And all started with the Big Bang

Llevo días escribiendo el Final Assignment y ciertamente estoy bastante quemada. Quería un tema que diera para hablar, pero me temo que ya exploté demasiado 1984, por mucho que me quedara por decir. Y tampoco me convencía una dramática reflexión sobre... cualquier cosa. Así que pensé en los grandes pollilargos de la Historia, y en la subcategoría de economistas.

Aquí os dejo mis 3 páginas y media de word. Quien se lo lea entero ganará mi respeto.


Once upon a time, there was an universe, which decided to explode and turn into thousands of planets. One of them was the Earth, in which life appeared. It took human beings many years to turn into the creatures we are now, evolving from simple amoebas.
Mankind began to organize itself in families, groups, tribus and bigger organizations. They discovered the agriculture and Ancient Civilizations arose.
One of them was Greece.
Someone called Platon started thinking that it was easier to specialise in making an only good and them enjoy other goods by exchanging then with other people. Barter had been born, and with him the trade. Later, they found this even much easier by using coins. Then, Aristoteles also contributed some brilliant ideas to the Economic Thought. So here we have the first awesome greeks economists.
Some years later, Roman Law was codified, which established the power of the contracts and the private property, base of the Liberalism. We cannot mention an specific name, but here we have the awesome roman lawmakers.
So we come to the Middle Ages. As in Greece , Economic Thought was linked to philosophy, but also to religion. Guys like Santo Tomas de Aquino were thinking about if it was moral or not to obtain a benefit by exchanging products.
However, commerce wasn’t very developed and the main activity was agriculture. The economic system of the epoch was the Feudalism, and it was based on the self-consumption and the servitude.
But… what more can I say? Middle Ages wasn’t a big period for Economy.
It was in 14th Century when things started to change. Factor products became free little by little, so people was able to invest, set up their own business, exchange products and achieve profits. Maybe you haven’t realized, but this would give rise to the Mercantilism in Europe.
We have to name men like Norfolk, whose system increased outcomes from agriculture, confirming it as a profitable business.
Round of applause for these awesome little businessmen!
Commerce was growing. There were made better ships, so traders could go further to sell their productions. But… they needed comercial routes, and it was necessary to improve the cartography. Almost without knowing it, they came into the Age of Discovery, arriving to places like Cape Verde or India.
When they came to China, they realized how rich it was and the huge importance of its commerce, so it became a popular place between traders, bringing new goods to Europe, such as silk or spices.
And then, a boy called Christopher discovered America in 1492 ! And America turned out to have many cool things, like gold and precious stones. Spanish kings brought them and used it to pay all cost of several wars that they were maintained, and that is the way wealth was distributed to Europe.
Thanks to all these awesome men, commerce improved more and more and more for some centuries. There were also created Friendship and Commercial Societies, Insurences Companies, etc.
So… where was I ? Oh, yes… 18th Century.
Proto-industry turned into Industry, starting the First Industrial Revolution. Country people got hired at fabrics and became proletariat.
Water-frame, Spinning Jenny, Spinning Mule,were some of the invents that started with the mechanization of the textile industries. Steam engine was improved by James Watt, not only making posible semi-automated factories where waterpower could be used, but also the creation of the steam locomotive and steam-powered ships (19th C), which meant a trade expansion.
As agriculture yield had increased so much, there was more food, and living conditions and health did also improved, population doubled itself.
And one of the gods of Economics: Adam Smith, Father of Economic Liberalism.His masterpiece is The Wealth of the Nations.
It tells us that the social welfare comes from the economical growth. The more specialization, the more productivity. The more productivity, the more growth. The more growth, the more specialization. Ha? It sounds really simple, right? But seriously, this man was a genius.
It also shows us how all individual selfishness improve the total welfare. This is a big concept, but I ‘ll put an example in order to simplify it to the limit.
If I’m a baker, when I sell bread I don’t think about how happy is going to be the person who buys it. I’m “selfish” and I’ll think how happy are we going to be, me and my family, when we spend the money I’ve earned. And the buyer thinks exactly the same. He’s not buying the bread to make me richer, he’s “selfish” and he just buy it to be happy when he eat it.
So, both of we are excellent people, but we are just acting to satisfy ourselves. And by doing this, welfare has been achieved.
So, Richard Arkwright, James Hargreaves, Samuel Crompton, Adam Smith, David Hume, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus…, here we have some of the 18th Century awesome guys.
Possibly, I forgot to say it, but First Industrial Revolution is linked to England, from where it spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the next century, a process that continued as industrialisation.
Meanwhile, the major figures in Second Industrial Revolution in 19th Century, were USA and Germany.
The main innovations occured in chemistry, electric, petrol and steel industry.
Cars, fridges, aeroplanes, locomotives…
The American Union Pacific Railroad Company covered most of the central and western United States, making easier, faster and cheaper both people and material transport.
The invention of the telegraph meant a communication revolution. People could exchange information at a global level.
Railroad and telegraph made firms being more competitive and decreasing its costs.
Thanks to Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management, it was possible to improve labor efficiency and productivity by eliminating all unnecessary movements that employees did and standardizing the work into steps.

Karl Benz, Samuel Morse, Max Weber, George Stephenson, Wright brothers…, awesome men.
20th Century !! Man went on discovering all that could be discovered. Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, tractors, light bulbs, and radars were invented.
Not only had we new products, but also we had developed the way of produce them in large amounts! The most clear example is the assembly line and the mass production introduced by Henry Ford in the Ford Motor Company. He mixed Taylor’s theories with technology, achieving an economy of scale in which the unit cost of producing an extra car was lower. Therefore, Ford was able to set economical prices so that people could buy all his car production, which every day was bigger and bigger. Moreover, Ford raised workers wage in order to ensure sales and make them more productive. Et voilá! The beginning of modern consumer culture!
Some years later, it took place the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Despite of being a terrible period, some good economists raised their voice. One of them was John Keynes. He thought that government must get themself into debt to revitalize the economy. If people had more money, they would be able to buy firms’ goods, which could stop dismissing workers. If unemployment decreased, it would be possible to return to normal little by little.
New Deal, Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher... finally we recovered from that!
However, government went on taking keynesian politics, using them in a wrong way. So they acquired too many debt, fact that cames together to the Oil Crisis in 1973...

Anyway! Marketing and Human Resources were concept which attracted the attention of many economists. For example, here we find the Douglas McGregor's X and Y therories or the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which managers must follow to ensure good work environments to their workers, increasing their productivity or of motivation.
Last but not least, I have to mention Milton Fridman, who winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, who is considered one of the best 20th century economists .
So finally, Keynes, Schumpeter, Porter, Friedman..., here we have some of the awesome economist men of last century!
It’s amazing to think that all started with the Big Bang.