First Half of the Class taught by Prof. Daron Acemoglu
| LEC # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| Voters (Sessions 1–7) | ||
| 1–2 | Collective Choices and Voting | |
| 3 | Voting and Information Aggregation | |
| 4–5 | Votes and Political Decisions in Practice | |
| 6–7 | Election Politics Gone Wrong: Lobbying, Vote Buying, Clientelism, Coercion, and Populism. | Pset #1 due after lecture #5 |
| Politicans (Sessions 8–10) | ||
| 8–9 | Political Agency | |
| 10 | Political Agency Gone Wrong | Pset #2 due after lecture #9 |
| Policies (Sessions 11–14) | ||
| 11 | Economic Policy under Representative Democracy | |
| 12 | Political Compromise | |
| 13–14 | Economic Policy under Nondemocratic Institutions | Pset #3 due after lecture #14 |
Second Half of the Class taught by Prof. Benjamin Olken
| TOPICS | KEY DATES | |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict (Sessions 15–17) | ||
| Theory: Why Does Conflict Take Place? Bargaining Failures and Other Reasons | ||
| Why Does Conflict Occur? Costs, Benefits, and Other Factors | ||
| Counterinsurgency | ||
| The Costs of Conflict | Pset #4 due after lecture #17 | |
| Collective Action (Sessions 18 & 19) | ||
| Collective Action and Group Size | ||
| Collective Action and Ethnic Heterogeneity | ||
| Social Capital and Collective Action | ||
| Promoting Collective Action | ||
| Can Stimulating Collective Actions Change Institutions? | ||
| Decentralization and Local Capture | ||
| Media (Sessions 20 & 21) | ||
| Political Influence on Media | ||
| Media Bias and Voting | ||
| Media’s Impact on Policy | ||
| Media and Protest | ||
| Bureaucracy (Sessions 22 & 23) | ||
| Do Bureaucrats Matter? | ||
| Incentives for and Allocation of Bureaucrats | ||
| Selection of Bureaucrats | ||
| Rules vs. Discretion | Pset #5 due after lecture #23 | |
| Corruption (Sessions 24–27) | ||
| Efficiency Costs | ||
| The Official’s Decisions to Be Corrupt: Wages, Incentives, and Selection | ||
| The IO of Corruption | Pset #6 due after lecture #25 | |
| Corruption and Politics | ||
