Course Description: Perhaps the central question of economic development and structural transformation is how to increase productivity. As economies move out of agriculture, this question naturally hinges on the major private-sector producers in the modern economy: firms. The growing body of research on firms in lower-income countries is notable in the wide variety of both analytical methods and sources of data that are employed either separately or together. Research combines RCTs, structural modelling, survey data collected by researchers and, increasingly, rich administrative data at the level of individual transactions and at more aggregate levels. To lower entry barriers for scholars wishing to work in the area, the course aims to provide both an overview of issues and an introduction to how the variety of approaches is used to understand private sector growth and its constraints. Lectures will be interactive with Q&A but also recorded and made available for later viewers.
 

When: The virtual course, offered jointly by PEDL and STEG, will meet weekly on Friday from 15:30 – 17:00 London time beginning on 6 February 2026. You can find more information about the course and register for it here.

Participants who attend at least 12 sessions, with a minimum attendance of 60 minutes per session, will be eligible to receive a course completion certificate. The certificate is only issued upon request and can be obtained by contacting [email protected]
 

The course follows highly successful STEG virtual courses on “Key Concepts in Macro Development” and “Data in Macro Development” (as well as the STEG co-sponsored “African History through the Lens of Economics”) that have attracted thousands of real-time participants worldwide and even more on YouTube.