The University of Alberta DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS European Economic Development Rick Szostak Winter 2001 Tory 9-13F, 492-7645 cwp:course outlines:412b1-516b1jan2001-co-rsz Office Hours: Tues, Thurs 3:30 - 4:30 Grading Class Presentation 20% Term Paper Due: Thursday March 22 30% Final Exam Monday April 23, 2001 (14:00) 50% A penalty of 1% of the final mark per day will be imposed on all late essays without exception. Class Presentation Depending on the number of students, we will do either individual or group (of two) presentations. Each group/individual will select a paper on the reading list (except Landes, Greif, Kindleberger, Szostak (1996), or Jones) which they will present in class. They must discuss the question(s) being addressed, the results obtained, and the methodology employed. (They must also provide a written outline of the major arguments in the paper.) They should provide their opinion of the strength of the results. Class presentations should take no more than one 80-minute class. Each group member must participate in the class presentation. In general, each member of the group will receive the same mark for the presentation. Each group must choose the paper it will present by the end of the third week of classes. Term Paper Each student will write a 10-15 page paper on some aspect of European economic history. I have some ideas for suitable paper topics. I urge students to start thinking about their paper as soon as possible. I should emphasize that the term paper must by analytical. This is, it should be structured around a question of set of questions. I am not impressed by papers which are merely descriptive. Course Outline (All papers on reserve in Economics Reading Room, Tory 9-13E) We will begin with an overview of the purpose of and the methodology employed in economic history research. The remainder of the course will be devoted to a survey of selected papers on important questions in European economic history (arranged in roughly chronological order). I will try in the lectures to provide a historical background for the papers discussed. Students with limited knowledge of the outlines of European economic history may find it worthwhile to read some general works such as Sidney Pollard's Peaceful Conquest. Additional readings may be added at the whim of the instructor. I will at times discuss important issues not raised in any of the readings; students are reminded that they are responsible for all of the lecture material. Landes, David "What Room for Accident in History? Explaining Big Changes by Small Events", Economic History Review, November 1994, pp.637-56. Fenoaltea, Stefano "The Rise and Fall of a Theoretical Model: The Manorial System", Journal of Economic History, 1975, pp.386-409. [This is primarily a response to Douglass North and R. Thomas "The Rise and Fall of the Manorial System: A Theoretical Model", Journal of Economic History, 1971, pp.777-803, which students may also wish to read. It is also on reserve.] Clark, Gregory "The Cost of Capital and Medieval Agricultural Techniques", Explorations in Economic History, 1988, pp.265-294. Greif, Avner "Institutions and International Trade: Lessons From the Commercial Revolution", American Economic Review, May 1992. Epstein, S.R. "Craft Guilds, Apprenticeship and Technological Change in Preindustrial Europe", Journal of Economic History, September 1998, pp.684-713. Ulrich Bloom and Leonard Dudley "A Spatial Approach to Structural Change. The Making of the French Hexagon", Journal of Economic History, 1989, pp.657-76. Mokyr, Joel "Understanding Technological Progress", in his The Lever of Riches, 1990 Szostak, Rick Review of J.M. Claut "The Colonizer's Model of the World", Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1996. Jones, E.L. "Time and Chance in the Old World Economics", Journal of Economic History, September 2000, pp.856-9. Razzell, Peter "The Growth of Population in Eighteenth Century England: A Critical Reappraisal", Journal of Economic History, December 1993. Steckel, Richard H. "Stature and the Standard of Living", Journal of Economic Literature, December 1995. Grantham, George "The Macroeconomics of pre-industrial economics" European Review of Economic History, August 1999, pp.199-232. Szostak, Rick "The Organization of Work: The Emergence of the Factory Revisited", JEBO, 1989 (plus comment and reply, 1992). Berg, Maxine and Pat Hudson "Rehabilitating the Industrial Revolution", Economic History Review, February 1992, pp.24-49. O'Brien, Patrick "Do We Have a Typology for the Study of European Industrialization in the 19th Century?" Journal of European Economic History pp.291-333. Offer, Avner "The British Empire 1870-1914; a waste of money?" Economic History Review, May 1993, pp.215-38. Clark, Gregory "Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? Lesson From the Cotton Mills", Journal of Economic History, 1987, pp.141-174. O'Rourke, Kevin and Jeff Williamson "Around the European Periphery 1870-1913: Globalization, Schooling, and Growth" European Review of Economic History, August 1997, pp.153-90. Good, David F. and Tongshu Ma "The economic growth of Central and Eastern Europe in comparative perspective 1870-1989" European Review of Economic History, August 1999, pp.233-52. Kindleberger, Charles "The Great Disorder: A Review", Journal of Economic Literature, September 1994. Temin, Peter "The Golden Age of European growth: A review essay" European Review of Economic History, April 1997, pp.127-49. Economics 412-B1 & 516-B1 (Jan 2001) Course Outline [412b1-516b1jan20010co-rsz] Page 1 Economics 412-B1 & 516-B1 (Jan 2001) Course Outline [412b1-516b1jan20010co-rsz] Page 2