Program in Political Economy

Director

John Londregan

Executive Committee

Avinash Dixit, Economics

Gene Grossman, Economics and Woodrow Wilson School

John Londregan, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Nolan M. McCarty, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Adam Meirowitz, Politics

Thomas Romer, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Associated Faculty

Douglas Arnold, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Scott Ashworth, Politics

Larry Bartels, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Marco Battaglini, Economics

Roland Benabou, Economics and Woodrow Wilson School

Carles Boix, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Charles Cameron, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Brandice Canes-Wrone, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Anne Case, Economics and Woodrow Wilson School

Henry Farber, Economics

Joanne Gowa, Politics

Robert Keohane, Woodrow Wilson School

Paul Krugman, Economics and Woodrow Wilson School

Per Krusell, Economics

Giovanni Maggi, Economics

Helen Milner, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Stephen Morris, Economics

Wolfgang Pesendorfer, Economics

Jonas Pontusson, Politics

Grigore Pop-Eleches, Politics and Woodrow Wilson School

Kristopher Ramsay, Politics

Anne Sartori, Politics

Lars Svensson, Economics

Andrea Vindigni, Politics

 

The Program in Political Economy enables students in the Department of Economics, the Department of Politics, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to supplement their disciplinary training with relevant study in the other academic units and to engage in specialized work in political economy. The program also provides for interaction among the students and faculties of the Woodrow Wilson School and the two departments, and facilitates research on topics in political economy. The program is administered by a program committee drawn from faculty in the participating academic units.

Students join the program by entering one of the academic units through the normal admissions process and receive the doctoral degree of their home department. It is recommended that students who are applying to one of the academic units and who are interested in the program indicate this interest in their application. Students already at Princeton who wish to participate in the political economy program should consult with the program committee as well as their departmental adviser about their course of study.

Students are expected to fulfill the normal requirements of their home departments, with the following modifications:

Economics students are required to offer political economy as one of their two field general examinations (see below). They are also required to take, on a graded basis, two graduate courses in politics chosen from a list of appropriate courses drawn up by the program committee. These two courses would count toward the fulfillment of the second-year course requirement for economics graduate students.

Politics students are required to designate political economy as one of their three fields for the general examination and take the written general examination in political economy. In addition, these students are required to take, on a graded basis, two graduate courses in economics. Normally, these would be the microeconomics courses ECO 501 and 502, but others may be substituted with approval from the program committee.

Woodrow Wilson School students are required to complete ten doctoral courses and one term of directed research. The courses must include (1) two doctoral courses in economics (normally ECO 501 and 502, but substitutions may be permitted); (2) the two-term sequence in political economy; (3) two doctoral courses in politics, chosen from a list of appropriate courses drawn up by the program committee; and (4) quantitative analysis at the level of WWS 508c, POL 572, or above.

Additional courses should be selected to help prepare for the general examination, for which each student takes two written examinations. One must be in political economy and the other may be chosen from the fields offered by the politics and/or economics departments. In addition, students must complete a coherent sequence of three courses in a third field. This third field also may be chosen from the fields offered by the Department of Politics and/or the Department of Economics.

To prepare for the general examination in political economy, students are expected to master the material covered in a two-course sequence in political economy. These courses are offered jointly (and are cross-listed) by the economics and politics departments. The general examination in political economy is set by a committee appointed by the program committee.

All students in the program are also expected to participate regularly in a research workshop in political economy and write a dissertation on a topic in political economy.

Additional information about the program is available on the Web at www.princeton.edu/~pegrad.