INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS

AND BUSINESS HISTORY

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Anna Sol
anna.sole@upf.edu

Objectives
Provide a framework of the most relevant
facts and economic processes
Identify the main stages of economic history
Study the political and institutional framework
and understand its role in the economic
performance
Identify the factors of economic growth in the
long term
Relate economic theory with past and present
facts

Objectives
Investigate the influence of historical context on firms and
entrepreneurial actions
Analyze the transformation of the internal structure of
companies in the long run and the consequences of their
strategies on economic growth.
Understand the dynamics of continuity and discontinuity
that affect entrepreneurial choices from a comparative
and dynamic perspective.
Analyze the impact of variables like space, time, culture,
and technology on companies shapes.
Examine the role played by national systems in providing
opportunities and putting constraints on entrepreneurs
and enterprises.
Identify the crucial phases in the growth and development
path of companies in the long run.

Contents: First Term

1. Organic economies
2. Rural firms, trade, finances and
manufacturing in the preindustrial age
3. The Industrial Revolution
4. The company during the First Industrial
Revolution
5. The First Globalization
6. The company during the Second Industrial
Revolution

Contents: Second Term

7. The First World War and the interwar crisis
8. Heterogeneous experiences between World
War I and World War II
9. The Golden Age of capitalism
10.From the Golden Age to the crisis of the
large industrial corporation
11.From the crisis of the 1970s to the financial
crisis of 2008
12.From managerial capitalism to
entrepreneurial capitalism

Assessment
The final grade of the course will come from the
arithmetical mean of the two final marks of each
term, conditional on getting a minimum mark of
4 on each.
The final mark of each term will come from the
following components:
15% Students participation and seminar activities.
15% Team work
10% Test based on the contents of the first half of the
term
60% Final exam. A minimum mark of 4 out of 10 is
required to pass the subject

Assessment
Those students who fail the final exam will
have the opportunity of doing a retaking exam
(60% of the final grade), with the condition of
having obtained a minimum mark of 4 in the
continuous assessment. The activities of the
continuous assessment (seminars) can only be
retaken in the case of a justified Medical
absence. In all the other cases they cannot be
retaken.

Class schedule: First term

Week

Class activity

Individual activity

Session 1 (29/9). Lecture: Introduction

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Session 2 (6/10). Lecture: Lesson 1

Session 3 (7/10). Lecture: Lesson 1

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Session 4 (13/10). Lecture: Lesson 2

Session 5 (14/10). Lecture: Lesson 2

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Session 6 (19/10), Seminar 1

Session 7 (20/10). Lecture: Lesson 3
Session 8 (21/10). Lecture: Lesson 3

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 9 (26/10). Seminar 2

Session 10 (27/10). Lecture: Lesson 3

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 11 (2/11). Seminar 3

Session 12 (3/11). Test
Session 13 (4/11). Lecture: Lesson 4

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion
Preparation for the test

Session 14 (9/11). Seminar 4

Session 15 (10/11). Lecture: Lesson 4
Session 16 (11/11). Lecture: Lesson 5

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 17 (16/11). Seminar 5

Session 18 (17/11). Lecture: Lesson 5
Session 19 (18/11). Lecture: Lesson 5

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 20 (23/11). Seminar 6

Session 21 (24/11). Lecture: Lesson 6

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

10

Session 22 (1/12). Lecture: Lesson 6

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Class schedule : Second term

Week

Class activity

Individual activity

Session 1 (12/1). Lecture: Lesson 7

Session 2 (13/1). Lecture: Lesson 7

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Session 3 (19/1). Lecture: Lesson 7

Session 4 (20/1). Lecture: Lesson 8

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

Session 5 (24/1). Seminar 1

Session 6 (26/1). Lecture: Lesson 8
Session 7 (27/1). Lecture: Lesson 9

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 8 (31/1). Seminar 2

Session 9 (2/2). Lecture: Lesson 9
Session 10 (3/2) Lecture: Lesson 9

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 11 (7/2). Seminar 3

Session 12 (9/2). Test

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion
Preparation for the test

Session 13 (14/2). Seminar 4

Session 14 (16/2). Lecture: Lesson 10
Session 15 (17/2). Lecture: Lesson 10

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 16 (21/2). Seminar 5

Session 17 (23/2). Lecture: Lesson 11

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 18 (28/2). Seminar 6

Session 19 (2/3). Lecture: Lesson 11
Session 20 (3/3). Lecture: Lesson 11

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study
Preparation for the seminar discussion

Session 21 (9/3). Lecture: Lesson 12

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study

10

Session 22 (16/3). Lecture: Lesson 12

Reading of the teaching resources

Individual study