Topic 6 - Growth vs Development Flashcards
(35 cards)
What is the basic definition of economic growth?
A sustained rise in real GDP per capita over time.
Which three dimensions make up the Human Development Index (HDI)?
Life expectancy, education (mean & expected years of schooling) and income per head.
Write the formula for the HDI as shown in lecture.
HDI = (1/3) e₀ + (1/3) e_d + (1/3) y, where e₀ = life expectancy at birth, e_d = education index, y = income index.
How did average life expectancy in England change from c.1500 to today?
It doubled from about 40 years to over 80 years.
Why do historians argue that ‘modern medicine’ was not the main driver of the early mortality decline?
Because most gains came before modern antibiotics and vaccines, driven by higher incomes, public‑health measures, better nutrition and hygiene knowledge.
What simple anthropometric identity links height to wellbeing?
Height = Genes + Nutrition – Disease.
List two ways in which modern labour patterns differ from the Industrial Revolution era.
People work fewer hours per year and retire further from death (longer retirements).
At what age could children legally be employed in English mills before the 1819 Factory Act?
As young as four; the 1819 Act banned employment under nine.
Which long‑run trend do literacy rates in England and Europe show?
Near‑universal literacy after centuries of steady ascent.
Give one example of a gender‑based inequality metric covered in the lecture.
The proportion of women appearing in historical will registers.
According to the lecture, what has happened to global inequality between countries since 2000?
It has narrowed somewhat, while within‑country top‑income shares remain high.
Which 2011 book documents the historical fall in violence and proposes five civilising forces?
Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011).
Name the earlier sociological theory on ‘civilising’ manners that Pinker draws upon.
Norbert Elias, The Civilising Process (1939).
State the ‘Easterlin Paradox’ (1974) in one sentence.
Within countries, happiness rises with income at a point in time, but gains flatten as nations grow richer over time.
Who first plotted London’s 1854 cholera outbreak to identify a contaminated pump?
Dr John Snow (1855 map published).
Which demographic study used British ducal families to measure violence across centuries?
Thomas H. Hollingsworth, ‘A Demographic Study of the British Ducal Families’ (1957).
Which UK demographic historians produced the seminal life‑expectancy series 1538‑2010?
E. A. Wrigley & Roger Schofield (1981).
Who argued in A Farewell to Alms that height trends track economic wellbeing?
Gregory Clark (2007).
Which 2022 paper quantifies long‑run racial wealth gaps in Britain?
Derenoncourt et al., NBER Working Paper 30101 (2022).
What literacy source covers Europe 1850‑1970 referenced in the lecture?
Harvey J. Graff (1987) historical literacy datasets.
What does the HDI critique about GDP per capita?
GDP ignores health and education dimensions of welfare.
Give one critique of Pinker’s ‘decline of violence’ thesis.
Critics argue recent wars and genocides show violence can spike, and that colonial and state violence is underestimated.
How does the Easterlin paradox challenge simple ‘growth = happiness’ views?
It suggests that beyond a threshold, additional income yields little sustained gain in life satisfaction.
Which side argues that modern labour markets may not deliver more leisure for gig‑economy workers?
Critics of the ‘work fewer hours’ narrative highlight precarious gig work and over‑employment.
