Logo

World Economic History

Code: 104508
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
International Relations FB 1

Contact lecturer

Name :
Xavier Cusso Segura
Email :
xavier.cusso@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for taking the course successfully. Nonetheless it would be desirable if students were familiar with basic knowledge of Global Contemporary History, Economics and Geography.

Objectives

- Analyse the complexity and dynamics of economic processes.

- Identify and explain the main determinants that have made possible periods of growth, economic stability, recession and crisis, on a national and international scale.

- Establish the explanatory factors of the economic globalisation processes.

- Analyse the causes and consequences of inequality amongst countries and between individuals generated by capitalist economic development.

- Study technological revolutions and their impact on the economy and on business organisation.

- Assess and compare the sustainability of historical economic development models.

- Examine the differences between women and men (gender differences) in the labour market, in access to economic resources and in general welfare.

This subject places special emphasis on the phenomena that have occurred in Europe and the United States.

Learning outcomes

  1. Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  2. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  3. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  4. Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  5. Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
  6. Apply quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in research processes.
  7. Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
  8. Describe the dynamics of economic systems, their limits and potential and their political consequences.
  9. null
  10. Critically evaluate the dynamics created in the interaction between the state and the market.
  11. Use analytical tools for economics and international trade and apply them to different processes and case studies.
  12. Explain the theoretical models of economics taking into account different historical studies.
  13. Identify the processes of economic integration in the world.
  14. null
  15. Relate basic questions of contemporary economics with previous economic developments starting from the main elements in contemporary economic history.
  16. Identify the problems faced by economic agents when making decisions in conditions of uncertainty, using different historical experiences.
  17. Make a historical analysis of current economic problems to better assess the evolutionary possibilities of economic systems.
  18. Analyse the operation of the main universal and regional institutions that intervene in international finance and trade.
  19. Analyse and explain the functioning of the economy and international trade in the contemporary system.
  20. Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
  21. Weigh up the risks and opportunities of one's own ideas for improvement and proposals made by others.
  22. Propose new ways to measure success or failure when implementing ground-breaking proposals or ideas.
  23. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within the area of your own knowledge.
  24. Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  25. Propose viable projects and actions that promote social, economic and environmental benefits.
  26. Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.

Contents

1. THE PRE-INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY.

1.1. Limits to population growth: the “Malthusian ceiling”.

1.2. Agriculture, trade, and manufacturing.


2. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN SOCIETY AND THE ECONOMY.

2.1. The agrarian revolution.

2.2. The demographic transition.

2.3. Preconditions for the Industrial Revolution.

2.4. Technological and organisational change.

2.5. Modern economic growth and living standards: productivity and inequality.


3. THE SECOND TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND THE FIRST GLOBALISATION

3.1. The diffusion of the First Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the Second Industrial Revolution.

3.2. Trade relations.

3.3. Regional and intercontinental migration processes.

3.4. Capital markets.

3.5. The formation of an international monetary system.

3.6. Divergences in the process of global economic development.


4. THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL CAPITALISM (1914–1945)

4.1. World War I and its economic repercussions.

4.2. Unbalanced growth during the 1920s.

4.3. The Great Depression (1929–1933) and anti-crisis policies.


5. THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND MODELS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH (1944–1989).

5.1. The new international economic order and the Bretton Woods agreements.

5.2. Advanced capitalist economies (the Golden Age of capitalism), 1944–1973.

5.3. The economic crisis of 1973: causes and responses.

5.4. Socialist bloc economies, 1945–1989.

5.5. Growth models in developing countries.


6. THE THIRD TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND THE SECOND GLOBALISATION (Since 1980’s)

6.1. The Third Technological Revolution.

6.2. The consolidation of the second globalisation and its components.

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Preparation of Exercises 28 1.12 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Tutorship 10.5 0.42
Reading and independent study 58 2.32
Exercise sessions 17 0.68
Lectures 33 1.32

1. Lectures

The professor will develop an analytical conceptualisation and a synthesis for every topic in the programme. The aim is to facilitate the transmission of knowledge and to motivate the student in historical analysis.

2. Exercise sessions 

The aim of the exercise sessions is to help students to achieve the specific knowledge of the subject and acquire transferable skills. There will be questions set for each topic and it is expected that students will work on them before class with the help of the lectures and reading material.

3. Studying from lectures and readings

The work done in class has to be complemented by the student individually or in-group work. The student should gain independence in the learning process and in the process attain the analytical tools to develop the critical thinking. This work should amount to hundred hours in addition to lectures and tutorials.

4. Tutorship

Students can use the professor's office hours to solve specific questions. Office hours will be announced in Campus virtual.

5. Campus Virtual

Campus Virtual is a useful tool to help students to get easy information about the logistics of the course and the basic materials that the professor considers essential for learning.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Midterm exam 35% of the final mark 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Continuos assessment exercices 25% of the final mark 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Final exam 40% of the final mark 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The evaluation will consist of:

  • Four practical exercises (25% of the course grade), of which only the three best marks will be considered. These practical exercises cannot be rescheduled.
  • The midterm exam (35% of the course grade) has two parts,
  • The first part, worth 40% consists of twenty multiple-choice questions each worth 0.5 points if the answer is correct, -0.17 if the answer is incorrect and 0 if the question is not answered.
  • The second part worth 60% consists of 4 limited-length questions, each worth a maximum of 2.5 points.
  • The final exam (40% of the course grade) has two parts,
  • The first part, worth 40% consists of twenty multiple-choice questions each worth 0.5 points if the answer is correct, -0.17 if the answer is incorrect and 0 if the question is not answered.
  • The second part worth 60% consists of 4 limited-length questions, each worth a maximum of 2.5 points.

The course will be considered passed if the following two requirements are meet:

  1. The average grade for the course is equal to or higher than 4.9, and
  2. The final exam grade is equal to or higher than 4.

If a student meets the first requirement but not the second, they will receive an average course grade of 4.5 and will be allowed to take the retake exam, in accordance with the provisions set out in the "Retake Process" section found below.

If a student meets the second requirement but not the first, or meets neither, they will receive the overall course grade resulting from the direct application of the previously stated weightings and will be allowed to take the retake exam, in accordance with the provisions set out in the "Retake Process" section found below.

The questions will be on the topics explained in the theory and practical sessions and on the content of the readings and teaching materials indicated by the group professor.

Synthesis test:

  • Repeat students who wish to opt for the synthesis test will have to apply by e-mail to the group's professor before October 1st, 2026. The Synthesis test will take place on the day of the final exam set by the faculty. It has two parts,
  • The first part, worth 40% consists of forty multiple-choice questions each worth 0.25 points if the answer is correct, -0.085 if the answer is incorrect and 0 if the question is not answered.
  • The second part worth 60% consists of 8 limited-length questions, each worth a maximum of 1.25 points.
  • The questions will cover all the theoretical and practical program of the subject

CAUTION:

1. A student is considered UNEVALUABLE if he/she has completed less than 30% of the assessed activities. "The qualification of UNEVALUABLE implies exhausting all the rights inherent to enrolment in the subject".

2. Only midterm and final exams can be reprogrammed, always exceptionally and after obtaining the explicit approval of the Grade Coordinator. All other types of tests performed during the course will NOT be reprogrammed.

3. This subject does not offer the option for comprehensive evaluation.


Calendar of evaluation activities

The dates of the midterm and final exam are scheduled in the assessment calendar of the Faculty.

"The dates of evaluation activities cannot be modified, unless there is an exceptional and duly justified reason why an evaluation activity cannot be carried out. In this case, the degree coordinator will contact both the teaching staff and the affected student, and a new date will be scheduled within the same academic period to make up for the missed evaluation activity." Section 1 of Article 264. Calendar of evaluation activities (Academic Regulations UAB).

Students of the Faculty of Economics and Business, who in accordance with the previous paragraph need to change an evaluation activity date must process the request by filling out an Application for exams' reschedule:

e-Formulari per a la reprogramació de proves.

Grade revision process

After all grading activities have ended, students will be informed of the date and way in which the course grades will be published. Students will also be informed of the procedure, place, date and time of grade revision following University regulations.

Retake Process

"To be eligible to participate in the retake process, it is required for students to have previously been evaluated for at least two thirds of the total evaluation activities of the subject." Section 2 of Article 261. The recovery (UAB Academic Regulations). Additionally, it is required that the student to have achieved an average grade of the subject greater than or equal to 3.5 and less than 5.

The date of the retake exam will be posted in the calendar of evaluation activities of the faculty. Students who take this exam and pass, will get a grade of 5 for the subject. If the student does not pass the retake, the grade will remain unchanged, and hence, student will fail the course.

The retake exam has two parts,

  • The first part, worth 40% consists of twenty multiple-choice questions each worth 0.5 points if the answer is correct, -0.17 if the answer is incorrect and 0 if the question is not answered.
  • The second part worth 60% consists of 4 limited-length questions, each worth a maximum of 2.5 points.

Irregularities in evaluation activities

In spite of other disciplinary measures deemed appropriate, and in accordance with current academic regulations, "in the case that the student makes any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation activity, it will be graded with a 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that can be instructed. In case of various irregularities occur in the evaluation of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0". Section 11 of Article 266. Results of the evaluation. (UAB Academic Regulations).

The completion of assessment activities is subject to the provisions set out in this course guide and in the "Policy of the School of Economics and Business on the Detection of Irregularities during Assessment Activities", which regulates the conditions under which assessment tasks are conducted and the procedures applicable in cases where indications of irregularities are detected. Students are encouraged to consult the policy.




Bibliography

Allen, Robert (2011) Global Economic History. A very short Introduction, Oxford: OUP.


Di Vittorio, Antonio (ed.) (2006) An Economic History of Europe. London: Routledge.

https://login.are.uab.cat/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsebk&AN=171273&


Livi Bacci, Massimo (2017) A Concise history of world population. Malden: Blackwell.

https://login.are.uab.cat/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsebk&AN=1453379


Zamagni, Vera (2018) An Economic History of Europe since 1700, Agenda Publishing.



Software

Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 English first semester morning-mixed