Summer School 2024

Overview of previous editions of the UB School of Economics Summer School: 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

The Economics of Poverty and Inequality: Global Challenges in the 21st Century

July 1-5, 2024

One of the critical global challenges of the 21st century is to overcome poverty and address inequalities around the world. Consequently, goal number 1 of the sustainable development goals seeks to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere” while further goals aim for zero hunger, better health, better education and lower inequalities, among others.

 

This course will introduce participants to selected topics in research on poverty or inequality, which are essential for any attempt to meet this challenge, including questions of measurement, analysis, conceptual integration, available data and their limitation as well as the policy context of poverty measures.

 

This course has been primarily designed for master and PhD students. A background in statistics and econometrics is expected and prior knowledge in public economics or development economics is an advantage. While some lines of research involve formal reasoning, economic intuition is emphasised throughout the course. Lab sessions require basic Stata skills. Students are expected to bring their own notebooks, but a Stata license will be provided for the duration of the course. Finally, working language of the course will be English.

 

Academic Coordinator for the 2024 edition: Nicolai Suppa (University of Barcelona).

Lecturers

nicolai (1)

Nicolai Suppa is a Serra Húnter Lecturer in economics at the University of Barcelona. He is also research associate with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at Oxford University. His research currently focuses on measurement analysis of multidimensional poverty, but he is also interested in research on the capability approach and subjective well-being. In his work with OPHI, he is currently co-leading the estimation of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

Natalie Nairi quinn

Natalie Naïri Quinn is Departmental Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Fellow and Tutor in Economics Lady Margaret Hall, both in the Oxford University. Her research interests lie in the intersection of welfare economics and development economics, with a focus on measurement of socioeconomic outcomes including poverty and empowerment.

Guest Lecturers

Iñaki permanyer 3

Iñaki Permanyer is an ICREA Research Professor working at the Center for Demographic Studies (CED) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research interests include inequality, polarization and poverty measurement, human development, gender inequality and social indicators. Currently he is working on Healthy lifespan inequality: Measurement, trends and determinants, a research project funded by the European Research Council (2020-2025).
Iñaki will give a guest lecture on “Inequality in non-monetary dimensions of wellbeing”

Foto Xavi 2021 Albanyà_light

Xavier Ramos is Professor of Economics and Vice-Rector of Economy at Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is also a research fellow of IZA and founding member of EQUALITAS (Economics of Inequality and Poverty Analysis). His research focuses on economic inequality and poverty. He is currently working on equality of opportunity, intergenerational mobility, and public policy evaluation.
Xavier will give a guest lecture on “Inequality of Opportunity”.

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Jordi Teixidó is an Assistant Professor in economics at University of Barcelona. His research interests lie at the intersection between climate policy, inequality economics and environmental economics.

Jordi will give a guest lecture on “Inequality and climate change”.

SabinaAlkire_2018_Oxford_600x

Sabina Alkire is Professor of Poverty and Human Development at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Her research interests include measurement and analysis of multidimensional poverty, welfare economics, the capability approach, the measurement of freedoms and human development. Together with Professor James Foster, she developed the Alkire-Foster (AF) method for measuring multidimensional poverty.
Sabina will give a virtual guest lecture on “The capability approach”.

Samuel Kofi Tetteh Baah

Samuel Kofi Tetteh Baah is an Economist in the Development Data Group at The World Bank. His areas of expertise are the measurement of poverty and inequality. He is working on the updates of the global and regional poverty numbers of the World Bank. He also contributes to the publication of the Poverty and Shared Prosperity Reports.

ChrisOldiges

Christian Oldiges is Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA). The responsibilities of his team at ESCWA includes the support of Member States in developing national multidimensional poverty indices (MPIs) and in designing poverty reduction strategies.
Christian Oldiges will give a virtual guest lecture on “Poverty measures in the Arab region”

Course outline and schedule

The complete course schedule and syllabus is available here.

The course will introduce students into key topics of research on poverty and inequality, including

    • a theoretical angle on related measures in terms of their desirable properties
    • a conceptual integration into existing frameworks such as social choice theory and the capability approach
    • monetary, non-monetary, and multidimensional accounts of poverty and inequality
    • prominent global poverty measures
    • conventional and novel forms of empirical analyses
    • key findings and stylised facts of poverty and inequality around the world

The course will feature global analyses where feasible and add a gender perspective where data permits. The course will also present key data sources and highlight current limitations.

Lectures are complemented with lab session where students may deepen their understanding of measures and analyses, learn how to replicate selected official poverty estimates and access key databases.

Introduction

Frameworks 1: Social choice theory

Frameworks 2: The capability approach

Measurement 1: Poverty  

Measurement 2: Inequality

Measurement 3: Multidimensional poverty

Analysis 1: Monetary poverty

Analysis 2: Monetary inequality

Analysis 3: Inequality in non-monetary dimensions of wellbeing

Analysis 4: Inequality of opportunity

Analysis 5: Multidimensional poverty

Analysis 6: Evaluation of anti-poverty programs

Analysis 7: Inequality and climate change

Policy: Poverty measures in the Arab region

Lab 1: The Poverty and inequality platform (PIP)

Lab 2: Analysis of poverty and inequality

Lab 3: Analysis of multidimensional poverty

 

The summer school also includes a session where advanced students can present their work and receive feedback from instructors.

Schedule

Dates: July 1st- 5th, 2024
Lecture hours: 25 hours

Applications

Applications are closed.

Candidates to the Summer School programme at the UB School of Economics should ensure that they meet the requirements before applying to the course:

– Students should possess a solid background in Economics or related field.

– Although no language certificate is required, we expect all applicants to show full competency in English.

 

Deadline for registration including student scholarship application closed on April 30th, 2024.

Deadline for registration will close on June 15th, 2024.

Tuition Fees

 

General fee: 710 euros*

Student fee: 475 euros

 

*25% discount on the general fee for early career researchers (within five years of the award of their PhD).

 

Fees cover: coffee breaks, welcome dinner, farewell cocktail and materials required for the course. They do not cover accommodation, transport or any other services.

 

Student fee eligibility: We will only consider you for the Student Reduced Fee if you are a full-time PhD or Master student enrolled at a university or college, or if you have just finished university or if you are starting university in the same year as the Summer School course. You will be asked to provide a proof of this status at the moment of the application.

 

Payments: Participants offered a place on the Summer School will receive an e-mail with (i) the admission letter and (ii) the payment instructions. Payments of the tuition fees are required to secure a place once offered.

 

Cancellation policy: All cancellations must be received in writing and sent in advance by email. Participants wishing to withdraw from the Summer School will have their tuition fees partially refunded according to the following policy: Prior to 15 days before the beginning of the course: full refund of the registration fee, less €100 of administrative costs.

 

Scholarships

 

Student scholarships

Master and PhD students seeking financial aid may apply for one of the five student scholarships available. Each scholarship covers the course tuition fees. Applicants should add (i) a cover letter and (ii) a support letter from their supervisor or professor to the online application form. Please note that candidates already graduated will not be eligible to apply for scholarships.

Deadline for registration including student scholarship application is April 30th, 2024. Applications will be reviewed by the Summer School academic coordinator. Priority will be given to those working on a clearly related topic. The list of awarded participants was published by May 15th, 2024 and can be found HERE.

Tuition fees already paid by participants awarded with one of the scholarships will be reimbursed as soon as possible.

 

Attendance Certificates

 

Summer School at the UB School of Economics is accredited in accordance with the European Credit Transfer System and will be recognized by the University of Barcelona as 2 ECTS credits.

 

ECTS – a common language for academic recognition: ECTS, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, was developed by the European Commission in order to provide common procedures to guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements and transferring them from one institution to another. This is achieved through the use of common ECTS credit units and a common ECTS grading scale.