Skip to main content
Print bookPrint book

Getting Started

Site: moodle@NovaSBE
Course: 1465-Introduction to Modern and Contemporary History-2425_T3
Book: Getting Started
Printed by: Guest user
Date: Saturday, 7 June 2025, 12:50 PM

Description

Table of contents



Welcome to the course page of Introduction to Modern and Contemporary History. You will find here the basic information on the contents of the course and how to successfully complete it.

The purpose of the course is to give a general perspective on how modern economic growth made Western countries so prosperous today. Understanding the prosperity of the West also helps to understand the poverty or incomplete development of most countries of the world, as they do not share the same level of prosperity. This will then lead us to understand inequality around the world. The subjects to be addressed range from growth theory to technical change, human capital formation and demographic change, linking them to their underlying institutional, cultural and geographical conditions

We will base our study on Oded Galor's book The Journey of Humanity, which we will discuss thoroughly in class with student groups that will prepare each of its chapters. You should thus prepare to read the book and work in a group.

The course mixes brief lectures, mostly dedicated to raise the main issues to be discussed in class, and actual discussions in class of the topics presented in the lectures and explained in the book and extra material.

Navigate through the menu on your right to select the relevant pedagogical information of the course.
HOME


iLearn @ Nova SBE

iLearn @ Nova SBE  is where you'll find all relevant information about this new learning environment. You will be able to navigate through powerful techniques and practical tips that will help you make the most of your learning journey.
Get started here!



Syllabus


Learning outcomes

In this course you will get acquainted with fundamental concepts that are essential to understand the contemporary world. You will understand the power of modern economic growth and how it has shaped the modern world. You will obtain the first notions of growth theory. You will understand the idea of technical change and how it is affected by institutional, cultural and geographical factors. You will understand the origins of inequality in the modern world.

The course should also help you to be aware of the non-linear and contingent nature of historic evolution and understand that the current state of affairs in the world is not static and definitive, but shaped by past events and bound to probably change drastically in the future.

The course will give you the tools to use critical reasoning in the analysis of historiographical and economics works, allowing you to understand that there are diverging perspectives on the same historical or current events, which are organised in historical, scientific and political debates, something that will help you to have a critical perspective on the current political and economic state of affairs.

 HOME


    Assessment

    The assessment will be based on the following elements:

      • Five individual quizzes to be taken in class (together worth 10% of the final grade)
      • Two group discussions in class on the topic of the day’s lecture (worth 12.5% each and 25% overall of the final grade)
      • A final exam on all the content of the course (worth 65% of the final grade)
      • If you fail the course in the first round of exams or want to improve your grade from the first round of exams, you will have the possibility of taking the resit exam at 100% of your final grade
      • In order to pass the course, you need a minimum grade of 8.5 on the first-round exam
      • The date of the first-round exam is 22 March 2025, at 11.30, and the date of the resit is 20 June 2025, at 11


    Bibliography


    Acemoglu, Daron and Robinson, James A. Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.     New York: Crown Business, 2012.

    Acemoglu, Daron and Robinson, James A. The Narrow Corridor. States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty, London: Penguin Books, 2019.

    Galor, Oded. The Journey of Humanity. The Origins of Wealth and Inequality. London: The Bodley Head, 2022. [mandatory reading]

    Koyama, Mark and Rubin, Jared. How the World Became Rich. The Historical Origins of Economic Growth. Cambridge, UK; Medford, MA: Polity Press, 2022.


    Instructor’s bio and contact details

    Luciano Amaral

    B.A. in  History and M.A. in Contemporary History, both at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Ph.D. in History and Civilization at the European University Institute of Florence. His research has been mostly dedicated to economic growth in the twentieth century, but also to banking history and the history of business groups in the same period, with particular attention to Portugal.

    Contact: lamaral@novasbe.pt