Public Policy Analysis

(1) Identify a current federal, state, or local public policy issue that: (a) interests you, (b) allows you to apply microeconomics reasoning, and (c) has not been thoroughly covered within our class. (You may write about an
issue that has been discussed in class if you address the issue in greater depth or in a new direction.)
(2) Research your issue to familiarize yourself with the major policy and microeconomic arguments that relate
to your issue.
(3) Apply at least one microeconomics concept studied in our class such as incentives, marginal thinking and
sunk costs, opportunity cost, elasticity, competition, externalities, public or common property goods, efficiency,
poverty and/or equity, etc., to develop a policy position regarding your issue.
(4) Identify your target audience and advocate for your position.
Example Public Policy Topics:
Traffic Control, Gas or Other Product Taxes, Education Reform, Crime Deterrence, Pollution Control, Poverty
and Inequality, Price Control Policies, Monopoly Regulation, Safety Regulation, Drug Policy, Health Care
Reform, Social Security Reform, Farm Subsidies, Protection of Species, Funding for a Public Good, etc.