I need help finding 3 of the principals of economics from the passage below. The principals are people choose, all choices involve cost, and people respond to incentives.
The passage:
One of the first books, written in 1866, on the civil war was written by a Richmond newspaper editor named Pollard called The Lost Cause. Highly selective and deeply misleading, the story of the lost cause was immediately popular in the south beacuse it translated the confederacy's defeat into a moral victory. It pictured antebellum life as an idyll of genteel planters and their happy "servant" whose "instincts", in Davis words, "rendered them contented with their lot... Never was there happier dependence of labor and capital on each other."
But then: "The tempter came, like the serpent of eden, and decoyed them with the magic word of freedom." Though outgunned and outnumbered, the south fought heroically to defend itself from aggressors whose factories up north were the true slave drivers. And though God fearing warriors like Robert E. Lee and Thomas "stonewall" Jackson outgeneraled their foes at every turn, ultimately the federal swarm was too large and too savage to repel.
But people were eager to forget. And so Americans both southern and northern flocked to minstrel shows and snapped up happy slave stories by writers like Thomas Nelson page and Joel Chandler Harris. White society was not ready to deal with the humanity and needs of freed slaves, and these entertainments assured them that there was no need to. Reconstruction was scorned as fools errand, and Jim Crow laws were touted as sensible reforms to restore a harmonious land.
I think for people choose its the lost cause.
Oh, my. There are several choices here. One is to believe in "the lost cause", but there are no costs implied or stated for such a choice. The choice of black slaves to want freedom has incentives - freedom. I suppose the "lost cause" of preserving the fiction of the idyllic plantation life by fighting a war that they lost was the choice and the cost of that choice. The incentive? To embrace the concept of the lost cause AFTER the war was to save face and justify what the choice and the cost was. But I have NO idea what your teacher or program wants you to see in terms of economics. Wish I could help more.
I still don't get it
To find the three principles of economics - people choose, all choices involve cost, and people respond to incentives - in the given passage, we need to analyze the content and identify instances that reflect these principles.
1. People choose: This principle suggests that individuals make decisions based on their preferences and constraints.
In the passage, we can see instances where people make choices. For example, the passage mentions that Americans, both southern and northern, flocked to minstrel shows and bought happy slave stories. This shows that people made choices to engage in entertainment activities and purchase specific literature.
2. All choices involve cost: This principle asserts that every decision carries an opportunity cost, meaning that making a choice requires giving up the next best alternative.
In the passage, we can see instances of cost associated with decisions. For instance, the passage states that the antebellum life was portrayed as an idyll of genteel planters and happy "servants." This implies that the supposed positive aspects of the antebellum life came at the expense of the freedom and rights of the enslaved individuals.
3. People respond to incentives: This principle suggests that individuals are motivated to act based on the rewards and punishments they expect to receive.
In the passage, we can see examples where people respond to incentives. For instance, the passage mentions that white society was not ready to deal with the humanity and needs of freed slaves. This indicates that people were incentivized to ignore or deny the challenges of Reconstruction and the rights of freed slaves for the sake of maintaining societal harmony.
To summarize, the principles of economics can be found in the given passage: people choose is reflected in the choices made by individuals, all choices involve cost is illustrated by the trade-offs involved in the portrayal of the antebellum life, and people respond to incentives is evident in the response of white society towards Reconstruction.