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?