Public policy analysis is concerned with collective actions that address economic, social and political problems through government action. This course is designed to introduce historical and theoretical perspectives essential for critical thinking about policy formation in four related sections. The first is concerned with the evolution and essential characteristics of markets and states. The second section focuses on the nature of individual decision making, on the grounds that a) policies will be more effective the more closely aligned they are with the way individuals and groups make decisions, and b) alternative ideological perspectives on the role of markets and the state reflect in an important way underlying views of individual decision making. Section 3 addresses the intended and unintended consequences of public action. The course concludes with an overview of policy analysis as a discipline and with a discussion of contemporary perspectives on the policy making process.