MSc in Development Economics
Economics of Health and Education
Lisa Grazzini
a.a. 2014-2015

Short programme
The aim of the course is to investigate the determinants of both educational and health choices with
a particular reference to Less Developed Countries. For the part on economics of education, the
course explores the basic microeconomic models of human capital accumulation, signaling,
screening, and the private and the social returns to education. Then, it analyses macroeconomic
models on the interaction between education, growth, and democracy. For the part on economics of
health, the course investigates the microeconomic models on health as investment in human capital,
and the features of the health insurance markets. Attention is concentrated on the optimal insurance
policies with asymmetric information (adverse selection and moral hazard). Finally, models
analyzing the relationships between health accumulation and growth are presented.

Organization
The course is organized in two parts. During the first one, lectures provide the theoretical standard
tools of both the Economics of Health and the Economics of Education, with a particular focus on
LDC. During the second part of the course, each student is expected to present a paper chosen by a
list provided by the teacher at the beginning of the course. Other students are expected to participate
to the discussion. No-attending students prepare an essay on a paper chosen by the same list. The
essay has to be delivered 10 days before the exam (in the teacher’s mail box and not by e-mail).

Assessment
Both attending and no-attending students take a written exam. The paper presentation/essay is
assessed in view of the final mark.
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