In the case of Black Plague in Europe we find that labor was a winner
From your link.
By 1500 total production and trade in Europe had both recovered the ground they lost in the decades after the Black Death and probably exceeded their previous peaks. Population itself was also rising again, though it did not return to its pre-plague level until the middle of the 16th century.
So, in a mere 150 years, the worse effects of the plague had gone, and the reduced population was reaping the benefits. More efficient economy and higher GDP to boot. How things can improve with a little patience -g-.
In the case of a catastrophic SARS like outbreak "it's maybe different this time"
Only half joking. Now the fashion is things are done in "internet time". Wars, plagues, stock bubbles. Providing we do not lose our technology knowledge, and retain a population of several billion, recovery time spans could be much different. Yes, speculation could run wild in recovery mode.
In the case of AIDS, it would need an additional emergence of a religious sect (or other organization) that specifically changes the populations way of life to defeat the disease. Considering the alternative way of life, I would say that is a likely occurrence. That will take several generations to take effect unfortunately.
I loved this bit -g-
In 1363, an observer lamented the changing times in tones that became all too familiar in post-World War II Europe: "Serving girls and unskilled women with no experience in service and stable boys want at least 12 florins per year, and the most arrogant among them 18 or 24 florins per year, and so also nurses and minor artisans working with their hands want three times or nearly the usual pay, and laborers on the land all want oxen and all seed, and want to work the best lands, and to abandon all others."
We can hear the same contemporary ring of European condescension in Africa in a late medieval comment on builders enjoying full employment: "They waste much part of the day in late coming to work, early departing therefrom, long sitting at their breakfast and longtime of sleeping afternoon."
as with the ruling class as is the labor classes... None of 'em any good. All lazy and greedy. -ggg- |
