Foundations of Development Economics
Overview of development economics covering basic theory and empirical applications, including growth, trade, poverty, human capital, agriculture, technology, migration, credit, and environment.
Summary
Past student reviews · Paul Dower
The course was rated as the most difficult level, indicating a rigorous academic challenge.
What you’ll be able to do
Articulate and critique theories of development economics, including basic closed and open economy macroeconomic models, microeconomic models of individual and household decisions to invest in human capital, agricultural household models, models of credit and insurance markets in developing countries, and a basic understanding of technology adoption decisions.
Apply measures of poverty and inequality using household data.
Identify and apply empirical approaches used to analyze problems in development, including the use of observational data, both cross-sectional and panel, natural experiments, and intentional experiments.
Use economic models and empirical methods to evaluate development policy or issues relevant to developing economies and be able to clearly communicate this analysis orally and in writing.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapProfessors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
PAUL DOWER is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Paul Dower
Students found the course highly beneficial for learning and refining research agendas, particularly for those seeking expert guidance in the field.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.69 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Paul Dower
The course was rated as the most difficult level, indicating a rigorous academic challenge.
Past student reviews · Paul Dower
Dr. Dower was described as generous and caring during office hours, though the reviewer noted he sometimes appeared absent-minded.
Topics
- Economic growth, trade, poverty, inequality, human capital, agriculture, technology, migration, credit, savings, insurance, infrastructure, environment.
Skills
- Critique development economics theories and macro/micro models.
- Apply measures of poverty and inequality using household data.
- Identify and apply empirical approaches like natural experiments and panel data.
- Evaluate development policy and communicate analysis orally and in writing.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
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Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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