Course Description
【Aim of the course】
This is a basic course mainly designed for university freshmen (students in their sophomore year or higher can also enroll).
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the history of the world economy and theoretical methods for assessing economic trends in order to grasp the
current state of the world economy.
The capitalist economy in which we live is a historical movement that emerged from a corner of Europe in the 16th century and now covers the entire world,
characterizing the "world economy." In order to understand and analyze the current state of the world economy, two perspectives are necessary: (1) a historical
perspective that looks at how the world economy was created and how it developed and (2) a theoretical perspective that clarifies the daily operations of the world
economy. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the basic historical knowledge necessary to understand the world economy, including its current state,
and recognize economic objects.
【Course contents】
This course provides an overview of the historical development of the world economy and the various economic theories stemming from the perceptions of those before
us.
As a broad framework, the course is divided into two parts: (1) The development of the capitalist economy and economics and (2) An overview of the history of the
world economy. More specifically:
(1) The first part will provide a bird's-eye view of the evolution of the major theories of economics and a brief overview of the transition from the establishment of
economics to contemporary economic theories. The focus is on learning that the discipline of economics is not only limited to mainstream economics but also composed
of other economic theories.
(2) The second part will explore the history of the world economy to the present day—roughly, we will look at its characteristics in the context of historical trends. In
particular, this part of the course will explore the following topics:
(1) Pre-capitalist societies
(2) Rise of the capitalist economy in the "Age of Discovery" in the 16th century
(3) Establishment of the capitalist economy in the 19th century
(4) Transformation of the capitalist economy from the late 19th century to World War I
(5) Emergence of modern capitalism in the Interwar Period
(6) Establishment of modern capitalism after World War II
(7) Changes in modern capitalism since the 1980s
(8) 21st-century capitalism
In line with this structure, we will explore the historical events leading to the rise of the modern economy and the current state of the capitalist economy.
We will also quantitatively consider the social phenomena that emerged with the rise of the commodity economy from the perspective of the "history of science.