AØKK08337U Seminar: Fundamental Determinants of Economic Performance

Volume 2015/2016
Education

M.Sc. of Economics

The seminar is primarily for students at the MSc of Economics

Content

The broad question asked is “Why are some societies richer than others?” The proximate answer is that these societies manage higher productivity rates and savings, but why is it that some societies are so much more productive and thrifty than others? The answers can be grouped into three categories: institutions, culture, and geography. The purpose of this seminar is to explore these three “deep determinants of economic growth”.

Learning Outcome

Examples of topics that are relevant for this seminar are:

Our cultural values influence the decisions we make, including our economic decisions. Various economic outcomes have been linked to culture; fertility choices, labour force participation, health, etc. Even GDP per capita has been associated with differences in cultural values, such as individual religiosity, thriftiness, preferences for hard work, patience etc. But how does religiosity or patience influence growth or other economically relevant outcomes such as science development or investments? And why are some societies more religious, thrifty or patient than others?

The institutions of a country provide the formal rules within which we make decisions, and thus influence economic outcomes in various ways. Which institutions are good for growth and which are bad? And why do some countries develop “bad” institutions, while others end up with “good” institutions?

Peeling off the layers of the onion in our search for the ultimate deep determinants of economic outcomes brings us back into history. Back then, all societies relied on agriculture and, thus, the deep roots of current economic differences is likely to involve differences in agriculture practices. These practices are highly dependent on the geographic and climatic surroundings of historic societies. In fact, certain geographic and climatic circumstances did influence economic outcomes of past societies, and these historic differences explain a major part of current economic differences.

The seminar will involve various journal articles and recent working papers. Below are selected overview articles:

Acemoglu, D. (2009) Fundamental Determinants of Differences in Economic Performance, Introduction to Modern Economic Growth Chapter 4, Princeton University Press. Online: http:/​/​www.ppge.ufrgs.br/​giacomo/​arquivos/​eco02237/​acemoglu-2007.pdf

Guiso, L., P. Sapienza, and L. Zingales, Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes? Journal of Economic Perspective 20 (2006):23–48.

Nunn, N. (2014) Historical Development, Handbook of Economic Growth Vol 2, Chapter 7, pp. 347-402, doi:10.1016/​B978-0-444-53538-2.00007-1.

The students should have basic knowledge of macroeconomics and econometrics taught at the BA level. Specifically, Econometrics B and Macroeconomics A are required.
The structure of the course will be as follows:
1. Introduction. There will be an introduction of the literature during the first 2-3 lectures, where the students will also be able to develop ideas for their term papers. We will be focusing mainly on empirical contributions.
2. Early presentations. The students will present their early thoughts and results in order to receive inputs from their peers and me.
3. Term paper. Students are required to write a 12-page paper on a subject of their choice within one of the course’s main themes. The paper can take various forms. One possibility is that students perform their own empirical investigation, based on the data underlying the selected article or based on additional data that students assemble themselves. Or the students can propose an empirical strategy to address a new research question on their topic of interest.


New Schedule (from 18.nov 2015)
February, 10th, 17th and 24th, 10-12 hrs: Introduction and development of term paper proposals
March 1st: Hand in commitment paper
April/May: Early presentations
End of May: Hand in term paper
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 1
  • Preparation
  • 187
  • Seminar
  • 18
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
A written seminar paper.

Included in the seminar is an oral presentation for the others participans at the seminar of 30 minuts.
Exam registration requirements

Attendance on the seminar. The mandatory commitment paper and seminar paper have been handed in at deadline.

Aid

Al aids for the written seminarpaper.

For the oral presentation: The slices for the presentation.

The teather can specifiy what els is allowed.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
up to 20 % censorship at the seminarpaper
Exam period

Deadline commitment paper: March 1st 2016

Presentations: May 4th 2016

Deadline final paper: May 20th 22 2016 at midnight

For enrolled students more information about examination, exam/re-sit, rules etc. is available at the student intranet for Examination (English) and student intranet for Examination (KA-Danish).

Re-exam

Submission of a written assignmetn and an oral exam in which you may be examined in the presentations of the other students participating in the seminar during the enrolment period in question.

Criteria for exam assesment

The student must in a satisfactory way demonstrate that he/she has mastered the learning outcome of the course.