VCW Courses

Veronica Cacdac Warnock

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Markets in Human Hope

MHH seeks to build audacious innovations that use business and markets as viable tools in promoting human development and transforming societies. The challenge that we take on is to create products, services, business methods, organizational forms, financial instruments or market-based systems that address some of the most pressing issues in economic development and social welfare, especially those demand structural change.
MHH is an elective course offered at UVA’s Darden Business School for second-year MBA students, but it is also open to students pursuing their graduate degrees in Business, Engineering, Law, Economics, Education, Public Policy and others, subject to professor and home department approval. It is appropriate for students who want to explore innovative and financially sustainable solutions to global development problems. (GBUS 8478 Syllabus for 2011-12)

Markets and Society

In this seminar/workshop course, MBA students initiate groundwork towards a new social venture and flesh out a business idea. The business venture could be a revenue-raising activity for an existing non-profit sector, a product or service that targets an underserved sector, a product that makes a market more inclusive, a service that improves market information, or anything that resolves market failures. (MSOC - Fall 2010 at the Asian Institute of Management)

Economics and the Built Environment

The objective of this course is to address topics in the built environment—topics that the students address in other settings and other courses—but to do so using an economic framework. Specifically, the course aims to: (1) introduce the students to the basic principles and methods of economics, (2) enhance their understanding of the role of government and planning in a market-oriented economy, and (3) expose them to the economic approach as a means to describe and understand housing and other built environment issues and trends, as well as to inform and evaluate policy. Applications of key concepts and theories focus on housing, housing finance, land, planning, sustainable development, urban growth, and public policy. Discussions on sustainable development are aimed at deepening students’ knowledge of the economic underpinnings of the sustainability principle and broadening their perspectives by exposing them to the different challenges faced by countries around the world. Branches of economics that we touch are urban and housing economics, real estate economics, welfare economics, development economics, public finance and environmental economics. (PLAN541 Spring 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Urban Environmental Economics

The year 2008 marked a turning point in the history of the world; more than half of its population now live in urban areas. Over the next fifteen years, today's developing countries are expected to become less rural and have sizeable metropolitan areas. While cities are regarded as centers of innovation, learning and production, they are also home to socioeconomic and environmental problems. The transformation taking place all over the world requires effective planning and management to bring about positive outcomes for all urban dwellers. This course aims to enhance students' understanding of the economic approach as a means to study urban issues and to inform and evaluate public policy, to deepen their knowledge of the economic underpinnings of the sustainability principle, and to expose them to practices and challenges in cities in and outside the United States. We will consider case studies on cities in many countries we will visit as we explore different aspects of urban development including population dynamics, economic growth, public health, environment, infrastructure, sustainable designs, urban environmental planning and governance. (ECON225Z Fall 2008, Semester-at-Sea)

Conversations on Development

Half a century of development economics has presented us with a range of theories, strategies and experiences. But problems—and debates about how to solve them—remain. This course traces how development has evolved in theory and practice, how institutions and programs have influenced history’s successes and failures, and how globalization has taken place. It explores the current debates about how economic development should proceed—debates that are being stirred by Sachs, Bhagwati, Easterly, and the Nobel Laureates Sen and Stiglitz, economists who influence leaders all over the world. Books by these five authors are supplemented by country analysis of Brazil, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and China as well as students’ experiences in these countries to complete a rich setting in which we discuss development trends, issues and philosophies. This course assumes that students are well-versed in concepts and tools taught in their principles of economics classes and familiar with current events and socioeconomic issues around the world. (ECON321Z Fall 2008, Semester-at-Sea)

Development Economics and Policy

Poverty, inequality, stagnation, urban pressures, environmental degradation, epidemics, violence, distress and economic instability are persistent and widespread. Large numbers of people in many of the countries on our voyage are beset by these socioeconomic problems. At the same time, the quality of life of millions is improving. What explains the failures and successes in development? This course addresses this by introducing key concepts, theories and methods in development economics, exploring commonalities and differences across developing countries, and discussing the role of government and international institutions in effecting prosperity and equity. This course also aims to raise awareness and help students develop critical and broader perspectives on development problems, policies, strategies, successes and failures, as they travel around the world and experience diverse environments and cultures. (ECON322Z Fall 2008, Semester-at-Sea)