Master 2020/2021

Demography

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Compulsory course (Population and Development)

Area of studies: Public Administration

Delivered by: Department of Demography

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Olga G. Isupova, Vladimir A. Kozlov, Aleksey Shchur, Sergey Timonin

Master’s programme: Population and Development

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 64

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course is devoted to the role of demography in the system of social studies and the relations between demographic and social economic processes. The aim of the course is to give the student the main ideas of demographic processes, methods of data collection, and data analysis, current approaches and techniques in demographic analysis (f.e. standardization, basic models and life tables) and the interpretation of the demographic results as well as their intake in decision making process. The discipline is an obligatory two modules course for first-year students of the Master Program with specialization at ‘Population and Development’ at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The discipline is taught in English. The prerequisites are the basics knowledge of mathematics, statistics, geography, economics and social sciences.

Learning Objectives

• - the students will understand the nature of demographic processes and their principles, as well as the reasons for the demographic structures and their consequences
• The students will be able to interpret demographic factors and measures, estimate the demographic situation in the country and the region, explain the dynamics of population (quantity and structures)
• The students will get the skills of basic demographic analysis

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The student understand the main adjustments in demographic analysis and the role of structures and the cohorts
• The students understands the main factors of mortality and morbidity, the ideas of life tables and standatrization
• The student understands the main factors influencing fertility, the ideas of the general and total rates, cohort analysis
• The student understands the main definition of migration studies and main research problems from this topic. The role of migration in development (demographic, social, economic)
• The student understand the methods and validity of demographic forecasts. Also the purposes and instuments of demographic policy

Course Contents

• Introduction and sources
  Within this unit the students learns the following the topics: Introduction of the course, History of the population studies, demographic sources and the access to them, demographic growth, demographic balance, demographic transitions (thoey and empirics)
• Demographic structures and demographic analysis
  The basic population structures (age, sex, social etc) and the mechanisms of their influence on the demographic indicators. The basics of the demographic analysis (coefficients, probabilities) . The cohort and generation concept, introduction into cohort analysis
• Population policy
  Population and family policy for developing and developed countries. The role of demographic forecasts in family policy. The results and effectiveness of population policy
• Mortality and morbidity
  The special demographic analysis for mortality. Life tables and standartization. Interpretation of the analytic results. Basic mortality trends. Epidemiologival transition
• Fertility and nuptality
  Demographic analysis of fertility. The role of cohort analysis. Interpretation of the results. Reproductive, matrimonial and sexual behavior. Second demographic transition
• Migration
  Migration and demographic analysis. Sources of information about migration. Factors and consequences of migration

Assessment Elements

• Seminars activity
• Hometask
• Test
• written exam

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.3 * Hometask + 0.2 * Seminars activity + 0.15 * Test + 0.35 * written exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Alho, J., & Spencer, B. D. (2005). Statistical Demography and Forecasting. New York: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=163172
• Karabchuk, T., Kumo, K., & Selezneva, E. (2017). Demography of Russia : From the Past to the Present. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1250103

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Borjas George J. and Chiswick Barry R. Foundations of Migration Economics [Book] / ed. Elsner Benjamin. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Hans-Peter Kohler, Jere Behrman, & Susan Watkins. (2001). The density of social networks and fertility decisions: evidence from south nyanza district, kenya. Demography, (1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2001.0005
• Noymer, A., & Hatori, H. (2016). Political Demography: How Population Changes Are Reshaping International Security and National Politics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edssch&AN=edssch.oai%3aescholarship.org%2fark%3a%2f13030%2fqt2v6135jr
• Ronald Lee. (1987). Population dynamics of humans and other animals. Demography, (4), 443. https://doi.org/10.2307/2061385
• Vishnevsky, A., & Shcherbakova, E. (2019). Demography: Pros and Cons of Raising the Retirement Age. Journal of the New Economic Association, (2), 148. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.nea.journl.y2019i42p148.167