Peter J Wilcoxen

PAI 300 Economics for Policy Analysis

Spring 2025

General Information About the Course

General Information, Textbook, Software, and Requirements
General information you may need at the beginning of the semester.
Course Outline
The list of the topics to be covered in class this semester including links to optional exercises.

Announcements

Jan 13 Welcome! 

Daily Assignments

D1: Background information In class 1/14  
D2: Expected Value and Adverse Selection In class 1/14  
D3: Adverse Selection in Health Insurance In class 1/16  
D4: Waiver Market Bids In class 1/21  
D5: Building the Market Demand Curve from Individual Data In class 1/21  
D6: Waiver Bids Round 2 In class 1/23  
D7: Large Scale Waiver Market Analysis In class 1/23 
D8: Examining the Impact of a Tax In class 1/28  
D9: Tax Policy Analysis In class 1/28 
D10: Solving for BAU and Policy Equilibria In class 1/30  
D11: Finding Market Equilibria In class 1/30 
D12: Calculating Welfare Impacts In class 2/4  
D13: Detailed Tax Analysis In class 2/4 
D14: Calculating Distributional Impacts In class 2/6 
D15: Completing the Tax Analysis In class 2/6 
D16: Using Elasticities In class 2/11 
D17: Using Elasticities on the Supply Side In class 2/13 
D20: Cigarette Tax Analysis In class 2/20  
D21: Using Marginal Social Cost In class 2/25  
D22: Carbon Tax Analysis In class 2/25 
D23: Designing a Vaccination Policy In class 2/27 
D24: Impact of a Minimum Wage on Employees In class 3/4  
D25: Evaluating a Minimum Wage In class 3/4 
D27: Evaluating a Gas Price Ceiling In class 3/6  
D28: Cross Subsidies in Flood Insurance In class 3/18  
D29: Revising a Cross Subsidy at a Gym In class 3/18  
D30: Calculating Production Costs In class 3/20  
D31: Minimizing Production Costs In class 3/25  
D32: Building a Cost Curve In class 3/25  
D33: Presentation Feedback In class 3/27  

Weekly Assignments, Memos, and Flash Talks

Weekly 1: Math Refresher Due Tue 1/21 
Weekly 2: Adverse Selection in Health Insurance Due Tue 1/28 
Weekly 3: Analyzing a Gas Tax Due Tue 2/11 
Flash Talk 1 Due Mon 2/17 by 11:59 pm. 
Memo 1: Gas Tax Analysis Due Thu 2/27 [revised] 
Weekly 4: Designing a Policy for a Network Externality Due Thu 3/6 
Weekly 5: Evaluating a Price Floor on Alcohol Due Thu 3/20 
Flash Talk 2 Due Wed 3/26 by 11:59 pm. 
Weekly 6: Affordable Internet Service for Rural Areas Due Thu 4/3 

Optional Exercises

The exercises available from the links below are also available through the "Course Outline" page under individual topics. That's probably a better way to get to them. They're listed here as well in case that's convenient.

Economic Skills Project
Exercises with detailed explanations and some videos.
Five Minute Exercises
Very short practice exercises designed to be done in 5 minutes or so.
Supplementary Exercises
Other exercises you may want to do to help understand the material.

Other Resources

About Flash Talks
Guidelines for flash talks.
Excel Certification
Maxwell and Arts and Sciences sponsor a free Excel Certification program.
How to Count This Course Toward the PST Economics Requirement
It's a very straightforward petition.
Khan Academy Module on Factoring
Very handy if you're rusty on factoring algebraic expressions.
Math Quick Reference Guide
Quick reference on key math concepts used in the class.
Notation
A quick reference list of names, abbreviations and symbols.

Quick Tips on Writing Policy Memos
A few Do's and Don'ts about writing policy memos.
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URL: https://wilcoxen.maxwell.insightworks.com/pages/8431.html
Peter J Wilcoxen, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University
Revised 04/01/2025