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| Version 2013-2014 |
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| HULG4015-1 | Microeconomics of development
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Frédéric Gaspart |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Course contents :
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| This course offers an introduction to selected topics in development economics. The aim is to analyze the major constraints impeding the economic development of rural areas in developing countries, namely a lack of access to credit and poor educational attainments. The course is divided into two parts.
First Part: Access to Credit
Rural households' lack of access to credit is a major determinant of poverty. The first chapter provides an explanation of why credit is so scarce and financial markets fail to reach poor households.
In the second chapter, some principles of microfinance are analyzed, mainly the mechanism of joint liability. Besides, the functioning of informal savings such as "ROSCAS (Rotating Credit and Savings Associations)" or "tontines" is briefly explored.
Second part: Education
In a third chapter, some determinants of child labor and educational attainment are examined in connection with access to credit.
Finally, the fourth chapter tackles the topic of the link between education and international migration and questions the phenomenon of the "brain drain". |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| The aim of this course is to improve the students' understanding of some important constraints impeding economic development in rural areas.
After completing the course, the student are expected to be able to
highlight contextual and institutional elements that potentially lead to credit market imperfections and poor educational attainments,
explain the intuitions behind the economic models explored during the lectures and show his/her understanding of the related technical material,
show critical reasoning abilities in general. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Before starting the course, the students are expected to be familiar with the basic concepts of statistics, such as a random variable, and of microeconomics, such as a utility function. In terms of mathematics, derivatives and simple optimization techniques will be used. |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| Lectures : 30h |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Face-to-face course |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| Scientific articles will be available for readings, which are aimed at allowing a deep understanding of the course but those readings are not compulsory. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| Written examination (100%) |
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Work placement(s) :
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Organizational remarks :
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Contacts :
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| Matthieu Delpierre
Marie Curie Fellow at CEPS/INSTEAD
CEPS/INSTEAD
Avenue de la Fonte 3 L-4364 Esch-sur-Alzette
GD Luxembourg
matthieu.delpierre@ceps.lu matthieu.delpierre@uclouvain.be |
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