ECON 310: Economics of Developing Countries
Michigan State University, Spring 2016
Professor: Christian R. Ahlin
Office: Old Botany 201
Office Phone: 517-355-8306
Office Hours: Monday 1:15-2:15pm, Wednesday 2:15-3:15pm
TA: Hwanoong Lee
Office: Old Botany 3
Office Hours: Monday 11-12pm, Wednesday 5-6pm
Class Meetings: TuTh, 8:30-9:50, C20 Snyder
Textbook:
Perkins, Radelet, Lindauer (PRL). Economics of Development, 6th Ed. W. W. Norton, 2006.
There is a 7th edition; we use the 6th edition (similar but cheaper). It can be purchased online. Lectures are based
largely on this text, but also cover some additional material.
Course Description:
Development economics seeks to understand why some nations (or people groups) are richer and some are
poorer. The ultimate goal is to discover processes and policies, if any, that can be undertaken by or for a nation
desiring to go from poor to rich. These questions are some of the most important ones in economics. Yet they are far
from the best understood.
Development economics is also partly concerned with how best to measure economic and human progress.
Measures as simple as the average level of income in a society are used, as well as broader measures that take into
account health outcomes, political freedoms, and the distribution of income. Effects of policies on poverty and/or
inequality, or on certain subsegments of society in a given country, are also given special attention.
This class will address economic development from all of these standpoints. We begin with an overview of
development: history and current status of economic development across countries, basic terms, and the questions
surrounding how to define economic development. Next, we focus on economic growth, taking a look at recent
growth experience across countries, asking what are the key ingredients of growth, and analyzing basic models of
growth. These will highlight the roles played by savings, investment, education, health, and population growth. We
next take a more detailed look at savings and investment, examining the roles of the private sector, including the
financial sector; the government sector; and foreign capital flows in promoting development. Finally, we look at the
potential benefits and costs of various strategies related to international trade and globalization.
The course prerequisite is an introductory course in microeconomics. The material will also require use of
some basic mathematical and graphical analysis.
Grading:
This class relies heavily on lectures and class notes. So, attending class and understanding the class notes
and discussion is critical to doing well in the class. If you need to miss class, please send me an email and I can send
my notes for the day. (Always mention “EC 310” in the email.) But, I often say more in class than I do on my
written notes, so you may want to ask another student for the notes also.
Reading the textbook is optional; it can be useful as a supplementary source of information for some topics
for interested students. However, the lectures are nearly entirely self-contained.
The second key part of the material is the ungraded problem sets. These consist of multiple choice questions,
with answer keys posted, that help students dig deeper into each section of material. It is highly recommended that
