Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all — Global Issues
Externality
In economics, an externality is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.[1] Implications[edit] External costs and benefits Voluntary exchange is considered mutually beneficial to both parties involved, because buyers or sellers would not trade if either thought it detrimental to themselves. However, a transaction can cause additional effects on third parties. A voluntary exchange may reduce societal welfare if external costs exist. On the other hand, a positive externality would increase the utility of third parties at no cost to them. There are a number of potential means of improving overall social utility when externalities are involved. Laissez-faire economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman sometimes refer to externalities as "neighborhood effects" or "spillovers", although externalities are not necessarily minor or localized. Examples[edit] Negative[edit] Barry Commoner commented on the costs of externalities:
International organizations
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as "an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident, institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes, and minus any subsidies, on products not included in the value of their outputs)."[2] GDP estimates are commonly used to measure the economic performance of a whole country or region, but can also measure the relative contribution of an industry sector. The more familiar use of GDP estimates is to calculate the growth of the economy from year to year (and recently from quarter to quarter). History[edit] The concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934.[4] In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare (see below under limitations and criticisms). The history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it.
World-systems theory
A world map of countries by trading status, late 20th century, using the world system differentiation into core countries (blue), semi-periphery countries (purple) and periphery countries (red). Based on the list in Dunn, Kawana, Brewer (2000). World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective),[1] a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change, emphasizes the world-system (and not nation states) as the primary (but not exclusive) unit of social analysis.[1][2] Background[edit] Immanuel Wallerstein has developed the best-known version of world-systems analysis, beginning in the 1970s.[4][5] Wallerstein traces the rise of the capitalist world-economy from the "long" sixteenth century (c. 1450-1640). Many other scholars have contributed significant work in this "knowledge movement".[2] Origins[edit] Influences and major thinkers[edit] World-systems theory was aiming to replace modernization theory. Dependency theory[edit]
Gini coefficient
Gini coefficient of national income distribution around the world. This is based on 1989 to 2009 data, estimated by the CIA. Some are pre-tax and transfer, others post-tax income. The Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio) (/dʒini/) is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation's residents. It was developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper "Variability and Mutability" (Italian: Variabilità e mutabilità).[1][2] The Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution (for example levels of income). There are some issues in interpreting a Gini coefficient. Definition[edit] Graphical representation of the Gini coefficient The graph shows that the Gini coefficient is equal to the area marked A divided by the sum of the areas marked A and B. that is, Gini = A / (A + B). Calculation[edit] This may be simplified to: where and , then , so that
World debt comparison: The global debt clock
Global governance
Global governance or world governance is a social movement toward political integration of transnational actors aimed at solving problems that affect more than one state or region when there is no power of enforcing compliance. The modern question of world governance exists in the context of globalization. In response to the acceleration of interdependence on a worldwide scale, both between human societies and between humankind and the biosphere, the term "world governance" may also be used to designate laws, rules, or regulations intended for a global scale. Definition[edit] In a simple and broad-based definition of world governance, the term is used to designate all regulations intended for organization and centralization of human societies on a global scale.[1] Traditionally, government has been associated with "governing," or with political authority, institutions, and, ultimately, control. Usage[edit] Context[edit] Need[edit] Crisis of purpose[edit] World government[edit] Issues[edit]
INFOGRAPHIC: Where the world’s poorest will live in 2015
This infographic from the OECD Development Assistance Committee projects which countries will be home to the world’s poorest people by 2015, and compares this to the picture in 2005. Part of their report Fragile states 2013: Resource flows and trends in a shifting world it reveals that by 2015, half of the world’s people living on less than USD 1.25 a day will be in fragile states. And while poverty has decreased globally, progress on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 to halve poverty is slower in fragile states than in other developing countries. While India will still have the second largest population living in extreme poverty, the reduction from 2005 is incredible. China is also projected to reduce poverty dramatically.
China, technology and the U.S. middle class
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech this week confirmed it: The pre-eminent political and economic challenge in the industrialized democracies is how to make capitalism work for the middle class. There is nothing mysterious about that. The most important fact about the United States in this century is that middle-class incomes are stagnating. The financial crisis has revealed an equally stark structural problem in much of Europe. Even in a relatively prosperous age — for all of today’s woes, we have left behind the dark, satanic mills and workhouses of the 19th century — this decline of the middle class is more than an economic issue. All of which is why understanding what is happening to the middle class is urgently important. But when I asked him this week what had gone wrong for the U.S. middle class, he gave a different answer: “The main problem is we’ve just had a decade of incredibly anemic employment growth. It was a winningly modest reply. “U.S.
