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Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning

International Development Group

11.005 – INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Syllabus for Spring 20151 Tuesdays and Thursdays (2:30 - 4:00 PM) - Room 1-150

Instructor: Cauam Ferreira Cardoso – Office Hours: by appointment - Email: cauam@mit.edu

Teaching Assistant: Kate Mytty – Office Hours: by appointment - Email: kmytty@mit.edu

1. Course Description:

This course introduces undergraduates to the basic theory, institutional architecture, and

practice of international development. We take an applied, interdisciplinary approach to some of

the “big questions” in our field: What does development mean? Why are some countries

persistently poorer than others? How have different stakeholders sought to address the challenges

of development in the past, and how are they approaching these challenges now? What are the

avenues through which students can develop their own careers in the development field? This

course will unpack these questions by providing an overview of existing knowledge and best

practices in the field. The goal of this class is to go beyond traditional dichotomies -- such as

government vs. markets, or structure vs. agency -- and narrow definitions of progress, wellbeing,

and culture. Instead, we will invite students to develop a more nuanced understanding of

international development by offering: i) an innovative set of tools, which will support the

development of their critical thinking, reading, writing, and planning skills; ii) content flexibility,

allowing students and the instructor to co-develop some of the class topics and activities

according to their interest.

                                                                                                               1  This syllabus maybe be revised and further specified during the semester.

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2. Learning Objectives:

We ask you to re-examine conventional knowledge and engage critically with the

assumptions behind theories and policies. By the end of the semester, students should be able to

take apart in an argument, recognizing the multiple challenges, actors, scales, and power

dynamics at play in the development field. We also expect you to walk away with specific

theoretical and applied tools that will make you a better consumer of social science (and other)

information. In order to do so, we will provide several opportunities and present students with

tools so they can learn by doing. In particular, students will learn how to:

• Develop a more informed understanding of statistical and causal arguments made in academic, policy and journalistic writings.

• Produce memos and other short documents summarizing key information, and/or presenting a critical analysis, based on reliable evidence.

• Create a final project for this class that will also allow students to develop an improved sense of practice, by designing their own development intervention, according to their experience and interests.

3. Course Structure:

The course is divided into four parts. Unit 1 explores basic concepts, definitions and

measures of socioeconomic development critically, and against appropriate historical contexts.

This initial work is designed to promote a process of unlearning: students are invited to question

their most fundamental assumptions related to development, opening the space for deeper

reflection on the topics to be discussed during the rest of the semester. Unit 2 provides a broad

survey of development theory, accompanied by an examination of key development epochs. We

do so by discussing how theory led to different understandings of what the challenges were, and

accordingly, what different strategies stakeholders developed.

Unit 3 explores the international aid architecture since its origins with the establishment

of the Bretton Woods System. Through the unit we will discuss how this system evolved to the

highly complex and dynamic international development context that exists today. Finally, Unit 4

focuses on applied development issues. In particular, this final part of the class aims to explore

the implementation and scaling-up of development interventions through Guest Lectures given

by leading development practitioners in different sectors.

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4. Course Format

The classes will follow a seminar style, in which students are expected to read all of the

assigned material in advance as a way to prepare for an extensive in-class discussion. The

instructor will lead most of the classes, while 2-4 guest lecturers will take over in selected dates.

The instructor’s presentations, readings, and in-class debates will be complemented with a

variety of smaller assignments, and one final group project to be presented at the end of the

semester.

We will also use a variety of online resources for information sharing, and to promote

discussions on topics of interest. These include the usual Stellar website and group emails, as

well as one alternative online platform created exclusively for the class. Students will decide

collectively in the beginning of the semester their favorite option, such as a Facebook group, or a

class Blog. The engagement with the class through this alternative platform will be voluntary,

but active participants will receive extra credit toward their final grade. All activities will be

guided by appropriate codes of conduct and privacy procedures.

Students will have several opportunities to co-develop the course in order to fit their

interests. Formal feedback from students on the class will be requested at the end of every Unit,

but participants can use any of the existing exchange platforms (email, office hours, and online

group/blog) to provide inputs on the class at anytime. While the final decision will be at the

discretion of the instructor, students’ voices will be always taken into consideration.

5. Calendar Summary:

Date Class # Topic

Feb. 3 1 Welcome Class: Introduction to International Development

Unit 1 – Critically Conceptualizing, Contextualizing, And Historicizing International Development, (5 Classes)

Feb. 5 2 Development and the Colonial Legacy

Feb. 12 3 The Ethical Underpinnings of Development – Guest Speaker: Diego Laserna, MIT-DUSP Alum and City Council Candidate for the City of Bogota, Colombia in 2015.

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Feb. 19 4 International Development as Concept and Narrative

Feb. 24 5 Measuring Development

Feb. 26 6 Identities in Development: inserting “who we are” in relation to a diverse development context – Guest Speakers Students of Color Committee DUSP-MIT.

Unit 2 – Development: From Theories To Strategies (6 Classes)

Mar. 3 7 Modernization and Growth Paradigms

Mar. 5 8 Easier Said than Done: Dependency and the first challenges of the Development Agenda

Mar. 10 9 Development Strategies by Late-Industrializing Countries

Mar. 12 10 The Debt Crisis, Globalization, and the Rise of the Washington Consensus

Mar. 17 11 Different Views on Why, and How, Institutions Matter for Development

Mar. 19 12 Continuous Development: Recent Challenges of Transition for High, Medium, and Low income Countries

Mar. 24 & 26

-- No class – Spring Vacation

Unit 3 – The Old International Aid Architecture and the New Development Context (5 Classes)

Mar. 31 13 International Development Across Scales: The Role of Organizations Linking a Complex Global System and the Implementation of Actual Interventions

Apr. 2 14 An Evolutionary Account of the Bretton Woods System

Apr. 7 15 “Good Government in the Tropics” and South-South Cooperation

Apr. 9 16 The rise of NGOs and Foundations as major Development Players

Apr. 14 17 The Newer Role of the Private Sector in Development: Collaborative Capitalism

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Unit 4 – Connecting Developing Theory And Practice: First-Hand Accounts On How Development Is Practiced in Different Sectors (8 Classes)

Apr. 16 18 Development through the Private Sector

Case 1 – Vaxess Technologies Guest Lecturer – Livio Valenti, VP Vaxess Technologies

Apr. 21 -- No Class – Patriots Day Holiday

Apr. 23 19 Development through Government Initiatives Case 2 – Food Security: Fome Zero x Oportunidades

Instructor: Cauam Ferreira Cardoso

Apr. 28 20 Development by Fostering Complementarities across Sectors

Case 3 – Development, Science, and Innovation in Africa Guest Lecturer – Prof. Calestous Juma, HKS/MIT

Apr. 30 21 Development through Research Case 4 – Understanding Development taking Gender Seriously

Guest Lecturer – Lauren Ferreira Cardoso, PhD Student at UPenn

May. 5 22 Group Presentations – Part 1

May. 7 23 Development through Non-Profit Organizations Case 5 – The Epic Foundation

Guest Lecturer: Nicola Crosta, Executive Vice-President at The Epic Foundation

May. 12 24 Group Presentations – Part 2

May. 14 25 International Development: from the Classroom to the Real World

6. Assignments:

• Weekly Assignments: The class will be divided randomly into two groups: Group A and

Group B. In each class, one group will write a Memo, and the other will write a Response to

the Memos written by their colleagues. These assignments are to be based on the required

readings for each class.

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o Weekly Memo: 300 words (template will be provided) providing summary and critical

analysis of the readings assigned for the day. These are due at every Monday at noon

(12:00 PM) for Group A for the Tuesday reading assignments; and every Wednesday at

noon (12:00 PM) for Group B and the Thursday reading assignments. The Memos will be

submitted through the Stellar website.

o Weekly Memo Response: paragraph-long comment each student makes on one of the

Memos posted by one student of the other group. Group B Students will have between

every Monday at noon (12:00 PM) and every Tuesday at noon (12:00 PM) to post their

comments about the Tuesday Memos; Group A Students will have between every

Wednesday at noon (12:00 PM) and every Thursday at noon (12:00 PM) to post their

comments about the Thursday Memos. The responses will be submitted through the

Stellar website.

o Every student will have the opportunity to skip 2 Weekly Memos and 2 Weekly Memo

responses for the semester. Students are free to choose which week they skip.

o Students will not be required to hand in Memos or Memo responses on the days that

we have other assignments due.

• Mini-Essays: Students will complete three mini-essay assignments (800 to 1,000 words

each) at the end of Units 1, 2, and 3. The deadline for submissions is the first day of classes

of the subsequent unit (more details will be given on the first day of classes).

• Final Project: Presentation and a 2,500-3,000-word document. Students will complete the

final project individually or in groups of 2 or 3. They will be asked to develop a proposal for a

development intervention of their choice (i.e. a draft business plan for a business targeting the

BOP; a project for implementing sanitation in rural areas; or an advocacy campaign to

increase awareness on women’s rights).

Students are free to choose topics that interest them or that they have worked in the past.

These proposals are not supposed to be completely professional, but should represent students’

best effort to create an idea, gather evidence, and create an initial plan to transform this idea

into practice.

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For example, successful students will demonstrate thoughtfulness by considering how the

local context (history, geographical area, and culture) affects their plan. They will also be

asked to consider which theories, practices, stakeholders, and implementation issues are the

most relevant to their individual projects. Instructors will supervise students closely during

office hours and group appointments. The final deliverable consists of a written document and

a presentation for the class.

7. Grading Framework:

Assignments Due Date Percentage of the Final Grade

Weekly Assignments

Group A: Memo – every Monday by 12:00 PM; Memo Response – every Thursday by 12:00 PM.

Group B: Memo – every Wednesday by 12:00 PM; Memo Response – every Tuesday by12:00 PM.

20%

Mini Essays (MEs) ME 1 - Mar, 8th at 5:00 PM;

ME 2 - Mar, 31st at 2:00 PM;

ME 3 - Apr, 27rd at 2:00 PM.

30%

(10% each)

Participation -- 20%

Final Project May 14th, 2015 at 2:00 PM 30%

Extra Credit -- An addition level grade to the Final grade (i.e., a B becomes a

B+; a B- becomes a B)

Final Grade -- 100%

8. Grades Levels:

A=93-100%; A- = 90-92%; B+ = 87-89%; B = 83-86%; B- = 80-82%; C+ = 77-79%; C =

73-76%; C- = 70-72%; D+ = 67-69%; D = 63-66%; D- = 60-62%; F = <60

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9. Additional Requirements:

Attendance: Attendance is required. More than two unexcused absences will result in a full

letter grade reduction. Three “late” will result in one absence.

Statement on Class Conduct: I expect students to behave respectfully while in class, which

includes politeness towards the classmates and the instructor, as well as full engagement with the

classroom activities (no browsing on the internet and social media allowed during class).

Students who are unable to commit to these requirements should not take this course.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated! Please consult Institute guidelines:

http://humanistic.mit.edu/wcc/avoidingplagiarism

10. Classes and Reading Assignments*, **, ***:

*Some of the reading assignments may change in the course of the semester to incorporate student feedback.

** The average amount of Required Readings per class is 50 pages. Students must complete these readings prior coming to class.

*** A list of Optional Readings is provided for each class. These readings are not required. Students may access these resources for further study, according to their own time availability and interests.

Feb. 3 Welcome Class: Introduction to International Development

Agenda

Class 1 • Introductions • Discussion about the objectives and expectations for the class • Conversation about the instructors’ teaching style, mentoring, and issues of

diversity. • Identification of key data sources. • Competencies to be developed during the semester • Review of the Syllabus and class requirements

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UNIT 1 – CRITICALLY CONCEPTUALIZING, CONTEXTUALIZING, AND HISTORICIZING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT,

Feb. 5 Development and the Colonial Legacy

Agenda Class 2

This session will discuss the role of Colonialism in shaping relationships of power and legitimacy between developing and developed countries. A better understanding of this history is intended to better contextualize the origins of Development paradigm.

Required

Readings

• Acemoglu, D. et al. (2001) The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” The American Economic Review 91, no. 5.

• Ranger, T. (1983). The invention of tradition in colonial Africa. In Ranger, T. O., & Hobsbawm, E. J. (Eds.). (1983). Chapter 6 - The invention of tradition (p. 211). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Optional

Readings

Nunn, N. (2007). The long-term effects of Africa's slave trades (No. w13367). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Graeber, D. (2011). Debt: The first 5,000 years. Melville House. Chapter 1

Fanon, F. (1965). The wretched of the earth (Vol. 390). Grove Press. Mitchell, T. (1991). Colonising Egypt: With a new preface. Univ. California Press.

Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1987). Chapter 3.

Feb. 12 The Ethical Underpinnings of Development – Guest Speaker: Diego Laserna, MIT-DUSP Alum and City Council Candidate for the City of Bogota, Colombia in 2015.

Agenda Class 3

Ethics is one of the most important aspects of international development. Still the topic is yet to receive the proper attention from academics, policy-makers and practitioners. The policies, projects or businesses in the name of development carry the promise of a better life, but in many cases this promise falls short. In this class we will debate the importance of discussing the ethical implications of the interventions we come to support, before (especially), during, and after they are implemented.

Required Readings

• Chambers, R. (1997) Whose Reality Counts?: Putting the First Last. Intermediate Technology. Chapters 3

• Giri, A Kumar, and Philip Quarles van Ufford, eds. (2003) A Moral Critique of Development: In Search of Global Responsibilities. Routledge. Chapter 1

• Krisch, J. A. (2014) When Racism Was a Science - 'Haunted Files: The Eugenics

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Record Office' Recreates a Dark Time in a Laboratory's Past. The New York times. Oct. 13, 2014.

Optional Readings

Falk, R., Rajagopal, B., & Stevens, J. (Eds.). (2008). International law and the Third World: reshaping justice. Routledge.

Sen, Amartya K. "Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory." Philosophy and Public Affairs6, no. 4 (1977): 317-344.

Sandel, M. (2012) What money can't buy: the moral limits of markets. Macmillan. Ferguson, J. (1990). The anti-politics machine:" development," depoliticization, and

bureaucratic power in Lesotho. CUP Archive. – Ch. 2

Feb. 19 International Development as Concept and Narrative

Agenda Class 4

We will discuss different interpretations of development. Students will be invited to engage and reflect upon their own biases. In addition, we will debate how relationships of power and agendas from different stakeholders shape how we conceive the “development story.”

Required Readings

• Rostow, W. W. (1990). The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1 and 2.

• Escobar, Arturo (2011). “The Problematization of Poverty: The Tale of Three Worlds and Development,” pp. 21-55. In Escobar, A. (2011). Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the Third World. Princeton U Press

Optional

Readings

Fukuda-Parr (2012) Recapturing the Narrative of International Development. In Wilkinson, R., & Hulme, D. (Eds.). (2012). The Millennium Development Goals and beyond: global development after 2015 (Vol. 65). Routledge.

Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press. Esteva, G. (2010). Development. In The development dictionary: A guide to

knowledge as power. 2nd Ed. Zed Books, London-NY. Hulme, D. (2013). Poverty and development thinking: synthesis or uneasy

compromise? International Development: Ideas Experience, and Prospects.

Feb. 24 Measuring Development

Agenda Class 5

Economic, human, and social aspects of development are usually described and evaluated through quantitative analyses. However, such endeavors are not always clear about their assumptions and limitations. In this class we dig deeper in these issues, providing the basis for a more informed judgment on the conditions under which measures of development are useful, and when they are misleading.

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Required

Readings

• Banerjee, A., Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2011). Poor economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty. Public Affairs. – Chapter 1.

• Jerven, M. (2013). Poor numbers: how we are misled by African development statistics and what to do about it. Cornell University Press. – Pg. 8-32.

Optional Readings

Klugman, J., Rodríguez, F., & Choi, H. J. (2011). The HDI 2010: new controversies, old critiques. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 9(2), 249-288.

Ravallion, M. (2011). The human development index: a response to Klugman, Rodriguez and Choi. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 9(3), 475-478.

Stone, D. A. (1989). Causal stories and the formation of policy agendas. Political science quarterly, 281-300.

Kenny, C., & Williams, D. (2001). What do we know about economic growth? or, why don't we know very much?. World development, 29(1), 1-22.

Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2014). Mastering’ Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect. Princeton University Press. (Introduction and Chapter 1).

Reddy, Sanjay G., (2013), “Randomize This! On Poor Economics,” Review of Agrarian Studies, Vol 2, no. 2.

Feb. 26 Identities in Development: inserting “who we are” in relation to a diverse development context – Guest Speakers Students of Color Committee DUSP-MIT.

Agenda Class 6

International Development is a rather personal field. It confronts us with our deepest convictions and emotions. How we do and think about development is, in different degrees, a reflection of individual characteristics, such as our socioeconomic class, or cultural background. Studying and working in development, therefore, requires a great deal of self-reflection. The readings and the class discussion will be used to help students identify and question their own personal biases, and how they can address these through reflective practice.

Required Readings

• Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action (Vol. 5126). Basic books. – Chapter 2.

• Rodriguez, R. (1983). Hunger of memory: the education of Richard Rodriguez: an autobiography. Random House LLC. – Chapter 2.

Optional

Readings

Mehmet, O. (2002). Westernizing the Third World: The Eurocentricity of Economic Development Theories. Routledge. – Chapter 1.

Hall, S., & Du Gay, P. (Eds.). (1996). Questions of cultural identity. Sage.

Miller, Byron. "Collective Action and Rational Choice: Place, Community, and the

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Limits to Individual Self-Interest." Economic Geography 68 (1992): 22-42.

Piore, M. (1995). Beyond Individualism: How Social Demands of the New Identity Groups Challenge American and Political Life.

Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. 1978. New York: Vintage, 1994. Sen, G., & Grown, C. (1987). Development crises and alternative visions: Third

world women's perspectives. Routledge. Gutmann, M. C. (2006). The meanings of macho: Being a man in Mexico City (Vol.

3). Univ of California Press.

UNIT 2 – DEVELOPMENT: FROM THEORIES TO STRATEGIES

Mar. 3 Modernization and Growth Paradigms

Agenda Class 7

This section will examine the first generation of development theories after World War II. We will seek to identify their commonalities and differences, assessing to what extent we can see their legacy influencing current policy agendas.

Required Readings

• Solow, R. (1956) “A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Development Economics pp. 65-94.

• Lewis, A. W. (1963) “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor.” In The Economics of Underdevelopment. Edited by A. N. Agarwala, and Sampat Pal Singh. New York: Oxford University Press. (Selected notes)

Optional

Readings

Easterly, W., & Easterly, W. R. (2001). The elusive quest for growth: economists' adventures and misadventures in the tropics. MIT press. Chapters 2 and 3.

Rosenstein-Rodan, P. (1963) Problems of Industrialization of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. In Agarwala and Singh (eds.) The Economics of Underdevelopment. New York: Oxford University Press: (Selected Pages)

Lipton, M. (1962). Balanced and unbalanced growth in underdeveloped countries. The economic journal, 641-657.

Hirschman, A. O., & Lindblom, C. E. (1962). Economic development, research and development, policy making: some converging views. Behavioral science,7 (2), 211-222.

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Mar. 5 Easier Said than Done: Dependency and the first challenges of the Development Agenda

Agenda Class 8

The 1960s and 1970s represented the first decades in which long-term development data was available. Technological advances provided more computational power as well as better communications. With the world closer and better informed, the limitations of the modernization paradigm became increasingly obvious. Unemployment, mass migration, and uncontrolled urbanization in the Global South were externalities that could no longer be offset solely through economic growth. In this class we will talk about this very turbulent period in the development history.

Required

Readings

• Pritchett, Lant. 1997. “Divergence, Big Time,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(3): 3-17.

• Cardoso, F. H., & Faletto, E. (1979). Dependency and Development in Latin America. Univ of California Press. – Chs 1 & 2.

Optional Readings

Houis B. Chenery et al. (1974) Redistribution with Growth (London: Oxford University Press).

The Limits to Growth, D. H. Meadows, D. L. Meadows, J. Randers and W. W. Behrens (Pan, London, 1972)

Prebisch, R. (1963). Towards a dynamic development policy for Latin America. United Nations.

Furtado, C. (1984). “Underdevelopment: to Conform or Reform?”, in Pioneers in Development, Second Series, ed. Gerald M. Meier, New York, Oxford University Press, 1897, p. 203-207

International Labour Office. (1973). Employment, incomes and equality: a strategy for increasing productive employment in Kenya; report of an inter-agency team financed by the United Nations development programme. International Labour Office.

King, L. A. (1998). Economic growth and basic human needs. International studies quarterly, 42(2), 385-400.

Weigel, V. B. (1986). The basic needs approach: Overcoming the poverty of “homo oeconomicus”. World development, 14(12), 1423-1434.

Mar. 10 Development Strategies by Late-Industrializing Countries

Agenda Class 9

The problem with approaching “International Development” as a dichotomy – developed versus underdeveloped – is that it neglects the fact that there is great variation in developing countries’ socioeconomic performance. In this class we will study how countries adopted different development strategies with varying results.

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Required

Readings

• Amsden, A. (2001) The Rise of the Rest: Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies. New York: Oxford University Press. (Introduction)

• Bruton, H. J. (1998). "A Reconsideration of Import Substitution." Journal of Economic Literature 36 (June): 903-936.

Optional Readings

Davis, D. E. (2004). Discipline and development: middle classes and prosperity in East Asia and Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

Gereffi, G. (1990). Paths of Industrialization: An Overview. in G. Gereffi and D. Wyman (eds). Manufacturing Miracles: Paths of Industrialization in Latin America and East Asia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Mkandawire, T. (2001). Thinking about developmental states in Africa. Cambridge journal of economics, 25(3), 289-314.

Wade, R. (1990). Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization. Princeton: Princeton University.

Amsden, A. H., and T. Hikino (1993). Borrowing Technology or Innovating: An Exploration of Two Paths to Industrial Development. In Learning and Technological Change, edited by R. Thomson. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Fagerberg, J., and M. Godinho (2005). Innovation and Catching-up. In The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, edited by J. Fagerberg, D. Mowery and R. Nelson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 19, pp. 514-542.

Mar. 12 The Debt Crisis, Globalization, and the Rise of the Washington Consensus

Agenda Class 10

The 1980s and (at least most of) the 1990s were decades of considerable divergence in development. For countries in Latin America and Africa, for example, these were “lost decades,” with serious economic crises and eventual structural adjustments enforced by the IMF and the World Bank. On the other hand, in East Asia, countries like Korea and Taiwan managed to promote periods of growth and prosperity. Irrespective of these differences, the rise of neoliberalism and expansion of globalization were key forces determining the winners and losers of this global process. The class will discuss the relationships shaping these phenomena and how they contributed to the Aid architecture created in the aftermath.

Required

Readings

• Williamson, J. (1990). What Washington means by policy reform. Latin American adjustment: How much has happened, 7, 7-20.

• Ocampo, J. A. (2014). The Latin American debt crisis in historical perspective. Life After Debt: The Origins and Resolutions of Debt Crisis, 87.

Optional Readings

Kindleberger, C. (1987), “Anatomy of a Typical Crisis,” Manias, Panics, and Crises, New York, Wiley

Kahler, Miles (1985), “Politics and International Debt,” International Organization 39

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(3), pp. 357-82

Broad, R. (2004). The Washington consensus meets the global backlash: shifting debates and policies. Globalizations, 1(2), 129-154.

Stiglitz, J. E. (2003). Globalization and its Discontents. WW Norton & Company. Ocampo, J. A. (2004). Latin America's growth and equity frustrations during

structural reforms. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(2), 67-88. Haggard, S. (2000). The political economy of the Asian financial crisis. Peterson

Institute. Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.

Mar. 17 Different Views on Why and How Institutions Matter for Development

Agenda Class 11

While today it is almost a consensus among development practitioners and scholars that institutions matter to development, this was not always so self-evident. Institutional economics has existed for a long time, but the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s and 1990s created a special level of attention to the debate around which institutions matter for development, and how countries should go about creating them. For example, the social backlash caused by the excessively strict structural adjustments called into question how feasible it was to simply transplant institutions from developed to developing countries. Context, history, and culture matters. In this class we will seek to understand why.

Required Readings

• Acemoglu, D., Robinson, J. A., & Woren, D. (2012). Why nations fail: the origins of power, prosperity, and poverty (Vol. 4). New York: Crown Business. – Ch. 15.

• Weiss, T. G. (2000). Governance, good governance and global governance: conceptual and actual challenges. Third world quarterly, 21(5), 795-814.

Optional

Readings

Rodrik, Dani. 2000. “Institutions for High-Quality Growth: What They Are and How to Acquire Them,” Studies in Comparative International Development 35 (3).

North, Douglass C. (1990).  Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press.

Romer, P. M. (1994). The origins of endogenous growth. The journal of economic perspectives, 3-22.

Nabli, Mustapha, and Jeffrey Nugent. 1989. “The New Institutional Economics and its Applicability to Development.” World Development 17 (9):1333-1347

Sabel, Charles. "Learning by Monitoring: The Institutions of Economic Development." In Rethinking the Development Experience. Edited by L. Rodwin and D. Schon. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994, pp. 231-274.

Woolcock, M., & Narayan, D. (2000). Social capital: Implications for development

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theory, research, and policy. The world bank research observer,15(2), 225-249.

Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and society, 27(2), 151-208.

Pack, H. (1994). "Endogenous Growth Theory: Intellectual Appeal and Empirical Shortcomings." Journal of Economic Perspectives (Winter): 55-72.

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. 2005. “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth,” in Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf, eds, Handbook of Economic Growth. Elsevier. Read first 4 sections, pp. 388-421

Craig, D., & Porter, D. (2003). Poverty reduction strategy papers: A new convergence. World Development, 31(1), 53-69.

Elkins, M., & Feeny, S. (2014). Policies in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: dominance or diversity?. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d'études du développement, (ahead-of-print), 1-21.

Mar. 19 Continuous Development: Recent Challenges of Transition for High, Medium, and Low income Countries

Agenda

Class 12 In a broad survey of the most recent happenings in the field, the class will discuss how the development challenge has posed different questions for different groups of countries. For example, while emerging economies have been struggling to escape the so called “middle-income trap” through more sophisticated industrial policy, developed countries fight to maintain their economy’s robustness and competitiveness without compromising their social contract. Poorer nations, on the other hand, are attempting different ways to promote economic growth, while consolidating democracy and reducing socioeconomic inequality. Based on the readings, the class will discuss the merits of different views on how to address these problems.

Required

Readings

• Lin, Justin and Ha-Joon Chang (2009), “Should Industrial Policy in Developing Countries Conform to Comparative Advantage or Defy It?” Development Policy Review, 27 (5), pp. 483-502.

• Zeng, J., & Fang, Y. (2014). Between poverty and prosperity: China’s dependent development and the ‘middle-income trap’. Third World Quarterly,35(6), 1014-1031.

Optional Readings

Rodrik, Dani. 2007. One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth. Princeton: Princeton University Press. – Chapter 4.

Juma, Calestous. "Complexity, Innovation, and Development: Schumpeter Revisited." Journal of Policy and Complex Systems 1, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 4-21.

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Griffith, B. (2011). Middle-income trap. Frontiers in Development Policy, 39.

Palma, J. G. (2010). Why Has Productivity Growth Stagnated in Most Latin-American Countries Since the Neo-liberal Reforms? University of Cambridge, Faculty of Economics.

Berger, S. (2013). Making in America: From Innovation to Market. MIT Press.

Paus, E. (2012). Confronting the Middle Income Trap: Insights from Small Latecomers. Studies in comparative international development, 47(2), 115-138.

World Bank (2010). Escaping the middle-income trap. World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update (2).

Kharas, H., & Kohli, H. (2011). What is the middle income trap, why do countries fall into it, and how can it be avoided?. Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, 3(3), 281-289.

Sumner, A., & Tiwari, M. (2010). Global Poverty Reduction to 2015 and Beyond: What has been the Impact of the MDGs and what are the Options for a Post�2015 Global Framework?. IDS Working Papers, 2010(348), 01-31.

Mar. 24 & 26 No class – Spring Vacation

UNIT 3 – THE OLD INTERNATIONAL AID ARCHITECTURE AND THE NEW

DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

Mar. 31 International Development Across Scales: The Role of Organizations Linking a Complex Global System and the Implementation of Actual Interventions

Agenda Class 13

The debate involving international development assistance often eclipses issues of proportionality. That is, it is assumed aid flows are the single most important factor in the promotion of low-income countries’ economic growth. As a result, the debate is often limited to donor countries’ contributions, and how these contributions need to have the “best value for money.” In this class we will attempt to look at the global economy from a broader perspective, looking at less visible structural factors, which nonetheless hamper more decisively the potential of developing countries progress. These include an unbalanced international trade system, illicit or oversized global financial markets, and the shadow economy. Within the context, the class goes further analyzing particular instances in which these structural factors can influence the design, implementation, and performance of development initiatives.

Optional Readings

Fischer, A. M. (2009). Putting Aid in its Place: insights from early structuralists on aid and balance of payments and lessons for contemporary aid debates. Journal of International Development, 21(6), 856-867.

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Bagwell, K., & Staiger, R. W. (2014). Can the Doha Round Be a Development Round?. Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century, 91.

Bellmann, C., & Rodriguez Mendoza, M. (2012). The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges, a Collection of Short Essays. R. Meléndez-Ortiz (Ed.). International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

Stiglitz, J. E., & Charlton, A. (2013). The Right to Trade: rethinking the Aid for Trade Agenda. Commonwealth Secretariat.

Janský, P. (2013). Illicit Financial Flows and the 2013 Commitment to Development Index. Center for Global Development.

Shaxson, N., & Christensen, J. (2013). The finance curse: How oversized financial sectors attack democracy and corrupt economics.

Harvey, D. (2011). The enigma of capital: and the crises of capitalism. Profile Books.

Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-first Century. Harvard University Press.

Apr. 2 An Evolutionary Account of the Bretton Woods System

Agenda Class 14

In this lecture the class will be presented with a historical and functional approach to how the Breton Woods System of multilateral institutions evolved from the postwar era, to the millennium development goals, to the post-2015 agenda. This will provide students with a valuable background about how global governance works.

Required Readings

• Power, S. (2008). Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the World. Penguin. – Selected Notes

Optional Readings

Mazower, M. (2012). Governing the World: The History of an Idea, 1815 to the Present. Penguin. (Selected Notes)

Fukuda-Parr, S., & Hulme, D. (2011). International norm dynamics and the “end of poverty”: understanding the Millennium Development Goals. Global governance: a review of multilateralism and international organizations, 17(1), 17-36.

Woods, N. (2006). The globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and their borrowers. Cornell University Press.

Sachs, J. (2005). The end of poverty. Economic Possibilities for our time. New York.

Collier, P. (2007). The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Cambridge University Press.

Lundsgaarde, E. (2013). The domestic politics of foreign aid (Vol. 1). Routledge. Easterly, W., & Easterly, W. R. (2006). The white man's burden: why the West's

efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. Penguin. Moyo, D. (2009). Dead aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for

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Africa. Macmillan.

Sachs, J. D., & McArthur, J. W. (2005). The millennium project: a plan for meeting the millennium development goals. The Lancet, 365(9456), 347-353.

Heeks, R. (2014). From the MDGs to the post-2015 agenda: Analyzing changing development priorities. University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management, SEED, Centre for Development Informatics, 2014. [50] p. (Working Paper No. 56)

Apr. 7 “Good Government in the Tropics” and South-South Cooperation

Agenda

Class 15

The fact that inequality and poverty persists in the world does not mean the “development project” has failed completely. Today the international development ecosystem is more complex and dynamic than it ever was. There are more actors, more options for trade and investment, and more mechanisms for knowledge and technology exchange. A more careful look at the experiences of developing countries allows us to identify much variation in performance. This class will talk about cases in which developing countries were successful in producing technical, economic and social outcomes despite expectations to the contrary. Moving beyond, we explore the emergence of South-South cooperation modalities, a process that allowed developing countries to further these successes by collaborating and learning from each other.

Required Readings

• Brautigam, D. (2010). The Dragon's Gift. The Real Story of China in Africa, 139-140. – Ch 6.

• Pritchett (2015) Can Rich Countries be Reliable Partners for National Development? – Essays; Center for Global Development.

• Tendler, J. (1997). Good government in the Tropics. Johns Hopkins University Press. Ch 6.

Optional Readings

Quadir, F. (2013). Rising Donors and the New Narrative of ‘South–South’ Cooperation: what prospects for changing the landscape of development assistance programmes?. Third World Quarterly, 34(2), 321-338.

Roll, M. (Ed.). (2014). The Politics of Public Sector Performance: Pockets of Effectiveness in Developing Countries.

Levy, B. (2011). Can islands of effectiveness thrive in difficult governance settings? the political economy of local-level collaborative governance.

Crook, R. C. (2010). Rethinking civil service reform in Africa:‘islands of effectiveness’ and organisational commitment. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 48(4), 479-504.

Kaplinsky, R. (2013). What Contribution Can China Make to Inclusive Growth in Sub�Saharan Africa?. Development and Change, 44(6), 1295-1316.

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Brautigam, D. (2009). The dragon's gift: the real story of China in Africa. Oxford University Press.

Apr. 9 The rise of NGOs and Foundations

Agenda Class 16

NGOs and, more recently, private charitable foundations have gained increasing popularity since the 1990s, amassing budgets that dwarf some of the most storied development agencies. Their rapid emergence in the field caused both praise for their evidence driven and efficiency approach, but also raised questions about accountability and legitimacy. The class will discuss the different sides of that story, evaluating the potential and limits of these not-for-profit development players.

Required Readings

• Schuller, M. (2012) Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs (Rutgers University Press). Ch. 5.

• Bishop, M., & Green, M. (2010). Philanthrocapitalism: How giving can save the world. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. – Chapters 1 and 15.

Optional Readings

Sanyal, B. (1996). "The Myth of Development From Below." Mimeo. Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Tendler J. (1989). “What Ever Happened to Poverty Alleviation?” World Development, 17(7): 1033-1044.

Powell, W. W., & Steinberg, R. (Eds.). (2006). The nonprofit sector: A research handbook. Yale University Press.

Fowler, A. (Ed.). (2013). Striking a balance: A guide to enhancing the effectiveness of non-governmental organisations in international development. Routledge.

Sanyal, B. (1994). Cooperative Autonomy: The Dialectic of State-NGP Relationship in Developing Countries, International Institute of Labor Studies: Geneva.

Fayolle, A., & Matlay, H. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of research on social entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Yunus, M. (2007). Creating a world without poverty: Social business and the future of capitalism. PublicAffairs.

Apr. 14 The Newer Role of the Private Sector in Development: Collaborative Capitalism

Agenda Class 17

The Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) is the new capitalist frontier. One such that development is created through a market-based approach. The strategy consists of mobilizing the resources and scale of large firms (the leaders of this endeavor), with the knowledge and commitment of NGOs, governments, local firms and communities, working together to create solutions to the problems of the developing

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world. The realization of the untapped market is said to create a win-win situation in which large private actors gain access to billions of new consumers, poorer entrepreneurs have a chance to enter the market, and increased access to products and more dynamic economic ecosystem generates better development outcomes for everyone. This is the so-called Collaborative (Inclusive) Capitalism. While it is too early to measure the accuracy of such claims, critics already point out several limitations that accompany this approach. In this class students will be invited to debate the validity of such claims.

Required Readings

• Polak, P., & Warwick, M. (2013). The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. – Pages 1 to 34.

• Sandel, M. (2012) What isn’t for sale? The Atlantic. Feb 27, 2012.

• Schiller, J. (2014) Is for Profit the Future of Non-profit? The Atlantic. May 21 2014.

Optional Redings

Schwittay, A. (2011). The marketization of poverty. Current Anthropology, 52(S3).

Locke, R. M. (2013). The promise and limits of private power: Promoting labor standards in a global economy. Cambridge University Press.

Clark, C., Emerson, J., & Thornley, B. (2014). Collaborative Capitalism and the Rise of Impact Investing. John Wiley & Sons.

Prahalad, C. K. (2009). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, revised and updated 5th anniversary edition: Eradicating poverty through profits. FT Press.

Khanna, T. (2013). Billions of entrepreneurs: How China and India are reshaping their futures and yours. Harvard Business Press.

London, T., & Hart, S. L. (2010). Next generation business strategies for the base of the pyramid: New approaches for building mutual value. FT Press.

Radjou, N., Prabhu, J., & Ahuja, S. (2012). Jugaad innovation: Think frugal, be flexible, generate breakthrough growth. John Wiley & Sons.

Ilahiane, H., & Sherry, J. W. (2012). The problematics of the “bottom of the pyramid” approach to international development: the case of micro-entrepreneurs’ use of mobile phones in Morocco. Information Technologies & International Development, 8(1), pp-13.

Arnold, D. G., & Williams, L. H. (2012). The paradox at the base of the pyramid: Environmental sustainability and market-based poverty alleviation. International Journal of Technology Management, 60(1), 44-59.

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UNIT 4 – CONNECTING DEVELOPING THEORY AND PRACTICE: FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS ON HOW DEVELOPMENT IS PRACTICED IN DIFFERENT SECTORS

Apr. 16 Development through the Private Sector

Agenda Class 18

Case 1 – Vaxess Technologies

Guest Lecturer – Livio Valenti, VP Vaxess Technologies

Readings • Shavin, N. (2015) Big Pharma Is Making Progress in Finding an Ebola Vaccine, But They May Be Fighting The Wrong Battle. The New Republic, January 9, 2015.

• Surowiecki, J. (2014) Ebolanomics - The New Yorker; August 25, 2014.

• Lam, B. (2015) Vaccines Are Profitable, So What? - The Atlantic, February 10, 2015

• Farmer, P. (2013) Three Stories, Three Paradigms, and a Critique of Social Entrepeneurship, in Farmer, P. (2013). To repair the world: Paul Farmer speaks to the next generation (Vol. 29). Univ of California Press.

Apr. 21 No Class – Patriots Day Holiday

Apr. 23 Development through Government Initiatives

Agenda Class 19

Case 2 – Food Security: Fome Zero x Oportunidades Instructor: Cauam Ferreira Cardoso

The challenges of implementation are considered by many as one of the main challenges of development, where great ideas fall short before they can create a significant impact. In this first question of the Unit about linking theory to practice, we will analyze some of the literature on implementation first, using these frameworks to compare and contrasts two of major food security programs currently in operation in Brazil and Mexico.

Required Readings

• da Silva, J. G., Del Grossi, M. E., & de França, C. G. (Eds.). (2011). The Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) Program: the Brazilian experience. Ministry of Agrarian Development. (Selected Notes)

• Progress Against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades Program. Santiago Levy, Brookings 2006 – (Selected Notes)

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Optional Readings

Ansell, A. (2014). Zero Hunger: Political Culture and Antipoverty Policy in Northeast Brazil. UNC Press Books.

Chapter 4, Program Institutional Design · Mexico: Scaling up Progresa/Oportunidades-CCT’s. UNDP, November 2011. From Series: Scaling Up Local Innovations for Transformational Change.

Progress Against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades Program. S. Levy. Chapters 2 -3

Hirschman, A. O. (1967). Development projects observed. Brookings Institution Press.

Batley, R. (2004). The politics of service delivery reform. Development and Change, 35(1), 31-56.

Rasul, I., & Rogger, D. (2013). Management of bureaucrats and public service delivery: Evidence from the Nigerian civil service. Work. Pap., Univ. Coll. Lon.

Adler, D., Sage, C., & Woolcock, M. (2009). Interim institutions and the development process: Opening spaces for reform in Cambodia and Indonesia. Brookings World Poverty Institute Working Paper, (86).

Sumner, A. (2010). Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three�quarters of the World's Poor Live in Middle�income Countries?. IDS Working Papers, 2010(349), 01-43.

Andrews, M. (2013). The limits of institutional reform in development: changing rules for realistic solutions. Cambridge University Press.

Apr. 28 Development by Fostering Complementarities across Sectors

Agenda

Class 20

Case 3 – Development, Science, and Innovation in Africa

Guest Lecturer – Prof. Calestous Juma, HKS/MIT

Readings • Juma (2014) Reinventing Africa's universities - Al Jazeera; September 5, 2014.

• Lee, K., Juma, C., & Mathews, J. (2014). Innovation capabilities for sustainable development in Africa (No. 2014/062). WIDER Working Paper.

• Juma, C. (2014) "Complexity, Innovation, and Development: Schumpeter Revisited." Journal of Policy and Complex Systems 1.1 (March 2014): 4-21.

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Apr. 30 Development through Research

Agenda

Class 21

Case 4 – Understanding Development taking Gender Seriously

Guest Lecturer - Lauren Gurfein, PhD Student in Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania

Readings • Pearson, R., & Jackson, C. (2014). Interrogating Development: Feminism, Gender and Policy (1998). The Globalization and Development Reader: Perspectives on Development and Global Change, 191.

• Sen (1990) More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing. The New Yourk Review of Books. December 2, 1990.

May. 5 Group Presentations – Part 1

Agenda Class 22

Teams present their final project for the class

May. 7 Development through Non-Profit Organizations

Agenda

Class 23

Case 5 – The Epic Foundation

Guest Lecturer: Nicola Crosta, Executive Vice-President at The Epic Foundation

May. 12 Group Presentations – Part 2

Agenda Class 24

Teams present their final project for the class

May. 14 Last Class: International Development: from the Classroom to the Real World

Agenda

Class 25

* Final Project Due!! (Written Part)

In the final class we will review the main topics discussed in class. In addition, students will have access in class to a comprehensive list of initiatives, projects, and organizations both within and outside MIT so they can continue to be engaged in the international Development field.

  25

Some examples (many more will be available in class):

Rethinking Economics Network http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/

MIT International Development Club http://internationaldevelopmentclub.weebly.com/international-development-organizations-mit.html Boston Network for International Development http://www.bnid.org/ MIT IDEAS Global Challenge

http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/whatwedo/ideas-competition/

May. 18 to 22 Final Exam Period