Econ 3479W: Economic Growth
For Fall 2010, this class is taught by Christian
Zimmermann and meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:00-9:15 in ARJ 241.
Office hours for this class are Wednesday 7:30-12:00,
or by appointment, in Monteith 318.
Textbook
This class will use the following textbook: Economic Growth, by David Weil. There is also a cheaper, online version of the book available at CourseSmart.
We will not cover every chapter of the textbook, and I will cover some
material not covered in the textbook. Supplementary material along with
links to more on certain topics on the web will be provided below.
Writing component
The writing component, as for any W class, includes several essays that will be graded along their composition. For this class, the following essays will be required:
- Article summary (1 page)
- Data project (4 pages)
- Literature survey (8 pages)
- Article discussion (4 pages)
Fix deadlines will be given for each phase of each project. Paper copies need to be delivered at the start of the class. If you need to hand in an electronic copy because of an absence, this needs to be arranged beforehand. Grades decrease by 10% for every hour (or fraction thereof) a paper is handed in late. Of course, the usual rules about plagiarism apply and will be enforced.
Schedule
This schedule is tentative. Mid-term dates are fixed.
Sep. 2: Article summary due (three copies)
Sep. 14: Data project pre-proposal due
Sep. 28: Data project draft due
Oct. 5: mid-term 1
Oct. 7: Data project final version due
Oct. 19: Survey motivation draft and literature list due
Oct. 26: Survey motivation due
Nov. 11: mid-term 2
Nov. 16: no class
Nov. 18: Survey draft due
Nov. 30: Survey due
Nov. 30: Discussion draft due
Dec. 7: Discussion due
Dec. 14: final exam
Grades...
There will be one mid-term and a final exam. Each will last a full
class. I will also sprinkle a certain number of quizzes here and there,
both to entice you to work without delay and to allow me to check whether we are
on the right track. In addition, the essays and reports will be graded, including drafts. The formula will be:
- 20% mid-term I
- 20% mid-term II
- 30% final exam
- 30% writing component
According to university-wide policies for W courses, you cannot pass the course unless you receive a passing grade for its writing component.
A word about grades. When I grade, the average is usually around 60%. This
allows me to reward better those who do well. Do not be too alarmed when
you get a grade that is lower than those you get in other classes. But if
it is really low, you should do something about it...
Mailing list
Students registered for this class receive regular emails with various
updates about the material covered and about grading. Be sure to give me a
valid email address that you regularly use.
To contact me:
Phone: 6-3272, Email: christian.zimmermann@uconn.edu
Supplementary material and links
World Mapper
Deirdre McCloskey, Economical Writing
Klenow slides
State GDP
The Penn World Tables:
original site, extraction tool, graphing facility.
APA citations
Google Scholar
IDEAS
Econlit
How to read an academic article
How to review a literature
Life after death powerpoint
Hans Rosling TED talk 2006
Traffic I, II, III, IV