Lecturers:

Asst. Prof. Elena Spasova, PhD
Assoc. Prof. Eduard Marinov, PhD
Mina Karpuzova

Course Description:

Competencies:

Students who complete this course:

1) will know:

• the basic theories and models for economic growth and economic development;

• current understanding and ideas in the field of development economy;

• the factors, causes and main instruments to combat inequality, poverty and other major developmental problems;

• the techniques, methods and tools for measuring and evaluating various aspects of economic development;

• the status and opportunities for the development of foreign economic activity in developing and underdeveloped regions and economies in the world economy.

2) will be able to:

• analyze the impact of different policies on economic development;

• critically evaluate the dynamics and key trends in the global economy in terms of growth and development and formulate and substantiate their own positions on the guidelines for the development of national economic and foreign economic policies;

• to use the acquired knowledge to analyze and critically evaluate the possibilities for geographical expansion of business activity in perspective but little known countries and regions.

Prerequisites:
Students are required to have the following knowledge and/or skills:

• Microeconomics

• Macroeconomics

Types:
Full-time Programmes

Types of Courses:
Lecture

Language of teaching:
English

Topics:

1. Introduction to Development Economics. Economic development indicators. Economic growth and economic development.
2. Degrees of economic development and comparative analysis. Characteristics of emerging and underdeveloped economies. Differences in the direction of economic development in high- and low-income economies. Factors for global divergence and convergence.
3. Theories of economic growth and their applicability to underdeveloped economies. Classical and neoclassical theories of growth, Robert Solow's growth model, conditional and absolute convergence, endogenous theories of growth.
4. Poverty, inequality and economic development. Definition and indicators of well-being, poverty line and indicators of poverty, geography and poverty demography. Definition and indicators of inequality, Lorentz curve and Kuznets curve. The effects of inequality on economic growth.
5. Population and economic development. Degree of economic development and population growth - direction of impact, factors, effects, consequences.
6. Migration processes and economic development. Urbanization and internal migration. Structural changes - from agricultural economy through industrial economy to service economy.
7. Human capital and development - education and health. Effects of education and health policies on economic development.
8. Sustainable development - concept and measurement. Economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of sustainability. Environment and economic development.
9. Institutional environment, government and economic development. Planning and economic development. A new institutional economy. Mechanisms of institutional change. Market Imperfections. Corruption and effects on the rate of development.
10. The role of the financial and credit market for economic development - financial systems in developed and developing countries. Development banks, non-banking / informal / financing and micro-credit.
11. International finance and investment and international financial institutions and their role in economic development. International Capital Movement - Effects on Development. International Development Assistance.
12. International trade and industrialization and development strategies. Protectionism and trade policies. Import-substitute and export-oriented growth.
13. The place of developing and underdeveloped economies in global trade. Trade liberalization and industrialization. South-North division in International trade.
14. Seminar: Emerging and Developing Economies Today: Economic Development in Africa - Status, Problems, Prospects.
15. Seminar: Emerging and Developing Economies Today: Economic Development in Latin America - Status, Problems, Prospects.
16. Seminar: Emerging and Developing Economies Today: Economic Development in Asia - Status, Problems, Prospects.

Bibliography:

Main reading:

• Michael P. Todaro; Stephen C Smith. Economic Development. 12th Edition, 2017.

• Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet. Development economics : theory and practice. Routledge, 2nd ed., 2021.

Complementary literature:

• Handbooks of Development Economics. Dani Rodrik and Mark R. Rosenzweig (eds.), Elsevier, volumes 1-5, 1988-2010.

• Dwight H. Perkins, Steven Radelet, David L. Lindauer, Steven A. Block. Economics of Development. W. W. Norton & Company, 7th edition, 2012.

• Debraj Ray. Development economics. Princeton University Press, 1998.

• Gerard Roland. Development Economics. Routledge, 2016.

• Subrata Ghatak. Introduction to Development Economics. 3rd Edition, 2005.

• Yujiro Hayami and Yoshihisa Good. Development Economics: From Poverty to Wealth of Nations. 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005.

• Michael Tribe, Frederick Nixson and Andy Sumner. Economics and Development Studies. Routledge, 2010.

• Banerjee, A. and E. Duflo. 2011. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York, NY: Public Affairs.

• Durlauf, St. and Ph. Aghion (eds.). 2005. Handbook of Economic Growth, Vol. 1A: 473–552. Amsterdam: North Holland, Elsevier.

• Goldin, I. 2018. Development: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

• Taylor, J.E. and Lybbert, T.J. 2015. Essentials of Development Economics. University of California Press.

Assessment:

• Ongoing assessment - participation in discussions (10%), classroom work tasks (2x10%), development and presentation of an ongoing assessment task (70%)

• Final assessment - test (50%) and practical case (50%)