Suspended in 2025/26
EH409 Half Unit
Chinese Economic History: Culture, Institutions and Economic Growth
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Melanie Xue
Availability
This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Financial History, MSc in Global Economic History, MSc in International and Asian History and MSc in Political Economy of Late Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: All Economic History courses are controlled access and capped. Priority will be given to students for whom the course is within their programme regulations.
All course choices submitted before the deadline will be considered. It is advisable that students submit a statement in support of their course choices as these will be used to allocate places where a course is oversubscribed.
Deadline for application: First round offers will be sent on Monday 29 September 2025. Students who submit their course choices after the deadline and students wishing to take an Economic History course as an outside option will be waitlisted initially and informed by Wednesday 1 October 2025 whether they have been successful.
Once an offer has been sent, you have 48 hours to accept it before it times out. Once an offer has timed out, it will be re-allocated to someone on the waitlist. In all cases, it is strongly advised that you have an alternative course choice as a back-up in case you are unable to secure your first choice.
For queries contact: If you have any questions, please contact the MSc Programmes Officer (o.harrison1@lse.ac.uk) A list of all taught master's courses in this Department are listed on LSE's course guide webpages. Guidance on how to apply to individual controlled access courses can also be found on LSE for You.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
Students enrolled in this course are expected to have completed at least introductory undergraduate courses in statistics and/or econometrics.
Course content
The course provides a broad but selective survey of the root causes of economic development and economic growth in China. The course is based on cutting-edge research --- both articles and book chapters --- on a number of topics, including (1) Geography, (2) Institutions, (3) States, (4) Culture, (5) Gender, (6) Education, (7) Social Mobility, (8) Trade & Markets, (9) Modern Economic Growth.
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the AT.
Indicative reading
- Richard von Glahn, The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press), 2016;
- Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, China, Europe and the making of the modern world economy (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP), 2000;
- Roy Bin Wong, China transformed: historical change and the limits of European experience (Cornell University Press), 1997.
- Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Mark Koyama, Youhong Lin and Tuan-Hwee Sng (2023), The Fractured-Land Hypothesis, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 138. 2, 1173–1231.
- Avner Greif and Guido Tabellini (2010). “Cultural and institutional bifurcation: China and Europe compared”. American Economic Review 100.2, 135–40.
- Carol H Shiue and Wolfgang Keller (2007). “Markets in China and Europe on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution”. American Economic Review 97.4, 1189–1216.
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: Economic History
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 18
Average class size 2024/25: 18
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Specialist skills