PUBPO-MPP - Public Policy (MPP)

1. The university regards a joint degree as distinct from either of its component degrees and requirements for the joint degree differ from the sum of the requirements for the individual degrees.

2. Up to a maximum of 45 units, or one year, of the university residency requirement can be credited toward both graduate degree programs (i.e., the joint degree requirements may contain up to 45 units less than the sum of each program separately). For example, a J.D./M.P.P. has a four-year residency requirement, one year less than the sum of the requirements for the separate degrees. This recognizes a subject matter overlap between the fields comprising the joint degree.

3. The Public Policy Program encourages an intellectual, professional, and social community among its students. For this reason, joint degree students are strongly encouraged to devote one year of full-time study at Stanford entirely to the Public Policy Program rather than spacing out Public Policy courses throughout their graduate careers. For joint degree PhD students, the core requirements of the MPP should be completed over two contiguous years of study, during which students may also be enrolled in courses from their PhD program. Exceptions to this structure must be approved in advance by petition.

4. Joint degree students are expected to have and consult regularly with an academic advisor. The advisor is generally a member of the faculty of both degree programs and must be a member of the Academic Council. The program director and staff are available to make advisor recommendations.

5. To take advantage of the reduced residency requirement, joint MPP students must define their concentration area from courses offered in their non-Public Policy program. Students wishing to concentrate in another field should apply for a dual, rather than a joint, MPP degree.

The concentration in Computational Public Policy focuses on students developing skills in computer science, data science, and advanced statistics combined with policy analysis. It focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on applying quantitative techniques to policy issues that arise in various subject matter areas. Because policy analysis interacts with the technical elements of particular disciplines, all schools and many departments in the university offer courses that meet these requirements. For the most part, the common denominator is the extensive use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and statistics, as policy analysis tools. Concentration courses should focus on developing the skills necessary for modern data-intensive policy analysis. Students choosing such courses, therefore, need to consider their interest in the field in which the course is being given in addition to the methodology being presented. It is also advisable in most recommended courses that concentrators have an above-average background in mathematics, statistics, and computation.

The course list includes classes that students have taken in the past to complete this particular concentration, as well as additional classes that may be considered toward this topic. Students may choose to take other courses, though all concentration courses must be discussed with and approved by the faculty advisor whether or not they are on the suggested list. 

Complete 35 units from the list below.

All courses must be taken for a letter grade.

The educational experiences of young people are shaped by education and social policy decisions made at the national, state, local, and school-building levels. Moreover, these policy choices impact the educational opportunities available to young people and the distribution of cognitive and other skills in the labor force. A thorough understanding of current education policy debates and their consequences requires knowledge of the structure and history of the education system, the politics of education policy-making, the relationships among educational systems and other social policies, the distribution of resources—including teachers—within an educational system, and methods of policy analysis and evaluation. The concentration in education policy prepares students to participate in the analysis of education policy and broader political debates about the aims and structure of the educational systems. Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international education agencies and organizations. 

Requirements

Core courses and electives will be selected from the list below as appropriate for the goals of individual students. All MPP students in the concentration will take two gateway courses in Education Policy; two in Foundations of Education, one in Organizational Studies and Education; and at least two additional elective courses. Coterm students will take one gateway course and enough elective courses to satisfy the unit requirements. Note that this is not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor and Program Director. 

Healthcare spending in the United States has grown to more than 17 percent of GDP and is one of the economy’s fastest-growing sectors. One reason for high expenditures on healthcare is the “third-party payer” system. Employers or state and federal governments pay for medical services patients and doctors select, diminishing the incentive to choose the most cost-effective services. In many cases, there is little objective evidence on the most effective treatment for particular conditions. As a result, a given condition may be treated quite differently from one area to another. Moreover, despite very large expenditures overall, many citizens lack medical coverage, and others forgo preventative measures that could reduce later spending on treatment. Dealing with these inefficiencies and coverage gaps is a critical national priority.

The concentration in health policy prepares students to participate in the analysis of health care policy and the broader political debate about health care. Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international organizations concerned with health policy, regulatory agencies, and firms dealing with such agencies, including consultancies.

Requirements

Required concentration courses and electives will be selected from the listing below as appropriate for the goals of individual students. There will be a separate track for students with a particular interest in epidemiology, which requires prerequisite coursework, specifically course, course, and course or equivalents.

Note that the list of courses below is not exhaustive; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

In a world where problems cross borders and disciplines, where threats previously thought to be independent are interconnected, and where distinctions between domestic and foreign policy are becoming more and more tenuous, students need training and perspective to break down disciplinary silos. They need the tools and talent to work across issues in diverse policy arenas. They need to see connections that others miss and be able to describe and explain them so that others will see them too. The concentration in International Policy Studies aims to train the next generation of policy leaders who will influence policy-making in trade, foreign affairs, security, economic development, and the environment.

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

The allocation of scarce resources is generally left to decentralized market forces and autonomous citizens. But markets sometimes have severe imperfections, and humans exhibit various cognitive biases. Intervention by the state seeks to avoid or mitigate the adverse outcomes of such imperfections. Intervention can take multiple forms, including taxes or subsidies, agency regulation, and legal rules that seek to improve the compatibility of individual incentives with social welfare (or with citizens’ ex-post evaluations of their own decisions). However, interventions in practice may fail to improve outcomes through inadequate design or other challenges.

This concentration focuses on understanding the analytical and empirical relationships between imperfect market or cognitive processes and imperfect state interventions. The concentration consists of courses from economics, law, management science and engineering, psychology, and other programs dealing with industrial organization, antitrust, utility regulation, consumer protection, social psychology, contracts, administrative law, and specific regulatory regimes. 

The individual courses should be cumulative or complementary with respect to the student’s interests and/or career plan, which must be stated in writing before approval of the elective plan and be approved in advance by a member of the Public Policy-affiliated faculty and by the director of the program.

Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international organizations, regulatory agencies, and firms dealing with such agencies, including consultancies.

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Students in this concentration analyze policy and policy-making through a lens of political and moral philosophy. The emphasis is on the foundational philosophies upon which public and private policy-making institutions are based. Students pursuing this concentration consider Ancient Greek, Enlightenment, and Modern political ideas and consider questions of morality in policy making. These fundamental issues can then be applied to problems within fields such as medicine, law, business, education, politics, the non-profit sector, and the environment.

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Science and technology are the roots of our understanding of the natural world and its relationship to human welfare and the constraints on what can be accomplished with the scarce resources comprising nature. Virtually all public policies are grounded in the realities of the natural world and proceed based on constantly changing assumptions about or understandings of nature. An understanding of science and technology is thus essential to the formation of virtually any sound public policy.

In addition to the role of science and technology in policymaking on issues such as environmental imbalances, energy sources, human health, and national defense, this concentration considers U.S. policies toward science and technology itself, U.S. policy-making institutions, and the roles that scientists, engineers, and physicians play in the policy process.

Foundation courses and electives will be selected from the listing below as appropriate for the goals of individual students. A total of 35 units is required, and all courses must be completed for a letter grade.

Students proposing to undertake the Science and Technology Concentration must have a program of study approved by a Science and Technology faculty member (see sidebar) before applying for admission.

Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international organizations concerned with science and technology policy and regulatory agencies, legislative bodies, and firms dealing with such agencies, including consultancies. Graduate students in science and engineering fields may find several sources of tuition (and, in some cases, stipend) support while taking classes in public policy. They should review the funding opportunities page for more details. 

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Humans remain part of the natural world. Like all other species, we rely upon the planet’s resources to thrive and return our wastes to the same environment. The impact of human activity on local areas has always been evident—uncoordinated exploitation of resources and discharge of waste progressively reduces human well-being. Growing population and economic activity increase the potential gains from understanding and optimizing our relationship with the rest of the natural world.

The concentration in Sustainability, Environment, and Energy Policy provides Public Policy students with an opportunity to devote a year to intense study of what is known scientifically about the impact of human economic activity on the earth’s resources and of alternative means to enhance human well-being through public measures designed to optimize resource use.

Perhaps the most potent environmental policy tools are those that control the use of energy resources. The state of scientific and technological knowledge at any time in history, together with available energy resources, defines feasible energy choices. Uncoordinated individual decisions to exploit these choices can lead to socially inefficient energy use patterns.

An example is individual drivers’ tendency to ignore their contribution to air pollution when deciding to drive, walk, or bicycle. Public policy aims to prevent such outcomes by inducing decision-makers to consider all the effects of particular energy choices. This is also true of other natural resources like land and water. Ultimately, systems that adjust individual and organizational incentives must be devised to bring incentives in line with the public interest as determined by policymakers. Effective implementation of energy and other environmental policy goals may require changes in law, tax policy, the provision of public services such as highways and mass transit, international treaties, and other policy tools.

Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international organizations, regulatory agencies, firms dealing with environmental, energy, and other natural resource issues, and private firms interacting with such agencies and organizations, including consultancies.

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Requirements for the Urban Policy Concentration for MPP students include completing at least three gateway courses, taking courses from at least two different focus areas, and fulfilling enough courses to satisfy the unit requirement. Requirements for the Urban Policy Concentration for Coterminal students include completing at least one gateway course and fulfilling enough elective courses to fulfill the unit requirement. 

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Should none of the other concentration topics quite fit their interest, students also have the option of designing their own concentration. A self-designed concentration requires a detailed statement of study goals and the relationship of each proposed course to those goals, as well as the approval of the student’s faculty advisor and the Program Director. Please reach out to the Public Policy Graduate Student Services Officer to discuss this option.