Capitalist Crises in Historical Perspective
WELCOME TO THE WINTER 2023 EDITION OF THE CAPITALIST CRISES SEMINAR.
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU.
— THE FULL SYLLABUS AND COURSE SCHEDULE ARE POSTED TO THE "FILES" FOLDER.
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This course explores selected topics in the history of capitalism in a global, multi-century perspective.
Winter 2023 Course Topic: Capitalist Crises in Historical Perspective
Introduction. We live in an age of colossal financial bubbles and crashes. History has tremendous power to clarify these events.
This course begins by looking at the globalized economic crises in the late 19th century and then surveys the world depression of the 1930s. The remainder of the course surveys the crises from the 1970s to the present. Along the way, we also look at some classic theories of crisis. The course concludes with a fast-research project focused on an aspect of the current economic crisis or on a selected historical crisis. Graduate students will conclude with a longer paper on an aspect of economic crisis that intersects with their own research program.
The course follows an in-person format and is primarily seminar (discussion) based with some lecture material intermixed. Please be prepared to participate actively in presentation and discussion work.
Your instructor (self-introduction). After graduating from Stanford University and working where I could during the economic slump of the early 1980s, I worked as a technical writer at Apple Computer during the recovery of the mid 1980s and then did MA and PhD work in Japanese economic history at UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, and Osaka City University. Since that time I’ve focused my research on the long-run history of capitalism, globally and in Japan, and especially on booms and depressions. I’ve been fortunate as an economic historian to have lived in eight US states, to have worked in various industries, and to have studied or worked in five other countries. My conviction is that we can understand the dynamics shaping our present and future only by understanding them over the long run of history.
The course syllabus is posted to the "Files" folder.