History of economics exam 2

Be able to identify the significant public policy issues in England in the early 19th century

Significant public policy issues in early 19th century England included industrialization, urbanization, labor rights, and economic regulation, as the nation grappled with the consequences of a rapidly changing economy.

Poor laws

These laws were designed to provide assistance to the poor, regulate workhouses, and address issues of poverty and unemployment in early 19th century England.

Factory Acts

Legislation aimed at improving working conditions, limiting working hours, and safeguarding the rights of workers, particularly women and children, in early 19th century England.

• Chadwick – background, major influences, primary contributions, views on mechanization and business cycles with respect to working poor; relevance to today’s social and economic issues

Social reformer and public health advocate in 19th century England, known for his work on sanitation and its impact on health. He argued that improving living conditions could alleviate poverty and enhance productivity among the working poor.

• State of sanitation in England during the 19th century; Great Stink; Chadwick’s perspective about the public interest and role of government in sanitation reform, how he considered it to be a “public good” and a natural monopoly

The sanitation was very bad. Poo and every chemical in the Thames river. Chadwick though government should do something about it.

• Chadwick’s role in changing policing and law enforcement in England; issues was he seeking to address with those changes; be able to explain the economic incentive underpinning the “preventative principle”

Edwin Chadwick played a significant role in reforming policing in England by advocating for a centrally organized, professional police force. He aimed to address issues of crime, public disorder, and the inefficiency of the existing decentralized law enforcement. The economic incentive underpinning his 'preventative principle' was the argument that it was more cost-effective to prevent crime through a visible, organized police presence than to expend resources on dealing with its aftermath (e.g., investigations, trials, imprisonment). He believed that preventing social ills like crime would lead to greater economic productivity and reduce public expenditure

• JS Mill’s background, main principles and concerns for public policy; his two main types of government intervention – be able to identify

• Mill’s perspectives on income vs wealth taxes, be able to provide his argument about each

• Romanticism – what was it, its primary perspectives; comparison to Enlightenment thinking and rationalism. Be able to explain why was this movement relevant to the history of economic thought

Who were the utopian socialists? Saint-Simon bio and proposal for social organization

• Simonde de Sismondi; be able to identify his proposal for the role of government in the economy?

• Robert Owen - be able to explain how his bio and early life experience impacted his theories; be able to explain his projects and how they worked out

• Marx bio, family circumstances, formal education, profession, cities did he lived in and why he moved around

• Philosopher was most influential for Marx – Hegel – be able to explain what the dialectic is

Communist Manifesto - when published; major points

Das Kapital – when published; major points

Marx’s theory of excess value

Marx’s prediction for advanced capitalistic economies – be able to explain his argument

Marx, “class struggle” and revolution – be able to explain

Cournot – background, primary contribution to economic thinking, role of marginals

Cournot’s monopoly model, be able to draw and explain Figure 13.1 in the text

• Cournot duopoly model, reaction curves, be able to draw and explain Figure 13.2 in the

Text pg. 315

• Dupuit – biography, profession and impact of his training on his economic ideas; be able

to identify and explain three characteristics that shaped his economic analysis

Dupuit’s three components of total utility in a market – be able to identify and explain

Dupuit’s idea of price discrimination and utility impact on a monopolized market

• Dupuit’s two elements of entrepreneurship – be able to identify and explain; concept of

product differentiation; Dupuit’s general rule for the provision of public goods and consumer surplus

Somebody has to take a risk and somebody has to run a company

• Jevons – background and training – main contributions to economic thinking

Weber-Fechner studies – be able to explain conclusions and implications for utility and

demand

Jevon’s four factors of human utility – be able to identify and explain

Equimarginal principle – be able to identify and explain

• Alfred Marshall – bio, most significant publication and primary contributions to

economics

Marshall’s perspective on the use of mathematics in economic analysis

• Marshall’s thinking about the role of time in economic analysis – be able to explain;

definition of ceteris paribus in the context of the demand function

• Marshall’s short run and long run models – be able to draw and explain Figures 16.1 and

16.2

Pg.400