IDP SIS Comprehensive Exam
April 26 2006
4 Hours / 2 pages
Select and write on 3 of the 4 questions

Question 1: The East Asian Model

The Asian financial crisis has been considered an expression of the risks of globalization – the inability of national economies to shield themselves against the workings of international markets, information flows and speculators. Even strong developmental states faded into the background and were reduced to bystanders as the forces of globalization wreaked havoc with local banks, businesses and entire sectors. But in the midst of the crisis, Malaysia changed course and defied the Washington Consensus, while other crisis countries, like Thailand and South Korea accepted IMF conditionalities. In steep contrast to what extreme critics of the globalizing system may have predicted, both unorthodox and orthodox responders are still alive. Describe and contrast the policy response of the three key crisis countries (Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea) to the financial crisis and discuss what the differences (and similarities) mean for the debate on globalization and the developing world. Focus on theories of long-term repercussions of Malaysia's defiance of the IMF versus Thailand's and Korea's compliance, and evaluate the impact of these policies on investor confidence and Malaysia's position in the global system.

Question 2: Poverty

Poverty has again become a major issue of global debate and policy formulation. While there is agreement over its importance, there are differences over its definition, causes and solutions. Discuss: a) the major debates over definitions and the causes of poverty, b) trends in poverty through time, and geographically, c) efforts at the global level to set and achieve poverty reduction targets, e.g. through the Copenhagen World Summit on Social Development and the follow up, as well as in the World Bank and IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), the UN's Global Millennium Goals and any others, and d) the obstacles towards achieving the poverty reduction targets.

Question 3: Culture, Values and Development

Political scientist Samuel Huntington foresaw The Clash of Civilizations as a probable twenty-first century scenario. He identified "culture" as an important emerging issue in international politics. Traditionally the study of culture has been the province of anthropologists. While economics has typically been a required subfield of international development, anthropology has not. Yet the writings of scholars such as Mary Catherine Bateson, Stanley Tambiah, Dorine Kondo, and members of the Subaltern Studies Movement (to cite just a few examples) clearly have relevance for development practitioners and organizations. How might you incorporate literature on culture by anthropologists and others into a graduate level course focusing on the micropolitics of development. Be specific about the authors you would draw upon, the works you would assign and the principal lessons you would draw from them.

Q. 4: New Economic Theories and the Power of Knowledge and Ideas

When Amartya Sen proposed that development economics had not been of much use for development, but that this came as no surprise since economics had not been of much use in general, he referred to the over-simplistic assumptions of the dismal science. Classical development economics theorized economic growth as a function of two basic inputs –labor and capital. But these two factors could only account for a part of de facto growth, sometimes barely more than 50%. The rest was attributed to a residual factor of unknown causes outside the realm of economics (the Solow Residual). Some economists have begun to ask themselves what accounts for that residual. Alternative theories have emerged that theorize that knowledge, technology, norms, institutions, culture and ideas are variables endogenous to an economic system and hence must be accounted for in the analysis of economic growth. Discuss these new endogenous growth theories and their impact on development thinking.