Introductory description

Politics is about who gets what, when, and how – it is about the choices people make that affect the distribution of gains and losses, and about the societal and political conflicts and incentives surrounding them.

This means that the module is concerned with the relations between polity, economy, and society at both a national and global level, and considers this topic from the perspective of both economics and political science as academic disciplines. We review and evaluate the public choice approach to collective decision-making, which views political decision-making as resulting from individual goal-oriented agents interacting in an environment subject to electoral and constitutional rules. Our substantive focus is on voter behaviour, electoral competition, inequality and redistribution, the provision of public goods, and the behaviour of special interest groups from the perspectives of Economics and Political Science.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

We will study four specific areas where political science and economics perspectives overlap. The first part of the module approach to the behaviour of voters and political parties. The second part of the module looks at the political economy of income and wealth inequality, the third is in the provision of public goods, and the fourth focuses on special interest groups.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Develop a broad understanding of the impacts of the differing perspectives of economics and politics as academic disciplines on national and global governance.
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each methodological approach, and when they can be complementary.

Indicative reading list

Refer to reading list.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Interdisciplinary

Co-taught by Politics and Economics for PPE students only.

Subject specific skills

A solid knowledge and understanding of:
(i) Political information: knowledge and understanding of current policy and political theory in the specified topics.
(ii) Applied Economics: Knowledge and understanding of standard economic models and quantitative techniques with application to contemporary problems arising in public policy and the private sector.
(iii) Research issues: Familiarity with contemporary debates and latest research in some specialised areas of PPE. Evaluate how to approach a problem from the perspective of a contemporary researcher with a PPE background

Transferable skills

An established capacity of:
(i) Analytical thinking, reasoning and application.
(ii) Critical, creative and strategic thinking.
(iii) Abstraction and Problem solving.
(iv) Policy evaluation and the analysis of institutions.