The Micro Prep course was first introduced the incoming MPP students in Summer 2021. It helped introduce students to key policy relevant concepts, terms and analysis in preparation of the Microeconomics for Policy Analysis (PPG1002H) course.  In Summer 2022, the Micro Prep will once again be offered as a mix of asynchronous videos, some online quizzes and a few synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Before commencing their Fall term, incoming MPP students are encouraged to complete the MPP math/stats prep course, which provides a review of many of the mathematical tools required for the first-year courses in quantitative methods and economics. At the end of the prep course, all students must complete a required diagnostic of the math-stats topics covered.
While this diagnostic is mandatory of incoming MPP students, there is no “minimum mark” that must be achieved on it. Rather, the purpose of the diagnostic is to provide incoming MPP students with information regarding their readiness for the topics to be covered in our quantitative methods and economics courses.

This course is intended to provide foundational knowledge of key governance structures and political institutions at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels in Canada. The course will examine the Constitution, the Westminster parliamentary system, federalism, and the courts. In this course, students will consider emerging challenges to existing institutions, including the rise of cities, demands for self-government among Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples, and the transition from government to governance, and will conclude by reflecting on the quality of Canada’s democratic institutions in comparative perspective.

It is taught in three sections, and meets in plenary from time-to-time.

Term: Fall (1st year)
Instructors: J. Craft, G. Eidelman
Notes:  Required of all first year students.

This is a course in microeconomic theory for students in the MPP program at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. One objective of the course is to provide students with a foundation in microeconomic analysis and to demonstrate how it can be used to develop and evaluate public policy. Another objective is to increase students’ economic literacy and comfort with economic arguments. The course is designed to be accessible to all students, including those with no previous exposure to economics.

Term: Fall (1st year)
Instructor: S. Heblich
Notes: Required of all first year students.
*Prerequisite: Knowledge of high school mathematics, particularly algebra, working with graphs and fractions.
*Postrequisite: Students who do not pass PPG1002H must retake the Math-Stats Prep course diagnostic with a grade of at least 60%

The purpose of this course is to give MPP students a non-technical and broad-based understanding of macroeconomics and the tools of macroeconomic policy analysis.There are at least two reasons why macroeconomics is part of the MPP program: First, some MPP students will eventually wind up working on macro policy issues. Second, even those who do not will find that their policy work takes place in a broader macroeconomic environment that will inevitably affect them and that they need to understand.

Term: Winter (1st year)
Instructor: P. Dungan
Notes: Required of all first year students.

The central objective of this course is to equip students with the tools necessary to tackle issues that involve the empirical analysis of public policy problems of the sort they might encounter in a professional environment. The course will cover probability theory and statistics, with a focus on the sensible application of methods to deal with empirical problems using appropriate data.

The course is designed with twin objectives in mind. The first is to provide students with the ability to analyze critically the empirical analysis done by others at a level sufficient to make intelligent decisions about how to use that analysis in the design of public policy. The second is to provide students with the skills necessary to perform empirical policy analysis on their own or to participate on a team involved in such an empirical analysis.

Term: Fall (1st year)
Instructor: TBA
Notes: Required of all first year students.
*Prerequisite: Knowledge of high school mathematics, particularly algebra, working with graphs and fractions.
*Postrequisite: Students who do not pass PPG1004H must retake the Math-Stats Prep course diagnostic with a grade of at least 60%

This course explores how policy processes and frameworks need to be evaluated in light of the social context in which they are developed. Factors to be considered include the interplay between public values and expectations and public policy; the implications of structural, demographic, cultural and ideational changes, and understandings of ethical principles of conduct in public organizations. A related goal is to help students learn how to use empirical research to answer highly contested issues in policy circles and in public life. We will pursue these objectives by introducing students to major trends in inequality and social changes in Canada and in the world, assessing these trends within a comparative context, reflecting on their normative implications, and examining alternative policy responses to these developments.

Term: Fall or Winter (1st year)
Instructors: TBA (Fall), TBA (Fall), I. Peng (Winter)
Notes: Required of all first year students.

This is a foundational course in professional policy practice. It is interdisciplinary, drawing on key concepts from science, social science, business and public administration as well as the world of the policy practitioner. This course introduces students to thinking in a critical, integrated way about how to deliver on public policy objectives in the context of a dynamic political and stakeholder environment. Specifically, it examines key considerations in developing an implementation strategy for a policy initiative.

Term: Winter (1st year)
Instructors: M. Bitran (Lec. 0101), J. Mason (Lec. 0102), D. Fagan (Lec. 0103 & 0104)

Notes: Required of all first year students. (All four sections of this course will be offered in the Winter term, and students will be graded individually by the instructors in each part of the course.)

This course will introduce students to both quantitative and qualitative methods in program evaluation for public policy.  Students will gain an understanding of when and how to use various methods of program evaluation and will be exposed to both theoretical concepts and case studies.

This core course will be co-taught in the Winter term. The first 6-weeks will be taught by Prof. Jonathan Hall, followed by 6-weeks of instruction by Prof. James Radner.

Term: Winter (1st year)
Instructors: J. Hall, J. Radner
Notes: *Prerequisite: PPG1004H.
Required of all first year students. (Both sections of this course are in the Winter term, and students will be graded individually by the instructors in each part of the course.)
Prerequisite: PPG1004H
*Postrequisite: Students who do not pass PPG1008H must retake the Math-Stats Prep course diagnostic with a grade of at least 60%

Sustainability is a growing priority for public sector, private sector and civil society organizations all over the world. Many are developing strong sustainability goals and targets. The purpose of this course is to have students engage with practitioners in such organizations, to create ‘living lab’ activities whereby the students help these practitioners to achieve sustainability objectives. Students will be organized in groups, each of which will undertake an applied research project on some aspect of sustainability relevant to their ‘client’ organization, working in close partnership with staff at organizations in the City of Toronto, or at the University of Toronto. Students will develop the skills needed to produce information relevant to real-world problem-solving across disciplines and fields of study, working with non-academic partners.

Term: Winter (1st year)
Instructor: J. Robinson
Notes: Co-required of all first year students. (GLA2029H is a joint course with the MGA program)

This joint course with the MGA program introduces students to scholarship on the psychology of decision making and the analytics of strategic thinking. Drawing from the literature on public policy making, behavioural economics, and strategic analysis, the seminar will develop the analytical tools and the practical leadership skills students need to navigate the intersection among the global economy, global institutions, and global civil society. Students are required to analyze and craft strategies to address global public policy problems in the context of the three sectors.

Term: Fall (1st year)
Instructors: P. Loewen, J. Stein
Notes:  Co-required of all first year students. (GLA2029H is a joint course with the MGA program)

Students are required to complete a policy internship between the first and second year of study, or as otherwise tailored to meet the needs of the student and of the placement setting. Under faculty supervision, the internship allows students to apply their knowledge to significant problems in the public, private or non-profit sectors, and provides students the opportunity to develop and enhance skills in respective areas of professional interest.

The internship helps students clarify their career direction, gives perspective on classroom learning, and assists students in gaining experience and establishing networks of great value in securing employment after graduation. Internships may be voluntary or paid work experiences that relate to any aspect of policy planning, analysis, decision-making and implementation.

School staff work individually with students to help them identify and secure internships appropriate to their program and their career needs and goals. The School promotes and welcomes partnerships with government, community and private sector organizations seeking to provide internship opportunities to MPP students.

Upon completion of the internship, each student submits a written research report to their faculty supervisor providing an original analysis of the policy and/or organizational issues dealt with during the internship. These reports, which may be in the form of case studies, will be evaluated by the faculty supervisor on a credit/no credit basis and may be made available to first year students for review and to teaching faculty, hiring organizations and other practitioners.

Term: Summer
Instructors: Faculty Advisors as selected during the internship process.
Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses
Required of all first year students.
Students with outstanding PPG2006Y requirements may enroll in elective courses in the Fall term of their II-year of MPP studies. (Only upon completion of outstanding Internship requirements student may enroll in PPG2000H, PPG2003H, PPG2008H and PPG2022H in the Winter term of their II-year of MPP studies.)

This core course in the MPP program aims to help students understand the connection between politics and public policy by making sense of the political environment in which policy decisions are made, and the political forces at work throughout the policy process.

The course proceeds in two parts. First, students explore foundational theories of policy making that seek to capture the role of organized interests, the importance of political institutions, and the influence of ideas and ideology. Part two builds on this theoretical foundation by focusing on each specific “stage” of the policy process, investigating how policy issues emerge, agendas are set, programs designed and implemented, and outcomes evaluated. Particular attention is paid to how well theories of human motivation and rational decision making apply to real-world experiences in public policy.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Instructor:  T. Triadafilopoulos
Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses

SECTION I: Summer

Public Finance

Course Description

This course will look at the motivation and operation of major spending programs and revenue-raising tools of Canadian governments. It will explore rationales for government action such as externalities, information failures, redistribution and macroeconomic management, and the principal-agent problems that affect the design, financing and delivery of programs in areas such as healthcare, education, retirement income, and intergovernmental transfers. A key focus of the course is using financial statements and other reports to understand governments’ behaviour and mitigate principal-agent problems.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Instructor: M. Oschinski

SECTION I: Fall

International Development

Course Description

This course will explore international development from the perspective of practice. We examine central questions – why so many people are in deep poverty and what can be done about it – by considering the practical levers available to program leaders and policy makers. The course will therefore approach these large questions by iterating between two points of view: first, practical case studies, and second, conceptual frameworks and analytical readings. Students will participate in the interchange, as we progressively deepen our understanding of the core questions. We will interrogate a multi-disciplinary literature from the perspective of cumulative experience in development and immediate issues facing practitioners; we aim for a perspective that enables practitioners to adapt to and learn from the dynamic, uncertain environment in which they must work.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Instructor: J. Radner

SECTION II: Fall

Urban and Transportation Policy

Course Description

This course will help students use the tools of economics to think about urban and transportation policy. At the end of the course they will understand the economic forces driving the existence, size, and shape of cities; trade-offs inherent in different approaches to housing affordability; optimal investment and pricing for public transportation and roads; and how new transportation technologies have repeatedly changed cities. This course will help students develop their ability to use economic models to understand policy, to analyze data, and to read and understand research papers.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Instructor: J. Hall

OR

SECTION I: Winter

Inequality and Public Policy

Course Description

Public policy choices such as tax policy, social insurance, technology adoption, or infrastructure investments affect the level of inequality in a society. Conversely, the extent of inequality also affects the political power of individuals and groups in the society, thus affecting the types of public policies likely to be adopted. This course focuses on a critical analysis of the drivers and consequences of inequality, with particular attention to the two-way relation between inequality and public policy. Although the course emphasizes the economic angle, the discussions will be as broad and multidisciplinary as possible. After taking this course, students are expected to have a good understanding of i) the measurement of economic inequality and conceptual issues such as inequality of opportunity and outcomes, ii) dynamics and persistence of inequality, including the analysis of intergenerational mobility, and iii) the analysis of the relationship between economic inequality and public policy. The overarching goal of the course is to prepare students to have informed and critical discussions on the pressing issues of inequality, guided by the state of knowledge in the literature.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Instructor: M. Blimpo

Notes: *Prerequisites: PPG1002H, and successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses
Required of all second year students.
Courses offered under the “Current Issues/Problems in Public Policy and Practice” seminar series are subject to change with each new academic year.

SECTION I: Winter
Capstone Course

Course Description

This course is intended to draw on the skills, analytic approaches, and policy knowledge that students have acquired over the course of the MPP program and to bring them to bear on the development of a coherent policy agenda for the current Canadian context.

The course is modelled after the Institute for Research and Public Policy’s Canadian Priorities Agenda (CPA) project, updated to account for the dramatic shifts in the policy environment since the original CPA exercise in 2007. The CPA brought together a group of “agenda-setters” to set priority areas for action, researchers who made proposals for particular policies within each priority area, and a panel of “judges” who recommended new policy agendas for Canada by choosing from among the proposals presented. In this course, the student will act as all three—agenda setters, proponents and judges—in developing and defending an agenda of three policies for their final course assignment.

Unlike in past years, there will be no policy menu from which students choose their options. Rather, the student will conceive, design, develop and justify their own policy options and integrated agenda for improving the economic and social well-being of Canadians. Invited speakers will suggest important policy areas, but they will not necessarily be included in a student agenda.

The course will ask students to showcase integrative thinking, and make reasoned policy choices in the face of budgetary realities and political constraints. Students are expected to engage critically and meaningfully with the material and information presented through course assignments and in breakout groups.

By the end of the course, it is expected students will be able to balance and articulate the political, economic, social, fiscal, and intergovernmental needs and constraints of policymaking in Canada. Additionally, it is expected that by the end of the course students will be able to moderate the complexities of policymaking to address the question: what mix of policy options will most improve the social and economic wellbeing of Canadians?

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Instructors: TBA, TBA, A. Siddiqi and S. Speer

Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 5.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses
Required of all second year students.

SECTION I: Fall
Ethics and the Public Interest

*MPP students are to complete either PPG2011H or PPG2022H.

Course Description

Ethics and The Public Interest provides a range of frameworks, drawn from a variety of cultural perspectives, for analyzing and managing the complex ethical dilemmas that public officials confront. It is a course in politically-informed moral reasoning.

The practice of public administration is widely understood to be guided by certain core values and principles. Yet with the growing complexity of the state have come changing demands, structural reforms, and the creation of a more uncertain environment. Participants in this course will be provided with a set of intellectual tools for responding to this new environment, and for thinking about such issues as ethical leadership, public accountability, relating to ministers, and dealing with vague or inconsistent demands. It is organized around discussion of two major issues: first, it asks what values should guide decision-making in areas of administrative discretion; second, it looks at questions of compliance, in order to explore ways that the public service can continue to meet the highest standards of professional ethics.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Instructor: A. Stark
Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses
Second year students are required to register in the second year core PPG2011H OR the second year core PPG2022H.

SECTION II: Winter
Moral Foundations of Public Policy

*MPP students are to complete either PPG2011H or PPG2022H.

Course Description

Moral questions abound in framing public policy.  What are the legitimate aims of the state?  How should costs and benefits of policy choices be measured and distributed across the population?  And what ethical constraints are there on the pursuit of state aims? This course will explore these theoretical questions in the context of several distinct policy areas, including health care, environmental protection, tax and economic policy, family policy, and drug control.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Instructor: TBA
Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses
Second year MPP students are required to register in either PPG2011H OR PPG2022H.

This course is designed to expose MPP students to the scholarly literature on public policy across a wide range of countries. Through the study of public policy in other countries, students will deepen their knowledge of public policy, even Canadian policy.

SECTION I: Fall

Fall term course theme: Policy Design, Policy Feedback Effects, and Policy Outcomes: Designing Public Policy for the Outcomes You Want

A growing comparative public policy literature examines the relationship between policy design, policy feedback effects, and policy outcomes, particularly those designed to induce individual and group behavioural change. This course introduces students to theories and approaches to understand policy feedback effects: just as politics affects policies, public policies, in turn, affect politics. This policy process theory reveals that public policies have distributive consequences; they affect individuals’ and groups’ ability to partake in the policy process (what are called “resource effects”); and they affect how different individuals and groups perceive themselves in relation to the state (what are called “interpretive effects”). How one designs public policies, therefore, has real-world policy implications. Drawing on cases across a number of policy areas including education, environment, health, justice, and social policy, and examining policies across time and space, this course will help students examine the distributive consequences of public policy and examine those resource and interpretive feedback effects in a number of jurisdictions. In the final part of the course, we will get practical, examining how you design policies and what instruments do you choose to create the policy outcomes you want.

The course is designed to operate as a “policy solutions lab” where students will have the opportunity to examine, assess, and present their findings on how to more deliberately design public policies to achieve their intended results.

By the end of the course, students can expect to gain a broader and deeper understanding of policy design, policy feedback effects, and policy outcomes across a range of policy sectors. They will gain theoretical, analytic and comparative public policy skills as they examine these issues across a number of jurisdictions. They will learn to communicate their ideas both orally and in writing. And they will gain training in applied policy analysis as they grapple with various policy solutions.

Studying public policy in comparative perspective is a crucial tool to deepen our knowledge about how public policy is made. It is thus a key component of this course and the MPP program, even for those graduates who plan to spend their careers in Canada.

SECTION I: Winter

Winter term course theme: Cities & Regional Development Policy

This course will focus on Cities & Regional Development Policy. In the closing decades of the 20^th century, the economies of many high-income countries (Canada, the US, and much of Europe) began to change in surprising ways: gaps between cities in terms of average levels of income started to grow; and people started moving less, and more selectively. This was a surprise because, during much of the 20^th century, it was widely believed that incomes and living standards would equalize over space. These features have grown in significance in the 21^st century. Today, high-income  countries are marked by highly stratified urban systems, with big and dense ‘superstar’ cities attracting talent and high-income work. Meanwhile, other regions suffer brain-drain, crises of non-employment, and poor job quality. Between these poles are regions muddling through, but lacking the dynamism found in the superstars.
This course aims to provide students with analytical and empirical knowledge to critically examine key aspects of this transformation, alongside a careful look at what policy actors can and cannot do today to generate and maintain local prosperity. We will examine key concepts and debates needed to understand the economies of cities, and the process of regional economic development. The focus will be on a set of broadly comparable high-income urban systems: United States, Canada and the UK, with other country contexts considered as well.

Instructors: L. White (Fall) and T. Kemeny (Winter)
Notes: *Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least 3.5 FCEs in MPP1 courses

SECTION I: Canadian Migration Policy

Course Description

Who gets in? Who is removed? And what are our conceptions and misconceptions of both groups?
As national borders dissolve for trade, capital, communication and culture under globalization, these same borders acquire increasing salience in controlling the movement of people. Migration control thus emerges as the ‘last bastion of sovereignty’.
This course focuses on Canadian policy, law and practice designed to manage and regulate entry, residence and citizenship. The policy answers to the question ‘who gets in?’ will be analyzed in terms of history (who got in to Canada in the past?), current trends (upon what characteristics does Canada currently assess those that wish to get in?), and critical perspectives (how do class/race/ ethnicity/gender affect who gets in?).
The course will examine the role of international and constitutional arrangements in determining the role played by different levels of government (United Nations, federal, provincial and municipal) in immigration, as well as the division of labour between the legislator, the executive and the courts in making and interpreting the rules.
Students will become familiar with the structure of Canadian immigration policy, and the mechanism by which immigration law organizes people into a series of categories and sub-categories: legal/illegal; temporary/permanent; economic/family class; voluntary/coerced etc. Class discussions will be encouraged to critical examine Canadian immigration policy and current events.
The Immigration Refugee Protection Act, Regulations and online Immigration Manual provide the framework for categorizing potential entrants into legal vs. non-legal, visitors vs. permanent residents, and immigrants vs. refugees. These legal instruments set the terms of admission and exclusion, and the processes by which the state makes and implements these determinations.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructor: TBA

SECTION II: Canadian Energy Policy and the Transition to Net Zero

Course Description

In June 2021, Parliament enacted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which establishes a framework for GHG reduction initiatives; in March 2020, Canada announced and its targets to GHG targets to reduce carbon emissions to 40-50% of 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.  None of Canada’s previous emission reduction targets has been achieved.  Instead, apart from COVID-driven 2020 production reductions, Canada’s emissions have continued to increase.  So success is not guaranteed.
Energy produces 80% of Canada’s GHG emissions and energy regulation will be central to achieving those targets.
The learning objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of international and domestic energy regulation and how achieving Canada’s GHG reduction goals will require fundamental and dramatic change to federal and provincial energy policies. This involves evaluating the likelihood of success of current policy proposals and considering whether there are alternative policy approaches that may be more successful.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructor: TBA

The goal of the course PPG2010H is to introduce students to statistical methods for the analysis of panel large-scale data. Topics include an introduction to panel data and panel design, statistical modeling of panel data including growth curve models, multilevel linear models and generalized linear mixed models.

At the completion of this course students will be able to:

• Conduct data management and manipulation procedures to prepare large-scale longitudinal data for statistical analyses
• Understand the structure of major RDC longitudinal datasets
• Formulate research problems and select appropriate statistical procedures to address them
• Utilize statistical software to perform longitudinal analyses on large-scale longitudinal datasets
• Interpret and communicate the results of statistical analyses
• Critically evaluate published research papers based on longitudinal data analysis techniques.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Emphases: Economics for Public Policy
Instructor: TBA
Notes: 1. Pre-requisite for enrollment: Security clearance with finger print to access Government data.; and
2. Given fingerprinting requirement of students for security clearance, enrollment in PPG2010H closes 3-weeks prior to the first class.

The policy world has never been more political or partisan. Understanding the opportunities and challenges presented by the changing political landscape will be crucial for future policy leaders. Learning through real world examples from all three levels of government, students will learn about the importance of political realities when developing, communicating and implementing public policy.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructors: TBA

This course examines contentious politics—protests, social movements, and state repression. It explores questions such as why people protest, how they organize, and the outcomes of contention. The course challenges students to examine popular contention across a range of states in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructors: D. Fu

From climate change to stem cells there is hardly an area subject to public policy decisions that is not informed by science yet courses that deal on how to assess, weigh and integrate scientific information into policy analyses. This course encourages the development of a critical approach to the use of scientific data in the policy context. To examine the interaction of societal values and scientific information in the development of public policy. To discuss different frameworks for the use of scientific information in the development of public policy.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: M. Bitran

Digital government is now a worldwide phenomenon and raises important questions about how government works, and how policy gets made, in an increasingly digital world.  This course looks at digital government experiences and movements within the context of Ontario, Canada, North America, and globally.  It will canvass foundational concepts linked to digital government practice with a focus on critically assessing how governments are attempting to organize and operate in digital ways. It features an applied policy-making emphasis with students exploring how policy is designed and delivered using digital ways of working.  Students will engage with case studies, academic articles, and applied exercises to develop new skills and familiarity with digital government practices including user centered design and agile methods.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructor: J. Craft

Economic considerations are central to a wide range of public policy issues.  Governments worldwide are continually grappling with ways to advance the prosperity of their citizens through promoting economic growth while at the same time considering ways to influence the distribution of income. Economic impacts are also generally of interest in areas of policy options motivated by other important goals such as improving social equity and enhancing health and safety. Economics principles can also provide a helpful framework for understanding and evaluating a broader range of public policies and programs.

Topics covered in the course will include, labour markets, environment and climate change, housing, the challenges and opportunities in the economy related to COVID-19 and government budgets. To provide an economic framework for the analysis of public policy, the course will use examples of how microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts and analytical methods are applied to the selected topic areas. The course will evaluate the relative merits of government intervention versus non-intervention in these areas while also explore the potential different interventions available.  Expected consequences of interventions, risks and unintended consequences will also be discussed. Specific examples may be drawn from Canadian government policy developments and budgets during the term.

The course is designed to help students function in a professional policy environment. Towards this, students will develop and deliver several policy advice products in an interactive setting that simulates a professional work situation. The course will include both individual and team-based assignments.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphases: Economics for Public Policy
Instructor: TBA

This multidisciplinary graduate course jointly offered by the School of Cities and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy compares how cities and city-regions around the world organize themselves to deal with urban policy problems. The goal of the course is to highlight how different governance structures across North America, Western Europe, and other global regions shape policy making in cities, and the diversity of policy responses required by national, subnational, and local governments to address the toughest urban challenges. The course is co-taught by Prof. Gabriel Eidelman, Director of the Munk School’s Urban Policy Lab, and Don Iveson, former Mayor of Edmonton (2013-2021) and Chair of Canada’s Big City Mayors Caucus, and current Canadian Urban Leader at the School of Cities.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: G. Eidelman
Notes: The course will be co-offered with the School of Cities.

The goal of this experiential, intensive (6-week) course is to challenge students to view public policy through an urban lens. The course explores the complex relationship between cities and public policy – revealing how policy shapes cities, and cities shape policy – and how various levels of government and non-governmental organizations participate in urban governance. To inspire students to pursue policy careers focused on cities, the course is organized around field trips hosted by Munk alumni across the Greater Toronto region.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: G. Eidelman
Notes: The course will be taught as an intensive 6-week seminar, during the first 6-weeks of the Fall term.

This course explores the complexity of current government policy-making in a comparative perspective. Students will examine the rationales for and the limits to government intervention and will identify the policy levers available to government actors in a dynamic political context. The course explores the government’s role in the financing and delivery of public policy goals while balancing concerns of efficiency and equity. Students will explore substantive and procedural issues in a range of major policy areas such as trade, security, redistribution, health care, the environment, indigenous peoples issues and urban policy.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructor: M. Cappe

Each year, the Gelber Prize is awarded for the best English language book on global issues and foreign policy.  The Munk School administers the Prize on behalf of the Gelber Foundation.  This course will focus on the books competing for the 2023 Prize.  Topics will depend on what books publishers submit, but past winners have covered ground that varied from the financial crisis 2007-09; threats to democracies; trade wars and class wars; the causes of inequality and its effect on global stability and peace; the global fight against AIDS; the war in Afghanistan; and China and its long term strategies.  With these top calibre books as the principal source material, and with opportunity for students to engage with the authors, the seminar will explore foreign policy as an arena of decision-making; how domestic policy issues become international in scope and vice versa; and how institutions succeed and fail in managing risk. Throughout, students will be challenged to think about the connections between domestic public policy and international relations; the international trends facing Canada and their impact on our domestic policy choices; and what makes a great book.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: TBA
Instructor: I. Shugart

From legal battles over the US-Mexico border, to heated debates about the citizenship oath in Canada, to the “refugee crisis” in Europe and the rise of populist nationalism, questions about immigration have been high on the agenda. Moving beyond the traditional country-specific lens, this course explores key developments in migration law and policy from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. We will discuss the main types and categories of migration, the growing influence of bilateral and multilateral instruments in regulating mobility, changing conceptions of the border, emerging patterns of policy diffusion and interjurisdictional learning, and the turn to AI in immigration decision making. We will also explore the dynamic relationships between countries of origin, transit, and destination, evaluate different modes of citizenship acquisition, contrast competing logics and processes of naturalization, and examine political anxieties surrounding questions of membership and belonging.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: A. Shachar
Note: This course is co-listed with the MGA, Munk School

A joint course of the Faculty of Law and School of Public Policy and Governance, LAW7030H will deal with selected issues in Aboriginal law and policy in Canada.

The objective of this course is to bring together students from two faculties, law and public policy, and to encourage discussion about the nature of the relationship between Canadian governments and Indigenous communities through an approach that deals with history, contemporary issues, and the leading legal cases in this complex and ever changing field.

Term: Fall (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: TBA, TBA
Note: This course is cross-listed with the Faculty of Law, for more course information click here.

Each country’s health system and policies are largely shaped by historical, political, social and economic contexts;

Each country’s health system and policies are largely shaped by historical, political, social and economic contexts; but in general, they face similar challenges such as rising expenditures, limited accessibility and public health and health system threats from both communicable and non-communicable diseases. The comparative health systems and policy course is intended to capture the rapidly expanding field of comparative studies in health systems and policy. It will provide a comprehensive methodological foundation to understand why we compare health systems in different countries or provinces within a country, and what we can learn from those comparisons. In the second part, the course will provide specific examples of health system and policy development in high income countries, and low-and-middle- income countries (LMICs). This is an advanced course and should only be taken once a student has completed the course on Canada’s health care system and, if possible, a course on public policy or health policy theories. Although this is a taught course, the main requirement is to complete a major paper applying theoretical and methodological tools to a comparative health systems or comparative health policy case study including two or more jurisdictions (a province/state and/or country).

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Social and Urban Policy
Instructor: S. Allin
Note: This course is cross-listed with Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME)

Background: Corruption understood as, “the misuse of entrusted power for private gain”, is considered to be one of the biggest barriers for development and growth and a threat to recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Corruption is without borders; it can be found in any country, in different forms, levels, and types of organizations and institutions. Corruption impedes economic growth, political stability and government legitimacy, jeopardizes the allocation of resources to sectors crucial for development, and encourages other types of illegal activities. Each year, an estimated US$ 5.3 trillion is spent worldwide on providing health services; yet as much as 6% or US$300 billion is lost to corruption and errors. Corruption negatively impacts public health budgets, the price of health services and medicines, the quality of care and medical products, and threatens a country’s ability to provide universal health coverage by increasing the price of health care. Corruption, in short, undermines public trust in their governments and the services they provide and also undermines the morale of health professionals as well as for patients to make use of health services.

Course Overview: This graduate course will introduce interested and curious students to the core concepts associated with corruption generally and corruption and the health sector specifically, with a particular focus on the pharmaceutical sector. We will start the seminar with a broad discussion about corruption, what it is, how to define it and examine how it is measured. We will then examine how international organizations are dealing with corruption in their development projects and currently during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course will then move on to specific modules dealing with core topics related to corruption and the health sector. The course will consist of lectures, class discussions and group work through case studies. Research papers and presentations will provide students with the opportunity to probe an issue of interest.

Term: Winter (2nd year)
Emphasis: Public and Non-Profit Management and Administration
Instructor: J. Kohler