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):
- Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development" American Economic Review, 2001
- Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the making of the Modern World Income Distribution." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002.
- Sokoloff and Engerman. "History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments and Paths of Development in the New World." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2000
- Dell, M. "The Persistent Effect of Peru's Mining Mita". Econometrica, 2010.
- 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):
- Michael Clemens. Economics and Emigration: Trillion Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3):83-106. 2011
- Gibson and Mckenzie. Eight Questions about Brain Drain. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3): 107-28, 2011.
- Munshi, Kaivan. Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the US Labor Market. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003.
- 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):
- 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
- Baird, Hicks, Kremer, Miguel. ``Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of Child Health Gains", WP 2012.
- Bleakley. Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2010
- 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):
- Jensen, R. "The (perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010
- Duflo, E. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from and unusual policy experiment". American Economic Review, 2001.
- Shultz, P. School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program. Journal of Development Economics, 2004
- 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):
- 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):
- Banerjee et al. Six Randomized Evaluation of Microcredit: Introduction and Further Steps. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
- Field et al. Does the Classic Microfinance Model Discourage Entrepreneurship Among the Poor? Experimental Evidence from India". American Economic Review 2013.
- Burgess and Pande. "Do Rural Banks Matter: Evidence From the Indian Social Banking Experiment." American Economic Review, 2005.
- Ashraf, Karlan and Yin. "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
- Dupas and Robinson. "Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya". American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2013.
- 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):
- Chris Udry. Gender, Agricultural Production and the Theory of the Household. Journal of Political Economy 1996.
- Amartya Sen. "More than 100 Million Women are Missing" NY Review of Books, 1990
- Anderson and Ray. "Missing Women: Age and Disease" Review of Economic Studies, 2010.
- Nancy Qian. "Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008.
- Rose. Consumption Smoothing and Excess Female Mortality in Rural India. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1999.
Other (non-required) Readings:
Lecture 1 (Measuring Development)
- (Big Mac Index and PPP): See this blog
- (Night Lights): Henderson et al. "Measuring Growth From Outer Space" American Economic Review, 2012.
- (UN Millenium Goals): 2014 UN Millenium Development Goals Progress Chart
- (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)
- Nunn and Puga. "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa." Review of Economics and Statistics, 2012
- Nunn, N. "The Long Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008
- Nunn and Wantchekon. "The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa." American Economic Review, 2011.
- Olken and Pande. "Corruption in Developing Countries." Annual Review of Economics, 2012.
Lecture 5 (Inequality)
- Alesina and Rodrik. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth". Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1994.
- Aleisna, Michalopoulous, Papaioannou. "Ethnic Inequality". NBER Working Paper.
Lecture 9 (Education)
- Banerjee et al. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India." QJE, 2007. (Balakshi Tutoring Program and Computer Math Learning)
Lecture 11 (Finance)
- Munshi and Rosenzweig. "Networks and Misallocation: Insurance, Migration, and the Rural-Urban Wage Gap". WP 2013
- 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.