Development Economics - Einzelansicht

Allgemeine Hinweise / General Remarks

The lecture will be held in English. The course will be taught in a fairly non-technical manner, but previous exposure to basic microeconomics and macroeconomics is assumed. Active and thoughtful participation is essential. For further information visit the chair’s website and Moodle: www.uni-potsdam.de/u/intwipo and https://moodle2.uni-potsdam.de/

The course will not be using one primary textbook, but a collection of chapters from different textbooks and empirical material, which will be presented in the form of a reader: Development Economics. The theoretical literature will be presented with an emphasis on conceptual and policy implications.

Klausur / Written exam

This course is meant to acquaint students with the basics of development economics and will deal with the approaches of economics and the social sciences to the problems of developing countries. We will be discussing the following questions: What do economists mean by "development" and "underdevelopment"? What are the characteristics of developing countries? The center of the course will deal with the question: Why are so many countries poor, volatile and unequal? And how can we explain development gaps? The institutional characteristics of third world countries will also be taken into consideration.