EC9C2-12 Topics in Empirical Political Economy
Introductory description
EC9C2-12 Topics in Empirical Political Economy
Module aims
The module aims to develop the level of skills and knowledge of empirical political economy necessary for a career as an academic economist and in all areas where advanced research skills in political economy are required. Specifically, it aims to teach the students to understand, appreciate, and ultimately contribute to, frontier research. It is intended to be comparable to modules taught in the best research universities in the USA and elsewhere in Europe.
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.
The core topics in the syllabus will typically include:
Topic 1: Voting Models and Empirical Testing
Background. Median Voter Theorem, Downsian Model, Probabilistic voting models, Citizen Candidate Model. Empirical tests: (i) testing predictions, Downsian Model vs Citizen Candidate Model; (ii) Testing assumptions: rationality, retrospective voting, gender differences in voting.
Topic 2: Political Agency and Electoral Control
Introduction, Benchmark model of political agency, Empirical evidence , Extended model accounting for clientelism and targeted policies , Extended model accounting for voters’ information.
Topic 3: Politics and the Media
Introduction: Information and mass media, Media capture and media bias.Determinants of Media Bias. Empirical evidence of supply-driven bias. Does slanted media affect voting?
Topic 4: Political Persuasion
Propaganda. Fake News and Fact Checking. Political effects of the interenet and social media.
Topic 5: Populism
Introduction. Definitions. Party Classifications. Historical Precedents and Recent Trends. Economic Origins; Short-Term, Medium-Term. Non-Economic Origins. Impact of Populism
Topic 6: Cultural Economics
Overview. Interaction between Culture and Institutions. Effects of Trust and Social Capital on Compliance. Political Economy of Pandemics.
Topic 7: Supply Side Political Economy
Who becomes a politician? Political Selection and Quality of Politicians.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Have a strategic overview and a detailed understanding of complex issues in advanced empirical political economy
- Develop a critical knowledge of recent research in some key areas of empirical political economy
- Enable students to autonomously pursue their own research agenda in the forefront of the empirical political economy field.
Subject specific skills
Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in:
Analytical thinking and communication
Analytical Reasoning
Critical thinking
Creative Thinking
Policy Evaluation
Analysis of Institutions
Understanding of Uncertainty and Incomplete Information
Transferable skills
Students will have the opportunity to develop:
Research skills
Numeracy and Quantitative skills
Data-based Skills
Written communication
Mathematical, Statistical, data-based research skills
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 30 sessions of 1 hour (25%) |
| Private study | 90 hours (75%) |
| Total | 120 hours |
Private study description
Private study will be required in order to prepare for seminars/classes, to review lecture notes, to prepare for forthcoming assessments, tests, and exams, and to undertake wider reading around the subject.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A3
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Assessment 1 | 50% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Assessment 2 | 50% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
The Department of Economics is committed to providing high quality and timely feedback to students on their assessed work, to enable them to review and continuously improve their work. We are dedicated to ensuring feedback is returned to students within 20 University working days of their assessment deadline. Feedback for assignments is returned either on a standardised assessment feedback cover sheet which gives information both by tick boxes and by free comments or via free text comments on Tabula, together with the annotated assignment. For tests and problem sets, students receive solutions as an important form of feedback and their marked assignment, with a breakdown of marks and comments by question and sub-question. Students are informed how to access their feedback, either by collecting from the Department of Economics Postgraduate Office or via Tabula. Module leaders often provide generic feedback for the cohort outlining what was done well, less well, and what was expected on the assignment and any other common themes. This feedback also includes a cumulative distribution function with summary statistics so students can review their performance in relation to the cohort. This feedback is in addition to the individual-specific feedback on assessment performance.
Pre-requisites
Satisfactory completion of MRes year 1
Courses
This module is Core optional for:
- Year 2 of TECA-L1PL in Economics (Master of Research plus PhD)