ERINDALE
COLLEGE
University
of Toronto
1998-99
ECO 303Y:
Modern European Economic History
Prof. S. M. Eddie
257 Kaneff Centre
Telephone: 828-3908
E-mail: eddie@chass.utoronto.ca
REQUIRED
TEXTS:
Students should purchase all of these.
1. E. L. Jones, The European Miracle:
Environments, economies and geopolitics in the history of Europe and
Asia, 2nd edition (Cambridge University Press, 1987). Available in paperback.
2. Paul Gregory, Before Command: An Economic History of Russia from
Emancipation to the First Five-Year Plan (Princeton University Press, 1994)
3. Edith Fine and Judith Jacobson, Nitty-Gritty Grammar (Berkeley: Ten
Speed Press, 1998), paperback.
Recommended text (purchase
not required):
The Economic History of Modern Europe: ECO
303Y: This reprotext booklet contains copies of
all the assigned readings not found in the required texts. All are on reserve in the library, but given
the limited number of copies we are allowed to put on reserve, you may find it
convenient to have your own copy of the readings.
OBJECTIVES
AND ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE:
The profound economic changes now sweeping Europe have their roots in the
economic history of the 19th and 20th centuries. One group of mostly rich nations, the members of the EEC, is
moving toward a complete common market and even a common currency, while the
other large group, the remnants of the former Socialist bloc, is struggling to
try to rescue its economies from the ruins of central planning. A third, peripheral group of countries
either strives to join the club of the rich (e.g., Portugal or Greece) or,
already being rich, tries to keep a discreet distance from the hurly-burly of
the rest of Europe (e.g., Norway, Switzerland). Our goal is to try to understand how they arrived at their
present situation, and to provide a basis for thinking about where they might head
from here.
To achieve this goal requires a
basic understanding of modern economic growth and its principal economic and
social consequences, as well as of how and why central planning went awry. Necessary concomitants are a rudimentary knowledge
of the economic geography of Europe and of the economic forces (as well as some
of the political forces) behind the present tensions within and among countries
in Europe. This course is designed to
lead in an orderly fashion toward such an understanding of the European
situation.
The design organizes the course
into four parts:
1. The
first part (to Oct. 26th) aims at systematizing our thinking about economic
growth and economic organization. We
will focus particularly on use of explicit economic theory and simple
quantitative analysis.
2. The
second part (to Dec. 21st) examines agriculture, industrialization, and
evidence of change in the standard of living, both in general European
perspective and with respect to Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia in
particular.
3. In the third part of the course (to
Feb. 8th), we will consider the period between the two world wars: the aftermath of World War I, the wholesale
boundary changes and creation of new countries, the hyperinflations of the
1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the rise of Nazi Germany.
4. Finally,
in part 4 we will examine the Soviet
Union in the period 1917 - 1940: from
Revolution, civil war and War Communism through the Great Debate on economic
strategy, the development of central planning, the collectivization of
agriculture, the bureaucratization of everything, and how this laid the
foundation for today's troubles in the former Soviet Union and its former
Socialist allies.
HOW
TO SUCCEED IN THIS COURSE:
As a normal part of study procedure,
I strongly recommend that students take notes on the assigned readings. Not only does this relieve you of the
necessity of going back to the readings a second or third time as you study
them, the neural- motor connection inherent in the act of taking notes
reinforces learning. Everyone must take notes the first two weeks;
you will receive a grade on these notes.
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As an incentive toward note-taking, you may bring any of your own personal notes
(no Xeroxes) and use them in answering questions on the term tests and final
exam. No books, articles, or copies of
the readings themselves are allowed in the tests or the final exam. |
A
hint on effective, efficient reading: Economic historians tend to be a rather linear-thinking lot. The first sentence is usually the topic
sentence of each paragraph in their writings.
You can often see their argument more clearly if your first reading of a
given work is to read only the first sentence of each paragraph.[1] You
can pick up the qualifications and nuances later. A double reading done this way usually takes less time than a
single first-word-to-last-word reading, because you see the main line of
argument quickly, and the second time through the paper or chapter goes very
much more quickly because you know what you're looking for.
In this course readings are of at least
equal priority to the lectures. The lectures will supplement
the readings; they will not substitute for nor repeat the readings. This is analogous to parallel
computing: We proceed simultaneously
along two paths – reading and class work – until we reach a point where the
results of the inputs and information processing of each path can be put
together. This occurs rather late in
the course. While the readings usually
cover specific questions or topics, lectures will be used to discuss various
concepts in economic theory which are necessary for the study of the topics
under review, to examine controversies in the scholarly literature, to provide
summaries or interpretations of viewpoints other than those found in the
readings, to inform the students about directions of current research, and so
forth. It is intentional, and an
integral part of the course design, that the lectures often will differ
substantially from the material covered in the readings. Tests and the final exam will cover both
reading and lecture materials.
Because
this is a writing-designated course, we will spend considerable time on basic
writing issues. We
will focus on the organization and presentation of your ideas and on writing
simple, clear, and direct prose which will command the attention of the reader,
rather than turning him or her off because of poor grammar, sloppy syntax, and
incorrect spelling. This will include
specific attention to common errors in English grammar which make readers think
the writer is uneducated or lazy, therefore not worth the reader's continued
attention. This may be unfair – it does
not give the writer credit for what he or she really knows nor for the effort
put into the writing – but that's the
way it is: Your ideas and knowledge will
have no impact unless you can express them clearly.
The marking scheme for the course
follows on the next page.
MARKING
SCHEME:
This course has been designated a
"writing course" by the Commerce programme. In keeping with this designation, writing other than tests and
exams is required. A student's mark in the course will consist of the
following:
1. A
set of readings notes – the notes you have taken on all assigned readings of
the first two weeks – due Sept. 29th, worth 3 per cent.
NB:
In fact these will be worth more, for the practice and the critique of your
notes should help you improve the efficiency of your reading for the rest of
the course.
2. A problem set (due Nov. 27th) worth 9 per cent.
3. Two term tests (Oct. 19th and Jan. 18th), worth 18 per cent each. Note that a small part of each test will be
on questions of writing, particularly on the grammar which is covered in Nitty-Gritty Grammar and which we will
discuss in class.
4. Short writing assignments, including
in-class exercises, worth a total of 18 per cent. This includes book reviews of Jones's European Miracle (due Nov.
13th) and Gregory's Before Command
(due Feb. 22nd), worth 5 per cent
each, and a written evaluation of the Roehl-Locke debate, worth 3 per cent (due Dec. 7th). There will be no makeups for in-class
exercises, the dates of which are clearly indicated in the course outline.
5. A final examination worth 34 per cent.
This will be scheduled during the regular April-May examination
period. The exact date and time will be
announced by the Registrar's Office in mid-March.
To facilitate your
planning of how to fit the assignments from this course in with your obligations
in other courses, and to give you the opportunity to allow plenty of time for
unforeseen contingencies, the entire
year's schedule of due dates for all assignments is given in this course
outline, available the first day of classes.
As a consequence, no requests for extension of deadlines can or will be
entertained.
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The Economics Department does not accept
any assignments submitted by FAX, nor does it take any responsibility for
anything slid under doors or put in mailboxes. All assignments must be given personally to the instructor
concerned or deposited in the Economics essay box in Room 207 of the Kaneff
Building between the hours of 9am and 4:45 pm on normal work days. The essay box is not available evenings,
weekends, or holidays. |
The schedule of classes and assignments
follows on the next page.
|
Day, Date |
Topic or exercise, Notices |
Reading assignments, comments |
|
Sept. 14 |
Introduction: Some basic considerations |
E. A. Wrigley,
"Why poverty was inevitable in traditional societies," in John A.
Hall and I.C. Jarvie, eds., Transition
to Modernity: Essays on Power, Wealth and Belief, pp. 91-110. W. Arthur Lewis, The Theory of Economic Growth, pp.
420-435: "Is economic growth desirable?" H. Freudenberger
and G. Cummins, "Health, work, and leisure before the industrial
revolution," Explorations in
Economic History 13:1 (Jan. 1976), pp. 1-12. |
|
Sept. 21 |
Quantification in
economic history: introduction |
Douglass North,
"Institutions," Journal of
Economic Perspectives 5:1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 97-112. R.E. Johnson,
"History by Numbers," Perspectives
(Newsletter of the American Historical Association), Feb. 1989, pp. 14,
16-18. Handout on index
numbers (readings notes on this NOT required). |
|
Sept. 28 |
Quantification in
economic history continued. In-class grammar exercise |
C.H. Lee, The Quantitative Approach to Economic
History, ch. 2, pp. 7 - 35. Jones, preface and
introduction to the second edition, pp. vi - xxxi; chs. 1-2, pp. 3-41. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 3-13. |
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Readings notes for assigned readings
through Sept. 21st due today. |
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Oct. 5 |
Organizing our
thinking: economic models |
Douglass North and
Robert Paul Thomas, "An Economic Theory of the Growth of the Western
World," Economic History Review,
XXIII:1 (Feb. 1970), pp. 1-17. Jones, ch. 3-4,
pp. 45-84. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 14-30. |
|
Oct. 12 |
Thanksgiving
holiday. No class today. |
|
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Oct. 19 |
First term test covering lecture and
reading materials through Oct. 5. |
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Oct. 26 |
Economic models
continued. In-class grammar exercise |
Jones, chs. 5
& 6, pp. 85-126. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 31-42. |
|
Day, Date |
Topic or exercise, Notices |
Reading assignments, comments |
|
Nov. 2 |
Economic
organization: feudalism |
Jones, chs. 7
& 8, pp. 127-171. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 43-49. |
|
Nov. 9 |
Transition from
feudalism: enclosures and serf emancipations |
Jones, chs. 9 -
12, pp. 175-238. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 50-64. |
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Fri., Nov. 13th:
Review of Jones book due by 4:45 pm today |
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Nov. 16 |
Industrialization:
in general and in Great Britain. |
R.V. Jackson,
"Rates of industrial growth during the industrial revolution," Economic History Review XLV:1 (Feb.
1992), pp. 1-23. N.F.R. Crafts, British Economic Growth During the
Industrial Revolution, ch. 3 (pp. 48-69). Clark Nardinelli,
"Were children exploited during the industrial revolution?" Research in Economic History 11
(1988), pp. 243-276. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 65-85. |
|
Nov. 23 |
Changes in
standards of living as reflected in changes in the average height of a given
population. In-class grammar exercise |
Stephen Nicholas
and Deborah Oxley, "The living standards of women during the Industrial
Revolution, 1795-1820," Economic
History Review 46:4 (Nov. 1993), pp. 723-749. Stephen Nicholas
and Richard Steckel, "Tall but poor: Living standards of men and women
in pre-famine Ireland," Journal of
European Economic History 26:1 (Spring 1997), pp. 105-130. David Weir,
"Parental consumption decisions and child health during the early French
fertility decline, 1790-1914,"
Journal of Economic History 53:2 (June 1993), pp. 259-274. Nitty-Gritty Grammar, pp. 86-96. |
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Fri., Nov. 27th:
Index number problem due by 4:45 pm today |
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|
Day, Date |
Topic or exercise, Notices |
Reading assignments, comments |
|
Nov. 30 |
Germany upsets the
European balance of power |
Jürgen Kocka,
"Capitalism and bureaucracy in German industrialization before
1914," Economic History Review
34:3 (Aug. 1981), pp. 453-468. Richard Tilly,
"German industrialization and Gerschenkronian backwardness," Rivista di Storia Economica 6:2 (June,
1989), pp. 139-164. Jeremy Edwards and
Sheilagh Ogilvie, "Universal banks and German industrialization: A
reappraisal," Economic History
Review 49:3 (Aug. 1996), pp. 427-446. |
|
Dec. 7 |
France: unusual population history; the myth of
stagnation. |
Richard Roehl,
"French industrialization: A reconsideration," Explorations in Economic History 13:3 (July, 1976), pp. 233-281 Robert R. Locke,
"French Industrialization: The Roehl Thesis Reconsidered" and
Richard Roehl, "French Industrialization: A Reply," Explorations in Economic History 18:4
(Oct.1981): 415-435. George Grantham,
"The French cliometric revolution: A survey of cliometric contributions
to French economic history," European
Review of Economic History 1:3 (Dec. 1997), pp. 353-396. |
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Written analysis of the Roehl-Locke debate
due today. |
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End
of the Fall semester |
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Jan. 4 |
A laggard Great
Power? Austria- Hungary before World
War I. In-class grammar exercise |
S. M. Eddie,
"Economic Policy and Economic Development in Austria-Hungary,
1867-1913," The Cambridge Economic
History of Europe, vol. VIII, ed. Peter Mathias and Sidney Pollard
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 814 - 886. |
|
Jan. 11 |
Emancipation and
industrialization in Imperial Russia |
Gregory, chs. 1-4,
pp. 3 - 80. |
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Jan. 18 |
Second term test covering all lecture and
reading materials from Oct. 26th through Jan. 4th, inclusive. This test will also include at least 10% on
writing-specific questions, particularly grammar. |
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|
Day, Date |
Topic or exercise, Notices |
Reading assignments, comments |
|
Jan. 25 |
World War I and
the new map of Europe. In-class grammar exercise |
Charles Feinstein,
Peter Temin, and Gianni Toniolo, "International economic organization:
Banking, finance, and trade between the wars," in Charles Feinstein,
ed., Banking, Currency, and Finance in
Europe Between the Wars (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. 9-75. |
|
Feb. 1 |
Deflation and
hyperinflation in the 1920s |
Mark Thomas.
"The macro-economics of the interwar years," ch. 13 in Roderick
Floud and Donald McCloskey, eds., The
Economic History of Britain Since 1700, 2nd edition, vol. 2 (Cambridge University
Press, 1994), pp. 320-347. George Horsman, Inflation in the Twentieth Century:
Evidence from Europe and North America (St. Martin's Press, 1988), ch. 2:
"The great German inflation," pp. 6-37. Gustavo Franco,
"Fiscal reforms and stabilization: Four hyperinflation cases
examined," Economic Journal
100:399 (March 1990), pp. 176-187. |
|
Feb. 8 |
The Great
Depression of the 1930s |
Barry Eichengreen,
"The origin and nature of the Great Slump revisited," Economic History Review 45:2 (May,
1992), pp. 213-239. |
|
Feb. 15 |
Reading
week. No class today. |
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Mon., Feb. 22:
Review of Gregory book due by 4:45 pm today |
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Feb. 22 |
Revolution, War
Communism, and the great inflation in the Soviet Union |
Gregory, Before Command, chs. 5 & 6, pp.
81-127. P. Bernholz,
"Currency substitution during hyperinflation in the Soviet Union,
1922-1924," Journal of European
Economic History, Fall 1996, pp. 297-324. |
|
Mar. 1 & 8 |
The New Economic
Policy and the Great Debate |
Gregory, Before Command, ch. 7, pp. 128-165. Simon Johnson and
Peter Temin, "The economics of NEP," Economic History Review 46:4 (Nov. 1993), pp. 750-767. |
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Mar. 15 |
Collectivization
and the first Five-Year Plan |
Robert C. Allen,
"Capital accumulation, the soft budget constraint, and Soviet
industrialization," European
Review of Economic History 2:1 (Apr. 1998), pp. 1-23. |
|
Day, Date |
Topic or exercise, Notices |
Reading assignments, comments |
|
Mar. 22 |
The 1930s in the
Soviet Union In-class grammar exercise |
Barbara Katz,
"Purges and Production: Soviet
Economic Growth, 1928 - 1940," Journal
of Economic History XXXV:3 (Sept. 1975), pp. 567-590. |
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Mar. 29 |
Summing up |
Nathan Rosenberg
& L.E. Birdzell, Jr., How the West
Grew Rich, pp. vi-xi and pp. 3-36, and ch. 10: "Implications and
Comparisons," pp. 302-335. |
|
Apr. 5 |
Review and
catch-up |
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This course ends with a final examination during
the April-May examination period. The
Registrar's Office will announce the dates of the April-May exams
approximately in the middle of March. |