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  3. Population growth has long been a controversial issue in economic circles, yet, surprisingly enough, the actual study of its eff

Population growth has long been a controversial issue in economic circles, yet, surprisingly enough, the actual study of its eff

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问题     Population growth has long been a controversial issue in economic circles, yet, surprisingly enough, the actual study of its effects is fairly well established and universal. One advantage in studying the phenomena is that wild fluctuations of populations have occurred in history, and their resulting economic impacts have been accurately recorded for analysis and dissemination by economists of future generations. The most revealing incident, no doubt, is the case of the Black Plague.
    The Black Plague, which swept through Europe and robbed it of a quarter of its population, was a tragic event of its time, but yielded the ideal environment for retrospective study of population economics. The initial result that was observed was that, with the death of so many, the work force was horrendously reduced, leaving many to believe that productivity would plummet and resources would sit idle. By that reasoning, forecasters of the period predicted a catastrophic blow to the European economy from which full recovery was only a slight possibility.
    The result of the devastation left in the plague’s wake, however, was much different. While the labor force did indeed decrease dramatically in numbers, the efficiency of each individual worker improved, due to the lessened effects of economies of scale. Although total output dropped, output per capita actually increased, since each laborer was now producing more and there were less consumers to share the output. Also, resources did remain unused, but after an initial period of waste, the costs that those wasted resources represented lowered when businesses adapted to the situation by investing in the policy of buying less resources. Thus, the overall economic result was that workers were more productive, businesses were more efficient and there was more output per person in Europe.
    Wages rose as well, since the demand for labor far exceeded the supply. Nevertheless, despite these seemingly positive results, the net effect of the Black Plague in Europe was an almost undisputedly negative one. The per capita increases were more than offset by the aggregate loss in total product. From this, the keen economist must learn that the distinction between macro and micro levels of economics must be observed to obtain an accurate picture, especially when dealing with a central element of the economy as population.
The period of Black Plague in Europe was ideal for economic population studies because it
选项 A、provided results whose implications were clear for the purpose of study
B、created an environment in which population wildly fluctuated, thus allowing economists to study the effects of population changes
C、represents a real-life test of economic ideas that were previously only theories
D、reduced the importance of other economic factors, leaving population as the sole object of study
答案B
解析 属信息归纳题。题目中的关键词Black Plague in Europe，ideal，study出现在第二段第一句：曾席卷欧洲的悲剧性事件——黑瘟疫——夺走了四分之一欧洲人的性命，却为人类经济学的回顾性研究提供了理想环境。结合第一段第二句的信息(精确地记录下历史上曾经发生过的大规模的人口波动以及这些人口波动所造成的经济影响便于未来的经济学家分析和传播信息)，不难推知，选项B正确。其他选项都无从推出。
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