Seminar in economic growth and development
[ECON2416]
[30h] 5 credits
Teacher(s):
Language: French
Level: Second
Aims
- collecting data on the major macroeconomic indicators and discuss their evolution,
- understanding the major policy issues,
- evaluating the efficiency of various policy instruments.
Among the various case studies, the seminar will cover cases of stabilization policies (aiming at restoring internal and exter-nal financial disequilibria), responses to short-run shocks, structural adjustment policies, etc.
A second objective is to improve the knowledge and understanding of the theoretical mechanisms through which economic policies affect economic performances, including the short-run effects described above and the long-run effects on growth and income distribution.
Main themes
In the first part, students (ideally, by pair) will use documents and reports produced by the major international institutions (such as IMF, World Bank, OECD). On this basis, they will discuss the economic conditions of a selected country at a period of particular interest. As far as possible, case studies will be chosen in order to cover:
- stabilization policies (e.g. Sweden in 1993),
- adjustment policies related to the creation or enlargement of the EMU (e.g. Italy in 1995 which also implies the aspects of deep regional unbalances),
- causes and responses to a major financial crisis (e.g. Argentina or Turkey in 2001),
- adjustment policies in transition economies (e.g. Slovenia in 1997),
- structural adjustment policies in developing countries such as sub-Saharan African countries (it would be worthwhile here to consider two countries, one belonging to the CFA zone)
In the second part, students will use recent theoretical and empirical papers of the economic literature to discuss the evolu-tion of the economic theory of policy intervention. The main fields covered are monetary policies, the European pact of sta-bility, foreign aid to indebted developing countries, factors of growth.
Content and teaching methods
However, it is worth noticing that the Professor will help students to find and select the appropriate sources, will guide stu-dents in their critical appraisal of the situation and in the preparation of their presentation.
Also for the second part of the seminar, the chosen topics will depend on students' particular interests. The Professor will help students finding the appropriate articles but will not impose her/his choice.
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)
The final evaluation will be based on the quality of the presentations and reports. The active participation to discussions will also be taken into account.