Economics in Action: World Economic
History
Economics 4999-002
Spring 2006 Tuesday & Thursday
Professor Carol H. Shiue, email shiue@colorado.edu,
Econ 206, Thursday
Course
Outline and Reading List
Introduction
This course focuses on topics
in world economic history from the Medieval period to the present century. What
happened to the world’s standard of living and modes of economic production over
this period, and why? We consider the pre-industrial economy, the turning point
of modern growth and industrialization, and the economic developments since
1800.
Prerequisites
3070 Intermediate
Microeconomics and 3080 Intermediate Macroeconomics, and junior or senior
standing.
Grading
This course will be a combination of lecture material
and in-class discussion.
Your grade will have the following components: a
midterm exam (20%); a final exam (20%); a proposal (10%); a research paper
(40%); and class participation and presentations (10%).
Examinations
There will be two
examinations. The midterm exam is open book and is scheduled for March 7, in
class. Questions for the final exam will be posted on April 27 and due in
Professor Shiue’s office between
Paper
For the paper, you choose a
topic early in the course and prepare a short proposal describing the topic you
plan to write about. This proposal
should be 5 pages and will count 10% of your grade.
You will then write a 15 page
paper on this topic. The professor will
comment on this draft, provide suggestions for further work, and you will
prepare a substantially revised version of this paper. The 15 page paper will
count for 40% of your grade. Late papers will be penalized.
February 23. The 5 page proposal is due. Attach to this proposal a list of references
you intend to use in your research.
March 23. A complete draft of your paper is due. The paper you hand in should be complete and
have full references. You will receive
written comments on your paper the first week of April.
May 4. Use the written comments and input from paper
presentation to revise your paper. The final draft of your paper is due on or
before this date, in class.
Presentations
Each student will also make
two in-class presentations. One will be
of an article on the reading list. This presentation will be scheduled a week
in advance. Students should provide a
handout for the class on the day of the presentation of the assigned
article. The other presentation will be
of his/her paper during the final weeks of class. Presentations generally take 15-20 minutes.
Policy on
academic honesty
Submitted work should reflect the student’s own
efforts. Cheating and plagiarism are academic offenses and any student caught
cheating or plagiarizing will be sanctioned. If there is any person in the
class who is uncertain about what constitutes either cheating or plagiarism,
he/she should consult me the
Required Text
A Concise Economic History of the World, From
Paleolithic Times to the Present 4th
edition, by Rondo Cameron and Larry Neal.
Recommended References (not required)
Atlas of World History Concise Edition, edited by
Patrick K. O’Brien.
Writing History, A Guide for Students, by William Kelleher Storey.
Reading List
1. Introduction: Meaning of Growth, Pattern of World
Development, and Definitions
Cameron and Neal, Chapter 1,
2.
Massimo Livi-Bacci
(1997). A Concise History of World Population, 1-34.
Fogel, Robert. (2004). The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100,
Part I (~January 19 - February 7)
2. Pre-industrial
Life: Living Standards, Wages, Health
Clark, Gregory
(2005), "Living Standards in the Malthusian Era," chapter 3 of The
Conquest of Nature http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/GlobalHistory/Global%20History-3.pdf
Robert C. Allen, “The Great Divergence in European Wages
and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War”, Explorations in
Economic History, Vol 38, October 2001: 411-47.
Ozmucur, Suleyman and Sevket Pamkut, (2002). “Real
Wages and Standards of Living in the
Steckel, Richard. “Health and Nutrition in Pre-Columbian
3. Demographic
factors: Fertility and Mortality before the Industrial Revolution
Clark, Gregory
(2005), "Fertility in the Malthusian Era," chapter 4 of The
Conquest of Nature http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/GlobalHistory/Global%20History-4.pdf
Wrigley, E.A. (1998). “Explaining the rise in marital
fertility in
Clark, Gregory (2005),
"Mortality in the Malthusian Era," chapter 5 of The Conquest of
Nature http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/GlobalHistory/Global%20History-5.pdf
Lavely, William, R. Bin
Wong (1998). “Revising the
Malthusian Narrative: The Comparative Study of Population Dynamics in Late
Imperial China,” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 57, No. 3.
(Aug., 1998), pp. 714-748. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118%28199808%2957%3A3%3C714%3ARTMNTC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z
Part II (~February 9 - March 2)
4. Determinants
of Modern Economic Growth
Cameron and
Neal, Chapter 8.
Clark, Gregory
(2005), "The Problem of the Industrial Revolution," chapter 9 of The
Conquest of Nature http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/GlobalHistory/Global%20History-9.pdf
Shiue, Carol H. and Wolfgang
Keller. “Markets in
China and Europe on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution,” October
2005, http://spot.colorado.edu/~shiue/MarketsChinaEurope.pdf
J.
Before the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics 36. http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/pdf_files/Princes.pdf
North, Douglass C., and B. R.
Weingast. 1989. “Constitutions
and Commitment: Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice.” Journal of Economic History 49(4):
803-32. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507%28198912%2949%3A4%3C803%3ACACTEO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9
5. The
Industrial Revolution
Cameron and
Neal, Chapter 7, p. 270-276.
Clark, Gregory
(2005), "Industrial Revolution in
Nicholas Crafts (2004).
“Productivity Growth in the Industrial Revolution: A New Growth Accounting
Perspective” Journal of Economic History, 64(2): 521-535.
Allen, Robert C. (1999).
“Tracking the Agricultural Revolution in
de Vries, Jan (1994),
"The Industrious Revolution and the Industrial Revolution," Journal
of Economic History 54(2): 249-70. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507%28199406%2954%3A2%3C249%3ATIRATI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8
Midterm March 7
Part
6.
Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff (2000). “Institutions, Factor Endowments, and
Path of Development in the
Wong,
R. Bin (2002), “The Search for European Differences and Domination in the Early
Modern World: A View from
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/107.2/ah0202000447.html
Ozmucur, Suleyman and Sevket Pamkut (2004).
“Institutional Change and the Longevity of the
7. The Spread
of Industrialization after the 19th century
Cameron and Neal, Chapter 13.
Reynolds, Lloyd G. (1983).
“The Spread of Economic Growth to the
Pritchett,
Lant (1997). “Divergence, Big Time,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 11(3):
3-17. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0895-3309%28199722%2911%3A3%3C3%3ADBT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T
Easterlin, Richard A. (2000). “Worldwide Standard of Living Since 1800,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(1):
7-26. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0895-3309%28200024%2914%3A1%3C7%3ATWSOLS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6