In this course, we will study the different facets of human development: education, health, gender, the family, land relations, risk, informal and formal norms and institutions. While studying each of these topics, we will ask: What determines the decisions of poor households in developing countries? What constraints are they subject to? Is there a scope for policy (by government, international organizations, or NGOs)? What policies have been tried out? Have they been successful?
Prerequisites
This is an empirical class. For each topic, we will study several concrete examples chosen from around the world. A statistics course is a prerequisite. Econometrics is not a prerequisite for this class, but you will be expected to be willing to familiarize yourself with basic econometric methods. The relevant material will be covered in the class and occasionally in the recitation.
Requirements
There will be about one problem set every 2 or 3 lectures (for a total of 7 problem sets), due a week after it is handed out. Each problem set will contain one empirical exercise and one more exercise. In the first few recitations, you will learn how to use the Stata software to do these exercises. Problem sets for this class are very important, and somewhat time consuming.
There will be a final exam during exam week, and a mid-term exam on Lec #14. Problem sets will count toward 40% of the final grade for the course. The mid-term will count for 25%. The final exam will count for the remaining 35%. Class participation is expected, and will be taken into account in marginal cases (i.e. in the difficult decision between B+ and A-).
Text and Readings
The text for this class is Debraj Ray’s Development Economics. However, we will rely mostly on articles. A reading packet will be available. There are many readings for this class. You are not expected to read every single article in detail, but you are expected to understand the methods used by the authors to reach their conclusion. Required readings are starred. Lecture notes will be distributed at each lecture. They are not a substitute for attending the class, but a help for you to study.