Development policy

Convenor: Dr Frederick Guy
Assessment: Exam worth 75% of the module mark, Term paper worth 25% of the module mark- deadline 2nd December 2011, Absolute Cut-Off deadline – 23rd December 2011

Aims

The aim of this module is to help you develop an understanding of the role of the state - policy choices, institutional foundations, political contests and the international environment - in economic development.

Content and Learning Objectives

On this module, we will explore the following:

• Who does the state represent, and what is its role in economic development: contending theories?
• Industrial policy: from import substitution industrialisation, to Tigers, to BRICS.
• Policies or institutions? The Washington Consensus, institutional fundamentalism, and beyond.
• Historical origins of institutions: interstate competition, legal traditions, and colonial function.
• Democracy and autocracy: is one better for development?
• Centralization, decentralization, and civil society.
• Tax collection, tax evasion, tax havens, and governance: is to govern tax?
• Natural resources - curse or blessing?

Background Reading

• Evans, Peter (1995) Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.