Tamara Ramos

Howell

ECON 1740

5 Aust 2017

Free or Equal Questions

While watching Free or Equal, answer the questions as follows:

Fill-in-the-blank questions - Use the precise language from the video.

Short answer questions - Summarize the concepts in your own words, as
explained in the video. Question 10 - Analyze the proposal & provide your
unique perspective.

You do not need to use the same format as shown below (with boxes). Use a
format which works best for you.

1. If the government gives everybody the same freedom to work and reap
the rewards, some will do better than others. The result will be equality
of opportunity, but not equality of outcome.

2. Immigrants who arrived in the late-1800s/early-1900s found that

America was truly a land of opportunity. Describe the factors these
immigrants encountered which helped them thrive.

There was hope that the immigrants had to reach their goals and
accomplishments that they could not have done in their home land. As
well as rewards for their talent and hardship. It was so easy to start
businesses when people immigrated here, because there was no need
for licensing and permits, there was no red tape on the free market.
People strived in their business and new jobs because of the lack of
rules and regulations on the free market.
3. What are the factors which led to the rapidly rising standard of life in
Hong Kong? (Be specific.)
The British were not worried about the local affairs of Hong Kong at
the time. Because of this lack of responsibility of the British, Hong
Kong was never introduced to policies, tariffs, regulations, or
intervention. Since there was no restrictions on the free market, it was
able to grow in a natural way. The people were able to go in any
industry they wanted, to trade with whomever they wanted, and to buy
cheapest from the market.

4. Explain voluntary association & why it is essential in a free market.

Voluntary association is what we do together with our own freewill.
People will buy and sell to each other and non is subject to force or
fraud. It is when consenting adult agree with the things going on and
the peoples interest and thoughts are being taken.

5. Explain how the lead pencil & the smart phone are examples of
invisible hands.

The invisible hand is that to make your life better, you have to better the
lives if of others. For example, to make a lead pencil you have to get
the wood from a tree. To get that wood, you must cut it down with a
saw. To get the saw, you must get steel. To get the steel, you must
retrieve it from iron ore. Then to get graphite, you must mine it. Then
you must get the ribber for the eraser. Thousands of people help to
make a pencil. To make a cell phone, you must get the display from
Japan, then the camera from Vietnam, then the microphone from
Australia, then the chip set from France, then the memory from Korea,
then the battery from China, the software and design from Finland or
India, Britain, Or the U.S. It is then all manufactured in one facility.
6. In 1980, Milton Friedman visited Hong Kong & met Mr. Cheung who
made & sold metal containers. Decades later, Johan Norberg visited Mr.
Cheung & found that he still makes metal containers however, he now
produces more things for the tourist trade. This is an example of what
economic concept? Explain its significance.

Creative destruction is when we want to increase wealth and opportunity,

we have to stop doing old things in old ways and start doing innovating
things in better ways. This is needed to keep interest in the free market and
be able to stay in the free market. This creates competition within business
and causes the people to have better products.

7. Johan Norberg describes how his home country of Sweden taxes

heavily & then redistributes wealth. Describe the benefits & drawbacks
that this approach has on the Swedish population.

Benefits: There is more funding to government programs. Which means

people are less poor, there is single-payer healthcare for everyone so no
one has to pay for healthcare. Because of this, there is a smaller mortality
rate and people are happier and not homeless

Drawbacks: Reduced the rewards for working hard and taking risk. There
is less creative ways to start business. And it also decreases in incentive to
work since the reward for working hard is almost the same as what they
are doing now.

8. Explain how Free markets regularly turn luxuries into consumer

goods.

People who have money are able to fund and spend money on luxury
items. Which this leads to more money for the business and then in return
makes more products for less money. It makes the company more money
even though it becomes a common item since people will want to buy more
since it cost less.
9. As Milton Friedman said, The society that puts equality before freedom
will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will
end up with a great measure of both.

10. Professor Friedman uses the analogy of a race to explain the concepts of
Equality of Opportunity and the Equality of Outcome:

Equality of Opportunity
All race participants are given the opportunity to begin the race at the
same starting line at the same time.
Also known as Free Market Capitalism.

Equality of Outcome
All race participants are guaranteed to finish at the same time.

Also known as Equal Shares for All.

In this class, we apply the Equality of Opportunity concept. All students

begin on the same day, receive the same course information & have the same
amount of time to complete the coursework. While there is no guarantee that
students will earn a respectable grade, all students are given the opportunity
to earn a respectable grade.

Classroom
! Hypothetically, if we applied the Equality of Outcome concept in this
class, all students would be guaranteed to receive the class average
grade.

! The grade would be determined by combining all points earned (by the
class as a whole) & dividing them equally among each student. All
students would earn the same grade regardless of their performance.
 ! Unless the class average were unusually high or unusually low, the most
likely result would be all students would earn a grade in the C range
(C+, C or C-). Grades in the C range are generally considered to be
average grades.

1. Would you approve of using the Equality of Outcome method in

calculating your final grade? Why or why not?
I would not approve of the Equality of Outcome this way in the
classroom. Knowing that I did more in the class then the majority
is going to make me feel mad because I did more work to get a
better grade. I should to be punished because of the faults of
others. As well I would not like the pressure to make sure I do
very well in the class so I might have an average grade because
others either might not care or do as well in the class. I might
approve this if it was a test because it just averages the grade all
together and it doesnt affect my grade so much but even then I
would not like it.

2. What are the pros & cons in using this method?

The pros of this method is that you basically will pass the class if
everyone does what they are suppose to do minus some students
not doing well and others doing exceptionally well. The cons will
be that some students will not have the incentive to work because
they think they will get an average score, making so the average
score does drop. As well it does not give a fair score to those who
did the work and get a higher grade than the average.

Workplace

! If the Equality of Outcome concept were applied at your workplace, all

employees would be paid the same wage, regardless of their job duties,
education, performance or skill.

! Consider the example of Gravity Payments, a Seattle-based credit card

processing company. In April 2015, CEO Dan Price set a $70k
 minimum salary for all 120 employees. He also announced that he was
taking a pay cut from $1 million to $70k.

1. Would you approve of using the Equality of Outcome method in

calculating your salary? Why or why not?
Depends on if I am either on the highest level of job or the
lowest. If I am on the lowest, I will be happy because I will be
getting paid just as much compared to someone else who has a
higher level job. Of course if I was on a higher level job I will be
mad. If I worked harder to get to were I was, I should be reward
with a raise. As well it lets people become lazy because they will
do the least amount of work.

2. What are the pros & cons in using this method?

Pros of this method is that people on the lowest level will be paid
a nice wage. A wage they can live off and have fun with. But the
cons outlays this concept since it lessens the incentive to work
and makes it unfair to those who work harder and have earned
the rewards for it. It does not make people work harder to receive
rewards since they are all being paid the same.

Reflective Writing
Compose 2-3 paragraphs explaining how completing this assignment helped
you achieve at least two (2) of the SLCC Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcome #1

This assignment helps me work on the Think Critically & Creatively SLCC
Learning Outcome. It did so because I needed to look through and analyze
the video to completely understand why we are learning this. As well as how I
can make my own thoughts from this assignment. Even though some
questions were just what came from the video, it was also what my opinion is
and what I can form with it to make an answer. The questions were not
necessarily a right or wrong, but what I am able to come up with my own
thinking. Rather than repeating from the video, I thought deeper and tried to
come with something that means more to me and that I can reflect on my own
life.

Learning Outcome #2

This assignment helps me work on the Develop Knowledge & Skills to Be

Civically Engaged SLCC Learning Outcomes. Since this class is the first
class I have had that involved U.S. history since I have gone to SLCC, I had
to do more research on my behalf to understand what is happening. It made
me more aware what is happening in our economy right now and what should
be happening to it. It made me learn that at times the Free Market is not an
evil thing that some people make it out to be but as well not as glorious when
it comes to healthcare and things that people need in society. It helped me
make more questions for myself when I answered these questions in the
assignment. Is there a better way to regulate business without making the free
market totally unfree. Is there a way to help the people not become a victim of
huge corporations? This assignment not only helped me learn more history
but it developed my skills to ask more question about economics and realize
how important it is in our society.