The main idea of this course is to present a broad introduction to different fields of research – both on macroeconomic and microeconomic perspective – which actually are at the frontier of Economic and Business History. The course focuses on four different broad topics. Another aim of the course is to introduce students to the discussion of virtues and limitations of different historical sources and methodologies.

Academic year 2014-2015 (hours 8):

Thursday 21st May 2015: 11-13

Michelangelo Vasta
The geography of innovation in Italy, 1861-1913: evidence from patent data
Topic: Technology

Wednesday 27th May 2015: 16-18

Michelangelo Vasta
What makes a successful entrepreneur? Historical evidence from Italy (XIX-XX centuries)
Topic: Entrepreneurship

Friday 29th May 2015: 11-13

Alessandro Nuvolari (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa)
“Uniting Souls” and counting skills: age heaping in the first Italian national censuses, 1861-1881
Topic: Education

Thursday 4th June 2015: 14-16

Paolo Di Martino (University of Birmingham)
“All that glisters is not gold”: law, firms’ governance and management in the Italian economic miracle (1950-1973)
Topic: Institutions

The “rules of the game” of the course are the following. First of all the course requires your active role in the discussion of the seminar. Each student should play as a «discussant» in at least one seminar (please coordinate a full list and send me it soon). What I mean for «discussant» is that you make direct questions to the speaker during the seminars.
Moreover, each student must write a Review Report (RR) for all four papers presented. The RR should be articulated as follow: i) discuss context and research questions; ii) assess source, historical material and data; iii) provide a discussion of approach and methods; iv) suggest improvements and refinements for the analysis.
Final evaluation will be based on the role as «discussant» and class participation (25%) and on the quality of RRs (75%).