The Rise of Modern Capitalism, 15th-20th Century

Seminar description

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This Research Seminar will discuss the development of capitalism in a long-term global and comparative perspective, from the 15th to the 20th century. The approach will be thematic rather than chronological, with particular attention paid to key issues such as technological change, the rise and fall of economic powers, the role of institutions in economic growth, economic and financial crises, international trade and financial networks, cities of finance, production, consumption, and business dynasties.

Programme

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10 January  - The Rise and Decline of Economic Powers

• Daron Acemoglou and James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Profile Books, 2012 –
• Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, London, 1988, pp. xv-xxv.

 

17 January - Economic and Financial Crises

• Geoffrey Parker and Lesley K. Smith, The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. Second Edition, 1997, Introduction, pp. 1-31Charles Kindleberger, Manias, Panics and Crashes. A History of Financial Crises, London, 1978, chapters 1 and 2.
• Charles Kindleberger, Manias, Panics and Crashes. A History of Financial Crises, London, 1978, chapters 1 and 2

 

24 January - Cities of Finance

• Peter Spufford, ‘From Amsterdam to London: the decline of financial centres in Europe’, De Economist, 154 (2006), pp. 143–175
• Youssef Cassis, Capitals of Capital: the Rise and decline of International Financial Centres, 1780-2009, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 1-6, 286-294

 

31 January -  International trade and financial networks - Guest speaker: Francisco Apellaniz (Marie Curie Fellow, EUI)

• Francesca Trivellato, The Familiarity of Strangers : The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period, Yale University Press, 2009, Introduction, pp. 1-20
• Stanley Chapman, ‘British-based investment groups before 1914’, Economic History Review, 38 (1985), pp. 230-251

 

7 February - Consumption

• Richard A. Goldthwaite, ‘The Economic and Social World of Italian Renaissance Maiolica’, Renaissance Quarterly, 49 (1982), pp. 1-32
• Jan de Vries, The Industrious Revolution. Consumer Behaviour and the Household Ecnomomy, 1650 to the Present, Cambridge 2008, chapter 1, pp. 1-39
• Avner Offer, The Challenge of Affluence. Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950, Oxford 2006, pp. 1-38

 

14 February - Old and New industries

• Alfred Chandler Jr., and Takashi Hikino, “The large industrial enterprise and the dynamics of modern economic growth”, in A. Chandler, F. Amatori and T. Hikino (eds.), Big Business and the Wealth of Nations, Cambridge, 1997, 24-57.
• Maxine Berg, In Pursuit of Luxury: Global History and British Consumer Goods in the Eighteenth Century, in "Past & Present", 182 (2004), pp. 85-142

 

28 February – Dynasties

• Richard A. Goldthwaite, ‘The Medici Bank and the World of Florentine Capitalism’, in Idem, Banks, Palaces and Entrepreneurs in Renaissance Florence, Aldershot, Variorum, 1995, ch. V
• Harold James, ‘Long-Term Collective Biographies of Business Dynasties: Haniels and Krupps’, in Anders Perlinge and Hans Sjörgen (eds.), Biographies of the Financial World, Gidlunds Förlag 2012, pp. 51-66

 

14 March - Technological Change - Guest speaker: Kristine Bruland (University of Oslo) "Global Business and Local Knowledge: the rise of Mustad & Co to world dominance in fish-hooks"

14:00-15:30 - Speaker's lecture

16:00-17:30 - Conclusion

• Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches. Technological Creativity and Economic Progress, Oxford, 1990.
• Kristine Bruland and David C. Mowery, Innovation Through Time, in How Innovation Differs, Oxford, forthcoming