5171 - FOUNDATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY

The aim of this course is to provide students with a broad understanding of the evolution of the world economy, with special attention to Europe. The development of the European economy is analyzed considering institutional, social and cultural factors and by using a historical approach. The European case is considered in a broad comparative perspective: in addition to Europe and its American appendices, the units of analysis are the great world civilizations - China and the Far East, India, the Muslim world. The main objective of the course is to stress that the wealth and poverty of nations are unquestionably shaped by institutional and socio-economical elements.

• Geography meets History: different human and social reactions to Nature's opportunities and bonds
• Europe from periphery to supremacy: the revolution of world equilibrium between 1000 and 1500
• Europe's attempt to conquer the world: an assessment of costs and benefits
• The revolution of the European equilibrium between 1500 and 1700: Catholics and Protestants
• The Industrial Revolution: definitions and debates
• The Industrial Revolution and local contexts
• Knowledge, finance and progress
• The great civilizations and the challenges of Modernization
• Winners and losers in the Twentieth century
• Globalization: convergence and divergence

Student evaluation is made up of a partial exam at mid semester and an oral exam at the end of the course. The same program applies for students who do not attend the lessons.

• D.S. LANDES, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, New York, Norton, 1999.