The seminar will focus on two key strands of the current economic literature: “Gender and Development” and “Migration and Development”. The purpose of the seminar is 1) to provide the theoretical background and the applied tools to understand the economics of gender and the economics of migration; 2) apply this knowledge to the investigation of the most relevant issues in the two strands of literature for developing countries.
The seminar will be based on selected papers.
The seminal papers for the main topics are:
Duflo, E. (2012) Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051-79.
Ruyssen, I., Salomone, S. Female migration: a way out of discrimination?. Journal of Development Economics, 2018, 130: 224-241.
Clemens, M. A. (2011) Economics and emigration: Trillion-dollar bills on the sidewalk? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3): 83-106.
Yang, D. (2011) Migrant remittances. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3): 129–151.
Suggested literature on empirical methods:
Angrist, J. D., & Pischke, J. S. (2008) Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist's companion. Princeton University Press.
Obiettivi Formativi
At the end of the seminar students are expected to be able to interpret economic phenomena referring to the theory and evidence provided on gender issues and migration in developing countries.
Prerequisiti
Basic econometrics
Metodi Didattici
The seminar will be structured as follows: the professors will present the topics, and give some selected reference material. The seminar will involve the active participation of students with general discussions during the classes. A background reading list will be available online, while other reference material will be provided during the course.
Modalità di verifica apprendimento
Two short written essays, 5-6 pages each, one on gender and the other on migration. Each student will choose the topic during the seminar and hand in the written essays on the day of the exam. Each essay should contain a critical review of the reading of three papers and on the discussion developed during the seminar.
Programma del corso
For each part 5 topics.
Gender and development:
1) fertility and labour force participation;
2) gender and productivity gap in agriculture;
3) the gender wage gap;
4) women empowerment in agriculture;
5) women and migration.
Migration and development:
6) determinants of migration decisions;
7) selection into migration;
8) impacts on receiving (and migrant) communities;
9) remittances and household outcomes;
10) migration and household decisions.
Three reference papers will be provided for each topic, and will be available on-line at the beginning of the term.