EAST KAZAKHSTAN STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF LAW AND ECONMICS

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. NOVEMBER 21-26, 2016
Instructor: Thorsten Janus, University of Wyoming, United States
Email tjanus@uwyo.edu. Phone (+1) (307) 766-3384.
Course homepage: sarsenamanzholovecondevelopment2016.weebly.com
Textbooks and Readings:
The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics,
by William Easterly, MIT Press, 2002. Easterly: http://williameasterly.org/
Other readings are either web-linked below in this syllabus or I will put them in a
Dropbox folder called Economic Development. I will send you the link to this folder.
Links to other development information sources
Economic Development, 11th edition, by Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith,
Addison-Wesley, 2011. Website: http://wps.aw.com/aw_todarosmit_econdevelp_11/
Development Economics: Theory, Empirical Research, and Policy Analysis, by Julie
Schaffner, Wiley, 2013.
MITs Abdun Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab: www.povertyactionlab.org
Maps by world region& country-specific news: http://worldpress.org/map.cfm
Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/
The World Bank: www.worldbank.org
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
USAID: http://www.usaid.gov
International Monetary Fund: www.imf.org
Center for International and Strategic Studies: www.csis.org
The Brookings Institution: www.brookings.edu
Fareed Zakaria/CNN blog: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/
Development Gateway: http://www.developmentgateway.org/
World Resources Institute: http://www.wri.org
Microfinance: http://www.cgap.org/topics/impact ; http://www.kiva.org/
How to follow a blog: https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/104226?hl=en
Course Description: Economic development is more than increasing national income. It
refers to broad-based and sustainable growth in economic opportunities accompanied
by economic diversification, increased economic stability, more transparent and
better functioning economic institutions, and a reduction in absolute poverty. In this
course, we will study the major theories and policies which have and are being targeted at
enhancing development in todays developing countries. We will analyze theories of
economic growth and discuss the need for something more in order for development to
take hold. We will investigate the role of government and social institutions, education,
population, urbanization, health, gender culture and sociological influences, international
trade and investment, and foreign aid and debt in economic development. We will discuss
the importance of human, physical, and natural capital, economic diversification, and

governance in sustainable development that improves health, life expectancy, literacy,

and other measures of welfare.
Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students should be able to:

Explain, discuss, and analyze measures of economic welfare and

opportunity.

Discuss and analyze accounts and theories of economic growth, such as

Kuznets Six Characteristics, the Rostow, Harrod-Domar and Lewis models; the
International Dependence, Romer, Big Push, and coordination/multiple equilibria
models.

Analyze the role of human, physical, and natural capital; investment,

trade, and aid; and institutions and governance in development.

Discuss the importance of agriculture and industrialization in

development.

Discuss the importance of social and cultural factors in development.

Understand the complexity and diversity of economic development

processes.
Final Examination: Friday 3-5PM
On Thursday, I will give you a list of questions. You must prepare answers to all of these
questions. On Friday from 3-5PM I will choose 2 or 3 of the questions and you must
write down your answers during the class. I will then grade the answers.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Monday 1-3PM
What is Economic Development? Commonalities and diversity among developing
countries
*Briefly note some news at http://www.worldpress.org/. Then check the world and region
maps under World Maps in the left column.
*Read the entries on Algeria, Bolivia, Zimbabwe and Vietnam at the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC)website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm .
*Why is knowing a countrys location important to understand its development?
*Read about some foreign aid projects and issues at www.worldbank.org.
*Download some World Bank data via www.worldbank.org and then click to their Data
section.
Monday 3-5PM
The importance of recording and measurement; the Human Development Index; Sources
of Economic Growth; Kuznets characteristics of growth; is history useful?
*What is J-PAL and what does it do: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/;
*The Human Development Index: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
*What are the UN Millenium Goals? How is the global effort to achieve them going?
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml
*http://www.cgdev.org/publication/delivering-data-revolution-sub-saharan-africa
*TED talk by Charmian Gooch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhx1_yXMwCg,
(note: Ms. Gooch represents the organization http://new.globalwitness.org/ )
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Tuesday 8-10
Classical development and growth theories I: Linear growth models (Rostow&HarrodDomar); the Solow model; the Lewis structural change model
*Course Note: The Harrod-Domar Model
*Course Note: The Solow Model + Example
*Course Note: The Lewis Structural Change Model
Wednesday 10-12
Classical development and growth theories II: the dependence revolution; the
neoclassical counter-revolution
*Easterly Chs. 2-3
*Ahiakpor: Dependency Theory in Ghana
Wednesday 1-5
Recent development theories; Endogenous growth models; Coordination failure
models/Poverty Traps; Policy implications of contemporary development theories;
*Easterly Chs. 8 & 9
*Kraay & Raddatz: Poverty traps, aid, and growth
Replac w/http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.28.3.127
*Andre&Platteau: Land Relations under Stress

Thursday 8-12
The role of geography and institutions
*Sachs & Bloom: Geography, Demography and Economic Growth in Africa
*Dixit: Governance Institutions
*Larmour: Introduction to Corruption & Anti-Corruption
Thursday 1-5
Population; Malthusian Population Trap; Microeconomic Theory of Fertility; Is
population growth a problem? Policy options
*Easterly Ch. 5
*Kaiser: Does Family Planning Bring Down Fertility?
*Bloom: 7 Billion and Counting
Friday 8-12 (break for science and research session)
Poverty, Poverty Programs, Inequality and Microfinance.
*What kind of poverty programs is UNDP pursuing:
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_areas/
*Conditional cash transfers: Brazils Bolsa Familia Program click here for NYT article;
World Bank Overview of CCT programs: click here
*Bertrand et al: A Behavioral-Economics View of Poverty
*Microfinance/financial inclusion: www.cgap.org
*Evidence on Microfinance: click here
Friday 1-5
Urbanization & Education
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* ttp://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
* http://www.unhabitat.org/
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFboV2m1yuw
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt0WRe4KaK4
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2DtUehj48
*Cohen: Urbanization;
*Easterly Ch. 4
*Glewwe&Kremer: Schools: Teachers etc.in developing countries only pp. 1-11
Saturday 8-12
Gender & health
* http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/gender
*Duflo: Gender & Economic Development
*Hunt: The Rise of Rwandas Women
*WHO: World Health Statistics 2013, browse the full report here
*Review cases 2, 6& 12 here
Saturday 1-5
Agriculture, rural development & child labor
*Salami et al.: Smallholder Agriculture in East Africa
*Latin Americas Economic Boom Explained Part 1 click here & Part 2 click here
*ILO on Child Labor: http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
*Basu: Child Labor
Week 12, 11/17-11/21
International trade & debt
*Subramanian & Roy: Mauritian Miracle
*South-South Trade: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webditctab2013d1_en.pdf
*http://www.voxeu.org/article/south-south-trade-it-s-mostly-china
*The HIPC initiate: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/hipc.htm
*Thomas: Debt Relief
Week 13, 11/24
Foreign Aid & foreign investment
* USAID: http://www.usaid.gov/
*Revisit the World Bank to study its projects and activities, www.worldbank.org.
*What is the Gates foundation and what does it do: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
*Easterly: Poor mans burden
*Werker: The Political Economy of Aid
*Prahalad&Hammond: Serving the Poor, Profitably
Week 14, 12/1-12/5
The environment & natural resources
*UNEP: http://www.unep.org/
* www.globalwitness.org
*http://www.livescience.com/37282-north-america-pollution-caused-africa-drought.html
*Thomas and Belt: Growth & The Environment
*World Bank: Day After Tomorrow Ch. 5
*Burgess et al.: The Political Economy of Deforestation
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Week 15, 12/8-12/12

Social conflict & civil war
*Easterly Ch. 13
*World Development Report 2011 Overview (or http://wdr2011.worldbank.org/fulltext)
* http://www.unhcr.org ( or www.unrefugees.org )
*Keen: War and Peace: What is the Difference?
*UNICEF: Youth Protection in Northern Uganda
*UNEP: The Role of Natural Resources in Conflict &DDR click here for UN report