77975 - Economic History of Globalization

Learning outcomes

Globalization is a complex and multipronged phenomenon. Economic globalization proper has fully unfolded during the last hundred and fifty years, yet globalizing episodes characterized earlier periods as well. This course will take a long view of the economic and political history of the world, and discuss how flows of commodities, people, and ideas have become increasingly globalized. The course will discuss how globalization affects national and international inequality, economic development and institutions, as well as the relationship between global and local dynamics, and between economic, political, and social phenomena. By the end of the course, students will be able to discuss the fundamental trends of the economic and political history of the world in the last millennium, and critically examine the historical scholarship on globalization.

Course contents

The course will discuss how different visions of political economy and schools of economic thought have evolved over time and how they related to the social, political, economic and philosophical dimensions of their times.

By the end of the course, you will have developed critical thinking skills and will be able to analyze and discuss the fundamental characteristics of, and differences among, the principal schools of economic thought and political economy, and the contexts from which they emerged.

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory textbook:

Roger E. Backhouse (2002), The Penguin History of Economics, available also on Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=roger+backhouse&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

You are also responsible for all of the information contained in the following tutorial on plagiarism: https://lib.usm.edu/plagiarism_tutorial/whatis_plagiarism.html

You must complete the tutorial and successfully pass the quizzes and final test in the tutorial. The tutorial's contents may appear on the final exam.

The syllabus and additional material will be available on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

Lectures and class discussion. Depending on the number of students attending the course, class presentations by students on specific topics may be organized, in agreement with the instructor.

Assessment methods

Grades will be assigned on the basis of a written exam (for students attending class) or an oral exam (for non-attending students). The exam will evaluate your ability to explain and discuss critically the facts and analytical questions examined during the class lectures and in the bibliographic references.

Any academic misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, cheating, the use of unauthorized notes, the use of material prepared by others, etc.) will result in a grade penalty, a failing grade, and referral to the University Committee on Academic Misconduct, which may result in severe sanctions (e.g., suspension for one year).

 

Office hours

See the website of Michele Alacevich