Master of Public Policy

Specialization on Homeland Security Analysis

For more information, please contact create@usc.edu

Students are required to complete 48 units of graduate work, with 28 units of core and 20 elective units divided between management, analytic and specialization areas.

PPD 500                Intersectoral Leadership

PPD 501ab           Economics for Policy, Planning and Development

PPD 554                Foundations of Policy Analysis

PPD 555                Public Policy Formulation and Implementation

PPD 557                Modeling and Operations Research

PPD 558                Multi-variate Statistical Analysis

PPD 560                Methods for Policy Analysis

PPD 561ab*        Policy Analysis Practicum

*During a student's final semester of the program, the Policy Analysis Practicum is required as a component of the program's 48 units of course work. The practicum is an opportunity for students to apply their analytic skills to a current problem for an actual client. Admission to the practicum is granted on the approval of the M.P.P. director, and normally requires prior completion of most required courses.

Electives for the Specialization on Homeland Security Analysis

Students complete 4 units of management elective, 4 units of analytic elective and 12 units of specialization elective. These electives typically are selected to support specialization in a substantive policy area (e.g., environment or community economic development).

 Required (2 courses):

• PPD 683 Homeland Security and Public Policy  4 (S)

and either

• PPD 656 Political Management  4 (M)

or

• PPD 545 Human Behavior in International Organizations 4 (M)

And complete either the Econ or Risk Track

 Econ Track

·         ECON 501 Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy 4

and either

·         ECON 404 Games and Economics 4

                 or

·         ECON 604 Game Theory 4

Select one from:

·         GSBA 525 Politics for Global Managers  3

·         IR 427 Seminar on Economics and Security 4

·         IR 506 Conflict Management and International Institutions 4

·         ISE 562 Value and Decision Theory 3

·         PPD 587 Risk Analysis 4

·         PPD 659 National Security Administration and the Domestic and International Environment 4

Risk Track

Both:

·         PPD 587 Risk Analysis 4 (A)

·         ISE 562 Value and Decision Theory 3 (A)

Select one from:

·         ECON 404 Games and Economics 4

·         ECON 604 Game Theory  4

·         GSBA 524 Data and Decision Models 3

·         GSBA 525 Politics for Global Managers  3

·         IR 506 Conflict Management and International Institutions

·         PPD 659 National Security Administration and the Domestic and International Environment

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

PPD 545 Human Behavior in Public Organizations (4, FaSpSm) Behavior in organizations; focus on personal, interpersonal, and group level factors that influence such behavior.

PPD 587 Risk Analysis (4) Concepts of risk analysis, risk in engineered systems, environmental risk, security risks; fault trees, event trees, risk simulations; risks and decision-making. Recommended preparation: MATH 108 or MATH 116.

PPD 656 Political Management: Theory and Applied Techniques (4, Sm) Political management theories; strategy formation; research and data collection approaches; computer applications; electronic databases; issue management; problem-solving techniques; ethical considerations. (Duplicates credit in former PUAD 545.)

PPD 659 National Security Administration and the Domestic and International Environment (4, Irregular) Interplay of domestic and international environments; resultant constraints upon national security program administration; administrative and organizational implications for future scenarios. (Duplicates credit in former PUAD 549.)

PPD 683 Homeland Security and Public Policy (4, FaSp) Definition and history of terrorism, counterterrorism, domestic policy and public sector management; intelligence/information sharing and analysis; emergency preparedness planning, response and recovery.

ECON 404 Games and Economics (4) ­Analysis of strategic economic interactions. Topics include bargaining, insurance, patents, voting, environmental depletion, strategic trade, learning, reputation, strikes, corporate takeovers, and the provision of public goods. Prerequisite: ECON 303.

ECON 501 Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy (4, Sp) Theories of aggregate economic activity; design and use of macroeconometric models; stabilization and control of inflation, unemployment, and growth. Prerequisite: ECON 303, ECON 305, and ECON 401.

ECON 604 Game Theory (4) Strategies and equilibrium concepts; dynamic and repeated games; incomplete information and learning in games. Prerequisite: ECON 500 or ECON 503.

IR 506 Conflict Management and International Institutions (4, Irregular) The doctrine of collective security, preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping and peace-making as instruments of conflict management. Comparative analysis of United Nations' and regional institutions' experiences.

GSBA 524 Data and Decision Models (2.5, 3, max 3, Fa) Principles of probability theory and classical statistics applied to business decision problems; survey analysis, estima- tion and prediction methods, evaluation, and control techniques. (Duplicates credit in GSBA 506ab.)

GSBA 525 Politics for Global Managers (3, Irregular) The dynamic forces shaping the political environment of business. Impact of politics, cultures and world events on multinational enterprise. Case studies of political risk assessment.

ISE 562 Value and Decision Theory (3, Fa) Decision making under risk conditions; utility theory; sufficient statistics; conjugate prior distributions; terminal and pre-posterior analysis; Bayesian statistics versus classical statistics.