EH433 Half Unit
Money and Finance in History
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Albrecht Ritschl
Availability
This course is available on the MRes in Accounting (AOI) (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions Track), MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Global Economic 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.
This course is available on the MRes/PhD in Accounting (AOI) (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions Track), MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Global Economic 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.
Course content
How did money and financial markets first develop and integrate? When did financial crises arise, and how did they evolve in the twentieth century? This course offers an opportunity to delve into these questions and analyse the evolution of the role of money in Western economies from the early modern period to the 2000s.
The course will first provide a broad overview of the origins of monetary systems and financial markets from the early modern period to the eve of World War 1. It will explore financial bubbles and banking panics, as well as financial globalisation under the Gold Standard in the 19th century.
The course will then focus on the financial turmoil between the World Wars, looking at hyperinflation, bank failures, and debt crises during the Great Depression. It will then move on to the financial institutions under Bretton Woods their subsequent evolution, as well as the financial crisis of 2008 and the high-debt worlds affected by Covid-19. Students having taken this course will have a firm grasp of the evolution of monetary regimes and financial markets since the early modern period.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students are expected to write one essay or equivalent piece of written work during the term.
Indicative reading
- Aliber, R., & Kindleberger, Charles P. (2015). Manias, panics and crashes : A history of financial crises (Seventh ed.). Palgrave.
- Eichengreen, B. (2015). Hall of mirrors: The Great Depression, the great recession, and the uses-and misuses-of history. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Ferguson, N. (2009). The ascent of money : A financial history of the world. London: Penguin.
- Rajan, R. (2011). Fault lines : How hidden fractures still threaten the world economy (1st pbk. ed.). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
- Gorton, G. (2012). Misunderstanding financial crises : Why we don't see them coming. New York: Oxford University Press.
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: Economic History
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse 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