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Readings

Many of the readings are from the course required text:

[Understanding Poverty] = Buy at Amazon Banerjee, Abhijit V., Roland Benabou, and Dilip Mookherjee, eds. Understanding Poverty. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195305203.

LEC # TOPICS READINGS
Introduction
1 Introduction to poverty and developing countries

Recommended

Tables 1-5. World Development Report 2009. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2009, pp. 352-360.

Buy at Amazon Hartman, Betsey, and James Boyce. "Siphoning the Surplus: The Trials of a Poor Peasant Family." Chapter 12 in Needless Hunger: Voices from a Bangladesh Village. Oakland, CA: Food First Books, 1979. ISBN: 9780935028034. [Preview with Google Books] (See pages 20-29, focus on 27-29)
2 Will growth eradicate poverty? Or, does a rising tide lift all ships?

Dollar, David, and Aart Kraay. "Growth Is Good for the Poor." Journal of Economic Growth 7, no. 3 (2002): 195-225. (Read through page 14)

Recommended

Datt, G., and M. Ravallion. "Is India's Economic Growth Leaving the Poor Behind?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 16, no. 3 (2002): 89-108. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
3

The economic lives of the poor

Guest lecture: Prof. Abhijit Banerjee

 Banerjee, Abhijit, and Esther Duflo. "The Economic Lives of the Poor." Journal of Economic Perspectives 21, no. 1 (2007): 141-167. (Read until the beginning of section "Understanding The Economic Lives Of The Poor.") (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
Food
4 Potatoes: nutrition, productivity and population growth Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from an Historical Natural Experiment." Cambridge, MA: NBER Working Paper No. 15157, 2008. (Read the introduction and section 5.A, the graphical presentation of results.) (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 2.0MB)
5 The Bengal Famine of 1943: Amartya Sen and Satayajit Ray Buy at Amazon Sen, Amartya. "The Great Bengal Famine." Chapter 6 in Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780198284635.
6 Famines and other disasters: cause and reactions O'Grada, Cormac. "Making Famine History." Journal of Economic Literature 45, no. 1 (2007): 5-38.
7 Understanding nutrition decisions Jensen, Robert. "Raiders of the Lost Arc Elasticity." Reprinted in Freakonomics blog. New York Times, May 5, 2008. (Read Part I, II, and III)
Education
8 Education and child labor

Udry, Christopher. "Child Labor." Chapter 16 in Understanding Poverty.

Basu, Kaushik. "Policy Dimensions for Controlling Child Labor." Chapter 17 in Understanding Poverty.
9 How to get children into school? Evaluating different policy options

"Education: Meeting the Millenium Development Goals." J-PAL Bulletin, Issue 1, 2005.

Duflo, Esther, Rachel Glennerster, and Michael Kremer. "Randomized Evaluations of Interventions in Social Service Delivery." Development outreach, 2004. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
10 Education: educated for what?

Buy at Amazon Easterly, William. "Educated for What?" Chapter 4 in The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780262550420.

Case, Anne. "The Primacy of Education." Chapter 18 in Understanding Poverty.
11 Remedying education: evidence from two randomized evaluations Banerjee, Abhijit, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, and Leigh Linden. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India." Quarterly Journal of Economics 122, no. 3 (2007): 1235-1264.
Health
12 The challenge of delivering healthcare to the poor: Udaipur Banerjee, Abhijit, and Esther Duflo. "Health and Health Care in Rajasthan: Identifying Problems, Finding Solutions." Case study. Cambridge, MA: Kennedy School of Government.
13 Disease and development: micro and macro approaches

Acemoglu, Daron, and Simon Johnson. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth." Journal of Political Economy 115, no. 6 (2007): 925-985. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Recommended

Bleakley, Hoyt. "Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure." Working paper. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2007. (Published in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2 (2010): 1–45.) (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.9MB)
14 Delivering healthcare: malaria and the bednet controversy

Rodrik, Dani. "Jeff Sachs Vindicated." Dani Rodrik's Weblog: Unconventional Thoughts on Economic Development and Globalization, January 15, 2008. (Read post and discussion)

Dupas, Pascaline, and Jessica Cohen. "Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Randomized Malaria Prevention Experiment." Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
15 Investment and technology: should we subsidize fertilizer?

Dugger, Celia W. "Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts." The New York Times, December 2, 2007.

Buy at Amazon Morris, Michael, et al. Fertilizer Use in African Agriculture: Lessons Learned and Good Practice Guidelines. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications, 2007. ISBN: 9780821368800. (Read introduction only)
Finance
16 Introduction to credit, savings and insurance Besley, Timothy. "Nonmarket Institutions for Credit and Risk Sharing in Low-Income Countries." Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 3 (1995): 115-127.
17 The microcredit promise?

Bennett, Dave. "Small Change." The Boston Globe, September 20, 2009.

Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, and Cynthia Kinnan. "The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation." Working paper. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technolology, 2009. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1MB)
18 Savings Buy at Amazon Collins, Daryl, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, and Orlanda Ruthven. "The Daily Grind." Chapter 2 in Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780691141480.
19 Insurance Morduch, Jonathan. "Microinsurance: The Next Revolution?" Chapter 22 in Understanding Poverty.
Institutions
20 Property rights on the ground Mooya, Manya M., and Chris E. Cloete. "Land Tenure and Urban Poverty Alleviation: Theory, Evidence and New Directions." Paper presented at Integrating Generations: FIG Working Week 2008. Stockholm, Sweden, June 14-19, 2008. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
21 Property rights and the wealth of nations

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. "Understanding Prosperity and Poverty: Geography, Institutions and the Reversal of Fortune." Chapter 2 in Understanding Poverty.

Recommended

Engerman, Stanley L., and Kenneth Sokolo. "Colonialism, Inequality and Long-Run Paths of Development." Chapter 3 in Understanding Poverty.
International dimensions
22 The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Krueger, Anne O. "Whither the World Bank and the IMF?" Journal of Economic Literature 36, no. 4 (1998): 1983-2020.
23 Globalization and trade Banerjee, Abhijit. "Globalization and All That." Chapter 6 in Understanding Poverty.
24 Globalization and financial crisis Ocampo, J. "Latin America's Growth and Equity Frustrations during Structural Reforms." Journal of Economic Perspectives 18 (2004): 67-88.
25 Does aid work?

Buy at Amazon Banerjee, Abhijit, and Ruimin He. "Making Aid Work." Pp. 44-92 in Reinventing Foreign Aid. Edited by William Easterly. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780262550666.

Recommended

Easterly, William. "Can the West Save Africa?" Journal of Economic Literature 47, no. 2 (2009): 373-447.