EH215 Half Unit
Money and Finance: From the Eighteenth Century to Modernity
This information is for the 2024/25 session.
Teacher responsible
Prof Albrecht Ritschl SAR 6.06
Availability
This course is available as an outside option to students on non-Economic History programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.
Course content
The course provides an introduction into monetary and financial history from the 18th century to the present day. It examines the main developments in international monetary architecture and the global financial system since the Glorious Revolution. The course is designed to introduce students to major concepts of money and finance (financial development, financial integration, monetary policy, banking crises etc.) and to provide a long run perspective to the current policy debate.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the WT.
There will be a Reading Week in Week 6 of WT.
Formative coursework
The students will produce one formative essay. The exercise will help them practise academic writing (structuring and presenting arguments, providing explanations, referencing etc.); a skill helpful for the exam of this course that will take place in the spring exam period. Students will also give a formative class presentation to practice presenting complex arguments to their peers and answering questions from the audience.
Indicative reading
1. Neal, L. The Rise of Financial Capitalism, Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
2. Eichengreen, B. (1992), Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939, Oxford (Oxford University Press).3. Eichengreen, B. (2008), Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, Princeton (Princeton University Press).
4. Friedman, M. and A. Schwartz (1963), A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, Princeton (Princeton University Press).
5. Kindleberger, C. P. (2005), Manias, Panics and Crashes. A History of Financial Crises, 5th edition, New York: Macmillan.
6. Reinhart, C. and K. Rogoff (2009), This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Princeton (Princeton University Press).
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the spring exam period.
Key facts
Department: Economic History
Total students 2023/24: 22
Average class size 2023/24: 4
Capped 2023/24: No
Value: Half Unit
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