School-Wide Core Course (CORE-GP)

This course introduces students to basic statistical methods and their application to management, policy, and financial decision-making. The course covers the essential elements of descriptive statistics, univariate and bivariate statistical inference, and introduces multivariate analysis. In addition to covering statistical theory the course emphasizes applied statistics and data analysis, using the software package, Stata. The course has several "audiences" and goals. For all Wagner students, the course develops basic skills and encourages a critical approach to reviewing statistical findings and using statistical reasoning in decision making. For those planning to continue studying statistics (often those in policy and finance concentrations) this course additionally provides the foundation for that further work.

The primary purpose of the microeconomics core course is to enable you to use microeconomic thinking, concepts and tools in your professional public service work. Accomplishing this also requires refreshing and strengthening your quantitative skills. The course begins with the basics of supply and demand and market operations, and uses this as the context for considering consumer and organizational decisions within a given market structure. The course builds to applying economic analysis to a variety of public issues such as the effects of taxation, the market structure of health care, the impacts of the minimum wage, the effects of international trade and various approaches to environmental externalities. By the end of the course you should be able to articulate the economic context and analysis of a public problem, use economic concepts in managerial and policy decisions, and progress to second level courses confident of your understanding of microeconomics and its tools.

Management and Leadership is designed to empower you with the skills you will need to make meaningful change in the world—whether you care about bike lanes, criminal justice, prenatal care, community development, urban planning, social investment, or something else. Whatever your passion, you can have an impact by leading and managing. In this course, you will enhance the technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and political skills needed to run effective and efficient organizations embedded in diverse communities, policy arenas, sectors, and industries. In class, we will engage in a collective analysis of specific problems that leaders and managers face—first, diagnosing them and then, identifying solutions—to explore how organizations can meet and exceed their performance objectives. As part of that process, you will encounter a variety of practical and essential topics and tools, including mission, strategy, goals, structure, teams, diversity and inclusion, motivation, and negotiation.

In this core course in financial management, students will learn the fundamentals of budgeting and accounting for public, health, and nonprofit organizations. Through readings, lectures, real-world case studies, and assignments, students will gain an understanding of how to use financial information in organizational planning, implementation, control, reporting, and analysis. In addition, students will have the chance to develop their spreadsheet skills by using Excel to perform financial calculations and create financial documents. The first half of the course focuses on managerial accounting, a set of tools used by managers for planning, implementation, and control. Topics in this portion of the course include operating budgets, cash budgets, break-even analysis, indirect cost allocation, variance analysis, the time value of money, capital budgeting, and long-term financing. The second half of the course focuses on financial accounting, a set of tools used by managers and outside observers for reporting on and analyzing an organization’s financial health. Topics in this portion of the course include the preparation and analysis of financial statements (balance sheet, activity statement, and cash flow statement), ethics in financial management, and government accounting and financial condition analysis.

Introduction to Public Policy covers a wide range of topics, from the norms and values informing democratic policymaking to the basics of cost-benefit and other tools of policy analysis. Though emphases will differ based on instructor strengths, all sections will address the institutional arrangements for making public policy decisions, the role of various actors-including nonprofit and private-sector professionals-in shaping policy outcomes, and the fundamentals (and limits) of analytic approaches to public policy. Note: Students who have not taken an American Government course, or have not taken the course in many years, are strongly encouraged to brush up on knowledge of the basic design and functions of the governmental units in the United States.