Why should we study economic history? This course argues that economic history is relevant for managers, decision-makers and policy-makers for at least three reasons. First, events that happened in the past may harbour important lessons for the design of economic policy and thus the organization/allocation of resources in a firm, a country, a region or even from a global perspective (c.f. for example Sessions 2, 3, and 6 below). Second, often we observe that events in the past have long-lasting persistent effects that continue to play a large role today: a firm understanding of the channels behind this persistence is thus crucial to understand our current world (c.f. for example Sessions 1, 4, and 5 below). Third, economic history provides a huge arsenal of events and policies that researchers in business, management and economics can draw upon to test modern theory with regard to its empirical validity (this applies to some extent to all sessions below).
Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
At the end of the course, students will have gained an informed and critical perspective on economic history and which forced have shaped socioeconomic development over time. Students will be able to recognize the significance and contribution of historical experiences and interpretations to their field of study, as well as to the understanding of current economic interactions and structures. Students will have engaged with important economic-historical events and the essential questions and topics that have shaped and influenced the global economy since 1800. They will also acquire a fundamental understanding of the methods and approaches of economic history and economics as a scientific discipline, including how quantitative methods are applied to the study of history.
Continuous assessment courses (PI) are highly interactive courses. Attendance is a firm requirement of this course, as many of the learning experiences take place during class and through interactions with peers. Students should come to each class prepared to discuss the assigned readings and to actively participate in class activities and discussion. For an active participation related to group tasks, each group member has to speak up in class discussions of the group task output. It is not enough that only one group member speaks for the entire group. Students are asked to be respectful of the classroom environment and the time of the instructor and other students. Surfing the Internet, text messaging, and other similar disruptions to the class will have an impact on the participation component of your grade.
Students must be present for at least 5 of the scheduled sessions. Students who fail to meet the attendance requirement will be de-registered from the course. According to WU regulations, valid reasons for missing scheduled sessions are those outside the control of the student (illness, accident, death of a close relative). Professional and work obligations are not valid reasons, as students have the course schedule in advance and should be able to plan accordingly.
There are three types of learning activities: first, in each session there is a lecture component – the topics covered in this part of the lecture will be the basis for the final essay that makes up for 40% of the final grade. Students are expected to read the papers listed under the point “Literature discussed in session” prior to each session. This is important for the second type of activity: group tasks, which will be a big part of each lecture component. In these tasks, students will be split into groups of max. three to do research on and discuss questions that arise related to each session’s topic. For an active participation, each group member has to speak up in the subsequent class discussions of the group task output. It is not enough that only one group member speaks for the entire group. As a third component, there will be student presentations in groups of three on different pre-determined topics, followed by discussion rounds. These will make up for 30% of the final grade. Students are expected to actively engage and participate in discussions. As a fourth component, each student has to write three short essays/summaries on the questions covered in presentations of their fellow students (not their own presentation).
1. Final essay: 40%
2. Active participation in the sessions/group tasks: 15%
3. Presentation: 30%
4. Short essays/summary notes: 15%
88%-100% Excellent (1)
75.5%-87.5% Good (2)
63%-75% Satisfactory (3)
50%-62.5% Passing (4)
<50% Not Passing (5)
As part of the course, performance is required in all four assessment components; otherwise, the course is considered incomplete. The use of any kind of AI-based software (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard etc.) is generally prohibited. Only for some specific group tasks, AI tools can be used when this is indicated on the respective lecture slide with the group task instructions. If AI tools are used in this course for activities other than the indicated group tasks, this will be considered as fraudulent or cheating, since there would be a pretence of scientific achievements.
Positive Absolvierung der LV „Einführung in das Management“
Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.
Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte
E-Mail:
geschichte@wu.ac.at
Laura Wurm
Back