Questions
- True to their profession, economic historians seek more theoretically informed hypotheses to analyze the past. For example, in explaining the uneven economic and social geography of the North American mainland colonies, they emphasize the impact of natural endowments (or “first nature” conditions). Likewise, in its survey of the colonial era, the text references alternative modes of economic growth, extensive versus intensive. Choosing one issue from those covered in sessions 2 through 6, explicate the standard economic analysis and then provide some empirical evidence to support or question this argument.
make sure to frame the answer along the lines of the Menard article on the "making of a popular slave society." Menard divides the historical writings on the question into two camps, what he calls "the labor supply school" and the "planter-preference" or racial prejudice school. The former view certainly sounds like a standard economic analysis, based on a more general theoretical perspective on the labor market. The alternative he associates more with the writings of historians.
Sample Solution