Social and Urban Policy Concentration

The Social and Urban Policy (SUP) concentration in the Master in Public Policy (MPP) program draws together a set of policy domains—health, education, labor, poverty, crime, housing, urban land-use planning and urban economic development—that share a common concern with promoting a sustainable and improving level of well being for all members of society, and especially for those vulnerable children, elderly and adults who live at society’s margin. A particular focus of this concentration is policy-making and governance in urban areas since cities concentrate both opportunities for prosperity and challenges of sustainability and social inclusion.

The policy domains of concern in this concentration are relevant throughout the world: the US, other OECD countries and the developing world. Some social policies—such as health, education, public safety and housing—are concerned in part with ensuring a basic level of opportunity for all members of society. Other social policies—including labor and social insurance—are intended to protect families and individuals from catastrophic events, such as disability, unemployment, major illness or poverty in retirement. Still other social policies are designed to improve the overall welfare of society in the expectation or hope that an important share of the benefit will be captured by society’s more vulnerable.

The focus on urban governance reflects the fact that urbanization, and the opportunities and problems it generates, constitute one of the most overwhelming trends of our time. The policy domains of interest in this concentration often find particularly acute expression in large urban places. And the simultaneous pursuit of prosperity, sustainability, social peace and equity and a high quality of life for all pose very special challenges of governance in large urban agglomerations.

In addition to the general skills provided by the Public Policy core curriculum, students interested in social policy need a basic understanding of the causes and consequences of improvements in the overall welfare of society and of changes in the distribution of welfare within society. What policies promote an overall or general increase in social well being and to what extent do most vulnerable and at-risk groups share in the general improvement? To what extent do particular institutions—such as the education and health systems, the labor market, or the criminal justice system—increase or reduce inequality? How does the concentration of activity in cities affect the distribution of opportunity and well being among different groups? And what are the long and short term consequences of inequality for social, economic and political development?

Students should also be thoughtful about the peculiar political and managerial challenges posed by social policy and urban areas. Building political support for programs that have an element of redistribution or social insurance can be complicated since the beneficiaries often have little political influence. Social policy entrepreneurs thus often must create or manage coalitions that include service providers and others who interests are not completely aligned with those of the intended beneficiaries. Urban problems are particularly challenging because they often require cooperative action among independent cities in the same metropolitan area or among local, regional and national governments. Finally, the solution of social and urban problems is often beyond the skills or resources of any one sector—public, private or non-profit—but requires the different capabilities of all three. Effective policies often involve designing explicit or implicit partnerships between different levels of government and among the three sectors so that each plays a role for which it is well suited.

Finally, students of social and urban policy should have a more in-depth understanding of a particular policy domain such as education, health, labor, poverty, criminal justice, housing, urban land-use planning and urban economic development. While these areas share a common concern with the enhancement and protection of social well-being, each area also involves some important and unique policy analytic, political and managerial issues. An understanding of these unique issues is critical to the effective practice in each area.

Requirements

The Social and Urban Policy concentration adds two courses to the current requirements for the Masters in Public Policy degree but offers a variety of options to meet those added requirements, some U.S. oriented and others comparative. In addition, another course is strongly recommended but not required. The requirements are listed below with an “*” next to the two added courses.

(1) Complete the MPP core, but selecting the section of API-102 (second semester micro-economics) that is tailored to social and urban policy. That section would cover the basics of public finance (including the role of government in the economy, tax incidence and efficiency and fiscal federalism) and the economists’ perspective on the design of programs to address poverty, inequality and economic insecurity.

* (2) A course on the causes and consequences of inequality within or among nations. Courses that satisfy this requirement are:

• HLE-201, “Poverty and Social Policy”, Kathy Edin
• PED-130, “Why Are So Many Countries Poor, Volatile, and Unequal?”, Ricardo Hausmann
• PED-329, “The Microeconomics of Competitiveness: Firms, Clusters, and Economic Development”, Michael Porter (note: limited enrollment)
• API-121, “Macroeconomic Theory and Policy”, Filipe Campante

* (3) A course on the politics and history of social policy that highlights the challenges of building political support for redistribution and social insurance programs and of involving the non-profit and private sectors in the solution of social policy problems. The courses that satisfy this requirement are:

• DIP-312, “Sparking Social Change”, Archon Fung and Mark Moore
• HUT-201, “Urban Politics, Planning and Development”, Alan Altshuler
• HCP 175, “Political Analysis and Strategy for US Health Care Policy”, Robert Blendon
• PED-313, “Politics of Development Policy”, Merilee Grindle
• “The History of Poverty Policies”, Alex Keyssar (new course likely to be offered in AY 2010-11; course number to be assigned)

(4) Two courses in a social and urban policy area of the student’s choice (e.g., education, health, poverty, urban planning, etc.)

(5) A Policy Analysis Exercise on a social and urban policy topic.

Recommended

Social and urban policy concentrators are also strongly recommended, but not required, to take a course in qualitative research methods. The two quantitative analysis courses in the core curriculum (API-201 and API-202) cover quantitative techniques that are of great and growing importance in the assessment of social policies. But social policy analysis often relies on qualitative assessments as well, such as surveys, participant observation, interviews, and case studies. Students using qualitative techniques for their Policy Analysis Exercise are particularly urged to enroll in a qualitative analysis course before or concurrently. The suggested courses are:

• API-207, “Qualitative Methods in Policy Research”, Timothy Nelson
• API-214m, “Public Opinion, Polling, and Public Policy”, Robert Blendon

(Note that API-203, “Research Design and Methods for Field Work” by Kathy Edin is intended for doctoral students. Its counterpart at the master’s level is API-207.)