Coordinator: Nan Xu, nan.xu@nyu.edu
Since the industrial revolution transformed Britain into a global economic powerhouse in the 18th century, economic policymakers around the world have explicitly attempted to induce the development of their economies. Some, like the US, Japan, and China have had great success lifting populations out of poverty and ensuring their economy’s place in the global markets, while others’ attempts have been met with insurmountable challenges. Still today, a significant part of the world needs to undergo economic development - and each country’s case is different. Learn how to analyze a wide range of diverse conditions that are at play in each specific case, and develop a skill set that can help policymakers and businesses navigate this process. You will study the forces that contribute to economic development, particularly in China and other less developed nations, and explore the role of decisions by households, firms, and governments, the effects of development aid policies, and the consequences of rising incomes in emerging economies.
Career Paths:
- Development policy analyst at international organizations and multilateral development banks (e.g., IMF, OECD, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank)
- Consultant with expertise in emerging markets
Course Descriptions:
This course explores the macroeconomics and microeconomic foundations of economic development. We will discuss poverty, growth, development trap, distribution of income, demography and economic development, land and agricultural labor, health and nutrition, credit, insurance, intrahousehold allocation and gender, education. In these topics, we will ask: What determines the decisions of poor households in less-developed countries? What constraints do they face? Is there scope to improve livelihood through actions of governments, international organizations, NGOs, or market participants? What policies have been tried?
Over the past forty years, China has transitioned from a poor, inefficient, and closed economy to an upper-middle income country and the world’s largest trading nation. This course offers an in-depth exploration of the key institutional and economic reforms that have shaped China's remarkable transformation since 1978. Focusing on pivotal sectors such as agriculture, industry, banking, education, and international trade, we will analyze how these reforms have enhanced the efficiency and productivity of the Chinese economy. This course equips students with the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to understand and critically evaluate the economic development of China and its implications for the world.
This course is designed to combine basic trade theory with its practical relevance in China to help students better understand the international economic activities in developing countries. We will investigate the causes and consequences of trade, discuss the role of multinational corporations and foreign direct investment in driving economic growth and wage inequality, and explore countries' motives for regulating international trade and the effects of trade policy on economic welfare. We will also study China's gains and losses from opening up to trade and investment, on the dual impacts of the rise in exports from China on the U.S. employment and consumers, on the distributional effects of tariff cuts in developing countries, and so on.
This course has two goals, namely, first, to provide understanding of economic development and growth with applications to the Chinese economy and Chinese institutions, and, second, to learn how to analyze major policies in China's economic development in both oral and written form. China has experienced rapid institutional changes and achieved high growth rates. We analyze (i) the pre-modern and early-modern historical background of this transition process of the Chinese economy and then move on to analyze (ii) the roots and patterns of economic growth in modern China.
This course introduces students to advanced topics in econometrics that are actively studied and increasingly used in Applied Economics (Public Finance, Labor Economics, Development Economics), Corporate Finance and Marketing. With more economic examples/studies along with rigorous statistical analysis, students will see how the tools of econometrics can be applied in practice. The advanced topics covered include: randomized controlled trials, differences in differences, regression discontinuity design, semiparametric estimation, and machine learning in economics.
To earn an AOC, students must complete four economics electives related to their chosen AOC.
Among these, at least one must be an Advanced Elective taken at NYU Shanghai, and no more than one elective may be taken at other NYU sites.
