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Economics 3479W

Economic Growth

Spring 2012

Prof. Francis W. Ahking

   

Office:  Mont. 336,    Office hours:  TuTh, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m., and by appointment

Office telephone:  6-3026,    e-mail:  francis.ahking@uconn.edu

Required:  Economic Growth, 2nd ed., by David N. Weil

This book is available from the UConn Co-op.  You can also buy a new/used copy from Amazon.com at a discount, or buy an e-copy from Coursesmart.com.  Another source is Barnes and Noble, which also has a textbook rental service.  The Co-op is starting a rental service, but I'm not sure that it has this textbook.  You can check with them.  There are many other websites on the internet that sell used/new textbooks or rent them.  You are encouraged to check them out on you own.

The publisher’s website for the textbook contains a wealth of useful information including multiple choice questions, flashcards, and exercises using graphs for each chapter.

 

 

 

    

 

Introduction

 

    Welcome to economic growth.  In this course, we study economic growth at the macroeconomic level.  We will also look at development issues, but the main focus will be on economic growth.  Economic growth is the study of the process of growth and development by combining several areas of economics, such as microeconomics, macroeconomics, labor and population economics.  We now know that economic factors alone cannot fully explain the growth process.  Other important factors include location (including climate and natural resources) and institutional factors such as the rule of law.  Please start by taking a careful look at this syllabus.  Hopefully, it contains answers to most or all the questions that you may have about this class.  If not, make sure you ask.  Again, welcome!

 

Quizzes, Examination and Grade

 

Participation and online discussions: To encourage discussions and taking an active role in class, participation will count for 10% of your final grade.  We will have discussions both in class and online.  We will also have exercises, both in class (graded) and not graded.  I'll ask students to provide solutions in class.  You can also raise questions in class for discussion.

You can find more information about online discussion by going to this class's HuskyCT's website and looking under Information for Discussion.

 
Quizzes: There will be six quizzes given on Thursdays over the semester, approximately one every two weeks. Only your five best quizzes will count toward your final grade.  Quizzes will consist of multiple choice questions, definitions, and/or short-answer questions.

 
Examinations: There will also be one midterm and one final examination.  The midterm and the final examinations will also consist of multiple choice questions, definitions, short-answer questions, but will also include short essay questions.

 
Quiz dates:

Note:  All quizzes are given on Thursdays:

 

1st quiz:  January 26                     2nd quiz:  February 9                  3rd quiz:  February 23

4th quiz:  March 22                      5th quiz:  April 5                             6th quiz:  April 19

                 

Examination dates:

Mid-semester examination:  Thursday, March 1

Final examination (preliminary):   Tuesday, May 1, 10:30 - 12:30

 

Grading:

Discussion and Participation:

Quizzes:

Midterm (Th, 3/1):

Final (Tu, 5/1, 10:30 - 12:30):

Writing:

 

  10%

  10%

  30% 

  30%

  20%

Your letter grade is determined according to the following.  You numerical average may be adjusted before the letter grade is determined.

A A- B+ B B-    
92%+ 88% - 91% 84% - 87% 80% - 83% 76% - 79%    
C+ C C- D+ D D- F

72% - 75% 

 68% - 71% 64% - 67% 60% - 63% 56% - 59%  52% - 55%    < 51%

 

 

Other Class Policies

 

Missed quizzes

and examination:

 If you miss one quiz, you will not be given a makeup since only your best five out of six quizzes will count. If you miss more than one, you will need to give me a verifiable reason and makeup will be at my discretion.   If you know you are not going to be here for a quiz or an examination, let me know ahead of time.  Very often, I can make arrangement for you to take the examination or quiz before the scheduled time.  If you miss the final examination, you will need to get permission from the Dean of Student to arrange a makeup.

 
Electronic devices: The classroom is a learning community.  As such respect for each other must always be maintained.  Certain behaviors are considered disrespectful while others are considered disruptive.  We will adopt the following community rule of behavior concerning electronic devices:

Cell phone/Smartphone and/or pager, MP3 players:

Please turn them off for the duration of the class.

Laptop computer, ipad, or other similar devices:

Laptop computers and other similar devices should only be used strictly for the purpose of note-taking during the class.  Net-surfing, instant-messaging, e-mailing, etc., are not permitted for the duration of the class.  I will trust everyone to follow this rule.  However, in the event that someone is caught violating this trust, that person will only be allowed to return to class without the laptop computer or similar devices.

If you are still enrolled in this class after the drop/add period, you are agreeing to the class's policy on electronic devices.
Attendance:  You are expected to attend all classes at their scheduled time and be responsible for all assigned materials.

 
Cheating and plagiarism: You are, of course, encouraged to discuss your assignments with other students. However, any work that you turn in for grade must represent your own independent work.  Anyone who violates this policy will be dealt with according to the Student Code of the University, which may be found on the website of the Division of Student Affairs.  Pay special attention to Appendix A:  Academic Integrity in Undergraduate Education and Research. If you have any questions, check with me.  This is the only reminder that you will receive.

 

Writing in Economics

This is a “W” course.  As such, 20% of your final grade will depend on the writing component of the course.  You can find more information about the "W" component of the course in the "Writing Component" folder in the homepage for this course in HuskyCT.  Generally speaking, there will be a series of writing assignments, each will be peer-reviewed and revised, before a final copy is submitted.  Your grade for each writing assignment is an average of your draft and the revised copy.  It is important that you realize that University "W" regulations require a review/revise process.  What this means is that you cannot simply turn in final copies of your papers.  You will not receive credit for these papers if you do so.  I must also mention that you must pass the “W” component to pass the course.  We will be using portion of the class time to discuss writing.  

 

Course outline and schedule

    After the two introductory chapters (chapters 1 – 2) and the last concluding chapter (chapter 17), the course is divided into three core areas; Factor Accumulation (chapters 3 – 6); Productivity (chapters 7 – 11); and Fundamentals (chapters 12 – 14).  We are omitting chapters 15 - 16.  We will cover all the mentioned chapters, but not all will be covered in the same depth.  There are many "boxed" articles throughout the textbook.  They are relatively short and are designed to supplement the lecture materials.  I have selected a few from each chapter for the purpose of in-class discussions, but not all will be discussed in class depending on time.  You are, however, responsible for all the "boxed" articles whether or not they are discussed in class.  

I.  Introduction to Growth Economics

 

1/17, 1/19:

Chapters 1 and 2

Discussion: "Growth Versus Business Cycles", p. 15

                 "Learning from Historical Data", pp. 42 - 43

            

II.  Factor Accumulation

           

1/24, 1/26:

Chapter 3, 1st quiz

Discussion: “The Rise and Fall of Capital”, p. 58

     “Government Policy and the Saving Rate”, p. 72

     “The Rise and Fall of Capital Revisited”, p. 75

 
1/31, 2/3: 

Chapters 3, 4

Discussion: “Family-Planning Programs and Their Effects”, p. 109

Class note on Solow's Model

 
2/7, 2/9: 

Chapter 5, 2nd quiz

Discussion:  “Aids in Africa”, pp.128 - 129

                  “How Many People Can the Earth Support?”, pp. 138 – 139

 
2/14, 2/16: 

Chapters 5, 6

Discussion: “The College Premium in the United States”, pp. 168 – 169

 
2/21, 2/23:

Chapter 6, 7, 3rd quiz

Discussion: “Human Perfectability and the Growth Slowdown”, p. 181

 

III.  Productivity

 

2/28: 

Chapter 7

Discussion:  “Problems with Measuring Capital – and Their Implications for Measuring

                   productivity”,  p. 195

                  “A Tale of Two Cities”, p. 205

 
3/1:  

 Mid-semester examination (chapters 1 - 7)

 
3/6 -  3/8:

Chapter 8

Discussion: “International Technology Transfer”, pp. 222 -223

    “Embodied Technological Progress and Leapfrogging”, p. 234 - 235

 
3/13, 3/15:   

Spring break

 
3/20, 3/22: 

Chapters 9, 10, 4th quiz

Discussion: “Science and Technology”, p. 256, and “Where is the Cutting Edge of

Technology”, p. 261

 
3/27, 3/29: 

Chapter 10, 11

Discussion: “Anti-Globalization”, pp. 331 - 333

 

IV.  Fundamentals

 

4/3, 4/5: 

Chapter 12, 5th quiz

Discussion: “Planning Is Not Always a Failure”, p. 353

    “Government Regulation: Helping Hand or Grabbing Hand?”, p. 358

 
4/10, 4/12:

Chapter 13

Discussion: “Is Growth Good for the Poor?”, pp. 378 - 379

 
4/17, 4/19: 

Chapter 14, 6th quiz

Discussion: “Pitfalls of Cultural Explanations for Economic Growth”, p. 415

 

V.  Conclusion

 

4/24, 4/26:

Chapters 14, 17

Discussion:  “Will Growth Make Us Happy?”, pp. 518 - 520

 

 Tentative final examination date: Tuesday, May 1, 10:30 - 12:30

 
 

Last revised in January, 2012