Development Economics as Taught in Developing Countries

Mckenzie, David ; Paffhausen, Anna Luisa

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CAPITA INCOME;    COLLEGE;    ECONOMIC GROWTH;    PRODUCTION;    UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAM;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7521
RP-ID  :  WPS7521

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper uses a combination of surveyquestions to instructors and data collected from coursesyllabi and examinations to examine how the subject ofdevelopment economics is taught at the undergraduate andmasters levels in developing countries, and benchmark thisagainst undergraduate classes in the United States. Thestudy finds that there is considerable heterogeneity in whatis considered development economics:there is a narrow coreof only a small set of topics such as growth theory, povertyand inequality, human capital, and institutions taught in atleast half the classes, with substantial variation in othertopics covered. In developing countries, developmenteconomics is taught largely as a theoretical subject coupledwith case studies, with few courses emphasizing data orempirical methods and findings. This approach contrasts withthe approach taken in leading U.S. economics departments andwith the evolution of development economics research. Theanalysis finds that country income per capita, the role ofthe state in the economy, the education level in thecountry, and the involvement of the instructor in researchare associated with how close a course is to the frontier.The results suggest there are important gaps in howdevelopment economics is taught.