Level: 200 level. Read more information on levels in our FAQs

Fees:  Please see Fees and payments

Lectures: 36 hours 

Classes: 18 hours

Assessment*: One piece of written work and one written examination

Typical credit**: 3-4 credits (US) 7.5 ECTS points (EU)

*Assessment is optional

**You will need to check with your home institution

For more information on exams and credit, read Teaching and assessment

Introductory microeconomics, basic knowledge of calculus and statistics.

• Introduction to political economy. Rationality and methodological individualism. Preference aggregation and manipulation
• Public goods and the collective action problem
• Elections and public policy. Majority rule
• The political economy of inequality and redistribution. Welfare spending and the size of the public sector
• The political economy of mass media
• Electoral rules and policy outcomes
• Political agency (1): The economic theory of electoral accountability. Institutions and political accountability
• Organisation of legislatures and legislative procedures
• Interest groups
• Political leadership
• The origins and effects of political institutions
• Information, mass media and public policy
• Political agency (2)

This course enhances a student’s understanding of the characteristics, determinants and consequences of public-policy making in liberal democracies.

It provides theoretical foundations from both economics and political science, whilst developing an expansive knowledge of theoretical and applied areas of political economy. 

LSE’s Department of Government is home to some of the most internationally respected experts in politics and government, producing influential research that has a global impact on policy. The Department has always been able to take advantage of its prominent position within the London School of Economics and Political Science, the largest and most important European institution specialising solely in the social sciences. The Department has a strongly cosmopolitan character and alumni can be found in the world's leading political science departments, as well as in journalism, commerce, central and local government, and non-governmental organisations globally.

The 2014 Research Assessment Exercise ranked the LSE Government and International Relations Departments' joint submission first in the UK for the percentage of its research graded world leading or internationally excellent (88%). LSE also came top in the Politics and International Studies REF panel in terms of the most research publications graded “world leading” (4*); the absolute number of top-rated research outputs. LSE’s Department of Government ranked 5th in the world in the 2018 QS World University ranking for Politics and International Studies.

On this three-week intensive programme, you will engage with and learn from full-time lecturers from the LSE’s government faculty.

K. Shepsle, Analyzing Politics, London: W.W. Norton (2010) 

*A more detailed reading list will be supplied prior to the start of the programme

**Course content, faculty and dates may be subject to change without prior notice