Session 3 - STEG-PEDL Virtual Course - Private Enterprises, Productivity, and Economic Growth

Описание: Dave Donaldson presents Session 3: Distortions and measurement.


Course Description: Perhaps the central question of economic development and structural transformation is how to increase productivity. As economies move out of agriculture, this question naturally hinges on the major private-sector producers in the modern economy: firms. The growing body of research on firms in lower-income countries is notable in the wide variety of both analytical methods and sources of data that are employed either separately or together. Research combines RCTs, structural modelling, survey data collected by researchers and, increasingly, rich administrative data at the level of individual transactions and at more aggregate levels. To lower entry barriers for scholars wishing to work in the area, the course aims to provide both an overview of issues and an introduction to how the variety of approaches are used to understand private sector growth and its constraints. Lectures will be interactive with Q&A but also recorded and made available for later viewers.

The virtual course, offered jointly by PEDL and STEG, will meet weekly on Fridays from 15:30 - 17:00 London time beginning on 6 February 2026.



Schedule:

6 Feb
Penny Goldberg (Yale)
Overview of firms and development

13 Feb
Chad Syverson (University of Chicago)
Modeling firms and firm growth

20 Feb
Dave Donaldson (MIT, CEPR)
Distortions and measurement

27 Feb
Gabriel Ulyssea (UCL, CEPR)
Formalisation, taxation, and subsistence

6 March
Ernest Liu (Princeton)
Network structures at the industry-level

13 March
Meredith Startz (Dartmouth)
Local networks of trade and exchange

20 March
Lauren Bergquist (Yale, CEPR)
Markets and competition

27 March
Ezra Oberfield (Cornell)
Value chains and productivity transmission

3 April
Break for Easter

10 April
Isabela Manelici (LSE, CEPR)
International trade, MNCs and GVCs

17 April
Alessandra Peter (NYU, CEPR)
Models of corporate finance for development

24 April
Julia Fonseca (Uni of Illinois)
Developing country financial networks and data

1 May
Cynthia Kinnan (Tufts)
Financial frictions

8 May
John Van Reenen (LSE, CEPR)
Management and productivity

15 May
Francis Annan (Berkeley),
Virginia Minni (Uni of Chicago, CEPR),
Tommaso Porzio (Columbia, CEPR)
Recent applications