Master course in Development Economics – September

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Here is information about the course and references to some papers for
those who are eager to start reading early. The lecture and reading list
will be completed soon.
Master Course: Advanced Development Economics
March-April 2015
1. Lectures and readings
More detailed reading instructions will be provided during the lectures
Preliminary list, very incomplete
Wed 2015-03-25
09:00 - 12:00
Lecture 2: Development Challenges
AB
Chen, S., Ravallion, M. (2012), More Relatively-Poor People in a Less Absolutely-Poor
World, Policy Research Working Paper no 6114, World Bank, Washington D.C.
Corden C.M., Findlay R., (1975), "Urban Unemployment, Intersectoral Capital Mobility
and Development Policy", Economica 42: 56-78.
Johnson, S, Ostry, J.D., Subramanian,A. (2010). "Prospects for Sustained Growth in
Africa: Benchmarking the Constraints," IMF Staff Papers, 57(1), pages 119-171, April.
Thu 2015-03-26
13:00 - 16:00
Lecture 2: Economic Growth and Polices for Growth
DD
Bloom. David and Jeffrey Williamson (1998) “Demographic Transitions and Economic
Miracles in Emerging Asia”. CAER Discussion Paper No. 40 and World Bank Economic
Review, 12 (3), 419-455.
Quamrul Ashraf, David Weil and Joshua Wilde (2012) "The Effect of Fertility Reduction
on Economic Growth," Population and Development Review 39(1) : 97–130 (March,
2013) ((October 2012 Version -- contains material on age-specific saving rates and the
effect of land in the production function that is cut out of the published version)
Possibly plus one more paper
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Fri 2015-03-27
13:00 - 16:00
Lecture 3: Economic Growth and Polices for Growth
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Growth constraints
Hausmann, Ricardo Klinger, Bailey Wagner, Rodrigo (2008) Doing Growth Diagnostics
in Practice: A ‘Mindbook’ CID Working Paper No. 177 September 2008
Or
Lea, Nicholas and Lucia Hanmer “Constraints to Growth in Malawi” The World Bank,
Africa Region Southern Africa Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit
October 2009, WPS5097.
Structural adjustment and Washington Consensus
Williamson, J. (2009) Short History of the Washington Consensus, Law & Bus. Rev. Am.
15(7).
Rodrik, Dani (2006) “Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion? A
Review of the World Bank's Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of
Reform” Journal of Economic Literature, Volume 44, Number 4.
Birdsall, Nancy, Augusto De la Torre, and Felipe Valencia Caicedo (2010) “The
Washington Consensus: Assessing a Damaged Brand” Center for Global Development
Working Paper No. 213
………
Wed 2015-04-15
13:00 - 16:00
Lecture 10: Education, web-based lecture
Web-based lecture by Anne Case.
The slides will be available on the course homepage.
Note that we are only allowed to show this lecture in the lecture hall
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(voluntary reading) Robert E. Lucas, Jr (2004) The Industrial Revolution: Past and Future
2003 Annual Report Essay, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=3333
Esther Duflo, (2001) Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction
in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment, American Economic
Review, Vol. 91No. 4
Case Anne and Angus Deaton (1999) “School Inputs and Educational Outcomes in South
Africa” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114 (3): 1047-1084
Plus
Hanushek, Eric A. (2013) “Economic growth in developing countries:
The role of human capital” Economics of Education Review 37:204–212
Sam Jones, Youdi Schipper, Sara Ruto, and Rakesh Rajani
Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa J Afr
Econ (2014) 23 (5): 643-672
Fri 2015-04-17
09:00 - 12:00
Lecture 12:
Randomized Control Trials (RCTs), the effectiveness of foreign aid and use of
instrumental variables
Web-based lecture by Angus Deaton. The lecture is on RCTs, foreign aid effectiveness
and challenges in the use of instrumental variables. Deaton is quite critical of RCTs and
instrumental variables (compared to many other economists), but gives a good overview
of their strengths and limitations.
The slides are available on the course homepage.
Mon 2015-04-20
09:00 - 12:00
Seminar 1: Student presentations
DD
Mon 2015-04-20
13:00 - 16:00
Seminar 2: Student presentations
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Thu 2015-04-23
13:00 - 16:00
Lecture 14: Health and Human Capital
DD
2. Computer lab assignment
You are required to do a computer lab assignment, in groups of two (or three). It is
compulsory to hand in and pass the lab assignment. An assignment that doesn’t receive
Pass needs to be revised. Assignments with Pass can receive between 0 and 4 points. This
means that you can get 4 additional points on the exam by doing the assignments in time.
You can get a maximum of 60 points on the exam.
We will give you a deadline for the assignment and deduct one point for each day you are
late. If the lab assignment needs to be revised you will not get any points.
3. Presentation and note
Each student should read at least one paper carefully, chosen from the list provided below
or in collaboration with the lecturers. It should be presented at the seminar and
summarized in a note. It is compulsory to attend both seminars.
The seminar presentation and the note should contain the following, if applicable: the
purpose of the study and why is it of interest (according to the authors); the exact
research question(s); a brief description of previous research on the topic; a description
method (explain the method in a way that fellow students understand), data, results and
conclusions; an evaluation of the quality of the study and (possible) weaknesses. In the
note you should include two key questions to the authors (as if they were presenting the
study and you were part of the audience). Another difference between the presentation
and the note is that the method should be explained in detail in the note.
You can do the presentation and the note individually or in groups of two people (but not
three). Each presentation will be allocated about 30 minutes (depending on the number of
students presenting). Prepare to talk for 15 to 20 minutes; the rest of the time will be used
for questions and answers. You probably need to use slides, but beware that there a limit
on how many you can show during the presentation. Test your talk at home to make sure
you can make it within the time limit.
The note should be submitted via Urkund. The address is
[email protected]
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The note should consist of about three pages, excluding references, line spacing 1.5, font
size 12. Write the note as if you were writing a report, using headings and proper
references. The note will be graded Pass or Fail. The grade Pass is required to pass the
course.
Students who fail to present a paper must write an essay. It should contain at least 1 750
words and have the same structure as the note but be more detailed. In particular, the
section on previous research should be expanded beyond the one in the paper that the
essay is based upon; in other words, you need to look for additional references.
Suggested papers for presentations and note (TO BE UPDATED)
Here is a list of relatively accessible papers. You may choose a paper that is not on the
list, but it should be a research paper published or publishable in an economic journal, not
a survey or discussion paper.
Aid
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict." American
Economic Review, 104(6): 1630-66.
Gender
Ashraf, N. (2009). "Spousal Control and Intra-household Decision Making: An
Experimental Study In The Philippines." American Economic Review 99(4): 1245-1277.
Ashraf, Nava, Erica Field, And Jean Lee. "Household Bargaining And Excess Fertility:
An Experimental Study In Zambia." American Economic Review 104, No. 7 (July 2014).
Institutions
Daron Acemoglu, Tristan Reed, James A. Robinson. 2013. “Chiefs - Economic
Developement And Elite Control Of Civil Soceity In Sierra Leone,” Journal Of Political
Economy
The Colonial Origins Of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation:
Comment. (Sole-Authored) American Economic Review, 102(6), October 2012, Pp.
3059-3076. .
Corruption
Olken, B. A. (2006). "Corruption and the costs of redistribution: Micro evidence from
Indonesia." Journal of Public Economics 90(4–5): 853-870.
Olken, B. A. (2009). "Corruption perceptions vs. corruption reality." Journal of Public
Economics 93(7–8): 950-964.
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RCTs
Martina Björkman-Nyqvist, Jakob Svensson, David Yanagizawa-Drott. 2013. The
Market for (Fake) Antimalarial Medicine: Evidence from Uganda” Mimeograph
Religion
David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Michael Kremer. 2009. “Estimating The Impact
Of The Hajj: Religion And Tolerance In Islam’s Global Gathering,” The Quarterly
Journal Of Economics.
Sonia Bhalotraa, Irma Clots-Figueras, Guilhem Cassanc, Lakshmi Iyer. 2014. “Religion,
Politician Identity And Development Outcomes:Evidence From India”, Journal Of
Economic Behavior And Organization.
History
Diego Puga And Daniel Trefler. 2014. 'International Trade And Institutional Change:
Medieval Venice's Response To Globalization', Quarterly Journal Of Economics 129(2),
May 2014: 753-821
Conflict
Bernd Beber And Christopher Blattman. 2013. “The Logic Of Child Soldiering And
Coercion”, International Organization, 67: 65-104
Christopher Blattman And Jeannie Annan. 2010. “The Consequences Of Child
Soldiering,” The Review Of Economics And Statistics, 92(4): 882–898
Political targeting
Hsieh, C.-T., E. Miguel, D. Ortega and F. Rodriguez (2011). "The Price of Political
Opposition: Evidence from Venezuela's Maisanta." American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics 3(2): 196-214.
Manacorda, M., E. Miguel and A. Vigorito (2011). "Government Transfers and Political
Support." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3(3): 1-28.
Inequality and poverty
Ravallion, Martin. 2012. "Why Don't We See Poverty Convergence?" American
Economic Review, 102(1): 504-23.
Milanovic, B. (2011), “A short history of global inequality: The past two centuries”,
Explorations in Economic History 48: 494-506.
Education
Robert Jensen: “The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling”
(2010). Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125 (2) May 2010: 515-548.
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Duflo, Esther, Pascaline Dupas, and Michael Kremer “Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives,
and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya” (2011).
American Economic Review, No. 101 (August 2011): 1739–1774.
Or a longer but somewhat more explicit version
“Peer Effects, Pupil-Teacher Ratios, and Teacher Incentives: Evidence from a
Randomized Evaluation in Kenya” (2007). Working paper version of the AER paper
above.
Health and HIV/AIDS
Papageorgiou, C. and P Stoytcheva (2008) ``What Do We Know about the Impact of
AIDS on Cross-Country Income So Far?'', unpublished draft
Asiedu, Christobel, Asiedu, Elizabeth Owusu, Francis (2012) The Socio-Economic
Determinants of HIV/AIDS Infection Rates in Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and
Zimbabwe” Development Policy Review, 30 3 305- 326
Marcella M. Alsan and David M. Cutler (2013) Girls Education and HIV Risk: Evidence
from Uganda, Journal of Health Economics, 32:863-72
Alderman et al. (2006), “Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition”
Oxford Economic Papers, vol. 58, 450-474
Durevall, D. and A. Lindskog ”HIV and Inequality: (2012) The Case of Malawi” World
Development, Vol. 40, No. 7.
Child labor
Kambhampati, U.S. and R. Rajan (2006) “Economic growth: a panacea for child labour?”
World Development 34(3): 426.445.
Micro credits and finance
Cull, Robert, Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch (2009). ”Microfinance meets the
market,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 23(1), 167-192
Beck, Thorsten, Asli Demirguc-Kunt, and Patrick Honohan (2009). “Access to Financial
Services: Measurement, Impact, and Policies,” World Bank Research Observer 24(1),
119-145.
Labour and migration
Ardington, C, A. Case and V. Hosegood, ”Labor supply responses to large social
transfers: Longitudinal evidence from South Africa”, American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics, vol. 1, iss. 1, pp. 22-48 (2009)
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Property Rights and Household Behaviour
Field, E. (2005) “Property rights and investment in urban slums”, Journal of the
European Economic Association, 3(2-3), pp. 279-290.
Agricultural Development
Bandeira P. and J. M. Sumpsi, 2009, “Access to Land, Rural Development and Public
Action: The When and the How" Development Policy Review. 27 (1): 33-49.
Duflo E., M. Kremer and J. Robinson, 2010, “Why don’t farmers use fertilizers:
Evidence from field experiments in western Kenya”, Working paper
Sources and causes of productivity differences
Van Biesebroeck, J. “Firm Size Matters: Growth and Productivity Growth in African
Manufacturing” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2005, 53 (3).
Söderbom, M. and F. Teal “Size and Efficiency in African Manufacturing Firms
Evidence from Firm-Level Panel Data” Journal of Development Economics, 2004, 73,
pp. 369-394.
Some good books
Banerjee and Duflo, Poor Economics 2011
Acemoglu and Robinson, Why Nations Fail 2012
Deaton, Angus, The Great Escape 2013
Floud, Fogel, Harris, and Hong (2011): The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and
Human Development in the Western World since 1700 Cambridge Univ. Press.
Collier, Paul, The Bottom Billion 2007
David Landes (1999), The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some are So Rich and
Some So Poor, New York: Norton
Mokyr, Joel, The Lever of Riches (1992) and The Gifts of Athena (2004)
Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs, and Steel (1998)
Easterlin, Richard, Growth Triumphant: The Twenty First Century in Historical
Perspective University of Michigan Press, 1996.
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Livi‐Bacci, Massimo, A Concise History of World Population