EH438 Half Unit
History of Financial Markets
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Albrecht Ritschl
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Financial History. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. 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:
Some knowledge of statistics is useful but not strictly required.
Course content
This course explores the historical evolution of financial markets from the early times to the present. It covers the origins of securitisation and the gradual spread of financial asset tradability in different parts of the world. We analyse the gradual deepening of financial markets with the emergence of major stock exchanges in the Early Modern period. We study the rise of stock markets and the emergence of secondary markets for sovereign debt from the 18th to the 20th century. With these financial innovations came financial bubbles, crises, and crashes. We delve into the ongoing debates about their causes and origins. The course provides a long run perspective on important questions about the efficiency of financial markets, their international integration as well as their regulation and de-regulation. It also presents a historical comparison of the emerging market crises of the late 20th century, as well as the financial crisis of 2008.
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 1 presentation and 1 essay in the WT.
Students will be encouraged to form and work in groups, and to briefly present joint slide sets on the reading and the class question every week so as to continually obtain feedback. The formative essay topic will typically be chosen from one of the presentations and deepen one aspect further.
Indicative reading
- Aliber, R., & Kindleberger, C. P. (2015). Manias, panics and crashes: A history of financial crises. Palgrave.
- De Roover, R. (1974). Business, banking, and economic thought in late medieval and early modern Europe. University of Chicago Press.
- Ferguson, N. (2008). The ascent of money. A financial history of the world. Penguin.
- Neal L. (2015). A concise history of international finance. Cambridge University Press.
- Rogoff, K. and C. Reinhart (2009). This time is different: eight centuries of financial folly. Princeton University Press.
- Talib, N.N. (2007). Black Swan. The impact of the highly improbable. Random House.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 4000 words) in Spring Term Week 1
Key facts
Department: Economic History
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 20
Average class size 2024/25: 20
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
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Commercial awareness
- Specialist skills