Dr Diana Weinhold

This course is available on the MPA in International Development, MSc in African Development, MSc in Anthropology and Development, MSc in Anthropology and Development Management, MSc in Development Management, MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Environment and Development, MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, MSc in Political Economy of Late Development and MSc in Political Science and Political Economy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

A take home quiz will be used to determine entry. Entry onto the course might be limited at the discretion of the instructor.

This course explores the foundations of applied macroeconomic policy analysis by combining a rigorous introduction to advanced quantitative methods with applications to the theory and empirics of long-run growth in developing countries.  Throughout the course, lectures provide analytical but non-technical overviews of broad themes in long-run growth and development policy, with a strong emphasis on how the body of knowledge has evolved over time via the synthesis of theoretical advances and rigorous empirical testing. Topics including growth theory, institutions and history, economic geography, globalization, balance of payments and financial crises, environmental policy and international finance. Classes in the first half of term will focus on building analytical skills to read, interpret, and critique econometric approaches to causal identification commonly used in the academic development literature. The emphasis will be on developing rigorous intuition rather than technical details; we focus on teaching students from a broad range of backgrounds to understand and critically consume high-level applied research in a sophisticated manner.  The seminars in the second half of term give students an opportunity to repeatedly practice and improve their skills by working through problem sets based on top academic journal articles addressing issues from the lectures on macroeconomic development.  While some background in economics and statistics is helpful, the course is designed to be engaging and challenging for students from a broad variety of backgrounds, from those with no economics and statistics to those with more advanced skills in either one or both areas.  Strong analytical skills (whether quantitative or not) and a sturdy work ethic are the best predictors of success.

IMPORTANT:  For students without strong skills in economics and statistics DV490 constitutes the foundational prerequisite for DV491 and DV492 in the Lent term.  Thus students wishing to most fully develop their skills in analytical policy analysis should plan to take this course in conjunction with either DV491 and/or DV492 or both.  Our experience is that the majority of students benefit most from a full academic year of repeated practice and exposure to the techniques covered to develop their intuition and ability.  Furthermore, DV491 and DV492 will cover additional empirical approaches more commonly employed in micro- and public economics, as well as providing an introduction to statistical programming in STATA (coordinated so that students taking both need not face repetition).

20 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the MT.

There will be a two hour revision session in late LT or early ST.

The bulk of the course will be taught using journal articles. A reading list will be handed out by the lecturers at the beginning of their sessions. Useful reference texts include D Ray, Development Economics (1998) which will serve as the course text, W Easterly, The Quest for Growth;

Exam (70%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.
In class assessment (30%) in the MT.