3.0

Average Course Rating

This course will introduce students to competing theories of the economic purpose, objectives, and results of bureaucratic regulation setting in the United States. It will first introduce three broad camps: public interest theories of regulation, private interest theories of regulation, and finally, theories that question these one size fits all approaches and understand regulation within its historical and institutional context. Finally, it will introduce students to a selection of regulatory regimes, including antitrust regulation; health, safety, & environmental regulation; and international regulation. Class format will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion (one class/week on each). Students will write weekly response papers and end the semester with a final term paper consisting of original research on a regulation of their choosing combined with a presentation on their findings. It is recommended, but not required, that students have taken AP Statistics or an introduction to statistics and ideally have taken an intermediate economic theory class (either micro or macro). This course satisfies the "research lab" requirement for Moral and Political Economy majors.