1Fall 2004 Economics 340: Economics of Less Developed Countries Professor Nugent Class Meeting: M, W 10-11:50 KAP 156 Office Hours: M:12-2:00, T: 12-2, and by appointment KAP318C Tel: (213) 740-2107. FAX: (213) 740-8543 email: [email protected] Note: Every student must make an appointment for a meeting with the instructor in his office during the first seven weeks of the course. In class students should not hesitate to ask questions as soon as they hear something they don't understand. That is a good way to learn ---and to keep awake!! If you have questions, you are not likely to be the only one. This syllabus has been prepared on August 17. Circumstances may arise making it necessary to make adjustments to this syllabus during the course of the semester. Disabilities: Students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure that this letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open M-F 8:30-5:00 and is located in Student Union 301. with phone (213) 740-0776. Grades and Announcements will be on learn.usc.edu TA: Will Kwon KAP 363 363 #8 Office Hours: 9-10 M,W Tel.: 740-3524 or 740-8335 email:[email protected] Purpose of Course: To introduce students to the basics of development theory and policy. Fundamental to this are issues of definition and measurement, testing of theories, familiarity with problems of both short-run and long-run, applications of both micro- and macro-economics, interdisciplinary analysis, use of social benefits cost analysis, sources and uses of data for use as a country desk officer of a bank or international agency. Course Abstract: Causes of economic underdevelopment; theories of development including historical, institutional, structural, ideological, technological, and cultural. Sources of government and market failures, the role of trade, international factor movements, population growth, education, capital formation, technological change and institutional change in economic growth, income distribution and poverty, sectoral differences and the explanations of country differences in performance: What makes for an Asian "Miracle" and a Sub-Saharan Africa "debacle"? Relation of Development Economics to other Courses: In some respects, this course is conceptually the most challenging one in the economics curriculum. Most courses in economics deal with short run issues and partial equilibrium analysis. Development economics deals with long-run issues and hence there are many more variables which are potentially endogenous to be explained in the analysis. Technological change, institutions, population, labor and capital, health, education and even culture and political systems are all examples of important variables which change over time and which need to be explained. Many change in an essentially simultaneous way, suggesting that general rather than partial equilibrium analysis may be most appropriate. Given the relevance of culture and political factors and systems, the scope of the analysis is necessarily much broader than in conventional economic analysis. Yet, all these considerations make the analysis much more difficult and suggest that the analysis has to be modified2substantially to deal with the complexities of development. It is a very challenging field, and as a result more Nobel prizes in economics have been awarded for contributions to this field than for those in any other field. Textbooks: Debraj Ray (DR) Development Economics: Princeton University Press 1998. Michael Kevane (MK) Women and Development in Africa: How Gender Works. Rienner 2004 Supplementary Reading: World Bank: World Development Reports various years Reserve Books: In the Leavey Library there will be the above books as well as materials from Benefit-Cost Analysis for your short assignments. Anyone wanting to read some classics in the field should read works by Albert O. Hirschman, Ragnar Nurkse, Hans Singer, Peter Bauer, Gunnar Myrdal, etc. I urge you to pick some of these up. I will be talking about some of these people in class. Journals and magazines: for contemporary economic news in different developing countries: you might want to consult such magazines as the Economist, the Asian Wall Street Journal, The Far East Economic Review, Middle East Economic Review, and various other region-specific magazines. More serious journals specializing in Development Economics which are generally readable (i.e., w/o a great deal of mathematics) are World Development, Economic Development and Cultural Change, the Journal of Development Studies, the World Bank Economic Review, and World Bank Research Observer. There are also various web sites of interest. Somewhat more sophisticated journals are: the Journal of Development Economics, Review of Development Economics Sources of Data: National Accounts: Yearbook of National Account Statistics, Yearbook of International Monetary Statistics, Public Finance: International Monetary Fund: Yearbook of Government Finance Statistics, International Trade: United Nations, Yearbook of International Trade Statistics, UNCTAD, Statistical Yearbook, Demographic and Labor: United Nations Demographic Yearbook, ILO, Yearbook of Labor Statistics, World Employment Social, Gender, Poverty, Income Distribution: World Bank: Social Indicators of Development, UNDP, Human Development Report, UNESCO Yearbook, Agriculture:, FAO Yearbooks; Industry: United Nations, Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, UNIDO Industry and Development Global Report. VKC and I believe the Business School libraries have CD ROMs of World Development Indicators put out by the World Bank. Various: World Bank World Development Reports, United Nations Statistical Yearbook. Also the World Bank and each of these and other international organizations have an increasing amounts of information, reports and papers available on-line through their websites. Grading: Midterm Exam: Monday, October 4 (25%) Term Paper Due Wed December 1 before class 10AM (25%) Final Exam: Monday December 13, 8-10 AM (25%) Short Papers, quizzes and class participation: (25%) (only three of quizzes and short papers will count (i.e., you can drop the lowest score) Quiz #1