AØKA08088U Advanced Development Economics - Micro Aspects

Volume 2019/2020
Education

MSc programme in Economics – elective course
MSc programme in mathematics-economics

 

The PhD Programme in Economics at the Department of Economics - elective course with research module. PhD students must contact the study administration and the lecturer in order to register for the research module.

 

Content

This course covers the microeconomics of development with 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 is centered on discussing and evaluating the empirical strategies used in the literature. Moreover, the course will also (via exercises) provide students with an opportunity for “hands-on” experience, as results in selected readings are replicated (and criticized) using appropriate software packages.

Key topics in the course include:

  1. Poverty and inequality,
  2. The agricultural household model (AHM),
  3. Agriculture and livelihoods,
  4. Doing business (industry and services),
  5. Health and nutrition,
  6. Jobs, labor market and migration, 
  7. Education and skills,
  8. Land markets and property rights,
  9. Credit and microfinance,
  10. Social networks and learning,
  11. Risk and insurance,
  12. Coping with conflicts and disasters.

 

The course will therefore:

  • Provide the students with a critical overview of the recent literature and important debates within the micro aspects of economic development.
  • Provide insight into methodological issues that arises when doing research on microeconomics of development. The emphasis will be on how theoretical microeconomic hypotheses may be tested with data and how to identify causal relationships. One aim is through exercises to gain insight into what makes a good empirical study.
  • 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.
Learning Outcome

After completing the course the student is expected to be able to:

 

Knowledge:

  • Account for the basic concepts used in micro development economics.
  • Define the key elements of the more recent theories and development models.
  • Critically discuss theories and empirical evidence on micro economic development.
  • Reflect upon ongoing professional debate in areas within the topics highlighted in “Content”.
  • Present and discuss existing theory and empirical evidence related to the highlighted topics described in “Content”.

 

Skills:

  • Analyze current economic development issues with use of relevant micro theories and empirical methods
  • Summarize and assess theory and empirical evidence on the economic characteristics and functions of selected markets in developing countries.
  • Empirically analyze existing data relevant for development micro economics.
  • Empirically analyze new data using relevant software.

     

Competences_

  • Apply theoretical and empirical knowledge about economic development in a competent, coherent and original way in relation to current challenges.
  • Master relevant model setups within development and implement existing empirical models in new contexts.
  • Plan and solve new and complex empirical model setups within micro development economics in a professional and responsible manner.

 

Textbook: Bardhan and Udry (1999). “Development Microeconomics”, Oxford University Press.

Series of academic articles listed in the course-reading list.

The course builds upon knowledge gained during the under-graduate course “Development Economics”. However, although it is recommended that the students have taken this course it is not a requirement to follow "Advanced Development Economics - Micro Aspects".

It is also recommended that the students familiarize themselves with the program package Stata, as exercises are carried out using this particular software. Links to relevant tutorials for Stata will be available on the course homepage.
The format of the course is a combination of lectures, exercises and student assignments.

In the lectures core concepts, theories, empirical measures and methods within the field of micro development are presented.

In exercises classes students work in groups to understand and discuss central papers in the syllabus. During the exercises, students will learn to replicate and extend central papers in the syllabus, which will be of direct relevance for the mandatory assignment and the exam.
Schedule:
2 hours lectures one time a week from week 6 to 20 (except holidays).
3 hours of exercise from week 6 or 7 to 20 (except holidays).

The overall schema can be seen at KUnet:
MSc in Economics => "courses and teaching" => "Planning and overview" => "Your timetable"
KA i Økonomi => "Kurser og undervisning" => "Planlægning og overblik" => "Dit skema"

Timetable and venue:
To see the time and location of lectures and exercise classes please press the link under "Se skema" (See schedule) at the right side of this page (E means Autumn, F means Spring).

You can find the similar information in English at
https:/​/​skema.ku.dk/​ku1920/​uk/​module.htm
-Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
-Select Module:: “2200-F20; [Name of course]”
-Select Report Type: “List – Weekdays”
-Select Period: “Forår/Spring – Week 5-30”
Press: “ View Timetable”

Please be aware regarding exercise classes:
- The schedule of the exercise classes can be changed until just before the teaching begins without the participants accept. If this happens it will be informed at the links in the right side, in the app myUCPH and at your personal schema at KUnet.
- If too many students have wished a specific class, students will be registered randomly at another class.
- It is not possible to change class after the second registration period has expired.
- The student is not allowed to participate in an exercise class not registered, because the room has only seats for the amount of registered student.
- That the study administration allocates the students to the exercise classes according to the principles stated in the KUnet.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Exercises
  • 42
  • Exam
  • 48
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 88
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Collective
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)

 

Feedback is obtained throughout the semester by:

  • The lecturer answering questions in class.
  • The lecturer giving oral feedback on written questions from groups.
  • The teaching assistant giving oral feedback on written exercises in exercise classes.
  • Student peer feedback on one assignment.
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio, 48 hours
The final exam is a written assignment consisting of two parts:
Part 1: The mandatory assignment from the course has to be worked on and handed in individually. The student can use the received peer feedback to improve the assignment.
Part 2: A new assignment. The exam assignment is in English and must be answered in English. The students are allowed to talk together about the given problem-set but must work on, write and upload the assignment individually.

Both parts must be uploaded to Digital Exam in one file.
Please be aware that the plagiarism rules must be complied.
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Exam registration requirements

To be able to qualify to the exam the student in total has to

  • hand in individually written programming files where two-third of the files have to be approved, 
  • individually hand in one mandatory assignment for peer feedback,
  • give useful peer feedback based on specific criteria to the mandatory assignments of two other students and where the feedback must be approved by the lecturer and/or the teachingassistant.

 

The mandatory assignment together with peer feedback for that specific one are part of a portfolio for the exam. The peer feedback is given in English and is handed in through the peergrade.io platform

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Aid
All aids allowed

All aids are allowed for the regular written exam.

 

Aids are allowed at the examination.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
for the written exam. The exam may be chosen for external censorship by random check.
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Exam period

The exam takes place :

from May 28 at 10 AM to May 30, 2020 at 10 AM

 

Exam information:

In special cases, the exam date can be changed to another day and time within the exam period.

 

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules etc. is available at the intranet for Master students (UK) and Master students (DK).

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Re-exam

The reexam takes place:

In week 35 and/or 36, August 2020 as a 20 minuts oral exam without preparation.

The questions cover the entire curriculum and may cover topics covered in the lectures and/or in the exercises during the semester.

 

Reexam information:

Information about the reexam day and time will be available in the Digital Exam  early August.

 

More information is available at  Master students (UK) and Master students (DK).  

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the course.

 

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.