Dept Sem:Poverty World Econ

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course evaluates the prevalence of widespread poverty in the global economy and uses tools from political economy to explore why it continues to plague so many countries throughout the world. The emphasis is on the kinds of questions scholars and practitioners ask about poverty and development and how they have attempted to answer them. Issues of poverty are analyzed as both internal and external political, economic, and social phenomena. The readings cover many of the classic texts in the field, policy- related issues, debates on North-South relations, and case material on Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. Students will be encouraged to think critically about issues of poverty and evaluate the merits of different strategies intended to alleviate it.