EC 320: ECONOMICS OF LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Syllabus and Course Details

Summer Session II, 2015

CAS 208, MTW 6:00-8:30pm

Office: Rm 515 Economics Dept, 270 Bay State Road

Office Hours: Monday 9:00-10:30am; Wednesday 4:30pm-5:45pm

Syllabus (Updated July 17 2015)

Reading List (Updated July 17 2015)

NB: Below Links Have Been Disabled. Files available upon request.

Homework

Homework 1: Measurement, Economic Growth, Development Traps, Empirical Methods

Homework 1 Assignment (Due Monday July 6)

Homework 1 Solutions

Homework 2: History (Geography, Institutions, Culture), Inequality and Poverty, Demography (Population Growth)

Homework 2 Assignment (Due Monday July 13)

Homework 2 Solutions

Homework 3: Structural Change and Rural-Urban Migration

Homework 3 Assignment (Due Tuesday July 21)

Homework 3 Solutions

Homework 4: Migration, Health and Education

Homework 4 Assignment (Due Monday July 27)

Worms Data For HW4 (Direct Download .xls file)

Homework 4 Solutions

Homework 5: Land and Property Rights, Finance Insurance and Savings, and Intra Household Econ

Homework 5 Assignment (Due Monday Aug 3)

Homework 5 Solutions

Final Materials

Summary of Topics on Final (The Final is cumulative and will include topics from Midterm. That said, the focus of the final will be on the second half. Topics 1-6 were on the Midterm. Topics 7-12 will be the focus of the exam.)

Practice Final

Solutions to Practice Final

Solutions to Final

Practice Midterm

Solutions to Practice Midterm

Solutions to Midterm

Lecture Slides and Materials

Lecture 1: Introduction and Measurement

Slides for Lecture 1

Lecture 2: Economic Growth

Slides for Lecture 2 (Small edit made on pg 54 of 87)

Lecture 3: Empirical Methods for Impact Evaluation

Slides for Lecture 3

Lecture 4: History (Geography, Institutions, Culture)

Slides for Lecture 4

Lecture 5: Poverty and Inequality

Slides for Lecture 5

Lecture 6: Demography (Population Growth and Policies)

Slides for Lecture 6

----Midterm----

Lecture 7: Structural Transformation and Migration

Slides for Lecture 7

Lecture 7b: International Migration and Social Networks

Slides for Lecture 7b

Lecture 8: Nutrition and Health

Slides for Lecture 8

Lecture 9: Education

Slides for Lecture 9

Lecture 10: Land: Tenancy, Reform, and Property Rights

Slides for Lecture 10

Lecture 11: Finance/Credit, Insurance, and Savings

Slides for Lecture 11

Lecture 12: Intra-Household Allocations, Gender Discrimination

Slides for Lecture 12

Lecture 13: Conflict (not on Final)

Slides for Lecture 13

Review Slides

Slides for Review Lecture

Readings

Required Texts:

1. Debraj Ray, Development Economics. Princeton University Press, 1998. (On Reserve at Mugar Library)

2. Banerjee, A., Benabou, R., Mookherjee, D. Understanding Poverty. 2006. (Free Online through BU library)

Other Required Readings:

Lecture 2 (Empirical Tests of Solow Model): Mankiw Romer and Weil "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1992.

Lecture 3 (Empirical Methods): De Janvry and Sadoulet. "Chapter 4: Impact Evaluation". 2014

Lecture 4 (History) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development" American Economic Review, 2001
2. Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the making of the Modern World Income Distribution." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002.
3. Sokoloff and Engerman. "History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments and Paths of Development in the New World." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2000
4. Dell, M. "The Persistent Effect of Peru's Mining Mita". Econometrica, 2010.
5. Fisman and Miguel. "Corruption, Norms, and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets" Journal of Political Economy, 2007.

Lecture 7 (Migration) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Michael Clemens. Economics and Emigration: Trillion Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3):83-106. 2011
2. Gibson and Mckenzie. Eight Questions about Brain Drain. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3): 107-28, 2011.
3. Munshi, Kaivan. Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the US Labor Market. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003.
4. Beaman, Lori. Social Networks and the Dynamics of Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Refugees Resettled in the US" Review of Economic Studies, 79(1):128-161, 2012.

Lecture 8 (Health) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Edward Miguel and Michael Kremer. 2004 ``Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities" Econometrica 72(1): 159-217. 2004
2. Baird, Hicks, Kremer, Miguel. ``Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of Child Health Gains", WP 2012.
3. Bleakley. Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2010
4. Jayachandran and Lleras Muney. Life Expectancy and Human Capital Investments: Evidence from Maternal Mortality Declines. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2009.

Lecture 9 (Education) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Jensen, R. "The (perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010
2. Duflo, E. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from and unusual policy experiment". American Economic Review, 2001.
3. Shultz, P. School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program. Journal of Development Economics, 2004
4. Osili and Long. Does Female Schooling Reduce Fertility? Evidence from Nigeria. Journal of Development Economics, 87(1) 57-75, 2008.

Lecture 10 (Property Rights) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Erica Field. Entitled to Work: Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007.

Lecture 11 (Finance and Savings) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Banerjee et al. Six Randomized Evaluation of Microcredit: Introduction and Further Steps. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
2. Field et al. Does the Classic Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship Among the Poor? Experimental Evidence from India". American Economic Review 2013.
3. Burgess and Pande. "Do Rural Banks Matter: Evidence From the Indian Social Banking Experiment." American Economic Review, 2005.
4. Ashraf, Karlan and Yin. "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
5. Dupas and Robinson. "Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya". American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2013.
6. Dupas and Robinson. "Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence From Health Savings Experiments." American Economic Review 2013.

Lecture 12 (Intra-Household Models and Gender Discrimination) (all of these are links to the actual papers; if you are using BU wifi you will have access to them):

1. Chris Udry. Gender, Agricultural Production and the Theory of the Household. Journal of Political Economy 1996.
2. Amartya Sen. "More than 100 Million Women are Missing" NY Review of Books, 1990
3. Anderson and Ray. "Missing Women: Age and Disease" Review of Economic Studies, 2010.
4. Nancy Qian. "Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008.
5. Rose. Consumption Smoothing and Excess Female Mortality in Rural India. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1999.

Other (non-required) Readings:

Lecture 1 (Measuring Development)

1. (Big Mac Index and PPP): See this blog
2. (Night Lights): Henderson et al. "Measuring Growth From Outer Space" American Economic Review, 2012.
3. (UN Millenium Goals): 2014 UN Millenium Development Goals Progress Chart
4. (Subjective Well Being): Angus Deaton "Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2008.

Lecture 4 (History)

1. Nunn and Puga. "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa." Review of Economics and Statistics, 2012
2. Nunn, N. "The Long Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008
3. Nunn and Wantchekon. "The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa." American Economic Review, 2011.
4. Olken and Pande. "Corruption in Developing Countries." Annual Review of Economics, 2012.

Lecture 5 (Inequality)

1. Alesina and Rodrik. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1994.
2. Aleisna, Michalopoulous, Papaioannou. "Ethnic Inequality". NBER Working Paper.

Lecture 9 (Education)

1. Banerjee et al. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India." QJE, 2007. (Balakshi Tutoring Program and Computer Math Learning)

Lecture 11 (Finance)

1. Munshi and Rosenzweig. "Networks and Misallocation: Insurance, Migration, and the Rural-Urban Wage Gap". WP 2013
2. Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, and Cynthia Kinnan. 2015. "The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1): 22-53.