Discussion Questions for Dasgupta, "Economics: A Very Short Introduction": Prologue
Econ 1: UC Berkeley: Spring 2012: YOU MUST ATTEND SECTION YOUR FIRST WEEK!!

Discussion Questions for Dasgupta, "Economics: A Very Short Introduction": Macroeconomic History

From: Brad DeLong
To: UCB Econ 1 Spring 2012 students
Subject: Discussion Questions for Dasgupta, "Economics: A Very Short Introduction": Macroeconomic History

  • In the long sweep of human history, is Becky very lucky, lucky, unlucky, or very unlucky?
  • In the long sweep of human history, is Desta very lucky, lucky, unlucky, or very unlucky?
  • How much richer is the world today than it was in the long centuries from 5000 BC to 1800?
  • How much richer are the world's rich today than the world's poor today?
  • What would count as an explanation of this divergence across space and time--that is, what kinds of things would count as "causes" and make you happy that you understood what was going on?
  • How many useful "hierarchies of causation" can you imagine here?

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