The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
JSGS 805 – ECONOMICS FOR PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
University of Regina Campus
Instructor:
Shaun Augustin
Phone:
(306) 787-3965
E-mail:
[email protected]
Office Hours:
Office
Location:
By Appointment Only
Term:
Winter 2016
Room:
2R 210
Date and Time:
Thursdays, 5.30 - 8.15 pm
N/A
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
This course is an examination of concepts in microeconomics (and macroeconomics), focusing on issues relevant to
the public sector. This course is intended for students who have had limited exposure to economics.
COURSE CONTENT AND APPROACH
The purpose of this course is to provide an economic framework for the analysis of public policy. The course uses
mainly microeconomic concepts to examine when and how the government should intervene in the economy, using
the starting point of policy as intervention the course examines the circumstances under which government
involvement is most likely to be desirable.
The course then moves to consider the key instruments that government uses in its intervention. In the examination
of these two broad issues, the course pays particular attention to how people and firms behave as well as how they
are likely to respond to policy instruments. The course also develops the key concepts associated with cost-benefit
analysis and shows how these concepts are used in the analysis of public policy.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS/WEBSITES
Krugman, Paul, Robin Wells, Iris Au and Jack Parkinson. 2014. Microeconomics: 2nd Canadian Edition. Worth
Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-4292-4005-5
Weimer, David L. and Aidan R. Vining. 2011. Policy Analysis, 5/e. Longman. ISBN: 978-0-205-78130-0
Sapling website: https://www.saplinglearning.ca/ibiscms/login/
UR Courses: https://urcourses.uregina.ca/login/index.php
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
LECTURE/READING SCHEDULE
The course will cover approximately 30 chapters of material across the two required textbooks. The Krugman et al
textbook will focus on the economic fundamentals required for the course while the Weimer and Vining book is a
mixture of economic and policy analysis. Figure 1 lists the lecture/reading schedule for this semester.
Figure 1 – Lecture/Reading Schedule
Week
Date
Chapters Covered Text Author/Notes
Lecture 1: Introduction to Economics
1
Sept.19
N/A
Ch.1-2
Lecture 2: Introduction to Policy Analysis
2
Sept.26
Ch.1-3
Ch.14-15
Course Syllabus
Krugman et al (2014)
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 3: Competitive Markets & the Demand Side
3
Oct.3
Ch.3 & 10
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 4: Competitive Markets and the Supply Side
4
Oct.10
Ch.11-12
Krugman et al (2014)
Note: Group Assignment Groups & Topics Distributed on this date
Lecture 5: Delving Deeper into Competitive Markets
5
Oct.17
Ch.4, 6 & 9
Krugman et al (2014)
Ch.4
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 6: Gov't Intervention in Markets - Price Controls & Quotas/Taxes & Subsidies
6
Oct.24
Ch.5 & 7
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 7: Market Failure - Market Structures
7
Oct.31
Ch.13-15
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 8: Market Failure - Externalities & Public Goods
8
Nov.7
Ch.16-17
Krugman et al (2014)
Ch.5
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 9: Market Failure - Asymmetric Information & the Welfare State
9
Nov.14
Ch.18 & 20
Krugman et al (2014)
Ch.6
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 10: 'Fixing' Market Failure & Gov't Limitations
10
Nov.21
Ch.8 & 10
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 11: Policy Implementation Issues
11
Nov.28
Ch.11-13
Weimer & Vining (2011)
Lecture 12: Final Exam Review (Optional)
12
Dec.5
N/A
In-Class Q & A to Prep for Final Examination
Note: Group Assignment Due on Dec.4th
Lecture 13: No Lecture
13
Dec.12
N/A
End of Semester is Dec.7th
Lecture 14: Final Exam
14
Dec.19
N/A
Final Exam (Comprehensive)
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated on four parts: attendance/participation, individual assignments, a written group
assignment and a final examination. Figure 2 lists the weighting of each element. The next section will describe each
type of evaluation in more detail.
Figure 2 – Grading Scheme
Evaluation Type
1. Attendance/Participation
2. Individual (Sapling) Assignments
3. Group Assignment
4. Final Exam
Total
Weight
Dates
10%
Ongoing
20% See Figure 3 for dates
30%
Dec.4, 2015
40%
Dec.19, 2015
100%
DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
1. Attendance/Participation
It is important for students to attend lectures and to participate in the class discussion to demonstrated and
enhance their understanding of the material in this class. Therefore, a maximum of 10 marks will be allocated to
students based on their attendance and participation. The marks will be allocated as follows:
a. Participation. Five (5) marks will be allocated for each student’s participation based on the
instructor’s assessment of the following:

The quality of the questions asked by a student; and

The quality of the questions answered by a student.
b. Attendance. Five (5) marks will be allocated for each student’s attendance throughout the
semester.

Students will be allowed to miss two lectures without penalty through the semester.
o The purpose of allowing up to two missed lectures is to allow students to miss
class for any one of a variety of reasons (e.g. illness, vacation, etc.) without
having to provide a reason for missing to the instructor.
o Therefore, the instructor will accept no reasons for missing if students choose
to miss more than two lectures.

For any additional lectures missed beyond the first two, students will be penalized one
mark for each lecture missed up to a maximum of 3 marks.
Please note that any student that misses more than 5 lectures in the semester will receive an automatic grade
of 0 out of 10 for both participation and attendance.
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
2. Individual (Sapling) Assignments
Economics can be deceptively difficult for students. At first blush, economic concepts appear easy and simple to
understand as one reads the textbook, skims the notes and/or listens to a lecture. However, during
assignments/exams, many students struggle to apply these concepts because they do not fundamentally
understand the concepts.
Like many other things in life, the only way to master the fundamental principles of economics is having the
opportunity to apply knowledge through practice. In this course, students will be asked to complete
assignments for each of the chapters associated with the Krugman et al textbook in order to apply the concepts
discussed in the lectures.
These assignments will be completed on ‘Sapling’, an economics homework website (website is at
https://www.saplinglearning.ca/ibiscms/login/). The homework on this website will be helpful in reinforcing
the fundamental economics concepts while also helping students to prepare for the final examination. Sapling
has a customized assignment for each chapter of the Krugman textbook with approximately 15-25 questions per
assignment.
The following list describes how this will work:
 Each question in each assignment will be graded out of ‘100’;
 Students can achieve a ‘100’ on a question if they answer the question correctly on their first attempt at
the question. Sapling will indicate if the student has answered the question correctly or not;
 If correct, the student will move onto the next question. If not correct, Sapling will provide a hint to the
student to help them figure out what they did wrong on the question;
 For each attempt on a question, a student’s grade will be reduced by 10 marks on the question (i.e. 1st
attempt = 100 marks, 2nd attempt = 90 marks, 3rd attempt = 80 marks, etc.). Students will be allowed a
maximum of five attempts on a question. If they cannot answer the question correctly, the student will
receive 0 marks on that question;
 The grade for each assignment will be the average grade across all questions within the assignment;
 There are a total of 18 assignments related to the 18 Krugman chapters covered in the semester. The
top 15 assignments will be counted towards the final assignment grade. Therefore, students will have
the ability to do poorly and/or miss up to three assignments in the semester. Completing assignments
past the due date/due time is not possible (i.e. late assignments will not be accepted); and
 The final assignment grade will be worth 20 per cent of each student’s overall grade (i.e. each of the top
15 assignments are worth approximately 1.33% of each student’s overall grade in the class).
Figure 3 lists the due dates for each assignment. The assignments are due the Friday at 11:45 p.m. following the
lecture in which the chapter is covered. This gives students approximately one week to complete the
assignments after the lecture the material is covered in.
Note: if students purchase the Krugman textbook through the U of R Bookstore, there is no additional charge
for the use of Sapling. If students buy a used Krugman text, or do not purchase one at all, there is a $40 fee
for access to the website, which is to be paid directly to Sapling.
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
Figure 3 – Individual (Sapling) Assignment Schedule
Week
Date
Chapters Covered Text Author/Notes
Lecture 1: Introduction to Economics
1
Sept.25 Ch.1-2
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 2: Introduction to Policy Analysis
2
Oct.2
N/A
No assignments on Weimer & Vining Chapters
Lecture 3: Competitive Markets & the Demand Side
3
Oct.9
Ch.3 & 10
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 4: Competitive Markets and the Supply Side
4
Oct.16
Ch.11-12
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 5: Delving Deeper into Competitive Markets
5
Oct.23
Ch.4, 6 & 9
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 6: Gov't Intervention in Markets - Price Controls & Quotas/Taxes & Subsidies
6
Oct.30
Ch.5 & 7
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 7: Market Failure - Monopoly & Asymmetric Information
7
Nov.6
Ch.13-15
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 8: Market Failure - Externalities, Public Goods & the Welfare State
8
Nov.13
Ch.16-17
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 9: 'Fixing' Market Failure & Gov't Limitations
9
Nov.20
Ch.18 & 20
Krugman et al (2014)
Lecture 10: Policy Implementation Issues
10
Nov.27
N/A
No assignments on Weimer & Vining Chapters
Lecture 11: No Lecture
11
Nov.28
N/A
N/A
Lecture 12: Final Exam Review (Optional)
12
Dec.4
N/A
Group Assignments Due Date
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
3. Group Assignment
Students will be required to complete one group assignment. The group assignment is worth 30 per cent of
each student’s final grade. There are two main purposes of the group assignment:
1. Provide students a practical, ‘hands-on’ experience of completing public policy analysis using the
concepts presented/discussed in the course, including how to organize the analysis; and
2. Policy analysis work is rarely, if ever, completed in isolation by a single individual. This work is
always completed within groups (and usually with representatives across government
ministries/departments/agencies of multiple levels of government as well as representatives from
various stakeholders). As such, there are always a variety of personal, group and organizational
dynamics that need to be successfully navigated in order to create (and implement) good public
policy. Therefore, this exercise also represents an opportunity to complete the work required within
a group setting.
Please note the following key points/requirements for the group assignment:
 Each group will have a maximum of 5 students
o The instructor will randomly select the students for each group.
o The groups will be distributed by the instructor in class on Saturday, October 10th.
 The instructor will select, and randomly assign, the public policy topic for each group.
o The instructor will provide a brief overview of the topic and the public policy question(s) and/or
challenge(s) that exist related to the topic.
o The topic may/may not be identified/discussed within the existing course materials. However,
the topics chosen by the instructor will be relatively well known public policy issue.
o Therefore, groups will be required to conduct their own independent research on the topic but
there should be considerable material available.
o The topics for each will also be distributed by the instructor in class on Saturday, October 10th.
 The body of the document is to be 5,000 to 7,500 words in length.
o 2 percentage points will be deducted for every 200 words below/above the
minimum/maximum word count.
o The word count does not include any relevant appendices or bibliography.
o Groups will be expected to use tables and charts to inform on background and/or emphasize
any arguments being made.
 The group assignment is to be completed using a template provided by the instructor.
o The template will be posted on the UR Courses website.
o Please save the file in the following file name format: Group # - Topic Name.doc.
o Also, please save the file in Microsoft Word 2010 format (same as the template).
 The group assignment will be sent to the instructor (at [email protected],
[email protected] or through the UR Courses e-mail system) by Friday, December 4th at
11:59 p.m.
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
o
o
o
o
Two (2) percentage points will be deducted for every day the assignment is late (note: 12:00
a.m. is considered one day late) up to a maximum of five (5) days.
 Assignments submitted more than five (5) days late will not be accepted and the
group will receive a grade of 0 (i.e. assignments 6 days late, or on December 11th or
later, will not be accepted).
Alternatively, one (1) percentage will be added if the assignment is submitted early up to a
maximum of five (5) days (i.e. assignments submitted on Nov. 29th or earlier will receive a
maximum bonus of 5 percentage points).
The time of arrival is measured by the time the outline has arrived in the instructor’s e-mail
inbox.
Please note that an e-mail sent without an attached Word document, in the specified format,
does not constitute submission of the assignment.
Note: relatively equal participation by all group members is required for two reasons:
1. It is important for the grade on the group assignment to reflect all group members contribution to the
group assignment; and
2. It is unfair for one or two group members to do the majority, if not all of the work, while the other
students in the group receive credit for the group assignment while doing very little.
Any student who is found to not fully participate in the group assignment may have their grade on the group
assignment reduced from the rest of the group’s grade. The reduction in the group assignment grade for an
individual student can potentially be all the way to 0%. Make sure you contribute to your group assignment!
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
4. Final Exam
The final exam is on December 19th and will be three (3) hours. It is worth 40 per cent of each student’s overall
grade. There are three sections to each exam:
1. Multiple Choice (30 marks)
•
20 questions x 1.5 marks/question = 30 marks
•
This section will test your basic knowledge of the material.
•
It will be similar to the graded assignments.
2. Short-Answer (40 marks)
•
The short answer section will have three questions.
•
Students are required to complete only two (2) of the three (3) questions in this section.
•
Each question is worth 20 marks for a total of 40 marks.
•
Each question is multi-part (e.g. parts a, b, c, d, etc.).
•
Students may have to use math, graphs and writing to answer questions that apply the material.
•
These questions will challenge students to apply the concepts they have been exposed to (i.e. it is not
simple memorization of the material).
3. Long-Answer (30 marks)
•
Students are required to complete one, multi-part question worth 30 marks.
•
Students may have to use math, graphs and writing to answer questions that apply the material.
•
Similar style to short answer questions, but, the long answer question is generally more difficult and is
intended to be a ‘capstone’ question for the material.
•
Again, it is not simple memorization of the material.
Total Marks: 100 marks
The final exam will be comprehensive on all the material covered within the course. There will be an emphasis
on the material covered in the Krugman textbook but material in the Weimer and Vining will also be covered.
Please note that, if you require a deferral of the final exam, you must contact the JSGS administration for
approval (i.e. it is not up to the instructor to grant this).
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Students in this course who, because of a disability, may have a need for accommodations are encouraged to discuss
this need with the instructor and to contact the Coordinator of Special Needs Services at (306) 585-4631.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND CONDUCT
Ensuring you understand and follow the principles of academic integrity and conduct as laid out in the University of
Regina’s Graduate Calendar is vital to your success in graduate school (available at
http://www.uregina.ca/gradstudies/calendar/policy_univ.shtml#conduct).
Ensuring that your work is your own and reflects both your own ideas and those of others incorporated in your work
is important. Ensuring that you acknowledge the ideas, words and phrases of others that you use is a vital part of
the scholarly endeavour. If you have any questions at all about academic integrity in general or about specific issues,
contact your course instructor and to discuss your questions.
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, with campuses at the
University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, is an interdisciplinary
centre for public policy research, teaching, outreach and training.
BIOGRAPHY – SHAUN AUGUSTIN
Shaun Augustin has worked for the Government of Saskatchewan since 2000 in a variety of roles across different
areas of the government. Shaun is currently the Executive Director, Corporate Services at the Saskatchewan
Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission (SATCC). He is responsible for the finance, human resources,
information technology and the delivery/scheduling of apprenticeship training functions for the organization. He is
also responsible for modernizing the organization’s IT infrastructure to provide web-based, self-service to
apprentices, employers and other stakeholders.
Prior to his current position, Shaun was the Director, Business Planning and Performance for SaskGaming (i.e.
Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw) from 2011 to 2014. He was responsible for facilitating the strategic planning and
reporting processes, managing the research and business intelligence services within the corporation as well as
supporting business case development and continuous process improvement.
From 2008 to 2011, Shaun served within the Saskatchewan Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport (TPCS) in a
variety of positions. He served as a senior policy analyst in the ministry’s Policy, Planning and Evaluation Branch
providing a ‘central policy’ function working on a variety of policies and programs for the ministry. He was the Head
of Business Development and Leasing for Saskatchewan Parks Service where he oversaw all of the private sector
businesses that operate within provincial parks and created a new program aimed at stimulating private-sector
investment within Saskatchewan’s provincial parks system. Shaun also contributed to the development of a new
policy framework for the arts, culture and heritage sector as well as helped develop new legislation for professional
artists in Saskatchewan.
Shaun worked as a senior policy analyst with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services’ Strategic Policy Branch
from 2005 to 2008 on disability supports program design, client-centered research and led a legislation review
project on Canadian and international jurisdictions as part of the Child and Family Services division’s review of the
Child and Family Services Act and Adoption Act 1998.
Shaun began his government career as an economist with Saskatchewan Ministry of Finance’s Economic and Fiscal
Policy Branch. Shaun’s main duties while at Finance were to write the economic section of the provincial budget and
provide analysis of the provincial, Canadian and global economy. Shaun wrote various papers (e.g. “Economic
History of Saskatchewan” or “Yield Curves and Recessions”) during this time. Additionally, he developed the
Saskatchewan Diffusion Index as a tool to monitor changes in the provincial economy.
Shaun has taught a variety of economics courses at the University of Regina since 2001. He regularly teaches
introductory microeconomics, introductory macroeconomics and a sports economics course for the Department of
Economics. He also taught graduate-level public finance course for the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public
Policy (GSPP) from 2007 to 2010.
Shaun is an avid sports enthusiast and fan. His favourite sports are rugby, football, soccer, hockey, baseball, tennis
and downhill skiing but he also enjoys games, reading and movies. Shaun is married with three daughters.