As a field of study, Development Economics has both a long history and a rapidly expanding set of issues that is considered to be within its domain today. The Foundation of Development Economics will provide a long-term perspective to the field, covering topics such as the meaning of development, the measurement of poverty and inequality, economic growth, structural transformation, industrialisation, institutions and trade. Students will be exposed to classical texts to gain an understanding of how the economic approach to these topics have evolved over time; as well as rigorous mathematical models and modern economic approaches to empirical analysis for an introduction to current methods and practices in the study of Development Economics.
Total contact hours: 30
Private study hours: 120
Total study hours: 150
10% Problem Sets
10% In-Course Test (45 minutes)
80% Examination (2 hours)
• Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry. Readings in Development Economics, Volume 1: Micro-Theory. MIT Press, 2000
• Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry. Readings in Development Economics, Volume 2: Empirical Microeconomics. MIT Press, 2000
• Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry. Development Microeconomics. Oxford University Press, 1999
• Frontiers in Development Economics: The future in perspective. Meier, G., and J. Stiglitz, Eds. World Bank group, 2001
• Jones, Charles and Dietrich Vollrath. Introduction to Economic Growth. 3rd Edition. Blackwell, 2013
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
• systematically and comprehensively understand how concepts related to economic development, industrialization, structural change and growth can account for inequality and poverty
• systematically and comprehensively understand how modern theoretical methods can be used to study institutional transformation and growth of nations
• use economic models to think about problems in development at the high level of abstraction and generality
• comprehensively understand how to use old and new theories to understand causal relationships in development economics
• articulate informed opinions on advanced topics with high level of abstraction and build convincing argumentation in seminar debates on controversial matters
• solve complex analytical problems through the use of the different models studied within the curriculum
• link different and contradictory theories and identify their strengths and shortcomings describing complex socio-economic phenomena
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