Introduction
Development problems are decisive for living standards for a large share of the world's population. Development issues are also important to understand international economic policy and development assistance policies. The course gives an introduction to development economics. Emphasis is placed on theory and empirics.
The course gives an introduction to development economics, development policies and development assistance politics. The course is divided into four parts. The first part gives an introduction to development trends and to main concepts in development economics. The students will be given presentations of living standards in poor countries, basic trends in economic development and the role of poor countries in the world economy. The next part is about development economic issues with an emphasis on internal relationships in poor countries. Growth economics, inequality, institutions and structural change are keywords. The third part focuses on international economics and international relations. Relationships between poor countries and between poor and rich countries are discussed. An introduction to the main functions of international organisations like the WTO, IMF and the World Bank is given. The last part of the course is about development assistance and development assistance politics.