Lomborg mentions that increased urban migration will alleviate the overcrowding caused by overpopulation and may actually decrease environmental pressures on the rural landscape. Do you agree with this or not? Explain why.

Chapter 3, Measuring Human Welfare (Bjørn Lomborg)

http://books.google.com/books?id=JuLko8USApwC&pg=PA45&dq=bjorn+lomborg+measuring+human+welfare&hl=en&sa=X&ei=218SUrqTKsmwyQHJuIBQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bjorn%20lomborg%20measuring%20human%20welfare&f=false

1) Lomborg mentions that a “trading economy” allows a nation to exist beyond the country’s actual sustainability. Do you agree
with this or not? Explain why. What is a “trading economy”?

2) Lomborg mentions that increased urban migration will alleviate the overcrowding caused by overpopulation and may actually
decrease environmental pressures on the rural landscape. Do you agree with this or not? Explain why.

3) What are the main reasons that global population has increased dramatically since the 1950s?

4) Do you think that, generally speaking, urban areas provide greater benefits than do rural areas in the developing world? Do
you think that an increasingly urbanized society is the answer to global poverty?

5) Summarize Lomborg’s assessment of population change in Europe .

Chapter 5, Food and Hunger (Bjørn Lomborg)

https://books.google.com/books?id=JuLko8USApwC&pg=PA60&dq=bjorn+lomborg+food+and+hunger&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mWASUovGBrLk4AO3_4D wCg#v=onepage&q=bjorn%20lomborg%20food%20and%20hunger&f=false

1) Summarize Malthus’ theory of population growth.

2) What reasons does Lomborg put forth to suggest that Ehrlich’s “doomsday” ideas are totally wrong? Do you agree? Explain
why or why not.

3) May require outside research: what is meant by the term ‘Green Revolution’? What are some aspects of the ‘Green
Revolution’? (Hint: it has allowed many nations to feed more people via increased agricultural productivity)

4) Lomborg gives several factors that are necessary for Sub-Saharan Africa to fight starvation and poverty. What are they?

(Hint: they do not involve ‘agricultural practices’ such as irrigation and crop rotation.)
Julian Simon was right (CATO)

https://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/julian-simon-was-right-half-century-population-growth

1) Simon argued that even as Earth’s population grew, human ingenuity would provide solutions to overpopulation.
Explain how this reading suggests that Simon may be right.

2) Other scientists and economists say that Simon ‘got lucky’ in his predictions. Do you think this is true? What
factors helped prove Simon’s ‘case’? (Hint: one of the factors involves population trends across much of the
developed world)

3) Generally-speaking, do you agree with Simon’s perspective? Explain why or why not.

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