This semester--spring of 2008--for Economic 210a, Introduction to Economic History, taught by Jan de Vries and Brad DeLong
Look at the websites for Brad DeLong's spring semester teaching: Econ 101b: Intermediate Macroeconomics... Econ 210a: Introduction to Economic History...
Econ 210a: February 21: Question: The Inflation of the 1970s John Maynard Keynes said, near the end of his life, that the problem of controlling inflation while maintaining full employment was fundamentally a political and not an economic question. Did the 1970s in the developed world prove him right, or prove him wrong?
Econ 210a: February 21: Question: Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? The economic history of the world both in the post-WWII period 1945-1990 and, in broader perspective, over the past two centuries has been one in which the world has shrunken enormously in distance along every conceivable measurement, and yet in which income and productivity differences between societies have grown enormously. What, in your judgment, are the possible big-picture theories for explaining this phenomenon that are worth investigating?
A growing literature develops explanations for 'Europe's golden age' (the European economy's fast growth in the third quarter of the 20th century). Is this effort misguided? In other words, do we really need fancy explanations for a straightforward phenomenon that is easily explained in terms of convergence and delayed structural change?
According to Theo Balderston in The World Economy and National Economies in the Interwar Slump, the "international view" is the most important contribution to the literature on the Great Depression in the last 20 years. According to Anna Schwartz, it adds nothing to what was known before. With whom do you agree, and why?
When Milton Friedman passed away on November 16th, 2006 it was widely observed that his "Monetary History" (coauthored with Anna Schwartz) was the single most influential book in the general area of monetary- and macro-economics written in the 20th century. Why has this book been so influential?
Textbooks say that the gold standard had internal mechanisms that worked automatically to maintain both price and balance-of-payments stability. On what grounds do Arthur Bloomfield and Hugh Rockoff challenge this textbook view? Are their points convincing?
What is Alexander Gerschenkron's view of the role of financial markets and institutions in economic development? How might he have modified it had he known about the four decades of development experience that now post-dates his article?
Memo Question for November 22:
An influential literature cites the scarcity of labor as a key factor in the emergence of the "American System of Production." How much of this argument (if any) survives Peter Temin's 1966 critique?
Memo Question for November 15:
Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson write that the "historiography of the industrial revolution in England has moved away from viewing the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as a unique turning point in economic and social development." Do you agree with their conclusion that the literature has moved too far in this direction? Why or why not?
Memo Question for November 8:
Adam Smith's 1776 Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is not what we would call a work of "economics." What kind of a book is it? Who do you think its intended audience is? Of what is Smith trying to persuade his audience? Which of the conclusions that Smith reaches--and of which he is trying to persuade his audience--would we think of today as conclusions of "economics"?
ECONOMICS 210A: MEMO QUESTION FOR November 1: Agriculture and Forced Labor in Early Modern Growth
Adam Smith confidently predicted that slavery was on its way out for economic reasons. In commercial society, manumission would be the rule because the carrot of working for yourself is much more efficient than the stick of being whipped by others. Was Adam Smith right? If you conclude he was wrong, why was he wrong?
The grading policy for memos will be:
14 memos. 2 points each. As follows:
0 - not handed in
1 - handed in, but could have been written without thinking about the reading
2 - reflects upon the reading
3 - teaches us something
ECONOMICS 210A: MEMO QUESTION FOR OCTOBER 11
Was it in fact the case-as UCLA's Jared Diamond maintains-that the invention of agriculture was the worst mistake in the history of the human race? Which side of this question do you come down on-yes or no-and why? Or, if you want to suspend judgment, what additional facts about the past and present would you need to know before you would come down on one side or the other?
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