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Founded
in 1946, the Political Economy Program offers the oldest
interdepartmental major at the College. The program was designed to
give its students an understanding of the many ways that politics and
economics interact in the formation of public policy. Majors acquire a
substantial mastery of economics, broad knowledge of the American and
international political context, an understanding of the economic and
moral stakes in key current public policy issues, and the opportunity
to analyze policy for themselves. The major is notable for its high
degree of structure, with requirements in Economics and Political
Science, along with three distinctive core courses.
These courses--POEC 301, 401, and 402—are each usually taught jointly by an economist and
a political scientist. The first, Analytical Views of Political
Economy, considers major thinkers from Adam Smith onward. We discuss
moral issues of political economy, such as the justification and
distribution of private property, authoritative vs. market allocation,
power in the firm, taxation and public goods, education,
discrimination, the environment, and failures of government. This is a
popular course with non-majors, too. POEC 401, Politics of the
International Economy, covers a wide variety of topics loosely centered
around the problem of "globalization": trade, capital movements,
global corporations and "virtual" ones, economics and global
ecology, economic development, and the role of international
organizations. POEC 402, the second senior capstone course, involves
groups of four or five in major projects that analyze a chosen policy
problem. Its highlight is a trip to Washington, DC over spring break, where the
groups interview key national experts and policymakers. Late in the
spring semester, the students make public presentations of their policy
recommendations.
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