Development and Environmental Planning in Developing Economies

The purpose of this course is to provide economics students, and those not studying economics but who have taken a Microeconomics course, with some analytically informed understanding of the economics and political economy underlying development and environmental management policies in developing economies. The issue of implementing programs to accelerate economic development versus programs to protect the quality of the environment in developing countries has become prominent since the 1970s, particularly after the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. The main objective of the conference was to find ways to balance economic development with environmental conservation. The term “Sustainable Development” became prominent after that and more recently a new term “Green Growth” with a similar objective was also well-known. This course is a crucial opportunity to learn about several economic planning tools to analyse the benefits and impacts of development and environmental programs typically implemented in developing economies, to understand whether or not these programs are able to achieve the dual objective of economic development and preserving the environment.