PED100 | Economic Development of India

he aim of this course is to help students to develop an understanding of economic growth and development, and what makes underdevelopment persist and what helps development succeed. For the macroeconomics of development, it will start with a brief history of economic development and then will focus on the broader economy-wide aspects of developing countries, including models of economic growth, poverty, inequality, labour market, international trade, etc. For the microeconomics of development, this course will allow students to understand some of the behaviours and characteristics of ‘poor’ households especially in the domains of human capital development (nutrition, health, education, child development, etc.). The course will reflect on contemporary issues of developing countries with a particular focus on India and will discuss theories as well as papers in applied development economics that empirically test the theoretical models. It is expected that by the end of the course the students should understand the relevance of development economics in today’s world, the theoretical and empirical models used in explaining and solving development problems, and the current issues development economists are concerned about.

The classes will consist of interactive lecture sessions where students will participate in groups or individually. Lecture materials will use real world examples as much as possible to explain the concepts. The reading materials will draw mainly from books and journal articles published in peer reviewed journals of Economics and Development Studies. Reports will also be used for stylised facts. Students are encouraged to read at least one book suggested under the reading materials.