AAEC 4720 – Applied International Development Economics (Fall 2020)
Applied International Development Economics provided me with a wide scope of understanding of the developing parts of the world. Before taking this course, I had an understanding of economics from my micro- and macro-economic courses and rarely thought about economics outside of the United States. Taking an applied economics course with a focus on a specific subject helped me better apply economic concepts to real-world scenarios.
This course deepened my understanding of the social sphere of sustainability. The first United Nations Sustainable Development Goal is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.” This course helped me understand how economics, resource allocation, policies, and specific practices can help lessen existing, and future, global poverty. Economic resources should be an equal right for all people. However, a deep understanding of economic theory is necessary to properly achieve a goal of zero poverty.
In this course, I was taught about parts of the world that I rarely hear about in the news. It is a sad reality that underdeveloped countries do not have sufficient living situations for humans. Intervention and aid are necessary, the question we discussed in depth in this course was how to approach these countries’ problems in the proper way that will be sustainable. I included a group presentation as my artifact for this course that outlines my group’s pitch for our micro-lending recommendation. Before the project, our professor taught us about the concept of “micro-lending” which involves donating as little as $25 to an entrepreneur in a developing country to make a personal impact in their lives. We chose to recommend a loan to a project called “Lib Solar” that would fund the purchasing of solar home systems in rural homes in Liberia. Currently, less than 1% of rural Liberians have access to electricity, meaning that these solar home systems would be life-changing and provide opportunities for learning, communicating, starting a business, and building an overall better life.