Pathways Out of Rural Poverty; Or, Food Prices, Poverty and Economic Development, Stanford University (Syllabus)

This course will review the determinants of rural poverty and examine the historical pathways that have led the rural poor out of poverty. A policy perspective will be taken on all three levels of analytical interest: the macro level where overall economic growth and the structural transformation provide the framework for analysis; at the sectoral level, where the role of agriculture in poverty reduction is the focus; and at the household level, where individual characteristics and asset holdings, including human capital, inform our understanding of who is successful in exiting poverty in a sustainable fashion.