Class Summary #7 for 9/16/11

Today in class, Prof. Rizzo showed us a power point that showed the major differences between earlier time periods and today. The overall message he was trying to send us today in class was that we are much better off in today's day and age than people we're in the past- even most people who are in "poverty" are better off than those who we're wealthy in earlier time periods. I will explain why later on in this post.

Prof. Rizzo began class by explaining that when he, or other economists, talk about us as a society getting richer, they have already taken into account predicted inflation rates. Also, getting richer does not necessarily have to mean getting rich in the traditional sense- getting rich doesn't necessarily mean getting rich monetarily.

It could mean getting rich in terms of one's ability to command goods and services. For example, if technology improves to the point where we have faster working computers, we are getting richer in terms of our materialistic gain.

We also learned how a benefit does not necessarily have to be monetary as well. Prof. Rizzo gave us an example about his relationship with his daughter. His daughter just had her ears pierced, and he bought her 12 different pairs of earrings. Most people probably would thing that 12 pairs of earrings is a bit extreme, and that one or two is more than sufficient.

But the benefit in the form of the happy feelings Prof. Rizzo receives when he comes home everyday and, with his daughter, decides which pair to put in her ears, far exceeds the monetary cost to buy all of the earrings. Therefore, a benefit can be anything if it means someone is getting something positive out of something, even if it is as simple as a happy feeling.

A key note from today's class was that prior to the industrial revolution, people simply did not improve their income as we do today. I read about this in the Economic Revolution article we had to read.

A perfect example of how most people (except for those of royal families and nobles) didn't not become wealthy in earlier times can be seen by considering the Egyptians and the pyramids they built in ancient times.

If one looked at Egypt back long ago, and saw their newly made pyramids, one would probably thing that the Egypts were wealthy, and had to be, to build such phenomenal structures.

But this is not the case at all. In fact, building those structures reflected how messed up their economy really was. All of the resources/money that was used to build those structures came from serfs who lived in the area- the serfs would be given land to tend and take care of, and then as part of the deal, the serfs would have to give up 30-40% of their income.

This practice really screwed up their economy because it prevented people lower down in society- the serfs- to grow economically since they were constantly giving up their income.

One final point that Prof. Rizzo made throughout class was extremely important- the fact that we as a society are SO much better off than ever the royalty was back long ago.

As Prof Rizzo puts it, the difference between the average joe in today's society and Bill Gates in terms of economic standing is much smaller than the average joe today and someone with a lot of money from long ago.

Consider the stories of how these renowned people from long ago suffered towards the end of their lives.

1. Isaac Newton- died of a kidney stone, a very painful death. There was no medication/treatment he could receive that could save him because during the era in which he lived, not medication/treatment existed for kidney stones.
2. Mozart- died of strep throat, a common infection today that is easily cured. The reason why he died from strep throat was because there was no Penicillin available, the drug that cures strep throat. Back then, no technology had been created to cure strep throat.
3. Queen Anne of England- gave birth to 13 still born babies, 4 other babies died by the age of 2, and 1 child died by the age of 11. All of those babies, in many instances, could have been saved in 2011 because of today's technology. Queen Anne also died in 1714 from Gout, which is a gas build-up in skin. Her body swelled up to twice her original size. Penicillin could have easily cured Gout nowadays.

So you see, even those in the upper class didn't have it so good in earlier times. A scratch, cut, or broken bone could've led to death since technology did not exist to cure those things. Even people in poverty today don't have to worry about dying from facing such terrible fates because of the medical security we have.

In short, we live much better lives nowadays than anyone in the past did, simply because we have so many more technologies that keep us alive longer and make our lives easier.

Our health has also improved over time. Consider the US life expectancy since 1750:

1750: 51

1900: 48

1950: 68

1990: 76

2010: 78.2

It was even lower before 1750, so this shows how much better, healthier, and easier lives we live in the current era.

One final point that Prof. Rizzo made that I found very interesting was his economic outlook on the impact of cars. Many people nowadays complain that cars are horrible for the environment and that it causes terrible pollution.

But, as Prof. Rizzo points out, the alternative to having cars from the past was much worse for the environment. Here's why:

Back in early days, people got around on horse. With all the horses, there was manor everywhere. On average, horses would drop 22 pounds of manor a day. Specifically, in Rochester, horses left on average 1 acre, and 175 ft high of poop a year. The problem with this is that this caused there to be a lot of flies everywhere. The flies landed on the poop, then fly around and land on peoples' food, we eat the food, and can get a number of diseases from the horse poop including dysentery.

Therefore, cars today are a lot more healthier for us than the alternative form of transportation back in the older days. Cars today are even much better than earlier cars. A car in 2011 that travels 10,000 miles causes less pollution than a parked car in the year 1970 caused.