14.731 | Spring 2009 | Graduate

Economic History

Course Description

This course is a survey of world economic history, and it introduces economics students to the subject matter and methodology of economic history. It is designed to expand the range of empirical settings in students’ research by drawing upon historical material and long-run data. Topics are chosen to show a wide …
This course is a survey of world economic history, and it introduces economics students to the subject matter and methodology of economic history. It is designed to expand the range of empirical settings in students’ research by drawing upon historical material and long-run data. Topics are chosen to show a wide variety of historical experience and illuminate the process of industrialization. The emphasis will be on questions related to labor markets and economic growth.
Learning Resource Types
Presentation Assignments
Written Assignments with Examples
Cottonopolis, black-and-white engraving by Edward Goodall (1795-1870) of smoke rising from the textile mills in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Cottonopolis, engraving by Edward Goodall (1795-1870), based on the painting Manchester, from Kersal Moor by William Wylde (1857). The name Cottonopolis refers to Manchester’s status as the international center of the cotton and textile processing industries in the mid-nineteenth century. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.)