PUBPOL 5190 - Nonprofits and Public Policy

(SBA-HE)      

Recommended Prerequisite: PUBPOL 3100  or a course in basic econometrics in strongly recommended. Co-meets with PUBPOL 3190 .

N. Bottan.

The Nonprofit sector plays an important role in society and makes up a growing share of the U.S. economy. In this course, we use economic theory and econometric tools to examine the nonprofit market and how it gets shaped by public policy. Topics covered include theories of the nonprofit market, determinants of charitable giving and volunteering, the role played by religion, competition between nonprofits and for-profits in labor markets, and the effects of taxes, subsidies and regulations.

Outcome 1: Describe the main theories explaining the need for having a nonprofit sector.

Outcome 2: Evaluate whether nonprofits are suitable or needed in different industries.

Outcome 3: Apply and explain intuition behind economic models that describe the public and nonprofit sectors.

Outcome 4: Interpret econometric evidence and evaluate appropriateness of methods to address important question in the sector.