Political Economy and Economic Development
Explores the relationship between political institutions and economic development, covering key theoretical issues as well as recent empirical evidence. Topics include colonialism and its legacy, voting, vote buying, media, social media, corruption, and war. Discusses not just what we know on these topics, but how we know it, covering how to craft a good empirical study or field experiment and how to discriminate between reliable and unreliable statistical evidence. Some basic familiarity with probability and/or statistics is useful for this class. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Fall 2012
This course explores the relationship between political institutions and economic development, covering key theoretical issues as well as recent empirical evidence. Topics include corruption, democracy, dictatorship, and war. Discusses not just what we know on these topics, but how we know it, covering how to craft a good empirical study or field experiment and how to discriminate between reliable and unreliable evidence. **MITx Online Version** This course is part of the Micromaster’s Program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy through MITx Online. The course is entirely free to audit, though learners have the option to pay a fee, which is based on the learner's ability to pay, to take the proctored exam, and earn a course certificate. To access the course, create an MITx Online account and enroll in the course {{% resource_link "9c2debff-71f5-4097-800d-bb815b77b084" "14.750x Political Economy and Economic Development" %}}.
Readings
- I will draw on several occasions from the textbook Shepsle, Kenneth A. Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior and Instititutions . 2 ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. ISBN: 9780393935073. Luckily, as textbooks go it is inexpensive (<$30 on Amazon.com).
- Banerjee, Abhijit V., and Esther Duflo. Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty and the Ways to End it . Random House, 2013. ISBN: 9788184002805.
- Banerjee, Abhijit V., and Esther Duflo. Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty and the Ways to End it . Random House, 2013. ISBN: 9788184002805.
- Klitgaard, Robert. Tropical Gangsters: One Man’s Experience With Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa. Basic Books, 2000.
- ———. Controlling Corruption. University of California Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780520074088.
- Fisman, Raymond, and Edward Miguel. Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations . Princeton University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780691144696.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction: Why study political economy and development? Motivation and Course Overview · READINGS: No readings
- Shepsle, Kenneth A. Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior and Instititutions . 2ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 90–9, 110–23. ISBN: 9780393935073.
- Shepsle, Kenneth A. Chapters 3, and 4 (you may also want to quickly read Chapter 2 since those chapters refer to some of the material in Chapter 2) in Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior and Instititutions . W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 90–9, and 110–23. ISBN: 9780393935073.
- Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. Chapters 1, 2, and 5 in Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy . Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 118–51. ISBN: 9780521671422.
- Shepsle, Kenneth A. Chapters 9, and 10 in Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior and Instititutions . W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. ISBN: 9780393935073.
- Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups . Harvard University Press, 1965. ISBN: 9780674537507.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 14.750 Prereq: 14.01 , 14.03 , or permission of instructor U (Spring) 4-0-8 units. HASS-S
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2012
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.