of the course and indicated or uploaded to the Bboard platform.