Course Description: This seminar focuses on independent work with empirical research in the political economy of development. After an initial introductory meeting, students choose one of six thematic areas and, within that area, formulate their own research question. Examples of thematic areas include “Political Polarisation”, “Bureaucracy”, “Democracy Failures: Organised Crime”, “The Economic and Political Legacies of Dictatorship”, “Selection and the Quality of Politicians” and “Corruption and Political Connections”. Students address their chosen question by systematically reviewing and synthesising published empirical work. A key emphasis of the seminar is on evaluating how credible the empirical evidence is: students are expected to carefully assess research designs, identification strategies, data, and internal and external validity, and to reflect on what the evidence can and cannot tell us about causal effects and mechanisms. Theoretical contributions may be used to motivate hypotheses and mechanisms that are then examined in the empirical literature. The seminar is aimed at Bachelor students who are interested in the intersection of politics and economics in low- and middle-income countries and who would like to gain experience working with research papers.

Kurs im HIS-LSF