Undergraduate Course: Economic Development and Structural Transformation (ECNM10093)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is an Honours option course for undergraduate students reading for single and joint Honours degrees offered by the School of Economics.
It provides an overview of issues in the study of the economic development and structural transformation.
This course explores why economies differ in their sectoral composition and why their economic structure changes as they develop. The focus is specifically on the role of three broadly defined sectors and their main characteristics: agriculture, industry and services. Throughout, the course emphasises the empirical application of simple theoretical models. |
| Course description |
Economies vary systematically in the type of goods that they produce. This course sheds light on the sources of the variation in sectoral composition and how sectors in turn affect economic development. For example: are poor economies underdeveloped because they have high agricultural employment or does the high agricultural employment result from their low level of development?
The course relies on recent theoretical contributions and empirical evidence in the subject to cover the following topics: Demand- versus supply-driven factors behind structural transformation; The agricultural productivity and wage gap; Spatial characteristics of rural versus urban production; Sectoral interdependencies through intermediate and capital goods; Tradeable versus non-tradable goods; Factors of production in fixed versus non-fixed supply; Differences in human capital intensity across sectors; The substitutability between market and home services; The role of technology and skill-biased technical change in development and structural transformation.
The course will make extensive use of simple general equilibrium models in which economic outcomes result from the interaction of preferences, technologies and factor endowments. Students will learn how such models are useful to build economic intuition and how they can be directly applied for empirical quantification.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have an equivalent of at least 4 semester-long Economics courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. This MUST INCLUDE courses in Intermediate Macroeconomics (with calculus); Intermediate Microeconomics (with calculus); Probability and Statistics; and Introductory Econometrics. If macroeconomics and microeconomics courses are not calculus-based, then, in addition, Calculus (or Mathematics for Economics) is required. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A knowledge and understanding of key concepts, issues, theories and models relating to economic development and structural transformation, along with empirical evidence on and policy implications of those theories and models and a deeper understanding of recent research activity.
- Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
- Communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding and to collaborate with and relate to others.
- Personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, teamwork and group interaction, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning.
- Practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.
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Reading List
The reading material covers several journal articles. Among those, the most relevant reading is:
Herrendorf, Berthold, Richard Rogerson, and Ákos Valentinyi. 2014. Growth and Structural Transformation. In Handbook of Economic Growth, Vol. 2, ed. Philippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf, 855-941. North-Holland.
This is also available as NBER working paper No. 18996 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Inquiry
B1. The ability to identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied economic problems and identify or devise approaches to investigate and solve these problems.
B3. The ability to critically assess existing understanding of economic and social issues, the limitations of that understanding and the limitations of their own knowledge and understanding of those issues.
B4. The ability to question the principles, methods, standards and boundaries of economic knowledge
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
C1. The ability to be independent learners who take responsibility for their own learning, and are committed to continuous reflection, self-evaluation and self-improvement.
C4. The ability to collaborate and debate effectively to test, modify and strengthen their own views.
Communication
D1. The ability to make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, create and communicate understanding.
D2. The ability to further their own learning through effective use of feedback.
D3. The ability to use communication as a tool for collaborating and relating to others.
Personal Effectiveness
E1. The ability to manage tasks and also skills in time-management.
E4. The ability to work effectively with others, capitalising on their different thinking. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
10 two hour lectures, plus 5 hours of tutorials in addition. |
| Keywords | EDST |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jan Grobovsek
Tel: (0131 6)51 3005
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Anna Domagala
Tel: (0131 6)51 5305
Email: |
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