AØKA08088U Advanced Development Economics (Micro Aspects)

Volume 2013/2014
Education
MSc in Economics
Content

This course will cover the microeconomics of development, and will focus on approaches to understanding the behavior of households and firms, and the functioning of markets and institutions in developing countries.
Since development is a field with a strong empirical tradition, most of the course will be centered around discussing and evaluating the empirical strategies used in the literature.

Key topics in micro development will be covered including:

(i) Household economics and intra household allocation, (ii) Health and nutrition (iii) Human capital and education (iv) Land markets and property rights (v) Savings and credit (vi) Risk and insurance (vii) Social networks and learning (viii) Institutions and corruption (ix) Constraints to doing business (x) Firm-level productivity dispersion (xi) Technology adoption and spillovers (xii) Economic transition issues such as privatization (xiii) Project and program evaluation.

Learning Outcome
The academic aims is:

  1. To provide the students a critical overview of the recent literature and important debates within the micro aspects of economic development.
  2. To provide insight into methodological issues that arise when doing research on microeconomics of development. The emphasis will be on (i) How theoretical microeconomic hypothesis may be tested with data and (ii) how to identify causal relationships. Therefore, one aim is to gain some insight into what makes a good empirical study.
  3. To provide students with a “hands-on” experience on how to replicate empirical results using relevant econometric software. This will hopefully prepare students for original independent empirical research and help identify possible interesting thesis topics.

By the end of the course the students should be able to:

  • Explain the main concepts and issues relevant to microeconomic problems of less developed countries.
  • Understand and solve presented theoretical models and be able to present the models’ empirical prediction.
  • Be able to present empirical results in a precise and consistent manor, as well as demonstrate a thorough understanding of the identification problems faced when carrying out empirical work.
Syllabus
Bardhan, P. and Udry, C. (1999). ”Development Microeconomics”, Oxford University Press.
Series of academic articles which will be made available on the course homepage
None
3 hours of lectures per week for 14 weeks
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 3
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 161
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination, 3 hours under invigilation
A 3 hours written examination taking place at Peter Bangs Vej 36.
Aid
Without aids
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
100 % censurship
Exam period
Will be updated before the start of the semester
Re-exam
Same as ordinary. But if only a few students have registered for the re-exam, the exam might change to an oral exams with a synopsis to be handed in. This means that the examination date also will change.
Criteria for exam assesment
The Student must in a satisfactory way demonstrate that he/she has mastered the learning outcome of the course.