Development Economics
Code
1108
Academic unit
null
Department
null
Credits
7,5
Teacher in charge
Pedro C. Vicente
Teaching language
Objectives
This course will give students an overview of current research on development economics. Both theory and empirics will be tackled, with a strong applied focus. In the process it will introduce the main evaluation methods used in impact measurement of development interventions. The course also aims to offer basic research skills, as it will give the student the perspective of a researcher in this field.
Prerequisites
Mandatory Precedence:
- 1100. Introduction to Microeconomics
Subject matter
The focus of the course will be on the main current topics in the development economics literature. After a brief methodological overview, the course will discuss poverty traps and foreign aid effectiveness. Natural resources and ethnic divisions will then be studied. Good institutions will be portrayed as improving development. We will then examine democracy and corruption. The remaining of the course is devoted to assessing development interventions.
We will first look at governance interventions. We will then analyze social programs devoted to health and education. Then we turn to incentivizing access to formal banking, namely to credit, savings, and remittances. Finally we devote some attention to agriculture policy in developing countries.