Professor Adnan Khan

This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Sciences Po), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Policy, MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo) and MPA in Data Science for Public Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

Priority given to School of Public Policy students. Students from outside of the School of Public Policy should submit a statement in support of their request.

Deadline for application: 9am on Monday of AT Week 1 (including requests from School of Public Policy students). We aim to inform students of the outcome of their request by 12noon on Tuesday of AT Week 1.

For queries contact: mpa@lse.ac.uk

Students are expected to have done basic courses in economics. 

This course is designed to build an understanding of the nature and drivers of change in public policy and prepare students to develop persuasive policy recommendations. It uses political economy analysis and illustrates the use of the range of concepts and techniques from other courses in economics and political science in the diagnosis of policy change.

During this course, students deepen understanding of different concepts and techniques from political economy to understand and interpret real policy cases and to explore avenues for policy change.  Throughout the course, students examine issues around why reform is often politically difficult and how political economy frameworks can be used to design efficient and yet politically informed feasible policies. The instructor brings the real world into the classroom by integrating theory with empirics and practice.

The structure of the course starts from a theoretical and empirical discussion of political economy frameworks. It then revolves around comprehensive discussions on major themes including economic growth and development; bureaucracy and state capacity; interest groups, rent-seeking and regulatory capture; information, propaganda and political control; designing democracy, and analytic frameworks for provision of public goods. It includes deep dives into specific cases like UK’s exit from the European Union and historical persistence, growth and long-run outcomes. It concludes with a practical, policy-focused discussion on political economy of reform for public leaders.

16.5 hours of seminars and 22 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 38.5 hours across Winter Term.  

Students will be expected to produce a one-page proposal for summative essay 1 in the WT.

• Acemoglu, Daron and James A. Robinson. 2013. “Economics versus Politics: Pitfalls of Policy Advice”. Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 173-92.
• Besley, Timothy and Torsten Persson. 2014. “The Causes and Consequences of Development Clusters: State Capacity, Peace and Income”. Annual Review of Economics. Volume 6:927-949.
• Andrews, M., L. Pritchett & M Woolcock. (2017). Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action. Oxford University Press.
• Ernesto Dal Bo and Frederico Finan. 2016. “At the Intersection: A Review of Institutions in Economic  Development”. EDI Working Paper Series WP16/11.01. [Pages 1-25]
• Cristina Corduneanu-Huc, Alexander Hamilton and Issel Masses Ferrer. 2012. “Understanding Policy Change: How to Apply Political Economy Concepts in Practice.” Washington D.C.: World Bank Publications.
• Besley, T. and Velasco, A. 2025. ‘Towards a London Economic Consensus: an introduction’, in T. Besley, I. Bucelli and A. Velasco (eds) The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21st Century. London: LSE Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.tlc.a
• Hausmann, R., Rodrik, D, and Velasco, A. (2008). Growth diagnostics, in Stiglitz, J. and Serra, N. The Washington Consensus Reconsidered: Towards a new global governance. Oxford University Press.
• Timothy Besley, Robin Burgess, Adnan Khan and Guo Xu. (2021). Bureaucracy and Development. Annual Review of Economics. Forthcoming.
• Pande, Rohini. 2020. “Can Democracy Work for the Poor?” Science, 369 (6508), pp. 1188 – 1192.

Presentation (50%).

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.

Essay (50%).

Group work (50% of final grade) to be done during seminars and elsewhere throughout the term. Students will be put into groups working on a policy question of their choice after moderation.

• • Presentation (25%). The groups will present their work during a seminar session and will be provided the rubric on which it will be assessed.
  • Policy memo (25%). The policy memo is the end product of the group work and follows on the same topic as the presentation. 

Final Paper / Essay (50% of final grade) due after end of term that applies the concepts from this course to a particular theme or question. Details on the format and content of final paper will be provided during the term along with grading rubric.