Economic History

The Economic History course (MED):
- provides the basics for analyzing and interpreting the development of the world economy from the first industrial revolution to the present day;
- offers the reference points for understanding the globalization processes unraveling between the 19th and 21st centuries, with greater emphasis on the post-1945 period and particularly the span of decades between the 1990s and the '00s;
- relates the transformations over time in the global economy to environmental and climate transformations, exploring the areas of industry and agriculture, labor, energy, planetary demography, urban sprawl, food, epidemics, equality and inequality.

Upon completion of the Economic History course (MED), students will acquire the following knowledge, skills/abilities:
A) KNOWLEDGE
- basic knowledge needed to understand the main evolutionary lines and processes that have connoted the world economy over the past two centuries;
- tools to identify continuities and/or discontinuities of these processes and to understand the roots of some current geo-economic scenarios.
B) SKILLS
- ability to argue along the space-time axis the importance of institutions, technological and social innovations, markets, the State and entrepreneurship for economic growth;
- ability to apply acquired knowledge in order to identify, examine, and discuss some global economic issues while becoming aware of their complexity;
- ability to apply acquired knowledge to different contexts;
- ability to further develop the acquired knowledge in writing papers and engaging in open discussions.
C) AUTONOMY OF JUDGMENT
- ability to critically evaluate information and reliable sources of knowledge;
- ability to gather multiple sources of information to formulate personal arguments;
- ability to develop novel arguments, and to avoid the pitfalls of oversimplification;
- ability to evaluate the soundness of an idea in terms of relevance and coherence;
- ability to evaluate inferences and implications of the processes studied.

D) COMMUNICATION SKILLS
· Students will gain the discipline-specific vocabulary and concepts to communicate clearly and unambiguously with specialist and non-specialist interlocutors;
· They will be further stimulated to expand their communication skills both through open discussion in the classroom and in the online forum, and through study and work, individually and in groups.
E) LEARNING SKILLS
· autonomy in learning and ability to use the tools of analysis of historical processes in time and space (local and global);
· tools for bibliographic and sitographic research in order to attain new knowledge that will be useful in the world of work or for undertaking further studies;
· team work experience in order to attain new knowledge cooperating with the colleagues.