Growth, Development and Inequalities Detailed Outline

This page provides a detailed outline of the online Growth, Development & Inequalities course, a three-day programme for students aged 15-18 who already have some interest in economics and want to explore how economists think about long-term growth, global development, inequality, and sustainability. The outline below shows what students study on each day, moving from theories of growth and globalisation through trade, development, and environmental limits, and finally into inequality, aid, and innovation.

The course is taught fully live, with all sessions delivered in real time by expert tutors. Teaching takes place in small groups (maximum 12 students), allowing for detailed discussion, individual feedback, and active participation throughout.

The course is designed to give students a richer understanding of development economics and of the wider questions that arise when we ask why some countries grow richer than others, who benefits from growth, and what sustainable prosperity might require. Rather than focusing on exam technique, it emphasises discussion, analysis, and the application of economic ideas to real-world problems. Students are introduced to a range of theories, models, and case studies, and encouraged to think carefully about how economists explain growth, trade, inequality, and global change.

Prefer to view and download the PDF version of the Growth, Development & Inequalities outline? You can do so here.

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Day One – Comparative Growth Strategies
Day Two – Trade, Development and Sustainability 
Day Three – Inequality, Aid and Innovation

Across the three days, students explore a wide range of economic topics and approaches, including classical and modern growth theory, the Solow model, endogenous growth, institutions, comparative advantage, tariffs, world systems theory, GDP and HDI, development economics, sustainability, Doughnut Economics, the Gini coefficient, Kuznets, Piketty, philanthropy and foreign aid, and the role of technology in shaping the future of growth.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a clearer sense of how economists think about development at both national and global level, how growth and inequality interact, and why debates about trade, institutions, sustainability, and innovation remain central to understanding the modern world.

Please note that for some groups, sessions may run in a different order.

10.00 – 10.20 Welcome and Introductions

Students begin by meeting one another and their tutor, with a short icebreaker to create a relaxed and open environment. The tutor outlines how the online course will run, encourages participation, and gives a quick overview of what to expect from the three days ahead.

10.20 – 12.30 How Economies Grow

The course begins by asking what economists actually mean by economic growth. Students explore how growth is measured, what rising output tells us, and what it may leave out, while also considering the roles of labour, capital, productivity and technology. From there, the morning moves into the major theories of growth, showing how economists have tried to explain why some economies expand more quickly than others.

As the session develops, students are introduced to classical growth theory, the Solow-Swan model, endogenous growth theory, institutional theory and Hernando de Soto’s idea of “dead capital”. They examine how different theories place emphasis on different drivers of growth, from land, labour and capital to ideas, innovation, institutions and property rights. The Solow model is explored both conceptually and graphically, helping students understand steady states, diminishing returns, catch-up growth and the limits of capital accumulation on its own. By the end of the morning, students have begun to see growth not as a single process, but as something economists interpret in very different ways.

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch

1.30 – 3.30 Globalisation and Comparative Advantage

In the afternoon, the focus shifts from growth within economies to the increasing interdependence between them. Students begin by exploring what globalisation means in practice, including trade liberalisation, capital flows, multinational firms, technological change and the spread of ideas across borders. This opens up discussion of the opportunities and tensions created by an increasingly connected world.

The second half of the afternoon turns to trade and comparative advantage. Students work through numerical examples to understand why countries may benefit from specialising even when one country is more productive in absolute terms. Along the way, they are encouraged to think carefully about the logic of opportunity cost and why comparative advantage can feel so counterintuitive at first. By the end of the day, students have a clearer grasp of how trade can increase efficiency, while also raising deeper questions about distribution, dependency and whether globalisation benefits all countries equally.

10.00 – 10.15 Morning Recap

The day begins with a short recap of the key ideas from Day One. Students revisit economic growth, the main schools of growth theory, and the logic of comparative advantage, helping to consolidate the conceptual foundations before moving into trade, development and sustainability.

10.15 – 12.30 Trade, Tariffs and the Global Economy

The second day begins by looking more closely at how trade works in practice. Students revisit comparative advantage and then turn to supply and demand diagrams to examine what happens when countries open up to world markets. They consider who gains and who loses from trade, how consumer and producer surplus change, and why governments may intervene through measures such as tariffs and subsidies.

The morning then broadens into the politics of trade and the structure of the global economy. Students explore why tariffs can be politically attractive even when they reduce efficiency, and consider the cultural, strategic and social arguments that often shape trade policy. From there, the discussion moves into world systems theory, examining the ideas of core, periphery and semi-periphery countries and asking whether global trade is best understood as a mutually beneficial system or one that reproduces hierarchy and dependency. By the end of the morning, students are able to connect textbook trade theory to wider questions of power, industrial strategy and global inequality.

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch

1.30 – 3.30 Measuring Development and Rethinking Growth

In the afternoon, the focus shifts from trade to development. Students explore how economists measure progress beyond GDP, comparing GDP per capita with indicators such as the Human Development Index and considering what these different measures reveal about health, education, living standards and well-being. This leads into broader questions about development economics and the ways in which ideas about development have changed over time, from liberal capitalism and Marxism through to the human development approach, behavioural economics and sustainability.

The later part of the afternoon turns to sustainable development and Doughnut Economics. Students examine the tension between rising incomes and increasing pressure on planetary resources, and consider why development strategies that raise living standards can also overshoot ecological limits. The doughnut model is introduced as a way of thinking about how economies might meet social needs while remaining within environmental boundaries. By the end of the day, students have moved from conventional measures of growth towards a wider debate about what genuine development should mean, and whether economic success can be judged by output alone.

10.00 – 10.15 Recap and Discussion

The day opens with a short recap of the previous day’s work on trade, development and sustainability. Depending on how far groups progressed on Day Two, the morning may also begin with brief reflections or presentations connected to the Doughnut Economics activity, helping students carry forward the wider question of what fair and sustainable development might look like.

10.15 – 12.30 Inequality, Redistribution and Wealth

The final day begins by asking how the gains from growth are distributed within societies. Students are introduced to the Gini coefficient and the Lorenz curve, learning how economists measure inequality and what those measures can and cannot show. They explore the difference between perfect equality as an abstract benchmark and the far messier realities of income distribution in actual societies, while also considering the role of progressive and regressive taxation, redistribution and public goods.

The morning then turns from income inequality to wealth inequality. Students explore Kuznets’ hypothesis that inequality rises and then falls as economies develop, before considering some of the main criticisms of that model. This leads into Thomas Piketty’s argument that when returns on capital outpace overall economic growth, wealth can become increasingly concentrated over time. Housing, inheritance and generational divides are used as concrete examples to show how wealth accumulation can shape opportunity and long-term social mobility. By the end of the morning, students have a stronger grasp of how economists think about inequality, and why questions of distribution are central to understanding modern economies.

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch

1.30 – 3.10 Philanthropy, Foreign Aid and Innovation

In the afternoon, students move from inequality within countries to the global distribution of resources between them. The session begins with the question of whether major social problems should be addressed primarily through the choices of wealthy individuals or through governments and public institutions. Students compare philanthropy and foreign aid across a range of criteria, including scale, accountability, flexibility, sustainability and local impact, and debate the strengths and limitations of each approach.

The second half of the afternoon turns to the idea of the “aid trap” and then to the role of technology and innovation in long-run development. Students consider why foreign aid may not, by itself, change long-term growth unless deeper structural factors also shift, linking this back to the Solow model from Day One. From there, the course moves into the future of growth through the example of AI in agriculture. Using case studies and articles on food security, regenerative farming and the risks of automation, students examine how technological change might increase productivity and support development, while also creating new risks, inequalities and trade-offs. The final substantive session of the course brings together some of the course’s biggest themes – growth, institutions, incentives, technology and justice – and asks how innovation might shape the future of development.

3.10 – 3.30 Course Wrap-Up and Reflection

The course concludes with a final review of the main ideas covered across the three days. Students reflect on which theories, debates or examples they found most interesting, and consider how economics can be used to analyse growth, inequality and development in a more critical and wide-ranging way. The tutor closes by drawing together the course’s central themes and inviting students to think about where economics might take them next.

This outline provides a detailed view of the themes, ideas, and topics explored during the online Growth, Development & Inequalities course. The programme is designed to introduce students to some of the central questions economists ask about long-term growth, global trade, development, inequality, and sustainability, combining discussion, analysis, and applied activities to show how economic reasoning can be used to understand both national economies and the wider global system.

You can also return to the main online Growth, Development & Inequalities course page for full details about the course and how to apply.