Economic History 110441-D
Konwersatorium (KON) Semestr zimowy 2024/25

From feudalism to capitalism

The basic rules of the 19th-century economic liberalism. Creation and history of the business cycle until 1914. Laissez-faire economy. Monopolization and its influence on the business cycle.

Monetary and credit history. System of bullion currency. Versions of Gold Standard. Bimetallism. The beginnings of paper money. Historical models of commercial banking. The creation and the role of the central banks.

Industrial Revolution. Second Industrial Revolution. Social results of industrialization. Mechanism of demographic explosion. Development of workers' movement and trade unions. Development of co-operative movement. Free trade and protectionism. Corn League and the abolishment of Corn Laws in Great Britain. Economic aspects of the American Civil War. Industrialization of the Polish lands.

Colonialism and mercantilist basis of its early stage. Differences between the old empires: Spanish and Portuguese. French, English and Dutch colonial expansion. The activity of trade companies. The issue of slavery in modern times. The rivalry in colonies at the 19th century. The evolution of economic importance of colonies. Changes in the colonial policy of the European states in the turn of the 19th century. Economic development of the USA in the second half of the 19th century. Modernization of Japan after 1868.

Economic and social aspects of World War I. Models of war economy. The issue of war reparations and their influence on the business cycle. The crisis of the years 1919-1922 and its results. Inflations, hyperinflations and currency stabilizations after World War I. World economy in the 1920's.

The Great Depression, its uniqueness and results. State interventionism. New Deal. Interventionism in the fascist states.

The economy of the Second Republic of Poland. The problems of the integration of the new state. Inflation and hyperinflation. Władysław Grabski's reforms. Second inflation. Stabilization of 1927. The issue of land reform. Great Depression in Poland. The economic policy of Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski.

Soviet economy in the years 1917-1941. Doctrinal basis of centrally planned economy. War communism. NEP - the New Economic Policy. Socialist industrialization and collectivization.

Economic aspects of World War II. Economic Policy of the Axis states in the occupied countries. Stages of the American aid to the Allies: Cash and Carry, Lend Lease, UNRRA. Demographic and social results of World War II.

Business cycle after World War II. Bretton Woods system and its fall. Oil crises and their consequences. Monetarist shift in the economic policy. Debt crisis of the 1980's. Business cycle after the end of Cold War.

Marshall Plan. European models of the welfare state. The beginnings of the European integration. Creation of the EEC. EFTA. Integration processes after 1973.

Soviet economy in the years 1945-1991. The economies of the European socialist states. The activity of Comecon.

Japan and the newly industrialized countries of the Pacific. De-colonization and the economic problems of the Third World. Mechanism of the equilibrium of poverty. Stages of the economic development of the People's republic of China.

Economic history of Poland after 1945. Post-war reconstruction and the 3-year Plan. The 6-year Plan. Economy during the Władysław Gomułka period. Economy in the times of Edward Gierek's rule. The attempts at economic reforms after 1980. The Balcerowicz Plan and its consequences.