Economics 355W                                                                                 Prof. Alexander Karaivanov

Economic Development                                                                                                      Fall 2016

http://www.sfu.ca/~akaraiva/e355.html                                                        akaraiva@sfu.ca

 

SYLLABUS

 

Introduction

This course is an introduction to development economics. We will study the sources of economic growth and development (or lack thereof) in poor countries. Both theoretical foundations and empirical evidence will be covered.

 

Organization

Course materials, assignments and announcements will be posted on the class webpage (see top left of this page for the address) in pdf format.

           

Assignments and Grading

There will be six written assignments given during the course. These assignments will involve applying writing and analytic skills, e.g., summarizing information, making an economic argument in favor or against an issue, data analysis, etc.  Late submissions of assignments will receive zero credit. No exceptions will be made - if you, for some reason, cannot attend the class or tutorial at which you need to submit your assignment you would need to find someone to submit it for you. There will be also a midterm and a (comprehensive) final exam.

The final course grade will be based on your performance in the problem sets, the midterms, and the final as follows:

- six bi-weekly written assignments (total)               40% of the final grade

- mid-term exam                                                         25% of the final grade

- final exam                                                                 35% of the final grade

Barring really exceptional circumstances exam re-takes will NOT be allowed. Students who are not present at an exam must provide a certified note (e.g., from a doctor, SFU health services preferred) clearly stating the valid reason for their absence.

If I have a reason to believe that a student has cheated on one of the exams I will give this student a grade of F for the course. In addition, such a student would be subject to disciplinary punishment by the Department and the University, including possible expulsion.

 

Readings

  1. Todaro, Michael and Stephen Smith, Economic Development, 12th ed., Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2015. *

*A paperback version should be available in the SFU bookstore costing much less than the hardcover book.

  1. Easterly, William, The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics, MIT Press, 2001.

 

The Easterly book (to be used as supplement to the Todaro textbook in class and tutorials) is also available online (off-campus you will need to login with your SFU email credentials) at:

http://proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=62733&site=ehost-live

Older editions of the Todaro-Smith textbook (e.g., 11th) should be usable but please check with the library copies to make sure the page references to any assigned reading or questions have not changed.

Assigned developing country

For some written assignments each of you could be assigned a specific developing country. The assigned countries will be posted on the course website after the course student list is finalized.

 

Course schedule

The relevant chapters from the textbooks are given in brackets. You are encouraged to read the whole chapters, however for examination purposes you will be only responsible for material covered in the lectures or the tutorials. I will be skipping many parts of the Todaro-Smith book (I will let you know the exact page numbers on the website).

Note that the Easterly book chapters are written at a general audience level and are therefore short, non-technical, and simply a pleasant read. Thus, do not feel intimidated if you see two Easterly chapters assigned for certain weeks.

If material outside the textbooks is covered in class I will try to post notes on the course webpage but you should always plan to attend class and take notes yourself. The schedule below is tentative – deviations from it will most probably occur.

 

Week 1-2 (Sep 7, 12):

Introduction (Todaro-Smith, ch. 2; Easterly, ch.1 and notes/slides)

Weeks 2-3 (Sep 12 – 19):

Classical theories of growth and development (Todaro-Smith, ch. 3; Easterly, ch. 2, 3)

Week 3-4 (Sep 21 – 28):

            New theories of growth and development (Todaro-Smith, ch. 4; Easterly, ch. 8, 10)

Week 5-6 (Oct 3 - 12):

            Poverty and inequality (Todaro-Smith, ch. 5)

            THANKSGIVING (Oct 10) - NO CLASSES

Week 6-7 (Oct 12 - 19):

            Population (Todaro-Smith, ch. 6; Easterly, ch. 5)

Week 7-8 (Oct 19 - 26):

            Urbanization and migration (Todaro-Smith, ch. 7)

MIDTERM (Oct 31)                        

Week 9-10 (Nov 2 – Nov 14):

Agriculture (Todaro-Smith, ch. 9 and notes)

Week 11-12 (Nov 14 - 24):

            Financial sector – credit, insurance, microfinance (Todaro-Smith, ch. 15 and notes)                  

Week 13-14 (Nov 28 – Dec 5):

Foreign aid and debt (Todaro-Smith, ch. 14; Easterly, ch. 6, 7)