This course is available on the MSc in Economics (2 Year Programme). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

New course for the 2027/28 academic session.

How to apply: These courses are intended for MSc Economics, MSc Economics (2 Year Programme), and MSc EME Students. Any external student must have successfully completed EC400 or EC451 in September and have approval of the Department of Economics.

Deadline for application: Please apply as soon as possible after the opening of course selection for all courses.

For queries contact: Econ.msc@lse.ac.uk

Mutually exclusive courses:

This course cannot be taken with PP454 at any time on the same degree programme.

Pre-requisites:

Students must have completed EC451 or EC400 before taking this course.

Additional requisites:

Students should have completed courses in intermediate level microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics.

Development Economics: Applications and Policy builds on Foundations of Development Economics, focusing on applied material with a policy focus.

Topics include, but are not limited to: land markets; the allocation of capital and labour across firms, space and sectors; structural change; psychology and development; governance, institutions and accountability; the role of culture in economic development; state capacity and the motivation of civil servants; firms and markets; trade; infrastructure; and climate change.

Development economics is, arguably, the fastest growing and most vibrant field within economics. The course will enable students to apply their econometric and theoretical skills to what are some of the world’s most pressing problems. The experience of applying their economic knowledge to these topics will generate analytical skills that can be used in a wide variety of applied settings.

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
1 hour of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Two marked assignments.

Most of the reading is from journal articles which appear on reading lists distributed at the start of the course.

However, the following references may serve as an introduction to material included in the syllabus.

D Ray, Development Economics, Princeton UP, 1998, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s Poor Economics, New York: Public Affairs,2011, and the symposium on The Agenda for Development Economics - Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 24, Number 3, Summer 2010: Articles by Deaton, Acemoglu, Ray, Rodrik, and Rosenzweig.

Exam (100%), duration: 120 minutes, reading time: 15 minutes in the Spring exam period.

This course is IRDAP-enabled, meaning that resit and deferred assessments will take place in August at the end of the academic year.