Assignments

Assignment 1 (Due: Week #2)

1-2 page short discussion paper on a "technology" which you employ on a regular basis, but about the history or characteristics of which you rarely pause to consider. Your discussion should indicate the ways in which this particular technology intersects with the larger themes of economic history. Be creative and feel free to have some fun with this assignment. It has no right answer, but nevertheless your discussion should reveal a high level of thoughtfulness.

Assignment 2 (Due: Week #3)

2-3 page discussion paper on some aspect of the historiographical debates surrounding the economy of late antiquity as revealed in the Lopez and Hodges reading assignments.

Assignment 3 (Due: Week #4)

1 page discussion paper related to the assigned readings for Week #4. Students should focus their response around an identification (ID) and explanation of the importance of one of the following three terms:

1. Intensive, Self-Sustaining, Mixed Farming Systems;
2. 'Economic Rent' to Agricultural Land; or
3. Nitrogen Capital Class.

Assignment 4 (Due: Week #6)

5 page paper due - The material which we covered thus far takes us through the various achievements of the high middle ages, including: geographical expansion, intensification of land use, population growth, the rise of technologically and/or organizationally innovative industries (most notably in textile production and water pumping), and a significant surge in urbanization at least in the most advanced parts of Europe. A logical paper subject then would be to describe, and more importantly explain, a feature (or features) of this expansion. The key is to frame your topic in the form of a question, and then devise a thesis which answers that question. An example might be, how does medieval Europe sustain the rapid population growth which occurs after the 10th century? This would require both the presentation of the evidence that population grew, as well as a theoretical and evidentiary explanation of how the economy accommodated it. You may address this particular question if you prefer, however, you are welcome to pursue questions of your own devising within this general theme of the expansion of the high middle ages.

Assignment 5 (Due: Week #7)

2 page response to the readings assigned for Week #7 on the economic consequences of the plague.

Assignment 6 (Due: Week #10)

2 page response to the Pomeranz and Topik reading.

Assignment 7 (Due: Week #12)

6 page paper Question: Amartya Sen in his Tanner Lectures on the Standard of Living offers a critique of the measurement systems currently in place for international comparisons of living standards. In their place, he proposes an alternate schema for the qualitative description of people's well being, as well as quantitative indices for comparative purposes.

Choose a historical period or episode which we have covered in this course, and write your essay on either:

1. The applicability of Sen's methodology to an assessment of well-being in that period; or
2. Discussion of the kinds of data which are available (or would need to be available) in order to employ Sen's methodology for understanding changes in the standard of living.

Please remember that the usual rules apply: no use of internet sources unless it is a refereed cite, and you have verified this in advance with us. Please use proper citation for all of your sources. You are strongly encouraged to bring your paper to the writing center.