In the middle of the fourteenth century, an epidemic known as the Black Death killed about a third of Europe’s population, about 34 million people. While this was an enormous tragedy, the macroeconomic consequences might surprise you: over the next century, wages are estimated to have been higher than before the Black Death.
(a) Use the production model to explain why wages might have been higher.
(b) Can you attach a number to your explanation? In the model, by how much would wages rise if a third of the population died from disease?