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Assignments

To complete the course, you must:

• turn in 4 problem sets
• turn in 5 short (less than 5 page) papers
• attend every "paper review session" (more about this below)

Each student in the course will be assigned to one of two groups -- group "A" and group "B". Students in both groups must do all problem sets, and all students must do both the paper due on October 3 and the paper due on December 11. After that, you have three more paper assignments to do, but which ones depends on the group to which you're assigned. You'll see in the Schedule below that for each of our meetings there are two assignments listed: one for group A and one for group B. You must turn in only the assignments listed for your group, and your grade will be based only on those assignments.

Deadlines and Format Requirements

Problem sets are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated by the schedule. Paper due dates vary from one assignment to another. I do not accept late assignments. Assignments turned in after the deadline will be marked '0' (the lowest possible score). Every paper must:

• Be submitted electronically via blackboard without your name on it
• Be submitted as a .pdf NOT as .doc or .docx
• Run no more than 5 pages
• Be double spaced
• Be printed in no less than 12 point font
• Have no less than 1-inch margins

Attendance

This course is going to use "peer review" to help you improve your writing. Peer review sessions will be held on dates marked below as "peer review sessions." Attendance at lecture is MANDATORY for all students on those days. I reserve the right to lower your grade by up to 1 full grade point if you fail to attend these sessions multiple times or without sufficient reason.

Grading

Every assignment (both problem sets and papers) is graded on a 4 point scale. At the end of the semester I drop your lowest problem set score. I then calculate a final 4 point score as a weighted average in which each of the three counted problem sets gets a weight of 0.05, and each of the five papers gets a weight of .20*0.85. The resulting 4-point overall score, is then coverted to a letter grade according to the following rules:

Paper Revisions

If you wish, you may revise and resubmit one of the papers you write for re-grading. To be considered, it must be sumbitted within 7 days of me returning the graded original to you.

Dates of Mandatory-Attendance Peer Review Sessions

Summary of Due Dates

Full Schedule

September 5

topic:	Intro to the Course

September 12

topic:	Basics of Rational Choice Models (preferences, utility, maximization)
reading:	Chapter 1 of Lecture Notes, "Rational Choice Models."
group A assignment:
	none
group B assignment:
	none

September 19

topic:	Probability, Expectation, and Rational Choice Under Uncertainty
reading:	Chapter 2 of Lecture Notes, "Models of Rational Choice Under Uncertainty."
group A assignment:
	Problem Set 1
group B assignment:
	Problem Set 1

September 26

topic:	An Early Analysis of Political Accountability
reading:	Chapters 3 and 4 of An Economoic Theory of Democracy by Anthony Downs
group A assignment:
	Problem Set 2
group B assignment:
	Problem Set 2

October 3

topic:	Game Theory Basics -- Mostly Sequential Move Games; A bit of Dynamic Programming
reading:	Chapter 3 of Lecture Notes, "Game Theory"
group A assignment:
	paper on Downs
group B assignment:
	paper on Downs

October 10

topic:	Accountability with "Hidden Actions"
reading:	John Ferejohn (1986) "Incumbent Performance and Electoral Control."
group A assignment:
	Problem Set 3
group B assignment:
	Problem Set 3

October 17 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	Screening vs. Sanctioning
reading:	James D. Fearon (1999) "Electoral Accountability and the Control of Politicians: Selecting Good Types vs. Sanctioning Poor Performance." In Przeworski, Stokes and Manin Democracy, Accountability, and Representation. Cambridge University Press.
group A assignment:
	paper on Ferejohn
group B assignment:
	none

October 24 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	An Empirical Investigation of Accountability
reading:	Brandice Canes-Wrone, David W. Brady and John F. Cogan (2002) "Out of Step, Out of Office: Electoral Accountability and House Member's Voting." American Political Science Review. 96(1): 127 -- 140.
group A assignment:
	none
group B assignment:
	paper on Fearon

October 31 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	Pandering
reading:	Sanford C. Gordon and Gregory A. Huber (2004) "Accountability and Coercion: Is Justice Blind When It Runs for Office?" American Journal of Political Science. 48(2): 247 -- 263.
group A assignment:
	paper on Canes-Wrone et al.
group B assignment:
	none

November 7 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	Intro to Public Goods and Models of Taxation
reading:	none
group A assignment:
	none
group B assignment:
	paper on Gordon and Huber

November 14

topic:	Electoral Competition and Public Good Provision
reading:	Chapter 3 of Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini Political Economics
group A assignment:
	Problem Set 4
group B assignment:
	Problem Set 4

November 21

NO CLASS!!!

November 28

topic:	Redistribution
reading:	Assar Lindbeck and Jorgen Weibull "Balanced-budget redistribution as the outcome of political competition." 52(3): 273--297.
group A assignment:
	paper on Persson and Tabellini Chapter 3
group B assignment:
	paper on Persson and Tabellini Chapter 3

December 5 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	Redistribution and Inefficiency
reading:	Avinash Dixit and John Londregan (1995) "Redistributive Politics and Economic Efficiency." American Political Science Review 89(4): 856--866.
group A assignment:
	Paper on Linbeck and Weibull
group B assignment:
	none

December 12 (Peer Review Session)

topic:	wrap up
reading:	none
group A assignment:
	none
group B assignment:
	paper on Dixit and Londregan