Course 2023-2024 a.y.

20528 - GLOBALIZATION, DIVERGENCE AND INEQUALITY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
GIO (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/12)
Course Director:
GUIDO ALFANI

Classes: 31 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: GUIDO ALFANI


Suggested background knowledge

There are no specific prerequisites for this course.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The course intends to explore the processes of globalization, of divergence/convergence between different areas of the word, and their impact on inequality adopting an historical and non-deterministic perspective. The first part of the course focuses on very long-term dynamics, approximately from the early modern period up until the Industrial Revolution. The intellectual framework of the 'Great Divergence' (leading to the pre-eminence of Europe over the rest of the world) and 'Little Divergence' (leading to the pre-eminence of northern over southern Europe) is adopted, but also critical views are considered. The second part of the course focuses on more recent developments, from the collapse of global capitalism at the time of World War I, to the construction of a new international economy after World War II, concluding with the great expansion of the late twentieth century and the related consequences for inequality worldwide. The area covered is the whole world, focusing on broad comparisons between macro-areas.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • The First Globalization.
  • The (possible) roots of the Great Divergence and the early rise of Europe over Asia.
  • The Little Divergence within Europe: North vs South.
  • The sources of divergence: social-economic institutions, culture, and demography.
  • Long-term trends in economic inequality and in inequality “extraction rates”.
  • Large-scale pandemics and inequality
  • The Industrial Revolution and the Great Divergence.
  • Europe and Asia compared, before and after the Industrial Revolution.
  • The short Golden Age of Global Capitalism (1896-1914).
  • Who was rich, across the ages?
  • World War I: the collapse of the established order.
  • World War II: the birth of a new international economy.
  • Falling behind: the case of Africa.
  • The deepening of inequalities across the world.
  • The emergence of a new Global Capitalism in the late twentieth century.
  • Recent developments in international and global economic inequality.
  • Globalization and Inequality – which connection?
  • The social role of the rich, in the long run of history

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

By the end of the course, the students have acquired knowledge about:

  • The long-run trends in divergence/convergence between different world areas.
  • The long-run trends in between- and within-country inequality.
  • The process leading in time to the emergence of the global economy that we experience today, as well as an understanding of how this differs from earlier historical situations.

The students also have acquired an understanding of the remote and proximate factors which could have led to differences in economic performance across world areas in different phases of human history.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Identify the specific ways in which given world areas were (and are) affected by globalization and by other large-scale historical processes.
  • Identify how history can be used, and how explanatory variables can be selected, to provide non-neutral readings of historical processes (and how to provide counter-arguments to such readings).
  • Research the remote and proximate factors leading to differences in economic performance between specific world areas in the long run of history. The students also have tuned their soft skills in a number of areas:
    • Writing of short but impactful texts on broad topics following strict redaction rules.
    • Redaction of a research project in the social sciences.
    • Presentation in public of reports/projects in different conditions (low/high time constraints, etc.).
    • Team-building and cooperation on common projects.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Individual assignments
  • Group assignments

DETAILS

The course includes engaging lectures, to which students are required to contribute by providing their opinions and answering questions in class.

  • During the course, two guests are invited to deliver lectures building upon their own research in areas relevant to the course.
  • An optional individual assignement ("Descriptive Report") covers the specific path of economic development, in the context of the Great Divergence, followed by a world area chosen by the student.
  • The group assignement consists in the redaction and presentation in class of a "Research Project" on a topic relevant to the course.

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
  x x
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
x    
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Assessment is based on two elements:

  1. First element:
    • A partial written exam on the first part of the course and another partial written exam on the second part of the course. OR
    • A written exam on the full program for attending students (selected chapters and teaching material on LS).
  2. Second element:
    • A written group project on a topic agreed upon with the instructor & its presentation in class.
  3. To these two elements, an optional individual "Descriptive Report" can be added (focused on the long-term economic development of a specific world area).

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

A written exam on the books and the teaching material on Bboard, including the slide packages for each lecture and the additional compulsory readings which are specified in the detailed syllabus uploaded on Bboard as well as in the reading lists for the two parts of the course. In the case of Alfani's book As Gods Among Men and Milanovic's book Worlds Apart, non-attending students are required to cover all the chapters (while attending students have to cover selected chapters only).


Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • G. ALFANI, As Gods Among Men. A History of the Rich in the West, Princeton University Press 2023 (selected chapters only).
  • K. POMERANZ, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2005 (selected chapters only).
  • B. MILANOVIC, Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2005 (selected chapters only).
  • Additional material provided by the Instructor through Bboard & Course Reserve.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • G. ALFANI, As Gods Among Men. A History of the Rich in the West, Princeton University Press 2023 (ALL CHAPTERS)
  • K. POMERANZ, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2005
  • B. MILANOVIC, Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2005 (ALL CHAPTERS).
  • Additional material provided by the Instructor through Bboard & Course Reserve.
Last change 10/12/2023 22:50