Public Choice Theory - June/July 2023

BUSN2080: Topics in Economics - enrol class no. 1067

The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is offering a Winter School course on Public Choice Theory on its Fremantle campus. Public Choice Theory is a sub-discipline of economics that entails applying economic methodology to the sphere of political science and is sometimes referred to as “politics without romance”.The topics covered include rent-seeking, regulatory capture, pressure-group activity, government failure, constitutional design, voting paradoxes, and the economics of bureaucracies. The course provides students with both a broad understanding of the public choice approach and a more nuanced appreciation of specific theories associated with this approach.

The course will be delivered in person over a two-week period from 26 June to 7 July 2023. The first week will be delivered by UNDA staff and is devoted to providing an introduction and broad survey of Public Choice Theory. The second week will be delivered by a number of local, national, and international experts in Public Choice Theory and is devoted to building upon the foundations laid in the first week by considering more specialised topics. Confirmed speakers who will deliver content in the second week of the course include Jeff Bennett (ANU) and Lachlan Umbers (UWA). The second week also features a one-day conference which this year is devoted to the topic Australia’s Champion of Public Choice: An Appreciation of the Life and Works of Geoffrey Brennan.

For more information about the Public Choice Theory Winter School, please feel free to contact the Course Coordinator for BUSN2080, Dr Riko Stevens, at riko.stevens@nd.edu.au.