Professor John Munro passed away on December 23, 2013. This site is maintained and kept online as an archive. For more infomation please visit the Centre for Medieval Studies
Prof. John H. Munro
Department of Economics
University of Toronto
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 'B'-list for 2003 - 2004; and some of them will be transferred to the 'A'-list
for the following year (if this course is given again), when most of this year's 'A'-list topics will, conversely, become 'B'-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.
The numbers for these topics are those for the topic numbers in the Master List of Essay/Tutorial Topics for
ECO 201Y1. 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. Click on the following:
Eco 201Y Master List of Essay Topics
These bibliographies are presented in both PDF format (default) and MS Word. To retrieve theme, click on the
blue-highlighted topic number for the PDF version, and on the highlighted words 'Also available in MS Word ',
for that version; but do so only in the html version of this document (because 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; indeed,
in some cases, the MS Word conversion of my original Word Perfect document corrupts the tables.
FIRST TERM, FALL 2003: September - December 2003:
http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/
Topic no. 3: The Problem of Serfdom in European Economic Development,
II: The Spread of Serfdom into Easter Europe, c. 1400 - c. 1700. Also available in
MS Word .
Topic no. 4 :
Feudal Governments, Warfare, Taxation, and Economic Crisis in Late Medieval Europe.
Also available in MS Word.
Topic no. 6: Monetary Problems and 'Economic Conjuncture' in Late-Medieval Europe,
c. 1290 - c. 1520: the nature of monetary and price changes (deflation and inflation) in the late-medievel
European economy.
Also available in MS Word
Topic no. 8: The Dynamics of Change in Late-Medieval Industry, ca. 1250 - ca. 1460: Textile
Manufacturing in Western Europe (Italy, the Low Countries, France, and England).
Also available in MS Word.
Topic no.11: The Inauguration of the Age of Overseas Expansion: Maritime Explorations and the
Establishment of the Portuguese and Spanish Overseas Empires, c. 1450 - 1600.
Also available in MS Word
Topic no. 12: The Rise and Expansion of The Dutch Commercial Empire: ca. 1360 - ca. 1650. Also available in MS Word
SECOND TERM, WINTER 2004: 'B' LIST TOPICS for January to April 2004
Topic No. 16. The Social Costs of Agricultural Modernization:
The Tudor Stuart Enclosure Movements in England, from ca. 1480 to ca. 1700 .
Also available in MS Word.
Topic no. 18: On the Industrial 'Origins' of the Industrial Revolution:
The Nef Thesis on Industrial Change in Tudor-Stuart England, ca. 1540 - 1640.
Also available in MS Word
Topic no. 19: Social and Agrarian Changes in Early-Modern France:
the Decline of Feudalism, Rural 'Embourgeoisement' and the Seigneurial Reaction, 1480 to 1789.
Also available in MS Word.
Topic no. 22. The 'Proto-Industrialization' Debate: The Mendels Thesis on Rural
Handicraft Industries in Early Modern Europe and the Transition to Modern Urban Industrialzation. .
Also available in MS Word
Topic no. 23 . The Economic Declines of Spain and Italy in the Seventeenth Century:
Aspects of the 'General Crisis Era' or Independent Phenomena? Also available in MS
Word.
Topic no. 24: Mercantilism: Money, Economic Nationalism, and the State in Early-Modern
Europe. Also available in MS Word.
Topic no. 25: The Economic Decline of the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century: Absolute or Relative? Also available in MS Word.