डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्वविद्यालय दिल्ली 
| Course Type | Course Code | No. Of Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Core | NA | 4 |
Aim: This course will introduce students to some of the important debates in development economics in both academic and policy arena. Further, this course will explain how economic theory can be used to gain some understanding of the process of growth and development.
Brief description of modules / Main modules: The course begins with a brief overview of development economics as it developed prior to Adam Smith, and will then trace the emergences of development economics as a distinct stream within the discipline of economics in the post-World War II period. It will introduce students to the debates on growth, poverty, inequality, redistribution and development and trace the strategies and trajectories that developing countries, under different socio-economic circumstances, can possibly adopt. It will discuss the nature of the structural impediments to development, including the functioning of markets for land, credit and labour and their policy implications. The course will also discuss the evolution of the human development framework, the tools and methodologies that have been introduced since the 1990s to support the framework, and the policy debates around related issues. Different Modules in this course are:
- EARLY THINKING ON DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: This module will capture the long tradition of development economics and link the early economics tradition with classical development economics (Mercantilism, Capitalist Transformation, International Trade).
- CENTRALITY OF LABOUR IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: This module brings out centrality of labour in the process of economic growth as highlighted in the works of Adam Smith and Karl Marx.
- POST WORLD WAR II THEORIES: This module will discuss some central thinking in development economics since the 1950s as to how wellbeing can be achieved along with growth (Rostow, Rosenstein Rodan, Hirschman, Prebisch-Singer, Baran, Harrod-Domar, Kaldor-Mirrlees, Solow).
- IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN ANALYSING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: This module will examine the interconnections between inequality and other features of economic development. It will review the conceptualization of poverty, its estimations, and identification of poor for targeted intervention.
- STRUCTURAL IMPEDIMENTS TO ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT: In this module we will explore some of the structural problems prevalent in certain sectors of the economies of developing countries and their impact on economic development (land and credit markets).
- HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & PUBLIC POLICY: In this module the notion of human development as popularized by UNDP and its various components will be discussed along with its historical legacy, and the evolution of methodology.
Reading List
1. Origin of Development Economics – Edited by Jomo K S, and Erik S Reinert
2. Development Economics – Debraj Roy
3. Economic Development – Todaro & Smith
4. Capital in the 21st Century – Piketty
5. Human Development Reports of UNDP
6. World Development Report
7. National Human Development Reports; India Public Policy Report
8. Additional papers/journal articles will also be referred to under different modules.
Tentative Assessment schedule with details of weightage:
Weightage
30% 1st week of September Mid-semester 1
30% Mid October Term Paper 2
40% Last week of November End-semester 3