Economic History Courses
at NHH: options for
Bachelor students
• HIS010 – International Economic History since 1750
Bjørn Basberg & Liam Brunt
(English)
• HIS011 – Norwegian Economic History since 1800
Ola Grytten
(Norwegian)
• HIS012 – Historical Development of Modern Business
Bjørn Basberg (on leave until 2016)
(Norwegian)
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Historical Development of Modern Business
• Offers an international perspective on business
development over the last 200 years
• Considers the importance – and evolution – of
factors such as: entrepreneurship, technology,
financing, labour relations, transport and
communications, internationalization, regulation
• Supplemented with several in-depth case studies of
major Norwegian businesses
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Norwegian Economic History since 1800
• Examines the major developments in the Norwegian
economy over the last 200 years
• Examines the development of major variables such
as national income, living standards, trade
• Considers the role of institutions – such as
government and unions – and the preconditions for
successful development
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International Economic History since 1750
• Examines the onset of modern economic growth
around the world: from England in 1750, to
Europe/North America in 1850, to developing
countries today
• Considers the role of key institutional arrangements,
such as the gold standard, empires, IMF/World Bank
• Analyzes global set-backs: the Great Depression,
the Oil Shock
• Uses case studies to illustrate key developments
• Integrates economic theory with economic history
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In general,
• Economic history tends to tackle broader questions
than most other courses (eg the impact of the state
of the economy on democracy)
• Tends to proceed inductively, rather than deductively
• More reliance on verbal reasoning, less on
mathematical exposition
• Many parallels between historical episodes and
current events (eg Great Depression v. Great
Recession): ”Nothing new under the sun”
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