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Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2022-2023

Economic History

University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Bachelor Degree in Business Administration & Economics

 

A.Y.  2021/2022

 

 

Instructor

Prof. Giovanni Vecchi

giovanni.vecchi@uniroma2.it (note: unsigned emails will not be answered)

Office hours

On appointment (room P2 S49).

Course topic

The course is an introduction to the development of the international economy from the late nineteenth century to the present. 

Attendance

Not recorded, but important.

Readings

As classroom lectures do not closely follow the material covered in the assigned readings, for final examination you are responsible for both lecture notes and the required readings.

Exam

All students are required to sit a written examination. The test consists of three questions, and lasts 1.5 hours. The exam calendar is available at the webpage of the course. No other dates (pre-exams, exceptional sessions, etc.) can be scheduled.

Note that cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. In the event that a student is found cheating during the written exam, the student will get a failing grade. The student will need to sit the written exam again, and will be reported to Director of the CdS.

 

 

Outline of the course

 

  1. The pre-industrial economy and the Malthusian growth model
  2. Britain’s Industrial Revolution and Modern Economic Growth
  3. The First Globalization
    • International trade and the Ricardian model
    • The age of mass migration
    • International capital flows
    • The Heckscher-Ohlin model
    • The International Monetary System
  4. WWI – The War Economy and the Economic Consequences of the Peace
  5. The International Economy between the WW: the Great Depression
  6. WWII: Bretton Woods and the Marshall plan
  7. Europe’s Golden Age (1950-1973) and Slowing Down
  8. Two Centuries of inequality and poverty around the world

 

 

Lectures and readings

All readings will be available for download at the course webpage. All readings are compulsory, unless otherwise specified.

 

 

Apr 11-12

  1. The pre-industrial economy and the Malthusian growth model

Readings:

  • Cipolla, C.M. (2014). Before the Industrial Revolution. London, Routledge. (Chapters 1-3).
  • Clark, G. (2008). A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World. Princeton University Press (Chapter 2).

 

 

Apr 13-19

  1. Britain’s Industrial Revolution and Modern Economic Growth

Readings:

  • A’Hearn, B. (2014). “The British industrial revolution in a European mirror.” In R. Floud, J. Humphries and P. Johnson (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain. Vol. I: 1700-1870.
  • Allen, R.C. (2010). “Why the industrial revolution was British: commerce, induced invention, and the scientific revolution”. Economic History Review.
  • Kuznets, S. (1973). “Modern economic growth: findings and reflections”, American Economic Review, 63(3), 247-258 (not compulsory).

 

 

Apr 20

  1. The first globalization I (International trade and the Ricardian model)

Readings:

  • O’Rourke, K. and J.G. Williamson (1999). Globalization and History. The evolution of a nineteenth-century Atlantic economy. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press (Chapters 1 and 2).
  • Krugman, P. R., Obstfeld M., and M. Melitz (2014). International Economics: Theory and Policy. 10th Edition. Prentice Hall (Chapter 3 - not compulsory).

 

 

Apr 21

  1. The First Globalization II (Mass Migration)

Readings:

  • O’Rourke, K. and J.G. Williamson (1999). Globalization and History. The evolution of a nineteenth-century Atlantic economy. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press (Chapter 7).

 

 

Apr 26

  1. The First Globalization III (International Capital Markets)

Readings:

  • O’Rourke, K. and J.G. Williamson (1999). Globalization and History. The evolution of a nineteenth-century Atlantic economy. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press (Chapters 11 and 12).

 

 

Apr 27

  1. The First Globalization IV (The Heckscher-Ohlin Model)

Readings:

  • O’Rourke, K. and J.G. Williamson (1999). Globalization and History. The evolution of a nineteenth-century Atlantic economy. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press (Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 13).

 

 

Apr 28

  1. The First Globalization V (The International Monetary System)

Readings:

  • Cameron, R. and L. Neal (2002). A Concise Economic History of the World, From Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press (Chapter 12).
  • Eichengreen, B. (1996). Globalizing Capital. A History of the International Monetary System. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Ch. 2 (“The Gold Standard”), pp. 7-44.
  • Krugman, P. R., Obstfeld M., and M. Melitz (2014). International Economics: Theory and Policy. 10th Edition. Prentice Hall (Chapter 19 - not compulsory).

 

 

May 2

  1. Gender inequality and women’s work throughout history (Giulia Mancini)

 

Readings:

  • Costa, D. L. (2000). “From Mill Town to Board Room: The Rise of Women's Paid Labor.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4): 101-122.
  • Van Nederveen Meerkerk, E.J. (2014). “Gender and Economic History. The Story of a Complicated Marriage.”, The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, 11(2), 175-197 (not compulsory)

 

 

May 3

  1. The War Economy

Readings:

  • Broadberry, S. and M. Harrison (2009). “The economics of World War I: an overview.” In Broadberry, S. and M. Harrison (eds.), The economics of World War I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

 

May 4-9

  1. The interwar years

Readings:

  • Feinstein, C.H., P. Temin and G. Toniolo (2008). The World Economy between the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press (Chapters 1 and 2)
  • Feinstein, C.H., P. Temin and G. Toniolo (2008). The World Economy between the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press (Chapters 3, 4 and 6).

 

May 10-11

  1. The Bretton Woods conference and the Marshall Plan

Readings:

  • Feinstein, C.H., P. Temin and G. Toniolo (2008). The World Economy between the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press (Chapter 10).
  • Cameron, R. and L. Neal (2002). A Concise Economic History of the World, From Paleolithic Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press (Chapter 15).
  • Eichengreen, B. (2006). The European Economy Since 1945. Princeton University Press (Chapter 3).
  • De Long, J. B., and Eichengreen, B. (1991). The Marshall Plan: History’s most successful structural adjustment program (No. w3899). National Bureau of Economic Research (not compulsory).

 

 

May 16-17

  1. Europe’s Golden Age (1950-1973) and Slowing Down

Readings:

  • Toniolo, G. (1998). “Europe’s golden age, 1950-1973: speculations from a long-run perspective.” Economic History Review, LI, 2: 252-67.
  • Eichengreen, B. (2006). The European Economy Since 1945. Princeton University Press (Chapter 4 and 8).
  • Frieden, J. (2006). Global Capitalism. Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. Norton (Chapter 16).

 

May 18

  1. Two centuries of inequality and poverty around the world

Readings:

  • Baldwin, R. (2016), The Great Convergence. Harvard University Press. Chapters 1-3. (not compulsory)
  • Bourguignon, F., and Morrisson, C. (2002). “Inequality Among World Citizens: 1820-1992.” American Economic Review, 92(4): 727-744.
  • Lakner, C., and Milanovic, B. (2016). Global income distribution: From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession. The World Bank Economic Review, 30(2), 203-232 (not compulsory).