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Public Policy

Features

  • Builds concepts and tools specific to the public sector and the political process that underlies policy-making.
  • Provides interdisciplinary study in political science, economics, and finance that reflects how practitioners analyze policy problems and design solutions.
  • Offers background on how modern bureaucracies work and interact with the private sector in both developed and developing countries of the Pacific region.
  • Deepens knowledge of the links between political process, economic constraints, and the actual implementation of public policies.

Faculty

The Public Policy career track is led by Edmund Malesky, Jong-sung You, and Matthew Shugart.

Required Courses

IRGN 455 - Government and Regulation
IRGN 456 - Program Design and Evaluation

Electives

Select three of the following Public Policy electives:


IRGN 404 - Chinese Politics
IRGN 407 - Policy Implementation Process
IRGN 416 - Postwar Politics in Japan
IRGN 428 - International Politics of Energy Policy
IRGN 430 - Human Rights, Public Policy, and International Politics
IRGN 437 - Policy Design
IRGN 446 - QM III, Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Decision Making
IRGN 448 - Civil Society and Development 
IRGN 450 - Social Justice, Public Policy and Development
IRGN 457 - Cost-Benefit Analysis
IRGN 463 - Politics in Southeast Asia
IRGN 464 - Designing Field Experiments
IRGN 484 - Korean Politics
IRGN 490 - Climate Change, Law and Policy
IRGN 490 - Corruption and the Control of Corruption
IRGN 490 - Introduction to Spatial Data Analysis
IRGN 490 - Public Policy and Biological Threats
IRGN 490 - Mexican Society: Development, Institutions, and Policy

Student Groups

Policy Consulting and Advocacy
Latin America Student Organization
China Focus

Public Policy Student Intern

“I’m working as a policy secretary of assemblywoman Soon-ja Park, where I have two major responsibilities. First, I’m working on the inspection of 62 institutions under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. This involves checking their annual operations, project results including annual budget and accounts, finding mistakes and suggesting corrections. My second project involves an audit of budgets and accounts of all 39 ministries in Korea. I'm enjoying my work and do my best with a great sense of duty, even if it means working 15-hour days.”
TaeHo Yu ’08, National Assembly of the Republic of Korea: Assemblywoman Soon-ja Park’s Office, Seoul, Korea

Careers

Recent graduates were hired by
  • US Foreign Service
  • Louis Berger Group
  • Inter-American Development Bank
  • US Treasury Department
  • DPK Consulting

Global Employers for Public Policy Graduates

Graduates are qualified to work for government agencies, policy oriented think-tanks, international organizations that assist in preparation and monitoring of policy implementation, and political risk analysis organizations.

Asian Development Bank
Carter Center
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
DPK Consulting
Eurasia Institute
Inter-American Development Bank
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
International Republican Institute
Louis Berger Group
Moody’s
National Democratic Institute
PRS Group
Rand
Standard and Poor
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
U.S. Dept. of Defense
U.S. Dept. of State
U.S. Dept. of Treasury
U.S. Foreign Service
U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO)
U.S. Office of Management and Budget
World Bank
World Resources Institute

For a full list of organizations, access the Employer Database in IRPSCAREERS.

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