The lecture covers rural finance, land tenure, risk sharing and other institutions. Students are introduced to two broad topics of rural development:
- Rural finance (approaches, question of interest rates and subsidies; savings and insurances, rural financial institutions)
- Land tenure and natural resource management (property rights, different tenure arrangements, e.g. fixed rent vs. sharecropping, land reform)
Furthermore, representing a global institution, the Kyoto Protocol and the progress made towards a successional agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions are discussed.
Moreover, a workshop on literature search and writing and presentation techniques are an integral part of the module. These tools are subsequently applied by the students in the preparation and presentation of seminar papers on topics related to rural institutions.
Teaching methods: Lecture and discussion, literature review, writing of seminar papers, oral presentation by students and discussion.
