Economic Development and Institutional Change

Why is it that more than 1 billion people across the world are struggling to eat, while others consume and dispose all sort of commodities at an unprecedented pace? Why economic opportunities concentrate in one place and seem so scarce in others? What are the structural causes of inequality and, most importantly, what are the proposed solutions?

Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, this course will introduce students to key issues in development studies looking at the economic, institutional and political dimensions of development processes. Case studies will be used to explore the variety of development paths characterizing different world regions. Examples includes East Asia transition from planned systems to markets, different forms of capitalism in the Global North, the legacy of colonization in Africa, resource-driven development in the Middle-East and Latin America, the transition from agricultural to industrial economies and the related processes of migration, urbanization and feminization of the labor force. Students will also learn about the key development role of informal institutions such as credit groups, local production networks and informal markets.