All aboard!

My global economic history graduate course, 2025 edition

Feb 10, 2025

Why did a quest to solve the problem of longitude transform global trade? How did a centuries-old battle outside Vienna shape modern conflict patterns? What can the spread of Protestantism teach us about the diffusion of new ideas?

These are just a few of the fascinating questions we’ll explore in my 2025 global economic history course at Stellenbosch University that kicks off this week. We sail the seas of global development, exploring how institutions, technology, culture and trade have shaped the modern world. Economic history, as readers of this blog will be well aware, is not just about the past – it is a lens for understanding why some countries flourish while others fall behind, and what policy lessons we can draw for today. As the only course of its kind in South Africa, it gives Stellenbosch economics graduates an edge by moving beyond the math of stylised models to explore the complexity of real-world economies.

We’ll read 64 papers over a semester, structured around presentations and discussions. The papers for my 2025 global economic history course are organised into three key sections: Historical Episodes, which explores pivotal moments such as the Neolithic Revolution, colonialism, and the Industrial Revolution; Roots of Growth, focusing on the long-term drivers of development like innovation, state capacity and human capital; and Hot Topics, which engages with contemporary debates on issues like gender, health and migration through a historical lens. And even though I have a preference for papers on Africa where possible, each section offers a diverse geographic set of case studies and methodological approaches.

The 64 papers (plus four background readings) feature contributions from 150 unique authors. While I don’t believe newer work is inherently better, the course is designed to expose economics students to the latest research in the field while still providing a broad understanding of its core themes. For that reason, 27 of the assigned papers were published – or released as working papers – in 2024 alone, as the figure above demonstrates. More than a third of this year’s reading list consists of new additions not included in last year’s course. The full reading list is provided below.

Background: Useful Introductory Reading

Nunn, N, 2020. The historical roots of economic development. Science, 367(6485), p.eaaz9986
Abad, LA and Maurer, N, 2021. History never really says goodbye: a critical review of the persistence literature. Journal of Historical Political Economy, 1(1), pp.31-68
Giuliano, P and Matranga, A, 2021. Historical data: where to find them, how to use them. In: D Greif, CH Bohlin, and J Voth, eds. The Handbook of Historical Economics. London: Academic Press, pp.95-123
Lemercier, C and Zalc, C, 2021. Back to the sources: practicing and teaching quantitative history in the 2020s. Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics, 2(2), pp.473-508

Introduction: The Rise of African Economic History

Fourie, J, 2016. The data revolution in African economic history. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 47(2), pp.193-212
Hopkins, AG, 2019. Fifty years of African economic history. Economic History of Developing Regions, 34(1), pp.1-15
Frankema, E and Van Waijenburg, M, 2023. Bridging the gap with the ‘new’ economic history of Africa. The Journal of African History, 64(1), pp.38-61
Frederick, K, Juif, D and zu Selhausen, FM, 2024. The revival of African economic history in the 21st century: a bibliometric analysis. Revista de Historia Industrial—Industrial History Review, 33(92), pp.11-48

Historical Episodes: The Neolithic Revolution

Matranga, A, 2024. The ant and the grasshopper: seasonality and the invention of agriculture. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, p.qjae012
Kung, J, Ozak, O, Putterman, L and Shi, S, 2022. Millet, rice, and isolation: origins and persistence of the world's most enduring mega-state. Working Paper
Flückiger, M, Larch, M, Ludwig, M and Pascali, L, 2024. The dawn of civilization: metal trade and the rise of hierarchy. Working Paper
Obikili, N, 2022. Tubers and its role in historic political fragmentation in Africa. Working Paper

Historical Episodes: Slavery

Althoff, L and Reichardt, H, 2024. Jim Crow and Black economic progress after slavery. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 139(4), pp.2279-2330
Bleakley, H and Rhode, P, 2024. The economic effects of American slavery: tests at the border (No. w32640). National Bureau of Economic Research
Martins, I, Cilliers, J and Fourie, J, 2023. Legacies of loss: the health outcomes of slaveholder compensation in the British Cape Colony. Explorations in Economic History, 89, p.101506
Hornbeck, R and Logan, T, 2023. One giant leap: emancipation and aggregate economic gains (No. w31758). National Bureau of Economic Research

Historical Episodes: The Industrial Revolution

Heblich, S, Redding, SJ and Voth, HJ, 2022. Slavery and the British industrial revolution (No. w30451). National Bureau of Economic Research
Kelly, M, Mokyr, J and Ó Gráda, C, 2023. The mechanics of the Industrial Revolution. Journal of Political Economy, 131(1), pp.59-94
Galofré-Vilà, G, 2023. The diffusion of knowledge during the British Industrial Revolution. Social Science History, 47(2), pp.167-188
Rosenberger, L, Hanlon, WW and Hallmann, C, 2024. Innovation networks in the Industrial Revolution (No. w32875). National Bureau of Economic Research

Historical Episodes: Colonialism

Bolt, J, Gardner, L, Kohler, J, Paine, J and Robinson, JA, 2022. African political institutions and the impact of colonialism (No. w30582). National Bureau of Economic Research
Kampanelis, S, Elizalde, A and Ioannides, YM, 2023. Songlines. No 23-07, QUCEH Working Paper Series
Fourie, J and Garmon Jr, F, 2023. The settlers’ fortunes: comparing tax censuses in the Cape Colony and early American Republic. The Economic History Review, 76(2), pp.525-550
Paik, C and Vechbanyongratana, J, 2024. Reform, rails, and rice: political railroads and local development in Thailand. The Journal of Economic History, 84(3), pp.807-837

The Roots of Growth: Innovation and Technology

Giorcelli, M and Moser, P, 2020. Copyrights and creativity: evidence from Italian opera in the Napoleonic age. Journal of Political Economy, 128(11), pp.4163-4210
Miotto, M and Pascali, L, 2022. Solving the longitude puzzle: a story of clocks, ships and cities. Working Paper
Feigenbaum, J and Gross, DP, 2024. Answering the call of automation: how the labor market adjusted to mechanizing telephone operation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, p.qjae005
Greyling, JC, Pardey, PG and Senay, S, 2025. Agricultural policy and crop location: long‐run output and spatial climate risk consequences. American Journal of Agricultural Economics

The Roots of Growth: The State

Fernández-Villaverde, J, Koyama, M, Lin, Y and Sng, TH, 2023. The fractured-land hypothesis. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138(2), pp.1173-1231
Angelucci, C, Meraglia, S and Voigtländer, N, 2022. How merchant towns shaped parliaments: from the Norman Conquest of England to the Great Reform Act. American Economic Review, 112(10), pp.3441-87
D’Arcy, M, Nistotskaya, M and Olsson, O, 2024. Cadasters and economic growth: a long-run cross-country panel. Journal of Political Economy, 132(11), pp.3785-3826
Aneja, A and Xu, G, 2024. Strengthening state capacity: civil service reform and public sector performance during the Gilded Age. American Economic Review, 114(8), pp.2352-2387

The Roots of Growth: Human Capital

Atack, J, Margo, RA and Rhode, PW, 2023. De-skilling: evidence from late nineteenth-century American manufacturing. Explorations in Economic History, p.101554
Dittmar, J and Meisenzahl, R, 2022. The research university, invention and industry: evidence from German history. Working Paper
Hartog, M, Gomez-Lievano, A, Hausmann, R and Neffke, F, 2024. Inventing modern invention: the professionalization of technological progress in the US. Utrecht University, Human Geography and Planning
Frankema, E and van Waijenburg, M, 2023. What about the race between education and technology in the Global South? Comparing skill premiums in colonial Africa and Asia. The Economic History Review

The Roots of Growth: Trade and Globalisation

Carlos, AM, Green, E, Links, C and Redish, A, 2024. Early modern globalization and the extent of indigenous agency: trade, commodities and ecology. The Economic History Review
Gatti, F, 2024. Quantifying trade from Renaissance merchant letters (No. 258). EHES Working Paper
Tadei, F, Aslanidis, N and Martinez, O, 2024. Trade costs and the integration of British West Africa in the global economy, c. 1840–1940. The Economic History Review
Saleh, M, 2024. Trade, slavery, and state coercion of labor: Egypt during the first globalization era. The Journal of Economic History, 84(4), pp.1107-1141

Hot Topics: Gender and Demography

Perrin, F, 2022. Can the historical gender gap index deepen our understanding of economic development? Journal of Demographic Economics, 88(3), pp.379-417
Humphries, J, 2024. Careworn: the economic history of caring labor. The Journal of Economic History, 84(2), pp.319-351
Ngai, LR, Olivetti, C and Petrongolo, B, 2024. Gendered change: 150 years of transformation in US hours (No. w32475). National Bureau of Economic Research
Goldin, C, 2024. Babies and the macroeconomy (No. w33311). National Bureau of Economic Research

Hot Topics: Health

Lowes, S and Montero, E, 2021. The legacy of colonial medicine in Central Africa. American Economic Review, 111(4), pp.1284-1314
Goehring, G and Hanlon, WW, 2024. How successful public health interventions fail: regulating prostitution in nineteenth-century Britain (No. w32505). National Bureau of Economic Research
Antman, FM, 2023. For want of a cup: the rise of tea in England and the impact of water quality on mortality. Review of Economics and Statistics, 105(6), pp.1352-1365
Lazuka, V and Jensen, PS, 2024. Multigenerational effects of smallpox vaccination (No. 251). EHES Working Paper

Hot Topics: Mobility and Migration

Ward, Z, 2023. Intergenerational mobility in American history: accounting for race and measurement error. American Economic Review, 113(12), pp.3213-3248
Abramitzky, R, Boustan, L, Catron, P, Connor, D and Voigt, R, 2023. The refugee advantage: English-language attainment in the early twentieth century. Sociological Science, 10, pp.769-805
Derenoncourt, E, 2022. Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. American Economic Review, 112(2), pp.369-408
Cools, A, Grooms, J, Karbownik, K, O'Keefe, SM, Price, J and Wray, A, 2024. Birth order in the very long-run: estimating firstborn premiums between 1850 and 1940 (No. w32407). National Bureau of Economic Research

Hot Topics: Race, Segregation, and Discrimination

Alsan, M and Wanamaker, M, 2018. Tuskegee and the health of black men. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(1), pp.407-455
Abel, M, 2019. Long-run effects of forced resettlement: evidence from Apartheid South Africa. The Journal of Economic History, 79(4), pp.915-953
Cook, LD, Jones, ME, Logan, TD and Rosé, D, 2023. The evolution of access to public accommodations in the United States. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138(1), pp.37-102
Feir, DL, Gillezeau, R and Jones, ME, 2023. Institutional drift, property rights, and economic development: evidence from historical treaties (No. w31713). National Bureau of Economic Research

Hot Topics: Violence and War

Archibong, B and Obikili, N, 2023. Prison labor: the price of prisons and the lasting effects of incarceration (No. w31637). National Bureau of Economic Research
Ager, P, Bursztyn, L, Leucht, L and Voth, HJ, 2022. Killer incentives: rivalry, performance and risk-taking among German fighter pilots, 1939–45. The Review of Economic Studies, 89(5), pp.2257-2292
McGuirk, EF and Nunn, N, 2024. Transhumant pastoralism, climate change, and conflict in Africa. Review of Economic Studies, p.rdae027
Ochsner, C and Roesel, F, 2024. Activated history: the case of the Turkish sieges of Vienna. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 16(3), pp.76-112

Hot Topics: Culture and Religion

Blanc, G, 2023. The cultural origins of the demographic transition in France. Working Paper
Jedwab, R, Meier zu Selhausen, F and Moradi, A, 2022. The economics of missionary expansion: evidence from Africa and implications for development. Journal of Economic Growth, 27(2), pp.149-192
Becker, SO, Pfaff, S, Hsiao, Y and Rubin, J, 2023. Competing social influence in contested diffusion: Luther, Erasmus and the spread of the Protestant Reformation. Working Paper
Michalopoulos, S and Rauh, C, 2024. Movies (No. w32220). National Bureau of Economic Research

Hot Topics: New Sources in Economic History

Franklin, B, Silcock, E, Arora, A, Bryan, T and Dell, M, 2024. News Deja Vu: connecting past and present with semantic search. arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.15593
Chiovelli, G, Michalopoulos, S, Papaioannou, E and Regan, T, 2023. Illuminating Africa? Working Paper
Guldi, J, 2024. The revolution in text mining for historical analysis is here. The American Historical Review, 129(2), pp.519-543
Voth, HJ and Yanagizawa-Drott, D, 2024. Image(s). CEPR Discussion Papers, (19219)

‘All aboard’ was first published on Our Long Walk. Support more such writing by signing up for a paid subscription. The images were created with Midjourney v6.1.