ARE 251/Econ 270A

Ethan Ligon

  1. Authoritative Version of Syllabus (PDF)
  2. Choice of Topics (PDF)
  3. Questionnaire (PDF)
  4. List of Topics (PDF)
  5. Problem Set 1 (PDF)
  6. Problem Set 2 (PDF)

Reading

  • Economic Growth and Income Inequality, Simon Kuznets. The American Economic Review Vol. 45, No. 1 (Mar., 1955), pp. 1-28.
  • On the Measurement of Poverty, Anthony Atkinson (1987) Econometrica 55(4):749-764.
  • Risk Sharing, Ligon (2005) The New Palgrave's Dictionary of Economics.
  • Targeting and Informal Insurance, Ligon (2004) in Insurance Against Poverty, ed. Stefan Dercon, Oxford University Press.
  • The Bargaining Problem, John F. Nash, Jr. (1950). Econometrica18(2):155-162

    • Presentations

    Following is an evolving list of planned class presentations, along with readings. You should plan to read all the papers referenced below before the class presentation.

  • September 13th, Biswo Poudel. Topic: Political Economy. Chosen paper: Odious Debt, Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran (2005). Antecedent paper: Sovereign Debt: Is to forgive to forget?, Bulow, Jeremy and Kenneth Rogoff (1989), American Economic Review 79(March):43-50. Other papers: Sovereign Debt as Intertemporal Barter Kenneth M. Kletzer and Brian D. Wright (200), American Economic Review 90(3):621-639.

  • September 15th, Mame-Fatou Diagne. Topic: Firms. Chosen Paper: Do Firms Want to Borrow More? Testing Credit Constraints Using a Directed Lending Program, Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran (2005). Antecedent paper: Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?, Kaplan S. N.; Zingales L. (1997) Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(1):169-215.

  • September 20th, Rocio Titiunik. Topic: Learning/Networks. Chosen Paper: Social Networks in Ghana, Christopher Udry and Timothy Conley (2004). Antecedent paper: Learning by doing and learning from others: Human capital and technical change in agriculture", Foster and Rosenzweig (1995) Journal of Political Economy, 103 (6): 1176-1209. Related short paper: Social Learning Through Networks: The Adoption of New Agricultural Technologies in Ghana (working paper version), Conley and Udry (2000) American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

  • September 29th, Daniel Egel. Topic: Measuring Poverty. Chosen Paper: Micro--Level Estimation of Poverty and Inequality, Chris Elbers, Jean Lanjouw and Peter Lanjouw (2003), Econometrica 71(1):355-364. Antecedent paper: On the unequal inequality of poor communities, Chris Elbers, Peter Lanjouw, Johan Mistiaen, Berk Ozler, and Ken Simler (2004) World Bank Economic Review 18(3):401-421. Bonus paper 1: Combining Micro and Macro Data in Microeconometric Models, Guido Imbens and Tony Lancaster, Review of Economic Studies 61(4):655-680.

  • October 6th, Mark Miller. Topic: Political Economy Chosen Paper: Democratization, Decentralization and the Distribution of Local Public Goods in a Poor Rural Economy, Foster and Rosenzweig (2004). Antecedent paper: Corruption and Decentralization of Infrastructure Delivery in Developing Countries, Bardhan and Mookherjee (2001).

  • October 13th, Sepideh Modrek. Topic: Health Chosen Paper: New Roles for Marriage in Urban Africa, Nancy Luke and Kaivan Munshi (2003). Antecedent Paper: The Impact of Marriage Change on the Risks of Exposure to Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa, Michel Carael. In Nuptiality in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ed. Caroline Bledsoe and Gilles Pison. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1994.

  • October 20th, Brian Scholl. Topic: Political Economy Chosen Paper: Can Mandated Political > Representation Increase Policy Influence for Disadvantaged Minorities? > Theory and Evidence from India, Rohini Pande (2003). American Economics Review 93(4):1132-1151.

  • October 27th, Paulina Oliva Vallejo. Topic: Migration Chosen Paper: Determinants of Migration and Coyote Use among Undocumented Mexican Migrants to the US, Genicot and Senesky (2004). Antecedent Paper: The social process of undocumented border crossing among Mexican migrants., Singer and Massey (1998), International Migration Review 32(3).

  • November 3th, Jill Luoto. Topic: Risk & Health Chosen Paper: Risk-Sharing Networks and Insurance Against Illness., Dercon and DeWeerdt (2005). Antecedent Paper: Insuring Consumption Against Illness., Gertler and Gruber (2002), American Economic Review 92(1):51-70.

  • November 10th, Clair Null. Topic: Poverty Dynamics Chosen Paper: Geographic Poverty Traps? A Micro Model of Consumption Growth in Rural China., Jalan and Ravallion (2002). Journal of Applied Econometrics 17:329-346. Antecedent Paper: Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth., Romer (1986), Journal of Political Economy 94(5):1002-1037.

  • November 17th, Quoc Luong. Topic: Households Chosen Paper: Rotten Parents and Child Labor Antoine Bommier and Pierre Dubois (2004). Journal of Political Economy 112(1):240-248. Antecedent Paper: Is child labor inefficient?, Baland and Robinson (2000), Journal of Political Economy 108(4):663-679.

  • December 1st, Lanwei Yang. Topic: Growth & Distribution Chosen Paper: Volatility and Growth: Credit Constraints and Productivity-Enhancing Investment Philippe Aghion, George-Marios Angeletos, Abhijit Banerjee and Kalina Manova (2005). Antecedent Paper: Was Prometheus Unbound by Chance? Risk, Diversification and Growth, Daron Acemoglu and Fabrizio Zilibotti (1997), Journal of Political Economy 105:709-751.