of Program
Research Program in Political Economy
| Requirements Students join the Program by entering either the Economics Department, the Politics Department, or the Woodrow Wilson School through the normal admissions process and will receive the doctoral degree of their home department. Students applying to one of these units who are interested in the Program should indicate this interest in their applications. Students intending to enroll in the Program should have a knowledge of basic mathematics (multivariate calculus and matrix algebra as well as basic probability and statistics). Ordinarily, students will take a course offered by the Economics Department (S500, Mathematics for Economists) in order to develop the required competence in mathematics.
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 (other than POL 584, the politics half of the political economy sequence), 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
must take the written general examination in Political Economy. (To
prepare for the general examination, students should take the
two-semester political economy sequence ECO 520 and POL 584.) In
addition, students are required to take on a graded basis two
graduate courses in Economics, other than the economics part of the
political economy sequence (ECO 520). 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 semester of directed
research. The courses must include: (a) two doctoral courses in
Economics other than ECO 520 (normally ECO 501 and 502, but
substitutions may be permitted); (b) the two-semester sequence in
Political Economy (currently ECO 520 and POL 584); (c) two doctoral
courses in Politics (other than POL 584), chosen from a list of
appropriate courses drawn up by the Program Committee; (d)
quantitative analysis at the level of WWS 508c or POL 573 (POL572 if
taken before Fall 2007), or above. Additional courses should be
selected to help prepare for the general examination. For the
general examination, each student takes two written
examinations. One of the written examinations must be Political
Economy. The other may be chosen from the fields offered by the
Politics Department and/or the Economics Department. In addition, the
student must complete (for credit) a coherent sequence of three
courses in a third field. This third field may also be chosen from the
fields offered by the Politics Department and/or the fields offered by
the Economics Department. In order to qualify as a third field, the
course sequence must be approved by the faculty chair of the WWS
Political Economy cluster.
Regardless of how a student enters the Political Economy Program, it
is important to have some basic math background: multivariate calculus
and basic matrix algebra, as well as familiarity with probability and
statistics at least at the introductory level. Without this
background, a student will not be able to handle the material in many
of the courses required for completion of the program.
To prepare for their general examinations in Political Economy, students from Economics, Politics, or WWS are expected to master the material covered in a two-course sequence in Political Economy. These courses will be offered jointly 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 to write a dissertation on a topic in political economy. |