Economics 330 Final Exam - The World Economy

UBC OKANAGAN
ECONOMICS, PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIT
Economics 330: The World Economy to 1800
2016 Winter Term 1 
Practice Questions for the Final Exam, Thursday Dec 15, 1.00-4.00 PM, FIP 204
Professor: P. Wylie; Office: Art 309 Tel: 250-807-9341 E-mail: peter.wylie@ubc.ca
Twelve (12) of 24 the questions below (4 from Part A, 4 from Part B and 4 from Part C) will
be on the midterm test and you will be required to answer any Six (6) but with Two (2)
answered from each of Parts A, B and C in a short legibly-written answer (essay-type)
each. That is you must do 2 from Part A, 2 from Part B, and 2 from Part C. Each question
will be equally weighted in your grade. This final exam is worth up to 100 percent of your
overall grade in the course.
PART A: Up to 500 CE
1. Why did human economic development proceed at different rates on different
continents and parts of continents, 10,000 BCE to 500 CE?
2. “Technology develops fastest in large productive regions with large populations and
many competing societies. Initial differences become exaggerated, because technology
catalyzes on itself. Eurasia’s considerable initial advantage became translated into a
huge lead, for reasons of Eurasia’s distinctive geography rather than distinctive human
intellect.” Discuss.
3. What does Ian Morris define as “social development”? Compare and contrast this
concept with the economic historian’s more usual focus on per-capita income and
growth, and discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches to
long-run economic history.
4. “Economic history has followed different courses for different peoples because of
differences in geographies and environments, not because of biological or intellectual
differences among people themselves.” Critically discuss.
5. What does Ian Morris define as the “paradox of violence”? The “paradox of
development”? What are his “five horsemen of the apocalypse”? Explain how these
forces of change worked in specific examples in world economic history, 5,000 BCE to
500 CE.
6. In the ancient and Classical world 10,000 BCE to 500 CE, sporadic technological change
produced people, not per capita wealth. Differences in social development across
societies translated into variations in population density, not variations in per-capita
income.” Discuss.
7. “Consideration of hunter and gatherer societies from an economic point of view
suggests that have a sort of primitive affluence. The Neolithic revolution brought more
work for no greater material reward.” Critically discuss.
8. “All of the major empirical implications of the Malthusian model hold true for the world
5,000 BCE to 500 CE” Critically discuss. 1 PART B: 500 – 1750 CE
9. Explain and discuss some of the roles other societies outside of Europe played in the
economic rise of Western Europe, 500-1750.
10. Answer Yali’s Question for the 500-1750 period: Why did economic wealth and power in
the world economy in this period become distributed the way it did, rather than in some
other way?
11. “Until 1750, India and China, not Europe, were the centres of the world economy – the
voyages of Columbus and De Gama, and subsequent developments to 1750, were
expressions of world economic expansion by Europeans who wanted to attach
themselves to East Asia.” Discuss.
12. By being divided themselves, Europeans, through competition, coercion, conquest,
commerce, and colonization, were able to rule the World, 1500-1750. Discuss.
13. Why did Western Europe, a backwater in 1400, end up dominating Eurasia militarily,
politically and commercially, 1500-1750, rather than it being dominated itself by say
China or the Islamic Empire? Discuss.
14. “Either China in the 1400s or the Islamic empire up to the early 1600s could have
conquered Western Europe militarily, politically and commercially, but not after these
times.” Explain and discuss.
15. Outline some of the dominant patterns of population, output and per capita income
growth and/or decline in the world economy, 500-1750, and what factors most
fundamentally explain these patterns.
16. “500-1750, Western Europe can be considered largely as a single economic system.
While the location of the most advanced region or nation varied over time, this was
merely change within an overall system which, can for purposes of global economic
comparison with other empires and regions, be treated as a unity.” Critically discuss. PART C: 1750 – 1800 CE and overall course
17. Discuss and explain some of the ways that knowledge of the evolution of the world
economy up to 1800 might help us understand important aspects of the modern world
economy of our own times.
18. This chronological division of this course was between the ancient civilizations to 500
AD, the medieval period 500-1500, the early modern period 1500-1750, and the early
Industrial Revolution period, 1750-1800, and the geographical focus was largely on the
continent of Eurasia. Discuss the economic and historical rationales for this division and
focus, and suggest some ways you think the chronological and geographical coverage of
the course might be improved. 2 19. “The Industrial Revolution was the result of a long process of social, cultural, scientific,
commercial and economic evolution running back to the Middle Ages. The greater level
of this evolution by the late 18th century was an important reason why the Industrial
Revolution did not happen earlier, but the path to the Industrial Revolution began much,
much earlier.” Critically discuss.
20. “The Rise of the West must be examined in global terms rather than with reference only
to developments within Europe. The European success was part of a competitive race
within a single global economy and a continuous global historical process of economic
change. The conquest of the Americas, the commandeering of global trade and
resources, and the Industrial Revolution, were all expressions of global competition
whereby Europe was trying to muscle in on Asian economic dominance and by-pass the
Islamic empires.” Critically discuss.
21. Why did Western European nations end up dominating the rest of Asia and the rest of
the world economically, politically and militarily, rather than the other way around, and,
among Western European nations, why did Great Britain in particular expand its wealth,
influence and power? Also, when can this domination be most accurately dated from;
1000, 1200, 1500 or 1800? Critically discuss.
22. “The Industrial Revolution was first and foremost a technological event, not a social,
cultural, institutional or scientific one. It was the biggest and fastest transformation of
production in the history of the world, but the modern industrial society and dominance
of the West that it ended up leading to was largely unanticipated, unforeseen and
unintended at the time. The European and in particular British path was extraordinary,
but not because economic and technological dynamism was unique in the world only to
Europe and Britain, relative to say India, China or the Ottoman and Persian empires for
example, but because by the 18th century Europe and Britain faced particular pressures
and challenges, and had particular opportunities - pressures, challenges and
opportunities that were largely absent elsewhere in the world.” Critically discuss.
23. The phenomenon known as the Industrial Revolution was the culmination of a process
that came together in the 1700-1800 period once a critical mass of circumstances came
together is something like a “Perfect Storm.” It is easy to describe what occurred, much
more difficult to explain why it occurred, and why it occurred where and when it did.”
Discuss.
24. In the early modern period in Western Europe 1500-1750, France was big, Spain was
rich, The Netherlands was efficient, and China and India with their large populations
dominated world economic production. What then was Britain’s competitive advantage,
and how did Britain manage to leap over all others in economic growth and