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
20.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
a
It contradicts the ████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ █ █████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ██ ████████
Only one economic school (steady-state) interpreted data, and P3 does not contradict the steady-state economic view, so (A) is not descriptively accurate.
b
It gives an ███████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███████
P3 does not does not recommend an economic policy based on the basic goals of the prevailing economic school (which is the neoclassical school). The recommendations in P3 come from the steady-state view.
c
It introduces an █████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████████████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █████
P3 does introduce an
d
It notes an █████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █████
This describes P3. It introduces an
e
It contrasts the ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █████
This is descriptively inaccurate. P3 does not show that the steady-state and neoclassical views are based on different interpretations of the basic goal of an economy.