HST 146 HISTORY OF EUROPEAN CAPITALISM

Why is it more difficult to start a business in Rome, Italy than Raleigh, North Carolina? Why do Germans, Danes, and Swedes tend to enjoy greater job security on average than New Yorkers, Texans, and Californians? Drawing on everything from Roman pottery to Harvard Business School case studies, this course seeks answers to these as well as similar questions in the millennia-old history of commercial exchange in the spaces between Moscow and Madrid. At the outset, it offers overviews of different types of economic entities, including ancient merchants, feudal guilds, imperial joint-stock companies, industrial factories, and modern multinationals. Later, it examines in greater depth two related themes: mercantilist trade and European economic integration. Finally, students will synthesize these themes together in a collaborative research project.