ECON 459
Economics of Institutions
Last Offered Fall 2008
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

Why are some countries rich and others poor? There are numerous candidate explanations emphasizing factors ranging from demography to technological innovation to unequal international relations. However, some economists like Douglass North and Mancur Olson have argued that beneath the profusion of proximate causes the quality of a country’s “institutions” fundamentally determines its economic prospects. The word “institutions” is used broadly; it can refer to micro-structures like households or macro-structures like the state. The course will survey the literature on institutions and economic development, discussing both developed and developing countries. Readings will largely consist of published journal articles and unpublished work of similar quality. Students should expect to use microeconomic theory and econometrics learned in previous courses.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 1720
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on four short papers of 7-10 pages each
Prerequisites: ECON 251 and ECON 255 or the equivalent; students who have already taken ECON 502 will not be admitted
Enrollment Preferences: senior Economics majors
Distributions: Division II

Class Grid

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