BS3573: The Economics of Development

School Cardiff Business School
Department Code CARBS
Module Code BS3573
External Subject Code 100450
Number of Credits 20
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Professor Calvin Jones
Semester Double Semester
Academic Year 2013/4

Outline Description of Module

 

Economic Development is offered as an optional module for final year students across a range of single and joint honours degree programmes involving Economics. It is intended to provide students with an understanding of why some countries are poor and some rich. The module will present traditional and ‘new growth’ theories of economic development, illustrating their value in application to specific countries and time periods. The influence of key micro-economic factors including human capital development and the functioning of markets (e.g. for land and credit) will be covered, as will wider within-country socio-cultural influences such as poverty and corruption. The module will consider the influence of the international context (in terms of development aid) and of trade and capital flows. The module will fully explore key current development issues in emerging and developed economies, including the implications of climate change, scarce water access and resource depletion. It will also issues inherent in managing post-industrial economies. 

On completion of the module a student should be able to

 

A     Knowledge and Understanding:

  • Understand how economists have traditionally thought about development and growth, and how this relates to wider micro- and macro-economic foundations
  • Asses the usefulness of economic theories in determining which factors might have the greatest bearing on the mode and speed of economic development, in countries and overall
  • Determine how far international and national policies intended to increase levels of development actually address key barriers, constraints and structural issues
  • Evaluate whether the changing nature of cross-border flows of capital, technology and ‘innovation’ has implications for the development of emerging economies
  • Evaluate how far traditional micro-economic approaches can be amended to include consideration of ecological-environmental limits to growth

B     Intellectual Skills: 

  • apply micro-economic concepts and approaches such as rationality and marginal returns to problems of development.
  • recognise the relevance of both market function and wider social structures to the efficiency of applied capital and labour resource
  • critically asses the impact of political-economic factors on the nature of development
  • contextualise economic debates and discussion within wider social and ecological debates
  • understand how economic growth links to levels of social welfare at different points of the development path, and draw implications for the development of appropriate economic policy

C     Discipline Specific Skills: 

  • be able to argue for or against the relevance of an economic approach to addressing persistent problems of under-development and sub-optimal development
  • map national development and growth policies against relevant economic theory to understand how they do or do not fit
  • consider the appropriateness of externally imposed or suggested policies stemming from neo-classical and neo-liberal economic paradigms to the development problem in case countries
  • recognise the boundaries of relevant economic theory in addressing both the path and ‘end-game’ of economic development and growth, and consider how far economics can be extended to accommodate non-economic influences

D     Transferable Skills: 

  • work individually towards a substantive piece of original research
  • argue coherently and consistently for a particular viewpoint or solution based on available evidence
  • develop logical and contextualised solutions to specific decision-type problems
  • develop and reveal a holistic understanding of international political-economic institutions, structures and relevant outcomes
  • use a variety of information and technology resources, including electronic data sources and the internet.

How the module will be delivered

Teaching takes place in both the autumn and spring semesters. There are approximately 32 hours of lectures, and 8 hours of discussion (per student). The module is divided into 7 blocks.

 Each block is accompanied by a handout which makes explicit the structure of the lectures through the provision of lecture handouts. The handout may also include data and or diagrams. For each block students are provided with a reading list identifying references which are useful for preparation for class exercises and for revision. Although the module is taught in blocks, the lectures pick out and emphasise common economic themes across topics.

 Topics and questions for the small group discussion classes are handed out in advance, and students prepare written answers before the class. A lecturer is present to provide informal assessment and commentary on students’ written work, but this is not part of formative assessment. The discussion groups are intended to incentivise students to keep up with reading, and to ‘pressure test’ their ideas and understanding ahead of formal, assessed coursework and exams.

Indicative study hours:   200

How the module will be assessed

Each student is invited to choose her/his own project topic from a provided list. The students are given a research question which they must then apply to their self chosen case context, country or time period. Students are expected to use the material provided in the module to inform their project, and the set list of questions will enable this. The students carry out their own research and write up their own project. This format combines wide freedom of choice on topic with a rigorous insistence on the relevance of analysis and the use of appropriate methods. During the process of carrying out the project, from idea to submission, students acquire both subject-specific and transferable skills. The emphasis in this coursework is on applying economic thought and theory to real world problems. A full marking schedule for the project linked to module learning outcomes will be provided.
The Spring examination includes both essay questions and short-form answers based on a provided case study or article. The examination will cover the whole of the module content.

 

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 40 3000 Word Project N/A
Exam - Spring Semester 60 The Economics Of Development 3

Syllabus content

 Semester 1

Block A: Introduction - What is Under-development?

Block B: Theories of Economic Development and Growth

Block C: Factors of Production in Under-Developed Countries

Block D: Society, Culture and Economic Development

Semester 2

Block E: Trade, Capital Flows and Multinational Corporations

Block F: What Next? Managing Post-Industrial Regions

Block G: Limits to Growth? The Ecological and Climate Context

Essential Reading and Resource List

 Development Economics Anthony Clunies-Ross, David Forsyth, Mozammel Huq McGraw Hill ISBN: 0077114531

Economic Growth and Development (2nd Edition) Hendrik Van den Berg, McGraw Hill ISBN: 9780071201971

Economics of Development Theory and Evidence 9th edition A.P. Palgrave MacMillan Thirlwall  ISBN: 9780230222298


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