Ec 365
Christophe Chamley
Fall 2006
270, Bay State Road, Room 401
Tuesday,
5:00-6:30 pm
Thursday,
8:30-10:00 m
The course provides an introduction to economic history by focusing on
one topic, the evolution of the public finances from the antique
mediterranean world to western Europe up the 19th century. The focus on
technical problems that constrained historical events and policies
sheds some light on historical evolutions in economics, financial
markets, institutions and politics.
Prerequisites:
Historical studies require a large amount of reading. Take the course
only if you are prepared to devote more time to read, and read again,
than in an average course. Some technical tools in economics will be
used, especially in macroeconomics and possibly game theory, but all
the tools will be explained from first principles. Be prepared to use
some elementary algebra on occasion.
Assignments:
Before some lectures, a one page summary of a reading (with specific
questions to be answered) will be required. In order to facilitate the
grading, the assigments are to be submitted on a format that will be
downloadable from the web site of the course.
Exams and grades
Assignments
will be graded with 0, 1 or 2 points. The final grade will be an
average of the assignments (20%), the mid-terms (22.5% each) and the
final (35%).
The dates of the mid-terms are October 5 and November 21. Exams
and standard answers for previous years will be given as tools for
prepation. However, there will be differences between the contents this
year and previous years.
The date of the final is set by the registrar. Only medical or serious
personal reasons will be accepted for no-shows. Set your travel
arrangements accordingly. Discussions between students, even on the
assignments are fruitful and encouraged. All submitted work is personal
however, and you know the standards of ethical conduct.
Readings
All readings will be either provided with a URL (which requires a BU
connection), or downloadable directly from the web site of the course.
Some indications will be given on the readings. From some topics, there
will be lecture notes. Slides of the lectures will be available.
The list of readings will be updated during the semester to fit the
need of this specific class. The schedule, the order of the topics and
the time devoted to each are subject to the constraints of the term,
the exams and the holidays. They would be somewhat different without
these constraints.
Web site
The material and information for the course (assignments, changes of
schedule, additional remarks and comments, readings, some course
slides), will be available on this web site. Check it frequently!
1. EGYPT:
geography, information and
enforcement
Jones:
``Taxation
in Antiquity,'' 151-179.
Preparation for Lecture 2,
Thursday, September 7
- Review the slides of the previous lecture.
- Read Jones, pages 156-160 (this part is about Egypt)
- Browse through Jones, pages 161-179 (about Rome)
Supplementary readings about the Egyptian
economy (optional,
but you will really gain with the first one)
A wonderful text to plunge into the day-to-day life of
Egypt, 2000 BC:
Ray, J. (2002): ``A
Farmer's Problems (Heqanakhte, c. 1950 BC),'' Chapter 2 in Reflections
of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press,
2
Text
of the Rosetta stone
Murnane, W. J. (1998). ``The
Organization of Government under Amenhotep III,'' in O'Connor D.
and
E. H. Cline, E., Amenhotep III: Pewrspectives on His Reign,
Michigan
University Press, 173-221.
Eyre, C. (1999). ``The
Village Economy in Pharaonic Egypt,'' Chapter 2 in Bowman, A. K.
and
E. Rogan, Eds., Agriculture in Egypt From Pharaonic to Modern Times,
33-60.
Manning, J. G. (1999). ``The
Land-Tenure Regime in Ptolemaic Egypt,'' Chapter 4 in Bowman, A. K.
and E. Rogan, Eds., Agriculture in Egypt From Pharaonic to Modern
Times,
33-60.
If you are interested in astronomy and egyptology, a wonderful
article
on the dating
of the great pyramids.
ASSIGNMENT ONE
on the blog
2. ROME: which
public finance?
A
MAP of the
Roman Empire
Jones: ``Inflation
under the Roman Empire.'' 187-227.
Webber, C., and A.Wildavsky (1986),
A
History of Taxation and
Expenditure in the Western World, pages
93-147. Use this reading as a dictionary. Take what is useful for
you,
leave
aside the rest. For choosing the important topics, use the lecture
notes.
LECTURE NOTES The
notes are tentative at this stage. Use them only if they do not confuse
you. They are no substitute for the lectures. The notes should be used
both in print and on screen since they contain some web links.
NO CLASS THIS
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 14 (and no office hour on that day either)
ASSIGNMENT 2 (due in class Tuesday, September 19). see
the blog
3. THE FEUDAL
STATE: information, decentralization and parliaments
PREPARATION FOR
TUESDAY CLASS
Read the two following papers. The
first one is available on JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org, and then
navigate to the paper and click "print" (better than download), and
save in pdf.
LECTURE
SLIDES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Holt,
J.
C. (1992). Magna Carta, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, Chapter 2, "Government
and Society in the Twelf Century", 23-49.
Ertman,
Thomas
(1997). Birth of the Leviathan. Building States and Regimes in
medieval
and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, Chapter
2, pages 52-89, Chapter
4, 156-178.
Harriss,
G. L. (1976). ``War
and the Emergence of the English Parliament 1297-1360,'' Journal
of Medieval History, Vol. 2, 35-56.
Harriss,
G.
L. (1976). King, Parliament, and Public Finance in Medieval England
to 1369, ``A
retrospect,'' 509-517.
- Harriss,
G. L. (1976). ``War
and the Emergence of the English Parliament 1297-1360,'' Journal
of Medieval History, Vol. 2, 35-56.
- Harriss,
G.
L. (1976). King, Parliament, and Public Finance in Medieval England
to 1369, ``A
retrospect,'' 509-517.
- Kaeuper, R. W. Bankers to the
Crown: The Riccardi of Lucca and Edward I, 173-207.
- Read again Sussman and be prepared to ask questions on issues
which are not clear to you. Slides of the
previous lecture (to be continued on Tuesday).
- Look at Kaeuper, R. W. Bankers
to the
Crown: The Riccardi of Lucca and Edward I, 173-207. In
reading, focus on two issues:
- How did Edward I finance expenditures. What were the
innovations?
- Was the outcome for the Riccardi predictable?
4. FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR:
seignorage with metallic money
Cipolla,
Carlo,
``Currency
Depreciation
in Medieval Europe,'' Economic History Review, 15,
413-22.
Sargent T. and F. Velde (2000). No Small Change: From
Commodity to
Fiat Money, 42-46.
Sussman,
Nathan
(1993). ``Debasements,
Royal Revenues, and Inflation in France During the Hundred Years' War
1415-1422,'' Journal
of Economic History, 53, 44-70. (JSTOR)
Bordo, Michael D. (1986). ``Money, Deflation and Seigniorage
in the Fifteenth Century," Journal of Monetary Economics, 18,
337-46.
Motomura,
A. (1994). "The
best
and worst of currencies: seigniorage and currency policy in Spain,
1597-1650,''
Journal of Economic History," 104-127. (JSTOR)
5. SPAIN
(1500-1650): silver, the public debt and sovereign borrowing
García, David Alonso (2006). "Government
debts and financial markets in Castile between 15th-16th centuries,"
mimeo.
Conklin,
James (1998). "The
Theory of Sovereign Debt and Spain under PhiliP II,'' Journal of
Political Economy, 483-513. (JSTOR)
Flynn,
Dennis
O. (1982). "Fiscal Crisis and the Decline of Spain (Castille)," Journal
of Economic
History, 42, 139-47. (JSTOR)
FIRST
MID-TERM (October 5)
6. THE NETHERLANDS, 1550-1700
De Vries, ``Money
and taxes, borrowing and lending'', p. 91-129.
Fritschy, W. (2003). ``A
`financial revolution' reconsidered: public finance in Holland during
the
Dutch Revolt, 1568-1648,'' Economic
History Review, LVI, 57-89.
Veenendall, A. J. Jr ``Fiscal
Crises and Constitutional Freedom in the Netherlands, 1450-1795, in
Hoffmann.
7. FISCAL
POLICY IN FRANCE, 1500-1715
This section is
omitted for the second mid-term
Hoffman, Philip T. ``Early
Modern France, 1450-1700'', 226-245.
Wolfe``The Fiscal System of Renaissance France,'' Appendix: The
Chief Elements of the Tax Machine
Velde, François (2006), "French
Public Finance Between 1683
and 1726," mimeo, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
8. INSTITUTIONS
North, D. and B. Weingast (1989).
"
Constitutions
and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice
in
Seventeenth-Century England,''
Journal of Economic History,
49,
803-832.
Important reading, but
don't get lost in details. Keep track of the main argument and the main
facts that may support (or may not support) the argument.
Weingast, B. R. (1997). ``
The
political foundations of limited government: parliament and sovereign
debt
in 17th- and 18th- centruy England,'' in Drobak and Nye,
213-246.
NOT REQUIRED (only
complement)
Sussman, Nathan and Yishay Yafeh (2004). "Constitutions and
commitments: evidence on the relation between institutions and the cost
of capital," CEPR Discussion Paper 4404.
9. FRANCE
1700-1789
Ives, R. J. (2003). ``Political
Publicity and Political Economy in Eighteenth- Century France,'' in
Society for the study of French history.
Between John Law and the Revolution
Weir, D. R. (1989). ``Tontines,
Public Finance, and Revolution in France and England, 1688-1789,'' Journal
of Economic History, 49, 95-124. (JSTOR)
White, E. N., (1989).``Was
there a solution to the Ancien Régime's financial dilemma?''
Journal
of Economic History, 49, 545-68. (JSTOR) Complement to other readings; read only
if you have done the other readings.
Bonney, R. (1998). ``The
New French Fiscal History,'' The Journal of Modern History, 70,
639-667.
10. ENGLAND
1453-1789
Mathias, P. and O' Brien, P.K (1976). ``
Taxation
in Britain and France, 1715-1810: a Comparison of the Social and
Economic
Incidence of Taxes Collected for Central Government,'' Journal of
European
Economic History, 5, 601-50.
(already
referenced in Section 9).
Stasavage, David (2003).
Public
debt and the birth of the
democratic state : France and Great Britain, 1688-1789. Chapter
5:
Partisan Politics and Public Debt in Great Britain, 1689-172.
TAKEN OUT FROM THE LIST
Brewer, J. (1988). The Sinews of Poser: War, Money and
the
English State, 1688-1783
- Chapter
4: Money, Money, Money: The Growth in Debts and Taxes, 88-134. This reading has a link and is not
required. However, it is a useful complement to the lectures.
- Chapter
7: War and Taxes., 191-217.
O' Brien, Patrick K. (2006). "Mercantilist
institutions of
the pursuit of power with profit: the management of Britain's national
Debt, 1756-1815," mimeo
Chamley, Christophe (2006). "Callable
government bonds and private
expectations in England, 1743-1750," mimeo.
Carlos, Ann, Larry Neal and Kirsten Wandschneider (2006). "The Origins
of national debt: the financing and re-financing of the war of the
spanish succession," mimeo.
Clark G. (2001). ``Debt,
deficits, and crowding out: England, 1727-1840,'' European
Review
of Economic History, 5, 403-436.
Homer, S. and R. Sylla (1991). A History of Interest Rates, Chapter
11, England in the Eighteenth Century, 147-165.
Clark, G. (1996). "The Political
Foundations of Modern Economic
Growth: England, 1540-1800,” Journal
of Interdisciplinary History, (JSTOR).
Lecture Thursday,
November 16
- Closing remarks on fiscal policy in England with a discussion of
North-Weingast-Stasavage
SECOND
MID-TERM
(November 21)
- Questions on
a previous mid-term. Answers to
two questions
- Study your assignments.
- Relevant Sections: 6, 8, 9 and
10.
The readings which have a web link are
required, except for Brewer Chap 4, (see comments).
However, for some reading, only some pages are required; see the
comments.
All the lecture slides were handed out during the
lectures. They should be a valuable tool in the preparation of the
mid-term. Here are copies of some of these slides:
11. FRENCH
REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS
*White, E. N.
(1995). ``The
French Revolution and the Politics of Government Finance, 1770-1815,''
Journal
of Economic History, 55, 227-355. (JSTOR)
Bordo, M. D., and E. N. White (1991). ``A
Tale of Two Currencies: British and French Finance During the
Napoleonic
Wars,'' Journal of Economic History, 51, 303-16.
(JSTOR)
*Bordo, M. D., and
E. N. White (1994). ``British
and French Finance
During
the Napoleonic Wars,'' in M. D. Bordo and F. Capie, eds.,
Monetary
Regimes
in Transition, Cambridge, 241-73.
Another case of suspension of the Gold Standard: the Greenbacks
*Willard, K,
Guinnane T. and H. Rosen
(1996). "Turning
Points in the Civil War: Views from the Greenback Market," American Economic Review, 86, 1001-1018.
12.
THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY
*Acemoglu, D. and J.
Robinson, ``
Why
did the West Extend the Franchise? Democracy Inequality and Growth in
Historical
Perspective''
Quarterly Journal
of Economics, (Section 4, p. 17-33).
*
Engerman, S. and K. Sokoloff (2001), ``
The
Evolution of Suffrage institutions in the New World,'' mimeo.
Useful complement to the papers by
Acemoglu and Robinson. It is a required reading for the final exam.
*
Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson and J.
Robinson
(2001),
``Reversal
of Fortune: Demography and institutions in the Making of the Modern
World
Income Distribution,''
Quarterly
Journal of Economics,
117:
1231-1294.
Acemoglu, D. and J.
Robinson
(2001). "
Economic Origins of
Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge, 2005.
For the final exam
- All required
readings for the two mid-terms are required readings for the final
except the technical content of the paper by Sussman. (Then non-math
content is still required).
- In Section 11 and 12, the readings with a *
are required
for the final exam.
Previous
final exam
Answers to
Mid-term 2