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Macroeconomics, 8e (Abel/Bernanke/Croushore)
Chapter 7 The Asset Market, Money, and Prices
2) The use of money is more efficient than barter because the introduction of money
A) reduces the need for economic specialization.
B) reduces the need to exchange goods.
C) reduces the need for other stores of value.
D) reduces transaction costs.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
4) moneys primary role in the economy comes from the benefits of lowering transactions costs
and allowing specialization. This function of money is called
A) store of value.
B) medium of exchange.
C) standard of deferred payment.
D) unit of account.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
1
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
5) For something to satisfy the medium-of-exchange function of money, it must be
A) backed by gold.
B) readily exchangeable for other goods.
C) issued by a central bank.
D) an inherently valuable commodity.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
7) In some countries, prices in stores are listed in terms of U.S. dollars, rather than in units of the
local currency. That's most likely because
A) the country's political system is unstable.
B) interest rates are higher using U.S. dollars than using the local currency.
C) there is no other store of value.
D) the country has experienced high rates of inflation.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
8) The number of units of one good that trade for one unit of alternative goods can be determined
most easily when
A) there is one unit of account.
B) the goods all weigh about the same.
C) the goods are all new.
D) the goods are actively traded through barter.
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
2
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
9) A good that is used as a medium of exchange as well as being a consumption good is called
A) a barter money.
B) a commodity money.
C) a legal tender.
D) a debased money.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
10) Why do people keep currency in their pockets when bank deposits pay interest?
A) Because banks might steal your money.
B) Because currency is more liquid.
C) Because bank deposits lose value due to inflation.
D) Because bank deposits lose value due to changes in interest rates.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
11) One of moneys primary roles in the economy comes from the use of money to transfer
purchasing power to the future. This role of money is called
A) store of value.
B) unit of account.
C) medium of exchange.
D) standard of deferred payment.
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
12) Which of the following measures is the best measure of money as a medium of exchange?
A) M1
B) M2
C) M3
D) None of the above
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
3
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
13) Suppose your bank raises its minimum-balance requirement for free checking on checking
accounts by $500. You take $500 out of your passbook savings account and put it in your
checking account. What is the overall effect on M1 and M2?
A) M1 rises by $500, M2 falls by $500.
B) M1 is unchanged, M2 is unchanged.
C) M1 rises by $500, M2 is unchanged.
D) M1 is unchanged, M2 falls by $500.
Answer: C
Diff: 3
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
4
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
17) Which of the following statements about M1 and M2 is not true?
A) Transaction accounts are part of M1.
B) M2 is more liquid than M1.
C) M2 is larger than M1.
D) Transaction accounts are part of M2.
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: New
18) M2 includes
A) large-denomination time deposits.
B) institutional MMMFs.
C) commercial paper.
D) M1.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
5
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
21) People in other countries want to hold U.S. dollars as a
A) medium of exchange.
B) store of value.
C) unit of account.
D) standard of deferred payment.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
23) What's the most common way for a central bank to reduce the money supply?
A) Collect higher taxes
B) Sell bonds to the public
C) Buy bonds from the government
D) Buy bonds from the public
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
24) Suppose you read in the paper that the Federal Reserve plans to expand the money supply.
The Fed is most likely to do this by
A) printing more currency and distributing it.
B) purchasing government bonds from the public.
C) selling government bonds to the public.
D) buying newly issued government bonds directly from the government itself.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: New
6
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
25) A developing country does not have enough taxes to cover its expenditures and is unable to
borrow. This government would be most likely to cover its deficit by
A) purchasing government bonds from the public.
B) selling government bonds to the public.
C) selling newly issued government bonds directly to the central bank.
D) buying newly issued government bonds directly from the central bank.
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
26) What are the major components of M1? What are the major components of M2? Describe
each component.
Answer: The principal components of M1 are currency, transaction accounts, and traveler's
checks. Currency includes coins and Federal Reserve notes (i.e., paper money). Transaction
accounts are those against which checks may be drawn. Traveler's checks are a substitute for
currency that can be replaced if lost or stolen. The principal components of M2 are M1, savings
account deposits including money market deposit accounts (MMDAs), small time deposits, and
money market mutual funds (MMMFs). Small time deposits are certificates of deposit (CDs) of
less than $100,000 denomination. MMMFs invest their shareholders' funds in short-term
securities, pay market-based interest rates, and allow holders to write a limited number of
checks. MMDAs are like MMMFs, except they are offered by banks or thrift institutions such as
savings and loan associations.
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: New
7
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
28) What happens to M1 and M2 due to each of the following changes?
(a) You take $500 out of your checking account and put it into a passbook savings account.
(b) You take $1000 out of your checking account and buy traveler's checks.
(c) You take $1500 out of your money-market mutual fund and deposit into your checking
account.
(d) You cash in $2000 in savings bonds and invest the money in a certificate of deposit.
Answer:
(a) M1 falls $500, M2 is unchanged (remember that M1 is part of M2).
(b) M1 and M2 are both unchanged.
(c) M1 rises $1500, M2 is unchanged.
(d) M1 is unchanged, M2 rises $2000.
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
29) Why is per-capita U.S. currency demand so large? Who is holding large amounts of U.S.
currency and why are they doing so? Should U.S. policymakers be concerned about this? Why?
Answer: Currency demand is large mostly because foreigners hold many dollars. They do so
because of inflation or political instability in their countries. Policymakers shouldn't be very
concerned, since foreigners' dollar holdings represent an interest-free loan to the United States.
However, a cause for concern may be that fluctuations in our money supply may reflect
conditions abroad that are unrelated to the U.S. economy.
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.1
Question Status: Previous Edition
8
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
3) The uncertainty about the return an asset will earn is
A) liquidity.
B) risk.
C) time to maturity.
D) stochastic dominance.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
5) The amount by which the expected return on a risky asset exceeds the return on an otherwise
comparable safe asset is known as the
A) CDS spread.
B) risk premium.
C) VIX.
D) term spread.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: New
6) The ease and quickness with which an asset can be exchanged for goods, services, or other
assets is its
A) risk.
B) time to maturity.
C) velocity.
D) liquidity.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
9
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) Time to maturity refers to the amount of time until
A) an asset repays the principal to an investor.
B) an asset pays interest for the first time.
C) a bond can be sold on the secondary market.
D) the yield curve shows an upward slope.
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
9) AAA Company stock has a higher expected rate of return than ZZZ Company stock. All else
being equal, you would expect that relative to ZZZ, AAA company stock provides
A) less risk and less liquidity.
B) less risk and more liquidity.
C) more risk and less liquidity.
D) more risk and more liquidity.
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
10
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
11) In the early 2000s, lenders began issuing mortgage loans to people who would normally not
be qualified to take out loans because they did not meet lending standards. Those borrowers are
known as
A) alternative borrowers.
B) weak borrowers.
C) subprime borrowers.
D) credit risks.
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
12) The financial crisis occurred in 2008 in large part because of losses on securities consisting
of bundles of mortgage loans known as
A) home loan loss reserves.
B) credit default swaps.
C) mortgage-backed securities.
D) naked put options.
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
13) A one-year bond has an interest rate of 5% today. Investors expect that in one year, a one
year bond will have an interest rate equal to 7%. According to the expectations theory of the term
structure of interest rates, in equilibrium, a two-year bond today will have an interest rate equal
to
A) 3.0%.
B) 5.0%.
C) 5.5%.
D) 6.0%.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
14) The idea that investors today compare the returns on bonds with differing times to maturity
to see which is expected to give them the highest return is the underlying principle behind the
________ of the term structure of interest rates.
A) expectations theory
B) investors' viewpoint analysis
C) segmented-markets theory
D) yield comparison theory
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
11
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
15) The interest rate on long-term bonds is somewhat higher than suggested by the expectations
theory because
A) the expectations theory doesn't account for taxes.
B) a risk premium exists.
C) an inflation premium must be added to long-term bonds.
D) the Fed can only control short-term interest rates.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
16) By spreading her investments out over many different assets, an investor achieves
A) a higher expected return.
B) increased risk.
C) diversification.
D) greater liquidity.
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
17) Suppose that you could buy a one-year bond today, which has an interest rate of 3%. If you
wait a year and buy a one-year bond then, the interest rate will be 4%. Two years from now, a
one-year bond is expected to offer an interest rate of 5%. According to the expectations theory of
the term structure of interest rates, what is the interest rate on a two-year bond today? What is the
interest rate on a three-year bond today?
Answer: Two-year bond: (3% + 4%)/2 = 3.5%; Three-year bond: (3% + 4% + 5%)/3 = 4%.
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.2
Question Status: Previous Edition
12
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
18) Suppose that:
1) The interest on a one-year bond today is 3%;
2) The interest on a one-year bond starting one year from now is expected to be 4% per year;
3) The interest on a one-year bond starting two years from now is expected to be 5% per year;
4) The risk premium on a two-year bond is 0.5%; and
5) The risk premium on a three-year bond is 1.0%.
13
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
3) Which of the following is most likely to lead to a decrease of 10% in the nominal demand for
money?
A) An increase in real income of 5%
B) A decrease in real income of 5%
C) A decline of 10% in the price level
D) An increase of 10% in the price level
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
4) Which of the following is most likely to lead to an increase of 1% in the nominal demand for
money?
A) An increase in real income of 0.5%
B) A decrease in real income of 0.5%
C) A decline of 1% in the price level
D) An increase of 1% in the price level
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
6) An increase in the real interest rate would cause an increase in the real demand for money
A) no matter what the change in expected inflation.
B) if expected inflation fell by less than the rise in the real interest rate.
C) if expected inflation fell by the same amount as the rise in the real interest rate.
D) if expected inflation fell by more than the rise in the real interest rate.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
14
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) An increase in expected inflation is likely to cause
A) a decline in the demand for real balances.
B) an increase in the demand for real balances.
C) no change in the demand for real balances.
D) no change in the demand for real balances only if the income elasticity of real money demand
is zero.
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
8) Mr. Pierpont has wealth of $200,000. He wants to keep at least $80,000 in bonds at all times,
and will shift $10,000 into bonds from his checking account for each percentage point that the
interest rate on bonds exceeds the interest rate on his checking account. If the interest rate on
checking accounts is 4% and the interest rate on bonds is 9%, how much does Mr. Pierpont keep
in his checking account?
A) $50,000
B) $70,000
C) $130,000
D) $150,000
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
9) Mr. Pierpont has wealth of $200,000. He wants to keep at least $80,000 in bonds at all times,
and will shift $10,000 into bonds from his checking account for each percentage point that the
interest rate on bonds exceeds the interest rate on his checking account. Currently, he keeps
$100,000 in bonds, which pay him 7%. What is the current interest rate on checking accounts?
A) 5%
B) 7%
C) 9%
D) 10%
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
15
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
10) Money demand is given by
Md/P = 1000 + .2Y - 1000i.
Given that P = 200, Y = 2000, and i = .10, real money demand is equal to
A) 1,300.
B) 1,500.
C) 260,000.
D) 300,000.
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
11) Over time, the wealth of society increases and payments technologies get more efficient.
What is the effect on money demand of these two changes?
A) Money demand rises proportionately to the rise in wealth.
B) Money demand rises, but less than proportionately to the rise in wealth.
C) The overall effect is ambiguous.
D) Money demand declines.
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
12) If there is a financial panic and increased uncertainty about the returns in the stock market
and bond market, what is the likely effect on money demand?
A) Money demand declines first, then rises when inflation increases.
B) Money demand rises.
C) The overall effect is ambiguous.
D) Money demand declines.
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
13) Suppose a new law imposes a tax on all trades of bonds and stock. What is the likely effect
on money demand?
A) Money demand declines first, then rises when inflation increases.
B) Money demand rises.
C) The overall effect is ambiguous.
D) Money demand declines.
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
16
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
14) If real income rises 4%, prices rise 1%, and nominal money demand rises 4%, what is the
income elasticity of real money demand?
A) 3/4
B) 4/5
C) 5/6
D) 1
Answer: A
Diff: 3
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
15) If real income rises 5%, prices rise 3%, and nominal money demand rises 7%, what is the
income elasticity of real money demand?
A) 3/4
B) 4/5
C) 5/6
D) 6/7
Answer: B
Diff: 3
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: New
16) If the interest elasticity of money demand is -0.1, by what percent does money demand
change if the nominal interest rate rises from 2% to 3%?
A) -0.1%
B) 5%
C) 0%
D) -5%
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
17) If the income elasticity of money demand is 3/4 and the interest elasticity of money demand
is -1/4, by what percent does money demand rise if income rises 10% and the nominal interest
rate rises from 4% to 5%?
A) 7.50%
B) 6.25%
C) 5.00%
D) 1.25%
Answer: D
Diff: 3
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
17
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
18) Velocity is defined as
A) nominal money stock/nominal GDP.
B) nominal GDP/nominal money stock.
C) real money stock/real GDP.
D) mc2.
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
19) If real GDP is $4 billion, the price level is 1.25, and the nominal money stock is $500
million, then velocity is
A) 0.1.
B) 1.
C) 10.
D) 100.
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
21) Suppose velocity is 3, real output is 9000, and the price level is 1.5. What is the level of real
money demand in this economy?
A) 2000
B) 3000
C) 6000
D) 30,000
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
18
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
22) Suppose real money demand is 1000, real output is 6000, and the price level is 200. What is
the level of velocity in this economy?
A) 2
B) 3
C) 6
D) 12
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: New
23) Suppose velocity is constant at 4, real output is 10, and the price level is 2. From this initial
situation, the government increases the nominal money supply to 6. If velocity and output remain
unchanged, by how much will the price level increase?
A) 2.4%
B) 20%
C) 24%
D) 50%
Answer: B
Diff: 3
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
24) What happens to real money demand (rise, fall, no change) due to a change in each of the
following factors?
(a) A tax on stock market transactions is introduced.
(b) Computerized bond trading reduces transactions costs.
(c) People's average level of wealth rises.
(d) The threat of a recession increases the riskiness of stocks and bonds.
(e) The interest rate paid on checking account balances declines.
(f) The price level falls in a one-time jump.
Answer:
(a) Rises
(b) Falls
(c) Rises
(d) Rises
(e) Falls
(f) Is unchanged
Diff: 1
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
19
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
25) Give five examples of factors that could reduce the demand for money.
Answer: Lower price level, lower real income, higher real interest rate, higher expected
inflation, lower nominal interest rate on money, lower wealth, lower risk on alternative assets,
higher risk on money, increased liquidity of alternative assets, or increased efficiency of
payments technologies.
Diff: 2
Topic: Section: 7.3
Question Status: Previous Edition
20
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
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latitude, between the 14° 20' meridian of longitude east of
Greenwich (12th degree east of Paris) and the course of the
Upper Nile."
Great Britain,
Papers by Command: Treaty Series, Number 15, 1899.
{335}
"It will be remembered that last year we and the French agreed
upon a delimitation of 'spheres' in West Africa which extended
as far as Lake Chad. As to the country east of Lake Chad
nothing was said. It was left as a kind of No-man's Land. What
has now been done is to extend the area of the French 'sphere'
eastward beyond Lake Chad till it reaches Darfur and the
Bahr-el-Ghazel. Darfur and the region of the Bahr-el-Ghazel
are declared to be in the English 'sphere.' All the rest of
Northern Central Africa is to become French. France, that is,
is to have the great Mahommedan State of Wadai as well as
Baghirmi and Kanem. In the territory between Lake Chad and the
Nile each Power, however, is to allow the other equality of
treatment in matters of commerce. This will no doubt allow
France to have commercial establishments on the Nile and its
affluents, but it will also allow us to have similar
privileges for trade on the eastern shore of Lake Chad. But as
our system of giving equal trading rights to all foreigners
would in any case have secured commercial rights to France, we
are not in the least hampered by this provision, while the
concession to us of equal rights on the eastern shore of Lake
Chad will improve our position in the face of French Colonial
Protection. …
{336}
NIGERIA: A. D. 1897:
Massacre of British officials near Benin.
Capture of Benin.
An unarmed expedition from the Niger Coast Protectorate,
going, in January, on a peaceful mission to the King of Benin,
led by Acting Consul-General Phillips, was attacked on the way
and the whole party massacred excepting two, who were wounded,
but who hid themselves in the bush and contrived to make their
way back. The Consul-General had been warned that the king
would not allow the mission to enter Benin, but persisted in
going on. A "punitive expedition" was sent against Benin the
following month, and the town was reached and taken on the
18th, but the king had escaped.
Great Britain,
Papers by Command: Africa, Number 6, 1897, page 28.
NIGERIA: A. D. 1897:
Subjugation of Fulah slave-raiders.
NIGERIA: A. D. 1899:
Transfer to the British Crown.
NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The date of the ending of the Century.
"The centurial figures are the symbol, and the only symbol, of
the centuries. Once every hundred years there is a change in
the symbol, and this great secular event is of startling
prominence. What more natural than to bring the century into
harmony with its only visible mark? What more consonant with
order than to make each group of a hundred years correspond
with a single centennial emblem? Be it noticed that, apart
from the centennial emblems, there is absolutely nothing to
give the centuries any form. The initial figures 18 are time's
standard which the earth carries while it makes 100 trips around
the sun. Then a new standard, 19, is put up. Shall we wait now
a whole year for 1901, at the behest of the abacists? No, we
will not pass over the significant year 1900, which is stamped
with the great secular change, but with cheers we will welcome
it and the new century. The 1900 men, who compose the vast
majority of the people, say to their opponents: 'We freely
admit that the century you have in your mind, the artificial
century, begins in 1901, but the natural century (which we
prefer) begins in 1900.'"
{337}
NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The epoch of a transformation of the world.
J. N. Larned,
History of England for the Use of Schools,
page 561.
NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Comparison of the Century with all preceding ages,
as regards man's power over Nature.
{338}
"Of course these numbers are not absolute. Either series may
be increased or diminished by taking account of other
discoveries as of equal importance, or by striking out some
which may be considered as below the grade of an important or
epoch-making step in science or civilization. But the
difference between the two lists is so large, that probably no
competent judge would bring them to an equality. Again, it is
noteworthy that nothing like a regular gradation is
perceptible during the last three or four centuries. The
eighteenth century, instead of showing some approximation to
the wealth of discovery in our own age, is less remarkable
than the seventeenth, having only about half the number of
really great advances."
A. R. Wallace,
The Wonderful Century,
chapter 15
(copyright, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York,
quoted with permission).
NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Difference of the Century from preceding ages.
"In the last 100 years the world has seen great wars, great
national and social upheavals, great religious movements,
great economic changes. Literature and art have had their
triumphs and have permanently enriched the intellectual
inheritance of our race. Yet, large as is the space which
subjects like these legitimately fill in our thoughts, much as
they will occupy the future historian, it is not among these
that I seek for the most important and the most fundamental
differences which separate the present from preceding ages.
Rather is this to be found in the cumulative products of
scientific research, to which no other period offers a
precedent or a parallel. No single discovery, it may be, can
be compared in its results to that of Copernicus; no single
discoverer can be compared in genius to Newton; but, in their
total effects, the advances made by the 19th century are not
to be matched. Not only is the surprising increase of
knowledge new, but the use to which it has been put is new
also. The growth of industrial invention is not a fact we are
permitted to forget. We do, however, sometimes forget how much
of it is due to a close connection between theoretic knowledge
and its utilitarian application which, in its degree, is
altogether unexampled in the history of mankind. I suppose
that, at this moment, if we were allowed a vision of the
embryonic forces which are predestined most potently to affect
the future of mankind, we should have to look for them not in
the Legislature, nor in the Press, nor on the platform, nor in
the schemes of practical statesmen, nor the dreams of
political theorists, but in the laboratories of scientific
students whose names are but little in the mouths of men, who
cannot themselves forecast the results of their own labors,
and whose theories could scarcely be understood by those whom
they will chiefly benefit. …
A. J. Balfour,
The Nineteenth Century
(Address before the University Extension Students
at Cambridge, August 2, 1900).
NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The intellectual and social trend of the Century.
{339}
"The mind has been active in all fields during this fruitful
century; but, outside of politics, it is to science that we
must look for the thoughts that have shaped all other
thinking. When von Helmholtz was in this country, a few years
ago, he said that modern science was born when men ceased to
summon nature to the support of theories already formed, and
instead began to question nature for her facts, in order that
they might thus discover the laws which these facts reveal. I
do not know that it would be easy to sum up the scientific
method, as the phrase runs, in simpler words. It would not be
correct to say that this process was unknown before the
present century; for there have been individual observers and
students of nature in all ages. … But it is true that only in
this century has this attitude toward nature become the
uniform attitude of men of science. …
"To sum up, therefore, I should say that the trend of the
century has been to a great increase in knowledge, which has
been found to be, as of old, the knowledge of good and evil;
that this knowledge has become more and more the property of
all men rather than of a few; that, as a result, the very
increase of opportunity has led to the magnifying of the
problems with which humanity is obliged to deal; and that we
find ourselves, at the end of the century, face to face with
problems of world-wide importance and utmost difficulty, and
with no new means of coping with them other than the patient
education of the masses of men."