Specialised Master in International and Development Economics

The specialised master in international and development economics programme (SMIDE) is entirely provided in English; it is a 60 ECTS programme and is co-organised by the University of Namur and the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain).

Most of the classes are held in Namur with one day of classes per week held in Louvain-la-Neuve. Students will have full access to the educational resources offered by the two universities (libraries, IT, etc.).

The academic year begins with the « Concepts and Methods » unit - a review of the basic concepts in economics and quantitative methods. The programme is then organised around two main themes. The first axis studies poverty and institutional structures required for the effective functioning of a market economy in the context of developing countries. The second axis analyzes macroeconomic and trade policies that promote economic growth and macroeconomic stability in a context of poor countries, emphasizing their effects on the well-being of local people.

Depending on their specific situation, students can be offered the possibility either to do an internship while they are developing their personal project or after having graduated from the programme.

The two main axes can be detailed as follows:

• Macroeconomics and trade policies:

This theme covers issues concerning macroeconomic fluctuations, macro-finance and development. It concentrates on the factors that determine the balance of payments, domestic growth rates, employment rates and structure, inflation rates, public sector accounts and external debt. Particular attention will be paid to the interaction between foreign exchange, interest rates, monetary and taxation policy instruments and real economy sectors. National experiences will be used to evaluate the relative costs of adjustments or policies and whether they are sustainable given external constraints. Students will also be able to use case studies to evaluate how various policy regimes or macroeconomic policies can contribute in terms of a sustainable and balanced growth objective.

The programme also studies the opportunities and limitations the economy is facing as it integrates the global market economy. Special attention is given to relationship between economic growth and international trade, the role of multinational entreprises, the location of economic activities the management of adjustment costs after trade shocks. Trade and trade policy aspects are also analysed: the strategic behaviour of firms and governments and the role of regional and ‘supra-regional’ institutions.

• Development and institutions:

The teaching units of this theme cover the key economic development issues of today.  These include:

• poverty: key concepts and measures of poverty and inequality are introduced. The current state of poverty in the world is examined and students are challenged to conduct a critical analysis of current sustainable development goals.
• micro-finance: the formal and informal roles of lending institutions in developing countries are examined and microfinance as a “revolution” in development is discussed.
• education: the decision to invest in education at a micro and macro level is examined and a discussion on what we know today about the returns to education is opened.
• gender issues: A presentation of Amarta Sen’s “missing women” analysis is made.  A discussion on the discrimination of women within households is also opened and the main models of decision-making, including intra-household bargaining models, are presented.
• poverty - environment linkages: after an introduction to environmental economics and its key concepts, we present what we know today about the relationship between development, poverty and environment.
• the role of development institutions: different economic approaches to institutions are presented, discussed and illustrated. Particular attention is given to transaction patterns, contracts, informal arrangements and social norms. The underlying functions savings on transaction costs, overcoming incentive issues and ensuring coordination are highlighted. Two major fields of application of institutional analysis are covered in detail: the “poverty rights “system and agrarian contracts.

The programme will also cover the effects of different policies in terms of poverty, equality and how these problems can be reduced.

Finally, the programme concludes with a personal project on an economic topic chosen at the beginning of the year. This research project is developed during the year on the basis of lectures and readings and is subjected to critical evaluation by students and teachers. The project consists of a case study, a theoretical or an empirical analysis which leads students to document, analyse and argue a research question with rigour.