Harvard University
Department of Economics
economics 970 spring 2004
MW 4:30-6:00
eliot E-14
underdevelopment
Eric Werker
617.493.2470, 617.699.2525
description
This course seeks to explore extreme poverty: its causes and its consequences, how we study it, and what we do about it. A great number of people subsist on less than a dollar per day, and are constantly plagued by bad governments, disease, and war. The policy responses to these phenomena are as complex as the issues themselves. And economists are not alone in addressing this subject: demographers, epidemiologists, political scientists, and anthropologists are among our colleagues in the study of underdevelopment and the practice of development.
The focus of this course is not to build a stock of knowledge by surveying a very dispersed, and often contradictory, field. Rather, we focus on the inquiry itself by examining hypotheses, data, and conclusions—stressing methodology, breadth of potential explanations, and drawing inferences. This is reflected in the reading list as academic papers, from a variety of disciplines, are chosen over textbook chapters to communicate to the student the processes of discovery, and to give a sense of discipline-specific biases. Factual accounts and “stories” of underdevelopment likewise do not serve as canonical examples to be committed to memory, but instead as raw data from which the student will construct her own working relationship with the subject matter.
There are six major units in this course, each subdivided into topics. The first unit looks into data and hypotheses in general and as they pertain to the study of underdevelopment. The second through fourth units explore microeconomic, political, and macroeconomic facets of underdevelopment; in other words, what makes individuals poor, why can’t they do anything about it, and what makes countries poor? The fifth unit delves into the phenomenon of conflict in poor countries, and the final unit examines our policy interventions into underdevelopment. Case studies of prominent humanitarian emergencies in Africa supplement our exploration.
The assignments also reflect the focus on inquiry by encouraging students to challenge contemporary scholarship, to work first-hand with data sets, to come up with original models, and ultimately to ask—and tentatively answer—a new research question.
requirements
class participation. 20% of grade. Attendance is mandatory. Class discussions are an essential component of the sophomore tutorial. Your full participation is expected in the discussion of assigned readings and general course themes.
graded assignments. 25% of the grade. There will be 12-15 pages of assignments related to the readings. This will include group presentations and empirical exercises. Weighting will be based entirely on the length of assignment. Exact instruction may differ from the syllabus.
non-graded assignments. 10% of the grade. A variety of assignments will simply be checked for completion but not graded. A lack of completion or effort result in zero for the assignment. Each assignment weighted equally.
drafts. 10% of the grade. Two exercises will be graded to ensure that progress towards a satisfactory final paper is occurring.
final paper. 30% of the grade. You will submit a final paper in which you will ask and answer an original question relating to underdevelopment. The final paper is due by Tuesday, May 11, at noon.
presentation. 5% of the grade. Each student will present their final paper to the other seminar participants.
policies
attendance. Attendance is mandatory at all regular class meetings. Exceptions for personal or family reasons will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
tardiness. Penalties will be levied on assignments that are handed in beyond the announced deadline. The penalty is one third letter grade (i.e. A- becomes B+, etc.) per day for up to five days, at which time the grade is zero. The five day maximum may be shortened for the final paper. Penalties for tardiness begin at 10 minutes into class.
office hours. Office hours will be by appointment. I will make myself available over meals in Eliot House as well. Most Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:00 students can eat together in the dining hall at Eliot.
schedule and readings
I Data and Methods
Day 1: Introduction W 2/11
read
· The Economist. June 1st-7th 2002. “Southern Africa’s Food Shortage.” 43-44.
Day 2: Surveys and data W 2/18
read
· Deming, W.E. (1944) “On Errors in Surveys.” American Sociological Review. Vol 9 (4). 359-369
· Kalton, G. and H. Schuman. (1982) “The Effect of the Question on Survey Responses: A Review.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A. Vol 145 (1). 42-73 (SELECTIONS)
do
· Summarize survey data. Look at opinion questions and age-lumping.
Day 3: What’s wrong with this argument? M 2/23
II Microeconomics
Day 4: Fertility W 2/25
read
· Caldwell, J.C. (1977) “The Economic Rationality of High Fertility: An Investigation Illustrated with Nigerian Survey Data.” Population Studies. Vol 31 (1). 5-27
do
· Regress stuff on woman’s children ever born and say what’s going on.
Day 5: Health M 3/1
read
· Strauss, J. and D. Thomas. (1998) “Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development.” Journal of Economic Literature. Vol 36 (2). 766-817. (ONLY SECTIONS 2 and 5.3)
do
· Take Strauss and Thomas’ exposition that male height and BMI predicts labor earnings. What are some problems with this relationship regarding measurement error, reverse causality, and omitted variable bias? 2 pages, graded.
Day 6: Education W 3/3
read
· Lloyd, C.B. and A.K. Blanc. (1996) “Children’s Schooling in sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Fathers, Mothers, and Others.” Population and Development Review. Vol 22 (2). 265-298.
do
· Regress stuff on women’s education and say what’s going on.
Day 7: Intra-household M 3/8
read
· Drèze, J. and A. Sen. (1989) Hunger and Public Action. Section 4.3-4.5. pp. 50-59.
do
· Empirical exercise due. What’s the deal with mother’s education? On fertility, other good outcomes. 4 pages, graded.
III Political Economic
Day 8: It’s the state, stupid W 3/10
read
· Shleifer, A. and R. Vishney. (1998) The Grabbing Hand: Government Pathologies and their Cures. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Chapter 1.
· Herbst, J. (2000) States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapters 1: “The Challenge of State Building in Africa.” 11-31, Chapter 5: “The Broadcasting of Power.” 139-172 (SKIM 5).
Day 9: Institutions (1) M 3/15
read
· Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Chapter 6: “The Importance of Democracy.” 146-159
· Putnam, R.D. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapter 4: “Explaining Institutional Performance.” 83-120.
do
· Why might states not be governing or set up in the best interests of the population? Take two of the authors to be chosen in class 8, summarize their arguments, compare and contrast; are these arguments mutually exclusive, or does the presence of each factor exacerbate the other? 5 pages, graded. No more than 2 pages of summary.
IV Macroeconomic
Day 11: Geography W 3/17
read
· Gallup, J.L., J.D. Sachs, and A. Mellinger. (1999) “Geography and Economic Development.” CID Working Paper no. 1.
do
· Cross-country growth regression within sub-Saharan Africa, predicting growth with malaria and geography.
Day 12: Institutions (2) M 3/22
read
· Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J.A. Robinson. (2001) “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review. Vol. 91 (5). 1369-1401.
do
· Cross-country growth regression within sub-Saharan Africa, predicting growth with institutions.
Day 13: AIDS W 3/24
read
· Bloom, D.E., A. Mahal, J. Sevilla, and River Path Associates. (2001) “AIDS & Economics.” Paper prepared for WHO Commission on Macroeconomics & Health. URL: http://www.iaen.org/files.cgi/7055_bloom_economics.pdf.
· Creese, A., K. Floyd, A. Alban, and L. Guinness. (2002) “Cost-effectiveness of HIV/AIDS interventions in Africa: a systematic review of the evidence.” The Lancet. 359: 1635-42. URL: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bioethics/pdf/cost_effectivness.pdf
do
· Write how the political economy of the state (Days 8,9) will impact the incidence, spread, prevention, and treatment of AIDS in Africa. 2 pages, graded.
V Internal War
Day 14: Economic theories of war M 4/5
read
· Mackinlay, J. (1998) “War Lords.” RUSI Journal. April 1998. 24-32
· Collier, P. and A. Hoeffler. (2001) “Greed and Grievance in Civil War.” World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/research/conflict/papers.htm.
do
· Design a model of the optimizing warlord from Mackinlay’s piece. What are you optimizing? What are your constraints? Are there any testable implications? 1 page, graded.
Day 15: Theories of violence W 4/7
read
· Kalyvas, S. 1999. “Wanton and Senseless? The Logic of Massacres in Algeria.” Rationality and Society 11: 243-285.
· Keene, D. (1994) “The Functions of Famine in Southwestern Sudan: Implications for Relief.” From War & Hunger: Rethinking international responses to complex emergencies. Macrae, Z. and A. Zwi (Eds.) London: Zed Books. 111-124
Day 16: Somalia M 4/12
read
· Besteman, C. (1996) “Violent Politics and the Politics of Violence: The Dissolution of the Somali Nation State.” American Ethnologist. 23(3). 579-596.
· Peterson, S. (2000) Me Against My Brother. New York: Routledge. Chapter 2: “City of the Insane.” 19-35 Chapter 4: “Club Skinny—Dancers Wanted.” 51-70.
· Shoumatoff, A. (1994) “The ‘Warlord’ Speaks.” The Nation. April 4, 1994.
do
· Group presentations. Groups of 2 will present approximately 15 minutes each to the class on:
o Besteman and the failed state aspects of Somalia, including financial.
o Besteman, Peterson (2) on strategic violence and the role of profitability in the fighting.
o Peterson (4) on why the Americans intervened.
o Peterson (4) and Shoumatoff and how the intervention fared.
VI Aid
Day 17: Foreign aid W 4/14
read
· Boone, Peter. (1996) “Politics and the effectiveness of foreign aid.” European Economic Review. February 1996. 40 (2) 289-329.
do
· Submit a 2-page detailed outline of your paper topic. Any topic that has to do with underdevelopment is fair game, but I especially encourage thinking about war, crises, disasters, and interventions. The outline should be in the following format, outline-notation (I,A,1,a,i,…) only:
o I Introduction: motivate and state the question you will answer. State your results too (once you get them.)
o II Literature Review: you don’t need anything yet, but if you have it, I’d like to see it. Who else has written about this? What do you plan to add to this?
o III Data and Estimations: again, this doesn’t have to be complete. Say where your data could come from, and how you would like to use it to test your question. Data do not need to be database—they can be historical questions, like what happened to Red Cross operations after the Additional Protocols were made into law, or broad stylized facts such as “internal wars in Asia did not tend to occur during the Vietnam conflict” that can be backed up with very summary statistics.
o IV Empirical Results. You will not have this section complete yet, but say which result you could get, and what the implications are.
o V Causality Issues. If there are causality issues with your estimation, say how you will/would address them here. Do you have a potential instrumental variable or natural experiment?
o VI Conclusion. All yours. Definitely restate results. Frame in broader context.
2 pages, graded. Due: in class or by Friday, 4/16.
Day 18: Humanitarian aid M 4/19
read
· De Waal, Alex. (1997) Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Chapter 7: “The End of the Cold War: A New Humanitarian Dispensation.” 133-158.
· Anderson, M.B. (1999) Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace—or War. Boulder: Lynne Reinner. Chapter 4: “Aid’s Impact on Conflict Through Resource Transfers.” 37-53.
Day 19: Population displacement W 4/21
read
· Crisp, J. (2000) “Africa’s Refugees: Patterns, Problems and Policy Changes.” New Issues in Refugee Research. UNHCR Working Paper No. 28. 1-23
· Honor’s Thesis: Martin Kanz. To be distributed.
Day 20: Rwanda, Goma M 4/26
read
· Gourevitch, P. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. New York: St Martin’s Press. Chapter 4, pp. 47-62.
· African Rights. (1994) “Humanitarianism Unbound? Current Dilemmas Facing Multi-mandate Relief Operations in Political Emergencies.” London: African Rights Discussion Paper No. 5. 28-36 + SKIM rest of article.
watch
· Frontline Documentary. (aired 1999) “The Triumph of Evil.” Produced by M. Robinson, B. Loeterman, and S. Bradshaw.
do
· Submit a draft of your final paper. Sections II, III should be complete, if rough. Section IV should be preliminary, and Section V outlined. I don’t want to see any of I or VI! 8ish pages, graded.
Day 21: Sanctions W 4/28
read
· Elliott, K.A. and G.C. Hufbauer. (1999) “Same Song, Same Refrain? Economic Sanctions in the 1990s.” American Economic Review. 89 (2) 403-408.
· Eaton, J. and M. Engers. (1999) “Sanctions: Some Simple Analytics.” American Economic Review. 89 (2) 409-414.
VII Student Presentations
Day 22,23: Student presentations M 5/3 W 5/5