Political economic theory spans the subfields of American politics, comparative politics, and international relations, and therefore complements students' interests in those fields.
Political economic theorists work with formal models of political institutions and behavior. The group's faculty have developed influential theories of elections, conflict, legislatures, and bureaucratic politics. These theories are useful for motivating empirical work, and increasingly they form the basis of experimental research as well.
Students interested in political economic theory should acquire a strong background in mathematics or microeconomics.
