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Program Director: Muhammad Faress Bhuiyan

Program Highlights

• Visit and training at Grameen Bank - the brainchild of Noble Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus
• Travel to multiple rural development project sites run by one of the world's largest NGOs, BRAC 
• Get a first hand look at a myriad of scenes common to many developing countries including slums, garments and handicrafts industry, child labor, informal markets, densely populated cities with massive inequality, and agriculture based poor rural areas
• Be introduced to the history, culture, cuisines, and social scene of Bangladesh which include trips to some local heritage sites
• Attend lectures by experts in the fields of economic development, gender studies, rural development, and environmental studies

Course Description

FALL TERM 2012: ECON 240

Microeconomics of Development (6 credits):

Pre-requisites: Econ 110 and Econ 111

The course introduces students to the structure, performance, and problems of developing economies from a microeconomic perspective. We will look at some of the historical, cultural, structural, and institutional reasons for underdevelopment in developing countries with especial emphasis on Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asian economies. Among other things students will be exposed to models and empirical work that deals with measurement of economic development and poverty; migration patterns and related policies; pros and cons of different types of micro-credit arrangements; optimality of land ownership and distribution; nutrition and its role in economic development; the nature of gender inequality; and the different types of NGOs.

WINTER BREAK 2012/WINTER TERM 2012: ECON 244

Analysis of Microeconomic Development Models

Pre-requisites: Econ 240

Students will be required to write and present a research paper on either recommendations about how current development practices in the area can be changed or a paper critically assessing models introduced in class motivated by their visit to Bangladesh. Some short response papers will also be due during the winter break visit and the beginning of the winter term.