An Introduction to Economic and Business History
Study Board of Market and Management Anthropology, Economics, Mathematics-Economics, Environmental and Resource Management
Teaching language: English
EKA: B540000102, B540000112
Censorship: Second examiner: None
Grading: 7-point grading scale
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Bachelor
Course ID: B540000101
ECTS value: 10
Date of Approval: 19-02-2018
Duration: 1 semester
Course ID
Course Title
Teaching language
ECTS value
Responsible study board
Study Board of Market and Management Anthropology, Economics, Mathematics-Economics, Environmental and Resource Management
Date of Approval
Course Responsible
Offered in
Level
Offered in
Duration
Mandatory prerequisites
Recommended prerequisites
Aim and purpose
This course will equip students with a basic understanding of the main topics in economic and business history, in particular through examples taken from the economic history of Europe. An understanding of history is increasingly being recognized as crucial for economists, for example through the lessons for developing countries today from past industrialization experiences, and from previous financial crises such as the Great Depression of the 1930s for today's challenges. Economic history describes how economies have developed over time, and how economic theory and methodology can help us understand and explain this. Business history teaches how firms have developed over time, and how ‘the firm’ has interacted with the evolution of economic, technological and political systems.
The course will be valuable if students wish to follow further courses involving economic history, including the graduate courses ‘Economic Growth’ and ‘Macroeconomics and History’. It will also help students to incorporate historical understanding into their work with other branches of economics, as well as provide important lessons for understanding how firms adapt to their environment.
Content
The Pre-industrial World
•Competing views of pre-industrial growth: Malthus vs. Smith.
•Population, economic growth and resource constraints.
•The demographic transition.
•Measurement issues.
Institutions and Growth
•Institutions and efficiency.
•Market performance in history.
•The evolution of labour markets.
•Co-operatives.
•Contracts.
Knowledge, Technology Transfer and Convergence
•The industrial revolution.
•Technology transfer and catch-up.
Money, Credit and Banking
•The origins of money.
•The emergence of paper money.
•The impact of banks on economic growth.
Trade, Tariffs and Growth
•The comparative advantage argument for free trade.
•Trade patterns in history.
•Trade policy and growth.
International Monetary Regimes in History
•Why is an international monetary regime necessary?
•Lessons from history for today.
The Era of Political Economy
•The long farewell to economic orthodoxy.
•Successes and failures of macroeconomic management in the second half of the twentieth century.
•Socialist economies.
•The welfare state.
Inequality Among and Within Nations
•Why is there inequality?
•Measuring inequality.
•Gender inequality.
•World income distribution.
Globalization and its Challenge to Europe
•Globalization and the law of one price.
•What drives globalization?
•Globalization backlash!
Business History
•The company between the preindustrial era and the First Industrial Revolution.
•The birth and consolidation of big business.
•State and market in the interwar period.
•From World War Two to the Third Industrial Revolution.
Finding and using historical data and sources
•Where to find online and other published databases.
•Where to find archival and other historical sources.
•Using historical data and sources.
Learning goals
Description of outcome - Knowledge
Demonstrate knowledge about the course’s focus areas enabling the student to:
•Identify, explain, and reflect upon the main topics within economic and business history
•Explain and reflect upon different explanations for pre-industrial and modern growth, including demography, institutions, knowledge, and technology
•Explain and reflect upon the economic history of money
•Describe and identify the main developments in the history of trade
•Describe and identify the main international monetary regimes in history
•Describe the changes in inequality over time, and explain how to measure this
•Describe and reflect upon the history of globalization and the challenges it presents
•Describe and reflect upon the evolution of the firm
Description of outcome - Skills
Demonstrate skills, such that the student is able to:
•Use simple data methods to analyse historical data
•Apply economic theory as it relates to economic and business history
•Present and summarize academic work (for example journal articles) relating to economic history
Description of outcome - Competences
Demonstrate competences, such that the student is able to:
•Independently apply models and theories related to economic and business history
•Identify a need for further development of the models and theories related to economic and business history
Literature
Examples
•Persson, K.G. and P. Sharp (2015), “An Economic History of Europe: Knowledge, Institutions and Growth, 600 to the Present”, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press [and online material on the book’s website].
•F. Amatori and A. Colli (2011), “Business History: Complexities and Comparisons”, Routledge. Selected sections.
Teaching Method
Scheduled classes:
4 lectures weekly for 15 weeks.
2 exercise classes weekly for 14 weeks
There will be 30 lectures of 2 hours each. 2 of these hours per week will be devoted to going through the required reading. Students are expected to have read the reading material before they come to class. The other 2 hours will focus on student presentations of relevant articles and books related to the curriculum, as well as preparation for writing bachelor and master’s theses incorporating economic history. In relation to the presentations, the students will write a short one page summary of the paper they have been allocated, which will form the basis of class discussion.
The lectures will be supplemented by exercise classes which will allow the students to go into depth with certain topics from the lectures through simple exercises and class discussions.
Workload
The students' workload is expected to be distributed as follows:
Lectures - 60 hours
Exercises – 28 hours
Writing 1 page summary and preparing for the presentation – 30 hours
Preparation - 152 hours
Total 270 hours.
Examination regulations
Class presentation - part one
Name
Class presentation - part one
Timing
Exam: During lectures
Reexam: February
Exam in part one for exchange and guest students is similar and will be conducted in the same format as for the ordinary students.
Tests
Exam
Name
Exam
Form of examination
Oral examination
Censorship
Second examiner: None
Grading
7-point grading scale
Identification
Student Identification Card - Date of birth
Language
English
Duration
Date for submission will appear from the examination plan.
Length
An in class presentation and a 1 page summary of a paper (weight 20%).
Examination aids
All exam aids allowed.
Assignment handover
Course page in Blackboard.
Assignment handin
Via SDUassignment in the course page in Blackboard.
ECTS value
2
Additional information
The evaluation of the course has two elements (one grade is given):
1. An in class presentation and a 1 page summary of a paper (weight 20%).
2. Closed book written exam (weight 80%).
Re-examination
Form of examination
Take-home assignment
Identification
Student Identification Card - Date of birth
Duration
Date for submission will appear from the examination plan.
Examination aids
All exam aids allowed.
Assignment handover
Course page in Blackboard.
Assignment handin
Via SDUassignment in the course page in Blackboard.
Additional information
A 4 page summary of a paper.
EKA
B540000102
Written exam - part two
Name
Written exam - part two
Timing
Exam: January
Reexam: February
Exam in part two for exchange and guest students: Exam for exhcange and guest students will be held in December as a 20 minute oral exam without preparation.
Tests
Written exam
Name
Written exam
Form of examination
Written examination on premises
Censorship
Second examiner: None
Grading
7-point grading scale
Identification
Student Identification Card - Exam number
Language
English
Duration
3 hours closed book written exam (weight 80 %)
Length
No limitations
Examination aids
No exam aids are allowed
Assignment handover
In the examination room
Assignment handin
Via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.
ECTS value
8
Additional information
Examination takes place using student's own computer without access to the internet.
Part one weight 20 % and part two weight 80 %. One grade will be given.
EKA
B540000112
External comment
NOTE - This course is identical with the former course 8105411 An Introduction to Economic and Business History.
Used examination attempts in the former identical course will be transferred.
Courses that are identical with former courses that are passed according to applied rules cannot be retaken.
The student is automatically registered for the first examination attempt when the student is registered for a course or course element with which one or more examinations are associated. Withdrawal of registration is not possible, and students who fail to participate in an examination have used one examination attempt, unless the University has made an exemption due to special circumstances.
The student is responsible for registering for 2nd and 3rd examination attempt.
Examination form at the re-exam may be changed.