Economic History

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In this course, students explore history from an economist's point of view. We study broad economic trends such as income growth, well-being, prices and inequality from ancient times through industrialization to today, locally and globally. For example, why did northern Europe and the US pull ahead economically between the 18th and 20th century? Moreover, we will study how history can help us understand and answer important economic questions: What are the economic benefits of large infrastructure investments such as railroads? How does innovation such as the printing press diffuse and what are the economic effects? This course will require students to read research articles and book chapters regularly and participate in discussions about the readings.