Social Science Research - Public Policy Analysis, Master of Social Sciences

Study objectives

Combining economics with public policy, Public Policy Analysis studies provide students with a large set of skills in public policy analysis.

Upon completion of Public Policy Analysis, Master’s Programme in Social Science Research, students will be able to:

• use analytical tools from economics (microeconomics, welfare economics, public economics, econometric analysis, cost-benefit-risk analysis), which are useful for evaluating public policies in terms of their absolute and comparative efficacy in meeting social objectives and in terms of identifying and addressing potential cases of market failure.
• to understand key issues in policy-making in a world of scarcity and potential effects of regulation, taxes and other legislative tools.
• to use research tools developed in the programme (mathematics, statistics, econometrics, spatial econometrics) use experimental economics and behavioral economics to test policies before implementation and to understand when and why people may not behave as theory predicts to identify, collect and test appropriate data to understand the effects of policies and programmes. The econometrics courses are designed to make students both intelligent consumers and producers of statistical evidence and analysis.
• to understand both the advantages of and barriers to social and political co-operation in predicting needs for and success of policies (theory of collective action, game theory, politics).

Study contents

Public Policy Analysis teaches students to use the tools of economics to address broader social scientific problems. The analysis of public policy requires an approach that combines insights and techniques from economics and political science.

The methods used include microeconomics, game theory, experimental economics, spatial econometrics, social choice theory and econometrics. Specific courses (e.g. healthcare economics, crime and criminal policy) give the students practical applications for the tools learned in other courses.

Public Policy Analysis studies extend economic analysis beyond the traditional focus on market interactions to examine intended and unintended consequences of policies and to explore how and when individual self-interest among politicians, interest groups, voters, etc. can either help or hinder the public interest. Public policy analysis involves understanding institutional design, policy evaluation and implementation and decision-making. The programme also recognises that, while, ideally, policy is designed to incentivise or deter certain behaviour, the actors involved may react differently than anticipated. Therefore, the study of policy analysis must also include behavioural/experimental economics.

The coursework emphasises practical and theoretical understanding of these issues. In addition to building quantitative skills, Public Policy Analysis incorporates a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective drawn from case studies in North America and Europe.

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