PHIL/POLI/ECON 384 Midterm 1

What is the view on property that Locke is opposing in the Treatise? (Locke)

Absolute sovereignty/authoritarianism, divine right of kings, he believed that man is entitled to the fruits of his own labour (natural rights, liberty, property)

Private property, according to Locke, is in line with God's purpose for humanity. Explain. (Locke)

God provides the world w/ common ownership, the purpose of their provision is that we must make the best possible use of it.

Locke's justification of the appropriation land from the commons as private property is based on particular views about the human body. Explain. (Locke)

What we make with the labor we put in is ours since our body is our own, therefore, land is someone's as long as they are putting in the work to justify their ownership

What two conditions does Locke impose on the appropriation of land from the commons without consent before the establishment of the state? Explain what each condition means. (Locke)

No Waste (we can take advantage of property until we begin to let it spoil, go to waste, or neglect it- can be mitigated through barter, gifting, and exchange for money), and Enough-and-as-good (there is enough land left in good condition for others to use)

Why does Locke believe that inequality enters the world with the introduction of money? What is the role of the no-waste condition in this argument? (Locke)

People begin to purchase more than they can use, leading to waste. More industrious folk justifiably acquire more stuff

How does the appropriation of land in the commons proceed in the England of Locke's time? (Locke)

After the assignment of property rights on the basis of productive activity and the enough-and-as-good condition, the rest of the commons are given to a political authority and are no longer freely shared

Why does Locke think that his view of property justifies the appropriation of land by settlers in the Americas? How might one argue that it does not satisfy the enough-and-as-good condition? How might Locke respond that it does satisfy the no-waste as well as the enough-and-as-good condition? (Locke)

They brought to the Americas the resources necessary to cultivate and make use of the land to its fullest potential. Objection: Natives didn't have the industry to work the land and relied on hunter-gatherer tech, also European settlers did not leave as much enough-and-as-good for Natives relative to their tech. Locke would argue back that their tech is inferior to agarian production and are wasteful of resources (no-waste), and that white settlers leave enough-and-as-good provided they will share their production tech and are willing to compensate Natives for losses.

Contrast Locke's view on slavery in the Treatises with the text of the Constitution of the Carolinas. (Locke)

Wrote in treatises that slavery is vile and miserable, and that man's natural liberty is to be free from any superior power, but in the constitutions, he writes every freeman of Carolina will have absolute power and authority over his slaves (civil dominion of masters over slaves)

What type of "slavery" did Locke approve of? How does this apply to the situation in the Carolinas? (Locke)

As prisoners of war in a just war, they forfeit their lives and their liberties and estates when taken (absolute dominion here vs civil dominion in the constitutions)

Locke opposes religious justifications for the alienation of Indian lands, yet he does appeal to a passage in Genesis to justify the enclosure of land by white settlers on Indian territory. How does this justification proceed? (Locke)

He mentions the references to Genesis in Section 38, saying that once the land is settled, Abraham moves to a place where at least a great part of the land lay in common, and its inhabitants didn't value it or claim more than they could use

What can be said for and against the claim that the Revolutionary War was fought to preserve slavery? (1619)

The British only abolished slavery under pressure and 60 years after the Revolutionary War, so it is unlikely the British were attempting to abolish slavery in the Colonies. In the Constitution, slavery was purposefully omitted (James Madison said he thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution there could be property in men). Fugitive Slave Act

What is the relevance of the Somerset v Stewart 1772 court case and the Dunmore Proclamation? (1619)

Ruled that slavery is unlawful in England (no master ever was allowed here (England) to take a slave by force to be sold abroad because he deserted from his service... therefore the man must be discharged)

How might one argue against the claim that the British were intent on abolishing slavery in the American colonies? (1619)

British only abolished slavery in the Caribbean colonies under external pressure and 60 years after the Revolutionary War

What can be said for and against the claim that the Founding Fathers were intent on preserving slavery in the Union? (1619)

Pro: Omitted slavery in the constitution under the thought that it was wrong to admit in the Constitution that there could be property in men, Northwest Ordinance was unanimously passed

Con: Fugitive slave act, International slave trade protected til 1807, Calling forth clause

What is the relevance of the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Calling Forth Clause in the Constitution? (1619)

Fugitive Slave Clause asks for slaves to be returned if they escape, Calling forth clause says that congress can put down slave revolts

How was the issue of the International slave trade addressed in the Constitution? (1619)

The constitution paves the way for the abolition of the international slave trade in 1807 (A1, S9, C1)

What is the relevance of the Northwest Ordinance? (1619)

No slavery is permitted in new territories

What does Hume consider to be the function of the institution of justice (covering property)? Explain. (Hume)

Public utility is the sole origin of justice. They secure mutual advantage (including rules of property)

What are Hume's subjective circumstances of justice? (Hume)

Extremely nice, or extremely nasty

What are Hume's objective circumstances of justice? (Hume)

Extreme riches or extreme scarcity

Does greater abundance incline people to give more to charity? (Hume)

No, willingness to share is not a function of income (assumption of non-satiation)

There are two interpretations of what is permissible under extreme necessity. Explain. (Hume)

Either each is supposed to fend for themselves within the constraints of morality, or the state takes over, nullifies property rules, and tries to secure that everyone is provided for

What, according to Hume, is the role of the family in the development of justice in society? (Hume)

Humans find others to grow with, and cooperative interactions between larger and larger groups are constrained by a set of rules providing for mutual advantage

How does the CDC justify its authority to impose an eviction moratorium? (Eviction Moratorium)

The 1944 Public Health Service Act set the precedent that quarantines could be enforced for infected individuals, allowing the CDC to say that people who cannot pay rent shouldn't be forced to crowd in with others

How does the WSJ article counter the eviction moratorium? (Eviction Moratorium)

Landlords are forced to foot the bill that comes with an eviction moratorium

Why is there so little uptake among tenants and landlords of the federal money for rent relief? (Eviction Moratorium)

Renters:

- Lack of knowledge

- Complex paperwork

- Informal housing arrangements w/o proper lease

- Eviction protection

Landlords:

- Disagree with the conditions

- Covers only 9 months in unpaid rent (NC)

- Waive 20% of back rent (CA)

- Complicated future eviction

Discuss two unintended negative consequences of the eviction moratorium that may hurt lower SES groups. (Eviction Moratorium)

Independent landlords quit renting and move to Airbnb or sell the property to investment companies, and the housing shortage is exacerbated for lower socioeconomically status people

What does Smith aim to show with his pin-making workstead example show? (Smith)

Division of labour and how it increases productivity

What three reasons does Smith consider to provide for an explanation why the division of labor increases production. (Smith)

Greater skill level due to focus

Repetition of single tasks which saves on transition time

Automation

What two reasons does Smith provide for the division of labor leading to greater automation in production? (Smith)

Men will find easier and readier methods due to specialized knowledge

Making of machines becomes a specialized activity

How will the division of labor affect lower SES groups, according to Smith? (Smith)

It creates a level of wealth that massively benefits even the lowest Socio-economic group, whose members are better off than the highest ranking people in lesser developed nations

What human propensity, for Smith, makes the division of labor possible? (Smith)

Bartering (Unintended consequences: division of labor and resulting riches)

What is the role of benevolence and self-interest in the provision of goods? (Smith)

It is more reliable to procure goods/services from a self interested agent with a propensity to barter than someone who acts on benevolence

What is the link between population density and innovation in industry in Smith? (Smith)

A larger market permits for greater division of labor. Only in large markets is there a demand for specialized services

Smith provides a geographical explanation of differential levels of development in the world. Explain. (Smith)

Navigable coast will develop faster than interior land

Navigable waterways are more conducive to transportation, increasing market size and division of labor

Mediterranean develops early due to navigation possibilities before the compass

Rivers with a canal permit transport

Non navigable rivers or not under a single authority's control are not conducive to transport

What geographical explanation do Gallup and Sachs provide of differential levels of development? (Smith)

Distance from the equator- incapacitating tropical diseases

Review the questions in slides 11 and 13 (following CORE The Economy => Section 18.5 => Question 18.6 and 18.7.) (Ricardo)

Review comparative, absolute advantage, feasible production/comsumption frontier

Explain how the gains of trade are different from Ricardo and Smith? (Hint: Explain the core idea of comparative advantage and economies of scales which becomes feasible through the division of labor.) (Ricardo)

Ricardo focuses on comparative advantage (how a person can produce more output if they specialize and trade accordingly) vs Smith's Economies of Scale (larger economy, doubled inputs lead to doubled outputs) and Agglomeration (firms benefit from high concentration of similar industries)

With Smith, trade through specialization based on economies of scale. With Ricardo, trade through specialization based on different skills, resources, geographical conditions

What are economies of agglomeration? (Ricardo)

Forms benefit from a high concentration of similar industries due to less transport costs, cluster of skills and communication between firms (Silicon Valley)

How might there be winners and losers when we institute trade based on comparative advantage? (Ricardo)

Some goods may not be valued as high as others, so they may receive less for trading it than they would if they only made and kept that good

How might it be possible that all parties win when we institute trade based on comparative advantage? (Ricardo)

Economy grows and there may be absolute growth in all sectors

If there are losers from trade, what can the state do to address this situation? (Ricardo)

Welfare state can affect transfer payments from winners to losers

State can support reschooling

Short-term harms to some, long term benefits to all

Give three reasons for imposing tariffs. (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

Correct for trade imbalance, protect manufacturing jobs, protect against unfair competition, national security

Explain why tariffs might be beneficial for the local economy. (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

Local producers can enter the market when imported goods are more expensive than local goods

Provide three reasons why tariffs may hurt the local economy. (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

Higher prices for consumer goods regardless of location

Higher prices for imported intermediary goods (soda can)

How might tariffs positively and negatively affect national security? (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

CON: Retaliation by foreign governments (China tariff on US agriculture)

Job losses

Loss of trust between allies

PRO: no reliance on foreign markets for sensitive goods

Provide two reasons for thinking that the current wave of automation is detrimental to society. Provide two reasons for thinking that the current wave of automation is beneficial for society. (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

CON: Labor force participation is down, real wages are down, gains captured by small niche

PRO: Women's labor force participation is up, gains from tech increase welfare for many, tech creates new and high quality jobs

Explain the displacement and the productivity effects of automation on employment. (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

Negative displacement effect decreases employment, but the positive productivity effect increases employment

Following Acemoglu and Restrepo, what is the effect of the exposure to robots in commuting zones (i) for men versus women; (ii) on unemployment versus wages; and (iii) for different levels of education? (Tariffs, Automation, and Unemployment)

Job loss more pronounced for men than women, especially in men with high school level education. Loss in hourly wages is the same for men and women, depression of wages is greater for less than high school level

What changed from Smith to Marx in the promise that a Capitalist mode of production would bring about a better society? (Marx)

Marx believes high costs of Means of Production would act as a barrier to entry, the work was alienating, and competition between owners of MoPs would pay low wages, provide poor working conditions, employ child/woman labor.

Why did Smith think that the invisible hand would lead to a roughly equal distribution in society? (Marx)

Increased productivity would trickle down to everyone leading to a roughly equal distribution of money

According to Marx, the workers are alienated from their labor under Capitalist production. Discuss three different aspects of this claim. (Marx)

Alienation from the product of our labor (we dont understand what we make and we are controlled by market forces), productive activity (creativity is killed as people do monotonous work, and we sell our labor as a commodity instead of cooperating with others), Nature of Labor (the worker becomes an appendage of the machine), and alienation as the loss of control over market forces (people create such huge means of production that they can no longer control them)

Marx's Labor Theory of Value states that the source of the Capitalist's profit lies in the exploitation of the laborer, that is, the appropriation of the surplus value of labor. Explain. [Hint: You will need to explain what is meant by the exchange value of labor and how the Capitalist offers a wage that is below the exchange value of labor.] (Marx)

Exchange value: socially necessary labor time is the time spent on the production of X with normal level of skill and exertion and is relative to the society in which production occurs

Exchange value determines what is meant to be a fair price, but the capitalist offers an hourly wage less than the exchange value of an hour of labor. The Capitalist appropriates the surplus value of their labor. To get by, the worker must put in long hours and bring in their whole family to work

Why does Capitalism rely on an "Industrial Reserve Army of the Unemployed" for its proper functioning? (Marx)

There are more people willing to work than there is work

How does Marx's theory of Historical Materialism view the relationship between technology, economics, politics, and the law? (Marx)

Type of technology in society determines the economic structure, and the economic structure determines the political (monarchy to parliament) and legal structure (licensed guilds to independent entrepreneurs)

Why does Marx believe that (i) the relative size of the proletariat will increase and (ii) the proletariat will become increasingly more impoverished? (Marx)

Capitalists won't be able to keep up with the competition of production and they'll join the working class. To remain in this competitive field, the capitalist will increase his exploitation of workers.

Marx believed that the Communist Revolution would come about as a necessary consequence of certain social forces within Capitalism. Explain. (Marx)

-Growing working class

-Pauperization

-Increased class consciousness

- Treat of economic bust conditions

As a result of all of these, the workers will unite and overthrow the existing order and give rise to communism

What is reflexivity in the social sciences, and how might this explain why Marx's prediction failed? (Marx)

Predictions of doom tend to be self-falsifying (bank run)

In response to threat of collapse, rise of the social welfare state, middle class

Time

What two interpretations might one give of Marx's "hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic" passage in the German Ideology? (Marx)

Automation will lead to abundance so that the production process no longer requires strict division of labor, or there will be plenty of time for leisure where people can do what they want to

Socialists have promoted slogans such as "To each according to ability" (St. Simon), "From each according to ability" and "To each according to need" (Cabet, Blanc, Marx), "To each according to work" (Lenin, Soviet Constitution). Provide one example of a progressive policy that maps onto these slogans. (Marx)

To each according to ability: Free college, head start

From each according to ability: Stop Wall Street Looting, Me Too, Draft

To each according to need: Universal healthcare

To each according to work: Minimum wage, equal pay for equal work

In the Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx writes, "From each according to ability, to each according to need!" Explain what he meant by the 'from each...' and the 'to each...' part. (Marx)

Contribution based on ability (workers will freely contribute to the public good if labor is no longer exploitative) and distribution according to need (wages that reflect the intensity and duration of labor is not an adequate principle of distribution as workers have differently sized families)

What role for the state does Marx envision in the policies that he promotes for the Communist society in the Communist Manifesto? (You don't need to provide details - Hint: See my slide 46.) (Marx)

Planned economy, state control of essential sectors (banks, communication, transport, industries), state provision of public goods (education), taxes

What is the Federal Poverty Level calculated? How is the relative poverty level calculated? Which one is greater? Why? (Poverty and Inequality)

Federal poverty level calculated through three times the cost of a 1963 minimal diet in today's prices

Relative poverty level is 50-60% of the median household income, relative poverty level is higher than absolute poverty level

What happened to poverty rates over the last half-century for (i) Blacks, (ii) Hispanics, and (iii) Whites? What happened to poverty rates over the last half-century for (i) the elderly, (ii) the working-age population, and (iii) children? (Poverty and Inequality)

Drop in black and hispanic rates and rise in white rates

Rise in children and 18-64 rates and drop in elderly rates

How does one calculate the relative poverty level? Is it higher or lower than the Federal Poverty Level? (Poverty and Inequality)

Lower, it's half the median income

What are the five dimensions that enter into multidimensional poverty assessment? (Poverty and Inequality)

Low household income

Lack of education

No health insurance

Poor area

Jobless household

How do Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics compare in multidimensional poverty assessment? (Poverty and Inequality)

Hispanics are highest everywhere but poor area and jobless family (black). Whites are low everywhere and blacks and hispanics are very close at low income

Explain how the Gini coefficient is calculated. Draw a Lorenz curve and indicate what is on the X-axis and the Y-axis of your graph. Illustrate by drawing a fictional Lorenz curve for, say, the United Arab Emirates (high inequality) versus Denmark (low inequality). (Poverty and Inequality)

oh lord

Lorenz:

•% of total income earned by 1st decile

•% of total income earned by 1st + 2nd deciles

Line of perfect equality is a straight line, gap is inequality (draw a huge gap if super unequal)

x axis is % households by income distribution, y axis is % cumulative income

Explain three factors that explain the rising income inequality in the US over the last 40 years. (Poverty and Inequality)

Skill based technological change (income divide between skilled and unskilled labour)

Immigration of low-skilled workers

Decline of labour unions

Increased CEO income

Declining real value of minimum wage

Why is it somewhat deceptive to compare the Gini coefficient of the US with, say, the Gini coefficient of Luxembourg? (Poverty and Inequality)

Luxembourg is a much smaller country than the US- the larger the unit, the more inequality one might expect

Suppose that two countries have the same GDP and the same pre-taxes and transfers Gini-coefficient. Why might lower SES groups be better off in one country than in the other? (Poverty and Inequality)

Post-tax, some countries might offer more social programs to people in lower SES groups, but this will not show up on a Gini coefficient as it is post tax

Mill's example of the corn dealers draws a line between actions covered by freedom of speech and actions that are not covered. Explain. (Mill)

Freedom of speech should be protected until it becomes hazardous to others (telling a mob in front of a corn dealer's house that they starve the poor)

Chaplinsky v New Hampshire 1942 states that "'fighting' words" are not protected by the First Amendment. What two conditions make an expressive act into fighting words? (Mill)

If it inflicts injury or tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace

Present three Supreme Court cases in which the action deemed offensive was protected by the First Amendment and one case in which the action was not protected by the First Amendment. (Mill)

Morse v Frederick (Bong hits for Jesus) was not protected because it was on school property.

Protected:

Brandenburg v Ohio

Cohen v California (f*** the draft)

Texas v Johnson (flag burning)

RAV v St. Paul (cross burning)

Snyder v Phelps (Anti-gay protest)

Present one epistemic, one political, and one argument based on moral character that Mill offers in defense of freedom of expression. (Mill)

Epistemic: Truth will come out in pitting half truths against each other, in defending truth against false opinions, we get a better understanding of the truth

Political: Democracies require free flow of information

Individuality (Moral character): autonomous agency requires information

What is Mill's Harm Principle, and how does it relate to paternalism? (Mill)

People should be free to act however they wish until their actions cause harm to someone else

What may one permissibly do to stop people from doing harm to self? (Mill)

remonstrating, reasoning, persuading, or entreating

Who is and is not covered by the Harm Principle? (Mill)

Adults are covered, not children or barbarians

Does Mill's view on who is and is not covered by the Harm Principle lead him to support colonialism? (Mill)

No, because colonial rule leads to exploitation

What two arguments does Mill offer to defend his position that government should respect the freedom to choose a way of living within the constraints of the Harm Principle? (Mill)

Unconventional lifestyles lead to social change

Choice of a life plan is fitting for a human life

Give an example of a type of public policy intervention to prevent harm to self that (i) would not pass Mill's harm principle and (ii) would pass Mill's harm principle. (Mill)

Doesn't pass: banning something

Passes: Social advertisement

What is Mill's view of the taxation of stimulants? Explain the reasoning. (Mill)

Permissible, because they are 'least necessary' goods

What four features characterize a nudge? (Nudge)

Change in choice architecture

No restriction on range of choices

Exploits behavioral mechanisms using seemingly irrelevant factors

Makes decisions in the interest of the Nudgee

Explain why (i) Save More Tomorrow, and (ii) Cafeteria are nudges? (Nudge)

i) People increase savings when they are asked if they'll save in the future when they get a raise

ii) People eat healthier food when it's placed towards the front of the queue