Question 1 (75 points)
Read the paper on the syllabus, “Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution,” Daren Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A Robinson. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4) 2002: 1231-1294.
Daren and company argue that European colonizers settled immensely in poor areas that were sparsely populated (such as Australia, New Zealand) and introduced there a European-like institutional system based on the protection of private property. On the other hand, Europeans introduced extractive institutions in more populous and prosperous regions where they could not settle, reversing their development trends. How true (or untrue) is this in sub-Saharan Africa. Please substantiate your answer using the knowledge learned in class and other outside resources, if needed. (Length: not more than 2 pages).
P.S. The two references in lectures notes 2 (history and its legacy) on the impact of colonialism on development by Daren Acemoglu and others, and by David Albouy can be used to satisfy the requirement of “outside” resources.
Question 2 (50 points)
Download UNDP Human Development Data for Senegal, Nigeria, Burundi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Replicate the calculation of these countries’ HDIs.
Provide a one-paragraph interpretations of the calculated HDI and its components, in context of each country.
Here are the steps to follow:
Go to: http://hdr.undp.org/en/data#.
1) Select one of the three dimensions of HDI: Health, Education, and Income/composition of income.
2) Select the appropriate indicator (e.g. life expectancy).
3) Download data and open in Excel.
4) Calculate the appropriate indexes.
5) Put them together to calculate the HDI.
Question 3 (75 points)
Read chapter 7 of the Nnadozie textbook on how to measure poverty in developing countries in general and the case study of measuring poverty among South African farmworkers. Answer the following questions:
(Length: Not more than 2 pages)
