Financial Institutions and Development - Topics Course (SoSe 2013)

The interaction between financial markets and economic and social development has gained increasing attention in academic and popular discourse, especially after the events of the global financial-economic crises that started in 2008. Critical voices stress the role of financial institutions in producing and transmitting economic crises, which in turn may have substantial social ramifications, e.g., in the form of social unrest and political instability. Advocates of a beneficial role of financial markets in development instead highlight the positive effect of financial development on economic growth and other dimensions of social development (e.g., poverty, inequality, the prevalence of child labor). This course will cover a variety of issues related to the (macroeconomic) finance-development nexus such as:
-    the relationship between financial and economic growth and development
-    the determinants of financial development
-    the issue of financial integration and financial globalization
-    the causes of financial crises and their effect on development
-    the role of institutional economic policy in promoting and shaping the development of     financial markets and institutions
This course will also provide an introduction to the popular statistical software package Stata. Here, the goal is to introduce the course participants to the methods of applied empirical economics, so as to allow them to conduct simple empirical analyses on the finance-development nexus on their own.
At the end of the course, the course participants are required to turn in a research proposal on specific research questions related to the finance-development nexus, where they ought to use knowledge they acquired during the lecture and the Stata tutorial.

To apply for participation in this course, please download the Seminar Application Form. Fill out the form and return it to the chair till March 14, 2013. You can either return the form via mail (Wilfried-Guth-Stiftungsprofessur, Wilhelmstraße 1b, 79085 Freiburg) or e-mail (daniel.meierrieks@vwl.uni-freiburg.de).