This option is available only for those studying History and Economics

This subject in comparative economic history is concerned with the main relationships involved in the industrialization of Britain and France from 1750 to 1870.  It will provide an introduction to modern economic history and candidates will be encouraged to think thematically and systematically about the problems of why some countries (e.g. Britain) developed modern industry and an urbanized society before others (e.g. France).  They should become more familiar with the corpus of theory and elementary quantification that inform modern approaches to economic history, basically by detailed study of such topics as the connections between industrialization on the one hand and demographic change, agricultural productivity, capital formation, entrepreneurship, technical progress, education, transportation, foreign trade and governmental policies on the other.

In selecting two major European economies for detailed study this option also introduces students directly to the problems of comparative history.  Thus the texts have been selected to exemplify contemporary British commentaries on the strengths and weaknesses of the French economy and the perceptions of well-informed Frenchmen of the progress and desirability of industrialization and urbanization as they proceeded across the channel from 1750 to 1870.