Development Economics

This is a complete listing of all economics courses. Not all courses are offered each year.
Click here for a list of currenly offered courses.

14.771 Development Economics: Microeconomic Issues and Policy Models
Prereq: 14.121, 14.122
Agricultural issues: peasant behavior, land tenancy, and interlinked markets. Credit and insurance market problems and institutions. Health, nutrition, and productivity. Gender bias. Education. Technological change. Government failures.

14.772 Development Economics: Macroeconomics and Socialist Economy Reform
Prereq: 14.121, 14.451
Dynamic models of growth and development emphasizing migration, modernization, and technological change; static and dynamic models of political economy; the dynamics of income distribution and institutional change; firm structure in developing countries; development, transparency, and functioning of financial markets; privatization; and banks and credit market institutions in emerging markets.

14.773 Political Economy: Institutions and Development
Prereq: 14.121, 14.451
Economists and policymakers increasingly realize the importance of political institutions in shaping economic performance, especially in the context of understanding economic development. Work on the determinants of economic policies and institutions is in its infancy, but is growing rapidly. Subject provides an introduction to this area. Topics covered: the economic role of institutions; the effects of social conflict and class conflict on economic development; politcal economic determinants of macro policies; poltical development; theories of income distribution and distributional conflict; the causes and consequences of corruption; the role of colonial history; and others. Both theoretical and empirical approaces discussed. Subject can be taken either as part of the Development Economics or the Positive Political Economy fields.

14.778J Economic Institutions and Growth Policy Analysis
Prereq: 11.210
Considers how institutions have been incorporated theoretically into explorations of growth and development. Four sets of institutions are examined in detail: the corporate sector, to study how ownership, strategy, and structure affect growth-related policies; financial institutions, to analyze how they condition savings and investment; labor market institutions, to investigate their impact on the determination of wage and production-related productivity; and the institutions associated with technology, such as universities, research laboratories, and corporate training centers, to consider how skill formulation is accomplished.

14.78IJ Political Economy I: Theories of the State and the Economy
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Critical analysis of liberal, neoclassical and Marxist perspectives on modern society. Alternative theories of economic growth, historical change, the state, classes, and ideology