The Policy Studies basic curriculum introduces students to the concepts and tools needed to understand and study policy, regardless of the policy area they choose to focus on. It ensures that all Policy Studies majors have a common professional vocabulary and conceptual frame of reference. The Basic Policy Studies Basic Curriculum encompasses four courses. This course includes applied analytical techniques, theoretical notions of public goods and externalities, and an introduction to general governmental issues such regulation and political feasibility.
Economic analysis is fundamental to the study of policy.
This is an interdisciplinary public policy course covering different academic disciplines' approaches to policy problems, touching on the nature of knowledge, different analytical paradigms, etc. One advanced analysis course that provides students more depth in discipline-specific approaches. Such a course should focus on the craft or nature of inquiry within a discipline. Most likely, students will choose such a course in their first major. Students are required to get approval from the policy studies advisor for credit in this area.