Two - Year Master Degree in Economics

ADVANCED ECONOMIC HISTORY

ADVANCED ECONOMIC HISTORY

Academic year 2023/2024

Sommario del corso

• Course objectives
• Results of learning outcomes
• Program
• Course delivery
• Learning assessment methods
• Suggested readings and bibliography
• Notes
• Teaching tools
• Course card

Course objectives

• To analyze the interaction between economic ideas (and methodologies) and the study of economic change over time.
• To apply economic theory and econometric technique to shed light on key historical research questions and debates
• To use historical events to “test” economic theories and ideas

Results of learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding: The students will learn about long-term economic chnage and its causes, including the impact of institutions, credi market, and technological change

Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will learn how to use economic theory and econometric tecniques to shed light on and to measure complex and multi-facet phenomena.

Making judgements: The students will learn how the actions of economic agents determine long-term economic consequences, often unpredictable at the itme of the decision-making process. This applies to entreprenurs and financers, but also to governments and institutions.

Communication skills: The structure of the module heavily depends on students' presentation of academic papers, and this will foster the ability to fully engage with compelx material in other to convey convincing messages in fron t of an audience.

Learning skills: The students will learn how to commit to the full understanding of complex raedings, how to fully undestand economic theory and applied quantitative tecniques.

Program

Introduction

After a general introduction on the nature of economic history, the module addresses two blocks of debates. The first one looks at debates on key topics in economics (growth; institutions; forms of business organization) addressed using a long-term perspective. The second block deals with key moments in economic history such as the 18th century industrial revolution, the post WWII golden age, and so on. 

Programme

Introduction: what is economic history? (3 hours)

Themes and perspectives: 

• Institutions in history and theory

• The great divergence 
• The first industrial revolution 

• The second industrial revolution
• The British malaise 

• The European golden age

• The international gold standard and international finance up to WWI 

• Financial instability in historical perspective

• The great depression 

Course delivery

Each theme is analyzed in two*2-hour sessions. The teaching will be organized around an (about) one-hour long introduction provided by the module leader followed by the class discussion of 1-2 key academic papers. 

Learning assessment methods

The module is going to be assed by a mix of formal exam and class work.

The exact balance of the two components as well as the types of activities included in the assessment will be discussed during the delivery of the module.

Lecture/Seminar 1 (Institutions)

Basic

• ACEMOGLU D., JOHNSON S. & ROBINSON J.A. 2001, "The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation", American Economic Review, 91, 5, 1369-1401.
• NORTH D.C. 1994, "Economic performance through time", American Economic Review, 84, 3, 359-368.
• LA PORTA R., LOPEZ-DE-SILANES F. & SHLEIFER A. 2008, "The economic consequences of legal origins", Journal of Economic Literature, 46, 2, 285-332.

Others

• OLSON M. 1965, The logic of collective action. Public goods and the theory of groups, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press. (Chapter 1)

• NORTH D.C. 1978, "Structure and performance: the task of economic history", Journal of economic Literature, XVI, September, 963-978.

• NORTH D.C. 1991, "Institutions", Journal of economic Perspectives, 5, 1, 97-112.

• GREIF A. & MOKYR J. 2017, "Cognitive rules, institutions, and economic growth: Douglass North and beyond", Journal of Institutional Economics, 13, 1, 25-52.

Lecture/Seminar 2 (Great divergence)

Basic

• ACEMOGLU D. & JOHNSON S. 2005, "The rise of Europe: Atlantic trade, institutional change and economic growth", American Economic Review, 95, 3, 546-579.
• BROADBERRY, S.. "Accounting for the great divergence." (2013).
• PARTHASARATHI P. & POMERANZ K. 2019, "The great divergence debate", Global economic history, 19-37.

Others

• BROADBERRY S. & GUPTA B. 2006, "The early modern great divergence: wages, prices and economic development in Europe and Asia, 1500-1800", Economic History Review, LIX, 1, 70-112.
• BROADBERRY S., GUAN H. & LI D.D. 2018, "China, Europe, and the great divergence: a study in historical national accounting, 980-;1850", The Journal of Economic History, 78, 4, 955-1000.
• BASSINO J.-P., BROADBERRY S., FUKAO K., GUPTA B. & TAKASHIMA M. 2019, "Japan and the great divergence, 730-;1874", Explorations in Economic History, 72, 1-22.
• BROADBERRY S., GUAN H. & LI D.D. 2021, "China, Europe, and the great divergence: a restatement", The Journal of Economic History, 81, 3, 958-974.
• PARTHASARATHI P. 2002 The great divergence. JSTOR.

Lecture/Seminar 3 (Industrial revolution)

Basic

• ALLEN R.C. 2011, "Why the industrial revolution was british: commerce, induced invention, and the scientific revolution", The Economic History Review, 64, 2, 357-384.
• CRAFTS N. 2011, "Explaining the first Industrial Revolution: two views", European Review of Economic History, 15, 1, 153-168.
• MOKYR J. 2009, "Intellectual property rights, the industrial revolution, and the beginnings of modern economic growth", American Economic Review, 99, 2, 349-355.

Others

• ALLEN R.C. 2015, "The high wage economy and the industrial revolution: a restatement", The Economic History Review, 68, 1, 1-22.
• CRAFTS N. & MILLS T.C. 1994, "The industrial revolution as a macroeconomic epoch: an alternative view", Economic History Review, 47, 4, 769-775.
• CRAFTS N.F.R. 1996, "The industrial revolution: a guided tour for growth economists", American Economic Review, 86, 2 Papers and proceedings, 197-201.
• MOKYR J. 2005, "The Intellectual Origins of Modern Economic Growth", The Journal of Economic History, 65, 2, 285-351.
• KELLY M., MOKYR J. & Ó GRÁDA C. 2023, "The mechanics of the Industrial Revolution", Journal of Political Economy, 131, 1, 59-94.

Lecture/Seminar 4 (The second industrial revolution)

Basic

• CHANDLER A.D. 1992, "Organizational capabilities and the economic history of the industrial enterprise", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 6, ?, 79-100.
• WILLIAMSON O.E. 1981, "The modern corporation: origins, evolutions, attributes", Journal of Economic Literature, 19, 4, 1537-1568.
• WILLIAMSON O.E. 2000, "The new institutional economics: taking stock, looking ahead", Journal of Economic Literature, XXXVIII, September, 595-613

Others

• CHANDLER A. 1984, "The emergence of managerial capitalism", Business History Review, 58, Winter, 473-503.
• WINTER S.G. & TEECE D.J. 2010, "A conversation with Sidney winter on the contributions of Alfred Chandler", Industrial and Corporate Change, 19, 2, 363-376.
• DOSI G. & NELSON R.R. 1994, "An introduction to evolutionary theories in economics", Journal of evolutionary economics, 4, 153-172.
• LANGLOIS R.N. 2004, "Chandler in a Larger Frame: Markets, Transaction Costs, and Organizational Form in History", Enterprise and Society, 5, 3, 355.
• SUPPLE B. 1991, "Scale and scope: Alfred Chandler and the dynamic of industrial capitalism", Economic History Review, 44, 3, 500-514.
• TEECE D.J. 1993, "The dynamics of industrial capitalism: perspectives on Alfred Chandler's scale and scope", Journal of economic Literature, 31, 1, 199-225.

Lecture/Seminar 5 (The British decline)

Basic

• HANNAH L. 2009, "Strategic games, scale, and efficiency, or Chandler goes to Hollywood", In: Coopey & Lyth (eds.)2009, Business in britain in the twentieth century, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 
• DI MARTINO P. 2012, "Legal institutions, social norms, and entrepreneurship in Britain (c. 1890-c.1939)", Economic History Review, 65, 1, 120-143.
• FOREMAN-PECK J. & HANNAH L. 2013, "Some consequences of the early twentieth-century British divorce of ownership from control", Business History, 55, 4, 543-564.

Others

• HANNAH L. 2007, "The ‘divorce’of ownership from control from 1900 onwards: Re-calibrating imagined global trends", Business History, 49, 4, 404-438.
• FOREMAN‐PECK J. & HANNAH L. 2012, "Extreme divorce: the managerial revolution in UK companies before 1914 1", The Economic History Review, 65, 4, 1217-1238.
• CAIN P.J. & HOPKINS A.G. 1987, "Gentlemanly capitalism and the British expansion Overseas II: New imperialism, 1850-1945", The Economic History Review, 40, 1, 1-26.
• DAUNTON M.J. 1989, "" Gentlemanly Capitalism" and British Industry 1820-1914", Past & Present, 122, 119-158.
• NICHOLAS T. 1999, "Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century.", Economic History Review, 52, 1, 27-44.
• NICHOLAS T. 1999, "Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850", Journal of Economic History, 59, 3, 688-713.

Lecture/Seminar 6 (The European Golden Age)

Basic

• EICHENGREEN B. & VAZQUEZ P. 2000, "Institutions and economic growth in postwar Europe: evidence and conjectures", Productivity, technology and economic growth, 91-128.
• TEMIN P. 2002, "The Golden Age of European growth reconsidered", European Review of Economic History, 6, 1, 3-22.
• CRAFTS N. 1995, "The golden age of economic growth in Western Europe, 1950-1973", Economic History Review, XLVIII, 3, 429-447.

Others

• TEMIN P. 1997, "The Golden Age of European Growth: A Review Essay", European Economic History Review, 1, 1, 127-149.
• TONIOLO G. 1998, "Europe's Golden Age, 1950-1973: Speculations from a Long-Run Perspective", Economic History Review, LI, 2, 223-251.
• TONIOLO G. 1998, "Does History have Useful Economics? Lessons from Europe’s Golden Age (1950-;73)", 1998, Contemporary Economic Issues: Volume 2 Labour, Food and Poverty, Springer, 83-101
• DI MARTINO P. & VASTA M. 2018, "Reassessing the Italian “Economic Miracle”: Law, Firms’ Governance, and Management, 1950-;1973", Business History Review, 92, 2, 281-306.
• NARDOZZI G. 2003, " The Italian «Economic Miracle»", Rivista di Storia Economica, XIX, 2, 139-180

Lecture/Seminar 7 (gold standard)

Basic

• REIS J. 2007, "An ‘art’, not a ‘science’? Central bank management in Portugal under the gold standard, 1863-;87 1", The Economic History Review, 60, 4, 712-741.
• FLANDREAU M. & FLORES J.H. 2012, "Bondholders versus bond-sellers? Investment banks and conditionality lending in the London market for foreign government debt, 1815-;1913", European Review of Economic History, 16, 4, 356-383.
• ESTEVES R.P. 2013, "The bondholder, the sovereign, and the banker: sovereign debt and bondholders' protection before 1914", European Review of Economic History, 17, 4, 389-407.

Others

• ESTEVES R. & KHOUDOUR-CASTÉRAS D. 2009 "A Fantastic Rain of Gold: European Migrants' Remittances and Balance of Payments Adjustment During the Gold Standard Period", Journal of Economic History, 69, 4, 951-985.
• BAZOT G., BORDO M.D. & MONNET E. 2016, "International shocks and the balance sheet of the Bank of France under the classical gold standard", Explorations in Economic History, 62, 87-107.
• BAZOT G., MONNET E. & MORYS M. 2022, "Taming the Global Financial Cycle: Central Banks and the Sterilization of Capital Flows in the First Era of Globalization (1891-1913) ", Journal of Economic History, 82, 3, 801-839.
• JOBST C. 2009, "Market leader: The Austro-Hungarian Bank and the making of foreign exchange intervention, 1896-;1913", European Review of Economic History, 13, 3, 287-318.
• MORYS M. 2013, "Discount rate policy under the Classical Gold Standard: Core versus periphery (1870s-;1914)", Explorations in Economic History, 50, 2, 205-226.
• DI MARTINO P. 2023, "Central banks’ intervention in exchange rate markets during the international gold standard: Italy 1880-1913", Financial History Review, 30, 1, 51-73.
• EICHENGREEN B. & FLANDREAU M. 1996, "The geography of the Gold Standard", In: Braga De Macedo, Eichengreen & Reis (eds.)1996, Currency Convertibility: The Gold Standard and Beyond, London, Routledge, 113-143

Lecture/Seminar 8 (Financial instability)

Basic

• BATTILOSSI S. 2009, "Did governance fail universal banks? Moral hazard, risk taking, and banking crises in interwar Italy", The Economic History Review, 62, S1, 101-134.
• MOLTENI M. 2023, "Credit Expansion, Leverage, and Banking Distress: The Puzzle of Interwar Italy", European Economic History Review, 
• GRODECKA-MESSI A., KENNY S. & ÖGREN A. 2021, "Predictors of bank distress: The 1907 crisis in Sweden", Explorations in Economic History, 80, 101380.

Others

• JORDÀ Ò., SCHULARICK M. & TAYLOR A.M. 2015, "Betting the house", Journal of International Economics, 96, S2-S18.
• JORDÀ Ò., SCHULARICK M. & TAYLOR A.M. 2011, "Financial crises, credit booms, and external imbalances: 140 years of lessons", IMF Economic Review, 59, 2, 340-378.
• JORDÀ Ò., SCHULARICK M. & TAYLOR A.M. 2016, "Sovereigns versus banks: credit, crises, and consequences", Journal of the European Economic Association, 14, 1, 45-79.
• SCHULARICK M. & TAYLOR A.M. 2012, "Credit booms gone bust: monetary policy, leverage cycles, and financial crises, 1870-;2008", American Economic Review, 102, 2, 1029-1061.
• REINHART C.M. 2012 A series of unfortunate events: common sequencing patterns in financial crises. National Bureau of Economic Research.
• REINHART C.M., REINHART V.R. & ROGOFF K.S. 2012 Debt overhangs: Past and present. National Bureau of Economic Research.
• BORDO M.D. 2018, "An historical perspective on the quest for financial stability and the monetary policy regime", The Journal of economic history, 78, 2, 319-357.

Lecture/Seminar 9 (great depression)

Basic

• ACCOMINOTTI O. 2012, "London merchant banks, the central European panic, and the sterling crisis of 1931", The Journal of Economic History, 72, 1, 1-43.
• BERNANKE B. 1983, "Nonmonetary effects of the financial crisis in the propagation of the great depression", American Economic Review, 73, 3, 314-333.
• SCHNABEL I. 2004, "The German twin crisis of 1931", The Journal of Economic History, 64, 3, 822-871.

Others

• ACCOMINOTTI O. & EICHENGREEN B. 2016, "The mother of all sudden stops: capital flows and reversals in Europe, 1919-;32", The Economic History Review, 69, 2, 469-492.
• BALDERSTON T. 1991, "German banking between the wars: the crisis of the credit banks", Business History Review, 65, 3, 554-605.
• BALDERSTON T. 1983, "The Beginning of the Depression in Germany, 1927-30: Investment and the Capital Market", The Economic History Review, 36, 3, 395-415.
• MACHER F. 2019, "The Hungarian twin crisis of 1931", The Economic History Review, 72, 2, 641-668.
• BAUBEAU P., MONNET E., RIVA A. & UNGARO S. 2021, "Flight‐to‐safety and the credit crunch: a new history of the banking crises in France during the Great Depression", The Economic History Review, 74, 1, 223-250.
• EICHENGREEN B. 1992, "The origins and nature of the great slump revisited", Economic History Review, 45, 2, 213-239.
• EICHENGREEN B. & MITCHENER K.J. 2004, "The Great Depression as a credit boom gone wrong", 2004, Research in economic history, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 183-237
• FERGUSON T. & TEMIN P. 2003, "Made in Germany: the German currency crisis of July 1931", 2003, research in Economic History, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1-53

Notes

More information about readings will be provided at the beginning of the module

• Teaching material
• Exams and finals
• Class schedule
• Go to Moodle
• Register for the course
• Enrolled students
• Invia email agli studenti registrati
• Export table