Essential Readings in Economic History

Admission requirements

Not applicable.

Description

Economic development, whether viewed as growth, increasing prosperity, or modernization, is closely related to the functioning of markets. Markets can be domestic places of exchange, but can also form a meeting place for different countries or ethnic groups. Markets did not at all times function freely and without government invention. Often, government intervention stimulated or supported economic growth, but at other times, forms of institutional sclerosis hindered the expansion of markets.

In this course we start with the debate on the historical circumstanes that precluded sustained modern economic growth, the expansion of capitalism and the rise of the western world. Next, we discuss industrialization and the development of business and entrepreneurship during the Liberal Era (1870-1914), followed by the period of increasing regulation and trade barriers (1914-1945).

In the post-war global economic development two major trends can be discerned: an increasing liberalization of capital and trade flows, and the simultaneous development of global institutions regulating the world economy. We examine these developments taking the perspective of different regions. We will look at the postwar development of capitalism, review the welfare state and reflect upon the differences between advanced capitalist economies.

Course objectives

General learning objectives
The student has acquired:

• 1. The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
• 2. The ability to give a clear and well-founded oral and written report on research results in correct English, when required, or Dutch, meeting the criteria of the discipline;
• 3. The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
• 4. (ResMA only:) The ability to participate in a discussion of the theoretical foundations of the discipline.

Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation

• 5. Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subspecialisations as well as of the historiography of the specialisation, focusing particularly on the following:
  • in the subspecialisation Economic History also: the origin and outcomes of the Great Divergence, developments in political economy since ca 1600, increasing global interdependence throughout the centuries, the development of global governance in the twentieth century, as well as the most important debates in recent Economic History.
• 6. (ResMA only): Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical foundation of the discipline and of its position vis-à-vis other disciplines.

Learning objectives, pertaining to this Literature Seminar
The student:

• 7. Knowledge and comprehension of the specialization Economic History and its historiography, more specifically: the origin and outcomes of the Great Divergence, developments in political economy since ca 1600, increasing global interdependence, the development of global governance in the twentieth century, as well as the most important debates in recent Economic History.
• 8. Knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspectecs of the specialization Economic History, more specifically: the application of economic concepts, research methods or models; insight into the argumentation of current debates.
• 9. Knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical foundation of the discipline and of its position vis a vis other disciplines.
• 10. Be informed about and take part in the on-going historical debate on this subject.

Timetable

See Timetable and deadlines History

Mode of instruction

• Seminar

Course Load

Total course load: 10 EC x 28 hrs = 280 hoursHours Spent on attending classes: 8×2 = 16 hours

• Reading weekly literature assignment (150/240 pp a 5/8 pp per hour): 7×30 = 210 hours

• Writing weekly assignment: 7×3 = 21 hours

• Reading an additional book for the book review: 23 hours

• Writing final book review: 10 hours

Assessment method

• Write short-essays weekly (in English or Dutch) will test the ability to give a clear written report on the research results in English or Dutch

• Make an oral presentation and participate in the discussions (providing and reacting upon constructive academic feedback) will test the ability to give an oral presentation and participate in class, and the ability to provide constructive academic feedback

• Write a book review (in English or Dutch) will test the ability to give a clear written report on the research results in English or Dutch

• All components should be passed

• To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following: the final grade for the course is calculated by determining the weighted average.

Assessment

• Weekly Essay:
  Measured learning objectives: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9

• Participation in class discussion
  Measured learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10

• Final essay / Book review
  Measured learning objectives: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Weighing
Weekly short-essays: 60%
participation / oral presentation: 10%
Book Review: 30%

The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average with the additional requirement that all components should be passed.

Resit
To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following: the final grade for the course is calculated by determining the weighted average. Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, please consult with the instructors.

Blackboard

Blackboard.

Reading list

Week 1:

• Patrick O’Brien, ‘A critical review of a tradition of meta-narratives from Adam Smith to Karl Pomeranz’, P. C. Emmer, O. Pétré-Grenouillean & J. V. Roitman (eds.), ‘A Deus ex Machina Revisited. Atlantic Colonial Trade and European Economic Development’ (Leiden, 2006), 5-20.

• Kenneth Pomeranz & Steven Topik (eds.), The World that Trade Created: Society, Culture and the World Economy, 1400 to the present (Armonk 2006).

Week 2:

• Peer Vries, State, Economy and the Great Divergence. Great Britain and China, 1680s-1850s (New York, 2014).

Week 3:

• Robert C. Allen, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (Cambridge, 2009). provisional

• Jan de Vries, Industrious Revolution Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present (Cambridge 2008). provisional

Week 4:

• Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty (New York 2012). provisional

• Sheila Ogilvie, A Bitter Living. Women, Markets and Social Capital in Early Modern Germany (Oxford 2003). provisional

Week 5:

• Barry Eichengreen, The European Economy since 1945. Coordinated Capitalism and beyond (Princeton, 2008).

Week 6:

• Peter H. Lindert, Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century. Volume 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Week 7:

• Dani Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy (W.W. Norton, New York and London, 2011).

Registration

Via uSis

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact

mw. Dr. C.A.P. Antunes
dhr. Dr. L.J. Touwen

Remarks

None