NYU Development Research Institute >> Development at NYU >> Courses

This list of courses represents a sample of the development-related classes available at NYU.

Schools
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
School of Continuing and Professional Studies
School of Law
Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development
Stern School of Business
Wagner School of Public Service

Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Department of Economics (M.A. and P.h.D)

• Theory of Economic Development – Current topics in economic development in their theoretical, empirical, and policy contexts. Issues include the north-south dialogue, appropriate technology, the role and limitations of the state, population and development policy, urbanization, human resource development, and prospects for private and public foreign assistance.
• Latin American Economics – Provides an understanding of economic relationships in the Latin American-Caribbean region through an examination of the leading issues and key problems that these countries face in developing and modernizing their economies. Topics include a brief historical outline; a comparison of heterodox Latin American economic thought to neoclassical theories of growth and development; external equilibrium; foreign trade, balance of payments, exchange rates, foreign investments, and external debt.
• Political Economy of the Pacific Basin – Evaluates recent trends in East Asian and Pacific economic and political developments. The character of economic growth, the nature of the political systems, and implications of recent dynamism. Analyzes trends with discussion on three regions: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Department of Politics

• Political Economy – Overview of the emerging field of political economy. Surveys three broad intellectual traditions prominent in the political economy literature: (1) the application of microeconomic, game theoretic, and public choice theory to politics, (2) a focus on institutions and the behavior of their related politics, and (3) Marxian and neo-Marxian approaches. The course requires an understanding of basic microeconomics.
• Politics of Economic Growth – Introduction to growth economics, the impact of intracountry inequality on growth, the effects of voter preferences and government policies on economic growth. Knowledge of some economics (microeconomics with calculus), game-theory (perfect Bayesian equilibrium), and statistics (OLS) is assumed.
• Topics in International Organization – Introduction to the practice of policymaking in the United Nations system. Taught by practitioners from the United Nations, its affiliated agencies, and regional subgroups, and, in some cases, related nongovernmental organizations. Topics change depending on the expertise of the practitioner teaching the course.
• The Political Economy of Development - Assesses the issues and debates in the current literature on the political economy of development; analyzes principal characteristics of the contemporary world economy, especially patterns of inequality and the varying explanations for their emergence.
• Comparative Politics of Developing Countries – Introduction to the methodology and to some of the main themes in comparative politics of developing countries. Prepares students to do comparative research through an in-depth coverage of current debate in comparative politics of developing countries and an introduction to the main methodological approaches.

Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy

• Democracy and Development - Are there theoretical reasons for expecting democracy to contribute to development? Does an empirical relationship exist between democracy and development? Is this relationship conditional on particular factors, such as information levels, social homogeneity and societal inequality? This course provides an in-depth look at the relationship between democracy and a variety of development indicators. Students will read theoretical and empirical articles on these subjects, will debate the merits of the scholarly work, and will conduct original research on a topic related to the themes of the class. A secondary goal of the course is to expose students to a wide range of research tools, including quantitative and qualitative analysis, formal models and experimental methods.
• Political Economy of Development - Few disagree that the question of why some countries stagnate economically, while others grow rapidly, is one of the most important in the field of economics. In line with the importance of the question, the field of Economic Development has been characterized by numerous fierce debates. As a consequence of these debates it is now widely acknowledged that politics plays a central role in influencing the success or failure of key economic policies. This makes the field of economic development one of the cutting edge areas of research in political economy. In this course we survey six of the most important debates in the political economy of development. all these debates have substantial policy implications. We will study each debate for two weeks, with each of the weeks being devoted to the detailed study of one or two major books.
• Globalization, Governance and Development – This class is will focus on issues of economic development and the role of international institutions in a globalized economy.  In particular, we will look at how the rise of multi-level governance affects economic development in those countries which are least able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by liberalization. This class explores the relationship between globalization and development in three stages.  The first section tries to understand the reasons for the rise and diffusion of globalization and liberal trade policies. The second section of the course takes a closer look at how governance of this new system has affected the ability of developing countries to pursue independent industrialization strategies.  And finally, the third section of the course characterizes the social consequences of globalization in terms of the distri bution of power among actors, and the rise of new actors and issues.

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School of Continuing and Professional Studies
M.S in Global Affairs

• Developing Countries in the Global Economy – This course will examine the problems poor countries face in today?s interdependent world and the strategies proposed to deal with them, beginning with an analysis of the ways in which the global trading system and the international financial system operate. It will then review the factors affecting the flow of investment capital to developing countries, either as official development assistance or as private investment, with particular attention to the roles of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, transnational corporations and governments of both developed and developing countries. Next, it will consider the requirements for sustainable development and the role of non-governmental organizations as well as inter-governmental organizations and national governments, particularly in matters affecting the environment and human rights. The course will conclude with proposals for reform, based on a comparison of the experiences of selected developing countries and of different approaches to governance of the international trading and financial systems.
• Peacebuilding and Development – This course will focus on two central question: would pursuit of the freedoms Sen describes be more successful if it took maximum advantage of positive relationships, sought to improve damaged relationships and created constructive relationships where none exist? and; is it possible that development can only have the truly desired effect of increasing freedoms if it occurs within a framework of constructive collaboration that can help ensure that gains in freedoms are sustainable and contribute to lasting peace? As part of this inquiry into the intersection of peacebuilding and development, it will be necessary to examine particular approaches to both development and peacebuilding. In particular, it will be necessary to investigate tensions that exist between traditional top-down vs. bottom-up models. It will be necessary to devote attention to the roles and relationships of international non-governmental organizations as well as other international organizations and governments and indigenous civil society organizations in so-called zones of conflict. The course will highlight linkages and inconsistencies between theory and practice in both peacebuilding and development. Students will be challenged to consider the relative importance of international and local actors and to draw conclusions about the most appropriate ways they can work together in pursuit of sustainable peace and development.
• Political Economy of Development – This course examines the various issues and problems associated with economic growth and development from both classical and Marxist perspectives. We look at case studies from East Asia and Latin America; explore the challenges posed by economies in transition in central and eastern Europe; and consider the experience of industrial countries with specific reference to their less developed regions. In particular, the course tries to define the conditions that allow for economic growth and seeks to understand the relationship between economic growth and human development.
• Globalization and its Impacts – Few developments have aroused as much political passion in recent years as the liberalization of global markets, generally termed globalization. This course explores the benefits, risks and drawbacks of economic globalization from the standpoints of both the developing and developed worlds. In evaluating the mixed blessings of globalization, the course will examine: the trend of increased flows of goods, services, capital and people across borders; the evolving impact of information and communications technology, such as the Internet, as well as other forms of high-speed communications; the effects of cheaper and growing transport; the increasing importance of non-governmental organizations; growing worldwide socio-political activities; the phenomenon of almost frontier-less private sector business and industrial dealings like outsourcing; and the growing need for global attention to climatic, ecological, and health concerns.
• Sustainable Development – One of the most famous definitions of sustainable development is that it ‘seeks to meet the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ – Brundtland Commission. This course introduces students to the concept of sustainable development, which combines concern for economic progress and the elimination of poverty with awareness of environmental limits. We explore in depth such issues as wealth and poverty, population growth, political economy of food and hunger, the extinction of species, global warming and climatic change, ozone depletion, energy conservation, deforestation, and misuse of technology. We seek to integrate debates about globalization and sustainability by examining the nature of development, the impact of globalization on environment and quality of life, and the role of global and national actors and institutions in either creating sustainability or moving further away from it.

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School of Law
J.D.-LL.M. in International Law
J.D.-M.A. or Ph.D in Economics

• Economic and Social Rights Seminar – This seminar examines in depth the category of human rights known as economic and social rights. These rights, which include rights such as the rights to food, health, housing and education, and also labor rights, are an integral part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have been recognized in many state constitutions, and are increasingly subject to judicial implementation. Nevertheless, they continue to be contested and neglected by governments. The seminar will explore their philosophical foundations; the key legal issues that arise in relation to states’ treaty obligations; the strengths and weaknesses of the principal international and regional monitoring bodies; and the extent to which these rights have been rendered justiciable by courts at the national and international levels. The issue of whether the international community has any sort of meaningful obligation to provide assistance in cases of gross denial of economic and social rights will also be considered.
• International Competition – This seminar considers antitrust in the context of globalized markets, adoption of competition law by nearly 100 jurisdictions, and how developing countries can harness markets and antitrust law to work for them. The seminar has both an international and comparative component. It compares the law of the United States and the European Union with the law of selected developing countries and emerging players in the world, including China, India and South Africa, and it considers the impacts of globalization on development. Extraterritoriality, conflicts, convergence, and efforts to develop a global regime are explored.
• Financing Development Seminar – It is widely believed that in the context of the developing world access to capital is one of the crucial determinants of prosperity. Through close study of specific transactions this seminar will explore legal and economic aspects of some of the distinctive channels through which capital tends to flow to the inhabitants of developing countries. The types of transactions examined may include sovereign lending, project financing, development banking, and micro-lending. In addition to canvassing the relevant academic literature, for each type of transaction we will review examples of the supporting documentation and, in some cases, hear from actual participants.

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Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
M.A Education and Social Policy
M.A International Education

• Communication and International Development – Theoretical foundations in historical & contemporary issues around communication, media, information & international development, addressing issues such as state-building, modernization, particular examples of development programs in a variety of countries & regions.
• Comparative Politics, Education and Conflict – Explores the politics of civil conflict, peace-building, & the role of education in promising violence or peace. Explores the role of external actors (international organizations, bilateral donors, non governmental organizations), local actors (civil society associations, nationalist & ideological state factions), & their influence on education systems during was & emerging peace. Readings & discussion will focus on humanitarian action, human rights & development, nationalism & ethnic conflict, the political economy of post-conflict education, & the politics of promoting education in early reconstruction & peace-building.
• Education and Development in Latin America – Education & social issues in Latin America. Explores the relationship between the national development & education – understood broadly as the processes & institutions, both formal & informal, through which people shape their cultural identities & political order. Using conceptual perspectives drawn from comparative education, the course will include case studies of individual nations as well as issues embracing the region as a whole.
• Sociology of Education in Developing Areas – This course explores challenges posed to the development & improvement of education & educational systems in regions undergoing economic & political transition & development. Focus is especially on interventions in curriculum, teacher training, assessment, & reform.
• United Nations at Work – Examines the role of voluntary international non governmental organizations (INGOs) in the United Nations system. Focus on analyzing the organization & operation of INGOs, assessing their impact on local-to-global linkages, lobbying nation-states, & bringing attention to such cross-national problems as human rights, world hunger, women in development, peace & security.

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Stern School of Business
MBA Program

• Economies in Transition- More than 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the twenty-nine economies in transition report varied experiences. Although by 2003 the region had experienced strong growth for six consecutive years, that sanguine picture was rather new: Initially output fell in all the countries, drastically in many, unemployment appeared, and income inequality increased significantly, with many individuals falling below the poverty line. Generally, the Eastern European countries fared better than Russia and the other successor states to the former Soviet Union. Capital flight, crony capitalism, insufficient institutional development, poor corporate governance, corruption, and the lack of the rule of law were significant problems in many of the countries. Some of these problems continue to persist in some of the countries of the region, although growth remained strong until the current economic crisis. Overall, the region grew faster than the global economy in 2000-2008, but contracted by 6.3% in 2009, sustaining the worst decline since the recession following the end of communism. Declines of more than 10% were experienced by five countries. However, by 2010, regional growth was again positive, at slightly more than 4%. This course provides a framework for understanding the process of transition by furnishing a basic knowledge of the administrative-command mechanism identified with Soviet central planning, followed by an in-depth study of the transition experience. Initially it was thought that if the old systems were simply dismantled, and capitalism given a chance to begin, that the transition would be accomplished easily. But it didn’t work that way. Questions that will concern us include: Why has it proven so difficult for these former communist countries to make the transition to capitalism? To what extent can the difficulties be traced to aspects of the discredited centrally planned mechanism? To what extent can the difficulties be traced to the Washington Consensus that guided much of the philosophy of the transition strategies? To what extent can the difficulties be traced to the methods by which state-owned enterprises were privatized? Why has the transition been more successful for some and not others? What is the role of institutions in the transition? What infrastructure changes are still needed? How has the integration into the global economy affected these countries? How have fiscal imbalances and currency issues affected them? Particular attention will be devoted to the following issues: the appropriate speed of transition, privatization, property rights, restructuring, impacts on output, employment and the social safety net, corporate governance, rule of law, banking and financial markets, and growth and macroeconomic stability.
• Global Economic Integration and Entrepreneurship- The course is divided into two parts. The first part examines the factors that motivate the process of economic and monetary integration, with special attention devoted to the study of integration within particular regions, namely Europe, North America, and Asia. It explores the benefits of trade and monetary integration and analyzes the conditions that need to be satisfied for countries to enjoy these benefits. The second part of the course studies several aspects of entrepreneurship with particular attention to the opportunities and challenges that larger and more integrated markets create for entrepreneurial initiatives. Special attention is devoted to the financing of new and small enterprises and the development of the venture capital market. The ways in which entrepreneurship affects the economic growth of the country and the factors that stimulate entrepreneurship are additional areas of focus.
• Global Poverty Alleviation - Developmental Strategies for Global Poverty Alleviation. The objective of this intense course is to offer in-depth understanding of issues related to poverty in developing countries. In discussions on the roles of governments, international agencies, donors, NGOs and private institutions, emphasis will be on developmental strategies and approaches to poverty alleviation.
• International Macroeconomic Policy: Theory and Evidence from Recent Financial Crises – This course is an introduction to international macroeconomics, and a review and analysis of current international macroeconomic and financial issues, policies, and events, including interest rates, exchange rates, and asset prices in the global economy; causes and consequences of trade deficits and external imbalances; the Asian and the global financial crisis of 1997-1999 and the policy response to it; causes of currency, banking, and financial crises; short- and long-term effects of monetary and fiscal policy; the drive to reform the international financial architecture; the debate on IMF and World Bank reform; emerging markets external debt and attempts to restructure it (the “bail-in/burden sharing” debate); and the globalization of financial markets. These topics are integrated into a theoretical framework that stresses international factors from the start.
• International Macroeconomic Policy: Lessons from the BRICs- This course is an introduction to international macroeconomics, and a review and analysis of current international macroeconomic and financial issues, policies, and events, including interest rates, exchange rates, and asset prices in the global economy; causes and consequences of trade deficits and external imbalances; the Asian and the global financial crisis of 1997-1999 and the policy response to it; causes of currency, banking, and financial crises; short- and long-term effects of monetary and fiscal policy; the drive to reform the international financial architecture; the debate on IMF and World Bank reform; emerging markets external debt and attempts to restructure it (the “bail-in/burden sharing” debate); and the globalization of financial markets. These topics are integrated into a theoretical framework that stresses international factors from the start. Examples from the United States, Europe, Japan, and emerging market economies are used to enhance knowledge of the world economy.
• The Future of the Global Economy- This course will examine the long-term future of the global economy, including how businesses, governments and individuals will plan for, experience and possibly alter that future. The approach of the course will be rigorous and economics-driven, but not overly technical. It will focus on the fundamental forces that move the global economy in real-world settings, not just in theoretical models or blue-sky policy discussions. Students will learn about diverse topics ranging from the effects of global warming on income inequality to the development of markets for digital media in an increasingly globalized world. They will gain the broad set of tools needed to prepare for the vast changes that will occur during the course of their working lives. Readings will be drawn from both the popular and the academic press, as well as from primary sources. Classes will be a combination of lecture, discussion and group activities.

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Wagner School of Public Service
MPA in Health Policy and ManagementMPA in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy

• Institutions, Governance, and International Development – The course provides an introduction to the current thinking and practice of public sector institutional reform with a particular focus on developing and in-transition countries. The bulk of the course is devoted to an examination of key institutional reforms that are intended to promote good governance as economies liberalize and societies democratize. Major topics include institutional restructuring, civil service reform, anti-corruption, fiscal framework reform, citizen engagement mechanisms, public-private partnerships, performance evaluation and change management. In addition, the role of development aid and the institutions that provide it in supporting institutional reform are covered.
• Politics of International Development – This course provides students with a rich sense of the institutional and political context within which policy is made and implemented. The course aims to give students exposure to important ongoing debates in international development and their historical context. The class will provide an overview of some of the major contemporary analytical and policy debates regarding the politics of development. Topics to be covered are: States, Regimes and Industrialization; Politics of Poverty, Growth and Policy Reform; Governance, Civil Society and Development; and The Politics of Development in the Age of Globalization.
• International Economic Development: Government, Markets and Communities – This course takes up issues of economic growth and social change in a comparative perspective. While some countries have achieved unprecedented rates of economic growth in the past half century, other countries have experienced setbacks. For those that have seen rapid growth, economic changes have not always translated in proportional social changes and sometimes rapid social changes have occurred in the absence of economic growth. The course begins by reviewing theories of economic growth and recent evidence. In that context, attention then turns to policy interventions to improve education, address market failures, confront rapid population growth, and strengthen safety nets.
• Decentralized Development Planning and Policy Reform in Developing Countries – This class presents an overview of the theory and practice of planning in developing countries. A central theme is that the structure of a planning system and its success in producing good results depends heavily on the economic, political, institutional, and cultural context of a particular country. Conceptual planning models are considered and evaluated, but the focus of the class is on analyzing how planning systems can work effectively in different country contexts.
• International Development Project Planning – Projects are key instruments of development administration in developing countries and a widely used modality of international development assistance. The course will focus on public investment projects, with emphasis on urban and rural infrastructure and introduce students to the management of the project cycle, the logical framework approach to project planning and the techniques of financial and economic appraisal of investment projects, including risk analysis and the assessment of distributional effects and impact on poverty.
• Global Health Governance and Management – The aim of this course is to provide students with a variety of opportunities to develop a greater awareness and an international perspective on health system management challenges in the developed and developing world. It is a unique opportunity to be introduced to the latest trends and practices in health system management with actual case studies and live examples of what is being done in different countries. The course consists of four modules: 1. Trends in World Health and the Impact of Globalization examines the protection and improvement of the quality of life in light of the impact of globalization on health; 2. Understanding Health Systems develops a greater understanding of current health systems and offer insights into the relative merits of the current system; 3. Site Visits enable participants to meet with policy makers and professional staff of Geneva-based International Health Organizations; and 4. Leadership Development and the Change Process addresses leadership styles relating to communication, team building, and problem solving for health leaders.

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