Course Details

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Course Information
SemesterCourse Unit CodeCourse Unit TitleT+P+LCreditNumber of ECTS CreditsLast Updated Date
2ECON525POLITICAL ECONOMICS0+0+037,513.05.2025

 
Course Details
Language of Instruction English
Level of Course Unit Master's Degree
Department / Program DATA SCIENCE
Type of Program Formal Education
Type of Course Unit Elective
Course Delivery Method Face To Face
Objectives of the Course Introducing basics of new economic policy.
Explaining the connections between economy, politics and institutions.
Explaining economic problems arising from political processes.
Providing students with exemplary applications in different policy fields.
Course Content This course will introduce students to the basics of the ‘new economic policy’ which
helps to explain the relation between economy, politics and institutions from a
rational choice point of view. Students will learn to analyze voters, politicians,
bureaucrats, and members of interest groups as utility-maximizing actors which try
to influence the institutional framework and the political processes of their country
in order to achieve their interests. This approach will be applied to a variety of
exemplary policy fields, from agricultural policy to trade policy.
Course Methods and Techniques -
Prerequisites and co-requisities None
Course Coordinator Associate Prof.Dr. Umut Türk umut.turk@agu.edu.tr
Name of Lecturers None
Assistants Research Assist. Semih Peker semih.peker@agu.edu.tr
Work Placement(s) No

Recommended or Required Reading
Resources -
Course Notes -


Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
Activities are given in detail in the section of "Assessment Methods and Criteria" and "Workload Calculation"

Assessment Methods and Criteria
In-Term Studies Quantity Percentage
Yarıyıl İçi Çalışmalarının Başarı Notunun Katkısı 1 % 40
Final examination 1 % 60
Total
2
% 100

 
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration Total Work Load
Araştırma Ödevi 1 30 30
Tartışma 1 30 30
Ev Ödevi 1 30 30
Sunum için Hazırlık 1 15 15
Kişisel Çalışma 1 30 30
Teslim 1 30 30
Sözlü Sınav 1 30 30
Derse Devam 1 30 30
Total Work Load   Number of ECTS Credits 7,5 225

 
Course Learning Outcomes: Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
NoLearning Outcomes
1 Analyze the behavior of voters, politicians, bureaucrats and members of interest groups from a rational-choice point of view.
2 Analyze the connection between economy, politics, and institutions.
3 Evaluate problems of lobbying, rent-seeking and state capture critically.
4 Apply theories learned in different policy fields.

 
Weekly Detailed Course Contents
WeekTopicsStudy MaterialsMaterials
1 Week 1: Introduction to Political Economics • Overview of the course and key questions • What is political economics? • Rational choice and methodological individualism • Reading: Introductory chapter from a Political Economics textbook (e.g., Persson & Tabellini) - -
2 Week 2: Rational Choice Theory and the Role of Institutions • Utility maximization in political contexts • Institutions as rules of the game • Endogenous vs. exogenous institutions • Reading: North (1990) – Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (selections) - -
3 Week 3: The Median Voter Theorem • Assumptions and implications • Spatial voting models • Applications to democratic decision-making • Reading: Downs (1957) – An Economic Theory of Democracy (selections) - -
4 Week 4: Political Behavior of Voters • Voter turnout and rational abstention • Information asymmetries and irrationality • Identity, preferences, and heuristics • Reading: Mueller (2003), Public Choice III (selected sections) - -
5 Week 5: Politicians and Electoral Competition • Vote-maximizing behavior • Opportunistic and partisan political cycles • Accountability and term limits • Reading: Rogoff (1990), “Equilibrium Political Budget Cycles” - -
6 Week 6: Bureaucrats and the State • Bureaucratic behavior as utility-maximizing • Niskanen model of bureaucracy • Bureaucracy vs. technocracy • Reading: Niskanen (1971), Bureaucracy and Representative Government (selections) - -
7 Week 7: Interest Groups and Lobbying • Olson’s Logic of Collective Action • Theories of lobbying and influence • Interest group competition and regulation • Reading: Olson (1965), Logic of Collective Action - -
8 Week 8: Rent-Seeking and Corruption • Tullock’s rent-seeking model • State capture and regulatory capture • Institutional responses to rent-seeking • Reading: Krueger (1974), “The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society” - -
9 Week 9: Institutions and Economic Performance • How political institutions affect economic outcomes • Empirical approaches to causality • Institutional persistence and change • Reading: Acemoglu, Johnson & Robinson (2001), “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development” - -
10 Week 10: Public Goods and Collective Decision-Making • Public good provision and free-rider problems • Mechanisms for collective choice • Voting rules and outcomes • Reading: Ostrom (1990), Governing the Commons (selections) - -
11 Week 11: Agricultural and Environmental Policy • Subsidies and interest group politics • Resource management and environmental lobbying • Political constraints on sustainability • Case studies: CAP (EU), US Farm Bill - -
12 Week 12: Trade Policy and Protectionism • Political economy of trade • Distributional consequences of openness • Lobbying and trade barriers • Reading: Grossman & Helpman (1994), “Protection for Sale” - -
13 Week 13: Political Business Cycles and Macroeconomic Policy • How political incentives shape fiscal and monetary decisions • Time inconsistency and institutional solutions • Central bank independence • Reading: Alesina & Roubini (1997), Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy (selections) - -
14 Week 14: Review and Student Presentations / Policy Applications • Student presentations or debates on selected policy topics • Integration of theoretical and applied material • Final review and Q&A - -

 
Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10
All 3 4 2 2 4 1
C1 3 4 2 2 4 1
C2 3 4 2 2 4 1
C3 3 4 2 2 3 1
C4 3 4 2 2 4 1

  Contribution: 1: Very Slight 2:Slight 3:Moderate 4:Significant 5:Very Significant

  
  https://sis.agu.edu.tr/oibs/bologna/progCourseDetails.aspx?curCourse=75123&lang=en
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