Chapter 2 Review

D ra Yolanda Rodríguez
S enior Lecturer in Applied Economics

 A social science:
 It is social because of interrelations among people.
 What people produced…how people produced…how

peoplesatisfied their needs in the past.
 EH identifies the human needs and explains how they

have been satisfied over time.
 Give an example of needs in different periods of time.

 A socialscience:
 It is a science because a scientific method or approach is

required to explain the economic phenomena.
 Statistical, econometrical methods and economic theory

are required to explainthe reality.
 Economic Historians have to combine scientific

methods from economy and history.

 However,
 Sometimes it is not easy to explain the reality because of

the absence ofreliable sources, e.g Ancient Times are
one of the most controversial periods for historians
because no statistical data, no records, no written
sources found.
 Accounts and records can be influencedby the first

historians´ bias.

First Historians

Herodotus

Titus Livius

Sima Qian

 A science under construction…
 Because it has a beginning but no end. Present is a consequenceof the past…
 EH allows to
 Learn from the past and avoid mistakes (human

memory may be so fragile…)
 Understand better the world we live in (with no history,
no understanding our present) Describe the society in which we take decisions as
consumers, producers…

Why are some nations rich and others poor?
Question: Contemporary problem with a historical
approach
EconomicHistory can focus on the origins of the
present unequal levels of development.

It´s time to define the following terms:
GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, PROGRESS
Growth defined as a sustained increase in thetotal
output of goods and services produced by a society.
An indicator for this is: GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

It´s time to define the following terms:
Making comparisons among countries in...