IKT 525E - Development Economics

Course Objectives

The course aims to investigate the main topics of economic development both at the theoretical and empirical levels. The course is designed to develop the analytical and critical understanding of students regarding the differences between developed and developing economies, the diverse economic theories explaining the causes of these differences, the political economy of the complex problems and policy issues that are faced by emerging market economies, and proposed policy solutions.

Course Description

The first half of the course covers the basic definitions, indicators and theories of economic development and establishes a background for analysis of the empirical issues to be investigated in the second half. These basic topics entail the various definitions, conceptualizations and indicators of economic growth and development; historical approaches to divergence between so-called developed and developing economies; various economic development and growth theories in comparative perspective. The applied topics to be covered in the second half of the course entail the following: structural transformation in the course of economic development, namely the industrialization imperative, agricultural transformation and the environment; population growth, migration, human capital and unemployment; the role of the market mechanism versus the role of the developmental State; macroeconomic balance, international trade, foreign capital investment and the balance of payments problem; the role of international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and foreign aid.