Mag. Dr. Valentin Seidler, BA

The course covers key topics in Development Economics. The idea is that students become capable of understanding current paradigms in devlopment and of critically reflecting on them. Different theories will be discussed, as well as the related empirical evidence and policy debates. Students will develop analytical skills to think independently about economic development issues and policies.

The course is taught at an introductory level: no prior knowledge of Economics is required. More important than prior knowledge is the attitude that students should develop with regard to this course. Students should be open to the use of economic models -- not run away from it -- and to the use of graphs (and, in some instances, maths). A large effort is made to help students understand economic models and graphs. But these efforts are doomed to failure for students that run away from economic reasoning or from the presentation of a reasoning through graphs. There is no reason to run away from them: the models and graphs used are relatively simple and only serve the purpose of understanding the interaction between Economics concepts.

Students will be evaluated on the basis of a final exam.