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Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Growth and Development Economics

Semester 1 · 27220 · Bachelor in Economics, Politics and Ethics · 7CP · IT


The course introduces students to key issues, theories and empirical approaches in the study of economic development, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries: Explores the main challenges and constraints to development, including poverty, inequality, corruption, unfavourable geography and access to finance; Examines theoretical models of economic growth and development, such as the Solow model, dual-sector models and institutional approaches; Analyses the causes and consequences of civil wars and political instability and their impact on long-term development and the quality of institutions; Encourages critical thinking and debate in the analysis of contemporary challenges to economic development.

Lecturers: Giacomo Davide De Luca

Teaching Hours: 42
Lab Hours: -
Mandatory Attendance: Recommended but not compulsory.

Course Topics
Development models - the role of capital Development models - Neoclassics Development models- Contemporaneous models The geography hypothesis The natural resource curse Conflicts Institutions Corruption The role of agriculture Migration Microfinance Debt and aid

Propaedeutic courses
There are no prerequisite courses, but attendance of the course(s) Economics 1/Microeconomics and 2/Macroeconomics, and Econometrics is suggested in order to adequately follow the lectures.

Teaching format
Lectures and student presentations in seminar form (presentation marks count for 40% of the final mark of the course)

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding By the end of the training course, students will have acquired the following knowledge and understanding: - analysis of the demand and supply of goods and services; - ability to understand the price mechanism in market economies; - ability to apply the concepts of game theory to the economic behaviour of public and private actors; - ability to understand the role of governments in market economies; - ability to analyse the behaviour of economic variables in the short, medium and long run; - ability to historically contextualise economic thinking and to assess the role of technology and social change on the evolution of economic thinking; - ability to understand complex economic texts in the three languages of instruction; 8. ability to analyse human behaviour in the field of economics; - ability to analyse human behaviour in organisations - ability to understand organisational decision-making theories; - ability to understand how political choices are formulated and how these decisions affect the economy; - recognising and understanding the conditions that are necessary for sustainable economic development taking into consideration the environment and natural resources; - understanding of the reasons for economic growth and development of countries; - understanding of the basic principles of functioning of labour markets; - estimation and interpretation of econometric models for the empirical analysis of the above problems. Applying knowledge and understanding:: ability to interact with native speakers fluently and spontaneously on economic topics; ability to evaluate the effects of trade in a globalised world; ability to apply models of political economy, development and economic growth to analyse problems related to poverty, income inequality, education and health in developed and developing countries; ability to develop recommendations for growth and development-oriented policy measures. Autonomy of judgement: Acquisition of the judgement skills and methodological tools useful for the critical analysis of data, sources, assumptions and implications of scientific practice, the political, ethical and legal context within which economic phenomena are embedded and with which they interact. Communication skills: Fluency (oral and written) in Italian, German and English, including translation between these languages. Intercultural competence. Conceptual awareness, synthesis and written expression, in particular in the drafting of scientific or science-based documents. Learning skills: Promotion of critical thinking and analytical skills to focus on complex problems in their long-term dynamics and in the variety of their implications, including ethical ones.

Assessment
The closed book written exam will have 2 parts: Part 1 (1 hour) for all students with 2 questions covering different topics treated in the lectures, possibly with sub-questions, carrying equal weight, unless specified differently. Part 2 (30 minutes) for students who did NOT give a presentation with (an) additional question(s) focusing on the papers used for the student presentations. The final exam counts for 60% of the overall mark for students participating to presentations, and 100% for the other students.

Evaluation criteria
Presentations will be assessed along three dimensions: slides, oral presentation, understanding of material. The final exam will assess knowledge and understanding of the topics covered.

Required readings

Todaro and Smith "Economic Development", Pearson

The course is based on recent academic papers, which will be updated every year.




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Sustainable Development Goals
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals.

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