Group items tagged

1.The article, which reports an increase in poverty levels in Italy, discusses about both relative and absolute poverty. Relative poverty places the concept of poverty in a social context, people are defined poor when compared to those around them but still have money to survive, relative poverty is based on the cultural environment of the person. Absolute poverty, on the other hand, is when people don't have enough money to meet a basic threshold that is need by everyone to survive, and so cannot afford food, clothing, a house, heating etc. which is what is needed for survival.  2.The biggest causes of poverty in Italy are: unemployment and health/disability. According to the article Italy has been facing its greatest post-war recession, war can also be a huge cause of poverty in countries. Also, the article talks about how in the southern part of Italy people are poorer, when compared to the north, that is also because in Italy southern regions are less economically developed compared to north regions.  3.The article discusses about some consequences of poverty in Italy, by saying that poverty has risen unemployment and has declined purchasing power which have been caused by an increase in taxes which aimed at strengthening the public's finances. The article then discusses about more of personal consequences for Italians which have been considered poor, with poverty levels rising those Italians can no longer afford heating for their homes, holidays away from Italy and purchasing/eating meat. 

1. The article talks about both relative and absolute poverty. Depending on the conditions of the households, the level of poverty changes (mix of them in Italy).   2. Some of the possible causes of poverty are because there is high unemployment and higher lack of skills in the southern regions of Italy which are less developed and account for high amounts of poverty in the country. Another cause is that some families have many children, meaning there is less disposable income (they cannot work) and there are higher costs to pay for them. This is also true when the heads of the families are unemployed (unemployment benefits are not enough to support a family) or factory workers (below minimum wage, low wages, lots of hours, low skilled jobs, structural unemployment, firing because of recession). Another issue is when there are two or more elderly people (do not work, or retirement funds are lower with recession, retirement age has increased therefore with aging less productive and lower wages, less disposable income because they have to be sustained). The recession is the main cause of the unemployment and lack of disposable income, therefore purchasing power and consumption have decreased, especially because of a high increase in taxes.   3. The consequences are that people are going below the poverty line and cannot afford necessities (the amount of people in absolute poverty continues to increase, as well as the one in relative poverty). This means that people cannot afford certain key necessities; some mentioned in the article were heating, holidays and meat. 

This article stresses the continue increase of the prices of goods and services in Singapore, causing the inflation in the country to keep growing further. Moreover, this article talks about that the consumer price index (CPI) has risen in August of this year 2% more in comparison with the last year, they also had calculated the CPI in July of this year, which was 1.9% meaning that the inflation kept increasing constantly. This article also strains that one of the main causes for the increase in inflation in Singapore is because of the government measures to slow the inflow of the cheap foreign workers into the city-state. If the inflation in Singapore continues to increase, in the long run this will cause the country's currency to have a value of almost nothing. The consequence of this will be that the people living in this country won't have enough money to live a normal life. Therefore, they will have to have an aid from the government.

Singapore has been dealing with high inflation, which has risen significantly. This is especially in relation to core inflation, that excludes house and car costs, which is higher than had been predicted. Their CPI has increased as well. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has tightened the monetary policy in response to decrease the rate of inflation.  The inflation has partially been caused by restrictive government policies, which attempted to reduce the amount of low-wage foreign workers. These actions were taken due to locals' requests as there is a limited amount of jobs in this small state. The effect was that firms had to increase prices because of increased wages (cost of production) once the cheaper workers were no longer available. Consequently inflation increased more quickly, as did the CPI. To solve the issue, governments are encouraging firms to hire Singaporean employees.   

This article is talking about absolute poverty in Africa despite the economic growth in the past 10 years. Even though there is economic growth there is huge inequality between rich and poor. A phew rich people are increasing the growth of the African economy, thus leaving a larger gap between rich and poor. In fact a survey done in this article shows that the poorer people are not even able to buy necessary goods, such as education, health care, food and water. This is a clear article of absolute poverty due to a significant economic growth which caused disparity amongst social classes. The causes of poverty in fact in this article is the economic growth which lead to the disparity of income between social classes. There is an unequal rate of employment, many people are unemployed and do not even earn money. Instead phew others which control the whole economy are very rich and educated. Poor people in Africa are not able to find jobs, they do not posses physical capital and are not able to innovate them selves and find jobs because of a lack of education and health care.

In August, China experienced their highest trade surplus of the year. With an increased interest in global nations, it is a teller of China's currently well-controlled inflation rate. If the rate of goods remains consistent, the greater interest of importers could dig China out of the domestic debt hole they're currently in. With a healthily increasing inflation rate, like anywhere, China is experiencing higher wages, and higher domestic consumer prices. All in all though, the positive direction the net exports are moving in gives us a sense of the ideal, well-managed, increasing inflation rate in China.

This article mainly discusses about the government in India having a hike in DA by 10%, which allows the lakh employees and pensioners have a benefit. A hike in dearness allowance to 90% from existing 80%, this benefits around 50 lakh central employees and 30 lakh pensioners. The government caused this in order to give benefits to employees and pensioners. Which will show a effect of proportion of basic pay, and it will work out to be over 90% after factoring in the revised all India Consumer Price Index for the Industrial Workers. The impact of it will be that DA was hiked to 80% from 72%. The government uses Consumer Price Index for industrial workers to arrive at a number for the purpose of any DA hike. The retail inflation for the industrial workers (July 2012~ June 2013) needs to take a finial decision.

This article is concerned about how Japan had been mired in a malaise brought on by falling prices and a strong yen for years, resulting in deflation in the economy. The economy's prospects have brightened significantly since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced fresh spending by the government and encouraged the central bank to unleash a tidal wave of asset purchases, an approach to decrease deflation. In order to defeat deflation, Japan has submerged into increasing the country's tax consumption and are contemplating whether or not to increase the tax consumption to 10% by 2015.

The article is talking about the situation in japan. The article talk about the deflation that japan has been suffering for the past years, but is saying how japan adapt to it and benefit from it. At the end of the article talks about a paradox that is happening in Japan called the Abe's Paradox that is when a country is both suffering and benefiting form deflation so they don't now to keep it and increase the countries debt or remove it.  The cause of the inflation in japan has been based on how japan has not make any polices to increase central bank polices and that the resulted in deflation. The effect has been both positive and negative, is that the nation debt has approach the 250 percent of gross domestic product. The positive effect is that how deflation helped the price levels to be stable and act like tax cut for households, and put some sobriety for cost. Also how the economic players of japan have adapted to deflationary environment and they now how to benefit from it.

1) Distinguish whether or not the article is talking about absolute or relative poverty. 2) According to the article what are some possible causes of poverty. 3) According to the article what seem to be some of the consequences of poverty. 1) In this article, the Untied States are described as having a large amount of relative poverty. 2) The cause of the poverty is stated to be the lack of attention to issues by the Government and media involving poverty. The effects of this may be a poorly adjusted minimum wage to inflation, the lack of support for those in relative poverty and the removal of unemployment benefits. 3) It is implicated in the article that there is a poor level of attention to this issue, and that the level of equality is low. The reason to this may be the higher efficiency in an economy at a low equality.

With the mentioning of New Jersey being one of the richest states in the richest country, poverty here is assumed to be relative. While these people may be in unfortunate circumstances, they are still capable of survival due to their surroundings. A major cause may be a result of the recession, assuming the under water housing market. The most blatant consequence is an unequal distribution of wealth. Another is a significant decrease in health care. 

1) Distinguish whether or not the article is talking about absolute or relative poverty. The article talks about both relative and absolute poverty. It mentions that there are people living in extreme poverty, thus, unable to provide themselves with basic necessities, as well as people that are relatively poor in comparison to households with greater incomes. 2) According to the article what are some possible causes of poverty. The cause of poverty discussed in the article is the inequality and limited opportunities for the poorest people in each country, which can increase instability, and a rise in conflicts. Furthermore, another cause is the fact that prosperity is reserved for a restricted group. 3) According to the article what seem to be some of the consequences of poverty. The overall consequence is that greater inequality in income distribution will occur if the gap between the rich and the poor grows even further. This would eventually lead to a struggling economic class as well as economic instability.

1) Distinguish whether or not the article is talking about absolute or relative poverty. Absolute Poverty (people cannot afford basic necessities in India)  2) According to the article what are some possible causes of poverty. The lack of good education and work training do not allow workers to be very productive. In addition, the lack of capital such as modern energy resources contribute to poverty just as the extremely low income rates do.  3) According to the article what seem to be some of the consequences of poverty. Poverty appears to affect global sustainment, it does not offer future employment perspectives to the youth and impedes economic growth, given that the poor do not contribute to increase in national output due to lack of education and working skills.

In this article the British prime minister David Cameron promised the leaders of China that he would advocate a multibillion dollar free trade deal. The British prime minister states that China is the second best economy after the USA and so he decided to advocate this free trade deal because he believes that in the long run it will benefit his nation. Opposing his thought though is the European nation, who stated that advocating such deal was a premature move. After this the discussion of human rights drops in, on how EU believes that by advocating such deal there will also be negative consequences on the citizens of Britain.

Using the Google News search tool please find an article that relates to one or more of the above concepts that you have just listed. Make sure that you tag it "Trade" on Diigo and share to the class. In the description box please do the following: 1) Briefly summarize the article (3-4 sentences) 2) Is your article arguing for or against free trade? Explain 3) Explain how different stakeholders might be affected (foreign/domestic producers, consumers, gov't)

Using the Google News search tool please find an article that relates to one or more of the above concepts that you have just listed. Make sure that you tag it "Trade" on Diigo and share to the class. In the description box please do the following: 1) Briefly summarize the article (3-4 sentences) 2) Is your article arguing for or against free trade? Explain 3) Explain how different stakeholders might be affected (foreign/domestic producers, consumers, gov't)

China is continuing to protect its rare earth minerals. It's important to note that China holds nearly 97% of all rare earth's in the world. These rare minerals are needed for many manufacturing ventures. China will increase its regulation on rare earth production to prevent any further externalities.  The article outlines a plan against free trade. Yet, stirs arguments about China's possible attempt to monopolize the industry. The United States, for instance, argues that China's export tariffs are too high, and that they inhibit America's domestic production of needed goods. China argues back that it's an environmental issue.  Countries who rely on technological progress will be hurt by this protection. The minerals are needed for cell phones, wind turbines, missiles, and many other high-tech products. If protection continues, prices will rise, thus lowering the advancement in that sector for many economies around the world. In China, however, less exports mean more jobs domestically. Also more supply domestically. And lastly, the environmental concern of China can further improve the standard of living for citizens whilst cutting down the pollution levels. 

The article mainly focuses on the canadian economy affected by inflation. Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to 1.1 percent in august. rent price went up 1.7 over one year, natural gas gained 9.5 %. Food price went up 1 %. the living standards went up, therefore living costs increased parallelly.

1. Britain wants to open up a free trade agreement with China; this would be a multi-billion dollar agreement. The EU is highly opposing this, and especially believes that this decision would have to be discussed for a lot longer. Britain's future in the EU is unknown, as they may no longer be welcome due to decisions such as these, which also involve nuclear weapon production and exchange.  2. The article is arguing against free trade, because it seems like the decision would solely benefit the UK and China, whereas other countries will be left out and may even be in danger. Also, because there are so many against it, it would seem best to wait.  3. Domestically, Britain would be extremely benefitted, as the would get a very high profit. Their consumers would have more choices at lower prices. Also their firms will be able to expand their markets, though may face new competition. The government will also gain a very high profit.  Foreignly, it will have many problems with the rest of the EU and other countries, so it may seem unadvisable, especially if it gets cut off from the union. Also, this will mean less exportation therefore loss of money. 

1. The article addresses tariffs in relation to the so called 'Infant Industries'. Even though international free trade  helps poorer countries to get out of poverty, tariffs for the protection of an infant industry represent an exception. In fact, they are part of Protectionism which clearly counter attacks international imports, and they aim at giving a chance to developing domestic industries to become stable and efficient so that they can enter in global competition. But even in such case, economists have proved that they do more harm than good.  2. The article is more prone to free international trade, as it criticizes the application of tariffs even in relation to infant industries, as they always provide more disadvantages than benefits. 3. Of course, Infant industries would be protected with the application of tariffs, although these may not be as efficient all the times. However, this means higher costs for government, which weighs on consumers to get tax revenue to support domestic developing industries.

the currency of Japan is deacresing. this has a negative effect on the whole japanese economy. the rate of inflation has never been so high in 5 years. cost of fuel and electricity rises.

Ettore, please add some more thoughts. I would you like you to have at least 3-4 sentences summarizing the article and then a few more relating it to the cause/effect/impact of inflation.

1) Distinguish whether or not the article is talking about absolute or relative poverty. The article is talking about absolute poverty. 2) According to the article what are some possible causes of poverty. - a lot of people are at low-wage jobs - More households are headed by single parents, which makes it  difficult to earn a living income from the jobs that are typically available. - disappearance of cash assistance for low-income mothers and children - race and gender mean higher poverty among minorities and families headed by single mothers. 3) According to the article what seem to be some of the consequences of poverty. - 6 million people have no income other than food stamps (provide an income at a third of the poverty line) - distrustful of encrusted power in all institutions - tending towards libertarianism, ripe for a new politics of honesty