IDCE 30247 - Development Economics

The first part of the course will introduce you to the essential concepts in micro and macroeconomics in order to provide a foundation for understanding development economics.  This part will also include a brief history of economic thought from classical to modern period.  The second part of the course will explore topics in development economics.  

Development economics is the branch of economics that studies theoretical and policy issues relating to economic development in developing countries.  Development has been one of the liveliest and thought provoking areas in economics. Over the past two decades there have been many advances in mainstream economic theory, which have allowed economists to reformulate some age-old questions and seek new answers.  This course will introduce you to these advances and give you a feel of the debates that have ensued, and their implications for development.

Development economics will take you through an exciting journey that will acquaint you with new ideas and new ways of answering fundamental questions about economic development. These are the very ideas that have enriched our understanding of the processes that ultimately engender economic development. The course has a broad reach and is relevant for scholars and practitioners.  It is designed to equip you with the theoretical and applied tools that will allow you to analyze the problems faced by deprived communities across the world in a systematic and analytical way.

We will explore economics development policies since World War II.  We will trace the interplay of the theory and the practice of economic development from the state-led, import-substituting industrialization that was the dominant development paradigm in the 1950s and 1960s, to the rise of dependency analysis in the 1960s and ‘neostructuralism’ of the 1970s, the resurgence of market-oriented policies in the 1980s, the ‘second generation’ reforms of the 1990s, and the current questioning of free market economics. 

The scope of the course is strictly limited to how mainstream economists think about policy issues relating to development.  It will provide an introduction to development economics. Topics covered include:

(a) conceptual approaches to economic development; (b) theories and facts pertaining to economic growth, inequality, poverty, rural-urban transformation, population and human development; (d) development policy issues including, food security, education, health, population, land reform, credit, industrial policy and globalization; governance; conflict and security.

Anticipated Terms Offered: varied