LECON5210 Economic History Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course introduces students to selected elements of economic history. The objective of the course is to enable the creative and multifaceted analysis of economic events in the real world. The course covers a variety of historical periods, starting with the Black Death as the origin of modern capitalism according to some historians, and covering colonialism, different approaches to trade and economic sovereignty, the industrial revolutions, as well as developments in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/labs/studios/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1: all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The course has two assessment elements. The first consists of a presentation, where students will practice oral analysis skills, as well as the preparation of effective visual aids.  The written assignment requires  students to  produce in-depth and  concise writing that is key to good economic communication with non-economists, including policymakers and the wider public. Students are encouraged to use both summative feedback from the Presentation and feedback from their formative assignments to improve their communication and attention to writing for different audiences.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Backhouse, R. (2002) The Penguin History of Economics. Penguin.
• Kishtainy, N. (2017) A Little History of Economics. Yale University Press.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Students will study the following topics:

• The concept of economic growth
• The origins of capitalism
• Mercantilism
• International Trade
• The Industrial Revolutions