Graduate Study in Political Economy

The Wallis Institute supports graduate training in political economy for students in the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science. Prospective students who seek to specialize in this area should apply to the PhD program in one of those two departments. Students admitted to the economics or political science program are subject to the requirements of their program, and can choose to take advanced graduate seminars in political economy.

The Wallis Institute provides a two-course sequence in political economy taught by faculty from the parent departments. Students in economics can take the sequence and write a qualifying exam to fulfill the requirements for the political economy field; students in political science may take the sequence as part of the requirements for the formal political theory field.

In addition to course offerings, the Wallis Institute runs a seminar series that allows Rochester faculty and students to present their work, and it brings in top researchers across the field from other departments. The institute sponsors post-docs and other visitors and encourages interaction with graduate students.

Finally, students are invited to attend an annual conference organized by the institute that continues to serve as a focal point of the political economy field.

Political Economy Sequence

PEC 575: Political Economy I is the first course in the political economy sequence and typically emphasizes foundational theory, especially connections to the theory of social choice. The goal of the course is to give students in political economy a firm theoretical grounding for their work.

The second course, PEC 582: Political Economy II, covers a range of topics, from elections to legislative policy, and makes use of methods from formal modeling, computational analysis, or empirical analysis.

See the course descriptions/course schedules page for course descriptions and offerings.