According to a recent BusinessWeek article, “Public Policy Gains a Foothold at B-School,” public policy is no longer simply a concern of Capitol Hill. As a result of the financial crisis, the subject of public policy is making a huge comeback in the classrooms of many top business schools around the country. All of a sudden the public/private sector intersection is a hot topic, especially when it comes to the policies related to the finance industry.
The emergence of this new MBA field makes sense, says Kermit Schoenholtz, adjunct professor at NYU Stern. “Understanding government and policy will help you be a better businessperson,” he explains.
Lester Lave, professor of economics at CMU’s Tepper who teaches the increasingly popular Business, Government, and Strategy course, agrees: “It’s hard to think of running any business in the U.S. without understanding what the federal government is doing.”
According to the BW article, teaching about public policy is not a new concept in business education—UC Berkeley’s Haas and NYU Stern have been engaging students with the subject since the 1960s and 1970s, respectfully. The content of the public policy courses, however, has changed greatly in the last few years.
New policy courses at top b-schools include:
NYU Stern – The Great Depression
UC Berkeley Haas – Business and Public Policy for MBAs
Wharton – Urban Fiscal Policy
Cornell Johnson – Environmental Economics for Managers
MIT Sloan – Urban Labor Markets and Public Policy
Each of these courses presents public policy history as it relates to the business sector. The goal of the Haas course, for example, is to provide future business leaders with historically- and politically-based guidelines that effectively take into account past, present, and future public policy and the needs of all constituents. The other classes listed describe similar goals.
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