ECON3490 (Public Choice Economics) course reviews and ratings at Northeastern (NEU). Average rating 4.3/5. Compare professors with RateMyProfessor reviews.
Studies public choice economics—the scientific analysis of government behavior—and is divided into two parts: institutional political economy and social choice theory. Public choice economics applies this neoclassical economic analysis to political issues such as rent seeking, tax reform, logrolling, voting behavior, the function of government, the intersection between public and private interests, and federalism. The point of departure from political science is that economists have based this analysis on the assumption that utility functions do not change once a person enters the realm of public service and that the argument of their utility functions is still their own self-interest and not the interest of the social system in which they operate.
Data updated October 2026.