Assistant Professor of EconomicsAffiliation:NYU Abu Dhabi Education: BSc Bonn University; MRes London School of Economics; PhD London School of Economics
Torsten Figueiredo Walter is Assistant Professor of Economics at New York University Abu Dhabi. His primary field of expertise is development and his research focuses on the provision of public services in low- and middle-income countries. He typically works directly with governments in these countries, which allows him to leverage administrative data for research and to quickly feed his findings back to relevant policymakers.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics. After his PhD, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Precision Agriculture for Development and worked as a consultant for the World Bank.
Courses Taught
This course covers the roles of factor accumulation, technology, human capital and ideas in the growth process; the political economy of growth; the role of openness to international trade versus international trade barriers; and growth and income inequality. The course provides an overview of foreign aid in the economic development process and the policies of international institutions like the IMF and World Bank. The course also includes: the study of randomized experiments in evaluating aid projects and development interventions; rural land markets; credit markets in imperfect and fragmented capital markets; the household migration decision; and nutrition and fertility decisions.
Prerequisites: SOCSC-UH 1010Q and SOCSC-UH 1111
Previously taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022
Majors > Economics > Development and Economic History Track
Majors > Political Science > Breadth Electives
Minors > Economics
This course introduces students to the modern analysis of economic growth. This branch of macroeconomics is concerned with questions such as: What explains the considerable growth in incomes per capita that advanced economies have experienced since the late eighteenth century? Why are some countries so much richer than others? Will poor countries close the gap with rich countries? What is the driving force of growth in the long run? Are the benefits of growth equally shared between different social classes? How does government policy affect growth? How do the underlying characteristics of an economy - such as its institutions, skill distribution, and demographic trends - affect its growth rate?
Prerequisites: ECON-UH 2010, ECON-UH 2030 and either MATH-UH 1021 or SOCSC-UH 1201
Previously taught: Spring 1 2017, Spring 1 2018, Spring 1 2019, Fall 1 2019, Spring 1 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 1 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 1 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
