EH240
Business and Economic Performance since 1945: Britain in International Context
This information is for the 2011/12 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr Peter Cirenza, CMK.C220 and Dr Paul Strong, CMK.C220
Availability
This is an optional course for BSc Accounting and Finance, BSc Economic History, BSc Economic History with Economics, BSc Economics, BSc Economics and Economic History, BSc Economics with Economic History, BSc Human Resource Management and Employment Relations, BSc Management and the Diploma in Accounting and Finance. Also available to General Course students and as an outside option. There are no pre-requisites for this course. Course content
This course looks at the history of British business and industry, with an emphasis on the post-war period. It examines some of the hypotheses on why the UK economy grew more slowly than other OECD nations with particular reference to the decades after the Second World War. Explanations of relative economic decline are examined in the context of comparisons with other European nations and with the US and Japan. The main attention is on recent decades, including current changes in performance, but the historical roots of Britain's poor performance are also considered. The focus is on business performance in the public and private sectors, including scale effects, multinationals' comparative performance, technology, labour management and management quality. Other factors alleged to have contributed to Britain's poor performance, ranging from 'culture' through government policy to education and trade unions, are also discussed. Teaching
EH240 consists of 20 lectures in MT and LT, with directly related classes (EH240.A). In addition a revision session is offered in the ST. Formative coursework
During the course students are expected to write four essays or equivalent pieces of written work. Indicative reading
The course textbook is: Geoffrey Owen, From Empire to Europe: The Decline and Revival of British Industry since the Second World War. The following are also useful: R Floud & P Johnson (Eds), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, Vol III (3rd edn, 2004), chapters 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15; N F R Crafts & N Woodward (Eds), The British Economy since 1945 (1991); M Dintenfass, The Decline of Industrial Britain 1870-1980; B Elbaum & W Lazonick (Eds), The Decline of the British Economy (1986); S N Broadberry, The Productivity Race: British Manufacturing in International Perspective, 1850-1990 (1997). Assessment
A three-hour written examination in the ST. ^
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