Course Syllabus

 

Semester & Location:	Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Economics, International Relations
Prerequisites:	One course each in macro- and microeconomics at university level.
Faculty Member:	Michael Hedegaard, Holger Sandte Please contact via canvas inbox
Time & Place:	Mondays and Thursdays 16:25-17:45 Classroom: Fi6-Metro 101

Development Economics ...

... studies one of the key challenges of our time, namely, economic growth and development in low-income countries, and the transformation of these economies into modern, richer or at least less poor countries. In this course, development and underdevelopment will be looked at through the lens of key economic concepts, policy prescriptions, development assistance architecture, and applied project management tools. 

The course provides the students with the basic knowledge and theories of economic growth and development. It also examines the way key social institutions and economic policies of developing and emerging economies have affected their economic performance. The knowledge acquired is important in evaluating investment projects in emerging and developing countries and provide useful skills for local economic consulting firms and local or international organizations.

Developing countries are not alike – substantial differences exist both with respect to per-capita income levels, efficiency and growth in income. Some of these countries, primarily in East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, have grown at rates above those of the industrialized countries. These high-growth emerging countries have typically liberalized their international trade and investments and built good institutions of law and order. Other countries, e.g. in sub-Saharan Africa, have not succeeded in economic growth and many have even for periods experienced a fall in per capita income. For this reason, they have been important beneficiaries of aid from the rich countries – directly or through international organizations such as the World Bank. For international economic consultants working with projects directed to the third world it is important to understand the main barriers for economic development to be able to find solutions to overcome these barriers. Important questions are:

• What is actually "development"? How can development be measured?
• What are the main theories and factors explaining economic development?
• Why are some countries rich and others poor?
• Why are many of the least developed countries in Africa?​
• What should be done to raise living standards up to those of rich countries? And who should do it?
• Does development aid work? Or under which circumstances does aid work?
• Which policies are needed for a successful transition of the poor countries?
• Does one size fil all? Are successful policies transferable from one country to another? 
• What is or should be the role of the private sector for economic development?

The way this course addresses these themes is grounded in real life, practical, and case-based, while relying on a solid theoretical framework. Field studies and guest lectures will add additional perspectives.

Learning objectives

• Understand the complexity of economic growth and development and the debates surrounding the ways and means to support it.
• Gain knowledge of various paradigms of economic development, and their application in a geographic and historic perspective.
• Knowledge of the main international institutions to assist the developing countries and the ability to use and apply institutional knowledge in an economic context
• Gain insight into Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in developing countries, including topics related to sustainability and the specificities of business operations in emerging markets and developing countries
• Be able to critically address current debates surrounding development assistance, as well as their underlying theoretical and ideological underpinnings
• Understand the debt problem in low-income countries and possible solutions
• Skills enabling students to evaluate and potentially formulate policies to alleviate specific problems in developing and emerging economies, and to understand the effect of policy spill-overs from other countries
• Become better at presenting in front of the class. 

We encourage you to assume responsability for your learning. Your teachers make an offer, but how much you will get out of it, depends on you. 

Faculty 

Your teachers Michael and Holger will share the course 50/50. In the Canvas Calendar, you can see, which of teachers will be present for class. 

Michael Hedegaard (M) studied Economics and French in Denmark and France. He worked at EKF, Denmark´s export credit and international investment fund, was 2 years in Côte d’Ivoire, and established an international consultancy company.  In parallel, he’s external lecturer at Copenhagen Business School and part time faculty with DIS since 2012. Since August 2021, he’s associate professor at DTU - Technical University of Denmark - focusing on making sustainable business out of technology.

Holger Sandte (H) works for EIFO, Denmark's Export and Investment Fund, as a country, bank and sector analyst. Before, he worked for many years a bank economist and for the Danish Ministry of Finance. Holger studied Economics and languages in Germany and France, where he had this own study-abroad experience. MSc in 1993, PhD in 1998 with a thesis on whether moderate inflation harms economic growth. Answer: mostly not, but it depends. Teaching at DIS since 2019.  

Grading Breakdown

Grades will be based on individual and as well as group word. Please see the table to the right. 

• Engagement/participation
  Your participation grade will be determined by three factors: attendance, preparedness for class, and active engagement in class including field studies. You are required to attend all classes, be prepared (see Canvas readings) and to engage. If you miss a class, you are expected to contact your teacher ahead of class and provide an explanation. Unexcused absence may impact your grade. 
• In the midterm exam, we want to check your knowledge and progress after ca. ten class sessions (indluding guest lectures) . It will be a mix of multiple-choice, short-answer and essay questions. You will have ca. one week to work on the questions. There will be a deadline, but no time limit.
• In the presentation on important development economists, you will be asked to present the work and ideas of one of these economists. You can choose, whether you do this assignment alone or in groups of two.
• Many low-income countries bear a heavy debt burden. In a graded exercise related to the debt problem, you will be asked to argue - and possibly solve the debt problem - from the point of view of different parts, e.g. the indebted country, the so-called ParisClub of creditors, private creditors, China/India etc. 
• The final Research Project counts most for your total grade (30%). You will work in groups to analyze a specific topic centered around Sustainability and sustainable business in Developing Countries. You will have to present your work in class. 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

On the use of electronic devices in class:

The use of electronic devices in class is only allowed for purposes related to this class like taking notes or searching information. 

On the use of AI tools: 

In this course, students are permitted to use AI tools, such as Chat GPT, for their academic tasks. However, be critical and acknowledge academic integrity by citing all usage of these tools in your work. Remember that your papers, presentations etc. always have to written by you, not by some AI tool. This follows the DIS Academic Honor Code that clearly states: “Submit your own work and never allow others (including Chat GPT or other AI) to write any part of your papers or exams.“ The information provided by AI tools can provide beneficial input for your tasks, but can never be your output. 

Readings

Please see the Canvas Calendar for readings. For preparing most classes, we will indicate readings, some compulsory, some optional. 

For a first impression of what DevEcon is all about, check out this video https://mru.org/courses/development-economics/basic-facts-growth-and-development.It is part of a great, free online course on DevEcon ( https://mru.org/development-economics). that we will use in this course from time to time. 

If you want, also take a look at the textbook by Todaro, Michael P. & Smith, Stephen C.:Economic Development, 11th ed. (Addison-Wesley, 2011), Chapters 1-3.

DIS_DE_Todaro_and_Smith_Chapter_1.pdf

DIS_DE_Todaro_and_Smith_Chapter_2.pdf

DIS_DE_Todaro_and_Smith_Chapter_3.pdf

Among the other books we will work with are 

• Acemoglu, Daron, and James A Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty 
• Taylor, J. Eward, and Lybbert, Travis J., 2020, Essentials of Development Economics, 3rd. edition

I's always a good idea to read e.g. The Economist or the magazine Finance & Development , issued by the IMF. We also recommend this website https://voxdev.org/ , where you find articles, videos, podcasts and a newsletter. 

 

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