Major in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (BA)

Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) brings together three disciplines that are essential for understanding public life. The major equips students with the ethical, logical, and statistical tools that enable them to think clearly about fundamental social, political, and economic problems. While offering students considerable flexibility in choosing what they study, it enables you to rigorously examine how policies and institutions work, whether they are just, how they work, and how they might be improved.

PPE is a new degree at the University of Rochester, and has become one of the university’s fastest-growing majors. Find out why!

Advising

Students who want to declare a PPE major or who are just curious about pursuing a PPE major should see one of the following faculty advisors:

Political Science
Professor Nathan Feldman
323 Harkness Hall
nfeldma4@ur.rochester.edu

Professor James Johnson
312 Harkness Hall
jd.johnson@rochester.edu

Philosophy
Professor Rosa Terlazzo
521 Lattimore Hall
rosa.terlazzo@rochester.edu

See also faculty associates.

Requirements for the Major

Students are strongly encouraged to take three gateway courses, and they must take 12 other courses, for a total of 15 courses, achieving a minimum overall GPA of 2.0 in these courses. No course used to fulfill one component of the requirements can also be used to fulfill any other component.

Gateways (Three Courses, Strongly Recommended)

At least one course from each of the three disciplines is recommended.

Economics—ECON 108: Principles of Economics (Normally necessary as a prerequisite for ECON 207, which is required for the PPE major)

Philosophy—Either PHIL 102: Introduction to Ethics or PHIL 103: Contemporary Moral Problems

Political science—Either PSCI 101: Introduction to Comparative Politics, PSC 104: Introduction to Political Philosophy, PSCI 105: Introduction to American Politics, or PSCI 107: Introduction to Positive Political Theory

Core Courses (Three Courses, Required)

  • PSCI 287: Theories of Political Economy
  • PHIL 223: Social and Political Philosophy
  • ECON 207: Intermediate Microeconomics

Analytical Methods (Two Courses, Required)

Statistics (One Course, Required)

One of the following:

  • PSCI 200: Data Analysis I
  • PSCI 205: Data Analysis II
  • ECON 230: Economic Statistics
  • STAT 180 (formerly STAT 212): Introduction to Applied Statistical Methodology
  • STAT 190 (formerly STAT 213): Introduction to Statistical Methodology

Seminar (Two Courses, Required)

Thematic Concentration (Five Courses, Required)

Choose an additional five courses in a thematic concentration, which is a set of courses tied together conceptually, oriented toward a particular problem or area of particular interest to the student. At least three of these five courses must be at the 200 level or higher. Students declaring their PPE major as a social science are required to take one course from each of the constituent disciplines. Students declaring a humanities major must integrate at least one philosophy course and one political science or economics course into their thematic concentration.

A thematic concentration encourages students to focus their major in an imaginative, individualized way. Students are expected to formulate the thematic concentration for their major in consultation with their major advisor. The range of possibilities is very wide! Take inspiration from the following examples:

Example 1: Law in Democracies

  1. ECON 220: Fair Allocation
  2. PSCI: Democracy and the Rule of Law
  3. PSCI 285W: Law and Morality
  4. PSCI 284: Democratic Theory
  5. PHIL 226: Philosophy of Law

Example 2: AI and Education

  1. ECON 237: Economics of Education
  2. PHIL 229: Philosophy of Education
  3. PHIL 247: Philosophy of AI
  4. PHIL 120: Ethics of Technology
  5. PHIL 235: Data Algorithms and Justice

Example 3: The Uses of Expertise

  1. ECON 225: Freakonomics
  2. ECON 238: Environmental Economics
  3. PSCI 245: The Politics of Science and Expertise
  4. PHIL 212: Probability, Inference and Decision
  5. PHIL 227: Philosophy of Journalism

Example 4: Racialized Inequality in the United States

  1. ECON 263: Public Economics
  2. PSCI 208: Liberalism, Racism, and U.S. Citizenship
  3. PSCI 220: Inequality and American Democracy
  4. PHIL 231: Philosophy of Race and Gender
  5. RELC 183: Incarceration Nation

Example 5: Human and Economic Development

  1. ECON 268: Economics of Globalization
  2. PSCI 244: Politics and Markets: Innovation and The Global Business Environment
  3. PSCI 255: Poverty and Development
  4. PSCI 257: The Origins of the Modern World
  5. PHIL 239: Philosophy of Well-Being

Paper Presentation

Each student must complete a research paper for one of their theme courses and, in the spring semester of their senior year, present the paper to all PPE majors and affiliated faculty. Attendance at paper presentations is required, except in extenuating circumstances. The program faculty coordinators will arrange a colloquium for this purpose.

Upper-Level Writing

Take at least two courses designated as ‘W’ courses.

Humanities or Social Sciences?

Students will designate their PPE major as either social sciences or humanities for distributional purposes. That determination will be made in consultation with their major advisor. The general rule will be that at least six of the student’s major courses would be from the relevant division—humanities or social sciences—not including PPHE/PHIL/PSCI 293 (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics), which, for the sake of this determination is assigned to neither division. In no case can the PPE major be used to meet the natural sciences distribution requirement.

Honors

A student majoring in PPE who wishes to undertake an honors project during their senior year must do so via the established processes in either political science or philosophy. This means meeting the eligibility criteria that each department has established. The expectation is that students who opt to identify their major as social sciences would pursue honors in political science while those who identify their major as humanities will do so in philosophy.

The bachelor's degree with various degrees of distinction is offered on recommendation of the department and is based primarily on the grade-point average in the PPE degree.

(3.5 distinction, 3.75 high distinction, 3.9 highest distinction)

PPE in Action

A primary aim of the PPE major is to encourage students to develop skills and perspectives useful for navigating the world as engaged citizens, as public officials, or as professionals across a range of fields. As a first step toward such engagement, we strongly encourage PPE majors to enhance their academic studies by getting out of the classroom. There are multiple ways of doing this. Most obviously, PPE majors should be regular audience members at various events held on campus that nevertheless point beyond its confines. The regular program addressing practical matters of political, economic and philosophical import sponsored by the Politics and Markets Project is one such forum. More directly, PPE students can include an internship as part of the thematic concentration for their major. Both the philosophy and political science departments coordinate opportunities for a variety of such internships. Students also might include in their PPE major other courses that incorporate some significant form of community engagement. One good place to start would be through courses associated with the Rochester Education Justice Initiative but there are numerous other courses that incorporate community engagement as a regular matter. Ambitious and committed PPE students could seek out a variety of opportunities through the Center for Community Engagement and specifically consider pairing their major with a Certificate in Community-Engaged Learning.

Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Transfer Credit

Questions regarding credit for AP and IB courses and for courses transferred from other institutions will be governed by the rules established by the relevant department (philosophy or political science) for their own majors. Decisions regarding such credit will be made by the program advisors. Students may be approved to use IB and AP courses or transfer courses to meet gateway recommendations, the statistics requirement, or as part of a thematic concentration. With very rare exceptions, students are not allowed to use courses transferred from other colleges or universities to replace core courses, analytical methods, or the PPE seminar. In no instance will more than three courses transferred from elsewhere (including AP and IB credit) count toward the PPE major.

Overlap Policy

PPE majors are subject to the overlap policy with respect to double majors and a major and minor. The policy applies to all students in the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. No more than three courses may overlap between any two majors, and no more than two courses may overlap between a minor and either a major or another minor. If a cross-listed course (such as PSCI/ECON 288) is listed under two majors, it counts toward the overlap limit even if it is listed under the political science number in one case and a cross-listed number in the other case.

Faculty Associates

Economics:

  • Professor Paulo Barelli
  • Professor Angela Crema
  • Professor David Figlio
  • Professor Mike Rizzo
  • Professor William Thomson

Philosophy:

  • Professor Randall Curran
  • Professor Richard Dees
  • Professor Grace Helton
  • Professor Zeynap Soysal
  • Professor Rush Stewart
  • Professor Rosa Terlazzo (co-Director)

Political science:

  • Professor Dan Alexander
  • Professor Kevin Clarke
  • Professor Nathan Feldman (Associate Director)
  • Professor Gerald Gamm
  • Professor James Johnson (co-Director)
  • Professor Stuart Jordan
  • Professor Casey Petroff
  • Professor David Primo
  • Professor Zoe Walker