Philosophy, Politics and Economics

PPE at Yale-NUS

The PPE major at Yale-NUS falls within both the social sciences and the humanities and focuses on the intersections of philosophy, politics, and economics. At its best, PPE integrates these disciplines.

Though many PPE courses at Yale-NUS will focus on just one area of study, PPE capstones are expected to deploy methods, topics, or approaches from at least two of the major’s constituent disciplines.

Students in the PPE major will integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives in choosing a capstone topic or research question such as:

• How do our economic, political and legal orders interact to affect the distribution or redistribution of material resources, political rights and duties, or forms of recognition and honour?

• Are mechanisms of decision-making in our political and economic institutions complementary or conflicting, and how are these differences grounded in various philosophical, religious, or ethical traditions?

• What different forms are taken by justice, equality, responsibility, or liberty in various economic, political, and legal institutions?

Careers with a PPE Degree

The PPE major teaches students how to think creatively across boundaries and to address a range of different subject areas in a critical fashion. It is also designed to combine social scientific forms of knowledge and modes of analysis with more philosophical and normative methods of inquiry.

For these reasons, the PPE major prepares students for a wide range of careers including law, public policy, government, management consulting, non-governmental organisation (NGO) work, business, social work, journalism, market analysis, accounting, finance, and academia. See below for a sample list of the career destinations of our PPE alumni:

• Facebook

• TikTok

• KPMG

• Accenture

• Barclays

• World Bank

• GIC

• Enterprise Singapore

• Procter & Gamble

• Eden Strategy Institute, LLP

Many of our PPE students also choose to pursue graduate studies in public policy, business administration, Asian studies, and Chinese studies, to name just a few. See below for some of the graduate schools to which PPE students have been admitted in the past: 

• Boston University (Religion and Ethics ), USA

• Columbia University, USA

• INSEAD, Singapore

• Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore

• Peking University (Yenching Scholar), China

• Tsinghua University (Schwarzman Scholars Programme), China

• University of Chicago, USA

• University of Oxford (Art History; Environmental Change & Management), UK

• University of Southern California, USA

• Yale University (East Asian Studies; Psychology), USA

Requirements for a Major in PPE

To complete the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) major, students are required to complete 44 Units as well as a 10 Unit capstone project (approximately eleven 5 Unit courses in total). The required 44 Units will be made up of:

• 19 or 20 Unit (four courses) in the primary field,

• 14 or 15 Unit (three courses) in the secondary field, and

• 9 or 10 Unit (two courses) in the tertiary field.

In addition, students are strongly encouraged to devote an additional three electives (around 15 Unit) to courses supporting the major and leading up to the capstone. There are six possible pathways through PPE depending on the choice of primary, secondary, and tertiary fields of study from philosophy, politics and economics.

In view of the breadth of PPE, the variety of pathways and multifarious course offerings, students are urged to consult closely with their advisors to ensure they have crafted a coherent study programme.

Economics

For PPE students whose primary field of interest is economics, the 20 Unit will be Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Econometrics, and one advanced course. These students are strongly encouraged to include further courses in economics among their electives, over and above those required.

For those whose secondary field is economics, the 15 Unit will be two of the following three courses: Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Econometrics; and a course chosen from the list of economics courses.

Those whose tertiary field is economics must take one of the following three courses: Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Econometrics; and another course chosen from the list of economics courses. The Economics major gives a fuller description and listing of the available economics courses.

Politics

For students whose primary field is politics, the 20 Unit must include Introduction to Comparative Politics, Methods in the Social Sciences (unless Econometrics is taken), and up to three approved additional courses with politics content as needed.

For those whose secondary field is politics, the 15 Unit must include Introduction to Comparative Politics or Methods in the Social Sciences (unless Econometrics is taken), and up to two approved additional courses with politics content as needed.

For those whose tertiary field is politics, the 10 Unit must include Introduction to Comparative Politics and an approved additional course with politics content.  These students are strongly recommended to take Methods in the Social Sciences (unless Econometrics is taken).

Philosophy

For students whose primary field of interest is philosophy, the 20 Unit must include philosophy courses which guide them in their development along these two dimensions:

An appreciation for philosophy in at least one tradition.

Fundamental philosophical skills, of which the courses chosen should develop two of the following four: (a) Textual Analysis; (b) Problem Solving; (c) Formal Analysis; (d) Applications.

For those whose secondary or tertiary field is philosophy, should follow the recommendations of their advisor and take three or two courses as appropriate, with an eye towards developing an appreciation of philosophical traditions and a suitable range of fundamental skills as listed above.

The Philosophy major website describes courses available and indicates their contributions to the traditions and skills referred to above.

Capstone

The final-year capstone project offers students in the PPE major the ability to apply the interdisciplinary set of skills they have acquired to a more focused set of issues or problems in order to produce a substantial piece of research.

Students will complete this programme of directed reading and research under the supervision of an advisor. Proposals for alternative types of capstone projects such as policy papers in conjunction with an internship project will be considered and may be undertaken with the approval of the Head of Studies.

Either Econometrics or Methods in the Social Sciences should be completed before the start of the academic year in which the capstone project is undertaken, since ability to use either qualitative or quantitative research methods, or both, will be essential to most capstone projects.

Core Courses

YSS1206 Introduction to Comparative Politics

This course is an introduction to the study of political institutions, processes, structures, policies, and outcomes, both within and across countries. Students will learn how to understand and evaluate the similarities and differences between political systems, as well as the intricacies of specific case studies. The course will introduce students to some of the key themes, methods, and questions used in comparing polities across time and space.

YSS3231 Methods in the Social Sciences

An introduction to various research methods in the social sciences, including survey methodology, quantitative data analysis, participant observation, and in?depth interviewing. This course can count as a course in the major for students in Urban Studies, Global Affairs, PPE, and Anthropology.

It may fulfill the course requirements for students in Environmental Studies as well on a case?by?case basis after consultation with the Head of Studies of that major. The course also fulfills the methods requirement in Urban Studies and Global Affairs. Students in all of these majors should ideally take this course before they commence their capstone project.

YSS2203 Intermediate Microeconomics

Microeconomics analyses individual decision making and its implications for economic outcomes. Here the term “individual” is used broadly to include individuals, households and firms.

We deconstruct the demand-supply model by analysing consumers’ choices as outcomes of rational preference maximization and producers’ decisions as results of profit maximization in various market structures. We study how equilibrium of demand and supply in competitive markets generates efficient outcomes.

We then analyse a variety of instances when markets fail to be efficient. This course will place special emphasis upon mathematical foundations of theoretical models. In particular, we will study and apply techniques in multivariate calculus, and unconstrained and constrained optimization.

Electives

YSS2208 Ancient Greek Political Philosophy

This course offers students an introduction to the central themes and debates in Ancient Greek Political Philosophy through a careful reading of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics. Questions and themes include:

“How should I/we live?”, “What is justice, freedom, and equality?”,

 “What are the virtues of citizens and rulers?”,

“What is the relationship between the individual and the state?”

, and “How should we envision the relationship between morality and politics?”

While understanding the works of Plato and Aristotle within their historical context, we will also be interested in understanding how they can help us to think about politics in contemporary societies.

YSS3314 Singapore Politics

Political insight often begins by looking critically at one’s own political environment. This course examines Singapore politics institutionally and thematically, focusing on pressing issues facing the country today.

It will explore Singapore’s unique parliamentary system, and its political aims and effects. Topics covered may include the politics of race and gender, issues of social class and inequality, efforts to balance civil rights and liberties with political expediency, and issues of meritocracy, party politics, and national identity.

When feasible, this course will include experiential learning components such as guest speakers or visits to parliament.

YSS2239 The Political Thought of the Enlightenment

Liberty, equality, fraternity – many of our political ideas today have hazy roots in the Enlightenment. This course will examine some of the key texts, concepts and debates of the period, with particular emphasis on Britain and the French Enlightenment. We will also draw on these texts to think about political concepts and debates in our time.

YSS3302 Colonialism and Decolonization

Colonialism has had far reaching social, political and economic effects. Since WWII, many colonies have gained independence. However, independence did not result in the post-colonial utopias that were envisioned in struggles for independence.

Colonialism has persisted. New forms of imperialism have substituted for colonialism. Further, native elites have reproduced the colonial apparatus. What, then, does de-colonizsation mean in this post-colonial environment?

We will study the comparative history of colonialism in its political, economic, and social dimensions, and examine its diverse effects. We will examine decoloniszation as a historical episode and as a movement today.

YSS3305 The Political Economy of Capitalism

This course examines the comparative political economy of capitalist societies, broadly defined as the relationship between the market and the state, and the ways in which the triangular relationship between the state, labour and business differs from one capitalist country to another.

The course will survey cases from North America, Western Europe and East Asia, as well as a number of important themes such as poverty and welfare, racial and gender disparities, neoliberalism, financialisation and globalisation.

There will be heavy emphasis upon the transformation in the political-economic landscape facing capitalist societies in the period since the end of the 1970s.

YSS3310 Populism

Populism challenges liberal democracy around the world, upsetting domestic and international political order. Yet, despite its ubiquity, populism is a slippery phenomenon and can be difficult to define. In this course, we will examine populism from the perspectives of philosophy, politics, and economics.

Among other things, we will examine definitions of what populism is and its relationship to liberal democracy; we will examine the causes of populism, such as free trade and economic inequality; we will examine the goals of various populist movements from around the world; and we will debate the legitimacy of policy responses to populism.

YSS3264 Bubbles, Crashes, Panics and Crises

Financial markets are subject to periodic bouts of “irrational exuberance” that lead to bubbles in asset prices, frequently followed by a crash. These particularly afflict stock and foreign exchange markets and the banking industry. Despite repeated attempts to regulate finance, crises recur with remarkable frequency and regularity.

In “This Time is Different”, Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart document eight centuries of financial folly. These crises have profound effects on the real economy, leaving a legacy of unemployment and slow growth. We use economic analysis to study several financial, foreign exchange, and banking crises in their historical and social contexts.

YSS3326 Liberalism and Its Critics

The course will build upon the knowledge of early modern liberalism that students learn in PPT 2. We will begin with an examination of John Locke’s classic work of liberalism, The Second Treatise of Government. We will then examine Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s critique of liberal state of nature theories in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.

After that we turn to twentieth-century critiques of liberalism offered by Virginia Woolf, Malcolm X, and Michel Foucault. Here we will study how liberalism relies on masculine (Woolf), racist (Malcolm X) or disciplinary (Foucault) mechanisms, and examine the political alternatives offered by these thinkers.