Curs 2011-2012
Llicenciatura en Administració i Direcció d'Empreses
Llicenciatura en Economia
Història Econòmica Internacional (11855)
International Economic History
What is the course about?
For several millennia, the income of the vast bulk of humanity hovered around subsistence levels. While occasional great civilizations and powerful states arose, they only provided above-subsistence income for an elite, before invariably declining and dying off. At some point in the second millennium, Western Europe saw the coalescing of forces that would eventually allow it to break away from this pattern. This course is an attempt to understand how a subset of humanity managed to find the path to sustained economic development. What was different about Western Europe? Why did it end up ruling over most of the rest of the world, and not vice versa? Why did the Industrial Revolution happen there? And, more importantly, how do these processes inform our understanding of modern economic theory?
How does the course work?Let's get the bad news out first: this course is going to be a lot of hard work. You will be reading large amounts of material, some of which will require you to learn novel concepts and grasp complicated economic models. There is no other way of learning economic history (and most of the rest of economics). Moreover, there are definite advantages to reading solid numbers of good papers: you will learn different techniques, you will be able to weigh different arguments, you will get more ideas, you may even end up writing better. Reading is an absolute requirement. If you do not like to read large amounts of material, this course is not for you.
An important component of the course will be coming prepared to class. You will be expected to have read the materials assigned for each lecture beforehand. The pop quizzes will test your reading preparation throughout the course.The course is organized around broad topics. It is not about historical events, but rather about what economics has to learn from history. Therefore, although the reading list does have a loose chronological organization, I will make no apologies for jumping across time and space when the subject at hand demands it.
Grading
The grading scheme for the course is as follows:- Pop quizzes (on random dates, unannounced): 25%
- Writing assignment (due May 30): 35%
- Final exam (comprehensive): 40%
Pop quizzes will be administered during class, on unannounced dates. They will cover the reading assigned for that day. If you have read the material, you will find the questions easy enough. I will drop your worst pop quiz result from the grade calculation, and hence you can do badly on one quiz, or even miss it, without penalty. However, there will be no make-ups.Topics outline
1) Why History Matters
2) The Deep Determinants of Economic Development
a) Institutionsb) Legal Origins
c) Geography and Factor Endowments
d) Cultural Norms
3) Reputation and the Emergence of Markets4) Religion, Human Capital, and Conflict
5) Colonial Trades: Silver and Slaves6) The Consequences of the Columbian Exchange
7) The Development of State Finance
8) Military and Bureaucratic Organization
9) The Industrial Revolution
a) Overview
b) Malthusian dynamics
c) Living Standards
d) Wages and prices in the long run
e) Cultural and Intellectual Channels
Lecture plan with required readings
Lecture 1* The Importance of History for Economic Development
Nathan Nunn
Annual Review of Economics 1: 65-92. 2009
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Nunn_ARE_2009.pdf
Lecture 2
* Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
In Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf, The Handbook of Economic Growth. North-Holland, 2005.
http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/download_pdf.php?id=1183
Lecture 3
* Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
American Economic Review 91(5): 1369-1401 (2001), April-May 2003, v. 1, iss. 2-3: 397-405.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2677930
* The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change and Economic Growth
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
American Economic Review 95(3): 546-579. June 2005.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/4132729
Lecture 4
* Craft Guilds, Apprenticeship and Technological Change in Preindustrial Europe
S. R. Epstein
The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 58, No. 3. (Sep., 1998), pp. 684-713.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2566620
* License to Till: The Privileges of the Spanish Mesta as a Case of Second Best Institutions.
Mauricio Drelichman
Explorations in Economic History 46 (2): 220-240. April 2009.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2008.10.001
Lecture 5
* The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins
Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer
Journal of Economic Literature 46 (2): 285-332. 2008.
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/consequences_JEL_final.pdf
* Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development among New World Economies
Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff
Economía 3 (1): 41-88. 2002.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/economia/v003/3.1engerman.pdf
Lecture 6
* Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa
Nathan Nunn and Diego Puga
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/rugged.pdf
* Institutions and the Resource Curse in Early Modern Spain
Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth
In Institutions and Economic Performance, Elhanan Helpman (ed.), Harvard University Press, 2008.
http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/Resource_curse_final.pdf
Lecture 7
* The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa
Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon
American Economic Review, forthcoming
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Trust_AER_Rev2.pdf
* Sons of Something: Taxes, Lawsuits and Local Political Control in Sixteenth-Century Castile.
Mauricio Drelichman
The Journal of Economic History 67 (3): 608-642. September 2007.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050707000253
Lecture 8
* Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders
Avner Greif
The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 49, No. 4. (Dec. 1989), pp. 857-882.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2122741
* Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild
Avner Greif; Paul Milgrom; Barry R. Weingast
Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 102, No. 4. (Aug., 1994), pp. 745-776.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2138763
* Lending to the Borrower from Hell: Debt and Default in the Age of Philip II.
Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth
The Economic Journal, forthcoming.
http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/borrowerfromhell.pdf
Lecture 9
* From Farmers to Merchants, Conversions and Diaspora: Human Capital and Jewish History
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
Journal of the European Economic Association 5 (5): 885-926. 2005.
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/JEEA.2007.5.5.885
* Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History
Sasha Becker and Luedger Woessmann
The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2): 531-596. May 2009.
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.2.531
Lecture 10
* The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades
Nathan Nunn
The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (1): 139-176. 2008
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/empirical_slavery.pdf
* The Curse of Moctezuma: American Silver and the Dutch Disease
Mauricio Drelichman
Explorations in Economic History 42(3): 349-380. July 2005.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2004.10.005
Lecture 11
* The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas
Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian
Journal of Economic Perspectives 24 (2): 163-188. 2010.
http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.24.2.163
* The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from an Historical Experiment
Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian
Quarterly Journal of Economics, Forthcoming.
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Potato_QJE.pdf
* Sweet Diversity: Colonial Goods and the Rise of European Living Standards after 1492
Jonathan Hersh and Hans-Joachim Voth
UPF Working Paper
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1443730
Lecture 12
* The Sustainable Debts of Philip II: A Reconstruction of Castile's Fiscal Position, 1566-1596.
Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth
The Journal of Economic History 70 (4): 813-842. December 2010.
http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/DV_sustainable_debts.pdf (unabridged online version).
Lecture 13
* Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England
Douglass C. North; Barry R. Weingast
The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 49, No. 4. (Dec., 1989), pp. 803-832.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507(198912)49:4<803:CACTEO>2.0.CO;2-9
* Institutional Reforms, Financial Development, and Sovereign Debt: Britain 1690-1790.
Nathan Sussman; Yishay Yafeh
The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 66, N0. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 906-935.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=JEH&volumeId=66&issueId=04
* Macroeconomic Features of the French Revolution
Thomas J. Sargent; Francois R. Velde
The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 103, No. 3. (Jun., 1995), pp. 474-518.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138696
Lecture 14
* The British Navy Rules: Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail
Douglas W. Allen
2002. Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 39, pp. 204-231.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.2002.0783
* Organizations and Incentives in the Age of Sail
Daniel K. Benjamin and Christopher Thornberg
Explorations in Economic History 44 (2): 317-341. 2007.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2006.04.001
Lecture 15
* Editor's Introduction: The New Economic History and the Industrial Revolution
Joel Mokyr
In Joel Mokyr, ed. The British Industrial Revolution: An Economic Perspective. 1999. Boulder: Westview Press 2nd edition. Pages 1-127.
http://www.faculty.econ.northwestern.edu/faculty/mokyr/monster.PDF
* Two Views of the British Industrial Revolution
Peter Temin
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 57, No. 1. (Mar., 1997), pp. 63-82.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2951107
Lecture 16
* A Farewell to Alms
Gregory Clark
Chapters 1-6
Lecture 17
* English Workers' Living Standards during the Industrial Revolution: A New Look
Peter H. Lindert; Jeffrey G. Williamson
Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 36, No. 1. (Feb., 1983), pp. 1-25.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598895
* Is There Still Life in the Pessimist Case? Consumption during the Industrial Revolution, 1790-1850
Joel Mokyr
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 48, No. 1. (Mar., 1988), pp. 69-92.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2122329
* Engels' Pause: Technical Change, Capital Accumulation, and Inequality in the British Industrial Revolution
Robert C. Allen
Explorations in Economic History, Volume 46, Issue 4, 1 October 2009, Pages 418-435
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2009.04.004
Lecture 18
* The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War.
Robert C. Allen
Explorations in Economic History 38(4): 411-447. 2001.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.2001.0775
* What Price a Roof? Housing and the Cost of Living in Sixteenth-Century Toledo
Mauricio Drelichman and David González Agudo
Lecture 19
* The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution
Jan De Vries
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 54, No. 2, Papers Presented at the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association. (Jun., 1994), pp. 249-270.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2123912
* The European Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Economic Growth
Joel Mokyr
Max Weber Lecture Series, 2007
http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/Weber-Lecture.pdf
Lecture 20
Recap
Additional suggested readings
The following readings are not required. They are all important contributions, though, and I will refer to them throughout the course.
Does the Past Have Useful Economics?
Donald N. McCloskey
Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 1976), pp. 434-461
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2722462
Economic Performance Through Time
Douglass North
American Economic Review 84 (3): 359-368. 1994.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118057
Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development
Dani Rodrik, Arvind Subramanian and Francesco Trebbi
Journal of Economic Growth 9 (2): 131-165. 2004.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j3l71744234772tx/fulltext.pdf
The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Investigation of the Settler Mortality Data
David Albouy
American Economic Review, forthcoming
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~albouy/AJRreinvestigation/AJRrev.pdf
Freedom and Growth: the rise of states and markets in Europe
S. R. Epstein
2000. London: Routledge.
Legal Origins
Edward Glaeser and Andrei Shleifer
The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 (4): 1193-1229. 2002
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132477
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond
New York: W. W. Norton. 1997
Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies
Avner Greif
Journal of Political Economy 102 (5): 912-950. 1994
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138652
Luther and Suleyman
Murat Iyigun
The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (4): 1465-1494. May 2008.
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.4.1465
British and French Finance during the Napoleonic Wars
Michael D. Bordo; Eugene N. White
NBER Working Paper No. w3517 (1991).
http://www.nber.org/papers/w3517
The Sinews of Power
John Brewer
1988. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pages 3-63.
The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress
Joel Mokyr
Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990
How the West 'Invented' Fertility Restriction
Nico Voigtländer and Hans-Joachim Voth
Working Paper
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/nico.v/Research/EMP.pdf
"The Exploitation of Little Children": Child Labor and the Family Economy in the Industrial Revolution
Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries
Explorations in Economic History, Volume 32, Issue 4, October 1995, Pages 485-516
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.1995.1021
The Condition of the Working Class in England, 1209-2004
Gregory Clark
Journal of Political Economy 113 (6): 1307-1340
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/498123
The Enlightened Economy
Joel Mokyr
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009