Economic Growth and the Challenges of World Poverty

Catalog description

This course is for those who are interested in the challenge posed by persistent world poverty. We will address many different poverty related issues and the goal is to examine how economists can contribute to shedding light on the problem of world poverty and providing insights into its alleviation. Among the questions that we will address are: How persistent is the extent of world poverty? Does rapid economic growth help the poor? Why do some countries grow fast and others fall further behind? What is economic life like when living under a dollar a day? How do we deal with the disease burden? Does providing meals in schools help students perform better? Is microfinance overrated? Has globalization hurt or help the poor? Does foreign aid help or hinder the economic prospects of poor countries?