1. Read the highlighted paragraphs of “Qianlong’s letter to George III”, that is posted on Canvas, and try to answer the questions below
- Emperor Qianlong believed that a country does not need to trade with another if it can produce everything with lower cost than its potential trading partner. Try to develop your answer about whether or not you agree with Emperor Qianlong’s decision.
- You may want to summarize the historical development of the political economy from the 16th to the 21th century and try to incorporate the concepts and theories in the each school of political economy in your evaluation of Qianlong’s idea (such as theory of invisible hand, comparative advantage, Pareto efficiency, Kaldor-Hicks criteria, etc). It would be better if you can elaborate your idea on the proper and/or expected role of government for dealing with the economic problems under different circumstances.