Econ 30733: European Economic History II

Transcription

1 Econ 30733: European Economic History II John Lovett, Spring 2019 The Basics Instructor: John Lovett My Mantra: My teaching mantra is; Love of learning, Love for humanity, but a good learning experience involves more than just good (but sometimes forgotten) motivations. It takes organizations and details so here are some details. Office Hours: T, R: 10:00 12:00, Scharbauer Hall, Room 4112 How to Contact Me: j.lovett@tcu.edu Course Web Site: Use this site! Texts: 1) Exciting (for the most part) readings I will to you 2) Selected documents to be handed out in class. Description of the Course This course investigates the economic development of Europe from (roughly) 1700 to The ECON 30733course counts as an economics Historical Context course for Econ majors. It can alternatively serve as an economics elective for both Econ majors and minors. Our primary objectives in this course in this course are to: 1) Understand the importance of Europe s (and later the world s) transition from a preindustrial society to the first industrial society. The world has seen a lot of history. What makes Europe from 1700 to 1960 unique and important when compared to (for example) the history of Southwest Asia from 200 to 460 CE? Both places and periods are arguably important and offer exciting stories. Each has some lessons for today s generation. Nonetheless, Europe from 1700 to 1960 is of particular interest to economists, and anyone living today, because it was the first instance in which rapid material changes became the norm. For all of human history prior to (roughly) 1700, the norm was for each generation, in material terms, to live in a very similar fashion to that of their parents. Today, the opposite is true. Change is the norm. A production process or material item that hasn t changed since your parent s time is unusual. As an experiment, think of ways our material living standard is the same as our parents and ways in which they differ? Which list is longer? This new era of change has many characteristics besides just an increased rate of change. Humanity s energy use has increased by an order of magnitude as we turned from human, animal, and water energy to fossil fuels. Most production shifted from small enterprises to large scale factories. 2) Briefly examine colonization as a symptom and facilitator of Europe s economic development. How important were the colonies in explaining Europe s rise to economic hegemony? At the very least, colonization was a symptom of Europe s economic rise. One cannot develop and sustain colonies without good naval technology and a robust market for colonial goods. Did Europe s 1

2 colonies also make a significant contribution to European economic development? There are many theories arguing that colonization played a pivotal role in Europe s industrialization. We will examine these theories. 3) Investigate changes in Europe s Institutional environment. In addition to changes in production technology, Europe underwent tremendous changes in its political and legal systems. During the period of this course, Europe saw the rise of constitutional monarchy, representative governments, nationalism, populist movements, communism, fascism, etc. Most the modern political models were tried somewhere in Europe during the time period of this course. Why did Europe s institutional environment evolve as it did? Which of these systems worked well at promoting economic well-being? Was the choice of a political/economic system open to change or did geography largely dictate each nation s choice. What changes most directly interest an economic historian (aka an economist who studies history but is not a trained historian)? Were there, for example, very specific changes in property rights (in land or labor), government finance, financial markets, etc. during this period? If so, what were these changes and how did they affect Europe s economic development? 4) Look at the important role energy played in Europe s rise and later (relative) decline. It takes energy of some kind to produce everything we make from bread, to I-phones. In 1700, the energy used in production came from human and animal muscle, wind, water, and the yearly agricultural process. Estimates vary, but humans in advanced societies around the year 1700 used about 10,500 watt/hours of energy to produce their goods and services. Today, the average American still uses roughly the same amount of pre-industrial energy plus another 85 million watt/hours of energy from electrical or fossil fuel sources. That s more than an 8,000 fold increase! Dude! No wonder we can produce so much more than in the past! Where did this increase in energy use come from? In a word, coal. Further, Britain was far and away the early leader in coal production and use. For many economic historians, this is the single most important reason Britain led Europe into the Industrial Revolution. However, beginning in the early 1900s, oil began to replace coal as the most useable source of energy. While Europe had large reserves of coal, it is relatively short when it comes to oil. Perhaps the depletion of coal and the rise of oil played a large role in Europe s relative decline. 5) Examine the many, many, crises Europe faced between (roughly) 1910 and While Western Europe may have led the world into this era of change, as is often the case, it s hard to stay on top. Beginning (approximately) in the late 1800 s Europe lead over the rest of the world shrunk. Much of the first half of the 20 th century was a time of crises for Europe. First came the devastation of World War I. This was followed by rampant political and social strife throughout most of Europe. The specter of communism took hold in Russia while Germany and Italy went fascist. Then came the Great Depression, continued unrest, the horrors of World War II, the loss of colonial empires, etc. By the end of World War II, it is easy to argue that Europe had fallen from its former position of world leader. In recent decades, however, Europe seems to have climbed back to near the top of the Economic heap. Although the last 65 years are beyond the scope of this course, we will discern many lessons from Europe s half-century of (again relative) economic decline ( ). Examining the crises of the two World Wars will also allow us to better see one of the successes of the European unification movement: no more big European wars. 2

3 Grading. Possible points are shown at right. Course grades are assigned as shown below. A 92.5%+ A- 89.5%+ B+ B B- 86.5%+ 82.5%+ 79.5%+ C+ C C- 76.5%+ D+ 66.5%+ 72.5%+ D 62.5%+ 69.5%+ D- 59.5%+ Item Possible Points Exams x 100 = Final Exam Notebook checks (best 4 count) 4 x 12.5 = Homework (best 6 count) 6 x 25 = Participation/Attendance 36 x 4 = 144*. = Total = 849*. * Possible Participation and Total Points can vary. See below. Exams: Exams are generally half essay, half objective. I ll give you questions to study (via the course website) as the course progresses. Notebook Checks: You should keep your readings in a neat notebook with a tab seperating each reading. At five times during the semester I will check your notebooks. I will give you more specific criteria prior to each notebook check. Homeworks: You will have approximately 8 homework assignments. Your best 6 count. In some of these you will use quantitative/graphical analysis to investigate the economic effects of various historical changes. For example, you will investigate the role falling shipping costs played in changing both the types of items produced for export and the overall level of competition. In others, you will investigate models of growth used by economists, in particular the Solow model. Participation is based on attending class, and being attentive to the class discussion. Given that it is difficult for an instructor to acurately discern a student s level of attentiveness, as long as you are in class and seem to be attentive, you will generally get full particupation points for that day. The following, however, can cost you participation points: showing up late, using your cell phone, disruptive conversations, doing something else on your computer other than taking notes (ex. having other tabs open), unleashing rabid hyenas, etc.. Each class day is worth 4 points, but there are some caveats. Exam days and days class is cancelled (there should be 2 this semester) are not counted. I give you 1 free absences. Namely, I count your first unexcused absence the same as a cancelled class or exam day; i.e. a 0 of 0. I also count an excused absence the same as a cancelled class (0 of 0). An end of the semester example is below. 30 days present and attentive: 120 of 120 pts 1 day caught designing killer virus on computer: 1 of 4 1 day very late: 2 of 4 1 day absent but not excused (free day): 0 of 0 3 days absent but not excused : 0 of 12 1 day absent but excused (lung transpant): 0 of 0 Totals: 37 days, 123 of 140 Finally, I reserve the right to make minor changes to syllabus to facilitate a better student experience. 3

4 Econ European Economic History II John Lovett Students With Disabilities Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Student Disabilities Services in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box , Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible. Academic Misconduct Policy Don t cheat or facilitate cheating! Do your own work, don t plagiarize, etc. Definitions of academic misconduct, as well as possible sanctions for academic misconduct, can be found in the TCU Student Handbook. A Procedures for Dealing With Academic Misconduct can be found at the Department of Campus Life and the AddRan College Dean s office. One of the best predictors of economic success for a nation is low levels of corruption. Both theory and empirical evidence strongly support this. Nations in which cheating, bribery, favoritism, and bending the rules is the main to get what you want are almost universally poor and underdeveloped. They also are usually rife with great social problems such as incredible inequality. Why am I telling you this now? Playing fair is not just a good thing in the moral sense. Playing fair is also good for society. In societies where breaking the rules is the norm, people often get their positions and contracts based on who is the best cheater, not who is the best at doing the job or making the product. If cheating is pervasive, your doctor is not one of the best at providing medical care. Instead, he or she is simply one of the best at cheating on exams, etc. If cheating is prevalent, the company building the bridges you drive over is not particularly good at building safe, low cost bridges. Instead, they build unsafe, over-priced bridges, but sure know how to bribe and cheat their way into contracts. The point is that a cultural acceptance of cheating is a major scourge for both academia any society. Accordingly, I will punish any incidents of academic dishonesty I discover. 4

5 Econ European Economic History II John Lovett Tentative Course Readings Topic Tentative Readings Well Howdy!! Comparing 3 different periods in time: 1) Medieval, 2) ca the Industrial Revolution, and 3) Modernity A brief examination of the relationship between Europe s colonies and her modernization The Rise of Early Industry: causes and consequences The Standard of Living Debate(s) Who gained? Who lost? Decline: Take 1: Energy and Convergence from Below Decline: Take 2: Institutions and Wars Decline: Take 3: The Great Depression Decline: Take 4: World War II was really, really bad and where does that leave Europe in 1950? 0) Syllabus 1) Lovett. Chapter 1 A Topic for the Past, and a Topic for Today 2) McKay et al's The Expansion of Europe 3) A work by E. A. Wrigley written sometime between 1962 & and about how coal was a total game changer 4) Broadberry & O'Rourke s "Introduction to Volume I", from The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe, Volume 1 5) Stavrianos. Chap 23, "Western European Expansion: Dutch, French, & British Phase 6) Williams British Industry and the Triangular Trade, in Capitalism and Slavery (1944). This is a discounted old classic, but a good intro to the ideas. 7) Dennison & Simpson's Chap 6, "Agriculture", from The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe, Volume 1 8) Merriman's Chap 16, "The Industrial Revolution, ", in A History of Modern Europe (2010). 9) Yorke, "The Materials of Our Dreams" & "Power of a Thousand Horses" 10) Broadberry, Fremdling, and Solar's Chap 7, "Industry", from The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe, Volume 1 11) Kander, Malamina, & Ward. Power to the People. selected readings from chap 4, "Constraints and Dynamic s" 13) Pamuk, Şevket and van Zande, Jan Luiten. (2010). Standards of Living, in The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe Volume 1. 14) Kander, Malamina, & Ward. Selected readings from chap 8, "Energy Transitions in the 20th Century" of Power to the People. 15) War and Revolution". by McKay et al. 16) "Myths of the Great War". by Mark Harrison. Working paper of the University of Warwick, Department of Economics. 02 July E mailed to you. 17) Zamagni s The First Major International Crises and The 1930 s & World War II in The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe Vol 2 18) Selected readings from chapters 1 & 2 of Clavin s The Great Depression in Europe, ) Selected readings from chapter 5 ( Mixed Economy and Welfare State ) in Berend s An Economic History of Twentieth Century Europe. 5