IFCO 5085 - The Economics of Poverty

This course considers the economic forces shaping the lives of the poor in developing countries. The goal is to begin to understand, at the micro level, why poverty perpetuates and how carefully designed policy can break the cycle. We start with the big picture: how poverty is defined and measured, how it varies across countries, and theories for why it varies so much. We then zoom in on the economic lives of the poor: the constraints they face, how markets work (and fail) for them, and how poverty affects their decisions. We cover multiple topics – including health and education, risk and investment, rural markets and institutions, migration, and gender – and throughout we study examples of real policies designed to reduce poverty, as well as methods used to evaluate their impact. By the end of the course, you should understand the basics of how development economists measure causal effects and evaluate policy.

It is a fundamental course with no formal prerequisites; however, it will be easier if you have already had some exposure to economics or program evaluation / statistics.

The teaching format will comprise lectures covering the topics and discussing the readings of the week.

Grades will be determined based on one group project and one final exam covering the material from the lectures and readings.

The group project, in groups of five, will be to propose an evidence-based anti-poverty policy in a short (3 page) proposal containing supporting evidence and references to convince the reader of its effectiveness. The grading criteria will be given in class. Then, individually, you will each grade the policies of five other randomly selected groups, and the quality of your grading will also count towards your grade.

The exam will consist of multiple-choice questions, short conceptual questions, and a mini essay.

They will be weighted as follows:

• Group project (30%), of which:
• Grade from teaching team 15%
• Grade from peers 5%
• Grade from grading peers 10%
• Final exam 70%

The workload comprises readings for each class, a group project, and a final exam. The readings will be a mix of one book, readings from the popular press, and research articles from development economics. For the latter, you will not be expected to read them in full, nor to understand all the details, just to understand the main idea.