Economic Policy Concentration

Concentration Leader: Roberto Leon-Gonzalez

 

1.Target & Objective

The objective of the Economic Policy (EP) Concentration is to provide policy professionals with the skills needed to design and evaluate policy alternatives while emphasizing the application of economics tools to real-world policy problems. Students are strongly recommended to take core and applied courses in economics. Each student is required to produce a policy report/thesis, for which GRIPS faculty members will provide guidance and advice.

 

 

2.Fields & Issues

2.1  The EP concentration covers a wide range of economic policy areas, but not necessarily limited to “economic” activities, so long as theoretical and empirical tools taught in core and applied courses in economics are appropriate for your research.

 

2.2  Examples of policy report/thesis titles in the past:

Determinants of Rural Women Performance in Entrepreneurial Activity: Evidence of selected vicinity in Ethiopia

Effect of Macroeconomic Variables on Gross Domestic Product in Tanzania

The Impact of Deposit Insurance on Financial Inclusion

Estimating Impacts of the Philippines’ Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Households’ Health Outcomes Using Propensity Score Weighting

The Impact of Mobile Money on Off-farm Income in Uganda

The Impact of Household Debt on Economic Performance in Thailand

The Factors Contributing to Children’s Poverty

Greater ASEAN Financial Integration and Greater Role of the Central Banks

Effect of International Parental Migration on School Attendance of Children Left in the Philippines

An Exploratory Study on Women Empowerment through Education in Rural Areas of Pakistan

Socio Economic Factors of Women Empowerment in Nepal

Healthcare Access and Infant Health in the Philippines

Secularization, Islamization, and Integration: Basic Educational Reform in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Issues and Challenges in Evaluating: Impact of Social Transfers

Determinants of Agriculture Mechanization in Ghana

How Can Special Economic Zones Unleash the Industrial Development in Thailand?

Impact of Farm Subsidy: Unconditional Cash Transfer Program on Farm Household Income and Farm Expenditure in Thailand

The Communist Insurgency in Mindanao, Philippines: Its Economic Foundation, Sustainability, and Prospects for Peace and Development

The Impact of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) on Human Resource Management in Thailand’s Public Sector

Lessons from Japanese Health System to Increase the Efficiency of Sri Lankan Health Sector

The Factors that Impact the Performance of the Health Sector in Sri Lanka

 

3.Course Works

3.1  Required Courses and Strongly Recommended Courses

The following courses is:

strongly recommended for MP1 students; and

required for MP2 students (unless permitted by the concentration leader).

- Introduction to Applied Econometrics

- Microeconomics I

- Microeconomics II

- Macroeconomics I

- Macroeconomics II

 

4.Policy Report/Thesis

4.1  Length of the paper

A typical paper is from 30 to 40 pages in length (no greater than 50 pages at most), from the title page through the appendices (if any) and including figures and tables (if any).

 

4.2  Basic structure of the paper

Title page

Abstract

Introduction

Main text

Conclusion

References

Appendices (if any)

 

4.3  Guideline

1. Clarify the objective, background, and motivation of your study. Why do you study it?

2. Give careful literature review. What have been already done in the past?

3. Clarify and emphasize the contribution of your study compared to the existing studies. What is new?

4. Clarify the data and methodologies that you use. What are your data? How do you analyze them?

5. Provide full references for the data and other people’s works that you used.

6. Detail your results. What are your findings?

7. Give summary tables for your results.

8. Discuss carefully the policy implications of your study. Why is your study relevant in the real world?

9. Provide logical argument and conclusion.

10. Write clear and crisp academic text.

11. In the conclusion, explain the limits and weaknesses of your analysis and indicate possible directions for future improvements.

12. Copyright infringement is not allowed.

 

4.4  Writing guides

Weiss, Carol H., Evaluation: Methods for Studying Programs and Policies, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998. Chapter 13 Writing Report and Disseminating Results

                  

 

5.Paper Supervision

Each student will have a supervisor. Although supervisors will be decided at the beginning of the winter term, students are strongly advised to contact GRIPS professors for advice on their policy research as well as the choice of concentration and research topics.

In addition, a collective form of supervision, such as research workshops and seminars, will be provided through the Policy Debate Seminars.