Todaro & Smith’s 15th edition (expected around 2026-2027) will likely integrate:
As such, PowerPoint slides must evolve. Expect interactive PPTs with live data feeds from the World Bank API, embedded podcasts (e.g., NPR’s Planet Money development episodes), and collaborative annotation tools (e.g., Google Slides with comment threads).
If you need to create your own report based on Todaro-Smith slides, follow this structure:
Rating: 4.0/5 (Useful but formulaic)
Audience: University instructors, Economics students (undergraduate/graduate)
The Good:
The Mixed / Could Be Improved:
The Bad (for some users):
Verdict:
⭐ Best for: Adjunct professors or new instructors who need a reliable, complete backbone for a development economics course. Also useful for students who want a structured review guide before exams.
⭐ Not for: Anyone seeking modern, visually engaging, or interactive slide decks. Also not ideal if you teach a policy-heavy or field-experience oriented class – these slides lean theoretical.
Final Tip: Download the slides, then strip out 40% of the text, add current data from the World Development Report, and insert one discussion prompt per chapter. After that minor surgery, they become a solid 4.5/5 resource.
Official instructor slides (from Pearson, the publisher) are excellent starting points, but they are often information-dense. Best practices:
Use the chapter titles as slide headers. Example 10-slide deck:
To illustrate the value of a well-made Todaro-Smith PowerPoint, let’s walk through a typical lecture on classic growth theories.