In total you will take eight courses over a 22-month period. You will attend LSE for five week-long courses, as well as for a 3-day Introduction to Public Policy course, and two 3-day workshops on Policy in Practice. You will customise your learning experience by choosing two specialist modules from a range of options listed below.
You may also like to view the Department's webpages about this programme for further detail.
First year
(* denotes a half unit)
The EMPA does not require you to have a prior knowledge of economics or statistics. At the start of each intake, we deliver a 2-day Introduction to Statistics Workshop.
The workshop, which is not assessed, ensures that you are ready to undertake the EMPA by quickly and effectively bringing you up to the necessary level required to understand the concepts discussed in the courses that follow.
Introduction to Public Policy*
This introductory course provides you with the foundations for analysing key public policy questions. We will introduce how and why to study policy problems and solutions analytically and systematically. You’ll learn how to think about handling situations where there are competing interests and how incentives affect behaviour, and you’ll learn when markets deliver good outcomes and, more importantly, when they don’t, thus justifying intervention or regulation.
Political Science and Public Policy*
This core course introduces you to a range of theoretical and empirical tools to analyse the politics of policy-making. The main focus is on political institutions in modern democracies and how they relate to public policy. Topics include elections, representation, delegation, accountability, interest groups, legislatures, executives, and decentralisation.
Public Policy in Practice Workshop I*
This introductory workshop demonstrates how economists and political scientists approach policy challenges with the aim of encouraging you to start thinking like a social scientist.
Empirical Methods for Public Policy*
This core course introduces you to the quantitative evaluation of public policies. The focus is on practical applications of state-of-the-art empirical methods. The course begins with an overview of the key benefits of randomised experiments and then covers a number of other widely used approaches to determine the effectiveness of public policy interventions.
Economic Policy Analysis*
This core course covers both key microeconomic policy issues, such as externalities, public goods and principal-agent problems, and macroeconomic issues such as unemployment, fiscal and monetary policies, international trade and finance, and the determinants of long-run growth. The emphasis is on acquiring sound models and methods suitable for appraising policy-making issues in a wide variety of contexts.
Public Policy in Practice Workshop I*
This workshop applies the analytical tools that are taught in the week-long courses of the EMPA to specific policy areas using an innovative mix of academic thinking and senior practitioner insights.
Second year
Public Policy in Practice Workshop II*
This workshop applies the analytical tools that are taught in the week-long courses of the EMPA to specific policy areas using an innovative mix of academic thinking and senior practitioner insights.
In your second year you also choose two optioncourses, which allow you to specialise in policy areas of particular interest to you. You can also ‘audit’ a 3rd option course, that is fully participate but not submit assessment. Please note that ‘audit’ courses do not appear transcripts. An indicative list of option courses is listed below:
Global Market Economics*
Public Economics for Public Policy*
Regulatory Analysis*
Fiscal Governance and Budgeting*
Development Economics*
You can find the most up-to-date list of option courses in the Programme Regulations section of the current School Calendar.
You must note, however, that while care has been taken to ensure that this information is up to date and correct, a change of circumstances since publication may cause the School to change, suspend or withdraw a course or programme of study, or change the fees that apply to it. The School will always notify the affected parties as early as practicably possible and propose any viable and relevant alternative options. Note that the School will neither be liable for information that after publication becomes inaccurate or irrelevant, nor for changing, suspending or withdrawing a course or programme of study due to events outside of its control, which includes but is not limited to a lack of demand for a course or programme of study, industrial action, fire, flood or other environmental or physical damage to premises.
You must also note that places are limited on some courses and/or subject to specific entry requirements. The School cannot therefore guarantee you a place. Please note that changes to programmes and courses can sometimes occur after you have accepted your offer of a place. These changes are normally made in light of developments in the discipline or path-breaking research, or on the basis of student feedback. Changes can take the form of altered course content, teaching formats or assessment modes. Any such changes are intended to enhance the student learning experience. You should visit the School’s Calendar, or contact the relevant academic department, for information on the availability and/or content of courses and programmes of study. Certain substantive changes will be listed on the updated graduate course and programme information page.