Professor M Ghatak, LRB. R530, Professor F Caselli, LRB. R442b and Dr G Padro i Miquel, LRB. R521

This course is for MSc Economics and MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics. Other graduates on MSc Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc Development Studies, MPA Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public Policy and Management/MPA International Development/MPA European Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public and Social Policy may attend with the permission of the MSc Economics programme Director. This will normally only be granted to students who have taken EC400 (Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics) held annually in September and achieved the required standard.

Students should have completed courses in intermediate level microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics and EC400 (Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics).

The course provides an advanced treatment of development economics, including theory, evidence and policy.  The aim of the course is to develop students' research abilities by examining a large number of current theoretical and applied topics drawn from the forefront of development economics research. The course has a strong applied focus. For each major topic covered we want to derive testable implications from the theory, subject these to econometric testing, comment on the robustness of the results obtained and draw out policy conclusions. The course is divided into three parts.

(i) Patterns of Growth, Development and Change: Neoclassical models of capital accumulation. Endogenous growth models. Industrialization and the big push. Economic inequality and growth. Institutional change. Political economy and the role of government.

(ii) Structural Features of Low-income Economies. Formal and informal risk-sharing institutions. Saving behaviour. Financial institutions and allocation of credit. Problems of agricultural development. Relationships between landlords and tenants. Poverty and under-nutrition. Intra-household allocation and gender bias. Property rights and institutional reform. Social networks and collective action. Industrial organisation.

(iii) Policy Analysis: Land reforms. Investments in human capital. Media and public policy. Alternative institutional mechanisms for provision of public goods.

Lectures EC428.1: 18 x two-hours MT and LT.

Classes EC428.1A: 10 MT and LT.

Attendance at the Seminar EC428.2: 20 MT and LT is expected.

Occasional written assignments will be expected throughout the MT and LT.

Most of the reading is from journal articles which appear on reading lists distributed at the start of each part of the course. However, the following references may serve as an introduction to material included in the syllabus. Handbook of Development Economics, Volumes I and II edited by Chenery and Srinivasan, Volume III and IV edited by Behrman and Srinivasan, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1994; D Ray, Development Economics, Princeton UP, 1998.

A three-hour written examination in the ST. Additionally, students taking MSc Economics or MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics will be required to submit an extended essay at the beginning of the ST; for such students the written examination and the extended essay will each count for half of the marks.