Political Economy and Economic Development
Explore why and how political institutions affect economic development, and apply key theories and empirical techniques to real-world examples ranging from voting and corruption to the role of the media.
Course Information
Certificate Track
Learn for Free
About this Course
In this course, we will cover some of the key theoretical and empirical ideas for why and how politics and institutions affect economic development. You will look at a variety of examples drawn from throughout the developing world and learn empirical techniques and econometric tools to study them. By the end of the course, you’ll have a better understanding of core theoretical concepts in political economy and the role of empirical evidence in economics.
The course is free to audit. Learners can take a proctored exam and earn a course certificate by paying a fee, which varies by ability to pay. Please see our FAQ articles for more information on the certificate and audit track features as well as more information on the pricing structure. Enroll in this course by selecting the "enroll now" button at the top of the page.
This course can be completed by itself or as part of the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP), which provides a path toward the master’s in DEDP at MIT.
What you'll learn
The course will investigate the following topics:
- Political economy and economic development
- Role of lenders and democratic institutions
- Deep determinants of economics development
- Voting theory, evidence, agency, and practices
- Efficiency, decision-making, and industrial organization of corruption
- Service delivery, discrimination, and affirmative action
- Media, social media, and political protests
Access the full syllabus here.
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of statistics and familiarity with microeconomics will be helpful for this course. There are no prerequisites, but you may find it helpful to take 14.100x (Microeconomics) and 14.310x (Data Analysis for Social Scientists) before this course.
Course Readiness Check:
Our course readiness checks help you determine if you should review key concepts before starting the course.
Please use this link to access the course readiness check and answer key.
Meet your instructors
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee
Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics
Abhijit Banerjee is the winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He was educated at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Harvard University. He is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT. Banerjee is a past president of the Bureau for Research in the Economic Analysis of Development, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and has been a Guggenheim Fellow and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. He is the recipient of many awards, including the inaugural Infosys Prize in 2009, and has been an honorary advisor to many organizations including the World Bank and the government of India.
