90-827 Economics of Development
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
The purpose of this course is to build an understanding of key economic problems that face developing countries. In the first part we will focus on general models of growth and development. This will include a look at growth theory, structural models of development and more recent innovations in thinking about growth. In the second part of the course we will concentrate on specific, mostly domestic problems of economic development. These challenges include poverty and income inequality, agricultural and rural development, the role of human capital, credit and finance, and health and nutrition. The final section of the course will deal with the challenges faced by developing countries in an increasingly global context. This will include issues of trade, macroeconomics and international finance. The course will mix theory with empirical analysis. In addition to traditional economic analysis of development problems, we will also spend time examining insights from two more recent perspectives institutional economics and the methodological approaches of randomized controlled trials socalled field experiments. We will also include brief case studies as a means of testing our analytic knowledge against the complexity of reality.
Prerequisites: none listed
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