Teaching

CURRENT

Graduate Courses

Topics in Economic History II (MSc Institutions and Political Economy, Universitat de Barcelona)

• The aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of the main themes in the history of financial and labor markets. The course takes a long run approach, from the 19th century until today, and a wide focus that includes case studies from a range of different countries and regions. The underlying common theme of the course is the evolution of financial and labor markets and their interactions with the different waves of globalization, emphasizing the role of political economy. 

Research Design (MSc Institutions and Political Economy, Universitat de Barcelona)

• This course is designed as a “research in progress” seminar. Students are expected to complete a master thesis and this course is intended to provide students with the tools necessary to conduct high-quality research on their own. The purpose of the course is twofold. First, students will receive training on how to develop an empirically-oriented research project: pose a significant research question, connect it to the relevant scientific literature, develop a theory and hypotheses with observable consequences that can be tested with the research methods discussed in other courses of the master’s, and find the relevant data. Second, students will have the opportunity to present their research at different stages, receive feedback from fellow students and faculty, and also analyze and discuss other students’ projects. As a part of this course, students will also be required to attend a given number of research seminars during the semester, for which they will have to complete a brief task, summarizing the presentation and evaluating key points of how the research was presented and discussed. 

Undergraduate Courses

Capitalism and Financial Crises (BSc Economics, Universitat de Barcelona)

• The course aims at providing students with an overview of the main typologies, causes and mechanisms of financial crises throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. In the first part of the course, we will discuss banking, exchange rate, sovereign debt, stock market and inflation crises in history. The second part incorporates political factors in the historical evolution of financial crises, both in terms of their causes and in their governance. Finally, the last part addresses some of the more recent economic and social challenges such as climate change, inequality and new monetary technologies and relates them to financial crises in historical perspective.

Global Economic History (BSc Economics and BSc Business Management, Universitat de Barcelona)

• The course examines the evolution of the world economy from the Middle Ages to the Oil crisis, focusing on the main drivers of long run economic growth, global market integration, the international monetary system political economy and economic crises.

PAST

Graduate Courses

EH402 - Research design and quantitative methods in Economic History (LSE)

• The course is concerned with how economic historians have used quantitative methods and with how researchers design and structure a research project. It terms of quantitative methods the emphasis is on the applied and practical rather than the theoretical and ranges from the use of simple summary descriptive statistics to multiple linear regression, cross-section, panel data, time series and instrumental variables.

EH426 - Quantitative topics in Economic History I: cross-section and panel data (LSE)

• The course provides an overview of quantitative approaches in economic history mainly using cross-section and panel data. The course examines the use of quantitative techniques through practical exercises and critical discussion of their application in recent literature.  Techniques discussed include multiple regression analysis, regression diagnostics, instrumental variables, limited dependent variables, sample selection corrections, and panel data analysis.

EH430 - Monetary and Financial History (LSE)

• The course allows students to acquire a broad overview of the origins of financial markets from 800 to the eve of World War I. It explores the creation of mints and central banks, the role of finance in processes of long-run growth such as the Industrial Revolution, how financial bubbles and banking panics first arose, and how financial markets integrated in the 19C with the Gold Standard. It also puts the focus on the financial turmoil of the Great Depression, looking at the mechanisms leading to hyperinflation, bank failures, debt crises and capital flight on both sides of the Atlantic. Finally it analyses the evolution of financial institutions under Bretton Woods, sovereign debt crises, the 1990s bubbles, and the Great Recession in the US and in the Euro area. 

EH483 - The development and integration of the world economy in the 19th and 20th centuries (LSE)

• This course aims to provide an overview of the development and integration of the world economy from 1800 to the present, giving an understanding of the origins of the challenges we face in the 21st century. The course raises fundamental questions about the sources of the unprecedented levels of economic growth in the last two centuries and the past and present challenges to economic development that have led to sharp divergences in income between countries and regions. The course explores the economic history at a global level, exploring developments in the western world as well as in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, and Africa. Topics discussed will include fundamental transformations in economic experience, such as income and inequality, environmental change and the rise of population; sources of progress, such as technology, science, fiscal development; and explanations for divergent outcomes, for example human capital, economic policy, and management. 

Undergraduate Courses

EC100 - Economics A (LSE)

• This course provides a foundation in micro and macroeconomics, primarily to those without background in the subject. Microeconomics is the focus of Michaelmas Term: this term aims to provide students with methods of economic analysis that can enable them to think about when markets work well, when they are likely to fail and what policies might improve outcomes. Macroeconomics is the focus of Lent Term, which covers topics such as economic growth, unemployment, inflation, monetary & fiscal policy, and international macroeconomics. 

EC204 - Financial Markets and the Global Economy: a history of bubbles, crashes and inflations (LSE)

• The course introduces students to the long run evolution of financial markets and to the history of monetary policy and financial crises. The course covers the two waves of financial globalization of 1880-1914 and 1980-2008 and the de-globalization of finance that happened during the Great Depression. A long run perspective on the 2008 financial crisis and Eurozone crisis will be provided through several historical case studies of stock market crashes, banking panics, currency crises and sovereign defaults. Finally, the course explores how central banks responded to financial crises in different historical periods and covers the evolution of monetary policy over the last two hundred years. 

EH306 - Monetary and Financial History since 1750 (LSE)

• This course covers international Monetary and Financial History since the mid-18th century. The course is designed to introduce students to the key issues around globalised finance and money. It will look into the rise and eventual demise of the Gold Standard, the emergence and occurrence of financial crises, the globalisation and geography of financial markets, and changes in policy responses and regulation over time. 

EH101 - The Internationalization of Economic Growth: from 1870 to the present day (LSE)

• The course examines the inter-relationships between the development of the international economy and the growth of national economies since the late nineteenth century. 

EH225 - Latin America and the International Economy (LSE)

• The course examines the development trajectory of Latin America and its relation with the international economy from the Early Modern period (c. 1700) to the present. It focuses on the political and economic factors that drove - and that resulted from- the region’s engagement with the world attending to the environment, population and factor endowments, institutions and policies. 

  • "Highly Commended Award" in the category of Innovative Teaching at the 2017 Teaching Excellence Awards at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). 

EH240 - Business and Economic Performance since 1945: Britain in International Context  (LSE)

• The course examines the successes and failures of British business and industry, with an emphasis on the post-World War II period. It examines many of the hypotheses on why the UK economy grew more slowly than other OECD nations during this period. Explanations of relative economic decline are examined in the context of comparisons with other European nations and with the US and Japan. The course is organised to combine economy- wide factors, such as education, management organisation, labour relations, and membership in the EU, with case studies of industries as diverse as cotton, cars, banking and steel. By interacting themes and case studies, students get a sense of how national policies interact with business opportunities, and how governments can both aid and harm business. They also get a sense of why much – but not all – of British business history in the post-war period has been characterised as one of relative decline. The main attention is on the post-war period, including current changes in performance, but the historical roots of Britain's recent performance are also considered.