Social Policy

Provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to understand, describe, and critique program evaluations, and also to identify the policy implications of specific findings. Using examples from domestic policy and international development, the course covers (1) process and summative evaluation issues, including data collection, causal validity, and generalizability; (2) economic evaluations, including cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit studies; and (3) performance measurement of ongoing programs.
Schedule of Classes

For poor and low-income families, federal programs such as Medicaid, Child care, SNAP and child nutrition programs are a lifeline every day. Some programs also have policies that consider more than income eligibility, such as number of hours of work, disability, and immigration status. Budget choices have a significant impact on policy intentions. Students will learn about and analyze the major federal programs and federal budgets for these policy areas; understand from data the impact of such programs and policies; and be introduced to significant advocacy efforts and considerations that shaped hese policy decisions.
Schedule of Classes

Examines how governments and policymakers define poverty and the extent and demographics of contemporary poverty in the United States, other developed countries, and developing countries. Looks in detail at the official U.S. poverty measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure developed by the Obama administration, as well as those developed by the World Bank and other international organizations. Explores the causes of poverty in the developed and developing world, and efforts to alleviate poverty over the last fifty years, focusing in the U.S. on income transfers, civil rights and equal opportunity, and efforts to increase human and social capital (with a special focus on children, the elderly, and minorities), and focusing in the developing world on infrastructure development, governance, and corruption. Restricted to PLCY majors or permission of instructor.
Schedule of Classes