Lesson test: The world that did not grow

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The world that did not grow

1.[3p]
In a Malthusian economy, what happens in the long run after a permanent improvement in farming technology?

The population grows and the wage returns to where it started

Correct

The wage rises permanently by the amount of the productivity gain

The answer is: The population grows and the wage returns to where it started

The wage rises and then overshoots, leaving workers better off than before

The answer is: The population grows and the wage returns to where it started

Nothing at all, since output per acre is fixed by the land

The answer is: The population grows and the wage returns to where it started

2.[1p]
On the Phelps Brown and Hopkins index, English builders' real wages reached a level in the 1450s that they did not reliably exceed again until the 1870s.

True

Correct

False

The answer is: True

3.[2p]
A population doubling every twenty-five years is growing at what annual rate, in per cent?

CorrectNot quite: 2.81

4.[3p]
England had 8.66 million people in 1801 and 16.74 million in 1851. What is the annual growth rate over that period, in per cent?

CorrectNot quite: 1.33

5.[2p]
Why did English real wages roughly double in the century after 1348?

Half the workers had died while the land, buildings and livestock remained, so labour became scarce relative to land

Correct

Farming methods improved sharply in response to the plague

The answer is: Half the workers had died while the land, buildings and livestock remained, so labour became scarce relative to land

The Statute of Labourers of 1351 raised the legal minimum wage

The answer is: Half the workers had died while the land, buildings and livestock remained, so labour became scarce relative to land

Landlords converted arable land to sheep, which paid better wages

The answer is: Half the workers had died while the land, buildings and livestock remained, so labour became scarce relative to land

6.[3p]
Match each term to what it does in the model.

Positive check
Preventive check
European Marriage Pattern
Unchecked growth

delays marriage and lowers births
Malthus's American benchmark
raises deaths when wages fall
raises the resting wage

Show the answer

Positive check: raises deaths when wages fall Preventive check: delays marriage and lowers births European Marriage Pattern: raises the resting wage Unchecked growth: Malthus's American benchmark

7.[2p]
A new crop raises output per acre in a Malthusian economy. Put the consequences in the order the model gives them.

The wage rises above the replacement level
More children are born and more survive
The wage returns to where births balance deaths
Land per worker falls, so output per worker falls

Show the answer

a, b, c, d

8.[3p]
Which of these are correctly stated in the lesson?

Select all that apply

Malthus took his doubling time from the American colonies, whose census supports it

Correct

Subsistence in the model means whatever wage makes births equal deaths, not the point of starvation

Correct

The Statute of Labourers failed to hold English wages down after the plague

Correct

Maddison's world series shows output per head rising steadily from the year 1000 onwards

The answer is: Malthus took his doubling time from the American colonies, whose census supports it, Subsistence in the model means whatever wage makes births equal deaths, not the point of starvation, The Statute of Labourers failed to hold English wages down after the plague

9.[2p]
Malthus assumed food supply grows arithmetically. Why does his conclusion survive if it grows geometrically instead?

The trap needs only that unchecked population growth outrun food growth, whatever the shape of either

Correct

Geometric food growth is impossible on a fixed quantity of land

The answer is: The trap needs only that unchecked population growth outrun food growth, whatever the shape of either

The two geometric series would cancel, leaving the wage undefined

The answer is: The trap needs only that unchecked population growth outrun food growth, whatever the shape of either

His conclusion does not survive, which is why the model was abandoned

The answer is: The trap needs only that unchecked population growth outrun food growth, whatever the shape of either

1.[3p] In a Malthusian economy, what happens in the long run after a permanent improvement in farming technology?

2.[1p] On the Phelps Brown and Hopkins index, English builders' real wages reached a level in the 1450s that they did not reliably exceed again until the 1870s.

3.[2p] A population doubling every twenty-five years is growing at what annual rate, in per cent?

4.[3p] England had 8.66 million people in 1801 and 16.74 million in 1851. What is the annual growth rate over that period, in per cent?

5.[2p] Why did English real wages roughly double in the century after 1348?

6.[3p] Match each term to what it does in the model.

7.[2p] A new crop raises output per acre in a Malthusian economy. Put the consequences in the order the model gives them.

8.[3p] Which of these are correctly stated in the lesson?

9.[2p] Malthus assumed food supply grows arithmetically. Why does his conclusion survive if it grows geometrically instead?

1.[3p]
In a Malthusian economy, what happens in the long run after a permanent improvement in farming technology?

2.[1p]
On the Phelps Brown and Hopkins index, English builders' real wages reached a level in the 1450s that they did not reliably exceed again until the 1870s.

3.[2p]
A population doubling every twenty-five years is growing at what annual rate, in per cent?

4.[3p]
England had 8.66 million people in 1801 and 16.74 million in 1851. What is the annual growth rate over that period, in per cent?

5.[2p]
Why did English real wages roughly double in the century after 1348?

6.[3p]
Match each term to what it does in the model.

7.[2p]
A new crop raises output per acre in a Malthusian economy. Put the consequences in the order the model gives them.

8.[3p]
Which of these are correctly stated in the lesson?

9.[2p]
Malthus assumed food supply grows arithmetically. Why does his conclusion survive if it grows geometrically instead?