Economic History

The course focuses on the evolution of the World economies from the early ones in which Malthusian pressures on population were the dominant historical fact to ones in which population growth and rising per capita income had become the norm. The course has an interpretative approach and it is meant to provide students with the historical skills necessary to understand the unravelling of current economic phenomena e the genealogy of the ongoing scenarios.

Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students are expected to have a good command of the events, dates, concepts and main interpretations concerning economic history. In addition, they will be able:
- to single out and evaluate the critical hairpin bends in the paths of evolution of a regional/national economic system, the multiple positions of the State towards it, and the strengths or critical points represented by the workforce;
- to understand and evaluate, through a comparative approach, the role of institutions in conditioning and determining, over the long run, the main characteristics and types of economic and financial systems, as well as their evolutionary dynamics;
- to reflect on the role of national and international contexts in providing opportunities and/or placing constraints on growth and develompent, as well as on the action of businesses and entrepreneurs;
- to carry on a critical analysis of economic/entrepreneurial choices and decision-making processes in relation to inertia and traditions, technological factors (or limits), and short or long term crises;
- to argument along the space-time axis the importance of institutions, technological innovations, markets, State actions, business and entrepreneurship for economic growth.