These bibliographies are in the long-format only. Please see the general notes about bibliographies for undergraduate economic history courses.

The following topics are on the 'A'-list for 2011 - 2012; and some of them will be transferred to the 'B'-list for the next time that this course is given, when most of this year's 'B'-list topics will, conversely, become 'A'-list topics. Each year a different set of 10 topics, 5 topics for each of the two terms, is chosen from the Master List of essay topics, though with some occasional duplications of the most important topics (especially on demography).

The following topics are numbered in the sequence 1 - 10; but the term 'Topic no.' following each of these numbers refers to the Topic Number in the Master List of Essay/Tutorial Topics for Eco. 301Y. You should refer to this Master List for a more detailed discussion of the debates about and thus the significance of each of these major topics, in European economic history. See: Eco 301Y Master List of Tutorial Topics

These bibliographies are provided in both PDF format (default) and in MS - Word. To retrieve them, click on the blue-highlighted topic number for the PDF version, and on the highlighted words 'Also in MS Word', for that version; but do so only in the html version of this document (since the pdf version will not give you that access). In this long-format, the topic bibliographies are as complete as possible, with the readings listed chronologically in order of publication, grouped by subtopics; and each contains a long list of questions to be considered in reading these materials and in writing your essays. Most of these bibliographies also contain statistical tables, which are best read in the pdf format, since MS Word does not always translate Word Perfect tables propertly.

FIRST TERM, FALL 2011, 'A'-LIST TOPICS: September to December 2011:

(1) Topic no. 1: The Black Death and the Late-Medieval Demographic Crises: Demography and Economic Conjuncture in 14th- and 15th-Century Europe. Also in available in MS Word.

(2) Topic no. 2 : The Problem of Serfdom in European Economic Development, I: The Decline of Serfdom in Western Europe, ca. 1300 - 1500. Also available in MS Word.

(3) Topic no. 5: The 'Great Depression' of the Late Middle Ages: Economic Slump or Economic Growth?: a debate about changes in late-medieval living standards and economic welfare. Also available in MS Word.

(4)Topic no. 7:: The Church, the Usury Doctrine, and Late-Medieval Banking: the Foundations of Modern Financial Institutions and Markets (Private and Public). Also available in MS Word.

(5) Topic no. 9: Urban Governments, Guilds, and Gender-Related Occupations in Late-Medieval European Towns, 1200 - 1500 . Also available in MS Word .

SECOND TERM, WINTER 2012: 'A' LIST TOPICS: January to April 2012 (updated)

(6) Topic no. 13: The Population Problem and the Economic Development of Early-Modern Europe (1500 - 1640): Was there a 'Malthusian Trap'? Also in available in MS Word.

(7)Topic no. 14: The Era of the European 'Price Revolution', ca. 1540-1640: The Hamilton Thesis on 'Profit Inflation' and Economic Growth. Also available in MS Word.

(8) Topic no. 15: The 'Rise of Capitalism' and the Protestant Reformations: The Weber-Tawney Theses on the 'Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'.16th - 18th Centuries. Also available in MS Word.

(9) Topic no. 17: The 'Rise of the Gentry' Debate: On the Origins of Modern Agrarian Capitalism. Also available in MS Word

(10) Topic no. 20: The 'General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century, c.1620 - 1740: The Hobsbawm (Marxist) Thesis on the Transition from 'Feudalism to Capitalism'. Also available in MS Word.

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