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Albrecht Ritschl
Professor
Department of Economic History
Course content
Fundamental stylised facts on the post-1929
depression. The monetarist paradigm and its offshoots. The financial
accelerator view. The role of the Gold Standard: a view from
Aims
(i) to introduce students to the history of the
Great Depression of the 1930s, with comparisons to other deep recessions in
economic history;
(ii) to provide students with a basic knowledge of the main theoretical
interpretations and their relative merits
(iii) to give students a preview of the analytical techniques used in
interpreting the historical evidence
Assignments
/ Assessment
Students will be assigned a project, to be
presented during weeks 9 and 10.
Assessment is through a final exam in the summer
term.
Course
structure
Weeks 2-6: the
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Week 2-1 |
Introduction and Overview: Great Depressions in
the 20th Century |
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Week 2-2 |
Hayek v Friedman: Was Money Too Tight Or Too Loose? |
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Week 3-1 |
Revisiting the Monetary Hypothesis |
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Week 3-2 |
A Housing Bubble? Keynesianism v Fisher |
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Week 4-1 |
A Bubble in the 1929 Stock Market? |
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Week 4-2 |
It's Crunch Time, Ben: The Financial Accelerator |
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Week 5-1 |
Revisiting the Financial Accelerator Hypothesis |
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Week 5-2 |
Projects |
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Animal Spirits? The Keynesian Hypothesis Revisited |
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Week 6-1 |
Labour Markets and the Great
Depression: the |
Slides |
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Week 6-2 |
Monopoly Power and Trade Unionism:
A Modified Supply Side View |
Slides |
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Weeks 7-8:
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Week 7-1 |
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Slides |
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Week 7-2 |
A Tale of Two Recoveries: the |
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Week 8-1 |
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Slides |
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Week 8-2 |
The Macroeconomic Effects of the
two World Wars |
Slides |
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Weeks 9-10: Project Presentations by Students