Teaching
Writing Referee Reports & Response Letters (with Randall Reback)
Skills session presented at the 2020 Association of Education Finance & Policy conference
Writing Reports & Responses.pdf
Higher Education Finance & Policy, PPPA 6085
This course provides an overview of the U.S. higher education system and current policy debates surrounding the value of a college education, who can afford it, and how we pay for it. The primary goals of the course are to (1) familiarize students the U.S. higher education landscape, systems of college finance, and key policy debates, (2) understand the theoretical foundations of private and public investment in postsecondary education, and (3) develop the analytic tools to evaluate higher education policy and effectively communicate results. Policy aims we will explore include equity, access, persistence, completion, affordability, efficiency, innovation, and accountability. Specific policy areas include financial aid, student debt and repayment, free community college, affirmative action, state and federal support for colleges, regulation of the for-profit sector, mentoring and advising initiatives, and many others. While there is no pre-requisite for this class and I welcome graduate students from all disciplines, the course is designed for Master’s Public Policy (MPP), Master’s Public Administration (MPA), and PhD students with a familiarity with policy analysis, economics, statistics, and evaluation.
Economics for Public Decision-Making, PPPA 6003
This course provides an introduction to microeconomics for MPA students, emphasizing its applications to public management and policy analysis. It is designed to help current and prospective professional administrators, managers, and practitioners in the public and nonprofit sectors address real-world issues and problems from an economic perspective. Central questions include: What is the economic justification for government? How should concerns about efficiency and equity be balanced? What policies should we undertake to improve well-being? How can public managers improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations?
Benefit-Cost Analysis, PPPA 6015
This course links economic theory with policy analysis, using the tool commonly referred to as “benefit-cost analysis” or BCA. As a formal assessment of a policy’s costs and benefits, BCA attempts to measure and compare the economic efficiency of policy options. This type of analysis has become standard practice in policy analysis—particularly in microeconomic policy areas such as the provision of public goods, government regulation, and taxation. The goal of the course is to provide MPP and PhD students with the conceptual foundations and practical skills they will need to be thoughtful consumers and producers of BCA.