Political Economics

Knowledge:

You should know

• common ways of modeling politics formally, such as the median voter model, probabilistic voting, citizen candidate models, and models of lobbying and campaign contributions
• how these models are applied in order to the study of real world problems, such as political determination of the size of the welfare state, how to control and discipline politicians, and intergenerational problems
• how to study these models empirically

Skills:

You should be able to

• use fundamental modeling tools in political economics such as median voter theory, probabilistic voting, citizen candidate models and models of lobbying and campaign contributions and how to use these tools to analyze applied situations.
• discuss the empirical validity of the key outcomes of the theory

Competence:

You should

• be able to read and understand project reports and journal articles that make use of the concepts and methods that are introduced in the course
• be able to make use of the course content in your own academic work, for example in analyses that are part of the master’s thesis

Students admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students not admitted to the Master’s programme in Economics or the Master’s programme in Economic Theory and Econometrics (Samfunnsøkonomisk analyse), can apply for admission to one of our study programmes, or apply for guest student status.

Lectures and seminars.

Course responsible can at the beginning of the semester update the syllabus list by changing no more than three articles, though in a way that it will not change the overall scope or thematic content of the course.

The syllabus also includes any lecture notes that will be made available for the students in Canvas.

The examination will be a 3-hour written school exam.

Previous exams and examiner guidelines

Exam papers with comments from examiner

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.

Students who wish to retake the exam in a later semester are not guaranteed that the course will be given with the same content and syllabus, or that the examination scheme will be the same.