How has the global economy changed over the past 200 years? Can we say that the world has become more economically integrated? Can we say that economies have converged? Has the world become more equal or uniqual? Why is the global economy afflicted by cyclical crises?

Handout

1. Key Readings

N.F.R. Crafts, “Globalisation and Economic Growth: A Historical Perspective,” World Economy, 27/1 (2004), pp. 45-58.*

Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Twentieth-century Political Economy: A Brief History of Global Capitalism,” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 15/4 (1999), pp. 90-101.

Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Belknap Press, 2014), pp. 1-35.

2. Economic Crises: 1873 and 1929 (presentation)

Read the handout. Two of you will consider two of the major economic crises over the past 150 years (1873, and 1929). Each group should reply to the following questions:

- How did the crises come into being?

- What were its short- and long-term consequences?

- How did they transform the global economy?

- How long did the economy take to recover from the crisis?

You should integrate also at least one primary source.

3. The World Economy today (all)

Find materials online about the world economy and the 2008 crisis and consider in what ways it has been (or is, I suppose) a global crisis. Post your resource and comments on the Course Forum