PhD Economic History Offer Holders - new students

Tirthankar Roy, Professor of Economic History, Doctoral Programme Director and PhD Placement Officer

Eric Schneider, Professor of Economic History, Deputy Head of Department (Research)

Neil Cummins, Professor of Economic History, Deputy Head of Department (Teaching)

Tracy Keefe, MPhil/PhD Programme Manager

It is vital that you fully read the Graduate Offer Pack, which outlines the various steps that must be taken before registration. See especially Fulfilling conditions attached to your offer/supplying required documents and Visa advice for international students. Any outstanding conditions and documents are also displayed in your LSE for You account; be sure to submit these in good time. You will not be allowed to register unless you have submitted all documentation specified on your offer of admission and all the legal documents (e.g. appropriate ID; Visa (if applicable)) necessary for registration.
Whenever you contact LSE, please quote your Applicant ID number and full name (as in your original application); it helps us to quickly identify your record and deal with your query.

It is important to ensure you begin the visa application process as soon as possible. All students who require a visa should read the guidance on the following LSE website: ISVAT (International Student Visa Advice Team). This website includes an online form where you can submit queries relating to your specific circumstances.

Some suggested, general, readings for the summer:

• Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. (2012), Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, London: Profile.
• Allen, R.C. (2009), The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Austin, Gareth M. & Kaoru Sugihara (eds.) Labour-intensive industrialisation in Global History (London: Routledge 2013).
• Baten, Joerg (2016), A History of the Global Economy. Cambridge.
• Broadberry, S. and O’Rourke, K. (eds.) (2010), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Crafts, N.F.R. and Fearon, P. (2013), The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Darwin, J. (2007), After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000, London: Allen Lane.
• Engerman, Stanley L. & Kenneth L. Sokoloff Economic Development in the Americas since 1500: endowments and institutions (Cambridge: CUP/NBER 2012).
• Findlay, R. and O’Rourke, K. (2009), Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium (Princeton Economic History of the Western World), Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Floud, Roderick, Fogel, Robert, Harris, Bernard, and Hong, Sok Chul (2011), The Changing Body: health, nutrition, and human development in the western world since 1700. Cambridge.
• Greif, A. (2006) Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hatcher, J. and Bailey, M (2001), Modelling the Middle Ages: The History and Theory of England’s Economic Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Herschman, Albert O. (2013), The Passions and the Interests: political arguments for capitalism before its triumph. Princeton.
• Hobson, John M. (2021) Multicultural Origins of the Global Economy, Beyond the Western-Centric Frontier. CUP.
• King, Mervyn (2016), The End of Alchemy: money, banking and the future.  Little, Brown.
• Livi-Bacci, Massimo (2012), A Concise History of World Population.  Wiley Blackwell.
• Mackenzie, D (2006), An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
• Morgan, Mary S. (2012), The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• North, D.C., Wallis, J.J. and Weingast, B. (2009), Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
• Parthasarathi, P. (2011), Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Divergence, 1600-1850, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pomeranz, K. (2000), The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Reinhart, C.M. and Rogoff, K.S. (2009), This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Rosenthal, J-L and Wong, R. Bin (2011), Before and Beyond Divergence: The Politics of Economic Change in China and Europe, Harvard University Press.
• Roy, T. (2012), India in the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present (New Approaches to Asian History), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Von Glahn, Richard (2016), The Economic History of China from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (CUP)
• Yun-Casalilla, B. and O’Brien, P. (2011), The Rise of Fiscal States: A Global History, 1500-1914, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LSE Teaching Timetables can be found on the Student Teaching Timetable webpage. Lectures and classes can take place any time between 9.00-19.00, Monday to Friday. 

Visit LSE Term Dates for term dates, public holidays and School closure dates.

Visit LSE Accommodation to discover more and to apply. You are advised to make an early application.

Offer holders should accept the offer of a place on the PhD, only if they already have sufficient funds in place to cover the cost of both the tuition fees and living expenses for the full length of their degree.  Please be aware, the Department of Economic History is unable to fund PhD students after they have started their degree. There may be other sources of funding at later stages of the PhD, for example, from teaching or research assistant positions, but these cannot be guaranteed nor can specific amounts (if any) be estimated at this stage.

The Department is active on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and LinkedIn 

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The most up-to-date copy of our department handbook is here.

The PhD Academy Student Handbook can be found here.

You will receive an email notification when it is time to pre-enrol online for your programme.

Campus enrolment for new MPhil/PhD and VRS students in Economic History has been confirmed as Wednesday 17th September (10am-12noon) in the PhD Academy, Lionel Robbins Building (LRB 403).

Please keep an eye on Campus Enrolment for up-to-date information.

• The PhD Academy welcome events for newly enrolled research students will take place on Wednesday 24th September (2-5pm), and you will receive an invitation to this shortly.
• An informal meeting for all new MPhil/PhD students will be held in Cheng Kin Kiu (CKK) building, room 206, on Thursday 25th September 2-4pm.  This is an opportunity to meet each other and current students, as well as faculty members over coffee and cake.
• This will be followed by a general Welcome to the Department event at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes (booking information will be posted here shortly)
• The LSE Treasure Hunt will take place at various times over Welcome and joining instructions will be published here soon.

Consent.Ed is LSESU's flagship programme which explores issues around sexual consent, providing an opportunity for us to discuss how we can look out for one another and create a positive, respectful consent culture, where everyone feels safe on campus.

Attending Consent.Ed is expected of all students, and is a requirement for several opportunities here at LSE. It comes in two parts: an online training session and an in-person workshop.

The online training only takes around 15 minutes, but you can complete it at your own pace on Moodle.   

The LSE Shop Hoodie page is now open for all new students to place their orders. You must use the email address that you used when you applied to LSE, NOT your LSE email address.  Please use the discount code: FreeHoodie2024.

The first deadline to place your order is the 27th September at 15:00. You can find a step by step process to order your hoodie and the email address should you have any difficulty in ordering the hoodie on the LSE shop page.

Find out about student benefits and discounts from Special offers for LSE students and the LSE SU.  Alumni also benefit from a range of exclusive discounts.

Graduate Admissions Office

Financial Support Office

PhD Academy