Week6
Prompt:
Quantification has historically been a means to lump together people and things, and to identify patterns that are not visible when they are viewed individually. Discuss an example of this phenomenon from the textbooks or readings in the Resource List, identifying what aspects of the relevant historical context(s) made this lumping and analysing possible.
Response: (223 words)
Quantification refers to the use of mathematics, statistics to solve real-world problems, such as in the fields of finance, economics, and politics. Statistics is not just a mathematical tool, but part of the social and political language that influences the way we see and understand things. ( Desrosières, Alain. 1998) Quantification can be used to predict future trends in economic indicators such as GDP , unemployment rate, inflation rate and other economic indicators of future trends. (Deringer, W. 2018) It is also useful in the political arena, for example, to analyse voter behaviour and political preferences to predict the outcome of an election. International organisations such as the United Nations and governments use population growth models to predict future demographic changes and to formulate policies on education, health and housing. In the case of China in the 20th century, the population boomed because there were no restrictions on births at the time, which led to an uneven distribution of resources, with too few resources per capita. (Cai, Fang. 2010) The Chinese government then introduced the one-child policy, which aimed to limit the number of children in a family in order to control population growth and prevent over-consumption of resources. Subsequently, as China’s population aged, the Chinese government enacted a two-child policy to ensure that a country had enough teenagers to cope with labour shortages in the labour market.
Reference:
Desrosières, Alain. (1998) The politics of large numbers : a history of statistical reasoning / Alain Desrosières ; translated by Camille Naish. Cambridge, Mass. ; Harvard University Press.
Deringer, W. (2018) Calculated Values: Finance, Politics, and the Quantitative Age. 1st edition. [Online]. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Cai, Fang. (2010) The China Population and Labor Yearbook, Volume 2 : The Sustainability of Economic Growth from the Perspective of Human Resources. 1st ed. Boston: BRILL.
