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MPhil/PhD Economic History

The MPhil/PhD is an advanced research degree. You'll begin on the MPhil, and will need to meet certain requirements to be upgraded to PhD status. The main objective of this programme is the elaboration of a substantial piece of work that is worthy of publication and which makes an original contribution to the field of economic history.

Introduction

The department is home to by far the largest group of researchers in economic history in the UK and one of the largest in the world. This is a pluralistic department which encourages different approaches to the discipline: quantitative economic history; global history; history of economic thought; historical demography; historical economic geography; international economic history; business history; financial and monetary history; and social history. We also offer a wide chronological and geographical coverage of economic history, with specialists in almost every continent and any historical period from the medieval age onwards. For this reason, the department is able to supervise a wide range of topics, in line with the research interests of the teaching staff.

Preliminary Readings

• Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. (2012), Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. London: Profile.
• Allen, R.C. (2009), The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Austin, Gareth M. Markets, Slaves and States in West African History, c.1450 to the present. (Cambridge: CUP 2013)
• Austin, Gareth M. & Kaoru Sugihara (eds.) Labour-intensive industrialisation in Global History.(London: Routledge 2013).
• Baten, Joerg (2016), A History of the Global Economy. Cambridge.
• Broadberry, S. and O’Rourke, K. (eds.) (2010), The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Clark, G. (2007), A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Crafts, N.F.R. and Fearon, P. (2013), The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Darwin, J. (2007), After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, . London: Allen Lane.
• Engerman, Stanley L. & Kenneth L. Sokoloff, Economic Development in the Americas since 1500: endowments and institutions. (Cambridge: CUP/NBER 2012).
• Findlay, R. and O’Rourke, K. (2009), Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium , (Princeton Economic History of the Western World). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Floud, Roderick, Fogel, Robert, Harris, Bernard, and Hong, Sok Chul (2011), The Changing Body: health, nutrition, and human development in the western world since 1700. Cambridge.
• Greif, A. (2006)Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hatcher, J. and Bailey, M (2001), Modelling the Middle Ages: The History and Theory of England’s Economic Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Herschman, Albert O. (2013), The Passions and the Interests: political arguments for capitalism before its triumph. Princeton.
• King, Mervyn (2016), The End of Alchemy: money, banking and the future. Little, Brown.
• Livi-Bacci, Massimo (2012), A Concise History of World Population. Wiley Blackwell.
• Mackenzie, D (2006), An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
• Morgan, Mary S. (2012), The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• North, D.C., Wallis, J.J. and Weingast, B. (2009), Violence and Social Orders: A Conceptual framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
• Parthasarathi, P. (2011), Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Divergence, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Piketty, T. (2014) Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
• Pomeranz, K. (2000), The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Reinhart, C.M. and Rogoff, K.S. (2009), This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Rosenthal, J-L and Wong, R. Bin (2011), Before and Beyond Divergence: The Politics of Economic Change in China and Europe. Harvard University Press.
• Roy, T. (2012), India in the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present (New Approaches to Asian History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Von Glahn, Richard (2016), The Economic History of China from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Yun-Casalilla, B. and O’Brien, P. (2011), The Rise of Fiscal States: A Global History, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Key Information

• Study mode: Home full-time students (Three to four years, minimum two years) Open
• Overseas full-time students (Three to four years, minimum two years) Open
• Home part-time students (See "Your application" for more information) Open
• Academic year: 2026/27
• Start date: 28 September 2026
• Location: Houghton Street, London
• Application deadline: 27 May 2026

Entry Requirements

• Merit in LSE’s MSc Economic History (Research) with a minimum of 65 per cent overall, and at least 75 per cent in the dissertation component.
• Direct entry for applicants with an equivalent score in economic history or a similar field (economics, history, and so on) will also be considered, but we expect you to have a completed a dissertation worth at least 20 per cent of the final grade.

Overseas

Select a country from the list to find out the entry requirements that apply to you.

Programme Content

During the programme, we expect participation in departmental workshops and other seminars held within the University of London and, later, at conferences and seminars at other universities. In addition to progressing with your research, you'll also be expected to take the listed training and transferable skills courses.

Year 1

• Where appropriate, you'll take a pre-sessional statistics course.
• You won't retake Research Design and Quantitative Methods in Economic History if you've already taken it as part of the master's degree.
• Supervisors may require you to take other relevant, unexamined, economic history courses, methodological courses provided by the Department of Methodology or the Institute of Historical Research or skills training courses as required for your thesis topic.
• EH520: Non-credit bearing, Approaches to Economic and Social History
• EH4A1: One unit, Historical Analysis of Economic Change
• EH402: Half unit, Quantitative Analysis in Economic History I
• EH590: Non-credit bearing, Thesis Workshop in Economic History

Year 2

• EH590: Non-credit bearing, Thesis Workshop in Economic History

Year 3

• EH590: Non-credit bearing, Thesis Workshop in Economic History

Year 4

• EH590: Non-credit bearing, Thesis Workshop in Economic History

Why Study with Us

Discover more about our students and department.

Student Stories

The department's global reputation was a major factor in my decision.

Meet the Department

LSE is home to one of the largest specialist economic history departments in the world, with 25 permanent teaching staff, as well as visiting academics and researchers.

Why LSE

• University of the Year 2025 and 1st in the UK
• 1st in London for the 14th year running
• 6th In the world
• Carbon Neutral In 2021, LSE became the first Carbon Neutral verified university in the UK

Your Application

We welcome applications for research programmes that complement the academic interests of our staff at LSE.

Overview

We carefully consider each application and take into account all the information included on your form, such as your:

• Academic achievement (including existing and pending qualifications)
• Statement of academic purpose
• References
• CV
• Outline research proposal
• Sample of written work.

When to Apply

The application deadline for this programme is 27 May 2026.

Fees and Funding

The table of fees shows the latest tuition fees for all programmes.

Home

• £5,131: Home student fee (2026/27)

Overseas

• £24,400: Overseas student fee (2026/27)

Fee Status

At LSE, your tuition fees, and eligibility for any financial support, will depend on whether you’re classified as a home or overseas student (known as your fee status).

Scholarships, Bursaries, and Loans

We recognise that the cost of living in London may be higher than in your home town/city or country and we provide generous scholarships to help both home and overseas students.

Learning and Assessment

• How you learn
• How you're assessed

How You Learn

You'll be assigned a lead supervisor (and a second supervisor/adviser) who is a specialist in your chosen research field, though not necessarily in your topic.

How You're Assessed

You'll need to meet certain criteria to progress to PhD registration.

Graduate Destinations

Graduates of the programme have gone into a wide variety of careers, including university teaching and research posts, as well as jobs at international economic agencies such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Career Support

From CV workshops through to careers fairs, LSE offers lots of information and support to help you make that all-important step from education into work.

Related Programmes

• MPhil/PhD Economic Geography
• MRes/PhD International Development
• MPhil/PhD International History
• MSc Economic History (Research)
• MSc Economic History

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