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14.73

The Challenge of World Poverty

4-0-8 units. HASS-S; CI-H · Undergraduate

Designed for students who are interested in the challenge posed by massive and persistent world poverty. Examines extreme poverty over time to see if it is no longer a threat, why some countries grow fast and others fall further behind, if growth or foreign aid help the poor, what we can do about corruption, if markets or NGOs should be left to deal with poverty, where to intervene, and how to deal with the disease burden and improve schools.

Spring 2011

Topics

  • Introduction: What this class is about
  • What is a poverty trap?
  • Learning what works: The role of experiments
  • The nature of famine
  • Is there a nutrition based trap-the demand for food and calories
  • Is there a nutrition based poverty trap-the hidden trap
  • Delivering healthcare, a case study from India
  • Low hanging fruit: Understanding healthcare behavior in developing countries
  • Setting the stage
  • Is it possible to deliver quality education to the poor?: The Pratham-JPAL Partnership
  • Education: The man-made trap
  • (Somewhat) un-orthodox findings on the family
  • How do families decide?
  • Gender discrimination
  • Risk and insurance
  • Insurance
  • The (not so simple) economics of lending to the poor
  • The (not so simple) economics of lending to the poor, cont.
  • The promise and peril of microfinance
  • Savings
  • Savings 2
  • Entrepreneurship and workers
  • Entrepreneurship and workers (cont.)
  • Policies, politics: Can evidence play a role in the fight against poverty?
  • Policies, politics: Can evidence play a role in the fight against poverty? (cont.)
  • Five thoughts in place of a sweeping conclusion

Readings

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None U (Fall) 4-0-8 units. HASS-S; CI-H

Sources