The University of the West Indies, Mona

Lecturers

Lecturer:     Damien King,  Damien.King@uwimona.edu.jm
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 3:00 – 4:00.
Office:        Room E212, McIntyre Building
Lectures:    Monday, 9:00 – 10:30; Thursday, 9:00 – 10:30.

 Course Description

The purpose of this course is to survey various approaches to the issue of economic growth.  We cover, in turn, the broad theories of the genre.
Questions to addressed by the syllabus:  1) Why are some countries poor and other rich?  2) Why do some developing countries experience bursts of growth while other stagnate for long periods of time?  3) Are poor countries catching up with the rich ones?
The course grade is determined by a mid-term examination, worth 30 percent, and a final exam for the remaining 70 percent.  The resource material for the course will be taken from the following books along with the specified journals.

•    Charles I. Jones, Introduction to Economic Growth, 2nd ed., New York: Norton, 2002.
•    David Romer, Advanced Macroeconomics, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2001.
•    Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, Endogenous Growth Theory, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998.

Neoclassical Growth Models
•    Charles Jones, Chapters 1, 2, 3.
•    David Romer, Advanced Macroeconomics, Chapter 1.
•    Aghion and Howitt, Sections 1.1 – 1.2.
•    Paul M. Romer, “The Origins of Endogenous Growth,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 8, No. 1, Winter 1994.
 

Overlapping Generations Growth
•    David Romer, Advanced Macroeconomics, Chapter 2, Part B.

Endogenous Growth Theory
•    Charles Jones, Chapters 4, 8, 5.
•    Aghion and Howitt, Sections 1.3 – 1.6; 11.3.
•    Paul M. Romer, “Endogenous Technical Change,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98, No. 5, October 1990.

Growth in LDCs
•    Charles Jones, Chapters 6, 9. 10.
•    Robert Barro and Xavier Sala-i-martin, “Technological Diffusion, Covergence, and Growth,” Journal of Economic Growth, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1997.
•    Mancur Olson, Jr., “Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk: Why Some Nations are Rich, and Others Poor,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 10, No. 2, Spring 1996.