Economic History and Geography

Economic history and geography addresses a question that is both fundamental and deeply practical: how has economic activity shaped the physical and social landscape of the world we live in, and how has geography in turn shaped economic development? Economic historians examine how economies have grown, stagnated, and changed over time, investigating industrialisation, trade, institutions, and the long-run determinants of prosperity and poverty. Economic geographers ask how economic activity is distributed across space, why some places thrive and others decline, and how the interplay of location, infrastructure, and global forces produces the uneven economic geography we observe today.

At the London School of Economics, this three-year full-time degree engages these questions with the analytical rigour and global perspective that characterise LSE's approach to the social sciences. You will study how economic change has affected geography across different historical periods and in the contemporary world, examining topics such as the industrial revolution, colonial economic systems, globalisation, urban development, regional inequality, and the economic geography of emerging markets. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are part of the toolkit, and you will engage with primary data and sources as well as with the extensive secondary literature that LSE's location and library resources provide access to.

A year abroad is available, deepening your international perspective.

You will develop sophisticated analytical thinking, the ability to work with historical and geographical evidence, and the capacity to understand how economic processes operate across time and space. These are skills that are valued wherever complex, evidence-based understanding of how the world works is needed.

Graduates move into careers in economic consultancy, government and the civil service, international development, finance, policy research, journalism, and academia. The combination of historical perspective and geographical analysis is particularly valuable in roles concerned with regional development, international trade, and the economics of place. Postgraduate study in economic history, economic geography, development economics, or related fields is a common pathway.