DEC-30306 Central Themes in Economics of Development

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

AEP-20806 Institutional Economics and Economic Organisation Theory, AEP-21306 Econometrics, DEC-21806 Macroeconomics and International Trade, and DEC-32806 Impact Assessment of Policies and Programmes or YSS-35306 Theories and Models in Economics

Continuation courses:

AEP-80436 MSc Thesis Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy, AEP-81336 MSc Thesis Regional Economics, DEC-80436 MSc thesis Development Economics, ENR-80436 MSc Thesis Environmental Economics and Natural Resources

Contents:

The economics of development deals with processes of socio-economic and institutional change in low income, transition, and high income countries. Market, state and civil society each have their role to play in development, and the specificity and balance of these roles depend on the particular time and place. Therefore, we need to learn how to think about development more than to learn blueprints. This advanced course provides an in-depth treatment of the contemporary thinking about various important issues in economic development. We discuss state-of-the-art literature in a series of twelve lectures. Each lecture is followed by a tutorial in which the students discuss and apply the theories and models covered. The course covers topics such as poverty, development and conflicts, employment, rural development programs, gender inequality, the natural resource curse, and trade liberalisation. Each student selects one topic to develop into a short research proposal.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- analyze links between a range of factors and economic development;
- appraise existing literature on economic development;
- contrast different economic theories on development issues;
- apply adequate economic models to a number of development issues.

Activities:

Studying the literature on a number of central issues and discussing the findings and conclusions with students and staff, making assignments, and writing a research proposal.

Examination:

Workshop assignments (70%); Research proposal (30%); minimum grade for each 5.5.

Literature:

Course guide and literature list is available at the secretariat of the Development Economics Group. Link to the literature will be made available on blackboard.