Dr Olivier Volckart, CMK. C215

BSc Economic History, BSc Economic History with Economics and BSc Economics and Economic History. The course is also available to General Course students and as an outside option on other degree programmes where regulations permit.

None, however, it is essential that students who are unacquainted with the period devote time to the necessary background reading on medieval and early modern European history.

The course examines in outline the European financial history between the ninth and the mid-eighteenth centuries, taking the students from the simple beginnings of medieval European monetary history to the more complex arrangements that emerged toward the end of the early modern age. Developments in the major European countries (England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany) will be discussed and compared. The course emphasises both the many features shared by these countries and their often considerable differences, places monetary history in the context of more general economic history and discusses how money influenced the wider economy.

Weekly lectures and classes in the Michaelmas and Lent Terms. There will also be two revision sessions in the Summer Term.

Students are expected to write four essays or equivalent pieces of written work during the year.

Barrett, W. (1990): World Bullion Flows, 1450-1800, in: Tracy, J.D., ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World 1350-1750, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press), pp. 224-254; Cipolla, C.M. (1956): Money, Prices and Civilization in the Mediterranean World, Princeton (Princeton University Press), ch. 4 on "Ghost Money", pp. 38-51; Day, J. (1980/87): The Great Bullion Famine of the Fifteenth Century, in: ibid., The Medieval Market Economy, Oxford (Basil Blackwell), pp. 1-54; Munro, J.H. (2008): Money, Prices, Wages, and "Profit Inflation" in Spain, the Southern Netherlands, and England during the Price Revolution era: ca. 1520 - ca. 1650, in: História e Economia: Revista Interdisciplinar 4,1, pp. 13-71; Schubert, E.S. (1988): Innovations, Debts, and Bubbles: International Integration of Financial Markets in Western Europe, 1688-1720, in: Journal of Economic History 48,2, pp. 299-306; Schumpeter, J.A. (1918/91): The Crisis of the Tax State, in: R. Swedberg, ed., Joseph A. Schumpeter: The Economics and Sociology of Capitalism, Princeton/NJ (Princeton University Press), pp. 99-140; and Spufford, P. (1991): Money and its Use in Medieval Europe, Cambridge et al. (Cambridge University Press).

Three hour unseen examination in the Summer Term (100%).