Dr.

José Matías Delgado University

Global Environment (GLE 0) - Unit 4 – Social Factors
Working guide: Fewer, richer, greener.
Students:
Josué Jared Urquilla Hernández - 201600202
Carlos Ernesto Medrano Guerrero - 201600602

Directions: Based on the contents from [ CITATION Sie12 \l 17418 ] answer the following
questions. You can work in pairs.
1. Provide a definition of the replacement rate
2. What has allowed humankind to escape from its own forecasted grim faith? Why
humankind has not collapsed yet even though there are more people than ever?
3. How Kuznet’s curves can be applied to explain the demand for a greener
environment?
4. What was Thomas Malthus main thesis?
5. Why fertility rate was so high in the past? Why people used to have so many
children?
6. What hindered population to increase in pre-industrial times even though
there was a high number of babies being born every year?
The fact was that pre-industrial societies experience both high birth rates and high
death rates, so it tends to equilibrate the population and the scenery does not
change much, because it limits on the food supply and other resources constrain
the size of population that can be supported.
7. Why the author states that the opportunity cost of having children has
increased?
The author said that having children in an industrial or post-industrial is expensive
and have a large opportunity cost. This because it costs a lot to educate, they do
not produce much for decades, and may or may not choose to support their aged
parents.
8. What is the phenomenon that explains the fact that even though fertility
keeps on getting lower population has not yet started to shrink?
The main reason is population momentum, which is a fancy way of saying that,
once born, people tend to hang around for a long time. So, the impact of a fertility
change today on overall population is felt over the next generation or so, rather
than immediately.
9. What allowed the great fact? How industrial revolution helped to this
phenomenon to take place?
There were many perspectives of what allowed great fact to happen. The opinion
of some people us that having babies or saving and investing were facts that
influence on it. But these are things that were happening through many years ago
and it has not produced a change like the great fact. So, the real thing that caused
this phenomenon was innovation and creativity, new ideas and these we know it in
history as industrial revolution, so these movement or advance make possible that
big economic growth.
10. What’s the link between energy costs and economic growth?
Energy costs has change along time and also the ways in which it is generated. In
the past the production was expensive so it cost was higher, now the production is
cheaper and the costs are lower. So that allow the economic growth in a beginning
but now the consumption has increase too much, and there is no balance between
production and consumption, so that its having an impact on worldwide economic.
Dr. José Matías Delgado University
Global Environment (GLE 0) - Unit 4 – Social Factors
Working guide: Fewer, richer, greener.
Students:
Josué Jared Urquilla Hernández - 201600202
Carlos Ernesto Medrano Guerrero - 201600602

11. Provide a definition for these two concepts:

a. Good inequality
Inequality that arises from individuals’ differing levels of productivity can be
defended as fair; it is also amenable to change if individuals have the
opportunity to improve their productivity through education, training, and on-
the-job experience.
b. Bad Inequality
In contrast, inequality that arises from “rent seeking” cannot be defended on
any sort of economic efficiency grounds. By rent seeking, I mean the use of
political power to redistribute income or wealth, favor certain groups, or
restrain trade and competition.

References
Siegel, L. (2012). Fewer, Richer, Greener: The End of the Population Explosion and the
Future for Investors. Financial Analysts Journal.