History of Economic Growth and Crises (6 cr)

Code:
31E40100
Field:
Labor Economics
Targets:
Master’s students Research Master's students PhD students
Organiser:
Aalto University
Instructor:
Matti Sarvimäki
Period:
Period 3
Format:
Lecture
Method:
Contact teaching
Venue:
Otaniemi campus
Enrollment:

In case of conflicting information consider the Sisu/MyCourses pages the primary source of information.

Aalto, Hanken and UH economics students can enroll through their home university’s SISU. Further instructions are available on the How to enroll? page, also for students from other universities.

If you would like to count the credits towards your degree, please check your curriculum or contact your supervisor or student services for guidance.

  • To access the course workspace, use all the features and participate in the activities (assignments, discussions), you must have successfully registered for the course in Sisu and logged in with your Aalto user ID.
  • For more information on how to activate your Aalto user ID and register for a MyCourses course area, click here.

This course documents and explains the history of economic growth. Topics discussed include technological and financial innovation, political and economic institutions, industrialization, international trade, social mobility and inequality. We discuss how cross-country differences in economic development have been explained by differences in geography, culture, institutions and luck, and review work assessing the empirical relevance of these explanations. We also cover research on financial crises and the industrial revolution.

At the end of the course, students will be familiar with (a) the basic facts about long-term economic growth, (b) the main theories for why some places grew rich while others did not, and (c) examples of empirical work attempting to test these theories. In addition, the course will provide historical perspective for understanding the causes and consequences of financial crises.