PUBPOL 495 is open to students in the Public Policy BA program, by permission only.
Global financial markets provide both opportunities and risks for macroeconomic policymakers. In this course we will explore the role of financial markets in economic development, the causes and consequences of financial crises, whether and how policies and institutions can be used to stabilize markets and help countries recover from crises, and what lessons we can learn from recent experiences which might help prevent future crises. There will be heavy emphasis on understanding and using data to study country experiences -- with examples drawn from developing and industrial economies.
Writing Assignments: There are three short (2-3 page) writing assignments which will involve data collection and analysis, a critical review of a book covering a financial crisis, and a (5-page) final capstone project that examines the causes and consequences of a financial crisis in a specific country.