Foundations of Market Economies

Catalog description

This course will study the historical and intellectual forces behind the appearance of market economies on the world stage. The voyages of exploration undertaken by Europeans in the 15th and 16th century created, in just a few decades, a global economy. By 1600, silver from Mexico was exchanged in Manila for ceramics made in Nanjing (China). After a long trip through the Pacific, Mexico, and the Atlantic, the ceramics ended up in the tables of prosperous merchants in Bruges (modern day Belgium). How did this integrated global economy appear? How did global interconnections over the centuries shap our current world? How did markets emerge and influence these interconnections? Who were the winners of globalization? And who were the losers? How did economists, political scientists, and others think about the strengths and weakness of market economies? This course will explore these questions and the role that markets have played in it from the late 15th century to the present. Even if the economic theory will structure much of the discussion, insights from intellectual history, cultural history, microhistory, legal history, and institutional history will help to frame the main narrative. The course will be, as well, truly global. First, beyond the traditional focus of economic history courses on Europe and the Americas, particular attention will be devoted to Africa and Asia. Second, the priority will be to highlight the interconnections between the different regions and to understand how the people living in them negotiated the opportunities and tensions created by the economic transformations triggered by globalization and how they conceptualized the changing lives around them. Finally, the class will highlight how diverse intellectual traditions handled the challenges presented by historical change.