Washington Campus Program McCombs School of Business Summer/Fall 2008 Professor: David Spence

Course Description: This program will introduce students to the workings of the policy process at the highest levels of government, and to the role of business firms in that process. Students earn course credit for the Washington Campus program by completing successfully all three parts of the course: (1) pre-departure readings about the relationship between business and government in the policy process, from the policy formation stage (legislative and interest group politics) through the policy implementation stage (bureaucratic policymaking, and rule enforcement by agencies and courts); and (2) attendance at the summer session of the Washington campus in Washington, DC; and (3) completion of a research paper analyzing the political aspects of a policy problem facing an industry or business firm. Each of these assignments are described below.

Grading: This course may be taken for a grade or pass/fail. Each of the three portions of the course must be successfully completed in order for students to earn a grade. However, the student’s course grade will be based upon the grade of his or her final research paper.

Predeparture Readings: Predeparture readings consist of chapters 27 and 28 of Robert Caro, Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power (1982), which is available for pickup from Andrew Smith, and three online articles from the journal Business & Politics:

· Campaign Contributions and Congressional Voting on Tobacco Policy, 1980-2000, John Wright, Business & Politics (December 2004)

· Banana Splits: Policy Process, Particularistic Interests, Political Capture, and Money in Transatlantic Trade Politics, Olivier Cadot and Douglas Webber, Business & Politics (April 2002)

· Pursuing Regulatory Relief: Strategic Participation and Litigation in U.S. OSHA Rulemaking, Patrick Schmidt, Business & Politics (April 2002)

The University of Texas has an institutional membership to this journal, so you should be able to download the articles from a UT computer. However, if you cannot download these articles directly, hard copies will be available from Andrew Smith (beginning Monday 5/7). After completing these four readings (and prior to your departure for Washington), students should prepare a write-up using the readings to address discussion questions found by clicking here. Please submit the completed write-up to Prof. Spence by email attachment prior to your departure for Washington.

Research Paper: The final research paper for this course will be a political analysis of an policy issue (proposal or recently created policy) from the point of view of an industry or firm. The purpose of the assignment is to (a) explain the importance of the issue to the firm/industry in question, (b) analyze the political forces (both governmental and nongovernmental) that influenced or will influence the resolution of the issue, and (c) examine the likely consequences of the policy decision for the firm/industry in question. The paper should be crafted as a memo to the VP of Strategy for the firm/industrial trade association in question, and should be about 8 pages in length, single spaced and exclusive of graphs or charts. The source of all facts or important borrowed ideas in the memo should be cited, either via footnotes or parenthetical citations in the text. Please see Prof. Spence if you have further questions about the research paper. The paper is due October 1, 2008.