Course summary

The MSc Financial History provides students with a historical and interdisciplinary perspective on the main challenges facing the global monetary and financial system and capital markets. In the last decade, the field of financial history has experienced considerable growth globally. Fifteen years of financial turmoil have led to a revival of questions and debates about money and finance and stakeholders as well as have realised how a deeper knowledge of financial history can help to better inform and guide the current policy debate. The programme will allow students from various academic backgrounds (history, finance, economics or any related discipline) to acquire a deep understanding of the functioning of capital markets and of the conduct of monetary affairs through a historical approach. It will train you, through the study of financial history, to think critically and deeply about monetary and financial problems. Having successfully completed the MSc Financial History programme you will be able to:

• Apply theories of money, banking and finance to concrete historical case studies from a broad range of countries;

• Identify the causes of monetary and financial instability and crises through a combination of quantitative and qualitative historical methods;

• Assess the effects of monetary and financial policies on the economy and capital markets through a historical analysis taking account of the broader economic, social, and political context;

• Draw parallels between various historical episodes of credit booms, financial market bubbles, inflations, and crises and identify what can be learned from them;

• Understand the historical origins of today’s global financial and monetary architecture;

• Reflect critically on the main policy debates in the areas of money and finance and on the trade-offs they involve, for example with regard to financial regulation, quantitative easing, exchange rate regimes, and capital controls;

• Put current monetary and financial problems into a long run perspective and analyse them with the eye of a financial historian.