The following is a collection of pre-readings for the summer months, in preparation for the four core policy courses in the fall of 2024. All incoming students, no matter your academic or work background, should read these descriptions carefully and do the readings appropriate for your own background.
Technical Refresher for MPP Program
Many aspects of the design, analysis, and implementation of public policy require modest levels of mathematical, statistical, and economic analysis. You probably learned many of these skills in high school, though perhaps you haven’t used them in a while and so they might be rusty. Some other skills, perhaps, you did not learn at all during your high school or university years.
Several courses in the MPP program will require moderate levels of mathematics, statistics, and economics. To ensure that you are fully prepared for the MPP program, please make sure you carefully review the following collections of videos from the Kahn Academy. Some of you can review this material quickly; for others it will take more time and careful study. But our expectation is that all of you will be very comfortable will all this material by the time you arrive at the Max Bell School to begin the MPP program.
Basic Math
Basic Statistics
Basic Economics
The two courses in economics in the MPP program (one in microeconomics and the other in macroeconomics) use the following textbooks as core material (in addition to other readings):
- Microeconomics, 17th Canadian Edition, by Christopher Ragan, Pearson Education Canada
- Macroeconomics, 17th Canadian Edition, by Christopher Ragan, Pearson Education Canada
We recommend that you get the above two textbooks early and begin reading them. In particular, reading the first 5 chapters of the Microeconomics textbook during the summer will prepare you well for the fall term.
In addition, you should review the following videos from the Khan Academy:
Course-Related Readings
From Professor Mayssun El-Attar | Microeconomics for Public Policy
- Students are required to purchase or to have access to Jean Tirole’s Economics for the Common Good (Princeton, 2017).
- Page, Lucy, and Rohini Pande. 2018. “Ending Global Poverty: Why Money Isn’t Enough.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32 (4): 173-200. DOI: 10.1257/jep.32.4.173.
- Ashraf, Nava, Colin F. Camerer, and George Loewenstein. 2005. “Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19 (3): 131-145. DOI: 10.1257/089533005774357897.
- Bardhan, Pranab. “Economics of Development and the Development of Economics.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 2, 1993, pp. 129–142.
From Professor Emily Rhoads | The Global Political and Policy Landscape
- Ikenberry, John G., “Three Worlds: the West, East and South and the Competition to Shape Global Order”, International Affairs 100:1 (2024). You are also encouraged to watch “The Three Worlds: Does the Liberal Order have a Future?”, LSE Ideas, January 2024.
- Hale, Thomas and David Held, “Breakingthe Cycle of Gridlock”, Global Policy 9:1 (2018).
- Stone, Diane and Kim Mahoney, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration (Oxford University Press, 2019), Introduction.
- Pouliot, Vincent and Jean-Philippe Thérien, eds. Global Policymaking; The Patchwork of Global Governance (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Introduction and Chapter 1.
From Professor Andrew Potter | The Canadian Political and Policy Landscape
- Potter, Andrew, "In Alberta’s quest for a fair deal, the province shouldn’t look to Quebec for solutions," The Globe and Mail (May 2021).
- Heath, Joseph, "The Myth of Shared Values in Canada," Canadian Centre for Management Development," (2003).
From Professor Nick King | Experts, Science and Evidence
- PPOL 606 is a class about the benefits and pitfalls in using evidence for policy. In preparation, I recommend that you spend some time listening to two podcasts that take a critical look at evidence and its use in policy-relevant circumstances: Cautionary Tales and Science Vs. If you're ambitious, have a look at Tim Harford's book The Data Detective (Harford is also the host of Cautionary Tales).
- https://timharford.com/articles/cautionarytales/
- https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs
- https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-data-detective-ten-easy-rules-to-make-sense-of-statistics/9780593084663.html
