In many parts of the world poor water and sanitation are one of the biggest killers. The article below looks at the situation in the shanty towns of Dhaka in Bangladesh.
Where death by water is part of daily life Guardian (26/11/07)
Questions
1. |
What is the difference between economic growth and economic development. |
2. |
Assess the extent to which an increase in economic growth will help to deliver higher living standards. |
3. |
Discuss the effectiveness of foreign aid as a policy to improve the standard of water and sanitation. |
Rapidly rising food prices have led to instability in many countries and have fuelled inflation in less developed economies where food spending is a greater proportion of overall consumer spending. A number of factors have contributed to this rapid rise in prices, but one important contributory factor is the move towards growing crops that can be used as bio-fuels in the developing world and this shift in production is having a knock-on effect in world food markets.
Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe Guardian (8/11/07)
An agricultural crime against humanity Monbiot.com (6/11/07)
Global food crisis looms as climate change and fuel shortages bite Guardian (3/11/07)
Questions
1. |
Identify the main factors that have led to rising world food prices. |
2. |
Assess the extent to which the move towards bio-fuels has contributed to the rise in world food prices. |
3. |
Explain how the impact of rising food prices differs in the developed and developing world. |
4. |
Discuss policies that governments could adopt to ameliorate the impact of rising food prices on the level of economic growth. |
Globalisation has reduced the bargaining power of unskilled workers and pushed up inequality in many western countries, the OECD said, urging governments to improve their social safety nets.” With the gap between rich and poor widening once again, the media have been considering the impact of widening income and wealth distribution. The articles below look at this widening gap and also at the ways in which the rich are using their money.
Gap between rich and poor widens Guardian (20/6/07)
For the super-rich it’s all give and take – at record levels Guardian (20/6/07)
Looking after the super-rich BBC News Online (Evan Davis blog) (9/8/07)
Questions
1. |
Define what is meant by the terms (i) Lorenz curve and (ii) Gini coefficient. |
2. |
Using illustrations as appropriate, show how the Lorenz curve and the value of the Gini coefficient have changed in the past decade. |
3. |
Assess the likely impact on the major macroeconomic targets of growing income inequality. |
4. |
Discuss policies that the government could put in place to try to reduce the level of income inequality. |
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has built up the pace of turning Venezuela into a socialist state with sweeping reforms, including extensive nationalisation. This has always been a controversial policy (not least with the private companies which will be taken into state ownership) and threatens to create further social tension in Venezuela.
Nationalisation sweeps Venezuela BBC News Online (15/5/07)
Questions |
1. |
What are the economic implications of the creation of a ‘socialist state’? |
2. |
Many of the poorest in Venezuela do not have full access to key services such as telecoms. Assess the extent to which nationalisation will help extend the reach of these services to all groups in society. |
3. |
Discuss the arguments for and against bringing key industries into state ownership. |
The World Bank and the IMF are no strangers to criticism. Both organisations have pursued controversial policies in their attempts to improve the lot of people in developing countries. Recent events at the World Bank have heightened criticism of the organisation and in the first article below Naomi Klein (author of No Logo – nologo.org) argues that the behaviour of Paul Wolfowitz is symptomatic of a wider hypocrisy in the behaviour of the World Bank around the world. In the second article George Monbiot writes a criticism of the behaviour of the IMF and its approach.
Questions
1. |
Use the web sites of the IMF and the World Bank to write a summary of their roles. |
2. |
Assess the validity of the arguments of (a) George Monbiot with respect to the IMF and (b) Naomi Klein with respect to the World Bank. |
3. |
Discuss possible changes in World Bank policies that would help address Naomi Klein’s criticisms. |