Public Policy at MIT

Public Policy at MIT

Public policy is central to MIT’s mission to make the world a better place. Science and technology are critical for solving many of the world’s big problems. How they contribute depends on the laws, regulations, finance, institutions, and politics that shape each society’s approaches to public issues.  At MIT we both design public policies – based on the latest research – and examine the forces that determine policy response: the definition of problems; the budgetary, legal, technical, ethical, and political constraints on action; and the role of actors such as mass publics, business and industry, non-governmental organizations, government officials, and international agencies.  Understanding policy design and implementation in its historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts is crucial to addressing societal and global problems.

Mission

Public Policy at MIT is an information commons shared by the dozens of faculty and research groups working on public policy around the Institute. Here researchers with similar interests can identify each other, students can learn about policy-related opportunities, faculty can locate policy-related resources, and those outside MIT can discover the important policy research being carried out at the Institute.  Coordinated by Professor Andrea Campbell of the Department of Political Science, Public Policy at MIT draws on the strengths of all five schools across the Institute.