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Policy Analysis - PS 160 through 168

160AA. Introduction to Policy Analysis (4)

This course will explore the process by which the preferences of individuals are converted into public policy. Also included will be an examination of the complexity of policy problems, methods for designing better policies, and a review of tools used by analysts and policy makers. Crosslisted with USP 101.

160AB. Introduction to Policy Analysis (4)

In this course, students will use their knowledge of the political and economic foundations of public policy making to conduct research in a wide variety of public policy problems. Prerequisite: PS 160AA.

161. Research Design for Social Science (4)

This course will introduce students to core strategies for designing and evaluating social science research. Students will learn about construct, internal, and external validity and how to improve them in social science research, with a particular focus on experimental designs. Students will develop their own designs as well as to study designs in published social science research. Prerequisite: POLI/ECON 5(D) and POLI 30(D).

162. Environmental Policy (4)

This course will explore contemporary environmental issues such as global warming, endangered species, and land us. Students will be asked to analyze various policy options and to write case analyses. Policies may be debated in class.

163. Analyzing Politics (4)

Politics is largely about combining individual preferences and decisions into collective choices. This course will analyze issues involved in aggregating individual preferences and in the choices of rules--formal or informal--for doing so.

164. The Politics of Public Policy (4)

How do politics determine policy?  In this course, students will be introduced to the skill of conducting a cost-benefit analysis, and then will discuss how political ideas, interests, and institutions often move policy outcomes away from those based on cost-benefit analysis.

165. Special Topic: Policy Analysis (4)

An undergraduate course designed to cover various aspects of policy analysis. May be repeated for credit two times, provided each course is a separate topic, for a maximum of twelve units.

168. Policy Assessment (4)

The use of real data to assess policy alternatives. Introduction to benefit/cost analysis, decision theory, and the valuation of public goods. Applications to health, environmental, and regulatory economic policy making.

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