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Topics in Development Economics (ECO-AD-TOPDEVEC)

ECO-AD-TOPDEVEC

Description

The primary goal of this course is to provide an introduction to the micro-economics of development, especially but not only on topics related to Global Health.

There will be 10 two-hour classes, divided into two parts. Part I will be composed of lectures on the topics described in the bibliography. In Part II class participants will prepare presentations covering a Development Economics topic of their choice.

Learning outcomes:

- Learn key insight from literature

- Learn how to assess methodology and content of research in Development Economics

- Learn how to write a good referee report

- Learn how to prepare a well-organized presentation on specific literature

Assessment:

15% Class participation

25% Referee Report

60% Class presentation. The topic of the presentation will be chosen by each class participant. The presentation should introduce the topic, highlight key issues/literature, and discuss in more detail 2/3 key papers.

Module structure (Tentative: will be updated later)

WEEK 1

Economic Development and Nutrition

WEEK 2

THE (POSSIBLY) CAUSAL LINKS BETWEEN HEALTH TO WEALTH

WEEK 3

POOR HEALTH IN POOR COUNTRIES: A PROBLEM OF DEMAND OR A PROBLEM OF SUPPLY?

WEEK 4

Class presentations

WEEK 5

Class presentations

Bibliography and further readings (Tentative: will be updated later)

The reading list is endless, but you are obviously not required to read everything.

The ‘starred’ papers are ‘required’ readings, and we will cover all of them in varying degrees of detail. Make sure you read carefully introduction and conclusions, and skim through the rest of the paper paying attention in particular to the content we covered in class. Some of the * papers are literature reviews. In these cases try to understand and know the main insights from the literature.

BACKGROUND REFERENCES:

Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2011). Poor Economics. Public Affairs, NY.

Banerjee A. and E. Duflo (2009). “The Experimental Approach to Development Economics”, Annual Review of Economics 1(1), 151-178.

Deaton, Angus (1997). The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Micro-econometric Approach to Development Policy. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, Maryland.

Deaton, Angus (2010). “Instruments, randomization, and learning about development”, Journal of Economic Literature, 48(2): 424-455.

Deaton, Angus (2013). The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. Princeton University Press.

Duflo, Esther, Rachel Glennerster, and Michael Kremer. (2006). “Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit”, NBER Technical Working Paper #333 [http://www.nber.org/papers/t0333]

Handbook of Development Economics: Most chapters in Volumes I, III (A and B) and IV. Elsevier.

Jennifer S. Hawkins (2006). “Justice and Placebo Controls.” Social Theory and Practice. Vol. 32, No. 3 (July 2006), pp. 467-496.

Ray, Debraj (1998) Development economics, Princeton University Press.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND NUTRITION

* Subramanian, S. and Angus Deaton (1996). “The Demand for Food and Calories.” Journal of Political Economy 104(1), 133-162.

* Deaton, Angus and Jean Drèze (2009). “Food and Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations”, Economic and Political Weekly, v. 44, no. 7, pp. 42-65.

Additional readings

Behrman, Jere R., and Deolalikar, Anil B. (1987). “Will Developing Country Nutrition Improve with Income? A Case Study for Rural South India.” Journal of Political Economy 95, 108-38.

Bozzoli, C., Angus Deaton and Climent Quintana-Domeque (2009). “Adult Height and Childhood Disease,” Demography. 46(4): 647–669.

Duh and Spears (2017). “Health and hunger: Disease, energy needs, and the Indian calorie consumption puzzle.” The Economic Journal, 127(606), 2378-2409.

Eli S and N Li (2020). “Caloric Intake and Energy Expenditures in India.” World Bank Economic Review, forthcoming.

Fogel, Robert W. 1994, “Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy”, The American Economic Review. 84.3: 369-395.

Jensen and Miller (2008). “Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption”, American Economic Review 98(4), 1553–1577.

Jensen, Rob and Nolan Miller. 2011. "Do Consumer Price Subsidies Really Improve Nutrition?" Review of Economic Statistics. 93(4), 1205-1223.

Strauss, John (1986). “Does Better Nutrition Raise Farm Productivity?” Journal of Political Economy 94, 297–320.

Tarozzi A. (2008). Growth Reference Charts and the Nutritional Status of Indian Children, Economics and Human Biology, 6(3), 455-468.

Tarozzi A. and A. Mahajan (2007). Child Nutrition in India in the Nineties. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 55(3), 441-486.

THE (POSSIBLY) CAUSAL LINKS BETWEEN HEALTH TO WEALTH

* Godfrey, Keith and David Barker. 2000. “Fetal nutrition and adult disease”, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 71(suppl):1344S-1352S.

* Crimmins, Eileen and Finch, Caleb. 2006. “Infection, inflammation, height and longevity”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 103.2: 498-503.

* Deaton, Angus. 2007. Height, health, and development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104.33:13232 – 13237.

* Maccini, Sharon and Dean Yang (2009). “Under the weather: Health, schooling and economic consequences of early life rainfall.” American Economic Review 99(3), 1006-36.

* Strauss, J. and D. Thomas. 2008. “Health over the life course” in T. Paul Schultz and John Strauss, (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics Volume 4, Chapter 54, 3375-3474, 2008, Elsevier Press. NOTE: You do not need to read Ch. 2.2, 2.3 and from 4.2 onwards.

Additional readings:

Almond, Douglas (2006). “Is the 1918 Influenza pandemic over? Long-term effects of in utero exposure in the post-1940 US population”, Journal of Political Economy, 114.4:672-712.

Baird, Sara, Joan Hicks, Michael Kremer and Edward Miguel (2016). “Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of Child Health Gains”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(4), 1637-1680.

Behrman, Jere R. and Rosenzweig, Mark R. (2004). “Returns to birthweight”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 86.2:586-601.

Bleakley, Hoyt (2007). “Disease and development: Evidence from hookworm eradication in the American south.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 122.1.

Bleakley, Hoyt (2010). “Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(2): 1-45.

Brown, Ryan and Duncan Thomas (2016). “On the Long Term Effects of the 1918 US Influenza Pandemic”. Working Paper, Duke University.

Case, Anne and Christina Paxson (2008). “Stature and status: Height ability and labor market outcomes”, Journal of Political Economy, 116(3), 499-532.

Field, E. O. Robles and M. Torero (2009). “Iodine deficiency and schooling atainment in Tanzania.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1.4:140-69.

Hoddinott, Maluccio, Behrman, Flores and Martorell (2008). “Effect of a nutrition intervention during early childhood on economic productivity in Guatemalan adults”. Lancet. 371, 411-416.

Luke, N., Munshi, K., Oommen, A.M. and Singh, S. (2020). “Economic Development, the Nutrition Trap and Metabolic Disease.” Working Paper.

Miguel, Edward and Michael Kremer (2004). “Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities”, Econometrica, 72(1), 159-217.

Pitt, M, M Rosenzweig and N Hassan (2015). “Identifying the hidden costs of a public health success: Arsenic well water contamination and productivity in Bangladesh.” NBER Working Paper 21741.

Thomas, Duncan, Frankenberg, Elizabeth, Friedman, Jed, Habicht, Jean-Pierre, Ingwersen, Nicholas, McKelvey, Christopher, Hakimi, Mohammed, Jaswadi, Pelto, Gretel, Sikoki, Bondan, Seeman, Teresa, Smith, James P., Sumantri, Cecep, Suriastini, Wayan and Wilopo, Siswanto (2006). “

Causal effect of health on labor market outcomes: Experimental evidence”, Working Paper.

Vollmer, S. and Wójcik J. (2017). “The long-term consequences of the global 1918 influenza pandemic: A systematic analysis of 117 IPUMS international census data sets." Courant Research Centre: Discussion Paper No. 242.

POOR HEALTH IN POOR COUNTRIES: A PROBLEM OF DEMAND OR A PROBLEM OF SUPPLY? JANUARY 25 & 27

* PE, Chapter 3.

* Dupas, Pascaline (2011). Health Behavior in Developing Countries. Annual Review of Economics. 3:425–49

* Frederick, S., G. Loewenstein, and E. D. O’Donoghue (2002). “Time discounting: A critical review.” Journal of Economic Literature 40 (2), 351–401. Only Sections 4 and 5.

* Dupas, P. and E. Miguel (2017). Impacts and determinants of health levels in low-income countries. In A. Banerjee and E. Duflo (Eds.), Handbook of Economic Field Experiments, Volume 2, pp. 3-93. Amsterdam: North-Holland. (This is very long, obviously you are not expected to remember every paper cited but it’s an excellent review)

Additional readings:

Adhvaryu, Achyuta (2014). “Learning, Misallocation, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Malaria Therapy in Tanzania.” Review of Economic Studies 81(4), 1331-1365.

Ashraf, Nava, James Berry and Jesse Shapiro (2010). “Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use?,” American Economics Review 100(5), 2383-2413.

Banerjee, Abhijit, Angus Deaton, and Esther Duflo (2004). "Wealth, Health, and Health Services in Rural Rajasthan" American Economic Review, 94.2, 326-330.

Björkman-Nyqvist, M, J Svensson and D Yanagizawa-Drott (2018). “Can Competition Reduce Lemons? A Randomized Intervention in the Antimalarial Medicine Market in Uganda”. Working Paper.

Cohen, Jessica and Pascaline Dupas (2010). “Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Randomized Malaria Prevention Experiment.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 1-45.

Cohen, J, P Dupas and S Schaner (2014). “Price Subsidies, Diagnostic Tests, and Targeting of Malaria Treatment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial. American Economic Review 105(2): 609-45.

Das and Hammer (2005). “Which doctor? Combining vignettes and item response to measure clinical competence”, Journal of Development Economics, 78(2), 348-383.

Das and Hammer (2007). “Money for nothing. The dire straits of medical practice in Delhi, India”, Journal of Development Economics, 83(1), 1-36.

Dupas, Pascaline (2014). "Short-Run Subsidies and Long-Term Adoption of New Health Products: Experimental Evidence from Kenya", Econometrica 82(1), 197-228.

Kremer, Michael and Alaa Holla (2008). “Pricing and Access: Lessons from Randomized Evaluation in Education and Health”, Working Paper. (NOTE: You can skip the sections related to Education)

Kremer, Michael and Edward Miguel (2007). "

The Illusion of Sustainability", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3), 1007-1065.

Leonard, Kenneth and Melkiory Masatu (2010) “Using the Hawthorne Effect to Examine the Gap between a Doctor's Best Possible Practice and Actual Performance”, Journal of Development Economics 93(2), 226-234.

Tarozzi (2016). “Health interventions in low income countries: A (not so) low hanging fruit?” Els Opuscles del CREI, no. 42.

Tarozzi, Mahajan, Blackburn, Kopf, Krishnan and Yoong (2014). “Micro-loans, bednets and malaria: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Orissa (India).” American Economic Review 104(7), 1909-1941.

GENDER & FERTILITY

* PE, Chapter 5

* Ashraf, Nava, E. Field, and J. Lee (2014). Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia. American Economic Review 104(7), 2210-37.

* Beaman L, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova (2012). “Female Leadership Raises Aspirations and Educational Attainment for Girls: A Policy Experiment in India” Science, Vol 335, 582-586.

* Duflo, E (2012). “Women Empowerment and Economic Development.” Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051-1079.

* Schultz, T. P. (2008). Population policies, fertility, women’s human capital, and child quality. In T. P. Schultz & J. Strauss (Eds.), Handbook of development economics (Vol. 4, Chapter 52). Amsterdam: North Holland Press/Elsevier (Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper No. 954, Yale University Press).

Additional readings

Anderson, Siwan and Debraj Ray (2010). “Missing women, age and disease.” Review of Economic Studies 77, 1262-1300.

Ashraf, N. (2009). “Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines.” American Economic Review, 99(4), 1245-77.

Ashraf, Field, Voena and Ziparo (2020). “Maternal Mortality Risk and Spousal Differences in the Demand for Children”

Beaman, L., R Chattopadhyay, E Duflo, R Pande and P Topalova (2009). “Powerful women: Does exposure reduce bias?” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 124(4): 1497-1540.

Bhalotra, Sonia, and D. Clarke (2020). “The Twin Instrument: Fertility and Human Capital Investment.” Journal of the European Economic Association, 18(6), 3090–3139.

Browning, M. and P.-A. Chiappori. (1998). “Efficient intra-household allocations: A general characterization and empirical tests, Econometrica 66.6:1241-78. Calvi, Rossella (2020). “Why Are Older Women Missing in India? The Age Profile of Bargaining Power and Poverty”, Journal of Political Economy, 128(7), 2453–2501.

Chattopadhyay R. and E. Duflo (2004), “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India,” Econometrica 72(5): 1409-1443.

Coffey (2015). “Prepregnancy body mass and weight gain during pregnancy in India and sub-Saharan Africa.” PNAS, 112 (11) 3302-3307.

Deaton (1997), Ch. 4.2.

Dhar, Jain and Jayachandran (2020). “

Reshaping Adolescents’ Gender Attitudes:Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India”. Working Paper.

Duflo. E. (2002). “Granddaughters and grandmothers: Old age pensions in South Africa.” World Bank Economic Review, 17 (1), 1–25.

Godard M. and Pauline Rossi (2019). “The Old-Age Security Motive for Fertility: Evidence from the Extension of Social Pensions in Namibia.” Working Paper.

La Ferrara Eliana, Alberto Chong, and Suzanne Duryea (2008). “Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil,” American Economic Journal:

ENROL FOR THIS COURSE