Economics of South Asia

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The main objective of this course is to enable students to understand and explain the economic development performance of the countries of South Asia since independence. The countries covered include Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These countries are among the poorest in the world, and, therefore, the course necessarily focuses on poverty-related issues, including the relationship between poverty, inequality and economic growth. The first part of the course covers the nature and causes of South Asia’s development performance. In this context, the major determinants of growth are analyzed, including: sector policies; macroeconomic management; human capital development; governance, including, in particular, public sector management; saving and investment behavior; financial intermediation, including microfinance; technological innovation; and exogenous factors such as natural resources and geography. Both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence are exam ined. The second part of the course is devoted to other special and related contemporary development issues in South Asia, including: the sustainability of India’s current growth rate; the comparative economic development performance of civilian and military regimes in Pakistan; human security (this year’s lead theme for the Human Development in South Asia report); the impact of official development aid (ODA); the lessons from East Asia; regional cooperation and South Asia’s future prospects. Throughout the course, basic theoretical concepts and analytical tools are presented and applied to help facilitate a better understanding of the development performance of the countries in the region.