Concentrations may change as student and faculty interests change. Students also may design concentrations with their advisers and with the approval of the graduate studies director. All concentrations require at least 9 semester credits. Concentration and elective courses may be drawn from the Humphrey Institute and from other University departments. Courses in policy analysis build on the quantitative and policy analysis core courses.
Policy analysis is systematic, structured thinking about policy problems.
Topics include formal deductive modeling, statistical inference, simulation, or evaluation methods. Students may wish to focus their concentration on a specific substantive area such as social policy. Students may take an approved subfield in labor policy or population policy. Methods Economic and community development Economic development concerns itself with the material well-being of a society and its members, and with the social, cultural, political, and economic processes that serve to promote, or retard, progress in this regard. Courses in this area focus on economic and community development efforts at the local, regional, national, and international levels.