CARLETON UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
ECON 3508 A
INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Fall Term 2015
Professor A.R.M. Ritter September 2, 2015
INFORMATION ON THE COURSE
I Objective and Approach
This objective of this course is to provide an introduction to the analysis of some central issues concerning the development of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The concept of development employed in the course includes equity and social dimensions as well as an economic growth dimension.
This course utilises, modifies, and elaborates some of the concepts and tools of economics at an introductory level, applying them within the different institutional and social contexts of the developing countries in analysing some key economic issue areas.
The course begins with an analysis of the concept and measurement of development and the nature of economics for development. The recent development experience of the main groupings of developing countries is also reviewed quickly as part of the Introduction. Various theoretical approaches to the analysis of development are then examined. The inter-relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty are explored. Following this, some aspects of human resource development are analysed. Attention is then focused on the role of planning vis-à-vis the market mechanism and on rural development and urbanization. Finally, some international dimensions of development are explored, including trade, development assistance, and direct foreign investment.
II Basic Information
Instructor: A. R. M. Ritter, Department of Economics and the
Norman Paterson School of International Affairs
Office : Loeb Building, Room A-802
Class Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:05 to 11:25, Sept. 2 to Dec. 7
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesdays, 11:30 to 12:30 or almost any reasonable time by appointment
E-Mail:
Telephone: Office: (613) 520-2600 extension 6668;
FAX: (613) 520-3906
Class Location: Southam Hall Room 517
Teaching Assistant: To be announced
III. Course Web Site: http://introtoeconomicdevelopment.com/
Please note that the course web site is not at WebCT nor at CULearn.
IV Texts
The required text for this course, available from the Bookstore, is:
Michael Todaro and Stephen C. Smith, Economic Development, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 12th Edition, 2015.
The required readings are taken mainly from the main text. However, there will also be a number of additional brief readings which will be distributed in class.
There are a number of additional but optional sources or books that may be useful for consultation:
World Bank, Atlas of Global Development, A visual guide to the world’s great challenges, Fourth Edition, 2013
World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2015
United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Reports
See also “INTERNET RESOURCES” below.
V Student Assessment
There are four components on which the grade for the course will be based. These are as follows:
(i) Assignment: Brief Report 25%
(ii) Brief Quizzes 5%
(iii) Mid Term Examination: 20%
(iv) Final Examination 50%
Total: 100%
The Mid-Term Examination will take place on Monday November 2, just after the October Break. It will be 80 minutes in length. It will include multiple choice, short answer and essay questions.
[Students who can document a compelling reason for missing the mid-term examination will be excused and their final grade will be based on their performance in the rest of the course. Please inform the instructor of such an absence in advance, if possible.]
The Final Examination will take place early after the end of the course in the regular examination period. It will be three hours in length. It will cover all course materials but with a major emphasis on those topics covered since the mid-term exam. It will include multiple choice, short answer and essay questions.
[Deferred final examinations are available only if there is a good reason for missing the regularly scheduled final examination and the student is in good standing in the course. In order to write a deferred final exam, please contact the Registrar’s Office. Failure to write the final examination will result in a grade of ABS.]
The Assignment involves the writing of a brief Report on "human development," its meaning and its measure. It should be about 2000 to 2500 words or ten to 12 typewritten pages (double-spaced, font 12, one inch margins.) It may be hand-written if easily legible.
The purpose of the assignment is to promote thought and analysis on the meaning of the term "development" and how it could be measured, with an application to a specific country.
The Report should answer the following questions:
1. What is your own definition of “development”? How might this be measured?
How does this compare with the United Nations Development Program's definitions and measures in its Human Development Reports?
2. Examine the “development record” of a specific country of interest to you in the light of your answer to question 1 above. Has this country achieved some aspects of "development" according to your definition?
3. Are your conclusions regarding “levels” and comparative performance regarding the development of this country from the standpoint of your definition in accord with the conclusions of the UNDP? Explain why and/or why not.
The central sources for your work should be:
The readings of the Course Outline, especially the Todaro-Smith text.
1. The UNDP Human Development Report, 2010: The Real Wealth of Nations.
2. Additional information on the specific country that you are focusing on.
3. You can obtain useful insights from the UNDP Human Development Reports of past years, available here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/global-reports
Another useful source is the UNDP publication Measuring Human Development: A Primer, 2011 located here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev-primer. Data and its sources are also located here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/data/
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST
I INTRODUCTION September 2, 4 and 9
A. Procedural Information
B. The Concept and Measurement of Development
C. An Overview of Recent Development Experience
Readings:
1. M. Todaro and S. Smith, Economic Development, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 2011, Chapters 1 and 2.
2. Human Development Report, 2014, Chap. 1 and 2 and Statistical Tables
Optional Readings
1. For a master listing of international rankings see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_rankings
2. Institute for Economics and Peace: Global Peace Index: 2015
3. From “Freedom House”: Human Freedom Index 2015
4. The Yale Environmental Performance Index, 2014,
II THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
September 14, 16, and 21
A. Historical and Political Economy Perspectives
B. “Growth” and “Stages” Theorizing
C. Structural Change: The Lewis Model
D. “Dependence” Approaches
E. Other Approaches
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapter 3
III GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN WELL-BEING
September 23. 28 and 30
A. Growth, Poverty and Income Distribution
B. Policies and Approaches to Poverty Reduction
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapter 5
Optional
2. United Nations, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,Social Panorama of Latin America, (Full Text) 2010 especially Chapter I: Poverty, inequality and life cycle (pdf 1.5Mb)
Assignment Due, October 14IV HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT October 5, 7, and 19
A. Demography and Development
B. Education
C. Health
D. The Informal Sector
E. Entrepreneurship
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapter 6 and 8
2. International Labour Organization, "On the Informal Sector", Geneva, 1972, (to be distributed in class.)
3. Liebenstein, Harvey, “Entrepreneurship and Development”, American Economic Review, 1968, (to be distributed in class.)
V MARKET, PLAN, THE STATE and CIVIL SOCIETY October 19 and 21
A. The Market Mechanism: Role, Functioning, Strengths and Weaknesses
B. Planning: Role, Implementation, Strengths and Weaknesses
C. Appropriate Blends of Market and Plan
D. "Development Planning"
E. Institutions and Social Capital
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit.., Chapter 11, pp. 541-546; 554-582
Mid-term Examination November 2VI RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND URBANIZATION November 4, 9 and 11
A. Agriculture and Rural Development
B. Urbanization
C. Rural- Urban Migration
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapters 9 and 7
VII INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT November 16, 18, 23, and 25
A. "Globalization": an Introduction
B. The Interrelationships between Trade and Development
C. Primary Commodity Trade
D. Trade Strategies and Development
E. Integration among Developing Countries
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapter 12
VIII INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT
November 30, December 2 and 7
A. Foreign Direct Investment
B. Development Assistance
C. The Debt Issue
D. Stabilization and the Role of the IMF
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, op. cit., Chapter 14, pp. 731-757
IX. Conflict and Development December 7
Readings:
1. Todaro and Smith, Chapter 14, pp. 757-767
Final Examination: after the end of classes in the regularly scheduled exam periodINTERNET RESOURCES
There are a variety of useful Web Sites on Development issues generally, on international and national development organizations, on development non-governmental organizations, and on each country on Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the countries of the former Soviet Union. For virtually every theme in the course and every country of the region there are useful materials that are worth checking. Among the more valuable of these are the following:
I. General Link Sites of Relevance:
A. Development
1. ELDIS, A Gateway Site for Development Information, Sponsored by the Scandinavian and Swiss Development Agencies, http://www.eldis.org
2. United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report Site; an excellent site for general information and statistics on Development
3. The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources
4. International Institute for Sustainable Development Sustainable Development Gateway
5. The Least Developed Countries Report 2014, United Nations Committee on Trade and Development,
6. Gapminder. Site features free software, videos, data, and interactive moving graphics to visualize facts, data, and trends in development measures.
B. Economics
7. Resources for Economists: the economics portal on the web.
C. The Press, World-wide
8. Thousands of Newspapers on the Web: http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
II. International Organizations:
1. The United Nations
2. UN Economic Commission for Africa
3. UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean;
4. The Inter-American Development Bank.
5. The World Bank
6. International Monetary Fund
7. The African Development Bank
8. UNESCAP, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
III. Non-Governmental Organizations
1. Amnesty International, with coverage of all Latin and other countries.
2. Human Rights Watch with general annual analyses of specific countries and periodical in-depth country studies.
IV. Relevant Canadian Sites:
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Development Section
ADDITIONAL ADMINISTRTIVE MATTERS:
For Support for Preparing Written Assignments:
Writing Tutorial Service 4th Floor MacOdrum Library; Phone: (613) 520-2600 ext. 1125
For General Academic Advice and Support:
Student Academic Success Centre (SASC, 302 Tory Building).
Requests for Academic Accommodations:
For Religious Obligations / To be worked out on individual basis with instructor. Consult Equity Services or an Equity Advisor ((613) 520-5622) for Policy and list of Holy Days. Email:For Pregnancy / Contact Equity Services (ext. 5622) to obtain a "letter of accommodation."
Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
For information on general accommodation regarding disabilities, see http://www1.carleton.ca/pmc/
Students with disabilities requiring academic accommodations in this course are encouraged to contact the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (500 University Centre) to complete the necessary forms. After registering with the Centre, make an appointment to meet with me in order to discuss your needs at least two weeks before the first in-class test or CUTV midterm exam. This will allow sufficient time to process your request. Please note the following deadlines for submitting completed forms to the PMC for formally scheduled exam accommodations: Friday November 9th 200f.
Plagiarism and Academic Offenses
One of the requirements for this course is a Term Paper. Please note that the Term Paper must be your own original work. It may not be taken from another course and used for this course a second time. Please make sure that you do not plagiarize i.e. use the work of others claiming it as your own without citation.
The following is a brief guide for avoiding plagiarism.
Carleton University tries to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. For the University policy on this, see the following:
1. Carleton University Calendar on Academic Integrity: or
2. Plagiarism: Please be aware that plagiarism is serious offence at Carleton and should be recognized and avoided. For further information on how to do so, please see ‘Pammett on Plagiarism and Paraphrasing’ at http://www1.carleton.ca/economics/courses/writing-preliminaries/ Academic infractions in the Economics Department are dealt with directly by the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Public Affairs.
3. Carleton University Academic Integrity Policy
The University Senate defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This can include:
· reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source;
· submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else;
· using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment;
· using another’s data or research findings;
· failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another’s works and/or failing to use quotation marks;
· handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs."
Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course’s instructor. The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They can include a final grade of "F" for the course.
The following materials are extracted from Carleton’s official policies towards plagiarism.