Introduction to Public Policy & Institutional Analysis

Lecture 1: A fair start

Readings:

1. Malcolm Gladwell (2008) Outliers: The Story of Success, Chapter 1, "The Matthew Effect," New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Lecture 2: Public policy and critical thinking

Readings:

1. Jonathan Pincus (2010) "Policy Case Study: Milk Price Registration and Regulations in Vietnam: Will it Lower Milk Prices?" Fulbright School, September.

2. Vietnamnet series on milk pricing, "Người tiêu dùng Việt Nam đang 'đốt' tiền mua sữa," Articles 1-5.

Lecture 3: Self-interest and the division of labor

Required Readings:

1. Adam Smith, Self-interest vs. benevolence as incentives: a selection from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I chapter II. Edwin Cannan, ed. 1904. Library of Economics and Liberty.

Suggested reading:

1. Joseph Stiglitz (1998) Distinguished lecture on Economics in Government: "The Private Uses of Public Interests: Incentives and Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring, 3-22.

Lecture 4: Rationality and uncertainty

Required Readings:

1. John Maynard Keynes (1936), The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, London: Macmillan (reprinted 2007), Chapter 12: "The State of Long-term Expectation," also available on:

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/

Suggested reading:

1. Amartya K. Sen (1977) Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 317-344

2. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2011), Superfreakeconomics. Chapter 3: "Unbelievable stories about apathy and altruism," Harper Perenial.

3. Steven Landsburg (1993) Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life, Free Press. Chapter 16 - 18: "Why Popcorn Costs More at the Movies and Why the Obvious Answer Is Wrong," "Courtship and Collusion: The Mating Game," "Cursed Winners and Glum Losers: Why Life Is Full of Disappointments"

Lecture 5: Guest lecture: The case of helmet regulation in Vietnam

Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Required Readings:

1. Vũ Thành Tự Anh và Nguyễn Hoàng Phương, Tình huống mũ bảo hiểm xe máy ở Việt Nam, 1/2013

http://www.fetp.edu.vn/

Lecture 6: Heuristics and biases: human behaviors and policy considerations

Required Readings:

1. Dan Ariely (2008) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, Chapter 7, "The High Price of Ownership: Why We Overvalue What We Have," New York: Harper Collins.

Suggested reading:

1. Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (1982) Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Lecture 7: The Power of the market and the role of government

Required Readings:

1. Peter Nolan (2004) China at the Crossroads, Cambridge: Polity. Selection from Chapter 3, "Adam Smith and the contradictions of the free market economy," pp. 145-173.

Suggested reading:

1. Milton and Rose Friedman (1980) Free to Choose, A Personal Statement, New York: Hartcourt Books. Introduction and Chapter 1: "The Power of the Market". Also see: Free to Choose (1990), A TV Series by PBS, Vol. 1, The Power of the Market.

2. John Cassidy (2009) How Markets Fail, New York: Farrar, Straus and Girous. Chapter 12, "Hidden Information and the Market for Lemons"

Lecture 8: Guest lecture: The case of a single buyer: electricity power trading company

Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Required Readings:

1. Nguyễn Xuân Thành (2007), The case of a single buyer: electricity power trading company, FETP Case Study.

http://www.fetp.edu.vn/

Lecture 9: Why nations fail?

Required Readings:

1. Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (2012). Why nations fail: the origins of power, prosperity and poverty, New York: Random House. Chapter 15: "Understanding prosperity and poverty."

Lecture 10: Guest lecture: Institution fragmentation - The case of Ho Chi Minh City Sea Ports

Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Required Readings:

1. Nguyễn Xuân Thành and Jonathan Pincus (2011), Di dời cảng biển Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh: Tình huống nghiên cứu về sự phân mảng thể chế, FETP Policy Paper.

http://www.fetp.edu.vn/

Lecture 11: What is the right thing to do?

Required Readings:

1. Michael Sandel (2009) Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Chapter 1: "Doing the right thing."

2. Phạm Duy Nghĩa, "The poor, the dogs and the rich" Tuổi Trẻ News 30/01/2010, news series on Hoàng Khương.

Lecture 12: Who deserves what? Distribution, freedom and equality

Required Readings:

1. Michael Sandel (2009) Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Chapter 8: "Who deserves what?"

2. Vũ Thành Tự Anh, "Inequality in raising electricity price," Saigon Times 03/03/2011.

Lecture 13: Evidenced-based Public Policy

Required Readings:

1. Mark Henderson (2013) "Using the Tools of Science to Improve Social Policy," The Observer, May 2013

Further reference:

1. Evidence-based Public Policy, The World Bank

http://www.worldbank.org/

Lecture 14: Challenges and opportunities of public policy

Required Readings:

1. William J. Fulbright (1967), The Arrogance of Power. New York: Random House. Selection from Part I, "The Higher Patriotism," Section 1, "The Citizen and the University."

2. Vũ Khoan (2011) "Lại bàn về đầu tư công," Saigon Economic Times, August 12, http://www.thesaigontimes.vn/