Economy and Business in History: Asia in the Age of Globalization

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

How do we explain the important role of the state in China's economy past and present? Why did China not experience an industrial revolution in the 19th century? Why did capitalism never take off? These are just a few examples of important questions we will address in this course. The relationship between visible and invisible hands, i.e. state and market, provides the framework for our in-depth discussion of China's economic and business history that geographically includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinese overseas communities across Asia. At the beginning of the 21st century, China has reached a stunning level of growth and entrepreneurship embedded in a complex, constantly changing framework of economic, social, and political structures. A historically informed approach to China's business and economic development allows us to uncover the institutional and organizational origins of firms, different forms of entrepreneurship and the relationship between government and business in a long-term perspective. This course also offers a comparative approach to the issue of China's industrialization and economic modernization across time in a global setting.