Students should post a short, relevant essay related to that week’s material: it should open with a thesis, briefly defend that thesis, and have a useful title. You may write an essay about anything related to this week’s material, so you do not need to respond one of my prompts. If your post does originate as an answer to one of my questions, write it as a standalone essay (i.e. leave out the question that motivated it). You are encouraged to link to relevant articles or videos from outside of class. Please respond to your peers’ posts by either agreeing or disagreeing with them while presenting a new idea, anecdote, or data point. Disagreement is fine, but please do so respectfully and remember we’re discussing ideas not people.
Possible prompts: Do economic models really enable us to see more by looking at less? Does the technological choice model satisfactorily explain why the Industrial Revolution first occurred in Britain? Does the Malthusian model satisfactorily explain the relatively stagnant incomes until about 1800?
Are humans fundamentally animals, as Malthus contends? Does population growth still threaten to undermine economic progress? Can you imagine a model, contrary to the Malthusian model, in which population growth increases rather than decreases average income?
