Milestone map
Milestone map
2 milestones
Do the exercises and show your work
7–14 weeks (6 hrs/week)
Take Development Economics for free and do the readings' questions and problem sets (poverty traps, health, education, credit, institutions, evidence from field trials). Keep your answers in one public place (a repo, a shared folder or a page) as you go, with your reasoning shown.
Proof required
Link your public folder with the readings' questions and problem sets (poverty traps, health, education, credit, institutions, evidence from field trials), and show your self-check (14.73: problem sets and exams).
What gets checked
- Each answer cites the study or data it relies on.
- Arguments separate what the evidence shows from what it suggests.
- Calculations show their working.
Common mistakes
- Answers copied from a key: verifiers read the reasoning.
- Numbers with no working.
- Asking for review before the self-check.
Powstik Guide
A public folder with your worked answers to the readings' questions and problem sets (poverty traps, health, education, credit, institutions, evidence from field trials).
Steps
- Make a public folder or repo for this course.
- Do one chapter or problem set at a time and save it.
- Self-check: Do each problem set and exam under time, then mark yourself against the solutions where the course posts them. Where it does not, rework the numbers in a spreadsheet and check that every total ties out.
- Fix what the self-check shows, and say what you fixed.
- Ask three people who know the topic to check it.
Template
README Course: Development Economics (MIT OpenCourseWare) What is here: Self-check result: The hardest question and why:
What gets sent back
- Answers with no working.
- Self-check not shown.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- Each answer cites the study or data it relies on.
- Arguments separate what the evidence shows from what it suggests.
- Calculations show their working.
- Pick two answers and check every step.
- Ask about one step; the answer should be clear.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.
Review the evidence on one policy
1–3 weeks (5–8 hrs/week)
Use what you learned. Make a four-page evidence review of one development policy (for example cash transfers or school meals): three studies, what each found, how strong each is and what you would still want to know. Put it where verifiers can open it. Use public information, or data you have permission to use; never publish a real person's private details.
Proof required
Link a four-page evidence review of one development policy (for example cash transfers or school meals): three studies, what each found, how strong each is and what you would still want to know, and a short note on what you decided or changed because of it.
What gets checked
- The three studies are real and cited.
- Each study's design is described correctly.
- The conclusion fits the strength of the evidence.
Common mistakes
- Invented or unsourced figures.
- A conclusion the evidence does not support.
Powstik Guide
A four-page evidence review of one development policy (for example cash transfers or school meals): three studies, what each found, how strong each is and what you would still want to know.
Steps
- Write one line: what you will show.
- Gather the real data, people or documents.
- Draft it, then read it cold the next day.
- Ask someone to mark the first claim they doubt.
- Fix it and ask three people to check it.
Template
Title: What this shows: Sources: Method: Result: Limits:
What gets sent back
- Unsourced numbers.
- Not clearly the person's own work.
- Claims more than it shows.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- The three studies are real and cited.
- Each study's design is described correctly.
- The conclusion fits the strength of the evidence.
- Check that the work is the person's own and the sources are real.
- Ask how a number was found.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.