Economic History

Summer term - Integration and Growth in the World Economy (E580B)

Content

The seminar provides an overlook over interesting topics in European economic history during the latest era. You will learn what led to the “First Era of Globalization” (1880-1913) and what determinants gave rise to its failure. What can history teach us about the current wave of globalization and which influence will anti-globalization movements have? We will also discuss the latest research on the biological standard of living and human capital development, which offers important insights about the economic development in certain countries and regions. As the methodological aspects are intrinsically tied to contents and results of economic history research, we will discuss how to derive such results and how to present them to the public. During the course you have to revise the materials and prepare assignments. These are mandatory for the assessment.

Learn more about the structure and details of the course in the following content:

Master seminar in Economic History: "Integration, Human Capital and Growth in World Economic History”

Key facts about the course

ECTS-Credits

9

 

Level

M.Sc.

Degree

Workload

30/240

class/self

Cycle

SS

generally

Course language

ENG

 

Duration of the module

1

term

Exam written

Term paper

 

Maximum Student number

40

 

Registration

Necessary!

Registration period: 01.03. - 19.04.2026

Type of registration: online form + via Alma
(online form here available during the registration period)

Please note: Confirmation emails are not sent before the end of the registration period!

 

 

 

Course type

Seminar (2 SWS)

Literature

Baten, Joerg (ed.), A History of the Global Economy: 1500 to the Present, Cambridge University Press)
O'Rourke, K./ Williamson, J. (2000): Globalization and History, Cambridge.
See the articles and papers on our internet pages as well as articles lately published in journals

Objectives

In this seminar you questioning general issues in international economics and interesting economic developments in particular countries and you will see the world in a new light. You will also strengthen your knowledge in applied statistical analyses techniques and execute them with STATA. In doing so, you will acquire important skills that enable you to statistically assess the development of a country and get a general idea about its peculiarities.

Topics

  1. Inequality and Human Capital Formation in Latin America (requires Spanish language skills)
  2. Migrant Selectivity and Growth Effects in Latin America (requires Spanish language skills)
  3. Early Italian Human Capital Formation: what the Inquisition Files Tell Us (requires Italian language skills).
  4. Human Capital of Criminals in 18th/19th C England: the Old Bailey Files
  5. Numeracy estimates of the elderly worldwide: selectivities and biases? (data mainly available)
  6. Religion and Human Capital: the counter-reformation in the Czech Lands and Southeast Germany
  7. Social Mobility in Portugal (idea: Portuguese inquisition files inform about parental occupation, own occupation and age heaping)
  8. Human capital in Portugal during the early modern period (idea: Portuguese inquisition files)
  9. Human capital and reformation : what witch process records can tell us
  10. Human capital formation in Albania and Southeastern Europe
  11. Determinants of Human capital formation in Eastern Europe
  12. Education and disease in Italy: could more educated groups avoid some diseases?
  13. Globalization and the Biological Standard of Living
  14. Did human play a role for military outcomes in the early modern period?
  15. Inequality and human capital formation in Africa
  16. Migrant selectivity of Chinese emigrants
  17. Migrant selectivity of Eastern European emigrants

Please let uns know by e-mail your three favourite topics: wisogespam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de