Fall
4
In short, public policy includes whatever government chooses to do or not to do. As such, this course will explore the reasons why government acts, how government acts, and the types of actions it takes. The course is not designed to convince you whether particular public policies are good or bad, but to think carefully and analytically about why they exist and how they function. The course is not about any particular public policy. However, the course will engage a wide variety of contemporary public policy debates in the areas of health care, welfare, the environment, regulation of business, energy, transportation, and education to provide examples of the concepts and theories we will discuss in the course.