Course: Political Economy: Collective Decision Making, Strategies, and Institutions

Professor: Vincent Anesi

ECTS: 1

Aims & Objectives:

In many situations of interest in Economics, Finance, and Management, the decision maker is a group, rather than a single individual – e.g., governments (cabinets, legislatures…), central bank committees, international organisations, corporate boards, trade unions, consumer cooperatives, households, etc. How do those groups aggregate the heterogeneous preferences of their members? How do their decisions depend on the rules that govern their collective choices? And how do individuals and coalitions strategically pursue their own goals when confronted with such rules? This course is a rigorous introduction to the methods and models that are used in Political Economy to answer these questions. Its objective is: (i) to provide students with a sufficient knowledge of political economic theory to read applied research papers, and (ii) to apply those methods to their own research work. Particular attention will be given to providing an intuitive understanding of the logic behind the methods and results presented, and to how they can be used in economic applications of interest.