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John B

William Easterly: Singing About Fighting Poverty, Slightly Off-Key - WSJ - WSJ - 1 views

online.wsj.com/...ty-slightly-off-key-1412292935

Supply-side

shared by John B on 03 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • The progress against poverty in China is obvious, but whether China's government deserves to be held up as a development model is not so clear. For instance, who gets to decide whether mainland Chinese citizens should be content with improved standards of living and so few protections against the frequent violations of their rights by their own government?
  • Extreme poverty in China has been reduced over the past few decades precisely because Beijing permitted the freedoms of a market economy to infiltrate a communism-blighted society. If the regime's repression now worsens, count on the end of the country's high growth rates.
  • Yet freedom is arguably central: first, as an end that people want for themselves, and, second, as the most well-proven path to escaping poverty. Consider among others North America, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Chile, where the answer to poverty was economic and political freedom.
  • John B on 03 Oct 14
     
    In this article, the author discuss the affects of the actions of the government in China. It is a modern topic today due to the demonstrations being held in Hong Kong. The authors mentions that the statement about entering a democracy, and then pulling back on the decision means that they were on the right track to get the market more free from the government, hence less poverty, but now he thinks it is gonna worsen the economical conditions. A free market has saved many economies, why should China still not give in for the human rights and improve their economy?
Haydn W

South Africa at 20: Storms behind the rainbow - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 1 views

www.aljazeera.com/...-behi-2014320155339545752.html

Aggregate Supply South Africa GDP Mandela

shared by Haydn W on 30 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • April 27 marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa's first democratic elections.
  • Many things have improved in South Africa since 1994, to be sure. State racism has ended, and the country now boasts what some have described as the most progressive constitution in the world. People have rights, and they know that there are institutions designed to protect and uphold those rights. Still, everyday life for most South Africans remains a struggle - a struggle that is infinitely compounded by the sense of disappointment that accompanies it, given the gap between the expectations of liberation and the state of abjection that the majority continues to inhabit.
  • South Africa's unemployment rate in 1994 was 13 percent - so bad that most were convinced it could only get better. Yet today it is double that, at about 25 percent.
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  • And that's according to official statistics; a more reasonable figure, according to most analysts, is probably closer to 37 percent. The situation is particularly bad for young people. The Economist recently reported that "half of South Africans under 24 looking for work have none. Of those who have jobs, a third earn less than $2 a day."
  • South Africa also boasts a reputation for being one of the most unequal countries in the world. Not only has aggregate income inequality worsened since the end of apartheid, income inequality between racial groups has worsened as well.
  • According to the 2011 census, black households earn only 16 percent of that which white households earn. About 62 percent of all black people live below the poverty line, while in the rural areas of the former homelands this figure rises to a shocking 79 percent.
  • The ANC's Black Economic Empowerment programme has succeeded in minting new black millionaires (South Africa has 7,800 of them now), but can't seem to manage the much more basic goal of eliminating poverty.
  • during the negotiated transition of the 1980s and early 1990s. The apartheid National Party was determined that the transition would not undermine key corporate interests in South Africa, specifically finance and mining. They were willing to bargain away political power so long as they could retain control over the economy. And so they did.
  • The ANC was forced to retreat from its position on nationalisation and an IMF deal signed just before the transition deregulated the financial sector and clamped down on wage increases.
  • Still, when the ANC assumed power in 1994 it implemented a progressive policy initiative known as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP was designed to promote equitable development and poverty reduction
  • Despite its successes, this policy framework was abandoned a mere two years later. Mbeki and then Finance Minister Trevor Manuel held clandestine discussions with World Bank advisors toward drafting a new economic policy known as GEAR (Growth, Employment, and Redistribution, even though it accomplished precious little of the latter).
  • Given these contradictions, it's no wonder that South Africa is ablaze with discontent, earning it the title of "protest capital of the world".
  • Early this year some 3,000 protests occurred over a 90-day period, involving more than a million people. South Africans are taking to the streets, as they give up on electoral politics. This is particularly true for the young: Nearly 75 percent of voters aged 20-29 did not participate in the 2011 local elections.
  • The government's response has been a mix of police repression - including the recent massacre of 44 striking miners at Marikana - and the continued rollout of welfare grants, which now provide a vital lifeline to some 15 million people.
  • So far the protests have been focused on issues like access to housing, water, electricity, and other basic services, but it won't be long before they coalesce into something much more powerful
  • as they did during the last decade of apartheid. There are already signs that this is beginning to happen. The Economic Freedom Fighters, recently founded by Julius Malema, the unsavory former leader of the ANC Youth League, is successfully mobilising discontented youth and making a strong push to nationalise the mines and the banks.
  • It seems that the ANC's legitimacy is beginning to unravel and consent among the governed has begun to thin. It is still too early to tell, but the death of Mandela may further widen this crack in the edifice of the ruling regime, as the ANC scrambles to shore up its symbolic connection to the liberation struggle.
  • In short, the situation in South Africa over the past 20 years opens up interesting questions about the meaning of democracy. What is democracy if it doesn't allow people to determine their own economic destiny or benefit from the vast wealth of the commons? What is freedom if it serves only the capital interests of the country's elite? The revolution that brought us the end of apartheid has accomplished a great deal, to be sure, but it has not yet reached its goal. Liberation is not yet at hand.
  • Haydn W on 30 Mar 14
     
    From Al Jazeera I chose this article about the poor state of the economy in South Africa, 20 years after Nelson Mandela and the ANC came to power, ending the system of political, social and economic segregation, Apartheid. Despite reforms in the 90's the majority of wealth and power is still held by rich whites. With around 30% unemployment rate and young people struggling to find work many feel only anger and resentment to the current ANC government led by Jacob Zuma. Economically speaking South Africa's imports are up and exports down, reducing GDP as AS is shifted left. This is especially evident in industries like mining and banking which many are now calling for to be nationalised. 20 years on from Nelson Mandela's historic victory in the 1994 general election, South Africa, despite being free of the shackles of segregation is not in the boom many predict. The ANC must be careful in there actions, should they, following the death of Madiba lose contact with his legacy and what he stood for.
Marenne M

Ebola Brings West Africa Economic Development to Screeching Halt - 0 views

www.voanews.com/...2597874.html

economic development

shared by Marenne M on 10 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • United Nations Development Program finds the Ebola epidemic is dramatically setting back prospects for economic development in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
  • impact of Ebola has caused a breakdown in trust between these governments and their people.
  • “For instance, Liberia is going to record its first negative growth trend in 2014, which we estimate to be something as high as minus 1.8 percent negative growth, which is very serious,"
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  • fragility of the countries' health systems, a lack of health care workers, and cultural practices that often accelerate the spread of Ebola.
  • Ebola crisis in West Africa has resulted in job losses, rising food prices, and agricultural disruption.
  • harp drops in the use of health and education services are likely to increase poverty, child and maternal mortality, and facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria, particularly for the rural poor.
  • Marenne M on 10 Feb 15
     
    This article describes the impact of the Ebola virus on the economic development in Western Africa. The lack in health infrastructure has not only lead to negative economic growth, however it has also led to the decreased use of education and healthcare services, increased job losses, rising food prices, agricultural disruption, increased poverty, increased child and maternal mortality, and increased the spread of HIV/AIDS. The initially poor infrastructure in Western Africa has led to negative development.
Haydn W

Structural Adjustment Policies and Africa - A Reply to Shantayanan Devarajan - 0 views

thinkafricapress.com/...ca-reply-shantanayan-devarajan

Market Failure Intervention Negative Externalities Externalities of Production Africa Government Intervention

shared by Haydn W on 26 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Haydn W on 26 Nov 13
     
    This article explains how the utilisation of Structural Adjustment Policies in developing African countries is failing to bring about the growth they are claimed to achieve. SAP's were designed to achieve economic diversification and reduce poverty among other things but the author of this article argues that they have not achieved any of these any of these aims. SAP's are an example of government intervention in a market to prevent negative externalities.
Amanda Anna G

Kansas's mid-term elections are a referendum on supply-side economics - The Washington ... - 1 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...endum-on-supply-side-economics

supply-side

shared by Amanda Anna G on 02 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Kansas’s mid-term elections are a referendum on supply-side economics
  • Brownback has signed major tax breaks into law, reduced state spending and arguably made it harder for people in poverty to receive welfare.
  • "I don't consider this an experiment," he told The Post recently. "This is a long-term strategy to make us more competitive."
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  • Voters are upset. Eliminating taxes doesn't guarantee victory at the polls -- not even in a red state like Kansas.
  • Amanda Anna G on 02 Oct 14
     
    This article deals with Kansas economy. Gov. Sam Brownback has increased taxes for the lowest- income families while the high- income families have a reduction in their taxes. He believes that it is a long- term strategy to make Kansas more competitive. 
Haydn W

Fossil fuel subsidies 'killing UK's low-carbon future' | Environment | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...il-fuel-subsidies-green-energy

The Guardian Fossil Fuels G20 UK Subsidy Environment

shared by Haydn W on 07 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Fossil fuel subsidies 'killing UK's low-carbon future'
  • despite commitments to cut carbon emissions and reduce "perverse" fossil fuel subsidies.
  • Britain is "shooting itself in the foot" by subsidising its coal, oil and gas industries by $4.2bn (£2.6bn) a year even as government reviews the "green levies" on energy bills which support energy efficiency and renewable power, according to a report published on Thursday.
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  • The figures from the Overseas Development Institute suggest that Britain is now the world's fifth largest subsidiser of fossil fuels
  • For every $1 spent to support renewable energy, another $6 were spent on fossil fuel subsidies
  • In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, Britain gave tax breaks of £280m to oil and gas producers and reduced VAT on fossil fuels by several billion pounds
  • Rich countries have committed to phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies but the ODI figures, drawn from the International energy agency, OECD and other sources, suggest global subsidies to fossil fuel producers totalled $523bn a year in 2011 – dwarfing subsidies to renewable energies.
  • £2.6bn yearly incentive favours investment in carbon at the expense of green energy, says thinktank
  • In effect, each of the 11.6bn tonnes of carbon emitted from the top 11 developed countries comes with an average subsidy of $7 a tonne – around $112 for every adult
  • The figures have been released as ministers prepare to go to Poland for the deadlocked UN climate talks and as uncertainty surrounds the future of government-mandated levies on energy bills that support fuel poverty schemes and renewable energy.
  • G20 governments accepted in 2009 that fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, reduce energy security, and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change.
  • The report said: "Investors are being sent the wrong signals on two fronts as carbon prices decline and fossil fuel subsidies increase."
  • The report argues that fossil fuel subsidies also fail in one of their core stated objectives, which is to to benefit the poorest.
  • Haydn W on 07 Nov 13
     
    This article describes how the UK government is heavily subsidising fossil fuel producers instead of prioritising and investing money in renewable sources of energy. Although it is essential to keep crude oil and fossil fuel prices low, as they are essential to many businesses, consumers and indeed the country itself, the G20, of which the UK is part of, has made a commitment to phasing out fossil fuels in favour of greener and more sustainable energy sources. 
Daniel B

Fuel subsidies in Indonesia Unpriming the pump - 0 views

www.economist.com/...-lousy-politics-unpriming-pump

subsidy taxes government poverty petrol

shared by Daniel B on 10 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Daniel B on 10 Nov 13
     
    this article shows use of instruments that are in the hands of government. government in Indonesia imposed excise on petrol which is very common example of good with inelastic price elasticity of demand. The possible reason is that petrol is essential good. moreover, they want to use money gained from higher excise to give subsidies for the poorer households.
Haydn W

Will ′Modinomics′ help boost India′s development? | Asia | DW.DE | 12.01.2015 - 1 views

www.dw.de/...a-18185326

Economic Development India DW

shared by Haydn W on 10 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Will 'Modinomics' help boost India's development?
  • In a bid to transform India's economy, PM Narendra Modi has pledged unlimited reforms at a summit in Gujarat.
  • Indian PM Narendra Modi pledged to slash red tape and banish India's reputation as a hard place to do business. Modi spoke of his plans to lift hundreds of millions of Indians out of poverty, including the opening of more than 100 million bank accounts
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  • More than six months into Modi's rule, India's economic growth remains sluggish, with GDP expanding at an average of 5.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2014.
  • Kerry told the summit the United States looks forward to stronger trade and diplomatic ties with India. Kerry's visit to the South Asian nation, his second in six months, comes just a few weeks before US President Barack Obama is due in New Delhi for talks.
  • Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific Chief Economist at the analytics firm IHS, says that while replicating the Gujarat model across a large and politically disparate country such as India will be difficult, PM Modi's management style is likely to accelerate economic development in significant parts of India, particularly in states where his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds state government.
  • Haydn W on 10 Feb 15
     
    This interview details the style of policy making to promote growth initated by Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister. Economic growth and development is arguably the most important area of policy in India and will be a huge focal point of any international discussions centered around the region.
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