History of Economic and Social Development [ LECON2421 ]
5.0 crédits ECTS
30.0 h
| Teacher(s) |
Cassiers Isabelle ;
|
| Language |
French
|
Place
of the course |
Louvain-la-Neuve
|
| Main themes |
In order to understand the society of the 21st century, it is essential to know its historical roots. Globalization, North-South inequality, technological revolution, the hegemony of one country in a multi-polar world, the con-struction of the European Union, the international monetary system, the birth of super-national authorities, the intervention of public power or market liberalization, protectionism or free trade, all these represent current issues based on secular studies.
The history of social and economic development does not end with the analysis of economic growth in the long run, the objective of the course is to follow the five centuries of the capitalist development (from 1500 to nowa-days) by pointing out economic and social conditions, policies, ideologies of economic booms, transformations and the evolution of the system. The course follows five main successive steps:
- the market economy (XVIst and XVIInd centuries) mettili tutti in numero (altrimenti devi togliere rd;th
)
- manufacturing (XVIII century)
- industrial (XIX and XX centuries
- post industrial (end of XX century and XXI century)
The attitude of the course is interdisciplinary and comparative and it proposes a critical analysis on our model of development.
|
| Aims |
Thanks to this course the students will acquire the following competences:
1) knowledge of the phases and of the main dimensions of the social and economic development of West-ern countries, from the 16th century until now;
2) the aptitude to have an historical long-run perspective on the main contemporaneous economic and so-cial debates (globalization, north-south equilibrium, technological revolution, etc.);
3) the capacity to express a synthetic reasoning and to support a critic discussion on economic and social development.
|
| Content |
Content :
We start by asking ourselves what development means. With the help of Braudel's book "The dynamics of Capitalism" (Champ flamarion, 1985/2002) we will distinguish among three levels of organization of economic activity: "the material civilization", the "market" and the "capitalism".
We will define the word "capitalism" and we will study its historical evolution from 1500 to nowadays. We will base our study of the 20th century on the works of Michel Beaud "Hystory of Capitalism from 1500 to 2000" (Seuil, 1981/2000), of Philippe Norel "The Invention of the Market, an economic history of globalization" (Seuil 2004) and on several recent publications.
Methods
The students are strongly invited to actively participate through:
- constant presence in class
- reading the required chapters of the books before the lectures
- active participation to discussions
- presentation of a brief personal work on a complementary lecture
Besides it will be possible to complement the course with historical movies.
|
| Other information |
Active presence in class, personal presentation, final written open-book exam in which the students will be asked to develop an issue.
Braudel "The dynamics of Capitalism" (Champ flamarion, 1985/2002)
Michel Beaud "Hystory of Capitalism from 1500 to 2000" (Seuil, 1981/2000)
An article or a complementary chapter to be chosen by the students
|
Cycle et année
d'étude |
> Master [120] in Economics: General
> Master [120] in Mathematical Engineering
|
Faculty or entity
in charge |
> ECON
|
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