Policy, Economy and Society (IDEV*2200)

Code and section: IDEV*2200*01

Term: Fall 2026

Instructor: Bharat Punjabi

Details

This course focuses on the analysis of the major development and social justice policy problems facing societies across the globe by applying fundamental economic principles and approaches to the study of the economy and its interconnectedness with society. In so doing, it introduces economics for students that have never studied economics before and/or for whom the ways in which economists conceptualise and analyse the world may be challenging. The course is highly applied in nature, such that it poses the question, how can economics help us to understand and possibly solve societal problems?

This course focuses on the analysis of major development and social justice policy problems facing societies across the globe by applying fundamental economic principles and approaches to the study of the economy and its interconnectedness to society. In so doing, it introduces economics for students who have never studied economics before and/or for whom the ways in which economists conceptualise and analyse the world may be challenging. The course is applied in nature, such that it poses the question, how can economics help us to understand and possibly solve societal problems? There will be some modules where we will be hearing from visiting speakers who are professionals and academics in policy making on how development and public policy problems are dealt with. We will also be comparing methods followed by economists with policy tools used in other social sciences.

Throughout the course, there is some focus on interpreting, handling and analysing data so that we can understand societal issues and problems more clearly. Data is critical for the analysis of policy problems, and  skills in displaying and summarising these data are shared in this course.