Econometric Analysis of Development Policies
For this specialization we advise you to register in the Major Economics of Development (ECD)
The Econometric Analysis of Development Policies pathway will provide students with an appreciation of the role of incentives and institutions in driving sustainable economic growth, reducing inequality and poverty, and enhancing human development. They will learn to conceive, organize, conduct and present empirical research related to the preceding using modern econometric techniques. The specialization focuses on analysis of panel data and methods of impact evaluation. Empirical applications will be drawn from a variety of areas including the effect of trade, remittances, aid and foreign investment on growth, and evaluations of policies in the area of education and labour markets, health and nutrition, prevention of corruption and rent-seeking.
Target group
The specialization is designed to train individuals wishing to pursue a career in the academic world, government administration, development banking, international development agencies and NGOs.
Specialization courses
- Growth, Inequality and Poverty
- Econometric Analysis of Development Policies
Teaching Staff
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Arjun Bedi is Professor of Quantitative Economics. He received a BA degree in Economics Honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University in 1991 and earned a Masters (1992) and Phd in Economics (1996) from Tulane University in New Orleans. Before coming to the ISS he held positions at the University of Bonn (1998-99) and Columbia University (1996-98). His research interests lie in development economics, economies of transition countries and human resource economics. His work has been published in several international economic journals including Journal of Development Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Development Studies, Applied Economics, Labour Economics, and Economics of Education Review.
For more information, see www.iss.nl/bedi
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Mansoob Murshed is Professor of Economics of Conflict and Peace. He has taught at several UK universities including Birmingham, Bradford and Surrey. His teaching interests cover International Economics and its implications for Development. His research interests are development, globalisation and conflict / post-conflict reconstruction. He holds an honorary fellowship at the Peace Research Institute (PRIO) Oslo and was the first recipient of the Prince Claus rotating Chair in Development and Equity (established in memory of Prince Claus, a Prince Consort of The Netherlands).
For more information, see: www.iss.nl/murshed
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Lorenzo Pellegrini is lecturer in Development Economics. He teaches courses on development and environmental economics. His interests lie in economics of institutions and governance, development economics, environmental and ecological economics. Applied research includes dynamics of deforestation and corruption, with fieldwork and household surveys in Pakistan.
For more information, see www.iss.nl/pellegrini
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Susan Newman, Lecturer in Development Economics. She joined the ISS in November 2010. Prior to this Susan was employed as Senior Researcher at CSID. Her main research interests include the political economy of post-apartheid industrial development in South Africa, the relationship between financial and physical markets for commodities, and linkages between the real and financial in capitalist accumulation more broadly.
For more information see: www.iss.nl/newman
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Rolph van der Hoeven is Professor of Employment and Development Economics and Member of the Committee on Development Cooperation of the Dutch Government. Earlier he was Director of ILO's Policy Coherence Group, Manager of the Technical Secretariat of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, Chief Economist of UNICEF and policy analyst for the ILO in Ethiopia and Zambia. His work concentrates on issues of employment, inequality and economic reform on which he has widely published.
For more information, see www.iss.nl/vanderhoeven
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Natascha Wagner is lecturer in economics.She carried out her doctoral studies at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. In Senegal, she worked with the Conseil National de Lutte contre le Sida (CNLS) under the auspices of the World Bank. She analyzed the impact of randomly implemented HIV/AIDS sensitization campaigns. She was also involved in an impact evaluation for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project concerned a rural infrastructure program that aims at providing electricity for villages that are not connected to any electrical grid. The multifunctional platforms that are installed in the course of the intervention are big motors that transform diesel into electric energy. In Côte d'Ivoire she supported the Projet d'urgence Multisectoriel de Lutte contre le Sida (PUMLS) with the implementation of a HIV prevention project.
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Marja de Clercq Zubli is the Programme Administrator for ECD (Economics of Sustainable Development) with its two Specializations, Economic Analysis of Development Policies and The Global Economy. Marja is Dutch and joined the ISS in 1998, and since 1999 she has been the administrator for Economics of Sustainable Development. Her major task is being the link between the professors and the students, arranging study trips and helping students during their stay in The Netherlands. She really enjoys working in this international environment, learning each year more about the different cultures. As one of her hobbies is traveling, she already visited some of her former ECD students in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. For more information about the specializations: zubli@iss.nl
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Annet van Geen is the Staff Group (Economics of Sustainable Development) Administrator. She deals with finance and daily management. She is also programme administrator for several courses which are attached to the Economics of Development Masters programme, as well as administrator for the Children Youth and Development Diploma Programme and gives administrative support to Professor Jan Pronk. Annet is Dutch and moved to The Hague in 1986, she joined the ISS in 1996, and since 2001 she has been the administrator for Economics of Sustainable Development. Annet has edited the two ISS Cookbooks – A Taste of the World (2002) and Teach Learn Cook (2007) and is currently working on the 3rd cookbook. vangeen@iss.nl
Econometric Analysis of Development Policies Courses
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Growth, Inequality and Poverty
This course will address matters related to long-term economic growth, as well as related issues in inequality (the distribution of income and wealth) and poverty that ultimately contribute to sustainable development. One of the major problems associated with development are the low-incomes of today’s developing countries. For most poor countries growth constitutes the principal avenue via which poverty can be reduced, as growth provides greater opportunities and enlarges the economic pie. Another, related, issue concerns distributive justice, both at the national level and between nation states. Excessive inequality can undermine societal cohesion and human security. Today’s rich countries are affluent because they historically grew faster than the poor nations of the world. The study of the causes of rapid growth is, therefore, important. Is growth driven merely by physical capital accumulation through savings? Or are ideas and human capital accumulation equally important? Does greater income or wealth inequality hinder or foster growth? Is the lack of rapid growth a consequence of the failure of policies being coordinated between different branches of the economy? Ultimately, are there are other factors that determine long-term growth besides policies: geography, endowments, institutional quality (governance), democracy or cultural (religious) character? What is the difference between growth trickling down to the indigent and destitute, and genuinely pro-poor growth. We are constantly being told that increased international trade and openness is key to economic success. But, does trade benefit all countries equally? Is trade between the North and the South less advantageous for the South? Also, trade is meant to be an engine of growth, but has growing trade in our globalized era brought average incomes in the world closer together or further apart? In addition to the theory and empirical evidence connected with the issues enumerated above, students will become familiar with the analytical tools required to apply these and other issues towards more detailed case studies, and comparative analyses.
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Econometric Analysis of Development Policies
Each year several students find that the methodological tools at their command often falls short of the problems that they would like to analyze. This shortcoming sometimes hampers their ability to read and understand empirical papers in professional journals and restricts their ability to carry out a more sophisticated analysis of the research issues that they have chosen to tackle.
The aim of this course is to pre-empt such problems.
While enhancing their ability to apply appropriate methods and techniques is certainly part of the course, primacy is given to the development problem that is to be analyzed and the choice of problem will dictate the econometric technique to be studied/used. The course is structured in terms of a problem-solving approach and is tailored to the revealed needs of the students. The course has been designed keeping in mind the research topics that you have decided to tackle.
The course is divided into three sections.
The first part of the course builds upon the time-series lectures in 3203 and covers a number of time series techniques that are frequently applied to the dynamic modeling of relationships between macroeconomic variables as well as the short- and long-run behaviour of individual macro-variables.The second part of the course deals with the various econometric issues that arise in the analysis of panel data. The course will deal with static and dynamic linear panel data methods.The final part of the course deals with the concepts and methods of impact evaluation in the social sciences. A brief look at the research topics that you have selected supports the idea that many of the issues that you want to analyze may be framed in terms of an impact evaluation. Accordingly, this part of the course begins with a review of the evaluation problem and discusses methods that may be used to evaluate the outcomes of various interventions.
