Problem Solving and Decision Making for Public Policy and Social Change

Stanford graduates will play important roles in solving many of today's and tomorrow's major societal problems--in areas such as education, health, energy, and domestic and global poverty--that call for actions by nonprofit, business, and hybrid organizations as well as governments. This course teaches skills and bodies of knowledge relevant to these roles, covering topics such as designing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating social strategies; systems thinking; decision making under risk; psychological biases that adversely affect people's decisions; methods for influencing behavior; and pay-for-success programs. The large majority of the course will be devoted to students' working in teams to apply these concepts and tools to an actual problem, with teams choosing whatever problem interests them. The course may be of interest to students in Law and Policy Lab practicums who wish to broaden their policy analysis skills. Law School holds classes on February 20, Presidents' Day.