ECON 312-01, Economics of Development, Spring 2011

Abstract

This course focuses on the scope and causes of international inequality, particularly the nature of the economic problems facing the world's poorer countries. Particular emphasis will be given to the countries of the African, South American, and Asian continents. The main emphasis will be on analytical modeling. While I will often use specific data and cases studies to motivate the models, a thorough empirical history of economic development is not the central focus of the course. Theories of growth and inequality, uneven development, and the roles of schooling, foreign trade, agriculture, manufacturing, fertility, migration, finance, and the environment in the development process will be considered. The goal of the course is to promote understanding of these economic models in the contexts of developing economies. Readings, class lectures, problem sets, exams and research papers will be the tools used to meet these goals.