DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS AND EMERGING MARKETS
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- CHIARA POLLIO
- Credits
- 7
- Curriculum
- Green economy and sustainability
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- SECS-P/06
Training objectives
- The aim of this course is to provide the students with sound knowledge of mainstream as well as alternative theories of economic development, illustrating their recent evolutions and focusing on the emerging economies’ growth processes and development dynamics. Additionally, the course wants to offer to students a view on development policies and real world economic processes in development countries, together with practical knowledge on business in the “Global South”.
The course is directed towards the acquisition of the following skills, i. e. capability of applying the knowledge assimilated:
- Critically assess, in a historical and comparative perspective, the growth and development experiences of different countries with a particular focus on the emerging economies;
- Apply the theories and the methodologies studied to specific case-studies;
- Critically handle and analyse the qualified sources of information and the scientific debate;
- Identify the main issues, potentialities and obstacles in doing business in developing countries
In this framework, the course addresses the following general topics:
- Theories and basic principles of economic development;
- Defining and measuring development: poverty, inequality, human development;
- Theories of growth, structural change, and convergence.
- Governments and markets in the dynamics of economic development;
- Development policies and trajectories of developing countries within a global perspective;
- Doing business in emerging economies;
- The activity of international organizations for development. Prerequisites
- None
Course programme
- The course consists of 72 class hours and it is organized into three modules:
(a) Development economics and policies (40 hours)
(b) International institutions and development policies (16 hours)
(c) Doing business in emerging countries (16 hours)
Module a) Development economics and policies (40 hours)
The module is divided between frontal lectures (25 hours approx.), and laboratories (15 hours approx).
The topics of the frontal lectures will be:
- Introductory basic concepts: economic and human development; growth, development economics;
- Mainstream and alternative theories of economic development
- Poverty and inequality: measurement and policies
- Economic Growth theories and models, Theories of Structural Change, Chatch-up and Convergence.
- Industrial policies for development: Industrial policies and trade, Real world practices;
- Industrial policies for development: the case of China
During the laboratories, students will critically present and discuss a selected number of papers related to the topics of the frontal lectures. The papers will be shared with the attending students during the lectures.
Module b) Doing business in emerging countries (16 hours)
The module consists of frontal lectures (8 hours approx), and a Doing Business in Emerging Countries Game (DoBEC Game) (8 hours approx).
The lectures will focus on highlighting how social and economic data, together with the understanding of the policy and political context, are essential key information in a business perspective and how they can be used when doing business with developing countries. The module will focus on a specific group of countries in the developing world, the so-called emerging markets.
The Game will consist in a simulation produced by students (in groups) on a business project in an emerging market. More details on the content of the game will be given during the lectures.
Module c) International institutions and development policies (16 hours)
The module consists of an interactive laboratory, whose goal is to simulate all the steps leading to the building of an international cooperation project. During the lectures, the lecturer will provide guidelines to students in order to i) realize a country-analysis; ii) formulate the project objectives; iii) monitor and evaluate the project.
At the end of every class, students teams will be assigned a task on which the teams are required to work for the following lecture. The task will then be further developed and evaluated in the following lecture. The teamwork is part of the exam learning assessment. Didactic methods
- The course includes frontal lectures, interactive laboratories consisting of presentations and discussion in teams, teamwork, simulation and debates, guided project realization.
At the beginning of the course, students will have to choose whether they wish to be considered as ATTENDING or NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS.
ATTENDING STUDENTS are those that will attend in person at least 75% of each module (i.e. at least 32 hours for module a), at least 12 hours for module b) and at least 12 hours for module c) ) and that take part to all the laboratories and games.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS are those that will attend less than 75% of each module, or that will not take part to all laboratories and games. Learning assessment procedures
- The final evaluation is aimed at evaluating the students' critical judgement and analytical skills.
FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS final mark is the result of:
- 30% presentation and discussion during the laboratories of Module a) Development economics and policies, as well as active participation to all classes
- 20% final evaluation of Module a) Development economics and policies, consisting in a open-answer exam related to the topics of the module
- 30% teamwork of Module (b) Doing business in emerging countries – DoBEC Game
- 20% teamwork of Module (c) International institutions and development policies – Policy Game
In order to pass the exam, the students should score at least 16/30 in each part and at least 18/30 on average
FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS the final mark is the result of:
- 50% written final examination on the topics of Module (a) Development economics and policies;
- 50% written final examination on the topics of Module (b) and (c)
The written examinations will both take place in the same exam date. They will consist of both multiple answer questions and open questions. In order to pass the exam, the students should score at least 16 in each part and at least 18 on average
Exam dates
Exam dates are published online at:
https://studiare.unife.it
Sign-up for the exam:
Students wishing to take the exam in an exam date are required to sign-up within the deadlines, available online https:// studiare.unife.it. No requests will be accepted after the deadline. Reference texts
- ATTENDING STUDENTS will use the material shared by the lecturers during the course – papers, reports, book chapters, and so on
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Compulsory material:
For Module a)
• Nissanke, M., & Ocampo, J. A. (Eds.). (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of Development Economics: Critical Reflections on Globalisation and Development. Springer – Chapters 1 to 4, 9, 10, 12 and 13.
• Todaro, M.P., and Smith, S.C., 2014, Economic Development, Addison-Wesley, 12th Edition – Chapter 5
• United Nations Development Programme (2022). Technical note of the Human Development Report 2022, available at
https://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2021-22_HDR/hdr2021-22_technical_notes.pdf
For Module b)
• Larimo, J. A., Marinov, M. A., Marinova, S. T., & Leposky, T. (2020). International Business and Emerging Economy Firms, Volume I. Springer International Publishing - Chapters 1-3
- Additional – non compulsory – material:
In case non attending students wish to deepen more the understanding of the topics, they can access recorded lectures or other written materials available on classroom.
