EH434      Half Unit
Economic Development of East and Southeast Asia

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Prof Kent Deng

Availability

This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in Financial History, MSc in Global Economic History, MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in Political Economy of Late Development and MSc in Political Science (Global Politics). 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 MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in Development Studies, MSc in Economic History, MSc in Economic History (Research), MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in Financial History, MSc in Global Economic History, MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in Political Economy of Late Development and MSc in Political Science (Global Politics). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

Students will obtain in-depth knowledge of conditions and paths of economic growth and development in East Asia and Southeast Asia in past centuries, and become engaged in the ongoing scholarly debate.

The course examines early modern East Asia and Southeast Asia in the context of 'product-rich economies', and easy access to international trade, and Western colonisation of the region. 

It also examines modern growth in East Asia and Southeast Asia, including the conditions and transformations in post-Opium War China, Meiji Japan, post-WWII 'Asian Tigers', post-WWII independence in Southeast Asia, ASEAN, China under post-Mao reforms, and 'new Asia' in the global economy today.

 

Teaching

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
1 hours of lectures in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Formative assessment

Students are expected to write one essay or equivalent pieces of written work.

Indicative reading

  • A G Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (1998);
  • K Pomeranz, The Great Divergence (2000);
  • J M Hobson Multicultural Origins of the Global Economy (2021);
  • World Bank, The East Asian Miracle (1993);
  • I Brown, Economic Change in Southeast Asia (1997).
  • Rui H and P. Nolan, Globalisation, Transition and Development in China (2004).

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: No
Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course 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
  • Specialist skills