EC 234 - Wealth and Poverty of Nations (UBC)
Professor Jason Long

Contact Information:
Office: Buchanan 1002
Phone: 3866
Click to Email

Meeting Times:
MWF 10-10:50 am pm

Classroom: Wesbrook 201

Office Hours:
Wednesday 2-4 pm


Course Syllabus
Fall 2010 Syllabus

Writing Assignments
Click here for the writing assignment for each student

The writing assignment is a book review. Each student will be assigned one book on which to write a review. The review will be due during the week in which that particular book will be covered. Specific due dates are shown on the assignment page below. Book reviews are to be between 2,000 and 2,500 words long. The review will consist of three main components: (i) summary, (ii) synthesis, and (iii) critical response. (i) The summary section (obviously) addresses the question What is this book about? What question(s) does the author address? What is the author(s) main argument(s)? What sort of evidence is brought to bear on the questions? In about 1,000 words, summarize the book. (ii) Next, place the author(s)’ findings into the context of our Big Question: how does the book advance our understanding of the wealth of nations? How does it help us understand why some countries are rich and some are poor? How does it illuminate the “deep determinants” of economic growth in the very long run? (iii) Finally, offer a subjective assessment of the book. Do I “buy” some or all of it? Why or why not? What do I know from the “outside” that applies? What’s missing? What’s strong/weak? Compare perspectives: How would, say, North, respond to the arguments of, say, de Soto? After your summary, the remaining 1,000–1,500 words should be devoted to synthesis and critical response. Your review should be written in 12-point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. I will provide more details on the writing assignment in class.

Course Materials
There are five required texts for the course, all available at the bookstore. They are

The Lever of Riches, Joel Mokyr (Oxford University Press, 1992)
Rise of the Western World, Douglass North and Robert Paul Thomas (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
The Mystery of Capital, Hernando de Soto (Basic Books, 2000)
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond (W. W. Norton, 1999)
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber (Dover Publications, 2003)


Course Outline and Reading List (UPDATED)
Most of the online articles are available through JSTOR or the NBER's Web page. Following the link to each article, you will be given the option of reading the article on your computer, downloading it, or printing it. You will need to access the papers from a computer in the UBC network in order to be able to use JSTOR. Unmarked readings are from the required texts.

WEEK 2. Introduction: Why Should We Care?
Landes, D. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, W. W. Norton, 1998. Introduction.
Easterlin, R. "The Worldwide Standard of Living Since 1800," Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (Winter 2000): 7-26.
Easterlin, R. Growth Triumphant, University of Michigan Press, 1996. ch 10.

WEEK 3. The Theory of Economic Growth
Mankiw, N. G. Macroeconomics: Ch 7, Economic Growth I
Mankiw, N. G. Macroeconomics: Ch 8, Economic Growth II

WEEK 4. Technology: The "Ultimate Proximate" Cause
Mokyr, J. The Lever of Riches, Oxford University Press, 1992. Ch 1, 3, 5, 7

WEEK 5. Technology: Explaining Episodes of Progress
Mokyr, The Lever of Riches: Ch 8-10

WEEK 6. Institutions: "The Rules of the Game," a Deeper Determinant
North, D. "Institutions" Journal of Economic Perspectives 5 (Winter 1991): 97-112.
North, D. "Economic Performance Through Time" American Economic Review 84 (June 1994): 359-368.

WEEK 7. Institutions: The Rise of Europe
North, D. and R. P. Thomas. Rise of the Western World, Cambridge University Press, 1990. Ch 1-5, 8-12

WEEK 8. Institutions Outside Europe: A Very Different Story
de Soto, H. The Mystery of Capital, Basic Books, 2000. Ch 1-3, 5, 6

WEEK 9. Geography: The Deepest Determinant
Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: Ch 4-12

WEEK 10. Geography And, not Or, Institutions
Engerman, S. and K. Sokoloff. "Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development Among New World Economies" NBER Working Paper 9259.
Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J. A. Robinson. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation" American Economic Review 91 (December 2001): 1369-1401.

WEEK 11. Culture: Here There be Monsters
Weber, M. The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism. pp. 1-31, 47-128, 155-183.
Blum, U. and L. Dudley. "Religion and Economic Growth: Was Weber Right?" Journal of Evolutionary Economics 11 (2001): 207-230.

WEEK 12. Growth Empirics: What Do the Data Tell Us?
Rodrik, D., A. Subramanian, and F. Trebbi. "Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development" Journal of Economic Growth 9 (2004): 131-165.
Sachs, J. "Institutions Don't Rule: Direct Effects of Geography on Per Capita Income" NBER Working Paper 9490.
Sachs, J. "Institutions Matter, but Not for Everything" Finance and Development (June 2003): 38-41.

WEEK 13. Conclusion: So What Do We Think? And What's To Be Done?
Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J. Robinson. "An African Success Story: Botswana," in In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth, Dani Rodrik, ed. Princeton University Press, 2003.
Rodrik, D. "Growth Strategies," draft for Handbook of Economic Growth


Other Useful Links
Jason Long’s Home Page
Colby College Economics Department
Colby College
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Oxford English Dictionary
World Factbook 2000
Economic History Services
JSTOR – Journal Storage
Econlit – Economics literature search
ESPN.com






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