LECTURA 2

Summarize the text and draw the main conclusions.

Can Economics predict the behavior of a specific person?

Explain why economists would disagree with the following statement "the best
things in life are those that cost nothing".

What do you think are the main historical events?

Summerize:
The greek philosphers where among the first to talk about economics which is also from where the word derives.
Moral Philosophy preached that proftis shouldn't be excessive, coming form a normative perspective. With the
rise of the city-states the importance of economics rose again. Trading nations replaced the feudal economies
and a new social class of traders emerged. In the mercantilism the focus was led on the balance between import
and export while in Britain philosophers focused their interest on producers and consumers.

Can Economics predict the behaviour of a specific person?

No, Economics can predict what trends a society as a whole will follow, as most social sciences do. Single
individuals are hard to examine and effects that are found are usually small for individuals and big for societies.

"the best things cost nothing"

I don't know if they would disagree. If the best thing is also what people desire and what is scarce than it would be
a wrong statement.

main historical events:

The industrialisation made it possible for people to have a specialized society where not everyone needs to be a farmer.
The discovery of the new world has brought new ressources and knowledge in terms of science. The two world wars where
also decisive, taken to account that especially the secont world war lead to a significant redestribution of capital which was
unequally distributed before. This was a huge boost for the econmy and increased purchaising power of huge parts of the
society.