The rise of personal computers, Excel sheets, and, more recently, large language models such as ChatGPT has completely reshaped research in the social sciences and the humanities. The course aims to introduce history students to the quantitative methods used in the social sciences within the framework of economic history. Each session will focus on a specific method/tool, addressing the theory behind it and discussing applications from the historical literature. As case studies, we will investigate the rise of modern states in the 19th and 20th centuries across different dimensions: income, taxation, inequality, and education.
The course relies on the active participation of students. For each session, students are required to do the compulsory readings and the practical assignments with Excel or R. Furthermore, students are required to give a short presentation focused on a piece of economic history literature. The presentations should guide the class through the reading of quantitative research papers, with a special focus on the methodology used. Most classes require the use of a laptop. If that is not possible, please contact the lecturer.
