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10161-01 - Lecture: Economic Growth and Development 6 CP

Semester fall semester 2022
Course frequency Every fall sem.
Lecturers Yvan Lengwiler (yvan.lengwiler@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Marina Andrea Misev (marina.misev@unibas.ch)
Content Why are some countries so poor and others so rich? Why are some countries growing rapidly while others are stagnating or shrinking? Where does economic growth come from in the first place? Although economics has not yet settled these central questions, many ideas have been developed with which we want to familiarize ourselves in this course.

We do this by means of two methods: Firstly, you will read original scholarly literature. The focus in this course is not about covering the greatest amount of terrain, but studying a few important topics in some depth. Secondly, you will perform some empirical exercises that you have seen in the literature yourself.

We will start with Solow's growth model, and also study some extensions of this basic model. We then move on to include demographic questions into the growth model. Depending on how quickly we can proceed and on your interest, we will also discuss issues of natural resources or institutional aspects that are relevant for economic development.
Bibliography Reading and data material provided via ADAM.
Comments Teaching staff:
The lecturer for the course is Yvan Lengwiler (yvan.lengwiler@unibas.ch).
Assistants for the course are below. Assistants may also conduct some of the lecture sessions
Marina Misev (marina.misev@unibas.ch)
Maxime Stern (maxime.stern@unibas.ch)
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us. If you would like a more in-depth discussion, please make an appointment.
The content of this syllabus is currently still provisional and individual aspects may be changed in the course of the semester. We suggest you regularly check the course page on ADAM for the latest information.

Organization:
This lecture is organized a little bit differently than other courses. Most of the teaching will consist of self-study. Contact time with the lecturers will be online via Zoom.
Each week you will receive one or more texts (typically published scholarly papers) to study by yourself as preparation. These texts are accompanied by "guiding questions". The questions are not to be answered simply with yes or no, but are meant to encourage you to reflect. Alternatively, it is possible that in some weeks you will not be provided with texts, but with exercises (mainly of an econometric nature). If this is the case, you will have to solve the exercises and have your solution ready for the lecture. We encourage you to collaborate with your colleagues for exercises and weekly tasks.
You will be divided into two groups. These groups will do a weekly live Zoom meeting with the lecturer. The Zoom meeting usually lasts about 1.5 hours. The weekly contact time is therefore reduced from 4x45min to around 90 minutes. However, your workload will not be reduced because you will have to spend more time on preparation.
The first meeting during the first week of the semester is an exception. This meeting will be with all students together and in the classroom (not online). In this lecture we will discuss logistical and organizational aspects, and have an opportunity to get to know each other. We will also take a view at the main databases we will use in the empirical work, and talk about the importance of the logarithm to deal with the models we will study.
All materials will be made available on ADAM. Zoom dial-in information will also be provided on ADAM or possibly by Outlook. The Zoom meetings will take place on Friday afternoon in the time span between 14:15 and 18:00.
Group A will meet from 14:30 –16:00 and Group B will meet from 16:30 –18:00. You will be assigned randomly to one of the groups. If you have a preference, let us know as soon as possible.
Weblink ADAM-Weblink

 

Admission requirements To be successful, you must have passed the following classes before joining this course :
• Economics Principles (10130 Grundlagen der VWL)
• Statistics (23346 Statistik)
Ideally, you would also have completed these courses as well:
• 10184 Intermediate Macroeconomics
• 10134 Intermediate Microeconomics
• Mathematics 1 (10135 Mathematik 1)
Course application Registration: Please enrol in the Online Services before the course starts. EUCOR-Students and students of other Swiss Universities have to enrol at the students administration office (studseksupport1@unibas.ch) within the official enrolment period. In order to get access to ADAM in time, it is best to enrol before the course starts though.
Enrolment = Registration for the exam!
Language of instruction English
Use of digital media Online, mandatory

 

Interval Weekday Time Room
wöchentlich Friday 14.15-18.00 Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114

Dates

Date Time Room
Friday 23.09.2022 14.15-18.00 Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114
Friday 30.09.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 07.10.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 14.10.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 21.10.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 28.10.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 04.11.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 11.11.2022 14.15-15.45 Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 001
Friday 18.11.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital/online this week.
Friday 25.11.2022 14.15-18.00 Dies Academicus
Friday 02.12.2022 14.15-18.00 - Online Präsenz -, The course will be digital (video) this week.
Friday 09.12.2022 14.15-15.45 Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S13 HG.35
Modules Electives Bachelor Business and Economics: Recommendations (Bachelor's degree subject: Business and Economics (Start of studies before 01.08.2021))
Modul: Aufbau Economics (Bachelor's Studies: Business and Economics)
Modul: Wahlbereich in Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Bachelor's degree subject: Business and Economics)
Module: Business and Economics III (Bachelor's Studies: Business and Economics (Start of studies before 01.08.2021))
Module: Economics II (Bachelor's Studies: Business and Economics (Start of studies before 01.08.2021))
Assessment format record of achievement
Assessment details 10% of the final grade will be determined on your participation during the Zoom meetings. Please note: If you are unsuccessful in solving a problem, that is is completely acceptable, provided you can explain how and why you failed, or how you got stuck. Failure to achieve a solution is completely acceptable. It happens to all of us. What we require is only that you seriously try.
45% of the final grade will be determined by a mid-term exam. This exam may be held in traditional fashion in a room at WWZ, or might alternatively be a homework assignment.
45% of the final grade will be determined a conventional written final exam. The tasks of the final exam will be formulated in English, but can be answered in English or German.


Date of the exams:
Midterm: 04.11.2022; 14:15; Kollegienhaus HS 001: A-Z.
Final exam: 09.12.2022; 14:15-15:45. WWZ S13: A-Z.
Assessment registration/deregistration Reg.: course registration, dereg: cancel course registration
Repeat examination no repeat examination
Scale 1-6 0,1
Repeated registration as often as necessary
Responsible faculty Faculty of Business and Economics , studiendekanat-wwz@unibas.ch
Offered by Faculty of Business and Economics

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