PPOL-707 LATIN AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT

Faculty:

Staab, Martin

The main objectives of this course are to familiarize students with the most important economic development issues confronting and challenging Latin American countries today and to demonstrate how economic analysis may be used to better understand and address these development issues. The module is essentially divided into two parts. The first part deals with cross-cutting issues that have challenged many if not most of the countries in the region. These issues include the sustainability of recent macroeconomic management and stabilization improvements, including the capacity of related fiscal and monetary institutions; progress with respect to structural reforms aimed at making markets at all levels work more freely and efficiently; the persistence of extreme poverty and high income inequality, their underlying causes, how this constrains growth and development and what countries are or should be doing about it; and finally, whether the countries of the region can muster what it takes to escape from the so-called “middle income trap.” The second part of the course accounts for the region’s considerable diversity. It does this by taking a closer sub-regional look at some of the unique development challenges facing (i) the poorest countries in South America (Bolivia and Paraguay), (ii) the most affluent countries in the region (Chile and Argentina), (iii) the emerging resource-abundant powerhouse Brazil, and (iv) the highly export-dependent countries of Central America.

Credits: 1.5

Prerequisites: None

Course syllabi
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Spring '12: Staab M. (file download)

Additional syllabi may be available in prior academic years.

Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:

• 2005-2006 Fall and Spring
• 2006-2007 Fall and Spring
• 2007-2008 Fall and Spring
• 2009-2010 Fall and Spring
• 2010-2011 Fall and Spring
• 2012-2013 Fall and Spring
• 2013-2014 Fall and Spring

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