ECO 2210Y: Graduate Course Outline

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

Selected seminar topics in the economic and social history of later medieval and Renaissance Europe, including, inter alia: demography, marriage and family structures; agriculture, feudalism, manorialism, and serfdom; the role of the Church, state, and the military structures; money, credit, and prices; regional and international commerce, banking, and finance; manufacturing industries, the textile trades, urban economies, and craft guilds; labour conditions (urban and rural), income distributions, living standards; social and economic philosophies found in medieval society. See the list of seminar topics offered, on pp. 4 - 6.

3. Prerequisites: none, other than admission into the M.A. programme. No prior knowledge of Economics is required to take this graduate course.

a) For each seminar topic (see appended list) there will be issued, at least a week in advance, a one page bibliography, with a list of questions, to organize both the reading and the seminar discussion. For each major topic, a complete bibliography, with tables, graphs, maps, etc. will also be issued.

b) The seminar format is flexible and may depend on the nature of the topics. For some topics, two or more students may be asked to give a report that answers a specific question on the reading list; or several students may be asked to comment upon specific assigned readings; for other topics, two students may be asked to engage in a debate, one defending and the other opposing some major thesis in a current debate; or, more rarely, one student may be called upon to conduct the entire seminar, introducing it with a major report on the readings. Some students may also be called upon to comment upon the oral presentations given by fellow students.

c) The actual assignments will be drawn from these lists, usually from the asterisked items (*); and the amount to be read will certainly not be unreasonable or in any way onerous: about one or two journal articles (or book chapters) a week.

d) Though the introductory topics on demography, agrarian society, money & prices, and the role of the Church will be mandatory, the rest will be chosen collectively by the members of the seminar from the master-list of topics. Some topics may require more than one session (generally with the consent of the seminar).

a) Students may choose to fulfil the essay requirement by one of the two following options:

i) Two standard term essays, each about 15 pages (double-spaced typing or word-processing, with Times Roman 12 as the norm). With an average of 300 words a page, that means about 4,000 - 5,000 words each. These essays should be a critical analysis, focusing one fairly narrow theme or thesis, more or less based upon secondary sources, with perhaps some use of printed documents and/or statistics.

ii) A major research paper of about 30 pages, based upon primary sources (using printed documents, calendars of précis of documents, microfilms, statistics, etc.), but with a thorough examination of the secondary literature as well.

A preliminary outline should be presented to me by 23 January 2003; and the research paper itself will be due on 7 April 2003, at least for all those graduate students expecting a degree in the Spring Convocation or expecting to be considered for fellowships.

b) You are expected to choose their own topics, preferably based upon on the seminar topics offered in this course; but you must first obtain my approval for both the topic and your bibliography. If you select option 1, you would be best advised to convert one of your oral reports into a formal essay.

c) All essays must use proper forms for both footnotes (or endnotes) and bibliography. You should consult my undergraduate handout: Instructions on Writing Term Essays. You might also find useful the following book (supplied by the Bookstore for my two undergraduate courses):

Deirdre N. McCloskey, Economical Writing (Waveland Press, Illinois, 1999); formerly issued as: Donald N. McCloskey, The Writing of Economics (New York: MacMillan, 1987), which is out of print, but may be available as second-hand copies. In just 63 pages. If you wish to consult it in the library: its LC code is PE 1479 E35M33 1987.

a) There will be no mid-term tests whatsoever, and no final examination, unless some students specifically request a final examination as a substitute for either a low grade in the oral reports, or for one of the essays.

b) While students are not permitted ex ante to substitute a final examination for the oral seminar reports by opting to forgo those reports, they may choose to make such a substitution ex ante for the essay. In simple English, if you do not wish to spend the Spring (and/or summer) in writing a long research essay, and want your grade recorded in May, then I would recommend that you do this examination, as a special three-hour written examination. The major case for doing the long research essay is to produce research that may subsequently be used for your doctoral dissertation.

It will not be possible to cover all of the following topics in any academic year, particularly since some topics may require two sessions; and thus some topics necessarily must be omitted. While some introductory topics are mandatory, most will be selected according to the interests of those students composing the seminar. If the primary interest of the class lies in the later medieval era, we will focus on those medieval topics; but if enough students are interested in the early-modern era, the class may decide instead to consider the later topics on this list in lieu of some medieval topics.

1. Medieval European Demography and the Family: (1) The Origins and Evolution of the European Marriage Pattern. The economic, social, and cultural determinants of medieval population changes, in terms of age of marriage, family size, and family limitation (fertility controls).

2. Medieval European Demography and the Economy: (2) Did Late-Medieval Population Growth Produce a Malthusian Crisis? Was medieval society the victim of 'the law of diminishing returns' with continued population growth; was the consequence a demographic and economic crisis?

3. Medieval European Demography and Disease (3): The Black Death, Later Plagues, and Economic Conjoncture in Late-Medieval European Society. Was the Black Death the result of enogenous or exogenous causes? What were its consequences: economic, social, cultural?

4. Medieval Agriculture, 1260 - 1460: Manorial and non-manorial agrarian regimes in southern and northern Europe; the Open-Field Systems of northern Europe, and crop-rotation systems.

5. Agrarian Changes during the Late Middle Ages, 1260 - 1460: Italy, France, Spain, England. Changes in estate farming, manorial Institutions, land-tenures, agricultural production, land use, and agricultural techniques, during the late-medieval 'slump.'

6. The Problem of 'Serfdom' in European Economic Development (I): The Decline of Serfdom in the West, 13th to 15th Centuries: Italy, France, the Low Countries, and England.

7. The Problem of 'Serfdom' in European Economic Development (II): The Spread of Serfdom in the East (Germany, Poland, Russia, Bohemia, Hungary), 14th to 16th Centuries.

8. The Role of Money in the Medieval Economy: Money, Coinages, and Moneys-of-Accounts. An overview of the main functions and forms of money, monetary payments, monetary accounting, and pricing in the late-medieval market economies.

9. Monetary Problems and Economic Conjoncture in Late-Medieval Europe, 1290 - 1460: the nature of price changes; and the interrelationships among demographic, agrarian, and monetary changes in the European economy, during the late-medieval 'Great Depression'.

10. The Church, Feudal Society, and Economic Attitudes: the Usury Question in Late-Medieval and Renaissance Europe, 1200 - 1540.

11. Banking, Credit, and Foreign Trade in the Late-Medieval Economy, 1250 - 1460: Deposit Banking, Foreign-Exchange Banking, and the Italian Dominance of International Trade and Finance.

12. The Dynamics of Change in Late-Medieval Industry, 1250 - 1460: Textile Manufacturing in Western Europe (Italy, the Low Countries, France, and England).

13. Guilds, Women, and Urban Governments in the Late-Medieval European Economy, 1200 - 1500: Craft guilds and other corporations; the economic status of women in craft guilds; the role of guilds and merchants in town governments in western Europe.

14. Feudal Governments, Warfare, and Taxation in Late-Medieval Europe, 1290 - 1500: warfare, taxation, and the economic crises of the 14^th and 15^th centuries.

15. The 'Crisis of the Early Fourteenth Century': Did western Europe experience a combined demographic and economic crisis in the early fourteenth century, i.e. before the onslaught of the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War? If so, were the consequences of the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War all the worse because these prior crises had so seriously undermined the economy and society of medieval Europe?

16. The 'Great Depression' of the Late Middle Ages: the current debate about recession and prosperity in the late-medieval economy, 14th and 15th centuries.

17. The Late-Medieval 'Standard of Living' Debate: Rising Real Wages and Growing Poverty? Did real incomes of urban craftsmen, labourers, and peasants rise in the late Middle Ages? This topic is a variant of topic no. 16, and also reviews the discussions of topics nos. 5, 6, 9, 14-15.

18. Economic 'Recovery' and Expansion in Europe, 1450 - 1540: demographic and economic expansion with the revival of transcontinental and Mediterranean commerce; and the Central European mining boom.

19. Demographic Changes and Population Growth in the European Economy: 1450 to 1600: Was there (again) a Malthusian Crisis?

20. Money, Credit, and Monetary Changes in the European Economy, 1450 - 1600.

21. Banking, Finance, and Public Credit in Late-Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Italy, South Germany, Antwerp, and Spain, 1450 - 1600.

22. The European 'Price Revolution,' 1520 - 1640: Monetary and Real Factors. The current debate about the monetary, demographic, and other 'real' causes of inflation; and the relationship between inflation and economic growth.

23. Early-Modern Agriculture (I): Agricultural Innovations in the Low Countries, 1320 - 1500.

24. Early-Modern Agriculture (II): The Diffusion of Agricultural Innovations in England during the 16th century.

25. Early-Modern Agriculture (III): The Enclosure Movements in Tudor England, 1460 - 1600.

26. Early-Modern Agriculture (IV): The 'Rise of the Gentry' Debate (the Tawney Thesis). Agriculture and Social Structure in Tudor and early Stuart England ( 1500-1640)

27. Agriculture (V): Social and Agrarian Changes in France: the Decline of Feudal Manorialism and the Spread of Rural 'Embourgeoisement' in Late-Medieval and Renaissance France, 1453 - 1600.

28. Prices, Population, Prosperity, and Poverty in Tudor and early Stuart England, 1500 - 1620: the 'Standard of Living' Debate. How did demographic (or 'Malthusian') pressures, inflation, Enclosures, and institutional changes affect the living conditions of rural and urban labourers, of peasants and craftsmen, 1500 - 1620?

29. Changing Patterns of Mediterranean Commerce: Italy, the Levant, and the Hispanic World, 1350 - 1600.

30. The Hanseatic League and the Rise of the Dutch Commercial Empire, 1350 - 1600: the role of sea-power and naval technology.

31. England, the Hanse, and the Netherlands: International Commercial Rivalry, 1350 - 1600: cementing and breaking the bonds with the Low Countries.

32. Overseas Exploration, Maritime Expansion, and Colonization by Europeans, 1450 - 1600: the Portuguese and Spanish Empires in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

33. Draperies Old and New: the Transformations of the Textile Industries in the Low Countries, England, and France, 1450 - 1600.

35. 'Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism': the Weber-Tawney Thesis and Its Critics.

36. The 'General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century': the Debates engendered by the Hobsbawm and Trevor Roper thesis on the transition from 'feudal' to 'capitalist' societies and the emergence of the modern state. This debate also concerns the origins of the modern Industrial Revolution in an era of economic crisis, which came between the economic and demographic booms of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

No textbooks as such are required for this course; instead, individual bibliographies will be issued for each seminar topic selected.

But students wishing to have basic reference books at their disposal may wish to acquire the first of the following books, and to consult the rest in the library.

1. David Nicholas, The Transformation of Europe, 1300 - 1600 (New York: Oxford University Press; and London: Arnold, 1999).

2. Carlo M. Cipolla, Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000 - 1700, 3rd edition (London and New York: Norton, 1994). HC 240 C49513 1994

3. Thomas A. Brady, jr., Heiko O. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, eds., Handbook of European History, 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. I: Structures and Assertions (Leiden, New York, and Cologne: E.J. Brill, 1994). D203 H33 1994. The relevant chapters are:

4. Ralph Davis, The Rise of the Atlantic Economies, World Economic History series (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1973). In paperback: 352 pp. HC 240 D32.

5. Hermann Kellenbenz, The Rise of the European Economy: Economic History of Continental Europe, 1500 - 1750 (World Economic History series, London, 1976). HC 240 K387. Although this book complements the Ralph Davis book, in the same series, I am not very enthusiastic about it.

6. Philippe Contamine, Marc Bompaire, Stéphane Lebecq, Jean-Luc Sarrazin, L'économie médiévale, Collection U, série 'Histoire médiévale' (Paris: Armand Colin, 1993). A very good macroeconomic and sectoral survey of developments in the formation of the medieval European economy from late Roman to early-modern times, with the bulk of the book focused on the era 980 - 1492 AD.

7. Edwin S. Hunt and James M. Murray, A History of Business in Medieval Europe, 1200 - 1550, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

8. Jean Favier, Gold and Spices: the Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages, trans. Caroline Higgitt (London and New York: Holmes and Meier, 1998). Translation of Jean Favier, De l'or et des épices: Naissance de l'homme d'affaires au moyen âge (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1987).

9. Charles Wilson and Geoffrey Parker, eds. An Introduction to the Sources of European Economic History, 1500 - 1800 (World Economic History series, London and New York, 1977).

10. Michael Postan, E. E. Rich, Charles Wilson, et al, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, in 8 vols. For this course, the relevant volumes are:

Vol. I: The Agrarian Life of the Middle Ages, 2nd revised edn., ed. M. M. Postan (1966).

Vol. II: Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages, 2nd revised edn., ed. M. M. Postan and Edward Miller (1987).

Vol. III: Economic Organization and Policies in the Middle Ages, ed. M. M. Postan, E. E. Rich, and Edward Miller (1963).

Vol. IV: The Economy of Expanding Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. E. E. Rich and C. H. Wilson (1967).

Vol. V: The Economic Organization of Early Modern Europe, ed. E. E. Rich and C. H. Wilson (1977).

11. Carlo Cipolla, ed., The Fontana Economic History of Europe (London and New York, 1972-76), in 6 vols. For this course:

12. Robert Lopez, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950 - 1350 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1971; republished Cambridge University Press, 1977).

13. Harry Miskimin, The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe, 1300 - 1460 (1969; reissued Cambridge UP, 1977). HC 41 M5 1975.

14. Harry A. Miskimin, The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe, 1460-1600 (Cambridge University Press, 1977). HC 240 M649.

15. Jan De Vries, The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600 - 1750 (Cambridge University Press, 1976). HC 240 D48 1976. Though this book goes beyond the boundaries of the course, it does complete the series (8-11); and it is also probably the best of the series as well. While the others are out of print, it is still available.

16. Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress (Oxford and London: Oxford University Press, 1990). HC 79 T4 M648 1992

17. Fernand Braudel, Capitalism and Material Life, 1400 - 1800, translated by Miriam Koch (New York, 1967; reissued 1971, 1981). HC 45 B 713; also: HC 51 B67413 1981.

18. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century, in 3 vols. (1979; translated from the French by Sian Reynolds; English editions, New York, 1981 - 84).

19. Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vols. (English version: London, 1972). Obviously not a textbook: but the masterpiece by a great economic historian.

20. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System, 3 vols. (London and New York, 1974 - 89): Vol. I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century (1974).

Recommended in a qualified fashion: for its massive amount of information, and some original if provocative insights. But it should be used with some care, with some considerations of its strong biases, and particular theses being propounded.

21. Carlo M. Cipolla, Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700 (New York, 1965).

22. Carlo M. Cipolla, Money, Prices, and Civilization in the Mediterranean World (Princeton, 1936).

23. Norman J. G. Pounds, An Historical Geography of Europe, 450 BC - AD 1330 (Cambridge, University Press, 1973; revised version 1990). D 21.5 P62 1990

While this book seemingly 'ends' just at the beginning of the course, European geography did not change that much after 1330 -- and this book still remains useful for this course.

24. Bruce M. S. Campbell and Mark Overton, eds., Land, Labour, and Livestock: Historical Studies in European Agricultural Productivity (Manchester University Press, 1991). HD 1917 L33 1991

25. David Grigg, The Transformation of Agriculture in the West (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992). HD 1415 G684 1982

26. Del Sweeney, Agriculture in the Middle Ages: Technology, Practice, and Representation (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).

27. T. H. Aston and C.H.E. Philpin, eds., The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe (Cambridge, 1985). HD 1917 B74 1985.

29. H. P.R. Finberg and Joan Thirsk, eds. The Agrarian History of England and Wales (Cambridge University Press):

30. David Grigg, Population Growth and Agrarian Change (London, 1980). HB 871 G82

31. Ester Boserup, Population Growth and Technological Change: A Study of Long-Term Trends (Chicago, 1981). HB871 B587

32. William C. Jordan, The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

33. Colin Platt, King Death: The Black Death and Its Aftermath in Late-Medieval England (London: University College London Press, 1996; Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1996).

34. John Walter and Roger Schofield, eds., Famine, Disease and the Social Order in Early Modern Society (Cambridge, 1989). HC 260 F3 F36 1991

35. R. I. Rotberg and T. K. Rabb, eds., Population and Economy: Population and History from the Traditional to the Modern World (1986). HB3585 P6581986.

36. Carlo M. Cipolla, The Economic History of World Population (London, 1964). HC 54 C5 1970

37. Herman Van der Wee, ed., The Rise and Decline of Urban Industries in Italy and in the Low Countries: Late Middle Ages - Early Modern Times (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988). HC 310.5 R57 1988

38. David Nicholas, The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century (London and New York: Longman, 1997).

39. David Nicholas, The Later Medieval City, 1300 - 1500 (London and New York: Longman, 1997).

40. Christopher R. Friedrichs, The Early Modern City, 1450 - 1750 (London and New York: Longman, 1997).

41. Paul M. Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen Lees, The Making of Urban Europe, 1000 - 1950 (Harvard University Press, 1985). HT 131 H38 1985

43. Ad Van der Woude, Akira Hayami, and Jan De Vries, eds., Urbanization and History: A Process of Dynamic Interactions (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

44. Jacques Heers, L'Occident aux XIVe et XVe siècles: aspects économiques et sociaux (Nouvelle Clio series, Paris, 1963).

45. Richard Britnell and John Hatcher, eds., Progress and Problems in Medieval England (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

46. Frédéric Mauro, Le XVIe siècle européen: aspects économiques (Nouvelle Clio series, Paris, 1970).

47. Trevor Aston, ed., Crisis in Europe, 1560-1660: Essays from Past and Present (London, 1965).

49. C.G.A. Clay, Economic Expansion and Social Change: England, 1300-1700, 2 vols. (London, 1984)

52. Richard Tawney, The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century (London, 1912; reissued New York, 1967). A classic.

53. F. J. Fisher, ed., Essays in the Economic and Social History of Tudor and Stuart England In Honour of R. H. Tawney (Cambridge, 1961).

54. Donald C. Coleman and A. H. John, eds. Trade, Government, and Economy in Pre-Industrial England: Essays Presented to F. J. Fisher (1976).

55. James D. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350 - 1750 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

56. James D. Tracy, ed., The Political Economy of Merchant Empires (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991).

57. Herman Diedericks, Paul Hohenberg, and Michael Wagenaar, ed., Economic Policy in Europe Since the Late Middle Ages: the Visible Hand and the Fortune of Cities (Leicester and New York, 1992). HT 131 E26 1992.

58. Bruce M. S. Campbell, ed., Before the Black Death: Studies in the 'Crisis' of the Early Fourteenth Century (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1991). Reprinted by Manchester University Press in a paper-back edition in 1992;

59. Bruce M.S. Campbell, English Seigniorial Agriculture, 1250 - 1450, Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography no. 31 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).

60. Rosemary L. Hopcroft, Regions, Institutions, and Agrarian Change in European History (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000).

61. Mavis Mate, Women in Medieval English Society, New Studies in Economic and Social History (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

62. James A. Galloway, ed., Trade, Urban Hinterlands and Market Integration, c.1300 - 1600 (London: Centre for Metropolitan History, 2000).

63. Stephen R. Epstein, Freedom and Growth: the Rise of States and Markets in Europe, 1300 - 1750, Routledge Explorations in Economic History no. 17 (Routledge LSE: London and New York, 2000).

64. Peter Clark, David Palliser, and Martin Dauton, eds., The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, 3 vols. (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

65. John Aberth, From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages (London and New York: Routledge, 2001).

67. Peter Musgrave, The Early Modern European Economy (Basingstoke: Macmillan; and New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999).

68. Michael McCormick, Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce, AD 300 - 900 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

69. David Abulafia, Mediterranean Encounters: Economic, Religious, and Political, 1100 - 1550, Variorum Collected Studies, Ashgate (Aldershot, 2000).

70. Marten Prak, Early Modern Capitalism: Economic and Social Change in Europe, 1400 - 1800 (London: Routledge, 2001).

71. John Hatcher and Mark Bailey, Modelling the Middle Ages: the History and Theory of England's Economic Development (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

72. Guy Blois, La grande dépression médiévale: XIVe - XVe siècles: le précédent d'une crise systémique, Actuel Marx Confontation (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2000).

73. Adriaan Verhulst, The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe, Themes in International History no. 4 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).

1. Eleanora M. Carus-Wilson, ed., Essays in Economic History, 3 vols. (London, 1954 - 62). HC 12 C3.

2. F. C. Lane and J. C. Riemersma, eds., Enterprise and Secular Change: Readings in Economic History (London, 1952). HB 75 L33

3. Peter Earle, ed., Essays in European Economic History, 1500 - 1800 (London, 1972). HC 240 E23

4. Peter Burke, ed., Economy and Society in Early Modern Europe (1972). HC 240 B88 1972

5. T. H. Aston and C.H.E. Philpin, eds., The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe (Cambridge, 1985). HD 1917 B74 1985.

7. Geoffrey Parker and Lesley Smith, eds., The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1978). D 246 G45.

8. Donald C. Coleman, ed., Revisions in Mercantilism (London, 1969). HB 91 C628.

9. Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The Economic Decline of Empires (London, 1970). HC 39 C48.

10. D. V. Glass and D. E. C. Eversley, eds., Population in History: Essays in Historical Demography (London, 1965). HB 881 G59 1965a

12. Roderick Floud, ed., Essays in Quantitative Economic History (1974). HC 26 E77 1974

14. Charles Wilson, ed., Economic History and the Historian: Collected Essays of Charles Wilson (London, 1969). HC 12 W5.

15. William N. Parker and E. L. Jones, eds., European Peasants and Their Markets: Essays in Agrarian Economic History (Princeton, 1975). HD 1917 E86.

17. L. A. Clarkson (formerly T.C. Smout, and M.W. Flinn), general editor, Studies in Economic and Social History, prepared for the Economic History Studies, published by Macmillian Education Ltd. (London, England).

Various titles, several dozen, each is about 50 - 60 pp. in length, with bibliographies:

C. Theories of Economic Growth and Economic Development as applied to European Economic History

1. Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas, The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (Cambridge, 1973).

2. Douglass C. North, Structure and Change in Economic History (New York, 1981).

3. Nathan Rosenberg and L. E. Birdzell, How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World (London, 1986).

4. Nathan Rosenberg, Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics (Cambridge, 1982).

8. Maurice Dobb, Studies in the Development of Capitalism (New York, 1947). From a Marxist perspective.

9. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System, 3 vols. (New York, 1974 - 89).

10. Max Weber, General Economic History (1923; English trans. by Frank Knight, New York, 1961).

11. Carlo M. Cipolla, Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000 - 1750 (London, 1976).

12. Joseph Schumpeter, Imperialism and Social Classes: Two Essays (New York, 1951).

13. Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle (Cambridge, Mass. 1934; reissued New York, 1961).

14. Joseph Schumpeter, Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process (1939; abridged English version by Rendigs Fels, New York, 1964).

15. Karl Polyani, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (London, 1944; reissued New York, 1957). An anti-capitalist but non-Marxist interpretation of modern industrialization. A classic (to be used with care).

16. W. W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge, 1960). Also a classic (to be used with care).

19. François Simiand, Recherches anciennes et nouvelles sur le mouvement général des prix du XVIe au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1932).

20. Charles P. Kindleberger, Economic Laws and Economic History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).

* 1. Donald N. McCloskey, Econometric History, Studies in Economic and Social History Series (London: Macmillan, 1987). This is a very short, highly readable, and most valuable introduction to the very subject.

2. Roderick Floud, An Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Historians (London, 1973). For the novice in the field.

3. C. H. Lee, The Quantitative Approach to Economic History (London, 1977). A more sophisticated approach.

6. Mary Morgan, The History of Econometric Ideas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

7. Jon Stewart, Understanding Econometrics (London, 1976). A good, short introduction to the subject for those who have not yet had a course in econometrics. For more advanced textbooks, consult the following two:

8. J. Johnston, Econometric Methods (New York, 1963 for 1st edn.; and various subsequent editions).

Even well-practised writers and mature scholars will find merit in and many benefits from reading the following short tract on the art of writing in the field of economics and economic history:

Deirdre N. McCloskey, Economical Writing, 2^nd edn. (Waveland Press, Illinois, 2000); formerly issued as: Donald N. McCloskey, The Writing of Economics (New York: MacMillan, 1987), which is out of print, but may be available as second-hand copies. In just 63 pages. If you wish to consult it in the library: its LC code is PE 1479 E35M33 1987.