This class provides an introduction to contemporary research on the economy of development. The major questions to be addressed by the course are: How central are institutions to economic development? How does culture shape institutions? How important are human capital, technology and entrepreneurship as drivers of economic development? How important are international effects relative to domestic features? Why do governments employ policies that hinder development? Students who complete this course successfully should: - understand the most important concepts within the subfield of economy of development - learn how to answer main questions regarding the proximate and the fundamental causes of growth and development - learn a good deal about substantive areas of economy of development (technology, human capital and development, institutions and economic performance, economic policy and development, social choice and welfare) - connect theories routinely to real-world examples - improve ability to use economic theory and empirical evidence

The graduate is able to understand both macroeconomic/microeconomic theories and phenomena and the lines that can inspire economic policy actions, in the context of developing economies. The reference methods are inductive, deductive, static and dynamic. The graduate is in a position to critically evaluate the proposed or pursued economic policy actions, checking whether or not the promised effects correspond to those foreseeable in light of empirical evidence and the prevailing economic theories. These skills, in addition to being assessed in the final phase in the final verification moments (in written and oral form), are monitored in through intermediate tests, which constitute a fundamental moment of improvement or adjustment of teaching based on the results achieved, both at the individual student level and at the class group level. The graduate acquires methodological tools useful for independently developing analyzes including the stages of collection, processing and interpretation of data relating to economic, social, political, organizational and communication phenomena. The judgment capacity independently is transmitted in the context of lectures and seminars and is verified in occasion of class presentations and during the profit examination through the evaluation of the critical exposure capacity of the analyzes treated. Graduates develop the ability to communicate their specific knowledge, exhibit the results of their study to their colleagues and work in team. The communication skills are verified in the context of class team presentation and the profit exams. The graduate develops an autonomous higher level study ability, which allows to analyze the problems in their complexity and specific dynamics. The adoption of this ability is stimulated through participation in seminars on current socio-political issues, through individual reading and understanding of scientific texts and articles and in the context of the drafting of the degree thesis, a privileged location in which it is also verified.

There are very large differences in income per capita and output per worker across countries today. Countries at the top of the world income distribution are more than thirty times as rich as those at the bottom. For example, in 2000, GDP (or income) per capita in the United States was over $33000. In contrast, income per capita is much lower in many other countries: less than $9000 in Mexico, less than $4000 in China, less than $2500 in India, and only about $700 in Nigeria, and much lower in some other sub-Saharan African countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, and Mali. These numbers are all at 1996 US dollars and are adjusted for purchasing power party (PPP) to allow for differences in relative prices of different goods across countries. How can we explain these differences? Main Topics: Cross-Country Income Differences Measurement Issues - Income and Welfare - Development vs. Growth Theories of Economic Growth and Development The Solow Model Market vs. non market failures Underdevelopment trap and multiple equilibria, coordination failures Proximate vs. Fundamental Causes of Economic Growth/Development Institutions and Development: Geography and Development ;"Luck" and Development; Culture and Development Health and Development Education and Growth Environment and Development Openness and Growth Diagnostics and Development policymaking

Textbooks Michael P. Todaro, Stephen C. Smith, Economic Development, 2012, Pearson Education (chs 1-4). (11th edition). Daron Acemoglu, Introduction to Modern Economic Growth, 2009, Princeton University Press (chs. 1 and 4).

Lecture, class discussion, seminars, team presentation

Written examination/quiz (70%) + oral examination (30%). Attending students (class attendance > 70%): can take a midterm quiz + final quiz and substitute the oral examination with a team presentation.

Strong motivation. A grade above 27 in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Development Economics.