Checking date: 03/05/2018

Versión en español

Course: 2018/2019

Economic History
(13640)
Study: Bachelor in Economics (202)


Coordinating teacher: MARTINELLI LASHERAS, PABLO

Department assigned to the subject: Department of Social Sciences

Type: Basic Core
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course: 2º
Semester: 1º



Competences and skills that will be acquired and learning results. Further information on this link
Course contents: . A first approximation to the evolution of living standards over the last 2,000 years. . The causes and consequences of industrialization in the West. . The determinants of catch-up and convergence or their absence in various parts of the world in different time periods. . The evolution of the international economy from the early modern period to the present. . The role of institutions in the process of development. Skills and competences: . Development of individual learning routines via the analysis of relevant texts in economic history and the collection and analysis of historical evidence. . Development of group-based learning routines via group-based discussion and the oral and written presentation of work by teams. . Development of verbal and written communication skills. . Develop the ability to raise questions and answer them using economic analysis.
Description of contents: programme
1. Modern economic growth. 2. Population and natural resources. 3. Markets and institutions. 4. Technological change and economic growth.. 5. The modern firm. 6. Globalization. 7. The modern state and economic growth.
Learning activities and methodology
Students will acquire the knowledge and skills through lectures, the handing of the work assigned by the teachers and its discussion in class. Skills and attitudes will be enhanced by the individual and teamwork performed by the students and their discussion in class. The tutorials moreover will also try to open up the discussion to the students via the collective analysis of tables, graphs or texts and the use of questions and multiple choice tests on the main concepts discussed in the lecture. The course will keep the following schedule: Students will have access to the following material: at the beginning of the course, a reading list will be assigned to each topic. Students will have access to all the graphic material used in class: graphs, tables, maps, power point slides. The tasks to be performed by the students will be handed out in the class tutorials. The students according to the calendar and relevant deadlines provided by each professor will hand in these tasks. The lectures present the concepts, theories and models that can be applied to each topic and develop the main historical narrative of the course. The activities developed during the tutorials are designed to stimulate the students to use the analytical concepts developed in the course to understand past situations and develop a deeper comprehension of current economic problems. There will be at least one tutorial in the last weeks of the course in which the student will have the chance to clarify doubts about the main concepts and models used in the lectures, as well as doubts about assessment and the schedule of the course.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination 60
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 40
Basic Bibliography
  • Allen, Robert C.. Global Economic History: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011
  • Cameron, Rondo and Neal, Larry . A Concise Economic History of the World. From Paleolithic Times to the Present. . Oxford: Oxford University Press.. 2003
  • Eichengreen, Barry. Globalizing capital. A history of the international monetary system. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1996
  • Eichengreen, Barry. The European economy since 1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2007
  • Persson, Karl Gunnar. An Economic History of Europe. Knowledge, Institutions and Growth, 600 to the Present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2010
Additional Bibliography
  • Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. . Why Nations Fail. The origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. New York: Crown Business. 2012
  • Aldcroft, Derek H. . The European economy, 1914-2000. London and NY: Routledge. 2001
  • Allen, Robert C.. The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambrige: Cambridge University Press. 2009
  • Broadberry, S, and O¿Rourke Kevin H.. Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010
  • Chandler, Alfred D. . Scale and Scope. The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Cambridge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1990
  • Clark, G. . A Farewell to Alms. Princeton: Princeton University Press.. 2007
  • Eichengreen, Barry . Globalizing capital. A history of the international monetary system. Princeton: Princeton University Press.. 1996
  • Eichengreen, Barry . The European economy since 1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2007
  • Epstein, S. R. . Freedom and Growth. The rise of states and markets in Europe, 1300-1750. London and New York: Routledge. 2000
  • Findlay, R. and O¿Rourke, K.H.. Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2007
  • Lindert, P. H. . Growing public: social spending and economic growth since the eighteenth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994
  • Livi-Bacci, Massimo . A Concise History of World Population. Oxford: Blackwell. 1992
  • Maddison, Angus . Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991
  • Maddison, Angus . The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective. Paris: OECD. 2001
  • Milanovic, B. . Worlds apart. Measuring International and Global Inequality. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2005
  • Mokyr, Joel . The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990
  • Mokyr, Joel . The British Industrial Revolution. An Economic Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1990
  • North, Douglass C. and Thomas, Robert P.. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. UK: Cambridge University Press. 1989
  • O'Rourke, Kevin and Williamson, Jeffrey G. . Globalization and History: the Evolution of the 19th Century Economy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 1999
  • Sachs, Jeffrey D. . The End of Poverty. Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Books. 2006
  • Temin, P. . Lessons from the Great Depression. Massachusetts: MIT Press. 1989

The course syllabus and the academic weekly planning may change due academic events or other reasons.