Prof Albrecht Ritschl SAR 606 and Dr Stefania Galli SAR 615

This course is available on the MA in Modern History, MRes/PhD in Quantitative Economic History, MSc in Accounting, Organisations and Institutions, MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in Global Economic History (Erasmus Mundus), MSc in Global Politics and MSc in Political Economy of Late Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access).  In previous years we have been able to provide places for all students that apply but that may not continue to be the case.

This course aims to provide an overview of the development and integration of the world economy from 1800 to the present, giving an understanding of the origins of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The course raises fundamental questions about the sources of the unprecedented levels of economic growth in the last two centuries and the past and present challenges to economic development that have led to sharp divergences in income between countries and regions. The course explores the economic history at a global level, exploring developments in the western world as well as in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, and Africa. Topics discussed will include fundamental transformations in economic experience, such as income and inequality, environmental change and the rise of population; sources of progress, such as technology, science, fiscal development; and explanations for divergent outcomes, for example human capital, economic policy, and management.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT. 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the LT.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 40 hours across Michaelmas Term and Lent Term. This year, while we are planning for most classes and seminars to be delivered in-person, it is possible that some or all of this teaching may have to be delivered virtually. Lectures will either be recorded or given in the form of live webinars.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term and Week 6 of Lent Term.

Students are expected to write three essays or equivalent pieces of work.

Broadberry, S. and O’Rourke, K.H. (eds.) (2010), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe; Acemoglu, D., and Robinson, J.A. (2006), Economic origins of dictatorship and democracy; Livi-Bacci, M. (2001), A Concise History of World Population; Broadberry, S.N. (1998), “How did the United States and Germany Overtake Britain? A Sectoral Analysis of Comparative Productivity Levels, 1870-1990”, Journal of Economic History; Hatton, T. and J. Williamson (1998), The Age of Mass Migration; Eichengreen, B. (1996), Globalizing Capital; Accominotti, O., and Flandreau, M. (2008), “Bilateral Treaties and the Most-Favored Nation Clause. The Myth of Trade Liberalization in the Nineteenth Century”, World Politics; O’Rourke, K. and Williamson, J. (1999), Globalization and History; Harrison, M. (1988), “Resource Mobilization for the Second World War in the USA, UK, USSR, and Germany, 1938-45”, Economic History Review; Eichengreen, B. and Hatton, T.J. (eds.), Interwar Unemployment in International Perspective; Eichengreen, B., and Sachs, J. (1985), “Exchange Rates and Economic Recovery in the 1930s”, Journal of Economic History; Taylor, A.M. (1998), “On the Costs of Inward-Looking Development: Price Distortions, Growth, and Divergence in Latin America”, Journal of Economic History.

Take-home assessment (100%) in the ST.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.