Postgraduate Course: Development Economics (ECNM11030)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The course aims to provide students with an introduction to recent research in development economics.
Students will be exposed to a blend of theoretical models and empirical applications/results enabling them to get a better understanding of the obstacles to economic development. Most topics are focusing on the impacts of policies at the household level (micro). The last two topics look at macro topics with country/district/state level variables and impacts. |
| Course description |
The topics that will be covered are:
-Intra-household decision process
'As a first step we aim at looking at how a household makes decisions and how the the intra-household allocation of income and resources is made. This will help us understanding how decisions are made with respect to savings, insurance and investments in subsequent lectures.'
-Insurance
-Informal savings
-Introduction to randomized controlled trials
-Formal banking: Microfinance institutions (MFI)/Bank accounts
-Mobile Money
-Impact of Microcredit
-Education: Keeping children at school and improving learning outcomes
-Gender (female) empowerment
-Foreign Aid and Governance; Foreign Aid and Growth
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students should be enrolled on MSc Economics, MSc Economics (Econometrics), MSc Economics (Finance) or MSc Mathematical Economics and Econometrics.
Any other students must email sgpe@ed.ac.uk in advance to request permission.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 4 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 18,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
There will be one two-hour final exam worth 100% of the students' final mark. Students will have to answer TWO questions out of FOUR. Answers should be of essay type. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
| The course aims to provide students with an introduction to recent research in development economics.
|
Reading List
-Sarah Deschenes, Christelle Dumas and Sylvie Lambert (2020): "Household Resources and Individual Strategies", World Development, vol. 135, November 2020, open access.
-Porter, C., (2012) "Shocks, Consumption and Income Diversification in Rural Ethiopia," The Journal of Development Studies, vol. 48(9), pages 1209-1222, September.
-De Weerdt J., Dercon, S. (2006) ¿Risk-sharing networks and insurance against illness¿, Journal of Development Economics, 81, 337-356.
-LeMay-Boucher, P., (2009) ¿Beninese and Ethiopian Informal Insurance Groups: A Comparative Analysis¿ Development Policy Review, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 333-347.
-LeMay-Boucher P, J. Noret and V. Somville (2013) ¿Facing misfortune: Expenditures on Magico-religious Powers for Cure and Protection in Benin¿, Journal of African Economies, 22(2), pp. 300-322.
-Platteau, J-P., O De Bock and W Gelade (2017) ¿The Demand for Microinsurance: A Literature Review¿, World Development, 94, pp.139-156.
-Anderson, Siwan, and JM Baland, ¿The Economics of Roscas and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation¿, Quarterly Journal of Economics (2002), 963-995.
-Gugerty, Mary Kay, ¿You Can¿t Save Alone: Testing Theories of Rotating Saving and Credit Associations,¿ Economic Development and Cultural Change (2007).
-Dagnelie, O. and LeMay-Boucher, P. (2012) ¿Rosca Participation in Benin, a commitment Issue¿, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 74(2), pp. 235-252.
-Zambrano, A F., et al. (2023) ¿Rotating savings and credit associations: A scoping review¿, World Development Sustainability, 3.
-Duflo, E., Glennerster, R. and Kremer, M. (2007) Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: a Toolkit. Centre for Economic Policy Research: Discussion Paper. Read Chapter 2 only.
-Ashraf, N., D. Karlan, and W. Yin, ¿Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines¿, Quarterly Journal of Economics (2006).
-Dupas, P. & J. Robinson (2013) ¿Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya¿ American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 5(1), pp. 163-92.
-Prina S. (2015) ¿Banking the Poor via Savings Accounts: Evidence from a Field Experiment¿, Journal of Development Economics, 115: 16-31.
-Suri T, Jack W (2016) The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money, Science Magazine.
- Suri T, Jack W, Ray A (2013) Transaction networks: Evidence from mobile money in Kenya, American Economic Review.
- Suri T, Jack W (2014) Risk sharing and transactions costs: Evidence from Kenya¿s mobile money revolution, American Economic Review.
-E. Riley (2018) Mobile money and risk sharing against village shocks. Journal of Development Economics. 135: 43-58.
-E.Riley (2022) ¿Resisting sharing pressure in the household using mobile money: Experimental evidence on microenterprise investment in Uganda¿ Mimeo (U of Washington).
-Armendariz de Aghion, Beatriz and Jonathan Morduch (2005). The Economics of Microfinance. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press. Read only Chapter 1 and 8
Free pdf at: http://www.fgda.org/dati/ContentManager/files/Documenti_microfinanza/Economics-of-Microfinance.pdf
-Niels Hermes and Robert Lensink (2007) ¿The Empirics of Microfinance: What do we Know?¿ The Economic Journal, 117 (February), F1¿F10.
-Karlan, D. & J. Zinman ¿Microcredit in Theory and Practice: Using Randomized Credit Scoring for Impact Evaluation (2011) Science, 332(6035), pp. 1278-1284
-Augsburg, B., De Haas, R., Fitzsimons, E. and O. Attanasio (2015) ¿The Impacts of Microfinance: Evidence from Joint-Liability Lending in Mongolia¿ AEJ: Journal Applied, vol. 7(1), pages 90-122.
- Karlan, D. (2007) Social Connections and Group Banking, Economic Journal, 117, pp. F52-F84.
-Bold, T. and Svensson J. (2020) ¿Education, Institutions and Development¿ in The handbook of economic development and institutions Princeton University Press.
-Duflo, E. (2004). The medium run effects of educational expansion: Evidence from a large school construction program in Indonesia. Journal of Development Economics, 74(1), 163-197.
-Duflo, E. and A. Banerjee (2012) ¿Poor Economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty¿, HighBridge: read only Chapter 4 ¿Top of the Class¿ on Education.
-Jensen, R. (2010). The (perceived) returns to education and the demand for schooling. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(2).
-Mbiti, I. M. (2016). The Need for Accountability in Education in Developing Countries. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(3), 109-32.
See also JPAL Summary of relative performance on education investments: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/policy-lessons/education/increasing-test-score-performance.
-Beaman, L., Duflo, E., Pande, R., Topalova, P. (2012) 'Female leadership raises aspirations and educational attainment for girls: A policy experiment in India', Science, 335 (6068), pp. 582-586.
-Bhalotra, S. and Clots-Figueras, I. (2014) ¿Health and the political agency of women¿, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(2), pp. 164¿197.
-Burnside, C. and D. Dollar ¿Aid, Policies, and Growth¿ American Economic Review, Vol. 90, No. 4 (Sept 2000), pp. 847-868
-Easterly, W. ¿Can the West Save Africa?¿ Journal of Economic Literature, 47, no. 2, (June 2009): 373-447.
-Easterly, William, Ross Levine, and David Roodman, ¿New Data, new doubts: A Comment on Burnside and Dollar¿s ¿Aid, Policies, and Growth¿, American Economic Review, 94, no. 3, (June 2004).
-Jones and Tarp (2016) ¿Does foreign aid harm political institutions? Journal of Development Economics: 118; 266¿281.
-Arndt, C. (2018) What Is the Aggregate Economic Rate of Return to Foreign Aid? World Bank Economic Review 32: 446¿474.
- Hoeffler, A. and Sterck, O. (2022) ¿Is Chinese Aid Different?¿ World Development; 156
-The following reference for pages 335-341 offers a succinct and recent review:
-Bourguignon, F. and Gunning J. (2020) ¿Foreign Aid and Governance: A Survey¿ in The handbook of economic development and institutions Princeton University Press. |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://www.sgpe.ac.uk |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Six 3-hour long sessions. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | |
Course secretary | |
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