Intrnl Social Devt Policy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

International Social Development Policy provides an overview of the issues, challenges and constraints faced by global and national policy makers in increasing the performance of health and education systems in developing country contexts. The education and health sectors maintain and boost human capital, a vital factor in determining income and overall well-being. The course lays out a case for why government intervention may be necessary and provides a quick review of the history of public provision. The course presents a useful theoretical structure that frames the challenges and opportunities in the health and education sectors. This framework allows for a rich discussion of the role of household constraints, school/health facility inputs and the debate about public/private provision of these services. To motivate these discussions, we present case studies and evaluations of randomized interventions that suggest avenues for policy intervention. This course will require comfort with micro-economics and the second-course in the quantitative methods sequence. While some of the readings will contain advanced material, we will focus mostly on the ideas, insights and assumptions communicated. This course has a moderate amount of reading and students are expected to keep up with the reading.