London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Modules

96/D96
Economic history in the 20th century

This paper examines the interrelationships between the development of the international economy and the growth of national economies.
The growth of the industrial world economy in the 20th century.
International trade and economic growth in the early 20th century.
The centre and the periphery.
Labour and capital mobility, free trade and tariffs.
Technology, industrial growth and industrial organisation in Britain, the United States and Germany.
Britain’s position in the international economy before 1914.
The British Empire and the less developed countries.
Why the international economy worked less well after the First World War. (Why fixed exchange rates could be maintained before 1914, but rarely afterwards.)
The problems of the primary producing countries.
The world economic and financial crisis, 1929–33.
Depression, recovery and government policy in Britain, Germany and the United States.
The war economies, 1939–45.
The dollar in the international economy since the Second World War.
Comparative growth rates in the major industrial countries.
The effect of the EC.
The successes and failures of economic management.
The rise of the Japanese economy. (A comparison of motor vehicle production in the major economies as a case study.)
De-industrialisation in Britain and the USA.
The collapse of the Bretton Woods system and the international economy since 1973.
The Oil Crises.
Why some less developed countries (e.g. the NICs) have become major players in the international economy and not others.