Ch. 20 Sec. 3 & 4 Comprehension – Flashcards
8 test answers
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answers 8question
Describe the views of laissez-faire economists.
answer
Adam Smith: Believed that a free market with unregulated goods and services would benefit everyone, more goods and lower prices, growing economy would encourage capitalists to reinvest new profits in ventures. Thomas Malthus:He believed that economic decline would come with a larger population growth, since the population would outpace the food supply and the poor would suffer, but his ideas became pessimistic once the food supply was growing rapidly as the centuries went by David Ricardo: Agreed with Malthus that the poor had many children à more children meant a higher labor force which meant less wages for other people, he encouraged the working class to limit their children for a better economic benefit
Unlock the answer
question
Contrast the approaches of utilitarians and socialists to solving economic problems.
answer
The utilitarians adopted part of the laissez fair economics and also believed in the individual freedom and whether laws/actions brought happiness, but they also believed that the government should step in to set circumstances and aid the working class. The socialists aimed to eliminate a gap between the rich and the poor, by having means of production being owned by community as a whole rather than individuals, and this would not only benefit one class, but all the classes altogether.
Unlock the answer
question
Describe Karl Marx's view of history.
answer
Karl Marx's view of history consisted of economics driving history, with struggle between the classes. The "haves" have always had means of production and attainable power while the "have-nots" were the working class. He believed that the working class would be triumphant in the end and set up a communist society in which everybody would benefit, leaving no rich or poor.
Unlock the answer
question
How have events challenged that view?
answer
Events have challenged this view because government such as the North American and European ended up reforming their policies in a way that would be helping the working class, where as Marx predicted the working class would have a revolution and be triumphant - this led to flaws in the Marxist argument which led to a loss of popularity. However other areas such as Asia, Latin America, and Africa would adopt Marxist ideas and establish a communist based government to suit their own needs, based on the situation they faced in their time of history.
Unlock the answer
