--- title: Development Economics description: Development economics focuses on improving the fiscal, economic, and social conditions in low-income countries. Learners will understand the structural barriers to growth, the effectiveness of foreign aid, and strategies for poverty reduction and sustainable development. category: finance-economics subcategory: economics-(social-lens) difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/development-economics --- # Development Economics Development economics focuses on improving the fiscal, economic, and social conditions in low-income countries. Learners will understand the structural barriers to growth, the effectiveness of foreign aid, and strategies for poverty reduction and sustainable development. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 4 Courses • 5 Websites • 1 Papers ## Courses ### 1. Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries University of Cape Town course on how developing countries pursue economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Using cases from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and South Africa, it covers facilitated research-policy processes, energy modeling, scenario building and climate policy design. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/climate-change-mitigation **Tags:** climate-policy, climate-mitigation, low-carbon-development, energy-modeling, developing-countries ### 2. Development Economics (MIT 14.771) **Author:** Esther Duflo, Benjamin Olken Graduate microeconomics of development, combining theory and empirical work on why some countries are poor: human capital, health, labor, credit and land markets, firms and the public sector. Includes 25 lecture videos, lecture slides, problem sets and written assignments. Prepares you for development economics research. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-771-development-economics-fall-2021/ **Tags:** development-economics, human-capital, credit-markets, randomized-trials, applied-econometrics ### 3. Development Economics: Macroeconomics (MIT 14.772) **Author:** Robert M. Townsend Graduate dynamic models of growth and development: migration, technological change, political economy, income distribution, firm structure, and financial markets and credit institutions in emerging economies. OCW publishes the first half of the course, with 12 lecture videos (about 16 hours) and problem sets with solutions. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-772-development-economics-macroeconomics-spring-2013/ **Tags:** development-economics, economic-growth, political-economy, financial-markets, income-distribution ### 4. Development Economics Within this course you will cover key topics in development economics, in particular poverty, social protection, human capital, access to financial services, and income generating activities (labor, entrepreneurship, agriculture). In analyzing these topics, you will apply a variety of micro-economic theoretical tools and empirical methods using real-world case studies taken from around the developing world. We will consider what policies work to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. To do so, we will cover the current state of research applying micro-econometric techniques to evaluate the effects of policy interventions in areas ranging from education to social assistance, from agricultural technology adoption to access to credit and micro-enterprise growth. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Duration:** 5 weeks of study, 2/4 hours per week | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/development-economics-course **Tags:** courses, humanities-social-sciences, economics ## Websites ### 1. Development Impact (World Bank) A World Bank blog where development economists share findings and methods from randomized evaluations and other empirical research measuring what works in poverty reduction, health, and governance programs worldwide. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/ **Tags:** impact-evaluation, development-economics, randomized-controlled-trials, world-bank ### 2. cgdev.org Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank focused on international development policy. The site features in-depth research, policy briefs, working papers, datasets, and events covering aid effectiveness, governance, health, education, and economic development to inform policy decisions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://cgdev.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 3. gapminder.org Gapminder.org is a nonprofit site offering free global development data and interactive visualizations that track trends in income, health, life expectancy, and other indicators over time. It provides downloadable datasets, teaching resources, and storytelling dashboards to explore development economics concepts. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://gapminder.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, economics ### 4. povertyactionlab.org J-PAL Poverty Action Lab is a global research center that uses randomized controlled trials to evaluate anti-poverty programs. The site provides research results, policy briefs, case studies, and teaching resources on experimental design, data collection, and impact evaluation. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://povertyactionlab.org **Tags:** websites, technology-computer-science, data-science--ai ### 5. dev econ.org Devecon.org is a curated hub for Development Economics resources, bringing together lectures, course materials, and reading lists from scholars and institutions. It also provides access to papers, datasets, and practical exercises to support learning and research. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://devecon.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, economics ## Podcasts ### 1. Econ Dev Show Podcast **Author:** Dane Carlson Interview podcast hosted by a former county economic development director, featuring practitioners on business attraction, retention, site selection, workforce and community revitalization. Listeners gain practical strategies used by local and regional economic development organizations in the United States. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-us | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://podcast.econdevshow.com **Tags:** economic-development, business-attraction, business-retention, site-selection, community-development ## Books ### 1. Poor Economics **Author:** Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo Two MIT economists examine why anti-poverty programs succeed or fail, using randomized controlled trials across health, education, and credit markets to explain the everyday economic decisions poor households make. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0718193660?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, economics ### 2. The Disaster Profiteers **Author:** John C. Mutter A Columbia earth scientist argues that recovery from earthquakes, cyclones, and floods redistributes wealth upward, using Katrina, Cyclone Nargis, and Haiti as cases. Shows why disaster outcomes depend on politics and governance rather than physical hazard alone. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1137278986?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** disaster-recovery, inequality, disaster-risk, political-economy, natural-hazards ### 3. Development as Freedom **Author:** Amartya Sen Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argues that expanding individual freedoms political, economic, and social is both the primary goal and the principal means of development, reframing poverty as capability deprivation rather than low income. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0192893300?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, economics ## Papers ### 1. What Have We Learned about the Resource Curse? **Author:** Michael L. Ross Ross reviews the political economy evidence on oil and mineral wealth, sorting which resource-curse claims survive better data — authoritarian durability, conflict, gender inequality — and which do not. A compact survey of where the literature actually stands. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://escholarship.org/content/qt8tp5x1hb/qt8tp5x1hb.pdf **Tags:** resource-curse, political-economy, natural-resource-wealth, oil-wealth, authoritarianism, civil-conflict --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/development-economics