PhD programme

PhD in Economic History

imatges doctoratThe aim of the interuniversity doctoral programme in Economic History of the Universities of Barcelona, Carles III (Madrid) and Valencia is to train researchers in the different branches of economic history. Graduates of this doctoral programme will be able to analyse, understand and resolve issues relating to the long-term economic development of societies through the analysis of available historical data. They will also be able to generate knowledge in the field of economic history and very long-term economic development. The programme aims to enable students to gain mastery of the skills, techniques and methodologies used in a specific area of knowledge, like economic history, a field clearly set within the sphere of social sciences due to its interdisciplinary and cross-sectional character, as well as its place at the crossroads of economics and history. It is precisely this cross-sectional nature that distinguishes the specialist in economic history from the economist and historian, and which places experts in this field in a unique position to address questions related to the development of societies over the very long term.

The result of this specificity has been the recognition of the subject as an area of knowledge by the Ministry of Education and the inclusion of mandatory Economic History subjects in all Economics study plans arising from the successive reforms. In this context, it is intended that the graduates of the program are professionals capable of carrying out quality research tasks on topics of Economic History in universities or research centers, both public and private, and that they are also prepared to carrying out work with an important research component in the Public Administration, companies and the third sector, such as those carried out in consultancies or study services.

The Interuniversity PhD Programme in Economic History has been accredited with excellence by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency, AQU Catalunya, in the year 2023.

The Interuniversity PhD programme in Economic History has two direct precedents in the Doctoral Programmes in Economic History of the Universities of Barcelona and Carlos III of Madrid.

The first of them has a long history. Under the name of Doctorate in History and Economic Institutions, it came into operation in the 1991-1992 academic year, and from the following academic year it acquired an inter-university nature when it was carried out jointly by the Universities of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The programme received the Quality Mention from the Ministry of Education in its first call, in 2003, having renewed it without interruption until its extinction in the 2010-2011 academic year. The programme also received ADQUA aid (granted by the Department of Universities of the Generalitat of Catalonia) in the 2003 call. Subsequently, after the adaptation of the programme to the European Higher Education Area starting in the 2009-2010 academic year, and now as a PhD Program in Economic History at the University of Barcelona, the programme received the Mention Towards Excellence from the Ministry of Education, with a score of 89%.

The second precedent of this proposal is the PhD Programme in Economic History of the Carlos III University of Madrid. This programme was approved by the Governing Council of said University on December 20, 2005, being launched in the 2006-2007 academic year and adapting to the European Higher Education Area in the 2009-2010 academic year.

The Interuniversity PhD Programme in Economic History is directly linked to two Master's programmes of the participating universities: the Interuniversity Master's Degree in Economic History of the Universities of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (the only Master's Degree in Spain specialized in Economic History), and the Master's Degree in Economic Development and Growth from the Carlos III University of Madrid.

The Interuniversity PhD Programme in Economic History brings together three of the highest-quality and internationally renowned teams of economic historians in Spain, stemming from a tradition that dates back to the 1950s and the work of professors such as Jaume Vicens Vives and Jordi Nadal.

A significant portion of the faculty involved in the program is integrated into Catalonia's consolidated research groups: “Economic History and Development (Industry, Business, Sustainability)” i “Institutions and Political Economy Research Group”. In Madrid, the research group “H-Glacial: Historias de los capitalismos latinos globales”. And in Valencia, the Generalitat Valenciana's research excellence group: "From the Financial Crisis to the Digital Revolution."

The establishment of the Figuerola Institute of History and Social Sciences at Carlos III University of Madrid (focused on the interdisciplinary analysis of social issues from a historical perspective) and the Jordi Nadal Center for Economics and Economic History Studies at the University of Barcelona are additional examples of the potential of this collective in the field of research.

The Interuniversity PhD programme in Economic History is governed by the regulations of the Doctoral School of the University of Barcelona.