A Splendid Exchange is an inside look at how trade has had an impact on human development. The book answers the questions of how trade developed, how it expanded, and how trade is an essential economic force. The author, William J. Bernstein, explains how trade almost always benefits the nations that engage in it, but only when averaged over the entire national economy. The push for to trade is been a part of our history, and new patterns of trade always produce advantages and disadvantages. Bernstein explains that from a historical standpoint, which has been going on for centuries. For example, tea parties protesting taxes have been going on throughout history. The historical Boston Tea Party had almost nothing to do with taxes; to a certain extent, it was a protectionist reaction by middlemen and smugglers cut out of the tea trade by the decision to allow the East India Company to directly market its products in the colonies. This stunt launched the American Revolutionary War.…
Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is extremely similar in that it postulates that the market will run smoothly when men are left to their rational self to pursue their economic desires. The market only runs smoothly and wealth is only spread when the market is free of policies such as protectionist measures. The rational individual will understand that developing industry locally is more beneficial to himself and therefore the community in which he invests (The Wealth of Nations, 16). The government plays next to no role in the economy, the market regulated by the “invisible hand.” Thus protectionist measures and other forms of market interference began to be greatly looked down upon as inferences within the market, and interferences with…
Dennis Berk A.P. World Dr. Andrews Summer Assignment The accelerating pace of international trade is one of the most dominating, and important features, of contemporary life. Globalization is creating widespread changes for societies, economics, and governments. Since the invention of the steam engine, transportation and communication limits have faded away and, with the development of the Internet, practically disappeared. A case can be made for the proposition that trade, throughout history, has been the main engine for the development of the world as we know it today. In his book, A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World, William J. Bernstein makes this case.…
During the 18th and 19th centuries, there were a series of intense discussions by the great thinkers of the time, on how the economy should be molded going forward. The two most prominent of these intellectuals were Karl Marx and Adam Smith. Combined they shared a vision of an emerging social system, which they had foreseen; and what we now know as capitalism. Marx called his theory “the capitalist mode of production”, while Smith referred to the idea as the “society of perfect liberty”. There are several similarities and differences between the two social systems, and through these ideas, we can find how the economic system we use today came to exist.…
Macroeconomics Professor Coppedge December 5, 2011 Common Sense Economics Common Sense Economics is packed with valuable information, and approaches presenting this information in a way that is less dry than a conventional textbook. Although there is a lot to learn in this book, I feel like I have already been introduced to 90% of the content in class, this book is simply a supplement and review. The book is broken down into 4 sections: Ten key elements of economics, Seven major sources of economic progress, Economic progress and the role of government, and Twelve key elements of practical personal finance. I believe the discussion of personal finance outlined in the fourth section, while important, is outside of the scope of this course and will therefore not be discussed in this paper.…
During the late 1800s and early 1900s both India and Japan worked towards mechanizing their cotton industries, and while there were many similarities in the way that this industry was developed and the end result significant differences were also present. Low pay and poor conditions were present in both areas and in both china and japan a large part of their labor force came from rural areas. However while in Japan the labor force was overwhelmingly female this was not the case in India. Furthermore the mechanized cotton industry developed much more slowly in Japan than it did in India.…
Pomeranz, K. (2006). The world that trade created: society, culture, and the world economy, 1400 to the present. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe ;.…
Oha1 Amanda Oha PPOG 502 Dr. Stewart Book Review: Common Sense Economics The book, Common Sense Economics written by James D. Gwartney, Ricahrd L.Stroup, Dwight R. Lee, and Tawni Ferrarini, gives a simple insight for reader into the inner workings economics in a common sense terms. The main point of the book is that to have economic success comes from low interference from the government, the motivation of individuals, and competitive markets.…
Selena Sanchez The topic of The World That Trade Created by Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik is mostly dealing with society, culture and economy. The book takes place all over the world from 1400 to present. The time periods are so interesting because it relates to the modern day economy. It also shapes how our economy came to be, where these ideal strategies for industry and etcetera originated- the cultural and traditional background of societies first using these tactics- and an overall extensive, lively history of economics. The modern day results in success and that is helpful for readers living within the new age society.…
In the monograph A Students Guide to Economics, Paul Heyne describes the history of economics and how this definition evolved to what it is today. The book starts out with the “discovery” of the Economics. In 1776, Adam Smith was the first person to question economic growth with a book titled Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith summed up economics as “the volume of the nation’s annual production will depend primarily on the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which people apply their labor to the natural resources available to them. I take this as, in a good economic society, people will use the natural resources personal talents wisely. Smith also states that everyone is a merchant, by this I think he means that with every transaction, you are making a trade. For example, if a shoe maker sells a pair of shoes, the money that is paid for them is not really the trade, the leather that he buy with the money so he can make…
How People Make Economic Decisions Paper University of Phoenix Eco 212 May 29, 2011 Economics plays a role in every person’s day-to-day life. One aspect that it plays apart in is decision making. For every decision that is made economics is applied. There are principles that relate to decision making. First is that for every decision made there are tradeoffs, to get one thing something else is given up. The next principle is for every decision made there is a cost. The cost is what was given up. The third principle is people think rationally and rational people think on the margin, meaning that the decision is not made unless the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost. The final principle is that people respond to incentives. Behavior changes when cost or benefits change. These principles explain how the economy functions as a whole. Since resources are scarce people have to make decisions based on benefiting themselves on how to spend their time and money. To make rational decisions people must interact with the environment and other decision makers. These interactions lead to the best allocation of resources. When people interact with one another they make trade for resources when the benefit is mutual. For example buying a soda the buyer is thirsty and enjoys soda so he or she will benefit from the soda, and the vender will benefit from the money for the soda so the trade has been made. These interactions are affected by the economy system present. In a centrally planned economy central authorities make decisions for what would be the best use of their goods and resources. The state can set prices of goods and determine how much to produce. Therefore, decisions are not voluntary. Decisions are voluntary in a market economy where the pricing of goods and services are guided solely by the interactions of a country’s citizens and businesses. In a mixed economy system where there is a variety of public and private control decisions are voluntary as well.…
Robert Maclin Microeconomics Economics in One Lesson Henry Hazlitt's book starts with a single lesson-that economics means looking beyond the immediate effects of any act or policy to the consequences of it for everyone. The rest of the book is a series of short chapters giving examples of the application of this lesson.…
Represented mainly by the manufacturing owners and eventually the laborers, they argued that artificial corn prices drove up prices everywhere else in the economy. Bread cost more to buy and food was the main expense of the labor class. Along with food rising so did the labor costs across various sectors such as manufacturing which in turn made them more expensive compared to their competition in other countries. The free-trade crowd also noted that protected agricultural price laws were driving up demand for the land which normally wouldn’t be used in agricultural production. This is seen as a competitive disadvantage because it would take away manufacturing opportunities which may help Great Britain globally. Great Britain lawmakers concede there will be dependence on foreign countries for a food supply and the free-trade crowd points out the fact Great Britain is wasting resources on developing commercial land for farming. The free-trade crowd also makes the argument that national security would not be in jeopardy because trade partners would be dependent on the manufactured goods Great Britain supplies and that would give them leverage to remain viable trading…
4 PART ONE INTRODUCTION it must also allocate the output of goods and services that they produce. It must decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes. It must decide who will drive a Porsche and who will take the bus. The management of society’s resources is important because resources are scarce. Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot pro- duce all the goods and services people wish to have. Just as a household cannot give every member everything he or she wants, a society cannot give every indi- vidual the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire. Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources. In most societies, resources are allocated not by a single central planner but through the combined actions of millions of households and firms.…
References: McConnell, C. R, Brue, S. L., & Flynn, S. M. (2009). Economics: Principals, Problems, and Policies. Retrieved from http://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/EbookLibrary2/content/eReader.Sapx.…