COURSE INFORMATION

ECON-323 is a semester-long course that evaluates theories of economic (under)development and scrutinizes empirical evidence in order to understand key features of the development process across countries. There are three overarching themes for the course: (i) developing analytical frameworks for understanding big-picture questions for economic development; (ii) describing how to measure causal relationships in data, and, most importantly, (iii) connecting theory and development to be able to guide policy.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

General requirements

There are two lectures per week, I hope that you will come to class, but I will not take attendance. You do not need to email me in advance if you can’t make class. I will post my slides online after the lecture. Please do the readings before class.

There will be three guest lectures from PhD students presenting their research. There will be no readings for those days, but I will ask about the material on the final exam. The schedule below is a bit tentative, but I will let you know with plenty of notice if anything changes.

Prerequisites

Economics: You should have taken two semesters each of micro and macro, and be comfortable with the concepts covered in those courses.

Statistics/Econometrics: You should have a basic understanding of data analysis. You should be comfortable reading regression tables, and have used R (or an equivalent program) before.

Some students take this class concurrently with a prerequisite (most often econometrics), which I do not recommend (though it is allowed).

Grading rubric

The major assignments in this course are a midterm, a final exam, and a final paper. Students sometimes fail to show off their skills and knowledge in exam settings. As a result, the course grade will (automatically) be the higher of the following two options, conditional on you satisfactorily completing all of your problem sets (no exceptions).

Rubric A (Default)

•    6 Bi-weekly assignments (20%)

•    Midterm (35%)

•    Final Exam (10%)

•    Final Paper (35%)

Rubric B

•    6 Bi-weekly assignments (25%)

•    Midterm (15%)

•    Final Exam (10%)

•    Final Paper (50%)

Assignments and exams

The assignments and exams will test your understanding of concepts covered in lectures and in the readings, and your ability to apply these insights to policy situations. More or less every other week, you will hand in a short assignment. The assignments will be a combination of short essays, data analysis, and standard problem sets. I am not planning to assign you busy work, and hope that in exchange you take the assignments I do give you seriously. Some of the problem sets are harder than the others, I will flag that in advance in class. You must type your problem sets, and upload them to Brightspace before the start of class. The problem sets are due on Tuesdays, other than the last one.

I strongly recommend using Overleaf to type your problem sets, since typing equations in Word or Google Docs is a slog. The problem sets will be graded on a scale of: check+, check, check-. You can work with others on the problem sets, but write up your own answers (and note who you worked with). Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can be extremely helpful for coding and you should feel free to use them and other online resources as much as you need (for coding). gain you should write up your own answers.

The midterm will  cover  both  the  readings  and  lectures  as  well  as  conceptually  similar  material.  I  am optimistic that most if not all of you will be able to take the exam in person. I am not planning on offering a remote midterm option, we will have a make-up date for those who can’t physically come to class.

The final exam will be in class on May 4th. I will give you a paper (that wasn’t covered in class) for you to read, summarize, and discuss. One of the problem sets will be in the exact same format so that you can practice. I will also ask about the guest lectures.

The final paper should be handed in on May 5th. However, I am not going to start grading them until May 13th at 1pm (NYC time). So as long as you hand it in before then, I won’t notice (you don’t need to ask for permission for an extension). That said, no additional extensions will be given. You must hand in a hard copy (in class, in my office, or in my mailbox) and submit a pdf on Brightspace. In addition to their usefulness coding, Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can be extremely helpful for editing and you should feel free to use them and other online resources as much as you need (for coding and editing). But you should write your own essay. My experience is that these tools are pretty bad at writing a whole coherent paper, so you both shouldn’t have ChatGPT write your assignment because (a) it’s against the rules, (b) because  you  will  probably  get  a  bad  grade,  and  (c)  the  assignment  is  designed  to be  interesting  and enjoyable.

READING LIST INFORMATION

The textbook for the class is Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. New copies cost around $10, (and $5 on an e-reader). The book can also be accessed online via theNYU Librarieswebsite for free. For those of you interested in learning more of the methods, the syllabus gives reference to Mastering 'Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect, by Josh Angrist and Jörn-Steffen Pischke. New copies cost around $30, and it is not required. I will also assign readings from academic articles, which should be available online. Please let me know if any of the links I provided no longer work.

ELIGIBILITY

Any NYU student who wants to take the class is welcome to do so, although it is targeted towards economics majors who have already completed their core coursework in micro, macro, and metrics.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Students are encouraged to work together and discuss class material and assignments, ideally in groups of no more than three or four people. That said, any exam, paper or assignment you submit should be your own original  work.  If  (when)  you  use  words  or  ideas  written  by  others,  please  make   sure  to  cite  them appropriately.1      For  the  assignments,  please  indicate  other  students  with  whom  you  have  collaborated. information about NYU’s policies on academic integrity maybe found athttp://www.nyu.edu/about/policies- guidelines-compliance/policies-and-guidelines/academic-integrity-for-students-at-nyu.html.

IMPORTANT DATES AND COURSE STRUCTURE

COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS

A. Course Introduction

i.    Course introduction

No readings

ii.   The evolution of thought on poverty reduction, development and growth

*Poor Economics, Forward and Chapter 1

*Krugman, PaulThe Fall and Rise of Development Economics.

B. Analytical Frameworks for Development

iii.  Theories of Growth

*Jones, Charles. 2015. “The Facts of Economic Growth” Sections 1 & 2

*Sen, Amartya. 2011. “Quality of Life: India vs. China.” The New York Review of Books

Jones, Charles. 2015. “The Facts of Economic Growth” The rest of the paper

iv.  Empirics of Growth

*Caselli, Francesco. 2005. “Accounting for Income Differences Across Countries,” chapter 9 in the

Handbook of Economic Growth, Vol. 1A. P. Aghion and S. Durlauf, eds., North Holland. You only need to read sections 1-3.

Bosworth, Barry and Susan M. Collins. 2003. “The Empirics of Growth: An Update,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, issue 2: 113-206.

Weil, David. 2007. “Accounting for the Effect of Health on Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3): 1265- 1306.

Mankiw, N. Gregory, David Romer, and David N. Weil.  1992.  “A  Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2): 407-437.

Hall, Robert E. and Charles I. Jones. 1999. “Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker Than Others?” Quarterly Journal of Economics 114(1): 83- 116.

Clemens, Michael, Claudio Montenegro and Lant Pritchett. “The Place Premium: Wage Differences for Identical Workers Across the US Border.”  Center for Global Development Working Paper #148.

v.   Case Study: The Industrial Revolution and Its Spread

* Mokyr, Joel, “The European Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Economic Growth,” European University Institute, Florence, 2007.

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2002. “The Rise of Europe: Institutional Change and Economic Growth,” American Economic Review, 95(3): 546-551. (Just the Introduction)

Clark, Gregory. 2007. A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World. Princeton University Press, chaps. 10- 13.

Engerman, Stanley L. and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. 1997. “Factor Endowments, Institutions and Differential Paths of Growth among New World Economies: A View from Economic Historians of the United             States,” in Stephen Huber, ed., How Latin America Fell Behind. Stanford: Stanford University Press, and NBER Working Papers Series on Historical Factors in Long-Run Growth, No. 66, December 1994.

North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.

vi.  Resource (Mis)Allocation and Household Productivity

* Poor Economics, Chapter 5

Mastering Metrics, Chapter 5

Goldstein, Markus and Chris Udry. 2008. “The Profits of Power: Land Rights and Agricultural Investment in Ghana,” Journal of Political Economy, 116(6):  981- 1022.

Qian, Nancy. 2008. “Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China: The Effect of Sex-specific Earnings on Sex Imbalance,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123(3): 1251- 1285.

Udry, Christopher. 1996. “Gender, Agricultural Production, and the Theory of the Household,” Journal of Political Economy, 104(5): 1010- 1046.

Lundberg, Shelly J., Robert A. Pollak, and Terence J. Wales. 1996. “Do Husbands and Wives Pool their Resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit,” Journal of Human Resources, 32(4):

463-480.

vii. Economic Exchange, Trade and Efficiency

* Greif, Avner. 2000. “The Fundamental Problem of Exchange,” Review of European Economic History, 4: 251-84.

Casson, Mark and John S. Lee. 2011. “The Origin and Development of Markets: A Business History Perspective.” Business History Review , 85(1): 9-37.

Greif, Avner and Guido Tabellini. 2010. “Cultural and institutional bifurcations: China and Europe compared,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 100: 135- 140.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. 1989. “Markets, market failures, and development,” The American Economic Review, 79(2): 197-203.

Greif, Avner. 2006. “The Birth of Impersonal Exchange,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(2): 221- 236.

Greif, Avner. 1992. “Intuitions and International Trade: Lessons from the Commercial Revolution.” American Economic Review, 82(2): 128- 133.

Greif, Avner. 1989. “Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders.” Journal of Economic History, 49(4): 857-82.

Greif, Avner and Guido Tabellini. 2012. “The Clan and the City: Sustaining Cooperation in China and Europe,” Working paper.

Grief, Avner. 2008. “Coercion and Exchange. How Did Markets Evolve?” Working paper.