Population, Class Structure, and Economics: An Interconnected Web

In Sylvia Nasar’s, Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius, Nasar describes the history of economics from the theories of Dickens and Malthus in the 1800s, to Maynard Keynes and Freidrich Hayek in the early 1900s, and into FDR’s policies and the emergence of China as a world economic power. Ultimately, throughout the history of economics four major principles have been exhibited through a variety of areas including the relationship between economics and class structure, population, and .

Dickens idea that the rigid class structure is the reason for economic failure. This exhibits the economic principle that economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives. During Dickens’ era, many members of the lower classes were growing increasingly angry at their economic systems as rules changed and grew even more unjust. In countries such as France, India, and England, rigid class structure during this time was a driving force in economic turmoil. Due to the lack of political power among the lower classes, the economic structure was heavily weighted in favor of the aristocracy. This entailed high taxation of the poor and minimal to no taxation of the wealthy. Additionally, this meant that most of the available resources were allocated to the wealthy. This limited the lower classes choices when it came to trade because due to the scarcity of money they had to choose their necessities over their wants when making economic choices. Since wages and incentives to work were so minimal, individuals were responded to them in a predictable way, such as protesting the laws, which restricted them, and trying to change the system to improve their incentives. For many years the lower classes class cooperated with the laws set forth, but ...

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...ts perceptions of the expected costs and benefits of the alternatives. The choices of individuals are often similar in throughout a region because the impact of local customs, economic systems, and area based utility, on individual choices. These individual choices then collectively add up to determine the distribution of resources in the future.

Throughout world history class structure, economic and political freedom, and population have always been important topics. These areas are also incredibly important to the history of economics as Sylvia Nasar explains in her book Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius. This novel explains how voluntary trade, individual choices, consequences and opportunity costs, are all interconnected parts of various issues such as population and class structure, and are often attributed in part to economic and political systems.