Connie Angermeier, BHA Policy & Management Concentration Advisor (PH 208H)

BHA Policy & Management Concentration

(87 units minimum)

The Policy & Management concentration prepares students for key decision-making and management roles in government, non-profit organizations and business. The concentration emphasizes analytical approaches to decision making, practical management skills and empirical techniques necessary for graduates to excel in the public and private sectors. The multidisciplinary curriculum merges frontier knowledge on the ideals of decision making, policy and data analysis, as well as the realities of individual behavior within various institutional settings that must be confronted if high-quality outcomes are to be attained.

The Policy & Management concentration provides an excellent combination of theoretical and practical skills for students who intend to seek managerial positions. Because of its strong analytic orientation, it is also an excellent concentration for those who intend to go on to professional school programs in law, business or public policy. It is also an appropriate choice for students pursuing graduate degrees in economics, political science or decision science.

Policy Core (2 courses, 18 units) 

The Policy Core gives students applied economic training and policy analysis experience. Students will gain an analytical understanding of some of the biggest domestic and global economic policy challenges, and gain an appreciation of the economic analysis of complex decisions, as well as the trade-off between economic and political-based decision making.

		Units
73-102	Principles of Microeconomics	9
or 73-104	Principles of Microeconomics Accelerated
88-221	Markets, Democracy, and Public Policy	9

Management Core (3 courses, 30 units)

The Management Core focuses on real-world applications of decision making. Students will develop an understanding of effective negotiation strategies and tactics, and identify the barriers and the psychological factors that may prevent decision-makers from reaching wise agreements. The courses provide systematic methods for dealing with the complexities that make decisions difficult, ranging from incorporating issues of risk and uncertainty in decision making to dealing with choices that have mutually conflicting objectives. For example, a business or government agency may need to decide on a policy for mitigating the uncertain impacts of air pollution while simultaneously trying to minimize the costs of such a policy on manufacturing. A firm might want to consider the uncertain reductions in security dangers from alternative policies to protect against terrorism.

88-150	Managing Decisions	9
or 88-255	Strategic Decision Making
88-223	Decision Analysis	12
88-235	Negotiation: Strategies and Behavioral Insights	9
or 88-234	Negotiation: International Focus

Empirical Core (3 courses, 27 units)

The Empirical Core focuses on key methods for collecting and analyzing data that are needed to make informed decisions. Students learn to use interviews, surveys, experiments and econometric methods to enhance their ability to test existing, and design new policies. Students will create statistical models to address questions asked in conceptual, computational and data-driven investigations.

36-202	Methods for Statistics & Data Science	9
88-251	Empirical Research Methods	9
88-252	Causal Inference: from Data to Decisions	9
or 88-275	Bubbles: Data Science for Human Minds

Senior Project (1 course, 12 units)

The required Senior Project course gives students hands-on experience in a policy-related area. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams to apply the research and analytical methods learned in their other courses to a real-world problem.

88-451/452

Policy Analysis Senior Project

12