Economic History

Understanding the course of history, under an economic perspective.

Contacts and Office hours

Office hours Mondays 14h00-15h30, under appointment

Schedule

Please be punctual and avoid losing points on your grade (please check below). Access to the class will not be allowed 5min after the scheduled starting time.

Class	Schedule	Classroom
Practical Session	Mondays, 15h30–16h50	522-A
Lecture	Wednesdays, 14h00–15h20	520-A
Lecture	Thursdays, 15h30–16h50	522-B

Calendar

Week	Topic	Lectures	Practical session
1	Introduction and Approach	September 6 & 7	September 11
2	The Malthusian Regime	September 13 & 14	September 18
3	The Solow Model	September 20 & 21	September 25
4	Relaxing Solow Assumptions and Growth Accounting	September 27 & 28	October 2
5	Index Numbers Problems	October 4	October 9
6	Discussion of the Midterm Exam	—	October 30
7	Economic History Making-Of	November 2	November 6
8	Explaining the Industrial Revolution	November 8 & 9	November 13
9	Piketty and Inequality	November 15 & 16	November 20
10	International Aid and The Marshall Plan The Linear Regression	November 22 & 23	November 27

References

Fidalgo, António (2023). Lectures in Economic History. (Restricted access. Please check the password in Moodle.)

Assessment

The grade for this class will be a weighted average of the following elements:

Compulsory assignments and quizzes: 20%,
Optional assignments and quizzes: 0% to 20%,
Closed book midterm (covering the first part of the class): 30% to 40%*,
Closed book endterm (covering the second part of the class): 30% to 40%*.

*Depending on how many optional assignments and quizzes the student chooses to do. Optional assignments and quizzes enter the weighted average grade only if they increase it.

The necessary conditions to be waived from the final exam are the following:

weighted average above 9.5 and
average of the midterm exam and endterm exam above 8.

The necessary requisites to be admitted to the final exam are the following:

weighted average above 7.5 and
average of the midterm exam and endterm exam above 6.5.

The final exam will cover the entire course’s program. The exam is closed book. A final exam grade below 9.5 will result in the student failing the course.

Class attendance and punctuality are mandatory: failure to comply may be penalized by up to two points in the final grade.

Participation is strongly encouraged: while not directly granting points in the grade, it can be used to assess border situations.

Please check the class’ syllabus for further details.

Grade improvement in the final exam

Students who pass the course may take the final exam to improve their grade, in which case the following rules apply:

Students with grades between 9.5 and 12 in the final exam will have this grade as final grade if it is higher than the weighted average indicated above.
Above 12, the final grade will be the weighted average of the continuous evaluation (50%) and the final exam (50%).
Students have 15 minutes at the beginning of the final exam to decide whether they want to take it. Once this decision is made, it is final, and the student’s exam will be graded. Students must signal their intention of trying to improve their grade.