ECON 2513 - Global Economic History

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2019

This course covers important aspects of the historical evolution of the global economy from the industrial revolution until today. The analysis of long-term economic development over the last two centuries includes historical developments of economic ideas and concepts and how these shaped economic policy and development. With a global outlook it focuses on topics which are relevant to an understanding of current economic issues ranging from industrialization processes to international financial and trade arrangements to the rise of the welfare state and government intervention in the economy.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code ECON 2513
    Course Global Economic History
    Coordinating Unit Economics
    Term Semester 2
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 4 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Prerequisites ECON 1012 and ECON 1008
    Incompatible ECON 3509
    Assumed Knowledge ECON 1005 or ECON 1010
    Restrictions Available only to BEc and BEc(Adv) students
    Assessment Typically project work, mid-term exam and final assignment
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Dr Florian Ploeckl

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes

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

    1. Describe the main concepts used to explain the central elements of the historical development of the global economy.
    2. Identify how economic ideas and theories have informed economic policy.
    3. Identify and analyse historical developments which enhance our understanding of contemporary economic conditions.
    4. Compile and judge relevant quantitative and qualitative information about the global economy in a range of formats from a variety of sources.
    5. Discuss and communicate, in particular present, economic topics in a clear, concise and competent manner.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Deep discipline knowledge
    • informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
    • acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
    • accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
    1-5
    Critical thinking and problem solving
    • steeped in research methods and rigor
    • based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
    • demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
    1-5
    Teamwork and communication skills
    • developed from, with, and via the SGDE
    • honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
    • encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
    4,5
    Career and leadership readiness
    • technology savvy
    • professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
    • forward thinking and well informed
    • tested and validated by work based experiences
    1,2,3
    Intercultural and ethical competency
    • adept at operating in other cultures
    • comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts
    • able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes
    • demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges
    3,5
    Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
    • a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal
    • open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers
    • able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate
    3,4,5
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    There is no official text book for this course. A list of required reading material as well as recommendations will be made available on MyUni.
    Recommended Resources
    Central readings will be drawn from the following material, which are recommended in their entirety

    General Economic History
    Richard Pomfret: The Age of Equality: the Twentieth Century in Economic Perspective (Belknap 2011)
    Jeffry Frieden: Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century (Norton, 2006)
    Robert C. Allen: Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford University Press, 2011)

    Applied Economic History
    Gregory C. Clark: A Farewell to Alms, (Princeton University Press, 2007)
    Barry Eichengreen: Globalizing Capital (Princeton University Press, 1996)
    Douglas A. Irwin: Trade Policy Disaster: Lessons from the 1930’s (MIT Press, 2011)
    Charles P.Kindleberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley 2005)

    Ideas and their Impact
    Douglas A. Irwin: Against the tide : an intellectual history of free trade (Princeton University Press 1996)
    Peter H. Lindert: Growing Public Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
    Recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, Prize Lectures, The Nobel Foundation

    This is a reading-intensive course, and you are expected to read widely beyond the required material following your own initiative. While all of the required readings will be made available directly you should understand how to find and access further material. If you are uncertain about how to access online articles, e-books or other materials you should take a look at the university library website http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library.
    Online Learning
    This course will make use of MyUni. Lecture slides, recordings and additional material will be posted through this system.
    Some of the workshop group activities will centre on communicating economic knowledge online and the resulting material from all workshops will be made available online to all students.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    This is an applied Economics course which focuses on understanding and communicating economic ideas in written, visual and oral forms.

    There are two main teaching activities, a weekly lecture (2hr) and biweekly workshops (2hr): The lectures focus on introducing and explaining key issues and ideas. In particular the main concepts used in Economic History to understand the historical development of the global economy are discussed. This is complemented by incorporating milestones in the History of Economic Thought and their ramification for economic policy and development.

    The workshops build upon the material introduced in the lectures as well as readings and deepen the understanding through a focus on the communication the central ideas, concepts, arguments and evidence. Various forms of communicating and presenting economic material will be covered in hands-on activities, for example the creation of a poster, data visualization or presentation. A major focus is on the use of various visualization formats ranging from charts, graphs to maps.

    The resulting material of the small group activities (posters, presentations, etc) will be made available to the whole class to facilitate access to study material in a range of formats..
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
    The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that, for this course, you are expected to commit approximately 12 hours per week including lectures and workshops
    Learning Activities Summary
    Teaching & Learning Activities Related Learning Outcomes
    Lectures 1,2,3
    SGDE Workshop 4,5

    Lecture Schedule

    Note: The following is a list of tenative lecture topics
    Week 1 The Economics of Subsistence and the Malthusian Economy
    Week 2 The Industrial Revolution and the Origin of modern industrial economies
    Week 3 The First Globalization & the Role of Free Trade
    Week 4 The Rise of the Welfare state
    Week 5 The Great Depression and the Impact of Economic Crises
    Week 6 Post-War Reconstruction and the Dream of International Integration & Cooperation
    Week 7 Development strategies and the global shocks of the 1970s
    Week 8 Midterm test
    Week 9 (Post-) Communism: Rise, Fall, Transitions and Reunification
    Week 10 China’s Transformation & the Asian ‘Miracle’
    Week 11 ‘Overcoming Malaise’, the Conservative Revival of the 1980s
    Week 12 Special Topic (illustrating historical relevancy for a current economic policy issue)
    Small Group Discovery Experience
    The workshops are designed to be Small Group Discovery sessions. The focus of these sessions is for students to practically focus on communicating outcomes of the research process. Each workshop will be dedicated to one particular form of communication (for example posters, presentations, maps, etc). A central part of these sessions is a practical experience, students will be asked to cooperate in small groups to apply a particular communication method to the material covered in the lectures prior to the workshop.

    The resulting material from these small group activities will be made available to the whole course allowing their utilization as study material.
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment Task Due Date/ Week Weight Length Learning Outcomes
    Participation Every week 10% TBA TBA
    Project (group work) Week TBA 30% TBA 1,4,5
    Midterm Exam Week 8 30% TBA 1,2,3
    Paper/ Essay (individual work) Week 13 30% TBA 1,3,4,5
    Total 100%
    Assessment Related Requirements
    Due to the nature of Economic History and the reading/writing/communication intensity of this course the quality of English expression is considered to be an integral part of the assessment and may affect the mark.
    Assessment Detail
    Participation
    Participation will be assessed weekly in the relevant sessions. Exact details will be on MyUni

    Project Work
    Students have to complete group assignments relating to the group work during the workshops. This will likely involve a combination of engaging with the content as well as the respective formats of the group project outcomes

    Midterm Exam
    The midterm exam is currently scheduled as an in-class exam during the lecture in week 8 and will cover the material of the preceding weeks.

    Paper
    The paper is a written assignment covering the material of the whole course and will require students to provide a short, precise argument discussing an economic history question or statement. Exact details will be on MyUni
    Submission
    Written assignments will make use of Turnitin. Exact deadlines and submission procedures will be posted on MyUni.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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