The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity
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Not Synced♪ [music] ♪
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Not Synced- [Don] The astonishing
growth in prosperity -
Not Syncedin the last two
or three hundred years -
Not Syncedis one of the greatest events
of humankind. -
Not SyncedTake the average human
in say the year 1000 BC. -
Not SyncedHe's poor, fighting to find food
and to fend off diseases. -
Not SyncedFast forward 500 years
to the time of classical Greece. -
Not SyncedStill poor still hungry.
-
Not SyncedHow about another
thousand years after that? -
Not SyncedIt's the dark ages.
-
Not SyncedWow. Still poor.
-
Not SyncedThen jump to the 18th century
and forward. -
Not SyncedThings change rapidly.
-
Not SyncedThis phenomenon is known
as the hockey stick -
Not Syncedof human prosperity.
-
Not SyncedTake what is surely one
of the most important measures -
Not Syncedof human well-being:
life expectancy. -
Not SyncedBefore the Industrial Revolution,
life expectancy -
Not Syncedwas around thirty years.
-
Not SyncedToday in the United States,
we expect to live -
Not Syncedto be about eighty.
-
Not SyncedPrior to the industrial revolution,
one in four kids would die -
Not Syncedbefore the age of 5.
-
Not SyncedToday in developed countries,
it is more like one -
Not Syncedand two hundred.
-
Not SyncedDue to better nutrition,
we grow to be four inches taller -
Not Syncedthan we were just 250 ago.
-
Not SyncedRemember this disease?
-
Not SyncedNo you don't,
because it was eradicated in 1977. -
Not SyncedLook around -- you'll find a roof
over your head -
Not Syncedand a hard floor under your feet.
-
Not SyncedMost of our ancestors
with the huts with dirt floors -
Not Syncedand thatched roofs.
-
Not SyncedEverything was infested
with insects and rodents. -
Not SyncedStreets and alleys
were open sewers. -
Not SyncedThere were none of these.
-
Not SyncedThe filt was horrible
and often toxic. -
Not SyncedOur ancestors ate gruel
-
Not Syncedand wore the same
home-made underwear over and over. -
Not SyncedNow, even the least fortunate
Americans -
Not Syncedtypically have electricity,
running water, toilets, -
Not Syncedrefrigerators, televisions,
and, yes, cheap washable underwear. -
Not SyncedThose of us who live
in modern industrial society -
Not Syncedare incredibly, amazingly,
off the charts rich -
Not Syncedcompared to our ancestors,
-
Not Syncedand here's yet another
huge difference between us -
Not Syncedand our ancestors.
-
Not SyncedBefore the Industrial Revolution,
people knew how to make -
Not Syncedfrom scratch many other things
they consumed. -
Not SyncedThey made a lot
of their own clothing, -
Not Syncedgrew most of their own food,
and build their own dwellings. -
Not SyncedFast forward to today
and believe it or not, -
Not Syncednone of us is a hint
how to make the majority -
Not Syncedof the things that we consume.
-
Not SyncedJust getting ready in the morning
involves taking many trips -
Not Syncedaround the globe.
-
Not SyncedTake this coffee for example.
-
Not Syncedbeans come from Guatemala
and they were brewed -
Not Syncedin this coffeemaker
from Switzerland. -
Not SyncedThe container ship that carried
the beans was built in Korea. -
Not SyncedIt's insured by a company
from London -
Not Syncedand it's captained by a Frenchman
who loves Turkish cigarettes. -
Not SyncedWe've transitioned from each of us
doing many things -
Not Syncedto each of us doing one thing.
-
Not SyncedHaving a job only makes sense
in a modern world -
Not Syncedwhere each individual typically
does only one type of work. -
Not SyncedSo while we mostly only produce
one thing doing one job -
Not Syncedeach of us now consumes
a whole bunch of products -
Not Syncedthat require a whole bunch
of jobs to produce. -
Not SyncedThe question
where prosperity comes from -
Not Syncedlaunched the field of economics.
-
Not SyncedIt's why Adam Smith
wrote the first book -
Not Syncedin modern economics.
-
Not SyncedAn inquiry into the nature
and causes -
Not Syncedof The Wealth of Nations.
-
Not SyncedBack in 1776 when he published it,
Smith was trying to understand -
Not Syncedthe causes of modern prosperity
that were just starting to appear. -
Not SyncedPoverty and starvation
were still normal as they had been -
Not Syncedfrom the beginning,
but in the late 18th century, -
Not Syncedfor the first time ever,
the masses began to enjoy riches -
Not Syncedonce reserved only
for the nobility. -
Not SyncedIt is this mass prosperity
that Adam Smith sought to explain. -
Not SyncedWhy was it happening?
-
Not SyncedWhat was causing wealth
to move from being the exception -
Not Syncedto being the norm.
-
Not SyncedNow look around try to figure out
what causes poverty -
Not Syncedinstead of what causes prosperity.
-
Not SyncedYou are watching
Everyday Economics, -
Not Synceda course where we use
the lens of Economics -
Not Syncedto explore everyday questions.
-
Not SyncedThis section is about trade.
-
Not SyncedIn the upcoming videos,
we will attempt to explain -
Not Syncedhow trade plays a role
in our prosperity. -
Not SyncedYou also get to decide
where the course goes. -
Not SyncedMaybe you have some questions
related to trade -
Not Syncedthat you've wondered about.
-
Not SyncedWe'll cover the basics
and then you tell us -
Not Syncedwhat topics come next.
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Not Synced♪ [music] ♪
- Title:
- The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity
- Description:
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In this series, Professor Don Boudreaux explores the question economists have been asking since the era of Adam Smith -- what creates wealth? On a timeline of human history, the recent rise in standards of living resembles a hockey stick -- flatlining for all of human history and then skyrocketing in just the last few centuries. Without specialization and trade, our ancient ancestors only consumed what they could make themselves. How can specialization and trade help explain the astonishing growth of productivity and output in such a short amount of time—after millennia of famine, low life expectancy, and incurable disease?
What topic should we do next?
http://feedback.mruniversity.com/forums/256061-everyday-economics-boudreaux-on-trade-and-prospeAsk a question about the video:
http://mruniversity.com/courses/everyday-economics/trade-growth-hockey-stick-human-prosperity/#QandANext video:
http://mruniversity.com/courses/everyday-economics/division-labor-burgers-and-container-ships - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Marginal Revolution University
- Project:
- Everyday
- Duration:
- 04:55
Martel Espiritu edited English subtitles for The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity | ||
Martel Espiritu edited English subtitles for The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity | ||
Martel Espiritu edited English subtitles for The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity | ||
Martel Espiritu edited English subtitles for The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity | ||
MRUniversity edited English subtitles for The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity |