EC9C2-12 Empirical and Behavioral 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:
Weeks 1-5
Topic 1: Political Persuasion
Propaganda. Political effects of the internet and social media. Fake News and Fact Checking.
Topic 2: Populism
Definitions. Party Classifications. Historical Precedents and Recent Trends. Economic Origins; Short-Term, Medium-Term. Non-Economic Origins. Impacts of Populism
Topic 3: Climate Change Politics
Political economy of environmental policy and protection. Partisan perceptions of climate change.
Weeks 6-10
Topic 4: Election Turnout and Voting Preferences
Determinants of election turnout. Pivotal vs. expressive voting (including empirical strategies to estimate their shares). Voting to tell others. Impacts of election closeness on voter behavior. Turnout and persuasion effects of political advertisement.
Topic 5: Behavioral Political Economy
Political identity and ideology. Politically motivated reasoning. Behavioral effects shaping political behavior (including cognitive dissonance). Moral universalism and political outcomes. Social norms. Social learning vs. social utility. Political polarization, trust, and market outcomes.
Topic 6: Digital Platforms and Political Discourse
The role of digital platforms in shaping polarization trends. Hate crime and xenophobic attitudes. Censorship and self-censorship. Social sanctions and justifying dissent. Online toxicity and hate speech: drivers, consequences, and policy. Online networks (including the impact of homophily).
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 A4
| 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)