Self-study
P1
Recently, a new school of economics called steady-state economics has seriously challenged neoclassical economics, the reigning school in Western economic decision making. ███
Intro topic ·
Steady-state economics (new view) vs. neoclassical economics (traditional view)
Neoclassical view ·
Economy is closed system between producers and consumers
Growth is necessary and unlimited
P2
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Steady-state view ·
Economy is open system dependent on nature
Neoclassical view is wrong; not a closed system. Resources enter system, waste leaves.
Implications ·
of steady-state view
Growth is neither necessary nor unlimited. Economy has optimal size in theory. Too much growth is dangerous because it depletes resources and creates waste.
Neoclassical rebuttal ·
Natural resources can be replaced if depleted
P3
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problem ·
according to steady-state view
Western economies have exceeded optimal size
Solution ·
according to steady-state view
Meet human wants without growth, e.g. by using resources more efficiently
Passage Style
Critique or debate
14.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Neoclassical economists, who, ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████████
While this is a good summary of the neoclassical view, this is not the main point of the passage as a whole. The main point of the passage is to show that the steady-state model is an alternative to the neoclassical model, but (A) doesn’t say anything about what the steady-state model is or why it could be an alternative to neoclassical economics.
b
Some neoclassical economists, ████ ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████
Like (A), this is a good summary of neoclassical economics, but this misses the overall main point. The main point of the passage is to show that the steady-state model is an alternative to the traditional neoclassical model, but (B) doesn’t say anything about what the steady-state model is or why it’s a good alternative to neoclassical economics.
c
Some steady-state economists, ████ ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███████████
This is not an accurate summary of the steady-state view. It’s the neoclassical economists who
d
Some steady-state economists, ████ ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ████████████ ████ █████████████ ████████████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████
(D) captures the author’s point that the steady-state model is an alternative to the neoclassical model, and why. In contrast with the neoclassical economists, the steady-state economists think that resource availability
e
Steady-state and neoclassical ███████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████████
This is not supported by the passage. Steady-state economists