Chile: Gapminder

I compared Chile’s Life expectancy at birth with GDP and I realized that from1800 to 1900, there was a great increase in GDP but life expectancy hardly changed at all. This shows the economic growth but lack of economic development in Chile during that period of time. Life expectancy did not start to increase until around 1925 and the graph became steeper and steeper from there but during the war from around 1939, Chile’s GDP had a significant decrease. It returned to its former rate afterwards and continued to climb higher on the life expectancy scale. Otherwise, there Gapminder does not seem to show any ridiculous changes over the years; Chile’s economical growth is very gradual and consistent.

Chile’s Measures to Boost Economic Growth

According to Reuters.com, Chile has taken measures to boost their economic growth, to “modernize” their capital markets, allow easier use of Chilean peso in international financial transactions and to simplify rules governing investments in Chile by nonresidents . Last year, Chile’s economy only grew slightly more than four percent which is their “worst performance in three years”. Since 2006, Chile’s economic growth has slowed to about 6 percent until this year’s estimated four percent. To stimulate growth, the government gave tax breaks to large sized companies which buy fixed assets and  long-term credit lines for medium and small sized companies. Some additional changes have also been made to laws that govern “trade in financial derivatives”.

Fixed Assets: assets and property which cannot easily be converted into cash.

Financial Derivatives: financial contracts whose values are derived from something else.

HDI of Chile

Economic Growth- When there is an increase in the general economy including its capital and consumer goods.

Economic Development- When there is an increase in merit goods or standard of living for the people of the nation.

Sustainable Development- Economic development while sustaining the environment.

HDI- Human Development Index- This shows the three perspectives of human development including a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.

Chile ranks 40 in HDI and its economy has been developing significantly at 0.7%. The HDI is a valid measure of a country’s economy since it depicts the economy through those three aspects. Though it is a useful method of interpreting economic growth and development, this measure cannot provide us with useful information based on other factors such as literacy rate and population below poverty line. Specifically, Chile has a GDP per capita of $14900 and shows significant economic growth. Compared to Bahrain, Chile’s HDI is doing very well since though Chile’s GDP is not very high, its HDI measure is the same.

Opportunity Cost Video

1. To measure the cost of the time and energy forgone by choosing this specific activity, economists use a trick by asking people how much one would have to pay them in order for them to not do the activity.
2. The benefit can also be defined as the utility
3. The utility of something differs from person to person and differs in terms of circumstances, current time, mood and income.
4. Benefit is the highest price one is willing to pay for it/reservation cost.
5. As an economist, one has to translate costs such as time and energy into monetary values.

Japan Recruiting Foreign Nurses

Regarding the issue with about the Japanese government loosening up their immigration policies to allow more foreign nurses into the country, I personally do not see much of a problem with making up for the defecit of Japanese nurses. As long as these foreign nurses can prove through both taking the test and their performance that they are capable caretakers, these nurses are the most efficient way for the country to solve this problem. Not only are the costs cheaper, they get the get the work done. Most Japanese do not want this job in the first place due to the low pay and skilled Japanese nurses will most likely still advance due to their convenient and common background. I also believe this would be a good opportunity for foregin nurses as well since the pay is higher. In contrast, it may be true that it would be harder for them to advance but willing nurses will ultimately find this arrangement more beneficial than harmful.

The Worldly Philosophers Assignment

1. How is scarcity and survival intertwined?

One needs food and water in order to survive but these resources, like all resources, are scarce; therefore choices must be made in order to allocate these resources in a way to satisfy the most needs and wants. Ironically, though every person is in competition with each other for these scarce resources, society cooperates in order to efficiently attain these resources.

2. What are advantages and disadvantages of the two ways societies have been organized in the past?

By organizing society around tradition, the continuous system protects society from “human unpredictability” and ensures results. Though this may create a sense of security, people lose their choice to choose their desired paths. The other way of organizing is by authoritarian rule or command. This way is very efficient though the entire economy lies in the hands of the supreme authority completely causing the economy to be dependent on the one ruler.

3. Why was there no need for economists throughout most of history?

In the past, tradition and command economies did not require economists to explain the results of choices since everything was predictable and controllable and there were less choices available. Now, the market economy is much more complex and unpredictable for it is lead by the personal gains of every individual. Because outcomes of this organization were no longer clear, economists became significant in order to explain the outcomes of these choices.

4. Why do you think the economic  revolution was so disturbing?

It was disturbing because the new system forced society to be vulnerable in terms of constant change and unpredictability. Because people naturally fear this unpredictibility, people became insecure. Tradition and command economies both have a pattern or a sense of stability which the market economy does not have as much. Also, the revolution, which eliminated the sense of security, would have forced people to change in many other areas of living as well due to the fact that individuals are suddenly given a lot of choice.

Why did you join Economics?

I signed up for IB Economics because I plan to pursue a career in marketing. Though CA does not offer a business class, I strongly feel that IB Economics HL is the class I should take in order to succeed in college and beyond. Though I am unclear about my current skill, I plan to learn as much as possible from this class which I know I can utilize in my later life.