BAEcon Economics and Philosophy

To provide students with an understanding of how social scientists in general and economists in particular have studied and analysed the development process.  As well introduction the meaning and measurement of development we also look at a series of “big” books that examine key themes in development studies

This course aims to provide a self-contained introduction to the academic study of development for general social scientists and to cover the preparatory material for more advanced development courses in the second and third years.

On completion of this unit successful students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the meaning and measurement of development and a superficial understanding of all and deep understanding of at least one of a range of important books – the list of books may include:

• Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom,
• Chang, H.J. (2007) Bad Samaritans
• Hulme, D. (2016) Should Rich Nations Help the Poor?
• Hulme, D. (2015) Global Poverty: Global Governance and Poor People in the Post-2015
• World Bank. (2011) World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank
• Piketty, T. (2014) Capital in the Twenty-First Century •Dasgupta, P. (2007) Economics: A Very Short Introduction
• Wydick, B. (2008) Games in Economic Development
• Banerjee, Abhijit V. and Esther Duflo (2011)  Poor Economics, Public Affairs
• World Bank (2014) World development report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior, World Bank Group

Provisional

Topics and Reading List

Introduction: An introduction to the course and to development at Manchester.

The origin of the term "Economic Development":

• Arndt, H.W. (1981) Economic Development: A Semantic History, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 29, Number 3, April 1981.

The Meaning of Development:

• Thirlwall, A (2003) Growth and Development: With Special Reference to Developing Economies, Palgrave 7th Ed. - Chapter 1 The Study of Development.

• Colman, D and Nixson, F (1994) Economics of Change in Less Developed Countries, Harvester Wheatsheaf - Chapter 1 section 1.1 What is Development.

The Measurement of Development:

• Thirlwall, A. (2003) Growth and Development: With Special Reference to Developing Economies, Palgrave 7th Ed. - Chapter 2 The Development Gap and Measurement of  Poverty. <

Synchronous activities (such as Lectures or Review and Q&A sessions, and tutorials), and guided self-study

Final Exam - 100%: Involving "critically" reviewing of one of a list of books and some short and/or multiple choice questions on the course.

For information about feedback please follow this link:
http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/assessment/sectionb-thepracticeofassessment/policyonfeedbacktostudents/

• MCQs in the lecture slots.
• Mock Exam.
• Students can also receive further feedback from tutorials, office hours and discussion board on Canvas.

• Arndt, H.W. (1981) Economic Development: A Semantic History, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 29, Number 3, April 1981.

• Thirlwall, A (2003) Growth and Development: With Special Reference to Developing Economies, Palgrave 7th Ed. - Chapter 1 The Study of Development.

• Colman, D and Nixson, F (1994) Economics of Change in Less Developed Countries, Harvester Wheatsheaf - Chapter 1

• UNDP's Human Development Reports website

• Sen, Amartya (1999) Development as Freedom, Oxford.

• Hulme, David (2016) Should Rich Nations Help the Poor? Polity.

• Hulme, David (2015) Global Poverty: Global Governance and Poor People in the Post2015, Routledge.

• World Bank. (2011) World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. World Bank.

• Chang, Ha-Joon (2007) Bad Samaritans.

• Piketty, T. (2014) Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

• Dasgupta, Partha (2007) Economics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford.

• Wydick, B. (2008) Games in Economic Development, Cambridge.

• Banerjee, Abhijit V. and Esther Duflo (2011)  Poor Economics, Public Affairs

• World Bank (2014) World development report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior, World Bank Group

For every 10 course unit credits we expect students to work for around 100 hours. This time generally includes any contact times (online or face to face, recorded and live), but also independent study, work for coursework, and group work. This amount is only a guidance and individual study time will vary

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £33,100 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026