Course summary

Development is not just about increasing growth and political and social rights. It is about creating self-sustaining institutions that liberate societies from low-level deprivation traps by increasing productivity, freedom, and cooperative interdependence. The Double Degree in this Political Economy of Development gives you the theory and practical tools to drive such transformations forward by enabling you to understand why some societies have succeeded and others have failed. The programme is built around a theory-led approach to the role of institutions and organisations in development, using both classical institutional theory and the new institutional economics. We go very deeply into the role of institutions in explaining the comparative statics of development (why some countries are rich and others poor), as well as comparative dynamics (the development process per se across different countries and regions). A distinctive feature of the programme is the Development Management Project, a team-based consulting exercise for real-world, public, private, and non-profit organisations, such as the World Bank, Oxfam, PricewaterhouseCoopers, GIZ, CARE, DFID, Save the Children, UNICEF, or the Emerging Markets Group.