Empirical Development Economics - Syllabus
Why are some countries more developed than others? How do we measure development? How can countries get on a growth-path that will lead them to catch-up with others? What are the historical patterns that explain this? What are the main economic forces driving development? What is the role of government economic policies in development? Who are the big international development actors? In this course, you will understand the questions that concern roughly 7 billion people and the policymakers responsible for them. These questions revolve around a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma: Do poor institutions hinder development, or do weak development dynamics lead to bad institutions? Armed with innovative data, computational tools, and advanced statistical techniques, empirical economists are better equipped now than ever before to tackle these challenges. This course draws on papers using all these elements to answer key development problems. The course is designed to help students bridge the gap between the big picture questions and the tools we should use to answer them. It will give you a critical reading of the current development research and how to apply its lessons.