ECONOMIC HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE (Economics 531) Term 2 Winter Session 2012/13 M-W 12:00 1:30 PM Instructor: Mauricio

cio Drelichman Buchanan Tower 1007 mauricio.drelichman@ubc,ca Office hours: by appointment What is the course about? For several millennia, the income of the vast bulk of humanity hovered around subsistence levels. While occasional great civilizations and powerful states arose, they only provided abovesubsistence income for an elite, before invariably declining and dying off. At some point in the second millennium, Western Europe saw the coalescing of forces that would eventually allow it to break away from this pattern. This course is an attempt to understand what was different about Western Europe. Why did it end up ruling over most of the rest of the world, and not vice versa? Why did the Industrial Revolution happen there? And, more importantly, how do these processes inform our understanding of modern economic theory? How does the course work? First the bad news: you will be reading a lot. There is no other way of learning economic history (and most of the rest of economics). There are definite advantages to reading solid numbers of good papers: you will learn different techniques, you will be able to weigh different arguments, you will get more ideas, you may even end up writing better. So use the time-honored technique: apply rear-end to chair and read. The course is organized around broad topics. It is not about historical events, but rather about what economics has to learn from history. Therefore, although the reading list does have a loose chronological organization, I will make no apologies for jumping across time and space when the subject at hand demands it. The main requirement of the course is to write a research paper. I suggest you start thinking early and often about possible topics and discuss them with me, either via email or in person. You can choose any topic as long as it is related to Western Europe before the twentieth century. Once you are satisfied with your topic, you will prepare a 4-5 page research proposal, which you will hand in no later than Wednesday, February 6. Your research proposal should include the following elements:

What is your research question? Why is it interesting / relevant? Theoretical framework. Empirical approach. Data sources (please make sure the data exist before writing a research proposal!)

Once both you and I are satisfied with it, you will be able to proceed with data collection, empirical treatment, and paper writing. During the last week of class, you will present your paper to the class in about 20-30 minutes. The research paper (including its research proposal and presentation elements) is worth 50% of the grade. An exam worth the remaining 50% will be held in class on Wednesday, March 13.

READING LIST Why History Matters * The Importance of History for Economic Development Nathan Nunn Annual Review of Economics 1: 65-92. 2009 http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Nunn_ARE_2009.pdf The Deep Determinants of Economic Development a) Institutions Economic Performance Through Time Douglass North American Economic Review 84 (3): 359-368. 1994. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118057 * Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson In Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf, The Handbook of Economic Growth. North-Holland, 2005. http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/download_pdf.php?id=1183 Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development Dani Rodrik, Arvind Subramanian and Francesco Trebbi Journal of Economic Growth 9 (2): 131-165. 2004. http://www.springerlink.com/content/j3l71744234772tx/fulltext.pdf * Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson American Economic Review 91(5): 1369-1401 (2001), April-May 2003, v. 1, iss. 2-3: 397-405. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2677930 The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Investigation of the Settler Mortality Data David Albouy American Economic Review, forthcoming http://www-personal.umich.edu/~albouy/AJRreinvestigation/AJRrev.pdf * The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change and Economic Growth Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson American Economic Review 95 (3): 546-579. June 2005. http://www.jstor.org/pss/4132729

* Craft Guilds, Apprenticeship and Technological Change in Preindustrial Europe S. R. Epstein The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 58, No. 3. (Sep., 1998), pp. 684-713. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2566620 Freedom and Growth: the rise of states and markets in Europe S. R. Epstein 2000. London: Routledge. * License to Till: The Privileges of the Spanish Mesta as a Case of Second Best Institutions. Mauricio Drelichman Explorations in Economic History 46 (2): 220-240. April 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2008.10.001 b) Legal Origins Legal Origins Edward Glaeser and Andrei Shleifer The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 (4): 1193-1229. 2002 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4132477 * The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer Journal of Economic Literature 46 (2): 285-332. 2008. http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/consequences_JEL_final.pdf c) Geography and Factor Endowments * Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development among New World Economies Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff Economa 3 (1): 41-88. 2002. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20065432 Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond New York: W. W. Norton. 1997 * The Long-Term Effects of Africas Slave Trades Nathan Nunn The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (1): 139-176. 2008 http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/empirical_slavery.pdf

* The Curse of Moctezuma: American Silver and the Dutch Disease Mauricio Drelichman Explorations in Economic History 42(3): 349-380. July 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2004.10.005 * Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa Nathan Nunn and Diego Puga Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/rugged.pdf * Institutions and the Resource Curse in Early Modern Spain Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth In Institutions and Economic Performance, Elhanan Helpman (ed.), Harvard University Press, 2008. http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/Resource_curse_final.pdf d) Cultural Norms Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies Avner Greif Journal of Political Economy 102 (5): 912-950. 1994 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138652 * The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon American Economic Review, forthcoming http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Trust_AER_Rev2.pdf * Sons of Something: Taxes, Lawsuits and Local Political Control in Sixteenth-Century Castile. Mauricio Drelichman The Journal of Economic History 67 (3): 608-642. September 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050707000253 Reputation and the Emergence of Markets * Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders Avner Greif The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 49, No. 4. (Dec. 1989), pp. 857-882. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2122741

* Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild Avner Greif; Paul Milgrom; Barry R. Weingast Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 102, No. 4. (Aug., 1994), pp. 745-776. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2138763 * Lending to the Borrower from Hell: Debt and Default in the Age of Philip II. Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth The Economic Journal, forthcoming. http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/borrowerfromhell.pdf Religion, Human Capital, and Conflict * From Farmers to Merchants, Conversions and Diaspora: Human Capital and Jewish History Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein Journal of the European Economic Association 5 (5): 885-926. 2005. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1162/JEEA.2007.5.5.885/abstract * Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History Sasha Becker and Luedger Woessmann The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2): 531-596. May 2009. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.2.531 Luther and Suleyman Murat Iyigun The Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (4): 1465-1494. May 2008. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.4.1465 * Banks and Development: Jewish Communities in the Italian Renaissance and Current Economic Performance Luigi Pascali Barcelona GSE Working Paper 562 http://research.barcelonagse.eu/tmp/working_papers/562.pdf * Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany Nico Voigtlander and Hans-Joachim Voth The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127 (3): 1339-1392 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs019

The Consequences of the Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian Journal of Economic Perspectives 24 (2): 163-188. 2010. http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.24.2.163 * The Potatos Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from an Historical Experiment Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian Quarterly Journal of Economics, Forthcoming. http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/Potato_QJE.pdf * Sweet Diversity: Colonial Goods and the Rise of European Living Standards after 1492 Jonathan Hersh and Hans-Joachim Voth UPF Working Paper http://ssrn.com/abstract=1443730 The Development of State Finance * The Sustainable Debts of Philip II: A Reconstruction of Castiles Fiscal Position, 15661596. Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth The Journal of Economic History 70 (4): 813-842. December 2010. http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/DV_sustainable_debts.pdf (unabridged online version). * Macroeconomic Features of the French Revolution Thomas J. Sargent; Francois R. Velde The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 103, No. 3. (Jun., 1995), pp. 474-518. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2138696 * Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England Douglass C. North; Barry R. Weingast The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 49, No. 4. (Dec., 1989), pp. 803-832. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507(198912)49:4<803:CACTEO>2.0.CO;2-9 * Institutional Reforms, Financial Development, and Sovereign Debt: Britain 1690-1790. Nathan Sussman; Yishay Yafeh The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 66, N0. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 906-935. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=JEH&volumeId=66&issueId=04

British and French Finance during the Napoleonic Wars Michael D. Bordo; Eugene N. White NBER Working Paper No. w3517 (1991). http://www.nber.org/papers/w3517 British Military and Bureaucratic Organization * The Sinews of Power John Brewer 1988. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pages 3-63. * The British Navy Rules: Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail Douglas W. Allen 2002. Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 39, pp. 204-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.2002.0783 * Organizations and Incentives in the Age of Sail Daniel K. Benjamin and Christopher Thornberg Explorations in Economic History 44 (2): 317-341. 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2006.04.001 The Industrial Revolution a) Overview * Editors Introduction: The New Economic History and the Industrial Revolution Joel Mokyr In Joel Mokyr, ed. The British Industrial Revolution: An Economic Perspective. 1999. Boulder: Westview Press 2nd edition. Pages 1-127. http://www.faculty.econ.northwestern.edu/faculty/mokyr/monster.PDF The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress Joel Mokyr Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990 * Two Views of the British Industrial Revolution Peter Temin Journal of Economic History, Vol. 57, No. 1. (Mar., 1997), pp. 63-82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2951107

b) Living Standards * English Workers' Living Standards during the Industrial Revolution: A New Look Peter H. Lindert; Jeffrey G. Williamson Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 36, No. 1. (Feb., 1983), pp. 1-25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598895 * Is There Still Life in the Pessimist Case? Consumption during the Industrial Revolution, 1790-1850 Joel Mokyr Journal of Economic History, Vol. 48, No. 1. (Mar., 1988), pp. 69-92. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2122329 * Engels Pause: Technical Change, Capital Accumulation, and Inequality in the British Industrial Revolution Robert C. Allen Explorations in Economic History, Volume 46, Issue 4, 1 October 2009, Pages 418-435 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2009.04.004 The Exploitation of Little Children: Child Labor and the Family Economy in the Industrial Revolution Sara Horrell and Jane Humphries Explorations in Economic History, Volume 32, Issue 4, October 1995, Pages 485-516 http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.1995.1021 c) Wages and prices * The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War. Robert C. Allen Explorations in Economic History 38(4): 411-447. 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/exeh.2001.0775 * What Price a Roof? Housing and the Cost of Living in Sixteenth-Century Toledo Mauricio Drelichman and David Gonzlez Agudo http://mauricio.econ.ubc.ca/pdfs/toledo.pdf d) Cultural and Intellectual Channels The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution Jan De Vries Journal of Economic History, Vol. 54, No. 2, Papers Presented at the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association. (Jun., 1994), pp. 249-270. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2123912

The European Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Economic Growth Joel Mokyr Max Weber Lecture Series, 2007 http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/Weber-Lecture.pdf The Enlightened Economy Joel Mokyr New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009 Planned Economies * Soviet and Nazi Economic Planning in the 1930s Peter Temin Economic History Review, XLIV, 4 (1991): 573-593 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2597802 * Farm to Factory Robert C. Allen Chapters 3 and 5

Lecture Plan Lecture 1 (Jan 2): Organization, overview. Lecture 2 (Jan 7): AJR (Handbook). Lecture 3 (Jan 9): AJR (Colonial Origins); AJR (Rise of Europe). Lecture 4 (Jan 14): Epstein; Drelichman (License to Till). Lecture 5 (Jan 16): La Porta et al.; Engerman and Sokoloff. Lecture 6 (Jan 21): Nunn (Africas Slave Trades); Drelichman (Curse of Moctezuma). Lecture 7 (Jan 23): Nunn and Puga; Drelichman and Voth (Resource Curse). Lecture 8 (Jan 28): Nunn and Wantchekon; Drelichman (Sons of Something). Lecture 9 (Jan 30): Greif; Greif, Milgrom and Weingast. Lecture 10 (Feb 4): Drelichman and Voth (Borrower from Hell). Lecture 11 (Feb 6): Botticini and Eckstein; Becker and Woessmann. February 11: Family Day Lecture 12 (Feb 13): Pascali; Vigtlander and Voth. February 18-23: Midterm break. Lecture 13 (Feb 25): Nunn and Qian; Hersh and Voth Lecture 14 (Feb 27): Sargent and Velde; Drelichman and Voth (Sustainable Debts). Lecture 15 (Mar 4): North and Weingast; Sussman and Yafeh Lecture 16 (Mar 6): Brewer; D. Allen; Benjamin and Thornberg March 11: Exam Lecture 17 (Mar 13): Mokyr; Temin (Two Views). Lecture 18 (Mar 18): Lindert and Williamson; Mokyr; R. Allen (Engels Pause). Lecture 19 (Mar 23): R. Allen (Great Divergence); Drelichman and Gonzlez Agudo. Lecture 20 (Mar 25): Temin (Soviet and Nazi Planning); R. Allen (Farm to Factory). April 1: Easter Monday Presentations: March 27 & April 3