Areas of Focus

Focus on any of more than 20 specialties in five major policy domains.

Institutions and policymaking encompasses motivation, goals, and functioning at all levels of government and other large institutions.

• Federal, state, and local politics
• Management and organizations
• Policymaking process

International policy offers tools that are applicable to issues within nations, among nations, and between nations and organizations.

• Development
• Conflict and conflict resolution
• Trade policy

Public sector policy addresses shared resources and how they’re used for the common good.

• Environmental policy
• Finance
• Public expenditures
• Science policy
• Taxes

Social policy deals with complex problems that confront individuals every day and the policies that help or hinder people as they try to make the most of their lives.

• Child and family policy
• Education policy
• Health policy
• Labor markets
• Poverty and inequality

Tools of policy analysis provides in-depth theory and technical expertise that can be applied to a broad range of subject areas.

• Economic theory
• Political theory
• Program evaluation
• Statistics
• Survey methods