Why are some countries rich and others poor? This fundamental question has been on the mind of economists since Adam Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. This is a full course that covers all the major issues and developments in the field of development economics. Unlike typical college courses, we will take you to the frontier of the discipline, covering recent research as well as more established material. This course is non-technical and is accessible to a beginner. If you pass the final exam, you will earn our "Development Economics" certificate on your profile.

This course emphasizes dynamic models of growth and development. Topics covered include: migration, modernization, and technological change; static and dynamic models of political economy; the dynamics of income distribution and institutional change; firm structure in developing countries; development, transparency, and functioning of financial markets; privatization; and banks and credit market institutions in emerging markets.
At MIT, this course was team taught by Prof. Robert Townsend, who taught for the first half of the semester, and Prof. Abhijit Banerjee, who taught during the second half. On OCW we are only including materials associated with sessions one through 13, which comprise the first half of the class.

This course examines why we plan for economic development, how government is funded in the US, what strategies are commonly used to attract and retain development, and how effective they are at accomplishing goals. We look at the tools and techniques of development through a variety of lenses, including those of effectiveness, equity, sustainability, and impacts on other aspects of public finance.

Here you will find links to Economics resources for grades K-12, curated from Smithsonian Learning Lab, Council for Economic Education (CEE), Econ Lowdown, EconEdLink, Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF).

Low reproducibility rates within life science research undermine cumulative knowledge production and contribute to both delays and costs of therapeutic drug development. An analysis of past studies indicates that the cumulative (total) prevalence of irreproducible preclinical research exceeds 50%, resulting in approximately US$28,000,000,000 (US$28B)/year spent on preclinical research that is not reproducible—in the United States alone. We outline a framework for solutions and a plan for long-term improvements in reproducibility rates that will help to accelerate the discovery of life-saving therapies and cures.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technologies are revolutionizing how various industries work, including the accounting industry. As the tools of the trade grow smarter, what will the future landscape of accounting look like? And where will accounting grads find a place in it? Researchers address these and other questions in a recent review published in the journal IEEE Access. AI and blockchain technologies are already having a big impact on how accounting firms run. Deloitte has created a voice analysis tool that monitors customer interactions and identifies high-risk interactions through natural language processing. PricewaterhouseCoopers has an entire AI audit lab designed to improve audit quality and operational efficiency, and Ernst & Young has developed Blockchain Analyzer, which enables in-depth reviews of cryptocurrecy transactions. Accounting students are recommended to hone their programming skills and stay abreast of emerging technologies to thrive in this fast-changing environment..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This is a lengthy glossary of highly technical terms focused on finance. Its contents include words dealing with taxes, inheritance, interest rates, retirement plans, and every other aspect of personal finance, as well as many generic legal terms that are also used in the finance world.

This is a comprehensive math textbook for Grade 11. It can be downloaded, read on-line on a mobile phone, computer or iPad. Every chapter has links to on-line video lessons and explanations. Summary presentations at the end of each chapter offer an overview of the content covered, with key points highlighted for easy revision. Topics covered are: language of mathematics, exponents, surds, error margins, quadratic sequences, finance, quadratic equations, quadratic inequalities, simultaneous equations, mathematical models, quadratic functions and graphs, hyperbolic functions and graphs, exponential functions and graphs, gradient at point, linear programming, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, independent variables, dependent events. This book is based upon the original Free High School Science Text series.

This is a comprehensive math textbook for Grade 12. It can be downloaded, read on-line on a mobile phone, computer or iPad. Every chapter has links to on-line video lessons and explanations. Summary presentations at the end of each chapter offer an overview of the content covered, with key points highlighted for easy revision. Topics covered are: language of mathematics, logarithms, sequences and series, finance, factorising cubic polynomials, functions and graphs, differential calculus, linear programming, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, combinations and permutations. This book is based upon the original Free High School Science Text series.

This standards-aligned curriculum series empowers educators with engaging activities to integrate financial education instruction into subjects such as math, English, and social studies. Here is a brief overview of what you will find:

Educator’s Guide with lessons and hands-on activities to promote student participation in the learning process. Grade-level modifications are identified throughout the activities.

Teacher Presentation Slides, optional overhead visuals that include fill-in charts to support the activities of each lesson.

Student Guide features worksheets for students based on topics covered in each lesson that can be used at school or at home. The worksheets can be found in the Educator Guide for grades Pre-K-2, and in a standalone Student Guide for grades 3-12.

Parents’/Caregivers’ Guide with a summary of the key concepts covered in the module, and that offers exercises, activities, and conversation-starters for parents.

This course about financial technology, or FinTech, is for students wishing to explore the ways in which new technologies are disrupting the financial services industry—driving material change in business models, products, applications and customer user interface. Amongst the significant technological trends affecting financial services into the 2020’s, the class will explore AI, deep learning, blockchain technology and open APIs. Students will gain an understanding of the key technologies, market structure, participants, regulation and the dynamics of change being brought about by FinTech.

Lecture notes on the current and emerging varieties of financial technology, part 2

This 3-minute video lesson discusses how to calculate real return in last years dollars. [Core Finance playlist: Lesson 164 of 184]

This 4-minute video lesson explains how you can have deflation even if the money supply increases. [Core Finance playlist: Lesson 170 of 184]

This 4-minute video lesson gives the basics of a deflationary spiral. [Core Finance playlist: Lesson 171 of 184]

This 4-minute video lesson discusses the basics of hyperinflation. It looks at Weimar Germany, Hungarian Pengo and the Zibabwean Dollar. [Core Finance playlist: Lesson 172 of 184]

This 9-minute video lesson explains what it means to buy a bond. [Core Finance playlist: Lesson 54 of 184]