Required Readings

Reading comprehension questions are posted on gradescope and must be submitted before each class meeting.

February 9, 11: What Is Poverty?

• Our World in Data: The history of the end of poverty has just begun
• Divergence, Big Time

February 16: Geography

• The Geography of Poverty and Wealth

February 18, 25, March 2: The African Slave Trades

• Shackled to the Past: The Causes and Consequences of Africa’s Slave Trades

March 4, 9: Colonialism

• The Importance of History for Economic Development

March 11, 16: The Big Push

• The Fall and Rise of Development Economics

March 18: Industrial Policy

• Industrial Policy, Asian Miracle Style
• Manufacturing revolutions: The role of industrial policy in South Korea’s industrialisation

April 6: Structural Adjustment

• Washington Consensus Reforms and Lessons for Economic Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

April 8: Randomized Trials in Development

• Understanding Development and Poverty Alleviation
• J-PAL: A Balancing Act

April 13: Management Practices

• Does Management Matter? Evidence from India

April 15: Learning-by-Exporting

• Exporting and Firm Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

April 20: Girls’ Education

• Do Labor Market Opportunities Affect Young Women’s Work and Family Decisions? Experimental Evidence from India

April 22: Youth Unemployment

• A Firm of One’s Own: Experimental Evidence on Credit Constraints and Occupational Choice

April 27: Microfinance

• J-PAL: Where Credit Is Due
• Repayment Flexibility Can Reduce Financial Stress: A Randomized Control Trial with Microfinance Clients in India

April 29: Poverty Traps

• A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries
• Building Stable Livelihoods for the Ultra-Poor

May 4: Agriculture and Climate Change

• Money (Not) to Burn: Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Crop Residue Burning

May 6: Indoor Air Pollution

• Credit, Attention, and Externalities in the Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies by Low-Income Households