Economic Development

Description of the Course:

 The course examines the theory and practice of the economic development of nations. The first segment focuses on the meaning of development. The second segment considers the internal and external forces that encourage or discourage economic development. The course closes with a consideration of special topics such as the link between development, environment, education, and income distribution.

Moreover, the course will identify key features of the development process across countries, and develop an analytical framework, grounded in economic theory, to better understand these patterns. We will then apply our frameworks combined with rigorous empirical evidence to identify when and how public policies can enable economic growth and development. Macro topics include economic growth and its proximate determinants; resource misallocation, learning and coordination and their impacts on productivity; the impact of historical forces on the evolution of (political) institutions and the development process; and the effect of external influences on development. Micro topics include the determinants of and returns to investments in (health and education) human capital; credit markets, savings behavior, and the returns to financial capital; gender; behavioral economics in development; and governance and corruption.

Learning Outcomes:

• To expose students to the diversity of economic realities around the world
• To provide students with the tools to use economic theory to evaluate the effects of specific economic policies
• To analyze how the effects of particular policies may differ substantially across countries, and across groups within a country
• To examine the role that the perspective of those who frame development policy may have on the success of these initiatives
• To give students the opportunity to critically evaluate the development policies that have been implemented in various countrie

Learning Experience:

• Class demonstration and advanced exploration into a wide variety of accounting techniques.
• PowerPoint presentations and exercises demonstrating real cases.
• Complete mock exams in class with verifying the answers.
• Take notes on additional information examples and methods and shortcuts.