Econ 277A  Economic Development I: Development Microeconomics

Tridip Ray, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi

Course Home

Course Outline

Syllabus

Lecture Notes

Syllabus

General Readings

  1. Ray, Debraj (1998), Development Economics, Princeton University Press.
     

  2. Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry (1999), Development Microeconomics, Oxford University Press.
     

  3. Banerjee, Abhijit, Roland Benabou and Dilip Mookherjee (2006), eds. Understanding Poverty, Oxford University Press.
     

  4. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2011), Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Public Affairs.

Introduction

  1. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2007), "The Economic Lives of the Poor", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21, 141-167.
     

  2. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2008), "What is Middle Class About the Middle Classes Around the World?" Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22, 3-28.
     

  3. Banerjee, Abhijit, "Big Answers for Big Questions: The Presumption of Growth Policy", Brookings Global Economy and Development Conference, June 2008.

Nutrition

  1. Ray, Debraj (1998), Development Economics, Princeton University Press; Sections 8.3.4, 8.4.2, and 13.4.
     
  2. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2011), Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Public Affairs; Chapter 2.
     
  3. Dasgupta, Partha and Debraj Ray (1986), "Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment: Theory", Economic Journal, 96, 1011-1034.
     
  4. Subramanian, Shankar and Angus Deaton (1996), "The Demand for Food and Calories", Journal of Political Economy, 104, 133-162.
     
  5. Deaton, Angus and Jean Dreze (2009), "Food and Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations", Economic and Political Weekly, 44, 42-65.
     
  6. Jensen, Robert T. and Nolan H. Miller (2008), "Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption", American Economic Review, 98, 1553-1577.
     
  7. Strauss, John (1986), "Does Better Nutrition Raise Farm Productivity?" Journal of Political Economy, 94, 297-320.

Health

General Readings

  1. Strauss, John and Duncan Thomas (1998), "Health, Nutrition and Economic Development", Journal of Economic Literature, 36, 766-817.
     
  2. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo (2011), Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Public Affairs; Chapter 3.

Health Seeking Behaviour

  1. Banerjee, Abhijit, Angus Deaton and Esther Duflo (2004), "Wealth, Health, and Health Services in Rural Rajasthan", American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings) 94, 326-330.
     
  2. Banerjee, Abhijit, Angus Deaton and Esther Duflo (2004), "Health Care Delivery in Rural Rajasthan", Economic and Political Weekly, 39, 944-949.
     
  3. Cohen, Jessica and Pascaline Dupas (2010), "Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Randomized Malaria Prevention Experiment", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125, 1-45.
     
  4. Ashraf, Nava, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro (2010), "Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia", American Economic Review, 100, 2383-2413.
     
  5. Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster and Dhruva Kothari (2010), "Improving Immunization Coverage in Rural India: A Clustered Randomized Controlled Evaluation of Immunization Campaigns with and without Incentives", British Medical Journal.

Productivity Effects of Health

  1. Bleakley, Hoyt (2010), "Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 1-45.
     
  2. Acemoglu, Daron and Simon Johnson (2007), "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth", Journal of Political Economy, 115, 925-985.
     
  3. Almond, Douglas (2006), "Is the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Over? Long-term Effects of In Utero Influenza Exposure in the Post-1940 U.S. Population", Journal of Political Economy, 114, 672-712.
     
  4. Miguel, Edward and Michael Kremer (2004), "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities", Econometrica, 72, 159-217.
     
  5. Bleakley, Hoyt (2007), "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 73-117.
     
  6. Field, Erica, Omar Robles and Maximo Torero (2009), "Iodine Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Tanzania", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1, 140-169.

Education

Private and Social Returns to Education

  1. Card, David (1999), "The Causal Effect of Education on Earnings", Chapter 30 in Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 3A, edited by Orley Ashenfelter and David Card, North Holland.
     

  2. Duflo, Esther (2001), "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment", American Economic Review, 91, 795-813.
     

  3. Duflo, Esther (2004), "The Medium Run Effects of Educational Expansion: Evidence from a Large School Construction Program in Indonesia", Journal of Development Economics, 74, 163-197.

Education Quality

  1. Glewwe, Paul and Michael Kremer (2006), "Schools, Teachers, and Education Outcomes in Developing Countries", Chapter 16 in Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 2, edited by Erik A. Hanushek and Finis Welch, North Holland.
     

  2. Duflo, Esther, Rema Hanna and Stephen Ryan, "Incentives Work: Getting Teachers to Come to School", American Economic Review, forthcoming.
     

  3. Banerjee, Abhijit, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo and Leigh Linden (2007), "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 1235-1264.

Education Policy and Market Equilibrium

  1. Angrist, Joshua, Eric Bettinger and Michael Kremer (2006), "Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia", American Economic Review, 96, 847-862.
     

  2. Angrist, Joshua, Eric Bettinger, Erik Bloom, Michael Kremer, and Elizabeth King (2002), "Vouchers for Private Schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment", American Economic Review, 92, 1535-1558.
     

  3. Hsieh, Chang-Tai and Miguel Urquiola (2006), "The Effects of Generalized School Choice on Achievement and Stratification: Evidence from Chile's School Voucher Program", Journal of Public Economics, 90, 1477-1503.
     

  4. Banerjee, Abhijit (2004), "Educational Policy and the Economics of the Family", Journal of Development Economics, 74, 3-32.
     

  5. Jensen, Robert (2010), "The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125, 515-548.

Gender Discrimination

  1. Rose, Eliana (1999), "Consumption Smoothing and Excess Female Mortality in Rural India", Review of Economics and Statistics, 81, 41-49.
     

  2. Deaton, Angus (1989), "Looking for Boy-Girl Discrimination in Household Expenditure Data", World Bank Economic Review, 3, 1-15.
     

  3. Qian, Nancy (2008), "Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123, 1251-1285.
     

  4. Rose, Elaina (2000), "Gender Bias, Credit Constraints and Time Allocation in Rural India", Economic Journal, 110, 738-758.

Land Markets

  1. Ray, Debraj (1998), Development Economics, Princeton University Press; Chapter 12.
     

  2. Stiglitz, Joseph E. (1974), "Incentives and Risk Sharing in Sharecropping", Review of Economic Studies, 41, 219-255.
     

  3. Laffont, Jean-Jacques and Mohamed Salah Matoussi (1995), "Moral Hazard, Financial Constraints and Sharecropping in El Oulja", Review of Economic Studies, 62, 381-399.
     

  4. Singh, Nirvikar (2000), "Theories of Sharecropping", in Readings in Development Microeconomics: Micro-Theory, volume 1, ed. Pranab Bardhan and Christopher Udry, Cambridge: MIT Press.
     

  5. Shaban, Radwan (1987), "Testing between Competing Models of Sharecropping", Journal of Political Economy, 95, 893-920.
     

  6. Banerjee, Abhijit (2001), "Prospects and Strategies for Land Reforms", in Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 1999, edited by Boris Pleskovic and Joseph E. Stiglitz, World Bank, 253-284.
     

  7. Banerjee, Abhijit V., Paul J. Gertler and Maitreesh Ghatak (2002), "Empowerment and Efficiency: Tenancy Reform in West Bengal", Journal of Political Economy, 110, 239-280.
     

  8. Besley, Timothy and Robin Burgess (2000), "Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Growth: Evidence from India", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115, 389-430.

Markets for Credit and Savings

General Readings

  1. Ray, Debraj (1998), Development Economics, Princeton University Press; Chapter 14.
     
  2. Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry (1999), Development Microeconomics, Oxford University Press; Chapter 7.

Credit Constraints?

  1. Banerjee, Abhijit (2003), "Contracting Constraints, Credit Markets, and Economic Development", in Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Theory and Applications, Eighth World Congress of the Econometric Society, vol. 3, edited by M. Dewatripoint, L. Hansen and S. Turnovsky, Cambridge University Press, 1-46.
     
  2. Ghosh, Parikshit, Dilip Mookherjee and Debraj Ray (2001), "Credit Rationing in Developing Countries: An Overview of the Theory", Chapter 11, Readings in the Theory of Economic Development, ed. Mookherjee, Dilip and Debraj Ray, London: Blackwell.
     
  3. Aleem, Irfan (1990), "Imperfect Information, Screening and the Costs of Informal Lending: A Study of a Rural Credit Market in Pakistan", World Bank Economic Review, 3, 329-349.
     
  4. Karlan, Dean and Jonathan Zinman (2009), "Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Experiment", Econometrica, 77, 1993-2008.
     
  5. Banerjee, Abhijit and Esther Duflo, "Do Firms Want to Borrow More? Testing Credit Constraints Using a Directed Lending Program", CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4681, August 2004.
     
  6. Banerjee, Abhijit and Kaivan Munshi (2004), "How Efficiently is Capital Allocated? Evidence from the Knitted Garment Industry in Tirupur", Review of Economic Studies, 71, 19-42.

Intermediaries in the Credit Market

  1. Burgess, Robin and Rohini Pande (2005), "Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment", American Economic Review, 95, 780-795.
     
  2. Morduch, Jonathan (1999), "The Microfinance Promise", Journal of Economic Literature, 37, 1569-1614.
     
  3. Ghatak, Maitreesh and Timothy W. Guinnane (1999), "The Economics of Lending with Joint Liability: Theory and Practice", Journal of Development Economics, 60, 1-34.
     
  4. Roy Chowdhury, Prabal (2007), "Group-lending with Sequential Financing, Contingent Renewal and Social Capital", Journal of Development Economics, 84, 487-506.
     
  5. Pitt, Mark and Shahidur Khandker (1998), "The Impact of Group-based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?" Journal of Political Economy, 106, 958-996.
     
  6. Karlan, Dean S. (2007), "Social Connections and Group Banking", Economic Journal, 117, F52-F84.
     
  7. Field, Erica and Rohini Pande (2008), "Repayment Frequency and Default in Micro-finance: Evidence from India", Journal of the European Economic Association, 6, 501-509.

Savings

  1. Rosenzweig, Mark and K. Wolpin (1993), "Credit Market Constraints, Consumption Smoothing and the Accumulation of Durable Production Assets in Low-Income Countries: Investments in Bullocks in India", Journal of Political Economy, 101, 223-244.
     
  2. Fafchamps, Marcel, Christopher Udry and Katherine Czukas (1998), "Drought and Saving in West Africa: Are Livestock a Buffer Stock?" Journal of Development Economics, 55, 273-306.
     
  3. Besley, Timothy, Stephen Coate and Glenn Loury (1993), "The Economics of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations", American Economic Review, 83, 792-810.
     
  4. Ashraf, Nava, Dean S. Karlan and Wesley Yin (2006), "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 635-672.
     
  5. Karlan, Dean S. and Jonathan Zinman (2008), "Credit Elasticities in Less Developed Countries: Implications for Microfinance", American Economic Review, 98, 1040-1068.

Risk and Insurance

  1. Ray, Debraj (1998), Development Economics, Princeton University Press; Chapter 15.
     
  2. Bardhan, Pranab and Christopher Udry (1999), Development Microeconomics, Oxford University Press; Chapter 8.
     
  3. Deaton, Angus (1997), The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy, Washington, DC: World Bank, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 372-383. [Preview in Google Books]
     
  4. Jensen, Robert (2000), "Agricultural Volatility and Investments in Children", American Economic Review, 90, 399-405.
     
  5. Udry, Christopher (1990), "Credit Markets in Northern Nigeria: Credit as Insurance in a Rural Economy", World Bank Economic Review, 4, 251-269.
     
  6. Rosenzweig, Mark R. and Oded Stark (1989), "Consumption Smoothing, Migration, and Marriage: Evidence from Rural India", Journal of Political Economy, 97, 905-926.
     
  7. Townsend, Robert (1995), "Financial Systems in Northern Thai Villages", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110, 1011-1046.

Last Updated on 20 February 2012.