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ECON 2P17: Economic Development
Spring 2025
COURSE OBJECTIVE:
This course will provide an analysis of the economic factors affecting the growth of developing countries. The course takes a comparative approach analyzing why some developing countries have been more successful than others. Issues such as economic growth, inequality and poverty, education, urbanization, agriculture, etc. are addressed.
We hope that at the end of this course the students will be familiar with the salient issues in economic development.
PREREQUISITES:
ECON 1P91 (Principles of Microeconomics) and 1P92 (Principles of Macroeconomics)
Textbooks (refer to the Textbook folder on Brightspace):
Todaro, M.P. and S.C. Smith (2020), Economic Development, Thirteenth Edition, Pearson, Boston
Some useful sources of economic development information:
• The World Development Indicators (WDI) database: (http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators. The WDI database, compiled by the World Bank using data from various sources, is presently one of the most comprehensive sources of data pertaining to various aspects of economic development.
• World Development Reports (1992-2024) annual issues published by the World Bank:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr/wdr-archive
• Human Development Reports (1990-2023/24) annual issues published by UNDP:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/global-reports
Other supplementary reading materials will be posted on Brightspace on a regular basis.
DELIVERY MODE:
• This is an asynchronous course which means that there are no scheduled class times to discuss the material.
• The course is structured such that the students will be largely reviewing the reader-
friendly materials pertaining to each lesson on their own and completing the assignment associated with that lesson.
• All the relevant materials related to the course delivery for each week (e.g. PPT slides, any audio recordings, review questions, etc. will be posted in advance on Brightspace.
RECOMMENDED LEARNING STRATEGIES:
1. The course is organized into 10 lessons that collectively provide a comprehensive overview of the salient issues in economic development.
2. For ease of access, the key recommended resources for each lesson are included in that lesson’s folder. The relevant textbook chapters for that lesson are also indicated.
3. Listen to the relevant lesson’s lecture recordings and read the relevant PPT slides and
other relevant resources associated with that lesson. The recommended readings for each lesson are marked with asterisks (*).
4. Do the review questions pertaining to each lesson. These do not have to be handed in for grading.
5. Do the online quiz associated with that lesson by the dates indicated. Each quiz constitutes 2 percent of your overall grade in the course.
6. All the recordings will be posted on Brightspace and Teams.
7. For the quizzes, mid-term and final exam we will be using the Brightspace Quizzes
feature. It is therefore important that students also familiarize themselves with the Brightspace Quizzes features.
8. The two assignments for this course will be handed in via the Brightspace DropBox. It is
also important that students also familiarize themselves with the Brightspace DropBox.
TOPICS:
Part 1: Introduction
Lesson 1 (Week of May 5, 2025): The Concept and Measurement of Economic Development
• The concept and measurement of economic development
• Economic growth vs. economic development
• The Capabilities Approach to development
• Alternative measures/indicators ofthe level of economic development (GDP, PQLI, HDI, etc.)
• Common characteristics of developing nations
Suggested Readings:
*Todaro and Smith (Chapters 1 and 2)
*Booyensen, F. (2002), “An Overview and Evaluation of Composite Indices of Development,” Social Indicators Research, 59, 115-151.
Cahill, M.B. (2005), “Is the Human Development Index Redundant?” Eastern Economic Journal, 31, 1-5.
*UNDP, Human Development Report 2010: The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development.
*UNDP, Human Development Report 2016: Human Development for Everyone.
*UNDP, Human Development Report 2018: Human Development Indices and Indicators
Lesson 1 activities to be completed:
Listen to Lesson 1 recordings
Read Lesson 1 PPT slides and complete Lesson 1 online quiz by Friday May 16, 2025
Do Lesson 1 Review Questions on your own
Read the resources marked with asterisks*
Assignment 1
Lesson 2: (Week of May 12, 2025): Inequality, Poverty and Development
• The measurement of the distribution of income: Lorenz curve and Gini index
• Economic inequality and economic development (Kuznets U-curve hypothesis)
• Poverty Measures (Headcount ratio/index; Foster-Green-Thobecke (FGT) index and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
• Growth and Poverty
Suggested readings:
*Todaro and Smith (Chapter 5)
*Ogwang, T. (2008), “Inequality, Income,” in W.A. Darity, Ed., International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 4, 2nd Edition, Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 1-3.
Bowman, K.S. (1997), “Should the Kuznets Effect be Relied on to Induce Equalizing Growth:
Evidence from Post-1950 Development,” World Development, 25, 127-143.
World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty.
World Bank, World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development.
World Bank, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development
UNDP, Human Development Report 2019: Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today: Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century
Lesson 2 activities to be completed:
Listen to Lesson 2 recordings
Read Lesson 2 PPT slides and complete Lesson 2 online quiz by Friday May 23, 2025 Do Lesson 2 Review Questions on your own
Read the resources marked with asterisks*
Assignment 1 Continued
Part 2: Selected Theories of Economic Development
Lesson 3: (Week of May 19, 2025): Theories of Economic Development 1
• Harrod-Domar Growth Model
• Rostow’s Stage Theory of economic development
• W.A. Lewis’ Theory of Economic Dualism
Suggested readings:
*Todaro and Smith (Chapter 3)
Lewis W.A. (1954), “Economic Development With Unlimited Supplies of Labor,” Manchester School, 22, May 1954.
Lesson 3 activities to be completed:
Listen to Lesson 3 recordings
Read Lesson 3 PPT slides and complete Lesson 3 online quiz by Friday May 30, 2025 Do Lesson 3 Review Questions on your own
Read the resources marked with asterisks*
Assignment 1 Continued
Assignment 2
Lesson 4: (Week of May 26, 2025): Theories of Economic Development 2
• The Basic (Human) Needs Approach to Development
• Dependency Theories of Development
• Balanced growth (the Big Push) and Unbalanced growth
Suggested readings:
*Todaro and Smith (Chapter 3 and 4; (Section 4.3))
*Separate notes on balanced and unbalanced growth
*Streeten, P. (1979), “From Growth to Basic Needs,” Finance and Development, 16, 28-31.
*Hicks, N. and P. Streeten (1979), “Indicators of Development: The Search for a Basic Needs Yardstick,” World Development, 7, 567-580.
Lesson 4 activities to be completed:
Listen to Lesson 4 recordings
Read Lesson 4 PPT slides and complete Lesson 4 online quiz by Friday June 6, 2025 Do Lesson 4 Review Questions on your own
Read the resources marked with asterisks*
Assignment 1 Finalized
Assignment 2 Continued
Friday May 30, 2025: Assignment 1 Due