• Offered by Crawford School of Public Policy
  • ANU College ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
  • Classification Advanced
  • Course subject International and Developmental Economics
  • Areas of interest Policy Studies, Economics
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Mode of delivery In Person
Aid and Development Policy (IDEC8007)

This course is available for in-person and remote (online) learning.

While it is widely acknowledged that the fundamental determinants of development success are domestic in nature, external factors can be important. Indeed, developed countries are becoming increasingly activist in their deployment of a range of tools, from aid to migration to military intervention to promote development (or at least halt deterioration) in poor and often unstable countries around the world. The course will introduce students to available analysis and the debates around overseas development assistance and other policy tools which rich countries can use, either intentionally or inadvertently, to promote or hinder development in poor countries.
 
Course Syllabus 
 
The main focus of the course will be on aid policy. A high-profile debate has sprung up among academics on aid effectiveness, and this will be used to frame this part of the course. The course will compare the critiques and strategies presented in the "best-selling" books by Bill Easterly, Jeff Sachs, and Paul Collier, and the evidence for them.
Other rich country development policies will be covered in less detail. They will include: migration policy; trade policy; intellectual property rights (especially in the context of health); peacekeeping/military intervention; climate change, and other global public goods; global development architecture (the future of the World Bank and IMF).
Methodological issues: The economic methodologies and evidence-bases used in the policy debates around the above issues are diverse and include: cross-country regressions, organizational theory, principal-agent models, game theory, growth and CGE models, public finance, case-studies, and household surveys. While lectures will not primarily be structured around methodological issues, the course will provide students with the opportunity to consider these different approaches, and their strengths and weaknesses in particular settings.
 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. i) demonstrate an understanding of the main debates around aid and other rich country development policies;
  2. ii) demonstrate knowledge of the economic tools which can be used to assess these policies;
  3. iii) experience in the assessment of particular rich country development policies.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Policy memo, 1000 words. The policy memo provides an introductory assessment task and provides some real world flavour. (20) [LO null]
  2. Long essay, 4000 words. The long essay requires students to go into depth on some particular issue. (40) [LO null]
  3. Exam. The exam encourages students to engage with the breadth of the course and tests understanding as well as absorption. (40) [LO null]

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Workload

A standard 6 unit course has a workload of 130 hours including in class time and independent study.

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Prescribed Texts

See Wattle

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. 

Student Contribution Band:
34
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500

Course fees

Domestic International
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee Description
2022 $4440 Standard Rate
2022 $3510 Grandfathered Rate*

*continuing students in nominated programs only. See fee website
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $5700
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

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There are no current offerings for this course.

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