A. Watch https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-macroeconomics/wealth-of-nations-economic-growth(8:32).

In capitalist economies, who organizes ideas, people, and capital to produce valuable products?

Why do the rich countries have more factors of production?

Why do some countries have good incentives?

B. Watch https://mru.org/courses/dictionary-economics/economic-institutions-definition (2:38).

List the 5 key institutions that allow economies to prosper.

Name an additional institution mentioned in this video.

C. Watch http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/01/20/145360447/the-secret-document-that-transformed-china (7:00).

Why didn't the farmers in Xiaogang have chairs or electricity in the 1970s when farmers in the U.S. did?

Describe how the secret Xiaogang document changed China.

According to Yen Hongchang, why has he not become wealthier, given that he has started successful businesses?

How did local officials respond to Yen Hongchang's claims?

D. Do ,an image search for "Xiaogang document" to see a photo of this important historical document. The farmers dipped their thumbs in ink to sign the document, since they didn't know how to read or write. This shows the low level of human capital development in rural China at the time.

10. What color of ink did they use for their "signatures"?

E. Read Cowen, Tyler. "Draft Animals as Common Property." Marginal Revolution, Sep 29, 2017, http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/09/draft-animals-common-property.

What did the Chinese farmers do with their draft animals when the government began to collectivize them?

Why didn't they just sell them to other farmers?

F. The World Bank Group used to publish a ranking of how easy it was for small and mid-size companies to do business in 190 countries. The archive is available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/business-enabling-environment/doing-business-. Choose 2020 and view Table 0.1 on page 4.

13. Choose one of the countries from column 3 and explain what your standard of living would likely be if you lived in that country (perhaps Google life expectancy and GDP per capita for that country and include those measures in your answer).