Postby Mokele » Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:49 pm UTC
Unless I'm completely missing something, the answer to 1 could be that it's roads, communication networks, and anything else where adding a single node to the network requires construction of more than 1 link, with more links needed as number of prior nodes increases, hence the exponential (possibly also including management/administrative costs and the difficulty of coordinating large numbers of people). 2 makes me think they just want the intersection between either these two curves, or the intersection of an additional "consumption per capita" (my guess would be that it's proportion to N, then add in coordination cost). 3 sounds like they just want something about improved worker productivity and technological reductions in coordination cost.
Note: I've literally never taken an economics course in my life.
"With malleus aforethought, mammals got an earful of their ancestor's jaw" - J. Burns, Biograffiti