Development Studies

This course addresses the question, "What can we/I do to create a better world?" from the perspective of Goals 10 to 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This course analyzes various data, experiences, and information to gain a global perspective; acknowledges the current situation, and considers how to address complex issues as well as solutions and actions one can take. 

This course addresses the question, "What can we/I do to create a better world?" from the perspective of Goal 1 to 9 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).  This course analyzes various data, experiences, and information to gain a global perspective; acknowledges the current situation, and considers how to address complex issues as well as solutions and actions one can take. 

This course discusses and analyzes the major challenges and current initiatives in the creation of finance industries appropriate to and effective in developing countries. The course focuses on the private financial sector and issues relating to access to finance. After a general overview, the course examines the forms of finance available for larger firms in developing countries, mainly the banking sector and the stock market. Subsequently, the course covers the evidence on the effects of financial development on economic growth and the role of institutional factors, such as corporate governance, in financial development. The course then examines the access to finance for smaller firms and households and the implications of a lack of access. Finally, the course touches upon private international sources of finance, namely private capital flows, FDI, and remittances to developing countries.

How have global forces shaped Africa’s states and economies—and how will today’s shifting world order define its future? In this course, students explore the evolution of contemporary Africa, examining the uneven trajectories of nations and regions through the lens of geography, history, geopolitics, and global markets. Students trace Africa’s place in the global system from the colonial era to Cold War developmentalism, to the neoliberal “Washington Consensus,” and the “Africa Rising” narrative driven by China’s ascent. Finally, students contemplate today’s tectonic shifts in global geopolitics and the current polycrisis of climate, geopolitics, and deglobalization. Through scholarly readings, policy reports, films, debates, and case studies, students critically engage with these pressing issues, gaining a deeper understanding of Africa’s past, present, and possible futures—while also better understanding the global economic and political shifts since the 1950s.

This course examines what drives development interventions, their impacts on communities, and the ways they respond. It also explores the processes and influences that operate at a global level and that impact such fundamental concerns as human rights, population health, environmental and climate change, and migration. 

In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals which provide a roadmap for addressing the key global challenges that the world is facing including, poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. In this course, students are introduced to the SDGs, the practical ways in which policy aims to address them, and how the success of these policies in progressing the Goals can be measured and evaluated. 

This course explores key development challenges faced across developing countries and is divided into three sections. The first critically examines some of the major concepts, paradigms, and theories, which have attempted to define what development is, how and why it occurs (or does not), and to whose benefit. The second focuses on some of the key development challenges faced by developing countries: economic (poverty, inequality, unemployment), political (democracy, human rights, role of elites), social (religion, race/ethnicity/caste, urbanization), and natural (climate change, pollution, resource extraction, extermination of species). The final section explores possible remedies to these issues through international cooperation (trade, aid, finance, South-South cooperation), national policies (welfare schemes, laws and regulations), and micro and informal solutions. 
 

This course examines challenges posed by poverty affecting a billion people in low-income countries across the world as targeted by the Sustainable Development Goals and taking an economic approach to conceptualizing those challenges, their causes, and solutions. The course provides theoretical frameworks to understand, measure, analyze, and discuss themes within the development economics literature focusing on poverty, its consequences, and its alleviation. Key questions discussed during the course include: What is the state of progress towards relevant SDGs? What is life like when living with under a dollar a day? Are famines unavoidable? Is child labor necessary? Is education and health key to lifting people out of poverty? Does growth help the poorest of the poor? And, does aid matter for development? What is the relationship between environment and development, and how does climate change affect them? What role do sustainable food systems play in addressing both climate change and food insecurity? The course includes the following thematic topics: poverty and inequality; economic growth and development; health and education; agricultural transformation; aid; poverty, conflicts, and corruption; environment and development; sustainable food systems. 

The course covers a wide range of themes representative of contemporary issues in development economics. It considers what are the developing worlds and what are the major development strategies. It also covers development policies: the roles of the market, the state and civil society; agricultural transformation and specific problems in rural areas; population growth and development; work and informality; urbanization: dynamics, issues, problems; environment and development; poverty and inequality; human capital, human development and growth; development aid; natural resources; violence and crime: dynamics, issues, and explanatory models; democracy and development.

This course develops students' knowledge of the key microeconomic issues facing developing economies, and deepens their familiarity with modern analytical and empirical approaches to development economics with an emphasis on the most recent advances in the field. Students also learn about the use of formal microeconomic modelling in development, the links between formal models and empirics, and the seminal debates in development. Students must have taken a microeconomics course prior to enrollment.