Summary: Many factors influence economic growth and development. Geography, factor endowments, institutions, and government policy all play a role. Today we start to explore the relationship between these factors and economic growth.
Inquiry Question: What causes economic growth and development?
You should have replied to two of your classmates on Flipgrid, agreeing with one and disagreeing with the other.
Lecture: Lecture on the sources of economic growth. We will watch these videos. I will explain and answer questions.
Trust and Economic Growth (7:06)
The Solow Model - Part 1 (8:02)
The Solow Model - Part 2 (15:01)
Watch: This tutorial on hypothes.is. We will be using this tool to annotate readings as a group.
Read: Theories that Don't Work. Make at least two annotations using hypothes.is. One should be an annotation that relates to today's inquiry question. The other should be a link to an article that relates to a passage in the reading.
Required: Finish the reading and annotations if you did not complete that in class.
Optional: Listen to this podcast. Focus on this question as you listen: How do institutions affect economic growth and development according to Acemoglu?
Daron Acemoglu of MIT and author (with James Robinson) of Why Nations Fail talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book: why some nations fail and others succeed, why some nations grow over time and sustain that growth, while others grow and then stagnate. Acemoglu draws on an exceptionally rich set of examples over space and time to argue that differences in institutions--political governance and the inclusiveness of the political and economic system--explain the differences in economics success across nations and over time. Acemoglu also discusses how institutions evolve and the critical role institutional change plays in economic success or failure. Along the way, he explains why previous explanations for national economic success are inadequate. The conversation closes with a discussion of the implications of the arguments for foreign aid and attempts by the wealthy nations to help nations that are poor.