Socio-Economic Development

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

Admission to 097-AB Master of Development Studies or MC-IR Master of International Relations

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject will analyse the contemporary, integrated global crises of poverty, wealth and ecological destruction. It will concentrate on the contribution which economic analysis can make to understanding the issues and to addressing them. Topics to be covered include: the goals of socio-economic policy; the intertwined economic, financial, distributional and ecological crises; the dilemmas of integrating human development with environmental sustainability; neo-liberal economic strategies and their social democratic alternatives; macroeconomic stabilisation policies and their coordination; public finance and the minimisation of tax evasion; external finance for development including official development assistance and innovative sources of finance; population growth, ageing and social protection; conflict resolution and demilitarisation; employment; and global economic governance. The evolution of policies and proposals for innovation will be extensively discussed.

Upon successful completion of this subject, students will be expected to have:

• Strengthened their understanding of the choices involved in setting goals for development policy and their sense of priorities for national strategy formation;

• Gained a thorough knowledge of the underlying assumptions, intellectual strengths and critiques of neo-liberal economics and of alternatives being advocated and attempted;

• Grown in understanding of the diversity of experience of developing countries through comparative case studies;

• Increased their capacity to discern the political and economic forces driving various approaches to development strategy and of the means through which they work;

• Strengthened their analytical capacity to understand complex issues of national development strategy and to formulate more cost-effective steps towards equitable economic and social development; and

• Be able to write persuasively about conceptual and normative aspects of national and international political, economic, financial and social issues.

• This will be an analytical and applied seminar aiming to enhance understanding of views about national and international development strategies. Each session will include both teaching and small group and whole of class discussion. Students will be encouraged to identify issues which they would like to discuss.

• A 1000 word essay (20%) due in Week 4 of semester.
• A 2000 word essay (40%) due at the end of the semester.
• A 2000 word final essay (40%) due during the examination period.

With subject coordinator approval, students will have the option of completing a 4000 word essay as their final piece of assessment in lieu of the 2 x 2000 word essays (80%) Due during the examination period.

Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to pass this subject. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Anthony Clunies-Ross, David Forsyth and Mozammel Huq, 2009, Development Economics, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students will be expected to grow in capacity for effective participation in class discussion, in small group work and in essay writing through:

• Undertaking an adequate amount of reading and research about the prescribed topics using appropriate material;
• Speaking and writing lucidly, relevantly and coherently, using appropriate material;
• Demonstrating comprehension of the material read and studied for class, and during preparation for essays;
• Showing evidence of imaginative, creative and principled thought;
• Identifying the main issues involved in a subject and to explain them comprehensively and effectively;
• Writing a succinct and clear introduction to an essay and developing the argument in a rigorous, logical and well organised manner;
• Completing essays with a justified and well expressed conclusion;
• Writing lucidly, with accurate spelling and grammar.