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Structural Transformation is about the changing structure in the economy, in terms of both output and employment shares. The literature documents a decline of agriculture, hump-shape manufacturing and rising services in many economics around the glove. However, there are cross-countries disparities in the development trajectories that can lead to global imbalances and inequalities. Structural transformation can also lead to within-country disparities, as its impact may work differently across occupations and industries. This course draws on theoretical currents and existing empirical works from different traditions to evaluate the relevance of existing frameworks for diagnosing root causes of structural change and growth, and to develop an understanding of how the judicious use of theory and empirics can provide guidance for economic policy reforms. The intersectional perspective taken in the course can provide students with a solid understanding of the alternative implications of structural change for the livelihoods of people, which is likely to vary on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, ability, socio-economic status, nationality, to mention a few.
The course is intended to provide students with sound knowledge of the workhorse models, methods, and ideas within the context of structural change and growth. Nevertheless, the course heeds special attention to the empirical strand of existing literature. The course provide too some training in empirical methods applied to the context of macro development and structural change. More concretely, the course includes a module for the empirical modelling of industrial and occupational composition of the economy, with a special focus on segregation.
The course includes some subtopics that focus on economic growth measures, technological innovation, home production and the care sector. These subtopics will explain current flaw in the literature, as for instance the metrics of economic growth. GDP per capita is usually employed as the ultimate metric for economic development and well-being. However, there are many accounts challenging its suitability to capture the whole economic activities within a country. This course reviews the conceptual and methodological flaws of GDP and proposes alternatives. One important implication of the design and definition of GDP is the inability to measure non-market economic activities. Home production is one of these activities. This leads to inconvenient methodological flaws, such as the exclusion of inputs from employment and outputs excluded from GDP. This course teaches the measurement of non-market activities and its relationship with structural transformation.
In addition, the course offers optional lectures that complement and expand certain topics related to technological development and innovation, value global chains, wage regimes and the care sector, among others.
As of the marking system, the course requires two assignments which will be in the form of a short research paper or presentation, and one final exam. |
