Economic
Development of China, India or Asia/Vietnam, Summer 2008
ECONOMICS 3355 Sections see below
Thomas R. DeGregori
Economics 6355, Sections see below
4 to 6 PM MTWTh, ALL
Sessions Room 108 AH
Office: 209D M
Office hrs. MTWTh
3-4 PM and by appointment when in town
I prefer to receive emails
Email: <mailto:trdegreg@uh.edu>trdegreg@uh.edu
homepage - www.uh.edu/~trdegreg
Summer I ECON3355-03 LEC 16270 ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA 16001800 MTWTH
AH 110 - last date to turn-in papers - June 26, 2008
Summer I ECON6355-01 LEC 16328 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA 16001800
MTWTH AH 110 - last date to
turn-in papers - June 26, 2008
Summer II ECON3355-01 LEC 16266 ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA 16001800 TTH AH 110
- last date to turn-in papers - July 16,
2008
Summer III ECON3355-02 LEC 16268
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA 16001800
MW AH 110 - last date to turn-in papers - August 12, 2008
Summer IV 3066 ECON3355-04 LEC
1272 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA 16001800
MTWTh
AH 110 - last date to turn-in papers - August 12(TTh
classes), 2008
Summer IV ECON6355-02 LEC 16330
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF ASIA
16001800 MTWTH AH 110 - last date to turn-in papers - August
12, 2008&**
All students, graduate or undergraduate should sign-up for Summer III or IV in
order to have maximum time to complete the assigned papers. This is necessary
in order to allow time to complete papers. Summer I and II are only for those
who are required to have coursework in these sessions to meet a requirement.
Enrollment for Summer sessions I, II and IV will
require Instructors permission which will be granted only if the student has
read this syllabus and is aware of the options and limitations for each summer
session. Summer III and IV are to be considered only in terms of the final due
date for papers and not for the beginning date in the schedule. The true beginning
date is as soon as the syllabus is downloaded and the student can acquire the
books and begin working on the course. Preferably this would be by the end of
the Spring term and before the end of May. Starting
the course in mid June or later is not recommended and definitely discouraged.
Students in the Study abroad programs should acquire the books before leaving
and begin reading before leaving and on the flights to from Asia.
This is a special problems course that can be taken for 3 hours credit. If you
wish to enroll for less than 3 hours credit, please see Marion Foley in 208B M.
One has the option of registering for it in any of the
summer sessions since it is entirely an independent study course except for those
in the study abroad programs where there may be lectures. The course will meet
on the first day indicated in the schedule for the class assignments.
Attendance is not necessary for those who have downloaded this syllabus and
understand the requirements. As noted above, if at all possible, it is very
strongly recommended that students sign-up for the summer sessions where the
last day of class is in August. This will allow you more time to complete your
papers as we will be following the University catalog closely and will be giving
incompletes only to those who qualify by University rules. Some exception will
be made for those in study abroad programs. There is a substantial financial
cost to the student to dropping a course in one session and adding if for a
later session. You may obtain the books and start work on your papers as soon
as this syllabus is posted in February indicating that it has been approved for
the summer programs.
THERE WILL BE NO EXAMS OR QUIZZES.
It is also available as a graduate course, Economics 6355. Those taking it for
graduate credit will also be required to use Science and Civilisation
in China, Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 2, Agriculture by
Joseph Needham and Francesca Bray, Cambridge University Press and do a major
paper on Chinese agriculture. This is in ADDITION to the five books for the undergraduate
section.
In 2006 and 2007, the course was used in the following study abroad programs:
China Study Abroad Program (see Dr. Yali Zou, FH 450, ext 34982) or for the India Study Abroad
Program (see Dr. Saleha Khumawala,
MH 360A, ext 3-4829 - will definitely be offered on 2008.). Modifications of
either the China or India options will be considered if approved by Dr. Zou or Dr. Khumawala or Dr. Wen. As I learn of other Asian study abroad programs for
2008, I will add the contact persons and post the information for them. As of
this posting, another China trip is planned for this summer but it is tentative.
Please contact Dr. Xiaohong Wen
(AH 453, ext. 3-3072) for more details.
There were three options for the course - (1) Focus on China, (2) Focus on
India, (3) All of Asia excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand. We are
adding a Viet Nam option this summer as part of the No. 3 Asian Option. Pick
one of the three options and the five books that are assigned with it. Then
pick your topics within that focus. Most of the following books are available
in paperback. Buy or otherwise gain access only to the books assigned for your
option.
Most of the books are in paperback.
China Option
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Patricia
Buckley Ebrey, Cambridge University Press.
China: A New History, Second Enlarged Edition (Paperback) by John King Fairbank
and Merle Goldman Belknap Press 2006
China's Economic Transformation (Paperback) by Gregory C. Chow Wiley-Blackwell;
2 edition 2007
Origins of the Organic Agriculture Debate, by Thomas R. DeGregori,
Blackwell Professional.
and one of the following two books:
Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1,
by Colin A. Ronan, Cambridge University Press.***
or
The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West by Toby E. Huff,
Cambridge University Press
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India Option
A Concise History of Modern India (2nd Edition) by Barbara D. and Thomas R.
Metcalf, Cambridge University Press
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha Ecco 2007
Agriculture, Food Security, Poverty, and Environment: Essays on Post Reform
India by C H Hanumantha Rao,
Oxford University Press.
Origins of the Organic Agriculture Debate, by Thomas R. DeGregori, Blackwell Professional.
The Environment, Our Natural Resources and Modern Technology
by Thomas R. DeGregori, Blackwell Professional.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Asia/Vietnam Option
Rhodes Murphy, A History of Asia, Addison, Wesley, Longman paperback, latest
edition.
Globalization and the Developing Countries by D. Bigman, ed., Oxford University Press.
China and Vietnam by Brantly
Womack, Cambridge University Press.
Origins of the Organic Agriculture Debate, by Thomas R. DeGregori, Blackwell Professional.
and one of the following two books:
The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West by Toby E. Huff,
Cambridge University Press
or
The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization by John M Hobson, Cambridge
University Press.
Assignment:
You are to write three papers of (very) roughly 10+ pages each. No paper is to
be less than seven pages. You have considerable latitude as to the length of
each paper as long as the total for all three is about 30 to 40 pages. You are
required to do either No 1 or 2 but cannot do both. Students often write at
great length on topics 1 or 2 which is fine but no more than 10 pages are
counted towards the required 30 pages. No. 3 is also required. Pick one of the
others for your final paper. Graduate students will be required to do a 20 to 30+
page paper on Chinese agriculture in addition to two 10 page papers.
The suggested topics:
1) Asian history and culture as basis
for understanding Asian economies today
2) Asian Culture, Geography
& Politics to understand Asia economies today.
3) Asian agriculture
4) Asian Economic
Development since 1950.
5) Asian Economic Development since
1979.
6) Poverty and inequality in Asia and
what can be done about it.
7) Major issues in Asian Development:
IMF, Debt etc.
8) The Asian Development model: What is
it and what is its future?
In each of the above suggested topics, you may substitute China, India, Viet
Nam, South Asia or Southeast or East Asia for Asia. In other words, you may
take this as an Asian Economics Course, an East Asian Economics Course, a
Southeast Asian Course, a South Asian Economics Course or a China, India or
Viet Nam Economics Course. Good luck!
THERE WILL NOT BE A FINAL EXAM.
ALL PAPERS HAVE TO INCLUDE CITED MATERIAL (source, date and pages cited) FROM
THE ASSIGNED READINGS. Each paper must include at least one of the assigned
sources though you may use as many as you wish on any paper. All papers taken
together must show that all assigned sources have been read and used. Every paragraph in your papers must have at
least one cited source unless it is either drawn from your own experience or is
a concluding paragraph. Each paper should have a separate reference page that
does not count towards your page requirements. You will loose
one letter grade for each assigned source that is not "substantially"
used (in other words, used in a way that indicates an understanding of what the
book is saying). This may seem like a rigid requirement but since there are no
exams or quizzes, it is the only way that I know (or think that I know) that you
have done the reading and that the paper is yours and not found on the web.
YOU MAY USE OTHER RESEARCH MATERIAL AS WELL. IF YOU USE INFORMATION FROM THE
WWW, PLEASE GIVE AS COMPLETE A CITATION AS POSSIBLE INCLUDING THE URL. I have
posted supplementary instructions on my webpage; please consult it and follow
the instructions. You are not allowed to have two paragraphs in a row that use
only non-assigned sources. As a rough rule of thumb, use only sources published
this century unless there is a compelling reason to use an older source. All
material that is not original to you must have a citation. Quotation marks are
required only when you are using someone else's wording. If you are using their
ideas and facts that are put in your own words, you still need to cite the
source but quotation marks would be inappropriate. Please do not start a
sentence with "I feel." Instead use phrases such as "I
conclude" or "it is my judgment based upon the evidence" etc. If
you present solid evidence on an issue and then follow with a rational argument
to reach a conclusion, I will assume that this is not only your conclusion but
it is also how you "feel."
***This book is one of many of the abridged and re-written volumes of Joseph
Needham's massive, monumental, multivolume work, Science and Civilisation in China. "Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China is a monumental piece of scholarship
which broke new ground in presenting to the Western reader a detailed and
coherent account of the development of science, technology and medicine in
China from the earliest times until the advent of the Jesuits and the
beginnings of modern science in the late seventeenth century. It is a vast
work, necessarily more suited to the scholar and research worker than the general
reader. This paperback version, abridged and re-written by Colin Ronan, makes
this extremely important study accessible to a wider public." In abridging
the text, the opportunity has been taken to include the official Pin Yin
transliterations alongside those of the original work.
**UH Enrollment Schedule
<http://www.uh.edu/enroll/rar/enrollment_schedule.html>http://www.uh.edu/enroll/rar/enrollment_schedule.html
Thomas R. DeGregori, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Houston
Department of Economics
204 McElhinney Hall
Houston, Texas 77204-5019
Ph. 001 - 1 - 713 743-3838
Fax 001 - 1 - 713 743-3798
Email trdegreg@uh.edu
Web homepage http://www.uh.edu/~trdegreg