ECON 455
Research in Economic History Spring 2013
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Historical approaches to understanding current economic issues are increasingly in vogue. History not only offers laboratories for investigating economic phenomena, but it often provides excellent empirical material for testing economic theories and analyzing policy decisions. This seminar will explore recent works in economic history, all of which speak to a current debate in the broader economics profession. Topics to be covered include the role of political change in economic development, education and human capital accumulation, technology and innovation policies, and the evolution and workings of global factor markets. The focus of the seminar will be on how economic historians marshal evidence and utilize empirical tools of economics to investigate questions of a historical nature that have modern implications. Students will be expected to not only analyze recent scholarship in economic history, but they will produce and present their own original research over the semester.