This course explores the conditions and experiences of developing economies as well as the policies and factors that affect their economic growth and performance. It presents a conceptual framework to help you discern the sources of successful and not-so-successful economies, as well as scrutinizes important distinctions between the global ‘North’ and the global ‘South.’ You will examine how the markets and institutions of low-income and middle-income countries operate, the sources of under-development, the barriers to economic growth, and the policies that local governments and stakeholders can pursue to help alleviate poverty and stimulate economic development.

The course will help you thoroughly understand:

• Why certain types of nations succeed economically and why others fail
• How economic theories learned in our Microeconomics Theory and Macroeconomics Theory courses can be applicable to explaining how economies develop and how global poverty can be combated
• The sources of productivity growth and the causes of inequality, and what to do about them
• National laws, regulations, policies, and international treaties that affect economic development at the macro and micro levels
• Real-world data and tools for data management

Course Objectives:

• Use the production function model to derive a country’s long-term growth rate and calculate it using actual data
• Compute measures of income inequality and the poverty rate within countries and compare patterns of income distribution across countries and over time
• Describe, distinguish, and critique the different models of economic development, and appraise the available evidence for them
• Summarize and assess the arguments for and against foreign aid
• Explain the impact of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) on productivity growth and income distribution based on existing evidence
• Evaluate whether openness to trade and FDI has been beneficial or harmful to less developed countries

This course is taught by Walter G. Park, an accomplished professor who has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale. He has published several articles in acclaimed journals and is an Advisory Editor for Research Policy at Elsevier Science.

Click here for the official course description from the American University catalog.

Learn more today. Call us at 855-725-7614 to speak to an admissions representative, or request more information here.