Ondřej Sankot: Economic Decline of European Empires

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Power of great empires was always based on the economy. Sustainable economic growth is therefore crucial for keeping the political influence as well as for ensuring the prosperity for its inhabitants. Economic power and prosperity of the past empires were often threatened by similar economic policy failures as we know today: fiscal crises, inflation, extensive regulation or institutional mismanagement.

This course uses examples from the past to demonstrate the effects of institutional changes on selected European empires and their economic development. The aim of this course, therefore, is not the history of the empires itself but drawing useful lessons for the current economies. Lectures of this course provide an overview of the economic policies and institutional failures that led to economic decay of the selected European powers in the past. In the assignments, students will widen and apply the acquired knowledge to the current economic issues.

This course combines the application of Institutional Economics and International Political Economy. After the essential theoretical underpinning (economic growth, economic institutions and policies of the state), the primary focus of this course lies on the European empires that adopted various institutional arrangements leading to different economic outcomes.

Apart from the most powerful European empires from the past (Roman, Spanish, British and German empires), this course focuses on the current issues in the CEE, especially on the current institutional flaws of the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.