Teaching
Current trends in economic history
Youssef Cassis and Chris Colvin
Department of History & Civilization, European University Institute
Spring Term, 2011-2012
The purpose of this seminar is to discuss recent and current developments in the field of economic history. Opening with a short historiography of the discipline, sessions are then devoted to the relationships between economic history and history on one hand, and economic history and economics on the other. The use and abuse of quantitative methods in economic history is the focus of a methodology session. Four themes at the frontier of historical research are discussed: financial history; global history; business history; and the history of international economic relations. The seminar will conclude by examining the future of economic history, including students' own projects.
» Course syllabus (PDF, 15.48 Kb)
Business in the global environment
Leslie Hannah and Geoffrey Owen, with Chris Colvin, Eric Golson and Rajiv Maluste
Department of Management, London School of Economics
Michaelmas Term, 2010-2011
The course looks at the process of globalisation at three levels: industries, firms and nations. The topics include: the changing structure of industries, using sectors such as automobiles and electronics to illustrate the new international division of labour; the response of companies, both those based in advanced industrial countries and those based in emerging markets, to increasing international competition; differences between countries in their institutional policies, focusing in particular on financial systems and corporate governance and on government industry and technology policies.
» Course syllabus (PDF, 101.2 Kb)
Teaching statement
I trained as both an economist and a historian because I think it is important to connect the present with the past in order to understand the context in which economic decisions are made. I also believe that history cannot be fully understood without using methods from economics.
I teach economics to my students as a form of applied social science, as a means of getting them to think about how and why the world around them works in the way it does. This partly involves providing them with the long view, so they can better appreciate in which ways society can change over time, and in which ways it can stay the same.
Special topics I am able to teach are (JEL codes in parentheses):
- Financial Crises (G01)
- Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro-Finance Institutions (G21)
- Firm Organization and Market Structure (L22)
- History of Financial Markets and Financial Institutions (N23 & N24)
- Micro-Business History (N83 & N84)
- Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives (O31)
- Intellectual Property Rights (O34)
- Cooperative Enterprises (P13)
- Economics of Religion (Z12)