Prof. John H. Munro munro5@chass.utoronto.ca

Department of Economics john.munro@utoronto.ca

University of Toronto http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/







BIBLIOGRAPHIES FOR ECO 201Y: 'A'-LIST TOPICS - Short Format



Topics in the Economic History of Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe, c.1250-1750



These bibliographies are in the short-format only. Please see the general notes about bibliographies for undergraduate economic history courses.



The following topics are on the 'A'-list for 2001- 2002; and some of them will be transferred to the 'B'-list for the following year, when most of this year's 'B'-list topics will, conversely, become 'A'-list topics. Each year a different set of 10 topics, 5 topics for each of the two terms, is chosen from the Master List of essay topics, though with some occasional duplications, of the most important topics.



The following topics are numbered in the sequence 1 - 10; but the term 'Topic no.' following each of these numbers refers to the Topic Number in the Master List of Essay/Tutorial Topics for Eco. 201Y. You should refer to this Master List for a more detailed discussion of the debates about and thus the significance of each of these major topics, in European economic history.



See: http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/201TUTOP.pdf



To retrieve these bibliographies, click on the blue-highlighted topic number for the html version, and on the highlighted words 'Also in pdf format', for that version; but do so only in the html version of this document (since the pdf version will not give you that access)There are no statistical tables or any other appendices in the short-format of these bibliographies. Usually presented in just two pages, they contain the most important readings and some key questions to be considered..



FIRST TERM: Fall Term, 2001:



(1) Topic no. 1: The Great Famine, the Black Death, and the Late-Medieval Demographic Crises: Demography and Conjuncture in 14th- and 15th-Century Europe. Also in pdf format.

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(2) Topic no. 2: The Problem of Serfdom in European Economic Development, I: The Decline of Serfdom in Western Europe, c. 1300 - c. 1500. Also in pdf format.



(3) Topic no. 5: The 'Great Depression' of the Late Middle Ages: Economic Slump or Economic Growth? Also in pdf format.



(4) Topic no. 7: The Church, the Usury Question, and Late-Medieval Banking: the Foundations of Modern Finance. Also in pdf format.



(5) Topic no. 9: Urban Governments, Guilds, and Gender-Related Occupations in Late-Medieval European Towns, 1200 - 1500: Merchant-guilds, industrial-craft guilds, and the contrasting economic and political roles of men and women in West European towns during the later Middle Ages. Also in pdf format.





SECOND TERM "A" LIST TOPICS: Winter-Spring Term 2002



(6) Topic no. 13: The Population Problem and the Economic Development of Early-Modern Europe (1500 - 1640): Was there a 'Malthusian Trap'? Also in pdf format.



(7) Topic no. 15: The 'Rise of Capitalism' and The Protestant Reformations: the Weber-Tawney Theses on the 'Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,' 16th - 18th Centuries . Also in pdf format.

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(8) Topic no. 17: The 'Rise of the Gentry' Debate: On the Origins of Modern 'Agrarian Capitalism'. Also in pdf format.



(9) Topic no. 20: The 'General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,' 1620-1740: the Hobsbawm Thesis on the Transition from 'Feudalism to Capitalism'. Also in pdf format.



(10) Topic no. 24: Mercantilism: Money, Economic Nationalism, and the State in Early-Modern Europe. Also in pdf format.