This course explores how political and economic outcomes emerge from the interaction of individual incentives, institutional rules, and social norms. Departing from models that treat government decisions as exogenous or normatively optimal, the course adopts a political economy perspective grounded in institutional and organisational economics.
Students will examine how formal structures — such as property rights, contracts, and bureaucracies — interact with informal institutions, including cultural norms and shared expectations, to shape behaviour in both political and economic domains. Topics may include the analysis of topical policy issues, allocation of authority, institutional persistence and change, the role of beliefs and expectations, and the influence of culture on organisational design and public governance.
The course emphasises analytical clarity and strategic reasoning while remaining attentive to the empirical complexity of real-world institutions and policy issues. It is designed to equip students with a flexible toolkit to interpret how political and economic systems function — and why they differ across settings.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of how institutional structures and cultural norms jointly shape economic and political behaviour.
- Interpret and critically assess key theoretical frameworks in institutional, organisational, and political economy.
- Use economic reasoning to analyse strategic behaviour within institutional and organisational settings.
- Evaluate how formal and informal institutions affect the credibility, efficiency, and legitimacy of policy.
Indicative Assessment
- Typical assessments may include but is not restricted to in-class exercises, written and oral assignments, quizzes, examinations, group project tasks, oral presentation, and other assessment deemed appropriate to show attainment of the learning outcomes set for the course. Further details will be made available via the Class Summary. (100) [LO 1,2,3,4]
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Workload
130 hours in total over the semester consisting of lectures, tutorials and private study time.
Inherent Requirements
N/A
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
See Class Summary.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $5520 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $7020 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.