Global Economic Issues
Assignment #5
"Why the Bronze Age Matters Today (If Civilization Collapsed, would we know?)?
Eric cline states that there is a similitude nowadays with the collapse of the Age of Bronze. That events
are lining up just like it happened in 1177 BC when the Almighty age of Bronze collapsed and led to the
first Dark Ages. In my opinion, Eric cline looks backward in history and sees a correlation of events that
could lead the world we live in today into an extinction. However, I do not personally see that happening
any time soon. The world we live in is probably the most industrialized, developed, and technologically
advanced of all times, therefore we have the tools to survive and encounter any situation we find
ourselves in. Now, I may sound very enthusiastic, perhaps because I am young. However, it is common
sense that even if we know the antecedents of what caused the fall of great civilizations in the past, I
currently do not see that perfect storm to which Eric Cline referred.
Thomas Malthus - An Essay on the Principle of Population
It is surprisingly interesting Thomas Malthus’ thoughts. It is a very difficult discussion that could lead to a
great debate. Is the world overpopulated and therefore at one point it could no longer sustain such
amount of people that live in it? I believe human beings will definitely extinguish at some point in the
future. Luckily, we will not live by then. The Malthusian Law of Population is a study that everybody
should be aware of, but I believe that the power to control overpopulation is only held by the big guys
that have the control of the world welfare. In terms of economics, the rising supply of labor, and
consequently lower wages, population growth could definitely lead to poverty. And population growth
has a direct correlation with the means of subsistence, which mostly affects the lower class.
Governments have the task of having equal opportunities for everybody and promulgate and offer basic
accommodations for every person. If these requirements are not met, governments fail. And I can hardly
see governments nowadays that stands against human life-limiting it.
Jonathan Swift - A Modest Proposal
The suggestion that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic trouble by selling their children as
food to rich people is just a satiric way to show how the situation was in Ireland at that time. To
understand this satiric solution that Swift gives is important to understand the mercantilism and
theories of labor in the 18th Century in England. I think is brilliant how Swift gives the reader an ironic
vision as well as a solution for the poor at that time. The industrial revolutions became the most
important event in the century and due to it came with downfalls. The poor found himself working in an
industry for a low wage under unhuman conditions.
