Foundations of Development Policy: Advanced Development Economics

In this course, you will study the different facets of human development in topics such as education, health, gender, the family, land relations, risk, informal and formal norms, public policy, and institutions. While studying each of these topics, we will delve into the following questions:

• What determines the decisions of poor households in developing countries?
• What constraints are poor households subject to?
• What is the scope for policy interventions (implemented by the government, international organizations, or NGOs)?
• What policies have been tried out? Have they been successful?

At the same time, you will discover modern empirical methods in economics, in particular Randomized Control Trials (RCTs). Throughout the course, we will expose you to all facets of empirical projects, from experimental design and ethical issues, to data collection and data analysis.You will have the chance to gain experience working with real data using software for statistical analysis during weekly assignments.

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