PBPL 20000. Economics for Public Policy. 100 Units.

This course develops the microeconomic theories of consumer and producer choices, as well as demonstrates the application of these theoretical tools to policy problems. Supply, demand, and competitive markets are examined, along with the conditions under which government policy can increase efficiency.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Completion of two quarters of calculus required; prior knowledge of economics not required.
Note(s): PBPL 20000 or ECON 20000 is required of all students who are majoring in public policy. PBPL 20000 may be substituted for the ECON 20000 prerequisite for PBPL 22200 and to count toward the public policy major.

PBPL 21390. Philosophy of Poverty. 100 Units.

 Global poverty is a human tragedy on a massive scale, and it poses one of the most daunting challenges to achieving a just global order.  In recent decades, a significant number of philosophers have addressed this issue in new and profoundly important ways, overcoming the disciplinary limitations of narrowly economic or public policy oriented approaches.  Recent theories of justice have provided both crucial conceptual clarifications of the very notion of ‘poverty’—including new measures that are more informed by the voices of the global poor and better able to cover the full impact of poverty on human capabilities and welfare—and vital new theoretical frameworks for considering freedom from poverty as a basic human right and/or a demand of justice, both nationally and internationally.  Moreover, these philosophers have pointed to concrete, practical steps, at both the level of institutional design and the level of individual ethical/political action, for effectively combating poverty and moving the world closer to justice.   The readings covered in this course, from such philosophers as Peter Singer, Thomas Pogge, David Graeber, and Martha Nussbaum, will reveal, not only the injustice of global poverty, but also what is to be done about it.

Instructor(s): B. Schultz     Terms Offered: Autumn, Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 21390,HMRT 21390,PLSC 21390

PBPL 21500. What Is Civic Knowledge? 100 Units.

What is civic knowledge? Although civic rights and duties are supposedly universal to all citizens in a "democratic" nation, their implementation often depends on the strength of community connections and the circulation of knowledge across racial, class, and social boundaries. Focusing on the city of Chicago, we ask how citizens (in their roles as citizens) forge communities, make urban plans, and participate in civic affairs. How does the city construct the public spheres of its residents? Are the social practices of Chicagoans truly "democratic?" Could they be? What does "Chicago" stand for, as a political and cultural symbol? For both Chicagoans and their representatives, the circulation of knowledge depends not only on conventional media but also on how the city is constructed and managed through digital media.

Instructor(s): R. Schultz, M. Browning     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
Equivalent Course(s): BPRO 21500,HUMA 24906,PHIL 21006

PBPL 21800. Economics and Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

This course combines basic microeconomic theory and tools with contemporary environmental and resources issues and controversies to examine and analyze public policy decisions. Theoretical points include externalities, public goods, common-property resources, valuing resources, benefit/cost analysis, and risk assessment. Topics include pollution, global climate change, energy use and conservation, recycling and waste management, endangered species and biodiversity, nonrenewable resources, congestion, economic growth and the environment, and equity impacts of public policies.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): ECON 19800 or higher, or PBPL 20000
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21800,LLSO 26201

PBPL 22100. Politics and Policy. 100 Units.

Public policy choices interact with politics in obvious ways (e.g., elections) but also in subtler ways, turning especially on how organizations work and what governs persuasion and belief. This course surveys some key aspects of these interactions.

Instructor(s): C. Berry     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Public Policy 22100-22200-22300 may be taken in and out of sequence.

PBPL 22200. Public Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

This course reviews and augments the basic tools of microeconomics developed in ECON 20000 and applies these tools to policy problems. We examine situations in which private markets are likely to produce unsatisfactory results, suggesting a potential rationale for government intervention. Our goal is to allow students to comprehend, develop, and respond to economics arguments when formulating or evaluating public policy.

Instructor(s): J. Leitzel     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PBPL 20000 or ECON 20000
Note(s): PBPL 22100-22200-22300 may be taken in or out of sequence. Not intended for students majoring in public policy who are planning to specialize in economics or to take advanced economics courses; those students should meet with the program director to arrange an alternative.
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 17800

PBPL 22300. Problems of Public Policy Implementation. 100 Units.

Once a governmental policy or program is established, there is the challenge of getting it carried out in ways intended by the policy makers. We explore how obstacles emerge because of problems of hierarchy, competing goals, and cultures of different groups. We then discuss how they may be overcome by groups, as well as by creators and by those responsible for implementing programs. We also look at varying responses of target populations.

Instructor(s): R. Taub     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): One prior 20000-level social sciences course
Note(s): PBPL 22100-22200-22300 may be taken in or out of sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 30302,SOCI 30302

PBPL 23000. Organizational Analysis. 100 Units.

This course is a systematic introduction to theoretical and empirical work on organizations broadly conceived (e.g., public and private economic organizations, governmental organizations, prisons, professional and voluntary associations, health-care organizations). Topics include intraorganizational questions about organizational goals and effectiveness, communication, authority, and decision making. Using recent developments in market, political economy, and neoinstitutional theories, we explore organizational change and interorganizational relationships for their implications in understanding social change in modern societies.

Instructor(s): E. Laumann     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20101,SOCI 30101

PBPL 23100. Environmental Law. 100 Units.

This lecture/discussion course examines the development of laws and legal institutions that address environmental problems and advance environmental policies. Topics include the common law background to traditional environmental regulation, the explosive growth and impact of federal environmental laws in the second half of the twentieth century, regulations and the urban environment, and the evolution of local and national legal structures in response to environmental challenges.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing, or consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 23100,LLSO 23100

PBPL 23200. The Economics of Crime. 100 Units.

This course uses theoretical and empirical economic tools to analyze a wide range of issues related to criminal behavior. Topics include the police, prisons, gang behavior, guns, drugs, capital punishment, labor markets and the macroeconomy, and income inequality. We emphasize the analysis of the optimal role for public policy. This course is offered only in even numbered year.

Instructor(s): S. Levitt     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100 required; ECON 21000 or STAT 23400 strongly recommended
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 28700

PBPL 23600. Political Sociology. 100 Units.

This course provides analytical perspectives on citizen preference theory, public choice, group theory, bureaucrats and state-centered theory, coalition theory, elite theories, and political culture. These competing analytical perspectives are assessed in considering middle-range theories and empirical studies on central themes of political sociology. Local, national, and cross-national analyses are explored.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Completion of the general education requirement in social sciences
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20106,ENST 23500,SOCI 30106

PBPL 24101. Public Policy and Wage Inequality. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 24101

PBPL 24400. Is Development Sustainable? 100 Units.

This discussion course grapples with the "big problem" of sustainable development. We analyze problematical issues underlying population growth, resource use, environmental transformation, and the plight of developing nations through a consideration of economic, political, scientific, and cultural institutions and processes.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
Note(s): Background in environmental issues not required
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 24400,BPRO 23400,HIPS 23400,NCDV 27300

PBPL 24500. Economics of Urban Policies. 100 Units.

This course covers tools needed to analyze urban economics and address urban policy problems. Topics include a basic model of residential location and rents; income, amenities, and neighborhoods; homelessness and urban poverty; decisions on housing purchase versus rental (e.g., housing taxation, housing finance, landlord monitoring); models of commuting mode choice and congestion and transportation pricing and policy; urban growth; and Third World cities.

Instructor(s): G. Tolley, J. Felkner     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 26600,GEOG 26600,GEOG 36600,LLSO 26202

PBPL 24701. U.S. Environmental Policy. 100 Units.

Making environmental policy is a diverse and complex process. Environmental advocacy engages different governmental agencies, congressional committees, and courts, depending on the issue. This course examines how such differentiation has affected policy making over the last several decades.

Instructor(s): R. Lodato     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 24701,LLSO 24901

PBPL 24751. The Business of Non-Profits: The Evolving Social Sector. 100 Units.

Led by an experienced practitioner, this course aims to provide both an intellectual and experiential understanding of the contemporary nonprofit sector. In addition to a seminar component examining the rapidly evolving social sector, students engage in a hands-on consulting project for an area nonprofit involving analysis, reporting and presentation.

Instructor(s): D. Schwartz     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring

PBPL 24800. Urban Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

This course addresses the explanations available for varying patterns of policies that cities provide in terms of expenditures and service delivery. Topics include theoretical approaches and policy options, migration as a policy option, group theory, citizen preference theory, incrementalism, economic base influences, and an integrated model. Also examined are the New York fiscal crisis and taxpayer revolts, measuring citizen preferences, service delivery, and productivity.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20120,SOCI 30120,SOCI 20120/30120

PBPL 24901. Trade, Development, and Poverty in Mexico. 100 Units.

Taking the past twenty years as its primary focus, this course examines the impact of economic globalization across Mexico with particular emphasis on the border region and the rural South. We explore the impact of NAFTA and the shift to neoliberal policies in Mexico. In particular, we examine the human dimension of these broad changes as related to social development, immigration, indigenous populations, and poverty. While primarily critical, the primary objective of the course is to engage is an interdisciplinary exploration of the question: Is trade liberalization an effective development strategy for poor Mexicans?

Instructor(s): C. Broughton     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 24901,LACS 24901

PBPL 25405. Child Poverty and Chicago Schools. 100 Units.

This discussion-based course begins with a sociological and historical examination of child poverty, focusing on its origin, experience, and perpetuation in disadvantaged Chicago communities. Class meetings involve debating recent reform efforts, such as Turnaround Schools, Renaissance 2010, and Promise Neighborhoods. Further, the barriers that have contributed to the failure of previous reform initiatives—barriers that include social isolation, violence, and criminality—are identified and analyzed in-depth.

Instructor(s): C. Broughton     Terms Offered: Spring

PBPL 25620. Topics in Latin American Economies. 100 Units.

This course examines current issues in the economies of Latin America. Topics include sources of economic growth, commercial policy, regional economic integration, inflation and stabilization, fiscal deficits, the choice of an exchange rate regime, and debt problems.

Instructor(s): A. Menendez     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20300
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 25620,PPHA 37500

PBPL 25750. Writing about Chicago. 100 Units.

This course explores the craft of creative non-fiction and narrative-based social science writing with an emphasis on writing about social and policy matters in Chicago. The course itself moves through the stages of story development; initial idea and purpose, interviews and public records research, effective writing and narrative technique, and revision and working with an editor. The course will focus heavily on developing student writing in a workshop setting with the end goal being a publishable article of some kind. The course is designed for aspiring journalists and those working on BA theses amenable to narrative presentation. The course will feature guest writers and editors.

Instructor(s): C. Broughton     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): CRWR 27002

PBPL 26200-26300. Field Research Project in Public Policy I-II.

This is a group project that exposes students to real-world policy-making questions and several field-based research methodologies. Students work together on designing the research project, gathering information, and analyzing the data. Practicums have dealt with the employment and housing conditions facing Latinos in metropolitan Chicago, juvenile recidivism, and patterns of racial integration and segregation in the suburbs of Chicago. Two sections of this field research practicum will be offered each year. Section 1 will be offered in Autumn and Winter Quarter, and Section 2 will be offered in Winter and Spring Quarter.

PBPL 26400. Quantitative Methods in Public Policy. 100 Units.

This course involves a problem-by-problem investigation of how to apply the right statistics to contemporary public policy issues (in contrast to the method-by-method approach traditionally used to teach statistics). Quantitative public policy involves the use of four core methodologies: analysis of cross-tabulations, ordinary least squares regression, logistic regression, and analysis of variance. This course prepares students to understand scholarly articles using these four methods. We use a case analysis approach teaching specific decision algorithms in the application of the four methods. We also conduct analyses in SPSS using General Social Survey data and write up the results.

Instructor(s): W. Carter     Terms Offered: Autumn

PBPL 26505. The Case Study as a Public Policy Research Method. 100 Units.

This course presents contemporary approaches to completing such a project: deciding what flavor of case to select, selecting the specific cases to be investigated, planning and conducting the research, and writing up the findings. We explore the methodology's strengths and weaknesses by constructing a case study regarding the public policy roles of the Chicago Tribune. The primary case study methodologies (i.e., literature review, content analysis, key informant interviews, social observation) are used to explore quantitative and qualitative approaches to building this case. We also read published case studies to develop a list of "best practices" for the method.

Instructor(s): W. Carter     Terms Offered: Spring

PBPL 26530. Environment, Agriculture, and Food: Economic and Policy Analysis. 100 Units.

The connections between environment, agriculture, and food are inherent in our social, cultural, and economic networks. Land use, natural resource management, energy balances, and environmental impacts are all important components in the evolution of agricultural systems. It is necessary to understand these connections in order to design effective agricultural programs and food policies. This course is designed to provide students with guidance on developing and implementing the economic models and statistical tools needed to conduct an economic research study on the intersecting topics of environment, agriculture, and food. Students will apply quantitative methods and policy analysis to the topics of their choice for professional and scholarly audiences. Students will collect and synthesize data for quantitative analysis, which will provide outcomes and recommendations based on scholarly, objective, and policy relevant research rather than on advocacy or opinions. Students will produce a final professional-quality report for a workshop presentation and publication. This small seminar course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students meeting the prerequisites. For consideration in the course, please submit a one-page proposal detailing previous course experience, background, and a proposed economic research topic related to environment, agriculture, or food to pge@uchicago.edu by December 15, 2012.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): For ENST/PBPL/PPHA enrollment: PBPL 20000 or PBPL 22200 (or equivalent Economics course), and PBPL 26400 (or equivalent Statistics course); ECON 26500 or ECON 26600 or ENST 21800 (or equivalent environmental economics course) recommended. For ECON enrollment: ECON 20000 or ECON 20100, and STAT 23400 (or equivalent); ECON 26500 or ECON 26600 recommended.
Note(s): Students enrolling in ENST or PBPL will not receive ECON elective credit.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 26530,ECON 26530,PPHA 32510

PBPL 26605. Regression, Factor Analysis, and Other Methods in Public Policy Research. 100 Units.

The goal of this class is to equip undergraduates to publish quantitative research papers and to prepare quantitative BA papers. Public policy analysts use logistic and linear regression to build models that help them understand, and thus change, the world. In preparation for building these models, factor analysis is a tool to identify underlying patterns in the data and reduce its complexity. Cluster analysis permits segmenting the policy audience, as a guide to better targeting of interventions. In this course students select a dataset of interest to them and analyze it using these four methods, preparing the "findings" sections suitable for publication and/or BA papers. They also prepare a PowerPoint presentation suitable for either a policy or academic audience. Guest speakers from the University who have published articles using these methods discuss the practical issues in undertaking quantitative research. This class is designed to extend and build on Quantitative Methods in Public Policy.

Instructor(s): W. Carter     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): undefined
Note(s): Experience in using basic statistical methods is desirable but not required.

PBPL 26700. Economics of Education. 100 Units.

This course examines the economic role of education in society. The course begins by reviewing models that present different rationales for why families and individuals value or demand education. The course then discusses the implications of these competing models with special focus on the role of government in the funding and provision of education. The second half of the class takes as given that governments fund education and examines the mechanisms that governments use to purchase education for citizens. The class reviews both the theoretical models and empirical evidence related to each subtopic covered in the class.

Instructor(s): D. Neal     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): ECON 21000
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 26700

PBPL 26709. Public Policy: The Great Books and Articles. 100 Units.

This course examines the great books and articles from the public policy literature. Our approach is to focus in-depth on digestible parts of each "great book," rather than reading and superficially discussing the complete tome. The public policy canon consists of the books that define our field and that differentiate it from purely academic disciplines on the one hand and from journalism on the other hand. We focus on applying public policy perspectives, as found in these seminal sources, to contemporary policy issues of interest to the class. Class members who have selected a BA topic are encouraged to apply the theoretical lenses found in the great books to strengthen the literature review/theory section of their BA paper as the product of the quarter's work. Those with less defined programs of study write papers comparing, and critically assessing, the approaches from their preferred subset of the readings.

Instructor(s): W. Carter     Terms Offered: Winter

PBPL 26801. Race Policy. 100 Units.

Relations among groups seeing themselves as fundamentally different generates private and public policies to channel association.  Public policies intended to maintain and strengthen traditional racial relationships have included forced relocation, apartheid, extermination, walls, institutionalization, incarceration, segregation, ethnic cleansing, and legislated discrimination. Public policies intended to upset such traditions have included forced busing, affirmative action, the reservation of opportunities and political positions for specific castes/religions/ethnicities, and the legislated illegality of discrimination in housing and employment. Most recently in the United States, through distraction, hopelessness, indifference, neglect, the absence of good ideas, and/or the inability of advocates to compete effectively in the policy landscape, public policy has little to say about race.  Even an African-American president has declined to offer policy initiatives in this area. This course will examine public policy attempts to address issues of race, explore why so many seem to contain the seeds of their own failure, and formulate potential race policies that could jump start the contemporary policy conversation in this area.  The course will include a research component exploring the current status of race policy in Chicago and Hyde Park.

Instructor(s): W. Carter     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 26801

PBPL 27000. International Economics. 100 Units.

This course deals with the pure theory of international trade: the real side of international economics. Topics include the basis for and gains from trade; the theory of comparative advantage; and effects of international trade on the distribution of income, tariffs, and other barriers to trade.

Instructor(s): S. Kortum     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20300 or consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 27000

PBPL 27070. Philanthropy: Private Acts and Public Goods. 100 Units.

 ,

Instructor(s): E. Clemens     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Completion of at least 2 quarters of SOSC
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20222

PBPL 27501. Regulating Speech. 100 Units.

This course concerns private and public policy with respect to speech and expression. Varieties of speech considered include blasphemy, obscenity, and advertising. Policies considered include prohibition; taxation; licensing; and time, place, and manner controls. The intellectual Public Policy Studies framework employed for the evaluation of various policies is primarily economic and legal, though other disciplines also are drawn upon.

Instructor(s): J. Leitzel     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.

PBPL 27900. Global-Local Politics. 100 Units.

Globalizing and local forces are generating a new politics in the United States and around the world. This course explores this new politics by mapping its emerging elements: the rise of social issues, ethno-religious and regional attachments, environmentalism, gender and life-style identity issues, new social movements, transformed political parties and organized groups, and new efforts to mobilize individual citizens.

Instructor(s): T. Clark     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20116,HMRT 20116,HMRT 30116,SOCI 30116

PBPL 28501. Process and Policy in State and City Government. 100 Units.

This course consists of three interrelated sub-sections: (1) process and policy in city and state government; (2) the role played by influential, key officials in determining policy outcomes; and (3) policymaking during and after a political crisis. Issues covered include isolating the core principles driving policy at city and state levels; understanding how high level elected officials can shape the course of policy; and determining how a political crisis affects policy processes and outcomes. Most of the specific cases are drawn from Chicago and the State of Illinois.

Instructor(s): C. Harris     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring

PBPL 28605. Economic Analysis of Law. 100 Units.

This course examines the structure of law from an economic basis. Topics include property rights, contracts, torts, the Coase theorem, and criminal law.

Instructor(s): J. Leitzel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): ECON 20100
Equivalent Course(s): ECON 28600

PBPL 29000. Energy and Energy Policy. 100 Units.

This course shows how scientific constraints affect economic and other policy decisions regarding energy, what energy-based issues confront our society and how we may address them through both policy and scientific study, and how the policy and scientific aspects can and should interact. We address specific technologies and the policy questions associated with each, as well as with more overarching aspects of energy policy that may affect several, perhaps many, technologies.

Instructor(s): S. Berry, G. Tolley     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing. PQ for ECON 26800: ECON 26500 and consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): BPRO 29000,CHSS 37502,ECON 26800,ENST 29000,PPHA 39201

PBPL 29600. Internship: Public Policy. 100 Units.

Students write a paper about their experience working for a government agency or nonprofit organization.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of program chair
Note(s): Open only to students who are majoring in public policy. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Must be taken for P/F grading. Students must make arrangements with the program chair before beginning the internship.

PBPL 29700. Reading and Research: Public Policy. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Open only to students who are majoring in public policy
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

PBPL 29701. Readings and Research: Working Group in Environment, Agriculture, and Food (EAF) 100 Units.

This course consists of participation in the Environment, Agriculture and Food Group in a role assigned by the instructor.

Instructor(s): S. Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Registration by Instructor Consent Only.
Note(s): Please email Sabina Shaikh at sabina@uchicago.edu
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 29701

PBPL 29800. Senior Seminar. 100 Units.

Public Policy 29800, the Senior Seminar is offered in Autumn Quarter and is designed to assist students in developing and writing the required BA paper. Students register for PBPL 29800 in Autumn Quarter and continue to work throughout Winter and Spring Quarters with a BA Seminar instructor/preceptor (and possibly faculty advisers) in revising their BA papers. The Autumn Quarter class informs students about sources, methods of research, and treatment of evidence. The instructor/preceptor of the Senior Seminar serves as a reader for the BA papers. Students may choose a faculty adviser as a second reader--though second readers are not required. Outstanding BA papers can earn an honors designation. As part of the BA process, students write a policy memo that distills their BA research and, in early April, present their BA papers at the yearly Public Policy undergraduate research symposium for graduating seniors.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Open only to fourth-year students who are majoring in public policy
Note(s): Must be taken for a quality grade.

PBPL 29900. BA Paper Preparation: Public Policy. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Open only to fourth-year students who are majoring in public policy
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.