ECON1910 ¨C Poverty and Distribution in Developing Countries

Course content

The course gives an introduction to development economics with a particular emphasis on the study of poverty and inequality and how different development policies have an impact on these.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

You will learn:

• important facts about the incidence and trends of poverty in the world;
• how to measure poverty and inequality, and how the choice of measure may affect understanding and policy;
• theory and evidence on the causes and consequences of poverty and underdevelopment; for instance:
  • how poverty traps from nutrition, education, and markets may hamper development;
  • how poverty affects and is affected by family dynamics and gender issues;
  • how the absence of credit and savings markets may explain lack of investments;
  • how weak institutions and lack of social cohesion may suppress development.

Skills

You should be able to:

• calculate summary measures of poverty and inequality;
• use models as an analytical tool to discuss poverty, inequality and economic development;
• evaluate development policy on the basis of theory and evidence.

Competence

You should be able to:

• follow economic reasoning related to the course, for instance when reading professional reports;
• recognise the difference between well founded knowledge and weakly founded opinions.

Admission to the course

Students at UiO must apply for courses in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

You can not attend this course if you have already passed specific ECON-courses at a higher level.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with ECON1910P.

Teaching

Lectures and seminars.

The course will be taught in Norwegian if no English-speaking students attend the course.

Compulsory tuition activities:

• A compulsory term paper

If you have submitted your compulsory assignment and not gotten it approved, you may be given a new attempt. The new attempt will have a short deadline..

When the compulsory term paper is approved, the result will be registered. You don¡¯t have to resubmit the assignment if you wish to retake an exam.

See The Faculty of Social Sciences` rules regarding change of seminar groups and compulsory tuition activities.

Absence from compulsory tuition activities

If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory tuition activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.

• Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory tuition activity

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Access to teaching

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

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Examination

A 3-hour written school exam.

You must have passed the mandatory activities in order to sit for the exam.

Previously issued exam papers and grading guidelines

Exam papers with comments from examiner

Examination support material

Usage of a dictionary during the examination is allowed, subject to prior inspection by SV-info.?See guidelines for further details.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

There are restrictions on resitting this exam. See further information about resitting an exam.

Students who wish to retake an examination later, are not guaranteed that the course will be given with the same content and syllabus, or that it will be the same type of exam.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.