Political Economy of Development

This course is designed to serve as an in-depth introduction to political economy, broadly defined. It will survey and discuss major scholarly debates about the causes of uneven economic development, with a particular focus on Asia . The course is driven by the following questions: Why do countries differ so much in their level of economic development? Why can some countries escape poverty, while others struggle to achieve economic prosperity? What is the role of political institutions in promoting economic development? To what extent are countries and regions destined for a certain level of development due to their geography, culture, or history? And how are the answers to these questions shaped by scholars' theoretical, disciplinary or ideological lenses? The course will review a range of political economy schools, including those that adopt quantitative and/or qualitative methods. However, students need not have any prior training in these methods.