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What’s the Latest Research in Development Economics? A Roundup from NEUDC 2023

Almedina music, david evans.

There are so many studies regarding so many aspects of development economics that it can be difficult to keep up. Last week was the North East Universities Development Consortium annual conference , often called NEUDC. Researchers presented more than 130 papers across a wide range of topics, from agriculture to education and from labor to climate; almost all of the studies are available for download . This is a great snapshot of the latest research in development economics.

Where the studies are from and what methods they use

The studies take place all over the world (Figure 1). India has more than twice as many studies (23) than the next highest country, Brazil (with 10 studies). Kenya has eight, Indonesia has six, and Bangladesh, Malawi, and Pakistan each have five. A total of 43 countries are represented (not even including regional or cross-country studies that include dozens of countries). If you examine the studies per country population, the top countries are Guinea-Bissau, Uruguay, Malawi, Chile, and Jordan. (Guinea-Bissau and Uruguay just have one study each but have smaller populations.)

Figure 1. Where are recent development economics studies focused?

Source: This map draws on a sample of more than 135 studies from the NEUDC 2023 conference. We categorized studies and excluded those that covered more than three countries (often broad global or regional analyses).

The research continues to draw on a wide range of empirical strategies—i.e., not just randomized controlled trials, or RCTs (Figure 2). RCTs are the single largest group, but there are still lots of studies using difference-in-differences, fixed effects, and regression discontinuity. 

Figure 2. What empirical methods do recent development economics papers use? 

Source: This figure draws on 124 studies for which we found it easy to ascertain and categorize the empirical strategy. Some studies used multiple methods, in which case we categorized the two main methods we found.

What we learned from 130+ NEUDC studies

We went through each study, and we provide a micro-summary below. Obviously these are just our quick takes. Many studies have more than one thing to teach us, so if our microsummary piques your interest, click the link to the study! Also, take these micro-summaries with a grain of salt: some of these studies are still preliminary (that’s indicated on the front page of the studies themselves), and we also largely take the studies’ claims at face value (we aren’t peer reviewers). Still, there’s a lot of exciting research here, teaching us more about both problems and solutions in low- and middle-income countries (and beyond). We hope you learn as much reading them as we did writing them!

Guide to the methodological hashtags: 

Households and human capital

Education and early childhood development.

• Schools in Chile with more poor students tend to have lower test scores. A program that provides extra funding to those schools benefits disadvantaged students at both low and high levels of support. The results for advantaged students in the same schools are less consistent. (Cerda) #RD
• A school voucher program in India benefits recipients, but because voucher amounts are linked to schools' tuition fees, schools have an incentive to raise their fees, which hurts non-beneficiary students. The net effect is still positive, but failing to account for the effect on non-beneficiaries would dramatically overstate the benefits. (Sahai) #DID
• A ten-hour virtual training to help teachers in India better manage emotions, set goals, and solve problems led to a greater belief that they could boost students' learning and put more effort in their teaching. (Kaur) #RCT
• Lots of families in western Kenya don't have books to read to their kids. When those storybooks were offered, the vast majority of families took them. The more expensive they were, the less likely people were to buy them; but even with a low subsidy, more than 90 percent of families bought them. But three months later, kids still didn't have stronger vocabularies. (Bonds, Hamory, and Ochieng) #RCT
• In Tanzania, 10 percent more stagnant water increases diarrhea incidence among children by 30 percent and reduces test scores by 7 percent of a standard deviation. Access to improved sanitation and water sources mitigates the effect of stagnant water on these health and learning outcomes, but this effect increases with high temperatures and population density. (Berggreen and Mattisson) #DID
• A “learning how to learn” approach in Uganda raised the pass rate in the national exam (progression from primary to secondary school) from 51 percent to 71 percent. The approach “trained teachers to teach students to learn like scientists: posing sharp questions, framing specific hypotheses, using evidence and data gathered from everyday life whenever possible.” (Ashraf, Banerjee, and Nourani) #RCT
• In Chile, “classroom peers and older high school peers significantly shape students’ choices of college majors in male-dominated fields.” (Valdebenito) #RD
• In Peru, a 20-minute interaction between engineering students and high school students increased students’ preferences towards engineering, especially among female students with high math aptitude. (Agurto et al.) #RCT
• In India, primary students taught by college students scored 0.34 SD higher in math, 0.22 SD in science, and 0.15 SD in language higher than those taught by regular teachers. (Ganimian, Mbiti, and Mishra) #RCT
• A country-wide effort to improve toilet access and other aspects of sanitation in India (the "Clean India Mission") boosted children's math—but not literacy—scores. Results are similar for boys and girls. (Karmakar and Villa) #DID #ES
• Eleven months after introducing a program in India to encourage teachers to blend their teaching with high-quality videos, student math scores got worse, teachers taught less effectively (e.g., they gave worse feedback to students and monitored student learning less), and students had worse attitudes towards science and math. (de Barros) #RCT
• In the Dominican Republic, all Major League Baseball teams run training academies for adolescent boys. Despite public perceptions that this leads youth to undervalue formal education, exposure to these academies has no measurable impact on school attendance. (Marein and Palsson) #DID
• A common policy to get more underrepresented groups into college is to rank students within high schools (so that kids from poorer high schools have a shot). But in Chile, high school students switch schools to game the system, such that the current policy had a tiny impact, which would have been more than five times as large if students weren't switching schools. (Concha-Arriagada) #FE
• With the introduction of a new bus line and a new train line in Lima (Peru), "a 17 percent reduction in commuting time to college increases enrollment rates by 6 percent," with that mostly driven by enrollment in private colleges. Boys are willing to travel 50 percent longer than girls to attend a better college. (Alba-Vivar) #DID
• Study groups in Chinese primary schools boost student achievement. The effects are biggest for kids who were previously not doing so well in school but who are in high-achieving study groups. It also boosts those kids' level of motivation. (Gao et al.) #IV
• An additional year of education for women in India led to "a 27% decrease in less severe physical domestic violence, a 9% decrease in sexual violence, and a 10% decrease in injuries due to domestic violence." This was likely due to women finding better partners, improved attitudes, and potentially a higher likelihood of reporting violence. (Bergonzoli, Bahure, and Agarwal) #RD
• Higher export prices for crops grown by women in Peru reduce "domestic violence, including severe physical violence and female homicide... The effects are stronger in districts with more unequal gender norms." (Frankenthal) #FE
• In India, short-term exposure to domestic violence doesn't seem to affect women's attitudes about violence, but over time, women who experience violence are more likely to tolerate violence—potentially as a coping mechanism. (Frezza) #RD
• Girls' clubs for adolescents in Côte d'Ivoire alone boosted some girls' mental health but not employment outcomes. Adding separate clubs for husbands and future husbands boosted employment and sexual and reproductive health outcomes. (Boulhane et al.) #RCT
• Women living in neighborhoods with low risk of harassment or assault on the streets are 8.5 percentage points more likely to participate in the labor market relative to women in higher risk neighborhoods—in Indonesia and India. (Cahill) #PSM
• A successful school-expansion program in India “increased voter prioritization of leader competence over gender, boosting the share of women among candidates and state parliamentarians and the overall capability of elected officials.” (Anukriti, Calvo, and Charavarty) #RD
• In Pakistan, providing correct information about support for women voting in society to men does not change the turnout of women, while providing the same information to women or both lowers female turnout. “This blow-back effect is caused by men discouraging women from political participation because they believe women will act according to their own (and different from men’s) preferences.” (Gulzar, Khan, and Sonnet) #FE
• An anti-poverty program in Malawi improved households’ consumption, food security, and dietary diversity outcomes, regardless of whether men or women were targeted and whether a gender transformative training was incorporated in the program. (Bedi, King, and Vaillant) #RCT
• A conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in Peru reinforced traditional gender-role attitudes among children, especially girls. Beneficiary mothers spent more time on home production, and this priority could be a channel for perpetuating traditional gender role attitudes. (Luong) #RD
• Families historically exposed to higher levels of slavery in Guadeloupe and Martinique tend to be more matrifocal, with weaker fathers after emancipation. These families also face higher child mortality, stemming from poorer family environments rather than local conditions. (Beigelman) #FE
• “On an online marriage market platform in India, ... working women are 14.5% less likely to receive interest from male suitors... Women employed in ‘masculine’ occupations are 3.2% less likely to elicit interest from suitors relative to those in ‘feminine’ occupations.” (Afridi et al.) #RCT
• Providing "mentored girls' clubs, life skills, and vocational training" to adolescent girls in northern Nigeria reduced marriage two years after the intervention by 65 percentage points! A major reason is that it boosted girls' likelihood of staying in school. (Cohen, Abubakar, and Perlman) #RCT
• A radio campaign against female genital cutting in Egypt reduced cutting by 13 percent. But those girls also saw their bride prices fall by nearly a quarter and child marriages rose. Across Africa, cutting is more common in settings with bride price. (Khalifa) #DID
• Several years after the start of a cash transfer program in Malawi, those who benefited as adolescent girls were more likely to move longer distances for marriage, and those moves happened over a longer period of time, into young women's mid-twenties. (Ibrahim) #RCT
• Parents in Pakistan prefer grooms who are relatives; they also prefer marriages where their daughters will have more freedom (e.g., to leave the house unaccompanied or to make health decisions independently). (Calvi, Farooqi, and Kandpal) #SurveyExperiment
• In Lahore (Pakistan), women are more likely to sign up for a job search platform than they are to take a job. For less-educated job seekers, jobs with explicit gender requirements are more likely to exclude women. Women with more education are more selective about jobs, but the jobs themselves are less likely to be gender-restrictive. (Gentile et al.) #RCT
• Offering women in West Bengal (India) the ability to multitask work with childcare and to work from home boosts labor market participation, especially for those from more traditional households. Flexible work also increases women's likelihood of accepting out-of-home work later. (Ho, Jalota, and Karandikar) #RCT
• Increasing the minimum wage by nearly a quarter in Morocco narrowed the gender pay gap in the formal sector by about a quarter. But it also led a small fraction of women (but not men) to leave the formal labor market. (Paul-Delvaux) #DID
• In India, horizontal communication between cisgender participants reduces discrimination against transgender people: when involved in a group discussion with two neighbors, there is no longer discrimination at all on average, even when making private choices. This effect is 1.7x larger than top-down communication that informs participants about the legal rights of transgender persons. (Webb) #RCT
• In a lab in the field experiment in Bangladesh, the “less capable women are perceived compared to men, the less they are involved in decision-making. After the information treatment (on women’s abilities), individuals with the lowest perceptions about the wife’s skills are 20 percent more likely to make allocations in her favor.” (Nani) #RCT
• Employers in Bangladesh discriminate paternalistically, i.e., they restrict women’s employment choices to protect them from what employers perceive as unsafe. Informing about safe worker transport at the end of the shift increases demand for female labor by 22 percent and female labor supply by 15 percent. (Buchmann, Meyer, and Sullivan) #RCT
• Offering female entrepreneurs in Jordan access to virtual storefronts by (1) creating and managing Facebook pages for their businesses and (2) offering them digital marketing training created in collaboration with local influencers, increased business survival and revenues. Effects are driven by women with low physical mobility due to social norms at baseline. (Alhorr) #RCT

Health (including mental health)

• Sharing information about either "the prevalence of mental health issues and the efficacy of treatment" or "the mental health struggles of a Nepali celebrity and how he benefited from treatment" boosted people's stated willingness to seek mental health treatment and to pay for counseling. The effects were biggest for those with "less severe symptoms of depression and anxiety." (Lacey et al.) #RCT
• Sometimes people are uncertain about how risky a behavior is. In Malawi, people with greater uncertainty about how risky regular unprotected sex with an HIV-infected partner update their beliefs more drastically in response to new information. (Kerwin and Pandey) #RCT
• Groups of friends among Syrian refugees in Jordan are good at identifying who needs mental health support. Sometimes friends don't want to share info about mental health services because of stigma, but if you nudge the sharers to disclose that they're being financially compensated for sharing the info, they're more likely to share it. (Smith) #RCT
• Home visits inviting adults in Kenya to get vaccinated against COVID increased vaccine doses by ten percent, especially among women and people with less education or income. Announcing the home visit ahead of time (so people could either making a point of being home for the appointment or being out to avoid it) further boosted vaccinations. (Carney et al.) #RCT
• Providing frontline health workers in Guinea-Bissau "with evidence of their program’s effectiveness in improving local health indicators" significantly boosted the effort of health workers, even six months later. (Fracchia) #RCT
• A "mother and child health and family planning program in Bangladesh" boosted height in adulthood for those who participated as children (as well as education among the men). In the next generation, daughters of beneficiaries tend to be taller and have better cognitive development. (Barham et al.) #DID
• Introducing “a competitive selection system for recruiting CEOs in public hospitals in Chile reduced hospital mortality by 8%”, driven by hospitals in which the new CEOs had managerial qualifications. “These CEOs improved operating room efficiency and reduced staff turnover.” (Otero and Muñoz) #DID
• In Rajasthan (India), posting of a mid-level health care provider increased the monthly patient load by 68 percent. The number of patients diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes at treatment facilities increased as well. After one year, elderly deaths declined by 12 percent. (Agte and Soni) #DID

Migration and refugees

• Mexican regions experiencing larger inflows of Mexican low-skilled deportees have higher rates of firm creation, firm survival, and revenue. (Osuna-Gomez and Medina-Cortina) #FE
• In Vietnam, the Ho Khau reform, which reduced migration barriers, had more impact on reducing spatial inequality than place-based incentives. (Huynh) #DID
• In Uganda, “landslides increase long-term displacement and migration, and affected households have substantially worse economic and mental health outcomes years afterward.” (Baseler and Hennig) #FE #DID
• In the Philippines, typhoons increase international migration from affected municipalities, and incentivize migrants to leave for lower paying overseas jobs. (Murathanoglu) #FE
• Municipalities from which more Moroccan soldiers were deployed to France before independence were more likely to send emigrants to France after independence. But this wasn’t true with those sent to Algeria. (Salem and Seck) #FE

Safety nets (including cash transfers and peer support)

• How do you  target disaster aid to households? In post-2015 earthquake Nepal, the “property damage criterion excludes many liquidity-constrained households that have high demand for aid, and it includes wealthy, well-insured households that have low demand.” Dividing aid equally among all affected households has larger welfare gains. (Gordon, Hashida, and Fenichel) #RD
• In Mumbai (India), residents who received a subsidy that could only be used for rice or wheat spent less on packaged snacks. The effect was bigger in households with children. (Aouad, Ramdas, and Sungu) #RCT
• With access to safety nets, middle-income households in Colombia are more likely to borrow from formal lenders, and in the long run, they substitute away from predatory loans toward formal loans when experiencing severe shocks. (Álvarez et al.) #RD
• An unconditional grant to poor kids in South Africa reduced the likelihood that girls would be underweight or obese, but it boosted the likelihood that they'd be overweight. There were no substantive effects for boys on average. (Chakraborty and Villa) #RD
• Peer groups in Nepal where most people know each other don't necessarily choose a peer monitor in lab games. But groups where few people are immediately connected do. (Iacobelli and Singh) #RCT #DID
• Using data from six low- and middle-income countries, a proxy means test (PMT)—i.e., using a short list of household characteristics to decide if a household is poor—fails to accurately predict eligibility for social protection programs: “the accuracy of the PMT prediction algorithm decreases steadily over time, by roughly 1.7 percentage points per year,” even though the PMT model is updated only every 5-8 years. (Aiken, Ohlenburg, and Blumenstock)

Working and saving

Banking and credit.

• Encouraging commercial banks in India to increase lending to minority borrowers in “minority concentration” districts in India increased minorities’ access to bank credit. (Khan and Ritadhi) #RD
• In Kenya and Pakistan, equity-like contracts stimulate more profitable investments. Risk preferences play an important but nuanced role: loss-averse individuals prefer equity; however, individuals exhibiting non-linear probability weighting prefer debt. (Meki) #RCT
• In Ghana, individual incentives increased adoption of a new technology; adding endorsement by a trusted peer doubles the impact of the individual subsidy. (Riley, Shonchoy, and Darko Osei) #RCT
• Lots of people in urban India don't have access to credit for when there's a financial crunch or to professionals for mental health problems. Many would like to talk to the people they know, but—from a survey—68 percent underestimate others' willingness to engage on these topics. Helping people realize that boosts sign-ups for potential savings groups or for a potential program to get trained to be a volunteer to listen to other people's anxieties. (Jain and Khandelwal) #RCT

Firms and microenterprises

• Fifteen years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesian business owners exposed to the tsunami had lower levels of capital and profits than those not exposed. These effects were biggest in rural areas. (Lombardo, Frankenberg, and Thomas) #FE
• Providing firms in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with more information about candidates with college degrees led firms to hire faster, but they often hired candidates without college degrees and downgraded their expectations about college graduate productivity. (Wu and Wang) #RCT
• For US firms, entering the whaling industry entails lots of sunk costs such that firms are slow to enter but also slow to leave the market. (Yun)
• In Kenya, “informality is particularly prevalent in downstream economic activities and smaller regional markets.” (Wiedemann et al.) #DID #SC
• Vendors in the Kolkata (India) vegetable market subsidized to sell additional produce earned over 60 percent higher profits, after excluding the value of the subsidy. And yet, “after the subsidy ended vendors largely stopped selling the additional produce” which may reflect “social or private preferences”. (Banerjee et al.) #RCT
• In Tanzania, rural firms smooth both negative and positive input price shocks more than urban firms. Urban firms pass nearly 95 percent of input price increases to customers, while rural firms pass only 55 percent of input price increases. (Rudder) #FE
• Some firms in Sri Lanka have much higher returns to inputs than others, and new econometric tools to test how much putting inputs into the wrong firms affects growth suggest that output could quadruple with better allocation of resources. (Hughes and Majerotvitz) #RCT
• When steam power started replacing water power in the United States, water-powered mills shut down rather than transforming to steam mills, suggesting that shifting technologies is costly. (Hornbeck et al.) #FE
• In Malawi, a survey of shopkeepers shows that they have widely varying strengths across different dimensions of productivity (like attracting customers, managing a storefront, and maintaining inventory across many products). So a one-size-fits-all management training intervention may have disappointing results. (Huntington, de la Parra, and Shenoy)  

Labor (including child labor)

• In Uganda, an experiment with job referrals reveals that gender discrimination exists in both directions (favoring the majority gender in a given sector) but that it's worse in male-dominated sectors. But when men can make referrals anonymously, they discriminate less. (Alfonsi and Ferreira) #RCT
• A subsidy to help people find jobs in Ethiopia seems to have smaller effects when more people participate (i.e., general equilibrium effects). The net impact on people's wellbeing still seems to be positive. (Van Vuren) #RCT
• If the unemployment rate is 1 percent higher at the time a person first starts looking for a job in Indonesia, that person is likely to have worse long-term economic prospects: 21 percent lower income and 7 percent lower likelihood of being employed. These effects are smaller than those in high-income settings. (Marshan) #FE
• When farmers in Burundi train their workers, they don't capture all the benefits, since the workers often take those skills and work for others. A contract that keeps workers with the same employer boosts employers' willingness to train massively (by 50 percentage points). (Cefala et al.) #RCT
• A comprehensive training and mentoring program targeted to youth at risk in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) boosts employment among men but it also—surprisingly—boosts fertility and subsequently welfare receipts among women. (Barros et al.) #RCT
• How much a person is willing to work may in part just be driven by getting used to working. In Chennai (India), providing casual workers with incentives to work over a couple of months boosted how much they worked during that time (by 23 percent), and those same workers worked 16 percent in the following two months, after incentives were removed. (Cefala et al.) #RCT

Governments, institutions, and conflict

Conflict and crime.

• Which connections do people value most in times of crisis? During social unrest in Haiti, daily contacts decrease but total talk time remains constant. Checking in on close friends, family, and others remains a priority. (Putman and Lybbert) #DID
• Historical genocide violence of the Cambodian population impacts today’s household wealth and village-level poverty rates, driven by lower human capital, limited structural transformation, and restricted public goods provision. (Mehrotra) #IV
• In Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), installing peacemaker units of police officers reduced crime rates, which boosted available credit, which in turn further reduced crime. (Tomkowski, Monteiro, and Caluz) #DID
• Sanctioning public acts of repression, such as beating or arrests of protesters, can encourage a regime to prevent protest through less-public means, such as obstruction or harassment of organizers (based on data from 150 countries). (Andirin et al.) #FE
• The political leaning of Brazilian players during the 2022 World Cup affected fans’ reactions depending on their political alignment. Celebrations after goals scored by a player were more intense among politically congruent fans. (Ajzenman, Ferman and Sant'Anna) #RCT
• In southern Ethiopia, areas with more droughts also have more violent conflict. But when herders get and use insurance to protect against drought, it reduces conflict significantly (between 17 and 50 percent). (Sakketa, Maggio, and McPeak) #RCT
• A law in Brazil requiring firms with more than a hundred workers to reserve at least two percent of their job openings for people with disabilities increased employment of people with disabilities. When firms got fined for not meeting the quota, nearby firms—even those not covered by the law—also boosted their disability employment. (Berlinski and Gagete-Miranda) #DID
• In Uruguay, introducing individual retirement accounts as a complement to the traditional defined benefit pension led more people to work into their fifties. It also may have reduced tax evasion. In early old age, people had similar income levels across the two systems, but when people had the chance to go back to the defined benefit system, many did. (Lauletta and Bérgolo) #RD
• If the government doesn't enforce people sticking to contracts, how do they work? Gamblers on horse races in Pakistan provide a window, since such betting is illegal and so the government doesn't enforce the contracts. "Even in the absence of legal enforcement authority, personal relationships, and violence, more than 70% of gamblers fulfill their contractual obligations." (Mehmood and Chen) #RCT
• South African municipalities with higher historical exposure to post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commissions on media have lower levels of violence today. (Gautier, Horta-Saenz, and Russo) #FE
• Losing a sibling during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide leads to more schooling and more siblings born after the genocide. (Gautier) #IV

Regulation, tax, and government

• In Indonesia, “electoral defeats of the incumbent village head increase turnover in the village bureaucracy and reduce nepotism.” (Bazzi et al.) #RD
• In India, after a bureaucrat is transferred to an important ministry with the power to make influential policies, the annual growth rate of the value of the bureaucrat’s assets is 10 percent higher, and it’s 4.4 percent higher for the number of their assets. (Chaudhury and Yuan) #DID
• In China, “over 65% scoring auctions in public procurement show evidence of scoring rule manipulation.” (Chen) #FE
• In Brazil, “high-ability students in (anti-corruption) audited municipalities are less likely to choose majors tailored toward public sector careers, such as business administration and law.” (Xun) #DID
• In rural Bangladesh, the introduction of Village Courts more than doubled the share of disputes resolved in state-sanctioned courts, but the informal dispute resolution mechanism “shalish” remains most used. (Mattsson and Mobarak) #RCT
• A comparative welfare analysis of 40 policies implemented in low- and middle-income countries since 1997 shows that the marginal value is low. (Morris)  
• Successful democratizations lead to substantial redistribution: the size of the public sector grows, income inequality falls, and the labor share of income rises, according to data from 90 countries. (Miller) #DID
• In India, “local democracy aligns spending more closely with citizen preferences, but these gains accrue more to men, upper castes, and other advantaged social groups.” (Arora et al.) #FE #DID
• In Brazil, “when a young politician is in office, there is a reduction in deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions without significant effects on local GDP.” (Dahis, de las Heras, Saavedra)   #RD #DID
• Appointing “a new city party secretary (PS), who serves as the leader of the local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization, is associated with a significant increase in the revealed comparative advantage in industries where the PS’s previous work location exhibited better performance.” (Lin et al.) #FE
• Electoral turnovers improve country performance. “Electing new leaders leads to more policy change, it improves governance, and it reduces perceived corruption,” based on data from over 4,000 national elections since 1945. (Marx, Pons, and Rollet) #RD
• In Senegal, bureaucrats with full discretion for building the lists of potential property tax payers tend to undervalue properties, and they do so even more for higher-value properties, resulting in a regressive tax profile. “In contrast, a rule-based system where bureaucrats record property characteristics (not values) that an algorithm then uses to compute values, significantly reduces this tax gap.” (Knebelmann, Pouliquen, and Sarr) #RCT
• In Uzbekistan, mandating the use of online electronic fiscal devices, which provide regulators with real-time information on business transactions, increases company revenue reports to tax authorities by 13 percent. Adding a direct communication channel with citizens and financial rewards to act as enforcement agents increases firms’ reported revenues by an additional 34 percent. (Kobilov) #DID 
• Research projects developed in partnership with policymakers are 17 to 20 percentage points more likely to result in observed policy change. (Bonargent)
• Do religions codify ecological principles? In Benin, a 1 SD increase in African Traditional Religions adherence has a 0.4 SD positive impact on forest cover change. (Deopa and Rinaldo) #IV
• When Israel reduced child allowances to large families in 2003, Jewish families substituted by enrolling their young boys in ultra-Orthodox religious schools. In the long-term, fewer boys enrolled in high schools, without affecting families’ fertility or labor supply decisions. The reform led to a 13 percent decline in completed fertility among Arab families. (Gershoni et al.) #RD
• In Brazil, exposure to a church-affiliated TV channel increases fertility rates, lowers female labor force participation, lowers schooling for young women in the next generation, and leads to more votes for Pentecostal candidates. (Mello and Buccione) #DID
• In Brazil, the removal of progressive Catholic leaders halted the land invasion movement, a conflict in which poor and landless peasants invaded large landholdings to force land redistribution. (Martinez-Bravo, Solá, and Tuñón) #FE
• Hate or fear? In the ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jos (Nigeria), fear explains 76 percent, and hate 24 percent of the non-cooperative behavior. (Ortiz) #RCT 
• Climate change leads to welfare losses of 4.8 percent of GDP across 271 regions in sub-Saharan Africa, with country-level losses as high as 43.8 percent of GDP. “Lowering trade costs can offset these losses by connecting deficit regions to surplus regions and the world market.” (Porteous)
• In South Korea, under a better bureaucrat, exports increased by 40 percent. "In subsequent appointments, exports increase in products with greater bureaucrat experience." (Barteska and Lee) #FE
• Giving information on tariff costs and local prices to traders (via a cell phone platform) at the Kenya-Uganda border increases switching across markets and routes, leading to large increases in traders’ profits and significant formalization of trade. (Wiseman) #RCT

Agriculture, infrastructure, and the environment

Agriculture and land.

• In India, redistribution of land ownership led to an overall increase in durable asset ownership, nonfarm employment and years of schooling, including among lower-caste descendants of households that did not receive land. (Batra) #RD
• Households’ agricultural production in Côte d’Ivoire improves during the agricultural season overlapping with oxen delivery, and increases in land holdings and input use in the subsequent season. (Brudevold-Newman, Donald, and Rouanet) #RCT
• In Kenya, an information campaign (training farmers to identify hybrid maize seeds that are quality-verified) improved farmers' purchasing decisions and led to gains in maize yields. While improved information caused sellers to exit the market, there are no effects on prices or quality among stayers. (Hsu and Wambugu) #RCT
• Increasing agricultural technologies cannot rely on market prices as a mechanism for targeting high-return farmers. In Bangladesh, when farmers receive a new wheat seed variety for free, they adopt it as much as farmers that chose to buy it at a subsidized price. (Mahmoud) #RCT
• Improving the allocation of inputs (like land, labor, and credit) across farms in Thailand could boost productivity by more than a third. But improving allocation of multiple inputs is more productive than focusing entirely on improving allocation of just one input. (Silver)  
• A government program to subsidize the price of fertilizer encouraged farmers to specialize based on their comparative advantage: some boosted their agricultural yields; others left agriculture. (Diop) #DID
• Social networks are key to people adopting new agricultural technology. But in Malawi (and a theoretical model predicts similar results elsewhere), using people with lots of connections to get farmers to adopt new seeds works best when lots of farmers in the network have similar farms (so that the seeds are similarly likely to work). (Chakraborty) #FE

Climate and pollution

• Increasing water prices led to a decline in water use of richer households in Cape Town (South Africa). However, richer households substituted municipal water with privately drilled groundwater. (Cole et al.)
• In Mozambique, “providing information on flood risk [such as physical damage and disease outbreaks] increased the implementation of suggested mitigation strategies.” (Leefers) #RCT
• In the Philippines, large-scale tree planting reduced regional poverty and increased economic activity. (Pagel and Sileci) #DID
• In Vietnam, rising temperatures lead more workers to move from agriculture into other industries, both in the short run and the long run. (Pham) #FE
• Reducing localized emissions from vehicles within India’s 10 largest cities leads to a 3 times larger GDP gain than a policy controlling agricultural fires. “Further accounting for labor reallocation leads to a 6 times larger GDP gain.” (Tiwari)
• In Colombia, “extreme temperature events increase the frequency of land sales and decrease the average farm size within municipalities.” (Arteaha et al.) #FE
• In India, industrial water pollution does not seem to affect crop yields. Farmers respond to industrial water pollution by switching irrigation sources from surface water to (costly) groundwater and expanding irrigation. (Hagerty and Tiwari) #RD
• To address sea level rise, the Indonesian government proposed a sea wall. Moral hazard generates severe lock-in and limits migration inland, even over the long run. (Hsiao) #RD
• The 2009 tightening of environmental standards in the US shifted used lead-acid battery recycling, an industry that emits large amounts of lead pollution, to Mexico. Lead pollution exposure reduced students’ text scores by 0.05-0.09 standard deviations. (Litzow et al.) #DID
• The Green Municipalities Program in the Brazilian Amazon (PMV) increased secondary forest cover (in places that have been previously deforested) by 9 percent. (Shinde et al.) #DID
• In Nairobi (Kenya), improved stove ownership reduced high-frequency particulate matter (PM) exposure from 122 µg/m3 to 49 µg/m3, with a 0.24 SD reduction in self-reported respiratory health symptoms. (Berkouwer and Dean) #RCT
• The beef cattle sector drives deforestation worldwide. In the Brazilian Amazon, large intermediaries drive down prices for farmer and cattle supply, but the deforestation frontier is largely competitive and thus emissions remain unaffected. (Barrozo) #IV

Infrastructure and transport

• Chinese infrastructure projects significantly increased nighttime light in the African recipient regions, and the effects persist over time. World Bank projects, however, did not exhibit significant impacts on nighttime light. World Bank and Chinese infrastructure projects both positively influence women’s education attainment and health. (Chai and Tang)  
• Motortaxi drivers in Uganda admire other drivers who speed. Drivers are more likely to want financial incentives to limit speeding if those incentives are visible, so they can use them to justify their reduced speed to other drivers. (Raisaro) #RCT
• In Mexico, urban localities that spent an additional month downwind from a 0.1 degree × 0.1 degree grid cell that has adopted conservation agriculture experience a 1.3 percent reduction in the number of infant deaths. (Ferguson and Govaerts) #ES #DID
• Discontinuous incentives around the range thresholds of Chinese driving-range-based subsidies made low-end electric vehicle manufacturers’ invest in reducing the production costs of driving ranges by 30 percentage points. (Zhang) #FE
• “Commuters in Jakarta (Indonesia) are 2-4 times more sensitive to wait time compared to time on the bus, and inattentive to long routes.” (Kreindler et al.) #DID
• “Winning random lotteries for the ownership of condominium houses in Ethiopia leads to significant gains in educational attainment: educational enrollment increases by 4.5-11%, secondary school completion rates by 10.5% and post-secondary attendance rates by 16%.” (Agness and Getahun) #IV

The order of authors on this blog was determined by a virtual coin flip. This blog post benefited from research assistance by Amina Mendez Acosta and editing by Jeremy Gaines . A version of this post will also appear on the CGD Blog.

Senior Economist, Education Global Practice

Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

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Course info, instructors.

• Prof. Esther Duflo
• Prof. Benjamin Olken

Departments

As taught in.

• Developmental Economics
• Microeconomics

Learning Resource Types

Development economics, research proposal.

The maximum length of the write-up should be 3 pages single-spaced (but less is fine). The goal of this research proposal is to give you a “jump start” on working on a topic that you could (ideally) work on for your second-year paper (or a future paper for your dissertation). If you are in the second year, it is okay for you to talk about the topic that you will be working on for your second-year paper. It should be development though… (but as you know development is a big tent). 

You can co-author the proposal with any student(s) in the program. However, we would like to  see as many proposals as people in the class. 

Note that the deadline is the last possible date that we are allowed to accept assignments under end  of term regulations, so we will not be able to provide extensions. Please therefore budget your time wisely. 

The proposal should include 

•  A clear statement of your research question       
• Brief motivation of your research question       a. Why is this question important?        b. What is the policy implication?        c. What (if any) economic theory it is testing? 
• (Short) Review of the relevant theoretical and/or empirical literature. 
• Description of your proposed empirical strategy and proposed (realistic) data sources.        a. You can propose an RCT where you’d collect the data, as long as it is realistic for a PhD student (not necessarily in the scope of a second year paper).        b. If you project is empirical, write-out clearly and in detail what are the proposed        regression specifications.  
• Clear discussion of your contribution to the prior literature.       
• Clear discussion of what challenges you expect to encounter. 

Think of this project as the shell of a research paper that contains everything but your findings: you will motivate the question; place it in the literature; and lay out your data sources (if any) and your research design. We do not expect to see any preliminary results (for empirical papers) or fully fledged model (for theory paper).

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Issues in Development Economics

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 Exploring Economics collects course descriptions, syllabi and slides so that lecturers can share ressources and innovate their teaching.

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This syllabus was originally taught at SOAS University of London Winter Semester 2018/19 Instructor: Dr. Hannah Bargawi |   Tutor: Dr. Aleksandra Peeroo

Course Summary

The objective of the course is to explore the main strengths and weaknesses of orthodox and heterodox paradigms within development economics.

A wide range of issues are covered in this course, which focuses in the first term on different theoretical contributions to our understanding of growth and development in low income countries. The second term is devoted to considering major contemporary themes and topics relevant to low-income countries. This aims to provide students with knowledge and critical skills in the political economy of development. The second part of the course aims to foster the students' ability to assess critically the major policy debates (domestic and global) and to evaluate the empirical evidence with respect to these issues in developing countries. On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand and differentiate between different theories of growth and development.
• Explain the major strengths and weaknesses of orthodox and heterodox theories of growth and development.
• Recognise and explain the domestic issues of developing countries that influence their economies.
• Identify and assess the influence and impact of international factors in the economies of developing countries.

You will be taught through a combination of weekly lectures, weekly tutorials and guided reading. Occasionally your lecturer and tutor may also guide you to other materials relevant to topics you are studying. These can be Radio or Television documentaries or podcasts. Details of these are usually shared in the lecture and/or tutorial or over the BLE news pages. If you have material relevant to the module, please do share this by sending it to the module convenor over email on [email protected].

Lectures: We will have weekly lectures of two hours that will cover the main theories, arguments and ideas in relation to a specific topic. Lectures are not intended to cover everything you may be questioned on in the exam or is discussed in the readings. Lectures are designed to explain core arguments and theories using selected examples.

Tutorials: The purpose of tutorials is to help you digest, understand and discuss the material covered in the lecture and your readings. It is therefore crucial that you attend tutorials and have read in advance of these so that you can contribute to discussions

Readings: The readings for each week’s topic have been carefully selected for you. The essential readings are there to cover the core principles of a certain topic and provide you with an exposition of theory or application of theory. The additional readings are for you to explore certain theories or their exposition and application further. These additional readings are particularly important if you are preparing a presentation on this topic or are preparing your essay on this topic.

Assignments and Assessment

You will have ten questions to choose from and must answer three in three hours. Previous exam papers are on the SOAS website but provide only a guide as to what might be asked; the scope of this course is defined by the topics covered in lectures and tutorials in this academic session. Note too that some of the questions set in the exam may not have been covered in any great detail in the lectures - to do well in the exam you therefore need to have done the reading provided in this module guide.

Assessed Essay

The two assessed essays, each worth 10% of the overall mark, need to be by the following Essay Questions (Term 1). Select ONE of the following:

•  “Arthur Lewis is vindicated by recent developments in China”. Critically evaluate this statement using theory and evidence.
• What is meant by the term ‘developmental state’? Discuss its usefulness and limitations for policy application in low income countries today.

Essay Format

Word length — each essay should consist of no more than 2,500 words. If you go over the 2,500 word limit, you will lose marks. Word count is defined as the number of words contained in the submitted work including quotations, footnotes, titles, summaries and tables of contents. Appendices and bibliographies are not included in the word count. Appendices will not normally be marked and they must not include material essential to the argument developed in the main body of the work.

Course Overview

Schedule of topics covered and mandatory readings, session 1 the role of agriculture in development.

In this week’s lecture we will discuss the role of agriculture in economic development. We will highlight two particular debates: 1) the land reform debate; 2) the role of technology in agriculture. Finally, we will discuss the links between agriculture and industry and investigate the role of the agricultural sector in some case study countries.

Key readings:

• C&D – Chapter 11: Agriculture and Development
• T&S – Chapter 9: Agricultural Transformation and Rural Development
• Griffin, K., A. R. Khan and A. Ickowitz,(2002) ‘Poverty and the Distribution of Land’. Journal of Agrarian Change
• 2(3). http://economics.ucr.edu/papers/papers00/00-09.pdf

Additional Readings:

• Bhaduri, Amit. 2006. “Strucural Change and Economic Development: On the Relative Roles of Effective Demand and the Price Mechanism in a ‘Dual Economy’.” In Rethinking Development Economics, by Ha-Joon Chang, 219–233. London: Anthem Press.
• Besley, Timothy, Robin Burgess (2000) “Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, And Growth: Evidence From India.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115( 2): 389-430.
• Byres T.J. (1981), `The New Technology, Class Formation and Class Action in the Indian Countryside', Journal of Peasant Studies, 8(4)
• Bryceson, D. (1999) ‘African Rural Labour, Income Diversification and Livelihood Approaches: A Long-term Development Perspective.’ Review of African Political Economy 26(80).
• Cleaver, H.M. (1972)`The Contradictions of the Green Revolution', Monthly Review, June 1972; OR same article ,without footnotes, American Economic Review, LXII( 2), May 1972. http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/cleavercontradictions.pdf
• Dixon, C. (1990) Rural Development in the Third World, London: Routledge, chs.1 and 4
• Duflo, Esther, Michael Kremer, and Jonathan Robinson. (2006) “Understanding Technology Adoption: Fertilizer in Western Kenya, Evidence from Field Experiments." Unpublished working paper. April 2006.
• Figueroa, Mark. 2004. “W. Arthur Lewis Versus the Lewis Model: Agricultural or Industrial Development?” Manchester School 72 (6): 736–750.
• Goldstein, Markus, and Chris Udry. (2005) “Addressing Unequal Economic Opportunities: A Case Study of Land Tenure in Ghana.” Development Outreach, World Bank Institute (Sept. 2005):7-9.
• Kay, Cristóbal. 2002. “Why East Asia Overtook Latin America: Agrarian Reform, Industrialisation and Development.” Third World Quarterly 23 (6): 1073–1102.
• Orr, A. (2012). 'Why were so many social scientists wrong about the Green Revolution?', Journal of Development Studies, 48 (11): 1565-1586. World Bank (2008). World Development Report: Agriculture for Development. Chapters 1 and 2.

Topic: Redistributive land reform is the best way to raise productivity in the agricultural sectors of low-income countries.

Required readings:

Session 2 Topic: From Industrialisation to De-Industrialisation?

In this lecture we will revisit some theories from term 1 and discuss the arguments made for and against rapid industrialisation in low-income countries and consider supporting empirical evidence. The lecture will also discuss the concept of “industrial policy” and how such policy has evolved over time, both in theoretical roots and in application to low-income countries.

Core readings:

• Szirmai, A. (2009), Industrialisation as an engine of growth in developing countries, UNU-WIDER Working Paper No. 2011/75
• Amirapu, A. and A. Subramanian (2015), Manufacturing or Services? An Indian Illustration of a Development Dilemma, Centre for Global Development Working Paper 409.

Optional readings:

• C&D – Chapter 9: The Initial Structural Transformation: Initiating the Industrialization Process; and Chapter 10: Strategy Switching and Industrial Transformation
• Jones, G.A. and Corbridge, S. (2010) ‘The continuing debate about urban bias: the thesis, its critics, its influence, and its implications for poverty reduction strategies’. Progress in Development Studies, 10 (1). pp. 1-18. http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/The%20continuing%20debate%20about%20urban%20bias.pdf
• Hausmann, Ricardo and Dani Rodrik 2003. Economic Development as Self Discovery, Journal of Development Economics 72 (2): 603-33.
• Haraguchi, N. et al. (2017). "The Importance of Manufacturing in Economic Development: Has This Changed?" World Development 93(Supplement C): 293-315.
• Lall, Sanjaya, and Samuel Wangwe (1998) “Industrial Policy and Industrialisation in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of African Economies 7:70–107.
• Lin, Justin (2012) “From Flying Geese To Leading Dragons New Opportunities and Strategies for Structural Transformation in Developing Countries1.” Global Policy 3 (4): 397–409.
• Kaplinsky, Raphael (2008) “What Does the Rise of China Do for Industrialisation in Sub-Saharan Africa?” Review of African Political Economy 35 (115): 7–22.
• Karshenas,M. (1995) 'Dynamic Economies and the Critique of Urban Bias', in Henry Bernstein and Tom Brass (eds.), Agrarian Questions. Essays in Appreciation of T. J. Byres (1996). See also Karshenas, Industrialization and Agricultural Surplus: A Comparative Study of Economic Development in Asia.
• Stiglitz, Lin and Monga (2013): The Rejuvenation of Industrial Policy. World Bank: Policy Research Working Paper 6628.
• Sutcliffe, B. (1984) 'Industry and Underdevelopment Reexamined', Journal of Development Studies,21(1).
• Szirmai, Adam. 2012. “Industrialisation as an Engine of Growth in Developing Countries, 1950-2005.” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 23(4): 406–420.
• Rodrik, D (2015), Premature de-industrialisation, NBER Working Paper 20935.
• Rodrik, D (2013), “Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 128 (1), 165-204 February.
• Rodrik, D. 2009. “Industrial Policy: Don’t Ask Why, Ask How.” Middle East Development Journal 01 (01): 1–29.
• Rowden, R. (2013). “The Myth of Africa’s Rise”, Foreign Policy, 4th January 2013.

Newspaper articles on the “re-emergence” of industrial policy:

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/wonkbook-is-industrial-policy-
• back/2012/04/09/gIQAHL7i5S_blog.html
• http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-return-of-industrial-policy
• http://www.economist.com/node/16741043

Topic: Low-income countries should not rely on industrialisation as an engine of growth and development. Discuss.

Session 3 Public Utilities, Infrastructure and Development

Public utilities such as electricity, water, transportation or telecommunications are the backbone of any economic activity. Industrialisation requires a reliable supply of electricity to enable production as well as transportation infrastructure to allow exchange of goods. A lack of access to drinking water involves high opportunity costs and explains informality of labour and poverty. Due to tight budgets, governments find it difficult to finance such infrastructure. Are Public-Private Partnerships a solution?

• Bayliss, K. (2003). ‘Utility privatisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of water’. Journal of Modern African Studies, 41 (4): 507-531.
• Ménard, C. and Peeroo, A. (2011). ‘Liberalization in the Water Sector: Three Leading Models’. In: Finger, M. and
• Künneke, R. W. (eds.), International Handbook of Network Industries: The Liberalization of Infrastructure, pp. 310-327. Cheltenham and others: Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Spiller, P. T. and Tommasi, M. (2005). ‘The Institutions of Regulation: An Application to Public Utilities’. In: Ménard, C. and Shirley, M.M. (eds.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, pp. 515-543. Dordrecht and others: Springer.
• Arup (2015). In Depth Water Yearbook. London: Arup Publications.
• Baer, M. (2014). ‘Private water, public good: Water privatization and state capacity in Chile’. Studies in Comparative International Development, 49 (2): 141-167.
• Bayliss, K. (2013). ‘Financing water in Africa’. SOAS Department of Economics Working Paper Series No 182.
• Kessides, I. (2004). Reforming infrastructure: Privatization, regulation, and competition. Washington DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press.
• Kishimoto, S. (2016). ‘Remunicipalization: A practical guide for communities and policy makers’. Water Justice Toolkit: Public Water for All. Unifor, December 2016.
• OECD (2010). ‘Clear Water’. OECD Observer, 280 (July 2010): 55.
• Savedoff, W. and Spiller, P. (1999). Spilled Water: Institutional Commitment in the Provision of Water Services. Washington DC: Inter-American Development Bank.
• Shirley, M.M. and Ménard, C. (2002). ‘Cities Awash: A Synthesis of the Country Cases’. In: Shirley, M.M. (ed.) Thirsting for Efficiency: The Economics and Politics of Urban Water System Reform, pp. 1-41. Amsterdam and others: The World Bank.

Topic: How can we explain the lack of water services in Sub-Saharan Africa?

• Ménard, C. and Peeroo, A. (2011). ‘Liberalization in the Water Sector: Three Leading Models’. In: Finger, M. and Künneke, R. W. (eds.), International Handbook of Network Industries: The Liberalization of Infrastructure, pp. 310-327. Cheltenham and others: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Session 4 Evolving Structures of Trade and Development

In this lecture we will discuss the role of foreign trade in development. We will briefly consider orthodox theories of comparative advantage and related trade promoting theories. We will then revisit the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis and consider the growth of global value chains and the implications for LICs and economic development. Finally we will critically evaluate policy recommendations that emerge.

• T&S – Chapter 12: International Trade Theory and Development Strategy
• Deranyiagala, S. (2005). “Neoliberalism in International Trade: Sound Economics or a Question of Faith?” in Neoliberalism: A Critical Reader, edited by D. Johnston and A. Saad-Filho. London: Pluto Press.
• Balassa, B., (1988), “Outward orientation,” in H. Chenery and T.N. Srinivasan (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, vol. 2, Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp.1645-1689.
• Cashin, P. and J. McDermott (2002), “The Long-Run Behaviour of Commodity Prices: Small Trends and Big Variability”, IMF staff papers, vol.49
• Fu, Xiaolan, Raphael Kaplinsky, and Jing Zhang. 2009. “The Impact of China’s Exports on Global Manufactures Prices”. No. 032. SLPTMD Working Paper Series. Oxford: Department of International Development, University of Oxford.
• Kaplinsky, R. (2006) “Revisiting the revisited terms of trade: Will China make a difference?”, World Development, 34(6): 981-995
• Krueger, A. (1998) “Why Trade Liberalisation is Good for Growth” The Economic Journal 108 (September): 1513-1522.
• Krugman, Paul and Maurice Obstfeld. International Economics: Theory and Policy. Eight edition or earlier edition. Boston: Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2009
• Lall, Sanjaya. (1999). The Technological Response to Import Liberalization in SubSaharan Africa. Houndmills: Macmillan.
• Lo, Dic. (2011). Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization: Studies in the Political Economy of Institutions and Late Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan. See Chapter 2, section 2.3 on the New International Division of Labour
• Ocampo, Jose Antonio, and Lance Taylor. (1998). “Trade Liberalisation in Developing Economies: Modest Benefits but Problems with Productivity Growth, Macro Prices, and Income Distribution.” Economic Journal 108 (450): 1523–1546.
• Prebisch, R. (1959), “Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries”, The American Economic Review, vol. 49(2)
• Razmi, Arslan, and Robert A. Blecker. (2008). “Developing Country Exports of Manufactures: Moving Up the Ladder to Escape the Fallacy of Composition?” Journal of Development Studies 44 (1) (January): 21–48.
• Rodriguez, F., and Rodrik, D., (2000), “Trade policy and economic growth: a skeptic’s guide to the cross-national evidence”, NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15 on http://www.nber.org/chapters/c11058.pdf
• Sindzingre, Nicole Alice, and Lee Robinson. 2012. “China’s Ambiguous Impacts on Commodity-Dependent Countries: The Example of Sub-Saharan Africa (with a Focus on Zambia)”. Working Paper 2012-39. Paris: Université Paris X Ouest Nanterre La Défense.
• Smith S. and J. Toye, (1979) `Introduction: Three Stories About Trade and Poor Economies', Journal of Development Studies, 15(3), April 1979.
• Stein, Howard, and Machiko Nissanke. (1999). “Structural Adjustment and the African Crisis: A Theoretical Appraisal.” Eastern Economic Journal 25 (4): 399–420.
• UNECA (2013). Making the Most of Africa’s Commodities: Industrializing for Growth, Jobs and Economic Transformation, Economic Report on Africa 2013.
• UNCTAD. (2008). Economic Development in Africa 2008: Export Performance Following Trade Liberalization: Some Patterns and Policy Perspectives. New York and Geneva: United Nations Publications.
• Film: http://blackgoldmovie.com/story

Topic: How are producers in LICs integrated into world trade and what problems does this create (think about the micro and macro channels)? Are ethical standards and codes, including the Fairtrade movement a solution?

• *Deranyiagala, S. (2005). “Neoliberalism in International Trade: Sound Economics or a Question of Faith?” in Neoliberalism: A Critical Reader, edited by D. Johnston and A. Saad-Filho. London: Pluto Press.

Session 5 From FDI and TNCs to ‘China in Africa’

This lecture will discuss the potential opportunities and challenges of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries. We will discuss the particular role of transnational corporations in the developing world and the recent rise of Chinese investment in sub-Saharan Africa. We will also consider the growing emergence of transnational corporations from the global South and the possible implications of this.

• Markusen, J.R. and A.J. Venables (1997). “Foreign Direct Investment as a Catalyst for Industrial Development”. NBER Working Paper No.6241, http://www.nber.org/papers/w6241.pdf?new_window=1
• Kaplinsky, Raphael and Morris, Mike (2009). “Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: engaging with large dragons”. European Journal of Development Research, 21(4), pp. 551–569.
• Bhagwati, J (2007), “Why Multinationals Help Reduce Poverty”, The World Economy, pp. 211-228.
• Buckley. P.J. (2010). Foreign Direct Investment, China and The World Economy, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Chang, Ha-Joon (1998) “Globalization, Transnational Corporations, and Economic Development: Can the Developing Countries Pursue Strategic Industrial Policy in a Globalizing World Economy?” Chp 4 (pp.97-114) in Baker, Dean, Epstein, Gerald and Pollin, Robert (1998) Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy, London: Cambridge University Press.
• Dicken, P., H.W. Yeung, Weidong Liu (2006) "Transnational corporations and network effects of a local manufacturing cluster in mobile telecommunications equipment in China" World Development 34: 520-540
• Dicken, P. (2003)"’Placing’ firms: grounding the debate on the ‘global’ corporation" In Remaking the Global Economy: Economic-Geographical Perspectives, J. Peck & H. Yeung (eds), pp. 27-44.Sage.
• Dunning, J.H., R.V. Hoesel and R. Narula (1998), ‘Third World Multinationals Revisited: New Developments and Theoretical Implications’, in J.H. Dunning (ed.), Globalization, Trade, and Foreign Direct Investment, Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Drysdale, P. and S.J. Wei (2012). “The rise of Chinese foreign investment”, East Asian Forum Quarterly, April-June 2012, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/06/11/the-rise-of-chinese-foreign-investment/
• Gorg, H. and D. Greenaway (2004). “Much Ado About Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?” World Bank Research Observer, 19(2): 171-197
• Lall, S. (2003). “Foreign Direct Investment, Technology Development and Competitiveness: Issues and Evidence”, in Lall and Urata (eds). Competitiveness, FDI and Technological Activity in East Asia, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Pp.12-56
• Lall, S. and Narula, R. (2004). FDI and its Role in economic development: Do we need a new agenda, European Journal of Development Research, 16(3), pp. 447-464.
• Lall, S. (2001) Competitiveness, Technology and Skills, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Lall, S. and Pietrobelli, C. (2002) Failing to Compete: Technology Development and Technology Systems in Africa, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Lall, S. and Teubal, M. (1998) ‘‘Market stimulating’ technology policies in developing countries: a framework with examples from East Asia’, World Development, 26(8), 1369-1386.
• Moyo, D. (2012). Winner Takes All: China’s Race for Resources and what it means for the World, New York: Basic Book

Topic: “The overall economic impact of Chinese investment on the economies of sub-Saharan Africa has been overwhelmingly positive”

Discuss Required readings:

• Kaplinsky, Raphael and Morris, Mike (2009). “Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: engaging with large dragons”.  European Journal of Development Research, 21(4), pp. 551–569.

Session 6 Aid and Development

After having discussed various types of aid, a review of aid thinking over time will lay the foundations to better understand the contemporary debate on aid, namely whether it should focus on poverty reduction or on structural transformation. Special attention will be given to the political economy of aid as a way to explain changes in aid over time.

• T&S – Chapter 14: Foreign Finance, Investment and Aid: Controversies and Opportunities
• Easterly, William, Ross Levine, and David Roodman (2004) “Aid, Policies, and Growth: Comment.” American
• Economic Review 94(3): 774-80.
• Fraser A. (2010) “Aid-Recipient Sovereignty in Historical Perspective”, in: Whitfield, L. (ed.) The Politics of Aid:
• African Strategies for Dealing with Donors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 2, pp. 45-73.
• Burnside, Craig, and David Dollar. “Aid, Policies, and Growth.” American Economic Review 90, no. 4 (Sept. 2000): 847–68.
• Burnside, Craig, and David Dollar: “Aid, Policies, and Growth: Reply.” American Economic Review 94, no. 3 (June 2004): 781-84.
• Dahman-Saidi, Myriam, and Christina Wolf. 2011. “Recalibrating Development Co-operation: How Can African Countries Benefit from Emerging Partners?” OECD Publishing, OECD Development Centre Working Papers No. 302. Paris: OECD Development Center.
• Djankov, Simeon, Jose Montalvo, and Marta Reynal-Querol (2008) “The Curse of Aid.” Journal of Economic Growth 13(3): 169-94.
• Easterly, William. “Can the West Save Africa?” Journal of Economic Literature 47, no. 2 (June 2009): 373-447.
• Easterly, William, and Tobias Pfutze. “Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 22, no. 2 (Spring 2008): 29-52.
• Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay, and Massimo Mastruzzi. “Governance Matters VIII: Governance Indicators for 1996-2008.” The World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper 4978. 2009.
• Mawdsley, E. (2012). From recipients to donors: Emerging powers and the changing development landscape. London and New York: Zed Books. Chapter 1.
• Moyo, D. (2009) Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way For Africa. London: Penguin
• Nissanke, Machiko, and M. Söderberg (2011). “The Changing Landscape of Aid Relations in Africa – Can China’s Engagement Make a Difference to African Development.” Ul Papers 2011/02. Stockholm: Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
• Olken, Benjamin, and Patrick Barron. “The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh.”
• Mimeo. May 2007. Shleifer, Andrei, and Robert Vishny. “Corruption.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, no. 3 (Aug. 1993): 599-617.
• Wade, Robert. “The System of Administrative and Political Corruption: Canal Irrigation in South India.” Journal of Development Studies 18, no. 3 (April 1982): 287-328.

Topic: Critically discuss if foreign aid is beneficial or not for growth and development.

• Oya, C. and N. Pons-Vignon (2010) “Aid, Development and the State in Africa”, in: Padayachee V. (ed.) The Political Economy of Africa, London: Routledge. Ch. 9, pp. 191-217.
• Ramalingham, B. (2013) “A System to Change ‘the system’”, in: Aid on the Edge of Chaos: Rethinking International Cooperation In A Complex World Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 1, pp. 3-16.
• Whitfield, L. (2009) “Reframing the Aid Debate: Why Aid Isn’t Working and How It Should Be Changed”, DIIS Working Paper 2009:34.
• Universe of Economies: Interdependence and Complexity, System Trajectories, Chaos, and Self-Organization. San Diego, Academic Press: 57-96 & 251-276

Session 7 The Bretton Woods Institutions and their Role in Development

The emergence of the Bretton Woods system after WWII also involved the creation of a new set of institutions to govern the international monetary system and international trade. Although the Bretton Woods system collapsed in the 1970s, its institutions persisted over time. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the GATT’s successor, the World Trade Organisation, exist until today. Their role in the development of Low Income Countries will be studied in this lecture.

• T&S - Chapter 13: Balance of Payments, Developing-Country Debt, and the Macroeconomic Stabilization Controversy
• Easterly, W. (2001), The Effect of International Monetary Fund and World Bank Programs on Poverty. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2517.
• Steinberg, R. H. (2002), In the Shadow of Law or Power? Consensus-Based Bargaining and Outcomes in the GATT/WTO. International Organization, 56:2 (Spring, 2002), pp. 339-74.
• Baqir, R., R. Ramcharan and R. Sahay (2003) ‘IMF Program Design and Growth: What is the Link?’, International Monetary Fund, April
• Blanchard, O., G. Dell’Ariccia and P. Mauro (2010) ‘Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy’, International Monetary Fund Staff Position Note SPN/10/03, February.
• Elson, D. and N. Cagatay (2000) ‘The social content of macroeconomic policies’, World Development, 28(7): 1347-1364
• Fine, Ben (2006) 'Financial Programming and the IMF: the developmental state and the political economy of development.' In: Fine, Ben and Jomo, K.S., (eds.), The New Development Economics: After the Washington Consensus. New Delhi: Tulika, pp. 87-100.
• Heintz, J. and R. Pollin (2008) ‘Targeting Employment Expansion, Economic Growth and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Outlines of an Alternative Economic Programme for the Region’, paper prepared for the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, March.
• Henning, C.R. (2009) ‘US Interests and the International Monetary Fund’, Peterson Institute for International Economics Policy Brief PB 09-12.
• IMF (2009) ‘The Fund’s Facilities and Financing Framework for Low-Income Countries’, prepared by Strategy, Policy and Review Department, approved by Reza Moghadam and Andrew Tweedie, February 25
• Rada, Codrina, and Rudiger von Arnim. (2011). “Structural Transformation in China and India: The Role of Macroeconomic Policies”. Department of Eoconomics Working Paper Series No. 2011/05. University of Utah.
• Stiglitz, J. 2003. “The East Asia Crisis: How IMF Policies Brought the World to the Verge of a Global Meltdown”, Chapter 4 in Globalization and Its Discontents.
• Wyplosz, C. (2007) ‘Debt Sustainability Assessment: the IMF Approach and Alternatives’, Graduate Institute of International Studies Working Paper 03/2007
• Film: http://www.thebigsellout.org/
• Interview of John Perkins on Democracy Now- Confessions of an Economic Hit-man, On YOUTUBE at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWo4ZhjdTHg
• Topic: Analysing a real life IMF Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) from Ghana. ONLINE at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06225.pdf (you are not expected to read the entire report; we will mainly be looking at Appendix II- Policy Matrix).

Session 8 Capital Account Liberalisation, Financialisation and Development

In the context of the Washington Consensus developing countries were expected to open up to international trade as well as to international capital flows. This lecture looks at the various types of international capital flows and then examines their impact on economic development by carefully weighing the arguments of proponents and opponents of capital account liberalisation.

• M. Ayhan Kose, Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, and Shang-Jin Wei (2006), Financial Globalization: A Reappraisal, IMF Working Paper WP/06/189.
• Jonathan D. Ostry, Prakash Loungani, and Davide Furceri, Neoliberalism: Oversold? Finance & Development, June 2016, Vol. 53, No. 2.
• Bhagwati, Jagdish (1998). “The Capital Myth: The Difference Between Trade in Widgets and Trade in Dollars”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 77, pp. 7-12.
• Cavallo, E, Eichengreen, B and Panizza, U (2016), Can Countries Rely on Foreign Saving for Investment and Economic Development?, CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP11451. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2831955
• Atish R. Ghosh ; Mahvash Qureshi (2016), What’s In a Name? That Which We Call Capital Controls, Working Paper No. 16/25.
• Schmukler, Sergio L (2004), “Financial Globalization: Gain and Pain for Developing Countries.” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review, Q2: 39–66.
• Williamson, J., and Z. Drabek, (1999), Whether and When to Liberalize Capital Account and Financial Services.
• Staff Working Paper ERAD-99-03. World Trade Organization. Economic Research and Analysis Division.
• Ghosh, Atish R., Jonathan D. Ostry, and Mahvash S. Qureshi (2016) “When Do Capital Inflow Surges End in Tears?” American Economic Review, Vol. 106, No. 5.
• Dell’Ariccia, Giovanni, Julian di Giovanni, André Faria, M. Ayhan Kose, Paolo Mauro, Jonathan D. Ostry, Martin Schindler, and Marco Terrones (2008), Reaping the Benefits of Financial Globalization, IMF Occasional Paper 264 (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
• Edison, H., R. Levine, L. Ricci, and T. Slok. (2002) ‘Capital Account Liberalization and Economic Performance: Survey and Synthesis’, IMF Working Paper, 02/120.
• Davide Furceri ; Prakash Loungani (2015), Capital Account Liberalization and Inequality, IMF Working Paper No. 15/243
• Rodrik, Dani, 1998, “Who Needs Capital-Account Convertibility?” in Should the IMF Pursue Capital-Account Convertibility? Essays in International Finance 207 (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University).
• Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine (2008), Finance, Financial Sector Policies, and Long-Run Growth, Commission on Growth and Development.
• Eichengreen, B., (2000),"Capital Account Liberalisation: What do Cross-Country Studies Tell us?" World Bank Economic Review, 15(3): 341-365.
• Eswar S. Prasad & Raghuram G. Rajan (2008), A Pragmatic Approach to Capital Account Liberalization, Institute for the Study of Labor, Discussion Paper No. 3475 April 2008.

Topic: What are the advantages and disadvantages of capital account liberalisation for developing countries?

• Stiglitz, J.E., (2000),"Capital Market Liberalization, Economic Growth, and Instability." World Development, 28 (6): 1075-1086.
• Maurice Obstfled (2009), International Finance and Growth in Developing Countries: What Have We Learned?, NBER Working Paper No. 14691
• Wade, R (2000), Wheels Within Wheels: Rethinking the Asian Crisis and the Asian Model, Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 3: 85-115.

Session 9 The Development Challenges of Small Island States

Small Island Developing States have specific characteristics that set them apart from other developing countries. In addition, climate change poses a particular threat for these islands. This lecture will consider how these specificities constrain development of SIDS and it will also link back to some of the topics already discussed, namely industrialisation, globalisation and trade, and the role of the State.

• Briguglio, L. (1995). ‘Small Island Developing States and their economic vulnerabilities’. World Development, 23 (9): 1615-1632.
• Bertram, G. and Poirine, B. (2007). ‘Island Political Economy’. In: UPEI (ed.), A world of islands: An island studies reader, Malta: PEI, pp. 325-373.
• Sobhee, S. (2009). ‘The economic success of Mauritius: Lessons and policy options for Africa’. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 12 (1): 29-42.
• Baldacchino, G. and Bertram, G. (2009). ‘The Beak of the Finch: Insights into the Economic Development of Small Economies’. The Round Table, 98 (401): 141-160.
• Bunwaree, S. (2005). ‘Small Island Developing States: Challenges, prospects and international cooperation for sustainable development’. Paper prepared for the IRFD World Forum, 10-13 January 2005.
• Elahee, M.K. (2011). ‘Sustainable energy policy for small-island developing state: Mauritius’. Utilities Policy, 19 (2011): 71-9.
• Gray, M. and Lalljee, B. (2012). ‘Climate change adaptation in Mauritius: Considering the role of institutions’. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Sciences, 11 (1): 99-111.
• Halstead, E. (2016). ‘Citizens of Sinking Islands: Early Victims of Climate Change’. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 23 (2): 819-837.
• Mohan, P. (2016). ‘Caribbean Diversification and Development’. The World Economy, 2016: 1434-1453.
• Robinson, C.J. (2017). Corporate Ownership and Management in Small Island Developing States: Implications for Academia, Public Policy and Management Practices. At: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2968183.

Topic: What differentiates Small Island Developing States from other low and middle income economies? How do these specific characteristics influence development possibilities for small island states?

Session 10 Changing Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries

This week is devoted to understanding the main features and trends in relation to labour markets in LICs. We will record the shift towards self-employment, informalisation, and flexibilisation of work across some case study countries as well as the integration of workers into global value chains. We will also consider theoretical approaches towards labour markets in LICs including labour market segmentation and the human capital approach.

• Al-Samarrai, S. y Bennell, P. (2003), Where Has All the Education Gone in Africa?: Employment Outcomes among Secondary School and University Leavers, Research Paper, August, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.
• Fields, G. (2007). ‘Labor market policy in developing countries: a selective review of the literature and needs for the future ’, Washington, DC: World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper 4362.
• Bain, C. (2010). ‘Structuring the Flexible and Feminized Labor Market: GlobalGAP Standards for Agricultural Labor in Chile’, Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 35(2j)
• Bardasi, E.; K. Beegle; A. Dillon and P. Serneels. 2010. “Do Labor Statistics Depend on How and to Whom the Questions Are Asked? Results from a Survey Experiment in Tanzania”, in Policy Research Working Paper No 5192, Washington DC, World Bank.
• Barrientos S. and S. Smith (2007), ‘Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade? Assessing Codes of Labour Practice in Global Production Systems’ Third World Quarterly , 28(4): 713-729.
• Berg, J. (2011). ‘Laws or luck? Understanding rising formality in Brazil in the 2000s’. Regulating for Decent Work. New Directions in Labour Market Regulation. Geneva/Basingstoke: ILO/Palgrave Macmillan, 123-150.
• Bryceson D., C. Kay and J. Mooij (eds.) (2000), Disappearing Peasantries? Rural labour in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Especially chapters 2, 7, 13 and 17. London: ITDG Publishing
• Folbre, N. (2012). ‘The Political Economy of Human Capital’. Review of Radical Political Economics, 44(3), 281-292.
• Fox, M. L., Haines, C., Munoz, M. J. H., & Thomas, M. A. H. (2013). Africa's Got Work to Do: Employment Prospects in the New Century. IMF Working Paper No. 13-201. International Monetary Fund: Africa department.
• Gindling, T.H. (1991), “Labor Market Segmentation and the Determination of Wages in the Public, Private-Formal, and Informal Sectors in San José, Costa Rica”, Economic Development and Cultural Change Vol. 39, No. 3 (Apr., 1991), pp. 585-605.
• Glewwe P. (2002), ‘Schools and Skills in Developing Countries: Education Policies and Socio-Economic Outcomes’, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol XL, June.
• Li, H., Li, L., Wu, B., & Xiong, Y. (2012). ‘The end of cheap Chinese labor’. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(4), 57-74.
• Luebker, M. 2008. Employment, unemployment and informality in Zimbabwe: Concepts and data for coherent policy-making. Issues Paper No. 32 and Integration Working Paper No. 90 (Harare and Geneva, ILO).
• Maertens, M., & Swinnen, J. F. (2012). ‘Gender and modern supply chains in developing countries’. Journal of Development Studies, 48(10), 1412-1430.
• Maloney, W. (1998), “Are labour markets in developing countries dualistic?”, and other working/research papers for the World Bank.
• Portes A. and R. Schauffler (1993), “Competing Perspectives on the Latina American Informal Sector”, Population and Development Review, 19:1, 33-59
• Schaffner J.A. (1993), ‘Rising incomes and the shift from self-employment to firm-based employment’, Economics Letters 41: pp. 435-440.
• Schneider, F. and D. Enste (2000), “Informal Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences”, The Journal of Economic Literature, 38/1, pp. 77-114.
• Sender, John, Christopher Cramer and Carlos Oya (2005), Unequal Prospects: Disparities in the Quantity and Quality of Labour Supply in Sub-Saharan Africa, Social Protection Discussion Paper No.0525, Washington: World Bank.

Topic: “To improve the situation of workers in LICs, policy-makers should focus on improving educational outcomes and skills of the workforce.” Discuss Required readings:

• Al-Samarrai, S. y Bennell, P. (2003), Where Has All the Education Gone in Africa?: Employment Outcomes among Secondary School and University Leavers, Research Paper, August, Institute of Development Studies at the  University of Sussex.

Learning and Teaching ressources 

The main textbook for this module is:

• Todaro, M. and Smith, S. C. (eleventh edition; 2011). Economic Development. London: Addison Wesley [there are many earlier editions which are almost as useful if you can't find the latest edition] -henceforth T&S

Other very useful texts are:

• Chang. H. (2003) Rethinking Development Economics. London: Anthem Press.
• Cypher, J.M. and Dietz, J.L. (2009). The Process of Economic Development. London and New York: Routledge. (3rd Edition) – henceforth C&D (You can access this book online via the SOAS library).
• Hunt, D. (1989) Economic Theories of Development. An Analysis of Competing Paradigms. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf
• Jomo, K.S. and Fine, B. (eds) (2006) The New Development Economics After the Washington Consensus. Delhi, India: Tulika Books.
• Kohli, A. (2004). State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Good for country examples – India, South Korea, Brazil and Nigeria) – E-book available via SOAS library.
• Meier, G. and Rauch, J. (2005). Leading Issues in Economic Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press [earlier editions are also useful]
• Thirlwall, A. P. and P. Pacheco-López (tenth edition; 2017). Economics of Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Ray, D. (1998). Development Economics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Reinert, E., J. Ghosh and R. Kattel (2016). Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. – henceforth RGK (You can access this book online via the SOAS library).

Below is a short selection of background reading relevant to the course:

• Chang, H. (2002) Kicking Away the Ladder. Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. London:
• Anthem Press
• Easterly, W. (2002) The Elusive Quest for Growth. Cambridge MA: MIT Press
• Jerven, M. (2015) Africa: Why Economists Get in Wrong. London: Zed Books

Other Online Resources, Blogs, Podcasts and Websites

Below are a selection of useful resources, blogs and websites that provide up-to-date commentary on the topics and issues covered in the IDE course. You may find it useful to consult these from time to time.

• Conversations with Tyler Cowen Podcast : A great series of interview-style podcasts that touch upon issues in development economics, from conflict and war to crypto-currencies.
• IDEAS Network:  IDEAS has been established with the purpose of building a pluralist network of heterodox economists engaged in the teaching, research and application of critical analyses of economic development.
• Future Development:  This blog was first launched in September 2013 by the World Bank in an effort to hold governments more accountable to poor people and offer solutions to the most prominent development challenges. Continuing this goal, Future Development was re-launched in January 2015 at brookings.edu. 
• ELDIS : Our aim is to share the best in development policy, practice and research.
• Aid Thoughts : Aid Thoughts is a blog on international development, economics and foreign aid.
• Developing Economics : This blog takes critical approach to development economics. It seeks to stimulate debate and critical reflection on economic development among academics and practitioners from all relevant fields
• The Guardian Newspaper Global Development Site : This website is funded by support provided, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Content is editorially independent and its purpose is to focus on global development, with particular reference to the millennium development goals and their transition into the sustainable development goals from 2015.
• Of interest might be the Poverty Matters blog in particular
• From Poverty to Power:   This is a conversational blog written and maintained by Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GBand author of ‘From Poverty to Power’.
• Overseas Development Institute :  The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is the UK's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues.
• London International Development Centre :  The London International Development Centre (LIDC) facilitates interdisciplinary research and training to tackle complex problems in international development. We bring together social and natural scientists from across the University of London's Bloomsbury Colleges: Birkbeck, UCL Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary College, and SOAS.
• Growth Econ Blog by Dietrich Vollrath

On the Nobel Prize in Economics:

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/nobel-prize-economics-not-science-hubris-disaster?CMP=share_btn_tw
• https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/503186/

Data Sources

Below are number of relevant sites where you can obtain useful data for this course. You are encouraged to consult these sites and to obtain information from here for your essays and tutorial presentations. We will be discussing some of the limitations and concerns with some of this data in our classes, so please make use of such data with caution and with caveats in mind!

• IMF (various databases ) 
• World Bank World Development Indicators published and regularly updated by the World Bank. 
• UK Data Service
• ILO Employment and labour data including Key Labour Market Indicators – KILM and Labour Force Surveys 
• FAO (Commodities and agriculture data) 
• UNCTAD (Trade and Commodities data)
• UNDP Human Development Report published annually by the UNDP
• OECD Aid Statistics 
• Historical Growth Trends Angus Maddison's estimates of historical GDP trends across countries up to 2016

 Stay tuned!

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Home » 500+ Economics Research Topics

500+ Economics Research Topics

Economics is a vast and fascinating field that explores how individuals, businesses, and governments make decisions about the allocation of resources. As such, it provides a wealth of research opportunities for those interested in understanding and analyzing the complexities of modern society. From macroeconomic issues such as globalization and monetary policy, to microeconomic topics such as consumer behavior and market competition, there are numerous research topics that economists can investigate. In this post, we will explore some of the most interesting and relevant economics research topics that are shaping our world today.

Economics Research Topics

Economics Research Topics are as follows:

• The impact of technological change on income inequality.
• An analysis of the relationship between exchange rates and foreign direct investment.
• The effects of tax incentives on small business growth and development.
• The determinants of economic growth in developing countries.
• The impact of globalization on economic growth and development.
• An analysis of the effects of the minimum wage on employment and poverty.
• The role of central banks in managing inflation and economic stability.
• An investigation into the factors influencing consumer behavior and spending.
• An analysis of the impact of trade liberalization on economic growth.
• The effects of income inequality on social welfare and economic stability.
• The role of international trade in economic development.
• An investigation into the relationship between education and economic growth.
• An analysis of the effects of corruption on economic growth and development.
• The impact of the gig economy on employment and wages.
• An investigation into the causes and consequences of financial crises.
• The role of innovation in economic growth and development.
• An analysis of the impact of government spending on economic growth.
• The effects of globalization on the environment.
• The impact of climate change on economic growth and development.
• An investigation into the determinants of poverty and inequality.
• The role of entrepreneurship in economic growth and development.
• An analysis of the effects of monetary policy on economic growth and stability.
• The impact of immigration on labor markets and economic growth.
• An investigation into the factors influencing international trade flows.
• An analysis of the effects of foreign aid on economic development.
• The role of financial intermediaries in economic development.
• An investigation into the causes and consequences of income inequality.
• The impact of trade agreements on economic growth and development.
• An analysis of the effects of government regulation on business and economic growth.
• The role of technology transfer in economic development.
• An investigation into the effects of economic sanctions on trade and economic growth.
• The impact of population growth on economic development.
• An analysis of the effects of infrastructure investment on economic growth.
• The role of natural resources in economic development.
• An investigation into the effects of labor market policies on economic growth and employment.
• The impact of financial innovation on economic growth and stability.
• An analysis of the effects of income tax policy on economic growth and income distribution.
• The role of social capital in economic development.
• An investigation into the impact of economic policies on international trade.
• The effects of financial liberalization on economic growth and stability.
• The impact of urbanization on economic development.
• An analysis of the effects of international migration on labor markets and economic growth.
• The role of institutions in economic development.
• An investigation into the effects of exchange rate volatility on international trade.
• The impact of demographic change on economic growth and development.
• An analysis of the effects of government debt on economic growth and stability.
• The role of foreign investment in economic development.
• An investigation into the effects of labor market flexibility on economic growth and employment.
• The impact of intellectual property rights on innovation and economic growth.
• An analysis of the effects of economic inequality on social mobility and economic growth.
• The impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
• The role of financial markets in economic growth.
• The effectiveness of monetary policy in stabilizing the economy.
• The relationship between income inequality and economic growth.
• The impact of government regulations on business activity.
• The role of technology in shaping the future of the economy.
• The effect of globalization on the labor market.
• The impact of trade policy on economic growth.
• The relationship between education and economic growth.
• The effectiveness of fiscal policy in stimulating economic growth.
• The impact of immigration on the labor market.
• The effect of tax policy on economic growth.
• The role of entrepreneurship in economic development.
• The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth.
• The effect of international capital flows on the economy.
• The relationship between innovation and economic growth.
• The impact of demographic changes on the economy.
• The role of infrastructure investment in economic growth.
• The effect of monetary policy on income inequality.
• The impact of government debt on economic growth.
• The relationship between corruption and economic growth.
• The effect of globalization on income inequality.
• The impact of education on income inequality.
• The role of social welfare programs in reducing poverty.
• The effect of minimum wage laws on the labor market.
• The impact of health care policy on economic growth.
• The relationship between energy prices and economic growth.
• The effect of government subsidies on business activity.
• The impact of exchange rate fluctuations on trade.
• The role of financial innovation in economic development.
• The effect of social media on consumer behavior.
• The impact of consumer confidence on economic growth.
• The relationship between economic growth and political stability.
• The effect of demographic changes on income inequality.
• The impact of government spending on economic growth.
• The role of labor unions in the labor market.
• The effect of natural disasters on the economy.
• The relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability.
• The effect of corporate social responsibility on business activity.
• The impact of intellectual property rights on innovation.
• The effect of cultural differences on business activity.
• The impact of financial crises on the economy.
• The relationship between economic growth and health outcomes.
• The effect of government corruption on economic growth.
• The impact of demographic changes on the labor market.
• The effect of foreign aid on economic growth.
• The impact of technological change on the labor market.
• The effect of monetary policy on income distribution.
• The impact of trade agreements on economic growth
• The effect of corruption on economic development
• The relationship between financial development and economic growth
• The impact of foreign aid on economic growth in developing countries
• The role of innovation in promoting economic growth
• The impact of globalization on income inequality
• The relationship between inflation and economic growth
• The role of natural resources in economic development
• The impact of government expenditure on economic growth
• The relationship between income distribution and economic growth
• The impact of monetary policy on economic growth
• The role of education in promoting economic growth
• The impact of entrepreneurship on economic development
• The relationship between taxation and economic growth
• The impact of infrastructure on economic growth
• The role of international trade in economic development
• The impact of fiscal policy on economic growth
• The relationship between financial liberalization and economic growth
• The impact of economic integration on economic growth
• The role of institutions in promoting economic development
• The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth
• The relationship between inequality and economic growth
• The impact of social welfare programs on economic growth
• The role of technology in promoting economic growth
• The impact of political instability on economic growth
• The relationship between corruption and economic growth
• The impact of labor market policies on economic growth
• The role of human capital in promoting economic development
• The impact of health care on economic growth
• The relationship between exchange rates and economic growth
• The impact of foreign trade on income distribution
• The role of entrepreneurship in economic development
• The impact of environmental policies on economic growth
• The relationship between foreign aid and poverty reduction
• The impact of financial sector reforms on economic growth
• The role of social capital in promoting economic development
• The impact of regional integration on economic growth
• The relationship between public investment and economic growth
• The impact of monetary policy on income distribution
• The role of international migration in economic development
• The impact of labor market flexibility on economic growth
• The relationship between trade and technology transfer
• The impact of institutional quality on economic growth
• The role of financial sector development in promoting economic growth
• The impact of regional inequality on economic growth
• The relationship between education and poverty reduction
• The impact of foreign debt on economic growth
• The role of social protection in promoting economic development
• The impact of energy policies on economic growth
• The relationship between foreign trade and environmental sustainability
• The impact of international trade on income inequality.
• The relationship between public debt and economic growth.
• The effect of tax policy on international capital flows.
• The impact of government subsidies on technological innovation.
• The role of financial development in reducing poverty.
• The effect of regulation on market structure.
• The impact of globalization on financial stability.
• The relationship between financial development and income inequality.
• The effect of fiscal policy on long-term economic growth.
• The impact of financial frictions on business cycles.
• The role of international capital flows in financial crises.
• The effect of natural resource abundance on economic growth.
• The impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth.
• The relationship between institutions and economic growth.
• The effect of financial innovation on market efficiency.
• The impact of international migration on the labor market.
• The role of corporate governance in firm performance.
• The effect of monetary policy on the housing market.
• The impact of environmental policy on the energy sector.
• The effect of competition policy on market outcomes.
• The impact of technology adoption on productivity.
• The effect of regulation on consumer welfare.
• The impact of trade policy on export performance.
• The relationship between social capital and economic growth.
• The effect of labor market institutions on the gender wage gap.
• The impact of financial liberalization on economic growth.
• The role of human capital in technological innovation.
• The effect of trade openness on innovation.
• The impact of natural disasters on economic growth.
• The relationship between inequality and economic growth.
• The effect of exchange rate volatility on international trade.
• The impact of banking regulation on financial stability.
• The role of venture capital in financing innovation.
• The effect of regional trade agreements on economic growth.
• The impact of financial development on economic growth in emerging markets.
• The relationship between government spending and economic growth.
• The effect of monetary policy on credit markets.
• The impact of innovation on firm performance.
• The role of social networks in job search and labor market outcomes.
• The effect of international capital flows on income inequality.
• The impact of natural resource dependence on political instability.
• The relationship between financial development and income mobility.
• The effect of tax competition on fiscal policy.
• The impact of labor market institutions on unemployment.
• The role of infrastructure investment in economic development.
• The effect of monetary policy on financial market volatility.
• The impact of fiscal policy on income redistribution.
• The role of digital currencies in the future of finance.
• The effects of the gig economy on labor markets.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on economic growth.
• The relationship between climate change and economic growth.
• The role of blockchain technology in supply chain management.
• The effects of automation on the labor market.
• The impact of E-commerce on traditional retail industries.
• The relationship between social media and consumer behavior.
• The role of data analytics in business decision-making.
• The effects of globalization on income inequality.
• The impact of digital platforms on the sharing economy.
• The relationship between education and economic growth in the digital age.
• The role of fintech in financial inclusion.
• The effects of trade policies on global supply chains.
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on business performance.
• The relationship between immigration and economic growth.
• The role of venture capital in stimulating innovation and economic growth.
• The effects of the circular economy on sustainable development.
• The impact of cybersecurity threats on the global economy.
• The relationship between gender inequality and economic growth.
• The role of green finance in promoting sustainable development.
• The effects of automation on income inequality.
• The impact of the sharing economy on traditional business models.
• The relationship between human capital and economic growth.
• The role of technology transfer in international trade.
• The effects of regulatory frameworks on innovation.
• The impact of government policies on the growth of start-up companies.
• The role of venture philanthropy in social entrepreneurship.
• The effects of digital disruption on the financial services industry.
• The impact of the circular economy on job creation.
• The relationship between health outcomes and economic growth.
• The role of impact investing in social and environmental sustainability.
• The effects of trade agreements on the global economy.
• The impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth.
• The relationship between innovation and income inequality.
• The role of corporate governance in sustainable business practices.
• The effects of immigration policies on labor market outcomes.
• The impact of international capital flows on economic development.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance.
• The role of innovation clusters in regional economic development.
• The effects of digitalization on productivity.
• The impact of the sharing economy on urban development.
• The relationship between social entrepreneurship and economic growth.
• The role of government policies in promoting sustainable development.
• The effects of demographic changes on the economy.
• The impact of digitalization on economic development in developing countries.
• The relationship between consumer behavior and sustainability.
• The role of private equity in stimulating economic growth.
• The impact of government spending on economic growth
• The effects of minimum wage laws on employment and poverty rates
• The role of government subsidies in promoting renewable energy adoption
• The impact of trade liberalization on economic growth and income inequality
• The effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and unemployment
• The determinants of foreign direct investment flows in emerging markets
• The role of financial markets in economic development
• The impact of globalization on the labor market
• The effects of tax policies on economic growth and income distribution
• The role of human capital in economic growth and development
• The economics of climate change and the environment
• The effects of population aging on economic growth and social welfare
• The impact of social safety net programs on poverty reduction
• The effects of corruption on economic development and political stability
• The impact of technological innovation on labor market outcomes
• The economics of healthcare policy and healthcare markets
• The determinants of entrepreneurship and small business success
• The effects of income inequality on economic growth and social welfare
• The economics of urbanization and regional development
• The role of foreign aid in promoting economic development
• The impact of fiscal policy on economic growth and government debt
• The effects of financial regulation on economic stability and growth
• The economics of education policy and school choice
• The determinants of consumer behavior and market outcomes
• The role of multinational corporations in the global economy
• The effects of immigration on labor markets and economic growth
• The impact of monetary policy on financial markets and stability
• The economics of natural resource management and conservation
• The determinants of industrial competitiveness and productivity
• The effects of trade policies on economic growth and regional integration
• The role of institutional quality in economic development
• The impact of technological change on income inequality
• The economics of innovation and intellectual property rights
• The effects of financial globalization on emerging markets
• The role of infrastructure investment in promoting economic development
• The impact of exchange rate policies on international trade and investment
• The determinants of consumer credit and debt behavior
• The effects of social media and online platforms on market competition
• The role of international organizations in global economic governance
• The impact of natural disasters on economic development and poverty
• The economics of gender inequality and discrimination
• The effects of government regulation on business behavior and market outcomes
• The role of behavioral economics in understanding market behavior
• The impact of public investment on economic growth and social welfare
• The determinants of household saving and investment behavior
• The economics of renewable energy and clean technology adoption
• The effects of economic sanctions on international trade and investment
• The role of information and communication technologies in economic development
• The impact of globalization on income distribution and poverty
• The economics of international migration and remittances.
• The effects of income inequality on economic development
• An analysis of the efficiency of market structures in different industries
• The role of technology in economic growth and development
• The impact of international trade on economic development
• An investigation into the determinants of inflation
• The effects of labor market regulations on employment and productivity
• An analysis of the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability
• The role of institutions in economic development
• The impact of foreign aid on economic development
• The effects of taxation on economic growth
• An investigation into the factors that contribute to economic fluctuations
• The effects of globalization on income distribution
• The impact of education on economic growth and development
• The role of infrastructure in economic development
• The effects of trade liberalization on economic growth
• An analysis of the impact of exchange rates on trade and investment
• The relationship between innovation and economic growth
• The impact of government policies on the agricultural sector
• The effects of corruption on economic development
• An investigation into the effects of demographic changes on economic growth
• The impact of financial crisis on economic growth
• The effects of foreign direct investment on economic growth
• An analysis of the effects of natural resources on economic development
• The impact of healthcare on economic growth
• The effects of international migration on the economy
• The relationship between poverty and economic development
• The role of infrastructure in promoting economic growth
• An investigation into the effects of regional economic integration
• The impact of foreign trade on economic development
• The effects of government regulation on economic growth
• An analysis of the role of technology in improving economic efficiency
• The impact of population growth on economic development
• The effects of government spending on income inequality
• The role of the financial system in economic growth
• The impact of energy policies on economic development
• An investigation into the effects of intellectual property rights on economic growth
• The effects of trade on labor markets
• The role of social capital in economic development
• The effects of regional inequality on economic development
• An analysis of the impact of financial market development on economic growth
• The impact of international trade on technological progress
• The effects of financial regulation on economic growth
• The role of institutions in promoting entrepreneurship
• The impact of healthcare policies on economic growth
• An investigation into the effects of income redistribution on economic growth.

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Welcome to our latest blog post on economics research topics! Whether you are an academic seeking inspiration or a student looking for a starting point for your next assignment, you've come to the right place. 

With so many areas to explore in economics, it can be difficult to know where to begin. But don't worry, we've got your back. In this post, our online paper writers have shared some of the most interesting and hot economics research paper topics. So, grab a cup of coffee and let's dive in!

What Are Economics Research Topics?

Economics is a social science that studies how people, businesses, and governments make decisions about how to use resources. It deals with issues like production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. 

As a student, you might be given to write a research paper on research topics in economics. These types of social science topics can cover a wide range of subjects, including:

• Macroeconomics
• Microeconomics
• International economics
• Behavioral economics, and more.

Whether you are interested in exploring current trends, global markets or history, or taxes, we collected a bunch of economics topics for a research paper to choose from. Stay with our service to spot the best idea for your upcoming project.

Characteristics of Good Economics Research Paper Topics

When it comes to selecting a research topic related to economics, it is important to decide on a subject that is not only interesting but also appropriate for your academic level. Consider these fundamental characteristics of good economics paper topics to make a wise choice:

• Select a title that is both relevant and is intended to solve a current issue.
• Choose a unique topic that has not been explored too much by other researchers.
• Make sure you can easily access the data or sources needed to create your paper.
• Consider if the topic has the potential to be of practical or social importance.
• Pick an area that genuinely interests you and will keep you motivated throughout your project.

How to Choose an Economics Research Paper Topic?

Choosing between this selection of economics project ideas can be really difficult especially if you are first to this. However, with a little bit of guidance, you will see that there is nothing challenging about picking a proper topic for a research paper in economics. Take a look at these step-by-step instructions to make the right decision:

• Brainstorm potential economics research topics that sound interesting to you in the first place. After all, you don’t want to work with boring aspects.
• Narrow your list down and consider whether there are enough resources to back up your research.
• Carry out preliminary investigation to see what you can write about. Use academic journals, newspapers, and other reputable sources to gather information.
• Check if the topic complies with your instructor’s guidelines.
• Based on your research and requirements alter a title to create a focused research question.

Remember to choose a topic that you are passionate about and that aligns with your academic and professional goals.

Economics Research Topics List

Economics is a vast field that encompasses a wide range of topics and issues. If you're looking for inspiration for your next research paper, consider exploring one of these top research paper topics in economics:

• What is the impact of trade policies on international trade patterns?
• How does income inequality affect economic growth?
• What role does entrepreneurship play in economic development?
• How do government regulations affect market efficiency?
• What are the economic implications of climate change and environmental policy?
• How do automation and artificial intelligence affect the labor market?
• What are the effects of healthcare policies on the economy and society?
• How does education influence economic outcomes?
• What are some economic aspects of taxation and fiscal policy?
• How does globalization impact domestic economies and societies?

Interesting Research Topics in Economics

Are you searching for interesting topics in economics? Look no further than these cptivting economic paper topics ideas.

• How do government policies impact income mobility?
• What role do financial institutions play in economic growth?
• Economics of housing and homelessness.
• How do immigration policies shape the labor market?
• Impact of gender inequality on economic growth.
• Sustainable development and renewable energy.
• What are some effects of globalization on income distribution?
• How do minimum wage policies impact employment and poverty?
• Economics of crime and punishment.
• How does corruption relate to economic growth?
• Effects of social welfare policies on income inequality.
• Healthcare markets and insurance systems.
• How does technology influence income distribution and employment?
• Education financing and student loan debt.
• How do economic sanctions affect international trade and diplomacy?

Good Topics for Economic Research Papers

Economics research topics are diverse and can be approached from various angles. Below are some great economic topics to write about:

• What are some effects of social media on consumer behavior and advertising?
• What is the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability?
• Sharing economy and its impact on traditional industries.
• How does climate change affect the tourism industry economically?
• Economics of healthcare systems and policies in developing countries.
• How does population aging influence labor markets and retirement policies?
• How does artificial intelligence impact business and employment?
• What factors are involved in energy transition and the shift to renewable energy?
• Income inequality and political polarization.
• How do digital streaming services and the music industry intersect economically?
• How does cultural diversity contribute to growth and innovation?
• Effects of trade agreements on income distribution.
• Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
• How does globalization impact labor standards and working conditions?
• Natural disasters and economic growth.

Best Economics Research Topics

Want to take your project to the next level? Don’t skip these hot economic research questions. They suit any academic level and can be supported by credible evidence.

• Big data and its role in economic forecasting.
• How does public debt impact economic growth?
• The economics of international migration.
• What is the impact of technological innovation on income inequality?
• The role of infrastructure investment in fostering economic growth.
• The economics of the gig economy and freelance work.
• How does foreign aid affect economic development?
• The economics of natural resource management and sustainability.
• What is the impact of urbanization on economic growth and development?
• The economics of the entertainment industry and streaming services.
• How do exchange rate fluctuations influence trade and investment?
• The economics of food production and distribution systems.
• How do government regulations affect small businesses economically?
• The study of behavioral finance and decision-making in economics.
• What is the impact of monetary policy on financial markets and inflation?

Unique Economics Research Topics

Economics is a constantly evolving field that offers endless possibilities for research and analysis. That’s why choosing unique economic research ideas shouldn’t be a big deal. Below we added a list of authentic topics you most likely won’t be able to find anywhere else.

• How does mobile banking contribute to financial inclusion in emerging economies?
• How do natural disasters affect supply chains?
• What are some effects of gender bias in venture capital funding decisions?
• How does population density influence the demand for public transportation in urban areas?
• Virtual currencies and their potential as an alternative to traditional currencies.
• How do government subsidies influence the adoption of renewable energy?
• How do industrial policies shape innovation and contribute to economic growth?
• Alternative meat and its potential impact on the food industry.
• What is the relationship between public transit availability and property values in urban areas?
• How does corruption impact economic growth and development?
• Renewable energy storage systems and their impact on grid stability.
• What are some effects of automation on job displacement and income inequality?
• Blockchain technology in the banking industry and financial transactions.
• International trade in cultural goods and services.
• How does income inequality relate to health outcomes from an economic standpoint?

Popular Economics Topics for Research Paper

Do you want to focus on current and pressing issues? Consider these trending topics for economic research papers.

• The impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
• What are economic implications of healthcare reform?
• How does globalization affect labor markets economically?
• Climate change and the role of carbon pricing.
• Effects of income inequality on social mobility.
• How does automation impact employment and wages in the workforce?
• The economics of education and the burden of student loan debt.
• How do government regulations influence business and innovation economically?
• Income taxation and progressive taxation.
• Impact of immigration on labor markets.
• Behavioral economics and the use of nudges in decision-making.
• How do trade policies influence international relations and diplomacy?
• Mergers and acquisitions in the business world.
• How do minimum wage policies affect low-wage workers economically?
• Urbanization and transportation planning.

Economics Research Paper Topics for Students

As a student, picking decent economic topics for research papers can be a challenging task. It's important to focus on relevant and interesting aspects. Below you will find some economic research paper topics specifically geared toward students of all levels.

Economics Research Topics for College Students

College students majoring in economics have a range of choices when it comes to research topics. Below are some inspiring economic paper topics you can use as inspiration for your project in college:

• Effects of gig economy on labor markets.
• Economic growth and environmental sustainability.
• Impact of sharing economy on traditional industries.
• Housing affordability and homelessness.
• How does trade liberalization affect domestic industries and consumers?
• How does public policy influence small business growth?
• Food waste and its impact on sustainability.
• Income inequality and access to education.
• Impact of automation on the future of work.
• Online advertising and consumer behavior.
• How does fiscal policy influence income distribution and poverty reduction?
• How does tax reform impact business investment?
• Economics of international tourism and its impact on local economies.
• Effects of financial regulation on consumer behavior and investor confidence.
• Demographic shifts and labor force participation.

Economics Research Topics for Undergraduates

Are you an undergraduate student looking for topics related to economics? Here are some amazing ideas you can pick from:

• Financial implications of space exploration and commercial space travel.
• Role of urban farming in city development for sustainability.
• Impact of genetic engineering and biotechnology on the agricultural sector.
• Financial consequences of digital privacy.
• Implications of mass surveillance on consumer spending patterns.
• How do remittances influence growth in developing countries?
• Fiscal consequences of cybercrime and cybersecurity breaches.
• Role of microfinance in alleviating poverty.
• Potential financial implications of quantum computing.
• Water scarcity and its worldwide financial implications.
• Monetary consequences of epidemics, pandemics, and public health crises.
• Transformation of markets by virtual and augmented reality.
• Effect of corporate governance on shareholder value.
• Financial aspects of aging societies and pension reform.
• Role of intellectual property rights in promoting innovation and growth.

Economics Research Topics for Grad Students

Graduate students in economics are expected to delve deeper into economic theories, models, and concepts. They are also required to contribute new insights to the field. We suggest that you choose these economics topics for research to earn a high grade:

• How does drug legalization influence national economies?
• Impact of universal basic income on poverty levels and unemployment rates.
• Financial implications of political instability and conflict.
• Impact of cultural heritage sites on local and national finances.
• Financial repercussions of biodiversity loss and species extinction.
• Role of venture capital in fostering startups and growth.
• Disaster risk management and its relevance to financial resilience.
• Potential fiscal impacts of deep-sea mining.
• Financial consequences of single-use plastics and transition to a circular economy.
• Business aspects of the digital gaming industry and eSports.
• Impact of the maker movement and DIY culture on traditional manufacturing.
• How can nanotechnology shape future market economies?
• Impact of drone technology on supply chain operations.
• Financial aspects of mental health in the workplace.
• Role of public-private partnerships in fostering growth and infrastructure development.

Research Topics in Economics by Subject

Economics paper topics ideas will also depend on your area of expertise. This block will offer topics by subject, so that you can choose a theme that fits your special needs. Whether you are interested in exploring the economics of renewable energy or the effects of globalization on income distribution,you will surely spot an idea or two right below.

World Economics Research Paper Topics

The global economy is a complex and interconnected system, and there are many world economics research paper topics that can shed light on global aspects. Between them are these ideas:

• Evolving landscape of international trade in the post-COVID era.
• Role of Special Economic Zones in boosting global competitiveness.
• Impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence on global financial markets.
• How do social impact bonds contribute to global development goals?
• Cybersecurity risks in global financial institutions: Are we prepared?
• Influence of social entrepreneurship on worldwide poverty reduction.
• Green bonds and their role in global sustainable finance.
• Economic prospects of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
• Role of global remittance flows in socioeconomic development.
• Impact of climate change on global supply chains: What can we do?
• Global consequences of a cashless society: Are we ready?
• How does geopolitics affect global energy markets?
• Repercussions of cryptocurrency adoption on global financial stability.
• Economies of scale in global manufacturing: A new era?
• Role of international development assistance in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

>> More ideas: Politics Research Topics

Microeconomics Research Paper Topics

Microeconomics studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of resources. If you need microeconomics topics for research paper, we collected great ideas below:

• How do consumer ethics shape purchasing decisions?
• What influences price elasticity of demand in luxury goods markets?
• How does the gig economy affect individual financial stability?
• What are the key economic factors determining college major choices?
• How do credit scores influence personal finance management?
• What impacts have peer-to-peer lending platforms had on traditional banking?
• What drives consumer decisions between online and brick-and-mortar shopping?
• How do economic considerations play into personal retirement planning?
• What market dynamics and pricing strategies dominate the smartphone industry?
• How does behavioral economics impact personal savings habits?
• How significantly does brand loyalty influence consumer spending?
• What strategies help businesses survive during economic downturns?
• How does corporate social responsibility influence consumer choice?
• What role does digital marketing play in shaping consumer behavior?
• What are some economic impacts of identity theft on individuals and businesses?

Macroeconomics Research Paper Topics

Unlike microeconomics, macroeconomics explores the behavior and performance of entire economies. Below are some awesome macroeconomics research paper topics:

• Exploring connections between inflation and unemployment.
• Impact of quantitative easing on long-term economic growth.
• How does fiscal deficit affect a country's economic stability?
• The role of central banks in managing economic downturns.
• Effects of government debt on interest rates and investment.
• What factors contribute to business cycles and economic fluctuations?
• Examination of macroeconomic factors influencing foreign direct investment.
• How do monetary policies impact inflation and unemployment rates?
• Role of technology advancements in macroeconomic productivity.
• Impact of demographic changes on long-term economic growth.
• Can green investment stimulate economic recovery?
• What role do exchange rates play in a country's trade balance?
• Comparative analysis of economic growth models.
• Macroeconomic challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
• How does income inequality affect economic growth at a macro level?

Economics Research Paper Topics on International Trade

International trade is a vital part of the global economy and has a significant impact on development, and international relations. Here are unique topics for an economic research paper focusing on international trade:

• Impact of Brexit on international trade relations.
• How do currency fluctuations affect international trade?
• Economic consequences of trade wars: A case study of U.S.-China relations.
• Role of World Trade Organization in shaping international trade norms.
• How does international trade contribute to economic growth?
• Evaluation of free trade agreements and their economic implications.
• Role of emerging markets in shaping the future of international trade.
• How do trade barriers influence domestic industries?
• Fair trade vs. free trade: An economic analysis.
• Global supply chain disruptions: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Effects of international trade on income distribution within countries.
• Economic impact of sanctions on international trade.
• How do intellectual property rights issues affect international trade?
• Role of e-commerce in transforming international trade.
• What are the economic consequences of offshore outsourcing on international trade?

Financial Economics Research Topics

Financial economics is a subfield of economics that focuses on financial markets, institutions, and instruments. Here are outstanding financial economic topics for a paper:

• Role of FinTech in shaping the future of banking.
• Analysis of risk management strategies in investment banking.
• How do hedge funds contribute to financial market stability?
• Impact of regulatory changes on financial market competitiveness.
• How does financial literacy influence individual investment decisions?
• Examination of financial derivatives and their role in financial risk management.
• Role of central banks in maintaining financial stability.
• Analysis of market efficiency in cryptocurrency markets.
• How do financial crises affect economies in the long term?
• Financial inclusion and the role of mobile banking.
• Impact of corporate governance on financial performance.
• Examination of the link between financial markets and economic growth.
• High-frequency trading: Impact on financial market stability.
• Effect of algorithmic trading on financial market efficiency.
• How do interest rate changes impact financial markets.

Development Economics Research Topics

Development economics studies the economic and social development of low-income countries. With this branch in mind, we prepared a list of development economic research paper topics ideas:

•  Role of microfinance in economic empowerment in developing countries.
• How do infrastructure projects affect economic development?
• How do cultural factors shape economic progress in developing countries?
• Impact of corruption on resource allocation in developing nations.
• Impact of foreign aid on economic growth in recipient countries.
• Evaluation of agricultural policies on rural development.
• How do commodity price fluctuations affect developing economies?
• Implications of population growth on resource management in emerging economies.
• How does political stability influence economic growth in developing countries?
• Impact of public health initiatives on economic development.
• Analysis of sustainable development strategies in emerging economies.
• How do migration patterns affect economic development?
• How does technological adoption improve productivity in developing economies?
• Role of social entrepreneurship in sustainable economic development.
• How does tourism influence the economic development of low-income countries?

Behavioral Economics Research Paper Topics

Behavioral economics combines insights from psychology and economics to understand how people make financial decisions. Below you can find behavioral economics research topics:

• Impact of cognitive biases on economic decision making.
• Role of emotions in consumer purchasing behavior.
• How does social influence shape spending habits?
• What are the economic implications of procrastination?
• Nudging for good: Can behavioral economics promote healthier lifestyles?
• How does framing influence consumers' perception of price and value?
• Role of incentives in shaping individual and collective behavior.
• Examination of loss aversion in investment decisions.
• Analysis of irrational behaviors in financial markets.
• Behavioral economics in policy design: What works and why?
• How does choice overload affect consumer decision making?
• The effect of anchoring bias in pricing strategies.
• Role of behavioral economics in promoting sustainable consumption.
• How does scarcity mindset affect economic decisions?
• Behavioral economics and personal finance: How to avoid common pitfalls?

>> Read more: Psychology Topics to Research

Environmental Economics Research Topics

Environmental economics investigates the interaction between economic systems and the natural environment. This subfield also offers multiple perspectives for exploration. Here are some examples of project topics on economics with emphasis on environment:

• Examining the economic impacts of biodiversity loss.
• Impact of environmental policies on manufacturing industries.
• Role of renewable energy investments in economic growth.
• Does a carbon tax impact economic competitiveness?
• Economic analysis of water resource management.
• How do natural disasters affect economic performance?
• The economic value of ecosystem services.
• Cost-effectiveness of different strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Role of environmental economics in climate change mitigation.
• How does waste management contribute to sustainable economic growth?
• The effects of air pollution on economic productivity.
• What is the economic impact of deforestation?
• Evaluation of economic tools for managing plastic waste.
• Economics of transitioning to a circular economy.
• How does sustainable agriculture contribute to economic development?

>> View more: Environmental Research Topics

Health Economics Research Topics

Health economics examines how health care practices affect the health outcomes of individuals and whole populations.  Take a glance at these health economics research paper topics:

• Economic impact of pandemics on healthcare systems.
• Role of telemedicine in healthcare cost reduction.
• How do health insurance policies influence medical spending?
• Economic analysis of mental health issues and treatment access.
• The cost-effectiveness of preventative healthcare measures.
• Evaluating the economic burden of chronic diseases.
• Economic implications of antibiotic resistance.
• How does socioeconomic status influence health outcomes?
• Impact of aging populations on healthcare costs.
• Evaluation of the economic benefits of vaccination programs.
• The effect of medical technology advancements on healthcare costs.
• Role of behavioral economics in health promotion and disease prevention.
• How does health literacy influence healthcare utilization and costs?
• Economic analysis of substance abuse treatment.
• Evaluating the economic impacts of health policy reforms.

>> Read more: Public Health Topics for Research

Extra Research Topics for Economics

Sometimes, finding the right idea can be a challenging task. However, there are numerous resources available to help you find unique angles. Also, don't be afraid to ask your professors or research paper writer team for suggestions on the selection process. But if you don’t have enough time, we gathered some supplementary economics research topics.

Economics Essay Topics

An economics essay can cover a broad range of topics, from macroeconomic issues such as international trade and monetary policy to microeconomic aspects such as consumer behavior and market structure.

• Can an increase in minimum wage curb poverty?
• What are the potential economic effects of Brexit?
• Impact of income inequality on societal cohesion.
• How does the rise of remote work influence economic structures?
• Examination of the economic benefits of public libraries.
• Role of the informal economy in urban development.
• Economic implications of increasing life expectancy.
• How does piracy impact the music and film industry economically?
• Impact of subsidies on agricultural economies.
• Exploration of the economic factors influencing the housing market.
• Analysis of the economic costs of obesity.
• Role of child labor in global supply chains.
• Examination of the economic implications of internet censorship.
• Impact of single-use plastics on local and global economies.
• Economic effects of urban green spaces.

Economics Topics for a Short Project

If you need to complete a short assignment, you may want to consider project topics in economics that can be analyzed within a limited timeframe. Don’t worry. We’ve added some simple ideas as well:

• Examining the economic impacts of online privacy breaches.
• Role of advertising in shaping consumer behavior.
• Analysis of the economic effects of natural disasters.
• Economic implications of self-driving cars.
• Role of cooperatives in the economy.
• Impact of e-waste on developing economies.
• The role of micro-credit in alleviating poverty.
• Examining the economic impacts of space exploration.
• How do online reviews influence consumer purchasing decisions?
• Economics of disaster recovery: Case studies.
• Examination of the economic implications of cybercrime.
• Impact of nutritional labeling on consumer behavior and market outcomes.
• Economic analysis of the craft beer industry.
• Examining the economic effects of animal agriculture.
• How do tax incentives influence corporate behavior and economic outcomes?

Economics Research Questions

Formulating a research question is a crucial step in conducting an economics research project. A good research question should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the topic under study. Here are some economics research questions to consider:

• How does widespread adoption of digital currencies impact traditional banking?
• To what extent do economic factors contribute to obesity rates?
• What are the consequences of large-scale solar power adoption?
• How do parental leave policies shape labor markets?
• What impacts do large-scale data breaches have on corporations?
• Does green urban planning significantly contribute to city development?
• How much does mental health contribute to workplace productivity?
• What effects do fair trade agreements have on farmers in low-income countries?
• How valuable are clean oceans for global trade?
• How does political stability of a country influence foreign investments?
• What are the consequences of patent wars in the tech industry?
• How does the rise of freelancing shape labor laws?
• What economic implications does the rise of eSports have?
• How does nutrition education impact economic health?
• What are some benefits and drawbacks of commercial space tourism?

Economics Research Topics for Exams

If you're preparing for an exam, it's important to have a good understanding of the concepts and theories that you'll be tested on. To help you prepare, we offer these economics research topics for exams to study:

• Implications of autonomous vehicles on transportation.
• Role of trade unions in contemporary job markets.
• Analysis of gender disparities in retirement savings.
• Influence of corporate social responsibility on brand reputation.
• How do plant-based diets influence the global meat industry.
• Evaluating efficiency of ride-sharing platforms.
• Role of drones in shaping future commercial landscapes.
• How public health initiatives influence workplace productivity.
• Exploring the potential economic impact of asteroid mining.
• How does fashion industry affect global economy and environmental sustainability?
• Impact of video-on-demand services on traditional film industries.
• Role of social entrepreneurship in poverty alleviation.
• Role of energy-efficient appliances in electricity markets.
• Influence of shifting demographics on global trends.
• How does celebrity endorsement influence consumer buying behavior?

Economics Research Paper Topics for Experts

For those who are already experts in the field of economics, finding 100% original economics research topics can be an uphill struggle. But not with ideas attached below:

• How does quantum computing pose an economic challenge to cybersecurity firms?
• How do gene editing technologies affect agricultural markets?
• In what ways does space commercialization affect global economies?
• How does increased lifespan influence retirement and pension systems?
• Financial viability of carbon capture and storage.
• Influence of ethical consumerism on global supply chains.
• How have nanotechnologies impacted manufacturing sectors?
• Impact of rising sea levels on coastal economies.
• Role of predictive analytics in preventing financial fraud.
• Examining the economic consequences of major oil spills.
• How does deep face technology pose an economic challenge to film industries?
• Economic impacts of large-scale reforestation.
• Implications of extensive antibiotic resistance.
• Impacts of geopolitical tensions on global oil prices.
• Universal basic income as a solution for automation-induced job loss.

Bottom Line on Economics Papers Topics

Hopefully, by now you have found a perfect economics research paper topic. Make sure you can find enough evidence to back up your points. But if you have any difficulties with the research or writing process, consider to buy coursework or any other project from academic experts.

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The Study Blog : Research topics

50+ Economics research Topics and Topic Ideas for dissertation

The ultimate goal of economic science is to improve the living conditions of people in everyday lives. Economists study how to utilize the available scarce resources to maximize value and thus profits. The concerns of economics today are largely focused on issues such as opportunity cost, consumption and production, borrowing, saving, investments, occupations and employment, trades markets, pricing and human behavior concerning making economic decisions.

Are tight deadlines, clashing assignments, and unclear tasks giving you sleepless nights?

Do not panic, hire a professional essay writer today.

Given that economics covers a lot of issues in society today coupled with the multitude of research studies within the existing literature, many economics students find it difficult to find the most suitable economic research topic for their undergraduate project, master’s thesis, and dissertations. Technological advancement has also increased the pace of transformation and globalization creating new areas in economics that are worth research. Our economics experts have curated a list of research paper topics in economics that you can use to get the perfect research paper topic.

Micro-Economics Research Topics

Microeconomics deals with the economic behavior of individual isolated units of the economy like an individual, a household, a company, and industry. Micro-economists study factors that influence economic choices, markets and their key elements such as demand and supply and analyze markets and determine the prices for goods and services that best allocate the available limited resources. Some of the best research topics in microeconomics that you can use for your thesis or dissertation include:

1. The effect of income changes on consumer choices

2. The effect of labor force participation on the economy and budget – A comparison

3. The impact of marital status on the labor force composition: A case of [your country] economy

4. The difference in the consumption attitude in [your country] over the last decade – Critical analysis of consumer behavior trends

5. The relationship between salary levels and ‘economic convergence’ in [your country]?

6. Analyzing salary inequalities in [your country] and the forces behind such inequalities.

7. The evolution of consumption in [your country] over the last 10 years: Trends and consumer behavior.

8. Dynamics of the Gini index as a reflection of the problem of inequality in income 

9. Cashless economy: The impact of demonetization on small and medium businesses

10 Privatization of Public Enterprises and its implications on economic policy and development

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Macroeconomics Research Topics

1. The relationship between economic growth and unemployment in [your country]

2. Global recession and factors that contribute to it.

3. Impact of government expenditure on economic growth in [country]

4. The impact of company income tax revenue on the developing economies- A comparative analysis of Kenya, India, and Nigeria

5. The relationship between common stock prices and inflation in [your country]

6. The relationship between inflation and government spending in [your country] economy.

7. The effect of currency devaluation on small and medium firms- A case study of selected multinationals in [your country]

8. The relationship between internet connectivity and productivity in the workplace 

9. The evolution of the stock market in [your country]: Causes and consequences

10 Unemployment and regional mobility of labor in [your country]

11 A comparison of the United States unemployment to the rest of the world

Research Topics on International Trade

1. The relationship between economic growth and international trade

2. To what extent does a currency union affect trade: A case of the United States

3. What are the gains and losses of international trade for developing countries?

4. Foreign direct investment in the United States: Determinants and impact

5. The effects of the banana crisis on the Jamaican and British economies

6. The impact of Brexit on small and middle businesses in the UK

7. The relationship between foreign direct investment and wages- A comparative analysis of USA and China

8. The roles of exchange rate and exchange rate regime in the US export

9. The importance of international trade in developing countries

10 To what extent are the gains of less developed countries from tradeliberalization exaggerated?

Environmental economics research paper topics

Economic activities such as production have a significant impact on the environment such as pollution and depletion of natural resources. Environmental economics studies these impacts and other environmental issues. Below are some of the best research paper topics in environmental economics.

1. An economic examination of waste disposal programs in the United States

2. Man-made environmental disasters: who bears the economic liability?

3. The economics of land- a comparative analysis of land sharing and land sparing in the United States

4. The impact of waste disposal programs to America’s Environmental Policy: An economic evaluation

5. Water management and conservation policies in the United States and the UK- a comparative analysis

6. The economic implications of climate policy changes because of different climate change assessment mechanisms

7. Investigating the cost of organizational environmental analysis in the United States

8. What are the determinants of climate policy formulation in the United States? An economic scrutiny

9. The economic perspectives of distribution of natural resources across boundaries

10 The impact of technological innovation for clean and green products on the environment

11 The impact of work-life balance on social eco-systems: perspectives from the United States

12 The relationship between financial subsidies and generation of eco-friendly products

Research Paper Topics on Behavioral Economics

Behavioral economics examines the psychology behind economic activities and economic decision making. It examines the limitation of the assumption that individuals are perfectly normal. Good behavioral economics topics cover subjects such as bounded rationality, irrational exuberance, and choice architecture. 

1. Inducing choice paralysis: how retailers bury customers in an avalanche of options

2. The behavioral economics of discounting- A case study of amazon

3. Pricing and the decoy effect; how corporations ‘nudge’ consumers to spend more

4. Big data and implications for behavioral economics

5. A study of how the United States market benefitted from behavioral economics theory

6. How has behavioral economics influenced the real-world context? A case of online purchase behavior

7. Weight management through behavioral economics: use of incentives

8. What motivates consumers? A behavioral economics perspective

9. Using behavioral economics to help in reducing substance abuse

10 Addressing lifestyle management for diabetes through behavioral analysis- insights from the US healthcare sector

You may also like: The little secret why your friends are earning better grades

Development Economics research paper topics

1. The impact of multinational commodity trading through the development economic perspective

2. The impact of globalization on income distribution in emerging economies

3. Investigating the relationship between migration and development economics

4. Budgeting and decision making by low-income earners in emerging economics

5. Investigating the relationship between family planning, labor force, and income fluctuations

6. The impact of natural disasters on development in emerging economies

7. The impact of population growth on development economics- review of India

8. The determinants of high performing institutions in emerging economies

9. Comparative economic patterns of villages across Virginia

10 Aid and economic growth of developing economies- a review

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130 Excellent Economics Research Topics To Consider

Table of Contents

Are you an economics student searching for good topics for your research paper? If yes, then keep on reading this blog. To make the topic selection process easier for you, here we have suggested a list of the best economics research topics on various areas associated with the subject. In addition to that, we have also presented a brief overview of economics research paper topic selection and writing.

Quickly explore the entire list and choose any ideal topic for composing your economics thesis or dissertation.

Economics Research Paper Topic Selection and Writing

Have your professor asked you to submit an economics research paper? If yes, then topic selection is the first step you should do. In case, your supervisors had not suggested any research ideas, make sure to choose a unique economics research topic that you are interested in. The topic you choose should be understandable for you and your readers, and it should also have a wide research scope with the necessary information for crafting a comprehensive research paper or essay.

After you have selected a research topic for your economics assignment, sketch an outline with the research ideas that you have gathered. Then, with the help of the essay outline you have prepared, draft the research paper in a well-structured manner by including the essential elements such as the introduction, body, and conclusion.

The introduction paragraph of your research paper should have a catchy opening sentence, brief background information on the topic, and a strong thesis statement addressing the purpose of your research paper. After the introduction, in the body paragraphs, you should include innovative topic sentences and explain your arguments with supporting evidence in a way to persuade your reader. Then, you should finally close your research paper with an engaging conclusion that contains a brief summary of the main points.

List of the Best Economics Research Paper Topics

You may think that it is easy to choose a research topic for your economics research paper. But actually, it is not. As economics is a complex and broad subject, choosing a perfect research topic from it is a daunting task.

If you are asked to write an economics research paper or essay, then you can prefer to choose a topic from economics research areas such as macroeconomics, microeconomics, behavioral economics, agricultural economics, development economics, financial economics, and so on.

Here, we have sorted different categories of economics topics and have recommended a list of excellent economics research topic ideas for you to consider. Go through the entire list and pick a topic that is ideal for writing academic papers as per your instructor’s requirements.

Agricultural Economics Research Topics

• Farmer’s contribution to agricultural social capital.
• Agricultural economics and agribusiness.
• An analysis of economic efficiency in agriculture.
• Agricultural and resource economics.
• Agricultural economics and environmental considerations of biofuels.
• Analysis of food security and poverty status among households in Ehime Mbano
• Role of bank loans and credit facility in financing Nigerian agriculture sector: a case study of Nigeria agricultural cooperative and rural development bank
• Evaluation of the impact of micro-finance banks on the South African agriculture sector
• How poultry farming is becoming a veritable tool for the economic empowerment of South Africa?
• Critical analysis of the problems and prospects of agriculture financing in rural India

Behavioral Economics Research Paper Topics

• What does the economy of trust mean?
• How does the brain change when a person is striking a great deal?
• The impact of economic stability on the social life of a person
• The buying capacity and gender
• How does race relate to economic power?
• Big data and its implications for behavioral economics
• The impact of behavioral finance on investment decisions.
• Cognitive and behavioral theories in economics.
• Behavior implications of wealth and inequality.
• Using behavioral economics to help in reducing substance abuse

Development Economics Research Topics

• The relation between development and incentive for migration.
• The economic consequences of population growth in developing countries.
• The determinants of high-performing institutions in emerging economies
• The impact of globalization on income distribution in emerging economies
• The problems of tax and taxation in connection with economic growth.
• The economic impact of terrorism on developing markets.
• Investigate the relationship between family planning, labor force, and income fluctuations.
• The impact of natural disasters on the economy and political stability of emerging markets.
• Budgeting and decision-making by low-income earners in emerging economics
• The impact of multinational commodity trading through the development of economic perspective.
• Compare and contrast the impact of demand-pull inflation and cost-push inflation on a country’s economy
• Discuss the impact of multinational commodity trading through the perspective of development economics
• Discuss the concepts of mercantilism, linear stages of growth model, economic nationalism, and structural-change theory
• Investigate the relationship between unemployment and fluctuations in national income
• Compare and contrast the economic patterns of villages across Papua New Guinea

Environmental Economics Research Paper Topics

• Explain the energy markets’ economic potential.
• How does global warming affect economic growth?
• How technological advancement leads to economic growth
• Evolution of economic institutions concerning climate change
• Cost-benefit analysis of the regulation of the environment
• The economic perspectives of the distribution of natural resources across boundaries
• The relationship between financial subsidies and the generation of eco-friendly products
• Detailed analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System
• Why it’s important to analyze the economics of clean drinking water
• How wildlife protection affects the economy

Read more: Outstanding Environmental Science Topics for You to Consider

Financial Economics Research Topics

• Risk-taking by mutual funds as a response to incentives.
• Financial economics for infrastructure and fiscal policy.
• Managerial economics and financial accounting as a basis for business
• The analysis of the global financial crisis of 2020
• Stock market overreaction.

Health Economics Research Ideas

• How do chronic diseases affect the workforce and the economy?
• How can public hospitals optimize their revenue collection?
• The economics of the pharmaceutical industry
• How an unhealthy country translates into a poor country
• Is the world’s hunger affected by economics?
• How does perfect competition work in the pharmaceutical world?
• How does an infectious disease outbreak affect the economy?
• Is health insurance important?
• How is the economy affected by a smoking ban?

Research Paper Topics on International Trade

• What are the gains and losses of international trade for developing countries?
• The importance of international trade in developing countries
• The relationship between economic growth and international trade
• The impact of Brexit on small and middle businesses in the UK
• To what extent does a currency union affect trade?
• The roles of exchange rate and exchange rate regime in the US export.
• To what extent are the gains of less developed countries from trade liberalization exaggerated?
• Foreign direct investment in the United States: Determinants and impact
• The relationship between foreign direct investment and wages
• The effects of the banana crisis on the Jamaican and British economies

Macroeconomics Research Topics

• Global recession and factors that contribute to it.
• The relationship between Internet connectivity and productivity in the workplace.
• The relationship between economic growth and unemployment in your country.
• Income Dynamics and demographic economics.
• What should our government do to minimize the risks of future default?
• The connection between politics and economics.
• The world problems through macroeconomic analysis .
• US Market Liquidity and Macroeconomics.
• The structure, history, and activities of the World Bank.
• Economics of education in developing markets.
• Public policies and socio-economic disparities.
• Banks and their role in the economy.
• Problems and possible solutions for Japan macroeconomics.
• State regulation of the economy in foreign countries: main models of regulation.
• The effect of currency devaluation on small and medium firms
• A comparison of the United States unemployment to the rest of the world
• The relationship between common stock prices and inflation in your country.
• Macroeconomics and self-correction of the economy.
• Analysis of Africa’s macroeconomics and its performance.
• The implications of Internet banking on bank profitability.

Read more: Best Macroeconomics Research Topics and Ideas for Students

Microeconomics Research Topics

• Explain how competition influences the price.
• Opportunity costs explained from a microeconomics perspective
• Inflation sources and consequences explained
• The impact of demonetization on small and medium businesses
• The connection between the minimum wage and market equilibrium.
• Perfect competition in microeconomics
• Theories in microeconomics
• The effect of labor force participation on the economy and budget
• Economic inequality as a result of globalization.
• Explain the balance between supply and demand in microeconomics
• Dynamics of the Gini index as a reflection of the problem of inequality in income
• Privatization of Public Enterprises and its implications on economic policy and development
• How does the stock market work?
• The impact of game theory on economic development.
• The changes in oil prices: causes and solutions.
• Marketing uses in microeconomics.
• The economic explanation of political dishonesty.
• How company mergers and dissolutions impact the economy
• The role of tax collection agencies in microeconomics
• Different microeconomic models and how they face the effect of industry conditions

A Few More Microeconomics Research Ideas

• How exactly does Uber fit into the economy of trust?
• How does a person’s brain alter when they hit a big deal?
• missing practical human insights from big data and how this affects the economy.
• explaining how supply and demand are balanced in microeconomics
• Changes in economic institutions with regard to climate change
• Effects of greenhouses on economic growth
• Effects of climate change on economic growth
• Analysis of the European Union Emission Trading System in great detail
• Is resource management for waste scarce? A microeconomics explanation of opportunity costs
• Effects of wildlife protection on the economy

Interesting Economics Research Topics

• What role does entrepreneurship play in economic development?
• How do automation and artificial intelligence affect the labor market?
• Discuss the Economics of healthcare systems and policies in developing countries.
• Explain the effects of trade agreements on income distribution.
• How does foreign aid affect economic development?
• Explain the impact of monetary policy on financial markets and inflation.
• Discuss the effects of income inequality on social mobility.
• How does tax reform impact business investment?
• Explain the role of microfinance in alleviating poverty.
• How does behavioral economics impact personal savings habits?

From the list of economics research topics recommended in this blog, choose any topic of your choice and craft a top-quality research paper or essay. It is not necessary that you need to use the suggested topic as it is, you can also modify the research topic and write your academic paper. In case, you are unsure how to select the right topic and write a persuasive economics research paper, get in touch with us immediately.

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Why and how multilateral development banks support improved outcomes for economic migrants and refugees, recommended.

Economic migrants and refugees can bring both benefits and costs to their hosting countries. If well-integrated, they can support themselves, their families, and their hosting countries as producers and consumers. Both economic migration and forced displacement are therefore integrally linked with development outcomes. Recognizing this, multilateral development banks (MDBs) are supporting their beneficiary member countries to improve outcomes for economic migrants and refugees, in the form of billions of dollars in grants and loans, as well as technical assistance, policy dialogues, and knowledge exchanges. This paper provides an introductory snapshot of some of the financing instruments, projects, and strategies used; particularly innovative approaches; and challenges MDBs face in expanding their engagement. It is hoped this paper will be useful to anyone who engages with MDBs and wants to understand how they engage on economic migration and forced displacement, particularly as these issues continue to grow in importance.

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Environmental Economics Research Paper Topics

This comprehensive guide to environmental economics research paper topics is designed to assist students and researchers in selecting a subject for their study. Environmental economics, a field at the intersection of economics and environmental science, offers a wide array of topics that explore the economic aspects of environmental issues. From policy and natural resource economics to sustainability and climate change, this guide provides a diverse list of topics to inspire your research journey. Additionally, it offers expert advice on choosing a topic and writing a research paper in environmental economics. The guide also introduces iResearchNet’s writing services, which offer custom research papers on any topic in environmental economics, ensuring high-quality, in-depth research, and timely delivery.

Environmental economics is a fascinating field that combines the principles of economics with the study of environmental issues. It seeks to understand the economic impacts of environmental policies and to develop solutions that can balance economic growth with environmental sustainability. Here is a comprehensive list of environmental economics research paper topics that you can explore:

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Environmental Policies and Economic Growth

• The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth.
• The role of green taxes in promoting sustainable development.
• The economic benefits of renewable energy policies.
• The cost-effectiveness of carbon pricing mechanisms.
• The impact of environmental policies on job creation.
• The role of government subsidies in promoting green technologies.
• The economic implications of the Paris Agreement.
• The effect of environmental policies on industrial competitiveness.
• The role of environmental policies in shaping market behavior.
• The economic feasibility of transitioning to a circular economy.

Natural Resource Economics

• The economic valuation of natural resources.
• The role of property rights in natural resource management.
• The economic implications of overfishing.
• The impact of mineral extraction on local economies.
• The economics of water scarcity.
• The role of economic incentives in promoting sustainable forestry.
• The impact of climate change on agricultural economics.
• The economic costs and benefits of biodiversity conservation.
• The role of natural resources in economic development.
• The economic implications of soil degradation.

Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis

• The use of cost-benefit analysis in environmental decision making.
• The challenges of monetizing environmental benefits.
• The role of discount rates in environmental cost-benefit analysis.
• The use of cost-effectiveness analysis in environmental policy.
• The limitations of cost-benefit analysis in addressing environmental justice issues.
• The role of cost-benefit analysis in climate change mitigation strategies.
• The use of multi-criteria analysis in environmental decision making.
• The role of risk analysis in environmental cost-benefit analysis.
• The impact of uncertainty on environmental cost-benefit analysis.
• The use of cost-benefit analysis in ecosystem service valuation.

Economics of Climate Change

• The economic impacts of climate change.
• The role of carbon markets in mitigating climate change.
• The economic feasibility of climate change adaptation strategies.
• The impact of climate change on global trade.
• The role of climate finance in promoting low-carbon development.
• The economic implications of sea level rise.
• The impact of climate change on agricultural productivity.
• The role of economic modeling in climate change projections.
• The economic costs and benefits of geoengineering.
• The impact of climate change on energy economics.

Environmental Justice and Economics

• The economic dimensions of environmental justice.
• The role of economic inequality in environmental degradation.
• The impact of environmental policies on marginalized communities.
• The role of green jobs in promoting environmental justice.
• The economic implications of environmental racism.
• The impact of environmental displacement on economic wellbeing.
• The role of economic empowerment in promoting environmental justice.
• The economic costs of environmental health disparities.
• The impact of environmental gentrification on urban economies.
• The role of economic policy in addressing environmental justice issues.

Green Economy and Sustainable Development

• The economic benefits of transitioning to a green economy.
• The role of green jobs in sustainable development.
• The economic implications of sustainable consumption and production.
• The impact of green growth strategies on economic competitiveness.
• The role of green finance in promoting sustainable development.
• The economic implications of the circular economy.
• The impact of green innovation on economic growth.
• The role of sustainable tourism in the green economy.
• The economic feasibility of green infrastructure projects.

Environmental Economics and Policy

• The economic impacts of environmental regulations.
• The role of economic incentives in environmental policy.
• The impact of environmental taxes on economic behavior.
• The role of trade policy in environmental protection.
• The economic implications of the polluter pays principle.
• The impact of environmental subsidies on market behavior.
• The role of economic instruments in biodiversity conservation.
• The economic feasibility of ecosystem service payments.
• The impact of environmental policy on economic competitiveness.
• The role of economic analysis in environmental policy making.

Economics of Energy and Environment

• The economic impacts of renewable energy policies.
• The role of energy economics in environmental sustainability.
• The impact of fossil fuel subsidies on the environment.
• The role of energy efficiency in economic growth.
• The economic implications of the energy transition.
• The impact of energy prices on environmental quality.
• The role of energy policy in climate change mitigation.
• The economic feasibility of carbon capture and storage.
• The impact of energy security on environmental sustainability.
• The role of energy markets in environmental protection.

Environmental Economics and Agriculture

• The economic impacts of agricultural pollution.
• The role of agricultural economics in environmental sustainability.
• The impact of agricultural subsidies on the environment.
• The role of sustainable agriculture in economic development.
• The economic implications of organic farming.
• The impact of agricultural trade on the environment.
• The role of agricultural policy in environmental protection.
• The economic feasibility of agroecology.
• The impact of agricultural innovation on environmental sustainability.
• The role of agricultural markets in environmental protection.

Environmental Economics and Urbanization

• The economic impacts of urban pollution.
• The role of urban economics in environmental sustainability.
• The impact of urban sprawl on the environment.
• The role of sustainable urban development in economic growth.
• The economic implications of urban green spaces.
• The impact of urban transportation on environmental quality.
• The role of urban planning in environmental protection.
• The economic feasibility of green buildings.
• The impact of urbanization on biodiversity.
• The role of urban infrastructure in environmental protection.

These environmental economics research paper topics cover a wide range of issues in the field of environmental economics, from policy and law to energy and agriculture. They provide a starting point for your research and can be tailored to fit your specific interests and the requirements of your assignment. Remember, choosing the right topic is the first step in writing a successful research paper. So take your time, explore these topics, and choose one that you find interesting and meaningful.

Environmental Economics Research Guide

Environmental economics is a vital field that examines the interplay between economic systems and the environment. As our world faces increasingly complex environmental challenges, understanding the economic dimensions of these issues becomes crucial for developing effective solutions. This page aims to provide a comprehensive resource for students studying environmental science and seeking research paper topics in the field of environmental economics.

Environmental economics focuses on analyzing the costs and benefits associated with environmental policies, natural resource management, pollution control, and sustainable development. It explores the ways in which economic activities impact the environment and how environmental factors influence economic decision-making. By studying environmental economics, students gain insights into the intricate relationship between human activities and the natural world, enabling them to propose informed strategies for sustainable development.

For students pursuing a degree in environmental science, conducting research in environmental economics offers a unique perspective on addressing environmental challenges. It provides a framework to assess the economic implications of environmental issues and develop innovative solutions that balance ecological sustainability and economic prosperity. Research papers in environmental economics not only contribute to the academic discourse but also equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effect positive change in their future careers.

The purpose of this page is to serve as a valuable resource for students seeking inspiration and guidance for their research papers in environmental economics. We aim to provide a curated list of diverse research paper topics, expert advice on topic selection, and practical tips on writing an effective environmental economics research paper. Additionally, we introduce the writing services offered by iResearchNet, providing students the opportunity to order custom research papers tailored to their specific needs.

By exploring the topics and advice presented on this page, students will be equipped with the tools and insights necessary to delve into the fascinating field of environmental economics. Whether you are interested in studying the economic impact of climate change, analyzing environmental policies, or exploring sustainable development strategies, this page will help you navigate the vast landscape of environmental economics research.

We invite you to embark on this exciting journey of exploring environmental economics research paper topics and discovering the potential to make a meaningful impact on the environmental challenges of our time.

Choosing an Environmental Economics Topic

Choosing the right research paper topic is a crucial step in the process of writing an impactful and successful environmental economics research paper. With the vast scope of environmental economics, it is essential to select a topic that is not only interesting but also relevant, feasible, and has the potential to contribute to the field. Here are ten expert tips to help you navigate the process of choosing environmental economics research paper topics:

• Identify your Interests : Start by identifying your personal interests within the field of environmental economics. Think about the environmental issues that resonate with you, such as climate change, natural resource management, pollution control, or sustainable development. Choosing a topic that genuinely interests you will make the research process more enjoyable and motivating.
• Stay Updated with Current Issues : Keep yourself informed about the latest environmental issues and developments in environmental economics. Follow reputable news sources, academic journals, and research publications to stay abreast of emerging trends, debates, and areas of active research. This will enable you to select topics that are timely and relevant.
• Conduct Preliminary Research : Before finalizing a research topic, conduct preliminary research to gain a broad understanding of the existing literature in the field. Review academic papers, books, and reports related to environmental economics to identify gaps in knowledge and potential research areas that warrant further exploration.
• Narrow Down the Scope : Environmental economics is a vast field, and it is essential to narrow down the scope of your research topic. Focus on a specific aspect, problem, or geographic region that you can realistically address within the scope of your research paper. Narrowing down the topic will allow you to delve deeper and provide a more comprehensive analysis.
• Consult with Your Advisor : Seek guidance from your academic advisor or faculty members specializing in environmental economics. They can provide valuable insights, suggest potential research topics, and offer guidance on selecting a topic that aligns with your academic goals and interests.
• Consider the Research Gap : Look for areas in environmental economics where there is a research gap or limited literature available. Identifying gaps in the existing body of knowledge will allow you to contribute to the field by conducting original research and generating new insights.
• Balance Practicality and Significance : When choosing a research topic, consider the practicality of data collection and analysis. Ensure that you have access to relevant data sources and research methods required to investigate the topic effectively. Additionally, evaluate the potential significance of the research topic in addressing real-world environmental challenges.
• Engage in Discussions and Seminars : Participate in discussions, seminars, and conferences related to environmental economics. Engaging with peers and experts in the field will expose you to diverse perspectives and help you discover potential research topics and areas of interest that you may not have considered before.
• Seek Interdisciplinary Approaches : Environmental economics often intersects with other disciplines such as ecology, policy studies, sociology, and public health. Consider incorporating interdisciplinary approaches into your research topic to explore the interconnectedness between environmental and social factors, which can provide a more holistic understanding of the issues at hand.
• Reflect on Practical Applications : Reflect on the practical applications of your research topic. Consider how your findings and analysis can contribute to policy development, inform decision-making processes, or propose sustainable solutions. Topics that have practical implications and can make a positive impact in real-world contexts tend to be more compelling and meaningful.

By following these expert tips, you will be well-equipped to choose a compelling and relevant environmental economics research paper topic that aligns with your interests, addresses knowledge gaps, and has the potential to contribute to the field. Remember to consult with your academic advisor throughout the process to ensure that your chosen topic aligns with the requirements and objectives of your research paper.

How to Write an Environmental Economics Research Paper

Writing an environmental economics research paper requires a systematic and well-structured approach to effectively communicate your research findings and contribute to the field. Here are ten essential tips to help you navigate the process of writing an impactful environmental economics research paper:

• Understand the Research Question : Start by clearly understanding the research question or objective of your paper. Identify the specific problem or issue you aim to address and formulate a concise and focused research question. This will serve as the guiding principle throughout your research and writing process.
• Conduct In-depth Literature Review : Before delving into your own research, conduct a comprehensive literature review to familiarize yourself with the existing body of knowledge. Identify key theories, concepts, methodologies, and empirical studies relevant to your research question. This will help you establish the context for your research and identify research gaps to address.
• Develop a Solid Research Methodology : Choose an appropriate research methodology that aligns with your research question and objectives. Whether it’s quantitative, qualitative, or a combination of both, ensure that your chosen methodology allows you to collect and analyze data effectively to answer your research question.
• Collect and Analyze Data : Depending on your research question, collect relevant data from credible sources. This may include primary data collected through surveys, interviews, or experiments, or secondary data from academic journals, government reports, or databases. Analyze the data using appropriate statistical or qualitative analysis techniques to derive meaningful insights.
• Organize Your Paper : Structure your research paper in a logical and coherent manner. Start with an introduction that provides background information, states the research question, and outlines the paper’s structure. Follow this with a literature review, methodology section, presentation and analysis of findings, discussion of results, and a conclusion that summarizes your key findings and their implications.
• Provide Clear and Concise Writing : Ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and accessible to your target audience. Use plain language and avoid unnecessary jargon. Clearly articulate your arguments, provide sufficient evidence, and use appropriate citations to support your claims. Use subheadings, bullet points, and paragraph breaks to improve readability.
• Support Your Arguments with Evidence : Back up your claims and arguments with reliable evidence. Use empirical data, case studies, academic research, and real-world examples to support your analysis. Be critical of your sources and ensure they are reputable and peer-reviewed.
• Engage in Critical Analysis : Demonstrate critical thinking skills by analyzing and interpreting your findings in the context of existing literature and theories. Identify strengths, limitations, and potential biases in your research. Discuss alternative explanations and consider counterarguments to strengthen the validity of your research.
• Discuss Policy Implications : Environmental economics research often has policy implications. Discuss the implications of your research findings for environmental policies, regulations, or economic decision-making. Highlight the potential benefits and challenges of implementing your research outcomes in real-world scenarios.
• Revise and Edit : Revise and edit your research paper thoroughly before final submission. Pay attention to clarity, grammar, spelling, and formatting. Read your paper multiple times, seek feedback from peers or advisors, and make necessary revisions to improve the overall quality and coherence of your work.

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May 13, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

Research examines factors of resilient city development

by Higher Education Press

In recent years, with rapid urbanization, the global landscape of science and technology, industry, energy, and finance has undergone profound changes. Concurrently, emergencies or sudden events including natural disasters, human-induced disasters, and socio-economic crises are posing unrelenting threats to regional environment and security.

The concept of the "resilient city," as an important principle in contemporary urban planning, emphasizes that the capacity of urban systems to absorb the impacts and pressures caused by uncertain events while maintaining essential functions, structures, and characteristics.

The Resilient Cities Congress was initiated by ICLEI (International Council for Local Environment Initiatives)–Local Governments for Sustainability in 2010, as the first annual global forum dedicated to resilient cities studies.

In 2020, the Resilient Cities Congress was renamed the "Daring Cities," with the aim of building on the legacy of the Resilient Cities Congress series, enhancing the leadership role of governments, researchers, business leaders , and community organizers in urban decision-making process when responding to emergencies or sudden events, and forming new methods of urban governance and multi-stakeholder partnership models.

Drawing from the materials and scholarly work presented at these congresses, this research comprehensively reviews the evolution of resilient cities over the last decade through the lenses of policies and actions, summarizing the cutting-edge and current trends.

The work titled " From Resilient Cities Congress to Daring Cities: Policies, Actions, and Hot Trends of Resilient City Development " was published in the journal Landscape Architecture Frontiers .

Overall, the journey of global resilient cities unfolds in three phases of global commitment and framework establishment, path exploration and action, and experience translation and adaption. And after synthesizing the cases of global pioneering resilient city and regional construction cases from the Daring Cities, the experience of resilience actions can be summarized in five aspects:

• Multi-level governance and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
• Developing circular economy, and financing resilience and insuring cities.
• Nature-based solutions.
• Equal opportunities and access to basic services.
• Open data and strong data governance capability.

Throughout the previous Resilient Cities Congress series, the development of resilient cities in the past decade has evolved from theoretical exploration, framework establishment, and formulation of target strategies towards the implementation of regional and local actions and follow-up assessment, while integrating theoretical research into political decision-making that has in turn driven the progress of urban sustainable development.

Nowadays, with the development of big data and analytics technology, the construction of resilient cities not only requires deepening implementation at economic and social aspects, but also necessitates a series of effective measures in the field of cyber resilience to seize opportunities and mitigate risks, where information technology can and will play a vital role.

Looking ahead, it is crucial to further promote local resilience actions and practices, and to put more effort in filling the gaps of empirical research on resilient cities. It is of great practical significance to translate international resilience development results and action experience into localized efforts both in theory and practice at the national, regional, and city scales, so as to promote the full implementation of climate action and resilience building worldwide.

Provided by Higher Education Press

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Constructing and implementing a green taxation system in china under the dual-carbon target provisionally accepted.

• 1 National Tax Institute of STA, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality have become hot topics of global concern. China has elevated its response to climate change to a national strategic level, where the green tax system plays a crucial role in implementing the dual-carbon strategy. This paper systematically analyzes the green tax systems of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -encompassing environmental pollution taxes, energy taxes, vehicle and transportation taxes, and resource taxes. Based on this analysis, it proposes that China should establish a multifaceted green tax system including environmental protection tax, resource tax, and farmland occupation tax. Furthermore, it suggests an integrated approach combining systematic tax incentives such as corporate income tax, value-added tax, consumption tax, and vehicle purchase tax. This comprehensive green taxation framework, covering development, production, consumption, and emission stages, aims to drive high-quality green economic and social development through both tax incentives and restrictions, implementing a "dual-driving" mechanism. This study provides a basic framework and practical path for building a green tax system in China, especially studying the sources of different green taxes and their interrelationships, which enriches the theoretical and practical values related to taxation.

Keywords: Dual-carbon target, green taxation, Public Policy, CHIAN, Environment policy

Received: 27 Feb 2024; Accepted: 14 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mrs. Hehe Liu, National Tax Institute of STA, Dalian, China

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Demand-side and Supply-side Constraints in the Market for Financial Advice

In this review, we argue that access to financial advice and the quality of this advice is shaped by a broad array of demand-side and supply-side constraints. While the literature has predominantly focused on conflicts of interest between advisors and clients, we highlight that the transaction costs of providing advice, mistaken beliefs on the demand side or supply side, and other factors can have equally detrimental effects on the quality and access to advice. Moreover, these factors affect how researchers should assess the impact of financial advice across heterogeneous groups of households. While households with low levels of financial literacy are more likely to benefit from advice—potentially including conflicted advice—they are also the least likely to detect misconduct, and perhaps the least likely to understand the value of paying for advice. Regulators should consider not only how regulation changes the quality of advice, but also the fraction of households who are able to receive it and how different groups would have invested without any advice. Financial innovation has the potential to provide customized advice at low cost, but also to embed conflicts of interest in algorithms that are opaque to households and regulators.

Jonathan Reuter is affiliated with Boston College and NBER. Antoinette Schoar is affiliated with MIT Sloan, ideas42 and NBER. The authors thank Roman Inderst (editor) for helpful comments and Xin Xiong for helpful research assistance. Neither author has any funding or material and relevant financial relationships to disclose. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

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