Economics 416: Theory of Economic Development Summer II 2012econweb.umd.edu/~li/Syllabus_ECON...
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Economics 416: Theory of Economic Development Summer II 2012 Instructor: Wei Li（Tony） PhD student in Economics at UMD Lectures: Tue/Thu 6:00 p.m.– 9:00 p.m. Tydings 0111 Office Hours: Tue/Thu 5:00 p.m.– 6:00 p.m. Morill Hall, 0101 Overview: This course will cover fundamental issues in development economics. There will be 8 units: (1) economic growth; (2) inequality; (3) population; (4) labor market; (5) education; (6) agriculture; (7) finance and credit markets; (8) environment. As the course title suggests, I would use economic theory to explore issues arising in developing countries; however, empirical studies providing motivation for or tests of theoretical developments will also be discussed, and a brief discussion on empirical methods will be part of the course as well. In addition, I would present some recent papers about development issues in China, the largest developing countries in our world. Texts: No textbook is required. The lecture slides would be the main teaching materials, however, reading textbooks would be helpful for you to understand the topics with more examples and details. The following textbooks are for the students who are willing to purchase one or two books. Main text (Optional but Recommended): Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith. Economic Development, 10 th or 11 th edition. ISBN 978-0-13-801388-2 Other useful textbooks (Optional): Debraj Ray. Development Economics. Princeton University Press, 1998 Abhijit V. Banerjee, Roland Benabou, and DilipMookherjee, editors. Understanding Poverty. Oxford, 2006 Prerequisites: ECON 325 (or ECON 305 by permission of department) and ECON 321 with a grade of C (2.0) or better. Students who have taken Econ 326 (intermediate micro) but not Econ 325 and wish to enroll should contact the instructor. For ECON majors only. Course requirements and grading: The course requirements are three problem sets and one final exam (individual based) and presentation on research topics (group based, 2-3 students for each group).
Transcript of Economics 416: Theory of Economic Development Summer II 2012econweb.umd.edu/~li/Syllabus_ECON...
Economics 416: Theory of Economic Development
Summer II 2012
Instructor: Wei Li（Tony） PhD student in Economics at UMD
Lectures: Tue/Thu 6:00 p.m.– 9:00 p.m. Tydings 0111
Office Hours: Tue/Thu 5:00 p.m.– 6:00 p.m. Morill Hall, 0101
Overview:
This course will cover fundamental issues in development economics. There will be 8
units: (1) economic growth; (2) inequality; (3) population; (4) labor market; (5)
education; (6) agriculture; (7) finance and credit markets; (8) environment.
As the course title suggests, I would use economic theory to explore issues arising in
developing countries; however, empirical studies providing motivation for or tests of
theoretical developments will also be discussed, and a brief discussion on empirical
methods will be part of the course as well. In addition, I would present some recent
papers about development issues in China, the largest developing countries in our
world.
Texts:
No textbook is required. The lecture slides would be the main teaching materials,
however, reading textbooks would be helpful for you to understand the topics with
more examples and details. The following textbooks are for the students who are
willing to purchase one or two books.
Main text (Optional but Recommended):
Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith. Economic Development, 10th
or 11th
edition.
ISBN 978-0-13-801388-2
Other useful textbooks (Optional):
Debraj Ray. Development Economics. Princeton University Press, 1998
Abhijit V. Banerjee, Roland Benabou, and DilipMookherjee, editors. Understanding
Poverty. Oxford, 2006
Prerequisites: ECON 325 (or ECON 305 by permission of department) and ECON
321 with a grade of C (2.0) or better. Students who have taken Econ 326 (intermediate
micro) but not Econ 325 and wish to enroll should contact the instructor. For ECON
majors only.
Course requirements and grading:
The course requirements are three problem sets and one final exam (individual
based) and presentation on research topics (group based, 2-3 students for each
group).
The in-class group presentation would be held in the last two weeks. It could be any
topic related with economic development.
The grading will be as follows: 30% problem sets, 40% final exam, 30% in-class
research presentation
Course Outline (Preliminary)
Lecture 1: Introduction
What is development about? / Developing nations/ Questions of interest/ some
statistics
Lecture 2: Growth history
Historic Growth and Contemporary Development: Lessons and Controversies
Solow model/ Structural-Change models
Lecture 3: Empirical evidence of growth
A brief review of discussion of econometrics (require some background on
econometrics, simple linear regression)
Lecture 4: Inequality
Growth, Poverty, and Income Distribution / Gini coefficient
Lecture 5: Population
Part 1: Population growth and development/ Household fertility microeconomics
Part 2: Gender bias/ One child policy in China/ Sex imbalance
Lecture 6: Labor market
Unemployment/ Urban-Rural migration
Case study: Leaving China’s Farms: Survey Results of Rural Migration
Lecture 7: Education
Role of education and human capital accumulation
Return on human capital investment
Lecture 8: Agriculture and land
Agriculture transformation-two sector model
Lecture 9: Finance and credit markets
Microfinance in rural areas/ asymmetric information and moral hazard
Lecture 10: The Environment and Development
Sustainable development and environmental accounting
Public good and externality
