Bachelor of Political Economy at University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

The Political Economy major is designed to study the relationship between government, society, and the economy in a holistic manner from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Political Economy majors investigate how real-world market systems are embedded in both politics and society. They graduate with a mastery of a broad range of contemporary analyses as well as a deep understanding of classic works of political economy.

The study of Political Economy is both scientific, with its rigorous attention to social science methodology, and normative, with its concern for the big questions of how best to organize politics, society, and the economy. Political Economy seeks to examine the role of the state in the economy and to assess which government policies and market institutions can move us toward a better society.

The major focuses on contemporary problems while building on a strong historical foundation. Students can choose to study such topics as economic development, trade and investment, global inequality, climate change, resource distribution, gender relations, financial systems, information technology, or health policy.

Some of the issues addressed in the major and its courses include, but are not limited to:

• How rising consumer demand impedes efforts to combat climate change;
• How different national or subnational varieties of capitalism serve diverse priorities;
• How public and private sector institutions affect economic performance.
• How democratic and authoritarian political systems operate differently;
• How interdependence may undermine the efforts of national governments to cope with urgent national issues such as unemployment, inflation, health, and housing;
• How social, political and economic factors combine to exacerbate economic inequality both within and across countries; and
• How political interests can impede the pursuit of public purpose both domestically and internationally.

Declaring the Major

All students who declare Political Economy must meet the eligibility requirements listed below:

1. Must have a cumulative UC Berkeley grade point average (GPA) of 2.7 or higher.
2. Must have completed GLOBAL 45 with a grade of B- or higher on the first attempt. Students who repeat GLOBAL 45 in order to achieve a grade of B- or higher will not be eligible to declare the Political Economy major.
3. Must have completed ECON 1 or ECON 2 with a grade of C or better (may be repeated only once to achieve a grade of C or better), completed the equivalent at another college, or received AP scores of 4 or better or IB score of 5 or better on both the microeconomics and macroeconomics exams.
4. Must not be in their final semester of undergraduate work.
5. Are encouraged"but not required"to have completed at least two semesters of college-level foreign language courses or the equivalent at the time of declaring the major.
6. Complete the online major declaration workshop (link found on the Political Economy website).
7. Complete the major application found on the Political Economy website.

Honors Program

To graduate with honors from the group major in PE, students must enroll in the two-semester honors seminar, GLOBAL H102 (fall only) and POLECON H195 (spring only) and must obtain a grade point average (GPA) of 3.6 in the major and 3.5 in overall University coursework. The honors seminar (POLECON H195) is taken in addition to a student's regular course work for fulfilling requirements for the major and culminates in the writing of a senior thesis. To qualify for POLECON H195, students must be recommended by the GLOBAL H102 instructor. The thesis is read by the POLECON H195 instructor and at least one other faculty member who is selected by the student in consultation with the thesis instructor. Please consult a program advisor about honors eligibility.

There is no guarantee that students accepted into the honors program will graduate with honors. Honors recommendations are made after graduation and are based on a number of factors including (but not limited to) major GPA, grades received for GLOBAL H102 and POLECON H195, and faculty adviser recommendations.

Minor Program

Political Economy (PE) offers a five-course minor that is open to all undergraduates except PE majors. In addition to the POLECON 100 and POLECON 101 courses, students must chose a concentration topic and take three courses aligned with that topic. A list of pre-approved concentration courses and the application to declare the minor can be found on the Political Economy Minor Webpage. Students must declare the minor at least one semester before their expected graduation term. Students must email the completed and signed Completion of L&S Minor Form to the PE minor advisor in their final semester of undergraduate work.

Visit Program Website

1. Interdisciplinary Training in the Social Sciences
   • Develop a working knowledge of the approaches to understanding modern societies found in the classical social theory tradition from Machiavelli and Hobbes to Keynes and Polanyi.
   • Develop a working knowledge of the core concepts of modern political economy approaches since Keynes and Polanyi.
   • Understand the analytical tools of each of the relevant social science disciplines.
2. Analysis of Political Economy Theory and Practice
   • Build specific expertise in that particular area of modern political economy studied by the student's individual concentration.
   • Understand and analyze the impact on their concentration area of modern global economic, political, and civil society conditions.
   • Understand the processes of historical development that have led their particular concentration area to its current civilization.
3. Historical Knowledge
   • Be able to use the history of the North Atlantic region since the industrial revolution as a set of benchmarks, contrasts, and yardsticks useful for analyzing and understanding modern political economy issues.
   • Understand the historical process that has created our modern global economy, polity, and civil society.

Skills

1. Language Skills
   • Acquire competency in a foreign language.
   • Participate in the education abroad program, if possible.
2. Demonstrate Research, Critical Reading, and Writing Skills
   • Formulate well-organized arguments supported by proper use of social-science disciplinary tools; of historical and comparative contrasts and models; of top-down systemic and bottom-up individual analytical perspectives; and of aggregate statistical and individual case-study evidence.
   • Write clearly and effectively.
   • Apply appropriate quantitative analytical skills.