This course engages the student with the much debated theories of growth versus development. The decades following liberalization and globalization have been a period of very high levels of economic inequality. With the focus on issues surrounding inequality, this course will introduce students to the major ideas and theories surrounding the often used and misused concepts of economic growth and economic development. With the help of major concepts used in growth and development economics, a student taking this course will be able to participate in the debate and understand the nuances surrounding the issue of economic development.
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Weekly Assignments and Discussion Forum can be accessed ONLY by enrolling here
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Final Exam (in-person, invigilated, currently conducted in India) is mandatory for Certification and has INR Rs. 1100 as exam fee.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG and PG students of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sciences and Engineering
CORE/ELECTIVE: Elective
UG/PG: UG and PG
PREREQUISITES: NIL
INDUSTRY SUPPORT: NIL
1554 students have enrolled already!!
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Rajshree Bedamatta is Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. Her university training is in the discipline of Economics with specialization in Development Economics. She teaches and researches in the broad domains on Development Economics and Public Economics at IIT Guwahati. Her research is on agrarian markets with focus in the domains of food and nutrition, health and education.
COURSE LAYOUT:
Module 1 : Concepts of economic growth and development; Structure and common characteristics of developing vis-à-vis developed countries Module2 : General lecture: The Global North and the Global South- Why the divide? Module3 : Indices of economic development; contemporary controversies on Growth vs. Development Module4 : Unequal growth; the concept of 'inclusive growth' Module5 : Models and strategies for economic development; doctrine of balanced growth, concept of unbalanced growth, Schumpeter's analysis, Rostow's stages of growth, Big Push Theory, Critical Minimum Effort Thesis Module6 : Ecomomic Growth models; Harrod-Domar model; Solow Growth Model Module7 : General lecture: Growth led and public support led strategies of development - What do country experiences reveal? Module8 : Economic inequality; measures of inequality; Inverted U Hypothesis; Functional effects of inequality; Poverty and undernourishment; Structural Adjustment with a Human Face Module9 : Human Development in theory: Utilitarianism, Basic Needs Approach, Capability Approach Module10 : General lecture: From MDGs to SDGs - Evolution of UN development goals Module11 : Indices of Human Development; Human Development Index (HDI); Gender Development Index (GDI); Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM); Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI); multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI) Module12 : General lecture: Mainstreaming gender in economic development
SUGGESTED READING MATERIALS:
Adelman, Irma (1961), Theories of Economic Growth and Development, Stanford University Press.
Behrman, J. R., Chenery, Hollis, and T.N. Srinivasan (1995), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol 1 to 3, North Holland.
Ray, Debraj (2009), Development Economics, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Todaro, Michael and S. Smith (2009), Economic Development, Pearson.
UNDP (1990), Human Development Report 1990.
UNDP (1995), Human Development Report 1995.
Sen, Amartya (1977), Growth Economics, Selected Readings, Penguin.
Fukudda-Parr, Sakiko and Shiva, Kumar (eds.) (2007), Readings in Human Development, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Fukudda-Parr, Sakiko (2003), The Human Development Paradigm: Operationalising Sen’s Ideas on Capabilities, in Feminist Economics, Volume 9 (2-3).
Harris-White, Barbara and J. Heyer (2010), The Comparative Political Economy of Development: Africa and South Asia, Routledge.
Shariff, Abusaleh and M. Krishnaraj (2007), State, Markets and Inequalities, Orient Longman.
CERTIFICATION EXAM :
The exam is optional for a fee.
Date and Time of Exam: October 7 (Sunday)
Time of Exam : Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon session: 2pm to 5pm
Exam for this course will be available in both morning & afternoon sessions
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published.
CERTIFICATION:
Final score will be calculated as : 25% assignment score + 75% final exam score
25% assignment score is calculated as 25% of average of Best 6 out of 8 assignments
E-Certificate will be given to those who register and write the exam and score greater than or equal to 40% final score. Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati.It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.
