"An Englishman born in 1750," wrote the late American historian David Landes, "was closer to Caesar's legionaries in material prosperity than the children of their own grandchildren." The quote expresses in densified form the extreme, and historically unique, prosperity increase much of the world has undergone the last 250 years. While the prosperity of a person who lived 250 years ago was not much better than that of a person who lived 2,500 years ago, the prosperity situation of today's people has radically improved.

The overall ambition of this course is to give students insight into how and why this development took place. At the same time, it is an independent goal to promote learning through the systematic use of writing exercises, and to train the students' abilities to plan, structure and write analytical texts.

After completing the course, students should:

• Have gained basic knowledge of the economic development of the Western world in a historical perspective, with emphasis on the period from around 1800 to today.
• Have gained basic knowledge of the economic development in Norway in a historical perspective, with emphasis on the period from around 1800 to today.
• Be able to account for and discuss various explanatory models/theories on key economic-historical themes and events in the world's and Norway's economic history.
• Be able to abstract features from economic-historical developments and transfer them to other periods, areas, and issues.
• Be able to reflect on current issues by using historical knowledge.
• Have basic knowledge and practice in planning, structuring and writing analytical texts.  

Ronald Findlay og Kevin O'Rourke, Power and Plenty: Trade, war and the world economy in the second Millennium, chapters 6-9.

Pål Thonstad Sandvik, Nasjonens Velstand. Norges økonomiske historie 1800-1940, Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 37-101 and 189-233.

In addition, a list of articles and book chapters will be presented at the beginning of the semester.