ECO 605: Development Microeconomics - Readings
I. Development Microeconomics: An Overview
- *Banerjee, A.V., and Duflo, E. (2007). “The Economic Lives of the Poor,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21, 141-167.
- *Sen, A. K. (1990). “Development as capability expansion,” In K. Griffin, & J. Knight (eds.), Human development and the international development strategy for the 1990s, London: Macmillan.
- *Banerjee, A.V. (2009). “Big Answers for Big Questions: The Presumption of Macroeconomics,” In J. Cohen and W. Easterly (eds.), What Works in Development?: Thinking Big and Small, Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
- *Banerjee, A.V. (2008). “Why fighting poverty is hard?”, mimeo, MIT.
- *Angrist, J., and Pischke, J.-S. (2009). Mostly Harmless Econometrics, NJ: Princeton University Press, Chapters 2, 4, 5, and 6.
- *Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., and Kremer, M. (2008). “Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit,” In T. Schultz and J. Strauss (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 4, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- Card, D., and Krueger, A. (1994). “Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” American Economic Review, 84, 772-793.
- Angrist, J.D., and Krueger, A.B. (1991), “Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106, 979-1014.
III. Health and Development
- *Strauss, J., and Thomas, D. (2008). “Health over the life course,” In T. Schultz and J. Strauss (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 4, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- *Strauss, J., and Thomas, D. (1998). “Health, Nutrition and Economic Development,” Journal of Economic Literature, 36, 766-817.
- *Bleakley, H. (2010). “Health, Human Capital and Development,” Annual Review of Economics, 2, 283-310.
- *Dupas, P., and Miguel, E. (2017). “Impacts and Determinants of Health Levels in Low-Income Countries,” In A.V. Banerjee and E. Duflo (eds.), Handbook of Field Experiments, Vol. 2, Amsterdam: North Holland.
Readings
- Miguel, E., and Kremer, M. (2004). “Worms: Identifying impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities,” Econometrica, 159-217.
- Oster, E. (2005), “Sexually Transmitted Infections, Sexual Behavior and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120, 467-515.
- Bleakley, H. (2007). “Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 73-117.
- Cutler, D., Fung, W., Kremer, M., Singhal, M., and Vogl, T. (2010). “Early-life Malaria Exposure and Adult Outcomes: Evidence from Malaria Eradication in India,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 72-94.
- Dupas, P. (2011). “Do Teenagers Respond to HIV Risk Information? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya”, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3, 1-36.
- Tarozzi, A., Mahajan, A., Blackburn, B., Kopf, D., Krishnan, L., Yoong, J. (2014). “Micro-loans, Insecticide-Treated Bednets and Malaria: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Orissa (India),” American Economic Review, 104, 1909-41.
- Baird, S., Hicks, J.H., Kremer, M., and Miguel, E. (2016). “Worms at Work: Long-run impacts of a child health investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131, 1637-1680.
- Chong, A., Cohen, I., Field, E., Nakasone, E., and Torero, M. (2016). “Iron Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Peru,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8, 222-255.
- Spears, D., and Lamba, S. (2016). “Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Sanitation on Childhood Cognitive Skills Evidence from India’s Total Sanitation Campaign,” Journal of Human Resources, 51, 298-327.
- Das, J., Chowdhury, A., Hussam, R., and Banerjee, A.V., Hussam, R. (2016). “The Impact of Training Informal Providers on Clinical Practice in West Bengal, India: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Science, 354, aaf7384.
- Lavy, V., Schlosser, A., and Shany, A. (2016). “Out of Africa: Human Capital Consequences of In Utero Conditions,” Working Paper.
- Aguero, J.M., and Beleche, T. (2017). “Health shocks and their long-lasting impact on health behaviors: Evidence from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in Mexico,” Journal of Health Economics, 54, 40-55.
- Baranov, V., and Kohler, H.-P. (2017). “The Impact of AIDS Treatment on Savings and Human Capital Investment in Malawi,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming.
- Bleakley, H. (2010), “Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 1-45.
- Godlonton, S. , and Thornton, R. (2012), “Peer Effects in Learning HIV Results," Journal of Development Economics, 97, 118-129.
- Joshi, S., and Schultz, T.P. (2013), “Family Planning and Women's and Children's Health: Long Term Consequences of an Outreach Program in Matlab, Bangladesh,” Demography, 50, 149-180.
- Thirumurthy, H, Zivin, J,G., and Goldstein, M. (2008), “The Economic Impacts of AIDS Treatment: Labor Supply in Western Kenya,” Journal of Human Resources, 43, 511-552.
- Madajewicz, M., Pfaff, A., van Geen, A., Graziano, J., Hussein, I., Momotaj, H., Sylvi, R., and Ahsan, H. (2007). “Can information alone change behavior? Response to arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh,” Journal of Development Economics, 84, 731.754.
- *Case, A. (2006). “The Primacy of Education,” In A.V. Banerjee, R. Benabou, and D. Mukherjee (eds.), Understanding Poverty, NY: Oxford University Press.
- *Glewwe, P., and Kremer, M. (2006). “Schools, Teachers, and Education Outcomes in Developing Countries,” In E.A. Hanushek and F. Welch, Handbook of Economics of Education, Vol. 2, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- *Orazem, P.F., and King, E.M. (2008). “Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy,” In T. Schultz and J. Strauss (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 4, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- Glewwe, P., and Muralidharan, K. (2016), “Improving Education Outcomes in Developing Countries: Evidence, Knowledge Gaps, and Policy Implications,” In E.A. Hanushek, S. Machin and L. Woessmann (eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 5, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- Duflo, E. (2001). “Schooling and labor market consequences of school construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an unusual policy experiment,” American Economic Review, 91, 795-813.
- Readings
- Schultz, T.P. (2004). “School subsidies for the poor: evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program,” Journal of Development Economics, 74, 199-250.
- Jayachandran, S., and Lleras-Muney, A. (2009). "Life expectancy and human capital investments: Evidence from maternal mortality declines," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124, 349-397.
- Kremer, M., Miguel, E., and Thornton, R. (2009). "Incentives to Learn," Review of Economics & Statistics, 91, 437-456.
- Glewwe, P., Ilias, N., and Kremer, M. (2010). "Teacher Incentives," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 205-227.
- Duflo, E., Dupas, P., and Kremer, M. (2011). “Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya,” American Economic Review, 101, 1739-1774.
- Malamud, O., and Pop-Eleches, C. (2011). “Home Computer Use and the Development of Human Capital,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126, 987-1027.
- Muralidharan, K., and Sundararaman, V. (2011). “Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India,” Journal of Political Economy, 119, 39-77.
- Oster, E., and Thornton, R. (2011). “Menstruation, Sanitary Products and School Attendance: Evidence from Randomized Evaluation,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3, 91-100.
- Jackson, C.K. (2012) “Single-sex schools, student achievement, and course selection: Evidence from rule-based student assignments in Trinidad and Tobago” Journal of Public Economics, 96, 173–187.
- Hidalgo, D., Onofa, M., Oosterbeek, H., and Ponce, J. (2013). “Can provision of free school uniforms harm attendance? Evidence from Ecuador,” Journal of Development Economic, 103, 43-51.
- Mo, D., Zhang, L., Yi, H., Luo, R., Rozelle, S., and Brinton, C. (2013). “School Dropouts and Conditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Rural China's Junior High Schools,” Journal of Development Studies, 49, 190-207.
- Filmer,D., and Schady, N. (2014). "The Medium-Term Effects of Scholarships in a Low Income Country," Journal of Human Resources, 49, 663-694.
- Jayachandran, Seema (2014) “Incentives to teach badly: After-school tutoring in developing countries,” Journal of Development Economics, 108, 190-205.
- Lucas, A.M., and Mbiti, I.M. (2014). "Effects of School Quality on Student Achievement: Discontinuity Evidence from Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics,6, 234-263.
- Glewwe, P., Park, A., and Zhao, M. (2016). “A Better vision for development: Eyeglasses and academic performance in rural primary schools in China,” Journal of Development Economics, 122, 170-182.
- Banerji, R., Berry, J., Shotland, M. (2017). “The Impact of Mother Literacy and Participation Programs on Child Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in India,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming.
- Duflo, E., Dupas, P., and Kremer, M. (2017). “The Impact of Free Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana,” Working Paper.
- Muralidharan, K., and Prakash, N. (2017). “Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming.
- Muralidharan, K., Das, J., Holla, A., and Mohpal, A. (2017). "The fiscal cost of weak governance: Evidence from teacher absence in India," Journal of Public Economics, 145, 116-135.
V. Savings and Credit
- *Morduch, J. (1999). “The Microfinance Promise,” Journal of Economic Literature, 37, 1569-1614.
- *Karlan, D., and Morduch, J. (2010). “Access to Finance,” In D. Rodrik and M. Rosenzweig (eds.). Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 5, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- *Karlan, D., Ratan, A.L., and Zinman, J. (2014). “Savings by and for the Poor: A Research Review and Agenda,” Review of Income and Wealth, 60, 36-78.
- *Banerjee, A.V., Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., and Kinnan, C. (2015). “The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7, 22-53.
- *Field, E., Holland, A., and Pande, R. (2016). “Microfinance: Points of Promise,” In J. Kimmel (ed.), Award Winning Economists Speak on Contemporary Economic Issues, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Readings- Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., Yin, W. (2006). “Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 635-672.
- Burgess, R., and Pande, R. (2005). “Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment,” American Economic Review, 95, 780-795.
- Karlan, D. and Zinman, J. (2008). “Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microfinance,” American Economic Review, 98, 1040-1068.
- Karlan, D., and Zinman, J. (2010). “Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts,” Review of Financial Studies, 23, 433-464.
- Dupas, P., and Robinson, J. (2013). “Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5, 163-192.
- Dupas, P., and Robinson, J. (2013). “Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments,” American Economic Review, 103, 1138-1171.
- Prina, S. (2015). “Banking the poor via savings accounts: Evidence from a field experiment,” Journal of Development Economics, 115, 16-31.
- Dupas, P., Green, S., Keats, A., and Robinson, J. (2016). “Challenges in Banking the Rural Poor: Evidence from Kenya's Western Province,” In S. Edwards, S. Johnson, and D. Weil (Eds.), African Success, Volume III: Modernization and Development, NBER, University of Chicago Press.
- Schaner, S. (2016). “The Cost of Convenience? Transaction Costs, Bargaining Power, and Savings Account Use in Kenya,” Journal of Human Resources, 0815-7350R1.
- *Pande, R. (2008), “Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries,” In T. Schultz and J. Strauss (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 4, Amsterdam: North Holland.
- *Olken, B.A., and Pande, R. (2012). “Corruption in Developing Countries,” Annual Review of Economics, 4, 479-509.
Readings- Bertrand, M., Djankov, S., Hanna, R., and Mullainathan, S. (2007). “Obtaining a Driver’s License in India: An Experimental Approach to Studying Corruption,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 1639-1676.
- Hunt, J. (2007). “How corruption hits people when they are down,” Journal of Development Economics, 84, 574-589.
- Olken, B.A. (2007). “Monitoring corruption: evidence from a field experiment in Indonesia,” Journal of Political Economy, 115, 200-249.
- Ferraz, C., and Finan, F. (2008), “Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil’s Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123, 703-745.
- Peisakhin, L. (2012). “Transparency and Corruption: Evidence from India,” Journal of Law & Economics, 55, 129-149.
- Babonis, G.J., Camara Fuertes, L.R., and Schwabe, R. (2016). “Monitoring Corruptible Politicians,” American Economic Review, 106, 2371-2405.
- Lewis-Faupel, S., Neggers, Y., Olken, B.A., and Pande, R. (2016). “Can Electronic Procurement Improve Infrastructure Provision? Evidence from Public Works in India and Indonesia,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8, 258-283.
NOTE: Papers marked by (*) are compulsory readings. You are not allowed to choose one or more of these papers for presenting in class.