Economics 6460: Agriculture and Sustainable Development
“The main message conveyed by the World Development Report 2008, Agriculture for Development, was the neglect of agriculture by governments and donors, starting with the stabilization and adjustment policies put in place by the Washington Consensus in response to the debt crisis of 1982.” (DeJanvry & Sadoulet, 2016, page 645)
Here is the ECON 6460 Spring 2017 Syllabus. Right now the class meets in 102 Dealy, but we may move to E530 soon. For week to week readings, lecture notes and assignments see the course calendar. My office is Dealy Hall 527E. Feel free to visit during office hours, or contact me at mcleod@fordham.edu for an appointment at another time. Assignments will appear here, most with links to the readings you need to answer review and reading questions. Here is the preliminary backup final exam (optional if you present to the class, FE-1 is for everyone) See also the updated project page. Graduation approach: Chickens (Bill Gates) and/or goats and goats just a cash income may work as well (cash) Presentation Program May 9th pptx Course Google Drive May 2nd Presentations May 9th Presentations
China’s quest for Food Security FAO Food First Coalition. Midterm pdf (v 4.3 has a word template delete figures template before you send it in). Wright, Brian 2011 Global BioFuels
Climate Change and Food Prices Povcalnet,org (poverty & inequality data, see the updated project page for gender data sources) Sweatshops in Ethiopia? See Mobile Money EMPESA IPA
Arnaud Costinot & Dave Donaldson & Cory Smith, 2016. “Evolving Comparative Advantage and the Impact of Climate Change in Agricultural Markets: Evidence from 1.7 Million Fields around the World,” Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1) (see NBER Paper #20079 ) see also W D. Nordhaus (2017) Changes in the DICE Model, 1992 – 2017 NBER Working Paper 23319 April.
Course Description: This course explores the role of agriculture in economic development, specifically its role in improving nutrition and health and providing livelihoods, both of which reduce poverty especially in rural areas. Sustainable development issues include the role of new technologies and reforestation to mitigate the impacts of climate change on income and output. Food aid, public works, food subsidies and financial inclusion. Local community development programs are also discussed, especially those targeting women who often lack access to land, credit and transfer programs. We take an interdisciplinary approach to debates over new technologies, over poverty traps and malnutrition and with respect to community development and social innovations such as microfinance and fair trade/CSR exports. Agriculture in low-income nations is particularly vulnerable to climate change (Bangladesh & the Sahel region for example). Women’s access and title to land as well as to credit and social protection programs is also key. The potential of genetically engineered seeds and foods is a subject of much debate. Finally, we review research on the efficacy of policies aimed at reducing poverty and improving nutrition and health in rural areas.
CIPS First Development Conference Fall 2016 (great papers on key topics)
Texts with some required reading:
- Collier, Paul (2010) The Plundered Planet, Oxford University Press, Chapter 10
- Dasgupta, Partha (1993) An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution, Oxford University Press, Chapters 15 and 17, 0198287568 (skip chapters with *)
- Drèze, Jean, and Amartya Sen (1991). Hunger and Public Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN-0-80198283652
- De Janvry, Alain, and Elisabeth Sadoulet (2016). Development Economics: Theory and Practice. Routledge. ISBN: 1138885295. [Chapter 18]
- Heal, Geoffrey (2016). Endangered economies: how the neglect of nature threatens our prosperity. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN: 0231180849.
- Heal, Geoffrey (2000). Valuing the future: economic theory and sustainability. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN: 0231113076.
- Ray, Debraj. Development economics (1998). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 1400835898. [Chapters 10-12]
- Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, editor (2015). Food price policy in an era of market instability: a political economy analysis. Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN: 0198718574.
- Sen, Amartya (1981). Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN-13: 0198284635. [download PDF]
- Sen, Amartya (2000) Development as Freedom, Random House, Anchor Books, 0385720270.
- World Bank. 2007. World Development Report 2008 : Agriculture for Development. Wash DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5990 ISBN-13: 0-8213-6808-4.
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World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 2016. Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016: Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22547 ISBN-13: 978-1464806698.
Lectures topics:
- Introduction: 4 Nobels and 2 green revolutions Asia and Africa
- A billion hungry people? Population and food supply
- Nutrition based Poverty Traps and Sen-Fogel theory of Famine
- Technologies and policies for a Green Revolution in Africa?
- Gendered access to credit, asset markets and livelihoods
- NGO Driven development programs BRAC-CGAP-SKS?
- Ethiopia’s productive Transfers program: Project Evaluation Methods
- Food prices, poverty and malnutrition:
- Understanding and managing agricultural price instability
- Agriculture, climate change and Sustainable Development
International Food Policy Research Institute and IFPRI Slide show
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Food First Oxfam UK BREAD for the World CGAP Graduation Livelihoods
Fordham Community Commons Project with the Equator Initiative
Darryl McLeod (2005) “Turning Diversity to Advantage: Promoting Community Based Fair Trade and Entrepreneurship in Gillis, Nancy and Sean Southey (2005) A Community Dialogue for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals, Fordham University Press, New York.
Darryl McLeod (1976) Urban-Rural Food Alliances: A Perspective on Recent Community Food Organizing, in Richard Merrill, ed. Radical Agriculture (Chapter 12) Harper Collins,
Course related videos (thanks to Owen for Ebola song, & and Dr. Ada Igonoh’s heroic Lagos story here too..,) Ethiopia video added, shows more women working than (older?) World Bank video… Chickens video has the best music, you can find Bill Gates on why I would raise chickens here. Chris Blattman prefers cash, but you can find those on your own.
China at a Lewis Turning Point?