LSE100 Past Year Questions

Poverty
1. In defining poverty, researchers need to manage the trade-off between
measurability which requires standardisation and ... complexity.
(Maxwell, 1999). Critically assess this claim.
2. Critically assess the Human Poverty Index as a measure of poverty.
3. Why is it difficult to define and measure poverty?
Climate Change
1. Despite its widespread use by governments worldwide, cost-benefit analysis
has been criticised as being an inappropriate tool for policymaking on climate
change. Do you agree?
2. "It is the clash of economic interests, not the theory of public goods, that
best explains the failure of international action on climate change." Discuss.
3. Why might cost-benefit analysis be an inadequate tool for decision-making
on climate change?
Nationalism
1. In a globalised world, cosmopolitanism is preferable to nationalism. Do you
agree? Why or why not?
Cold War
1. (i) What types of explanations for the end of the Cold War does this excerpt
suggest?
(ii) What are the strengths and limitations of this document as a piece of
historical evidence?
1. (i) What are the strengths and limitations of this document as a piece of
historical evidence?
(ii) Does this document support the argument that social scientists and other
experts should have predicted the end of the Cold War - or, on the contrary,
does it provide evidence that they could not have done?
2. Only through investigation of the personal archives of political figures can we
understand the reasons that precipitated the end of the Cold War. Discuss.
Global Financial Crisis
1. Was the growth in the financial sector in the US since the 1970s a necessary,
sufficient or jointly sufficient cause of the 2008 financial crisis, or none of the
above?
2. Consider the argument that rising inequality caused the financial crisis in the
US and answer (i) and (ii):
(i) What can you infer from this graph about the argument - and what are its
limitations?
(ii) What additional data would be useful in assessing the argument?
3. Was excessive risk-taking a sufficient cause of the global financial crisis?

Gender
1. Does culture or economics best explain the gender segregation of labour
markets?
2. How does the social construction of gender contribute to segregation in the
labour market?
Long Questions
1. The failure to assess risk accurately was a key cause of the financial crisis and
could lead to equally serious economic consequences in the context of
climate change. Discuss with reference to modules 1 (How should we
manage climate change?) and 4 (What caused the global financial crisis?).
2. Ideas matter. Discuss the implications of this statement with respect to
modules 3 (Why are great events so difficult to predict?) and 6 (Who should
own ideas in the internet age?).
3. The question is not which of these disciplinary approaches is right, but how
do you put them together? (Calhoun, 2012). Explore the benefits of taking a
multi-disciplinary perspective with reference to at least two modules.
1. No one has ownership of the environment, much in the same way that no
one can own an idea. Any attempt to assign property rights to either does
not make economic sense and is profoundly unethical. Discuss, using
examples from Module 6 (ideas) and Module 1 (climate change).
2. "As with the end of the Cold War, the key to understanding the financial crisis
lies in structural factors. The end of the Cold War marked the collapse of the
Soviet model and highlighted the success of the USA. In contrast, the financial
crisis marks the rise of China, and the relative decline of the USA." Discuss,
using examples from Module 3 (end of the Cold War) and Module 4 (financial
crisis).
3. "Ethnography is the only social science methodology that really treats people
as humans." Do you agree? Answer with reference to at least two other
social science methodologies or approaches covered on this course.
1. Why are socially beneficial policies not always implemented? Explain with
reference to module 1 (How should we manage climate change?) and
module 6 (Who should own ideas?).
2. Ideas can erode national boundaries. Discuss with reference to module 2
(Do nations matter in a global world?) and module 3 (Why are great
events so difficult to predict?).
3. In what ways can the structure, agency and ideas analytical framework help
us to identify and assess the causes of the global financial crisis (module 4)
and the end of the Cold War (module 3)?
4. What are the limitations of using only qualitative or quantitative research
methods to understand the causes of complex social problems? Answer with
reference to at least two modules.