Teaching the Book

This book grew, in part, out of years of teaching undergraduates and graduate students at MIT and elsewhere, and we hope that it can be used to support learning at various levels.

In the spring of 2011, we have been using the book for two courses: one, Challenges for World Poverty, an introductory course for students who do not have a background in economics. This course is a mix of lecture and discussion. Students read the book, as well as other papers, and they answer essay questions about the issues that they learn about. The second course, Foundations of Development Policies, is for advanced undergraduates and masters students.

In this section of the website, we provide the course materials from both. These materials include the lecture notes, assignments, and videos used throughout the course. We hope you will find this material useful as a supplementary resource to the book, and a way to enrich your learning experience.

Given that both courses are currently underway, this page will be regularly updated, so do check back often!

Jeffrey Sachs / February 2, 2007 / MTV

An article (with links to the video documentary) of economist Jeffrey Sachs and actress Angelina Jolie's visit to one of the Earth Institute's Millennium Villages.

Challenges of World Poverty: A Sample Essay on Aid
John Boghossian / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A sample essay on aid written by John Boghossian an MIT Economics and Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student for the spring 2011 undergraduate class Challenges of World Poverty.

Challenges of World Poverty: A Sample Essay on Education
John Boghossian / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A sample essay on education written by John Boghossian an MIT Economics and Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student for the spring 2011 undergraduate class Challenges of World Poverty

Challenges of World Poverty: A Sample Essay on Families
Swati Bhattacharjee / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A sample essay on family decision making written by Swati Bhattacharjee, a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow and Visiting Scholar at MIT for the spring 2011 undergraduate class Challenges of World Poverty.

Challenges of World Poverty: A Sample Essay on Gender Inequality
Roxana Azimi / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A sample essay on HIV and gender inequality written by Roxana Azimi an MIT undergraduate Economics Student for the spring 2011 undergraduate class Challenges of World Poverty

Challenges of World Poverty: A Sample Essay on Health
Caroline Hane-Weijman / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A sample essay on health written by Caroline Hane-Weijman an MIT Economics undergraduate student for the spring 2011 undergraduate class Challenges of World Poverty.

Challenges of world poverty: Essay Questions on Aid
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Introductory essay questions from the spring 2011 MIT undergraduate course, The Challenges of World Poverty

Challenges of world poverty: Essay Questions on Consumption
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Essay questions on food from the spring 2011 MIT undergraduate course, The Challenges of World Poverty.

Challenges of world poverty: Essay Questions on Credit
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Essay questions on credit from the spring 2011 MIT undergraduate course, The Challenges of World Poverty.

Challenges of world poverty: Essay Questions on Education
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo / Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Essay questions on education from the spring 2011 MIT undergraduate course, The Challenges of World Poverty.