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Econ 107 Midterm
Review sheet in flashcards
47
Economics
Undergraduate 2
02/21/2010

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Term
Cognitive Stabilities
Definition
Contexts (repeated events that teach us something about what is going on in such a situation) that get molded into frames, paradigms, canons)

-Paradigms: systems of ideas that have been fleshed out by scholars.

-Canons: enumerated works that embody a paradigm
Term
Edelman's diagram
Definition
Term
The Rise of complexity
Definition
Term
Rational Reconstruction vs Historical Reconstruction
Definition
In Historical Reconstruction we attempt to get at an author's meanings as they were at the time they were written down.

In Rational Reconstruction, We look at past theories in terms of modern theories.
Term
Paradigms, Kuhn
Definition
Term
Classical Situation, Schumpeter
Definition
Term
River Civilizations
Definition
Mesopotamia, Nile, Peru, India, China.

World population between 4k - 3k ya doubled.

River provides a means of defense, as well as a transportation mechanism of people and goods.

Living in a defensible area builds trust. Existence of opportunities and cheap transportation produced dense populations.
Term
The Problem of Trust
Definition
Paul Seabright - In order for complex systems to work, trust has to be built up among members of the system.
Term
Guan Zhong
Definition
Warriors, artisans, peasants, tradesmen should all live with each other.

State should stabilize the supplies of grain.

Individuals were too poor they would turn to crime to survive. He was also concerned with balancing the budget
Term
Guan Zi - the heavy and the light
Definition
Heavy when the commodity was in short supply. Light when it wasn't.
Term
Guan Zi: on money & wealth
Definition
Wealth was the availability of real goods. Money and prices are directly related. Prices were a function of money supply.
Term
Riu Liangfu
Definition
On material benefits, multiple things produce them, and nature contains them.

A King's duty is to bring about material benefits and distribute them fairly among people so that all forms of life will benefit to the fullest extent.

King should not appropriate things to himself as it will erode the people's support for him.
Term
Fan Li
Definition
1) concerned with what was the optimal amount of currency

2) Had a theory of agricultural trade cycles based on astrology

3) had a theory of how to accumulate wealth based on the current agricultural cycle

4) taxes should be based on what is produced, the place of production, size of the property, distance from metropolis, and amount of labor service provided

-grain prices should be stabilized
Term
Kautilya
Definition
wrote Arthashastra and Arthavaveda. Akin to Cameralist writers in Germany.

-Had a sense of mutual reciprocal benefits from trade.

-Possessing immense gold is better than a friend ruling over a vast population.. for armies and other things can be purchased with gold. (Not a sole criterion for Kautilya).

-Taxes should not be abused, not be used to dampen trade, just to make money for government, should be graduated.
Term
Xenophon
Definition
wrote Anabasis - a great adventure story about greek mercenaries in Persia.

-wrote Oikonomikos. Made observations on diminishing marginal returns.
Term
Plato - size of polis
Definition
5040 oikoses. Ownership should be between 1-4 oikoses. Like monarchy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny.

Philosopher King with guardians.
Term
Plato - The Guardians
Definition
class of people who advised the king. Selected from childhood. Had no personal property. Generally sheltered. Had no family unit, only the community.
Term
Plato - His economic vision
Definition
-Liked small communities
-Didn't like conspicuous consumption
-Society located away from the coast, and its influences.
-Main concern was the security of Athens.
-Against rising economic complexity.
Term
Aristotle - Size of Polis
Definition
10,000 oikoses
Term
Aristotle on Interest
Definition
Aristotle generally frowned on interest as money could not be productive of other pieces of money.

Decided that interest should be decided on a case by case basis.
Term
Aristotle on Private Property
Definition
Thought there should be private property as it prevented disputes that arose over communal property. Also, it was more consonant with human nature.
Term
Mann on sources of social power
Definition
-Four main sources: economic, ideological, military, and political.

-Rome had the military, but the sects it conquered were often opposed to each other religiously, and didn't jump on the Roman ideological bandwagon. Also, Rome was just too big.
Term
Finley on the ancient economy
Definition
Athenian Economy was not a market economy as there was no real credit market.

-Greco Roman status concepts inhibited the development of markets in land, labor and capital.

-Concentration of ownership of land in a few hands, external markets for the products of land, and an unavailability of an internal supply of labor, led to a large scale chattel slavery.

-status pushed economic activities to the margins

-cities were consumer driven.

-the need to push the acquisition of resources outside the citizen community, and the preference for political solutions led to powerful socioeconomic motives for war and imperialism.
Term
Roman Law
Definition
Praetor urbanus (powerful magistrate) supervised the codification of laws. New preators would list the laws as well as how they would be enforced, making the law a developing body.

-242 BC A praetor peregrinus was appointed and made responsible for codifying the legal deals of foreigners.

-ius gentium, international law.

-natural law doctrine: Laws used by several nations in the empire had greater force than a law used in one.
Term
Roman Society
Definition
Term
St. Augustine
Definition
While a perfect city couldn't exist, progress was possible.

-Wealth should be treated as a means not an end. Private property and trade were acceptable as means.

-Provided a perspective on history that proved influential in the emerging societies of western Europe. The Catholic Church became accepting of wealth-making to the point that it allowed Venetian Merchants to finance the 4th crusade.
Term
Closing of the Western Mind
Definition
-Dissent in various religious sects was weakening the empire.

-Constantine's ecumenical councils gave a concensus on the basic tenets of Catholicism, eventually leading to a large exodus of scholars and philosophers.

-Thought went back to the teachings of Jesus, who was confusing in his teachings.
Term
12th Century Renaissance
Definition
Universities sprung up, including Oxford.
They trained young men for the clergy, but also in faculties of medicine and law.

There was a distinction between earthbound knowledge and divine knowledge (divine knowledge was favored).

-Scholars would debate, elaborating on "truths" of Catholic texts using Aristotelian logic.

-Concept of "just" prices, prices that would allow people to go on with expected living.

-It was generally ok to charge interest if the lender actually suffered a loss due to the loan (damnum emergens).

-Lucran cessans (when making a loan does not allow the lender to make a better return of investment on his money).
Term
Thomas of Chobham
Definition
wrote Summa Confessorum, which laid down that individuals must go to confession once a year.

Usury and Avarice were mortal sins.

He defended merchants and craftsmen provided prices were just.
Term
Nicolas Oresme
Definition
wrote Treatise on the Origin, Nature, Law, and Alterations of Money.

Money must be stable in character, and Monarchs should not debase currency to favor themselves.

-Saw a connection between the value of money and its exportation.
Term
13th Century Cog
Definition
Great ship made by 1300. Didn't help population growth due to 3 main catastrophes.

1) Black Death. Started in Asia, went to Europe. Killed 1/3 to 1/2 of the people it was stricken with.

2) The Hundred Years War between England and France.

3) Mongols struck westward reaching Finland in the north and Vienna in the South.
Term
William of Auxerre
Definition
Theologian who who persuaded Pope Gregory IX not to ban Aristotle's work.

He based ethics on natural law.

Private Property was a necessary evil, but in bad times it was the duty of the Catholic to share property.

Coercion should not be used in bargaining.
Term
Thomas Aquinas
Definition
Drew the line at Lucran Cessans. A Dominican Friar.
Term
Machiavelli
Definition
Monarchs should not be judged by particular acts but by overall results.

Disowned his own works to get back into power.

Known for being, Ruthless, Cunning, and Conniving, but his larger body of work has a much more ethical and nuanced approach to the exercise of power.
Term
Bullionism
Definition
To increase the national stock of gold and silver.

There should be an export surplus, and the Monarch should take steps in order to ensure this.
Term
Sir Thomas Mun
Definition
Son of a mercer - a vendor who deals in fine silks and fabrics.

-Was a director for the East India Company, and wrote England's Treasure by Foreign Trade
Term
Mun's Propositions
Definition
1) First, although this realm be already exceedingly rich by nature, yet it might be much increased by laying the waste grounds (which are infinite) into such employments as should not way hinder the present revenues of other manured lands but hereby to supply to ourselves and prevent the importation of Hemp, Flax, Cordage and Tobacco... which we now fetch from strangers to our great impoverishing.

2) We may likewise diminish our importation, if we would soberly refrain from excessive consumption of foreign wares in our diet and raiment, which such often change in fashions as is used, so much the more to increase the waste and charge, which vices at this present are more notorious amongst us than in former ages...

3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12)
Term
Favorable Balance
Definition
Export Surplus reduces wealth.

Domestic Availability - Cn + Gn + GCGn + 1, Therefore DA < GNP

If a country is underdeveloped, then it should maximize Domestic Availability because this gives the country the optimum chance to grow.
Term
Stages in Balance of Payments
Definition
Immature Debtor Countries: A country starting to develop has an import surplus

Mature Debtor Countries: If the debtor country continues to borrow at a steady rate, eventually, the annual payments on its debt will exceed the annual accrual of debt.

Immature Creditor Countries: As a country gets wealthier the domestic marginal efficiency of capital falls below the domestic interest rate. (Why entrepreneurs in England eventually started investing abroad, such as in Argentina).

Mature Creditor Countries: If the foreign lending countries at a steady rate, then eventually, the interest income on the debt will exceed the annual export of capital. Then the country will switch to an import surplus. It is basically living on its investments.
Term
The Scientific Revolution
Definition
A recovery of both population and production in the 15th century.
Term
The quadrivium and trivium
Definition
Term
Smith's Influences: Bacon The way forward for research
Definition
Bacon believed that scholars must replace the deductive method, and the appeal to the authority of the past, by adopting empirical methods.

-He discussed the inductive method, saying that we must intervene in nature, manipulating it by means of experimental control leading to the invention of new technology.

-He advocated careful reconstruction of theories - no leaping from single observations or generalizations to grand theories. There has to be carefully induced middle axioms.
Term
Bacon: On Illusions
Definition
Illusions of the cave: each one of us cognizes reality in our own particular way: no two contexts are identical.

Illusions of the marketplace: We have contact with other human beings and the language we develop to exchange ideas may be counterproductive.

Illusions of Theatre: The theatrical argumentations of the disputations that is part of the research method of the universities of the day.
Term
Smith's Influences: Locke
Definition
Term
John Locke
Definition
Divided knowledge into demonstrable knowledge and probably knowledge.

A proposition is demonstrative if everyone agrees on it.
Term
Hume's Dictum
Definition
We cannot derive ethical propositions with the word "ought" in them from empirical propositions with the word "is" in them.
Term
Hume's Dilemma
Definition
If we know nature from our experiences and the reports of the experiences of others then how can we know the future? Nature could change in the future.
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