University of Essex Department of Economics Spring 2024 Dr Francesca Salvati EC902 Economic Development Theory For rules of assessment, deadlines, how to turn in the term paper, and other administrative aspects regarding how to complete the term paper please refer to the postgraduate handbook. An electronic copy of the handbook can be found at Postgraduate Handbook. Please note that you should find and refer to papers that are not listed below. The suggested list is meant to corroborate your own! You may write the paper as an extended literature review or include novel empirical analysis. It should have the typical framework of a research paper: abstract, introduction, literature review, background, body (with various section titles), conclusion, and a bibliography with appropriate references throughout. The word count limit is 4000 words. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. To complete the term paper answer one of the following questions in a complete, thorough manner: (1) In the lectures we have discussed gender differences in several areas, for example use of old-age pensions. These gender differences can impact the development of children and how societies develop and grow. For this term paper, you need to discuss gender differences in developing countries that exist in at least three areas – e.g. agricultural productivity - how they affect social welfare and what policies could be implemented to minimize or eradicate the gender differences. Papers to that may help: ■ ■ - Duflo, E. "Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pension and Intra-Household Allocation in South Africa" World Bank Economic Review 17(1):1-25 Goldstein, M. and C. Udry (2008), "The Profits of Power: Land Rights and Agricultural Investment in Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, Vo. 116, No. 6. Chattopadhyay, R. and E. Duflo (2004), "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India," Econometrica, vol. 72, no. 5. Jayachandran, S. and R. Pande (2017), "Why are Indian Children So Short? The Role of Birth Order and Son Preference," American Economic Review, Vo. 107, No. 9, pp. 2600-2629. (2) In the lecture, we posed the question: "Why do people stay poor?" One view is that the poor are stuck in various poverty traps and the other is that they have traits match only low earning jobs: Discuss the theoretical reasons of how poverty traps lead to the persistence of poverty. You may discuss different types of poverty traps: access to productive assets, geographical poverty traps, psychological poverty traps, nutrition based poverty traps etc. What is the empirical evidence of the existence of these different types of poverty traps? What are the policy implications of the different types of poverty traps and how does this compare to other policies (e.g. cash transfers, microfinance, etc.) meant to alleviate the poor? Papers that may help: • • • • • • Balboni, C., O. Bandiera, R. Burgess, M. Ghatak, and A. Heil (2021), "Why do People Stay Poor?" Quarterly Journal of Economics. de Quidt, J. & Haushofer, J. (2019). Depression through the Lens of Economics: A Research Agenda. In The Economics of Poverty Traps (pp. 127-152). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. PDF Carter, Michael R and Christopher B Barrett (2006). "The Economics of Poverty Traps and Persistent Poverty: An Asset-based Approach". Journal of Development Studies 42.2, pp. 178-199. Dasgupta, Partha (1997). "Nutritional Status, the Capacity for Work, and Poverty Traps". Journal of Econometrics 77.1, pp. 5–37. Kraay, Aart and David McKenzie (2014). "Do Poverty Traps Exist? Assessing the Evidence". Journal of Economic Perspectives 28.3, pp. 127–48. Kremer, Michael (1993), “The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development," Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 108. Young, A. (1928), "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," Economic Journal, Vol. 38.