5171 - FOUNDATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY

The aim of this course is to provide the student with a broad outlook of the evolution of the world economy during the past century. The units of analysis will be the great civilizations: Europe and its American 'appendices', 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 reactions to Nature's opportunities and bonds 
• 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 disputes 
• The Industrial Revolution and local contexts 
• Knowledge and financial resources to promote progress 
• The great civilizations and the challenges of Modernization 
• Winners and losers in the Twentieth century 
• Globalization: convergence and divergence 

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

The exam is made up of an intermediate written test and of a final examination, both written and oral. The same program applies for students who do not attend the lessons.