and Inequality Poverty Inequality rising despite promises of globalization Thought that globalization and liberalization would do good things for the world however there was a large increase in inequality within countries and among other countries. Poverty Reduction in China: Is High Growth Enough? Paper by Dollar and Kraay advocates growth as the primary objective of development Efficiency-emphasizing but equity-ignoring development lead to rise of inequality in many things and also slowed the reduction in poverty in China and raised the poverty in cities. Exploring poverty-growth-inequality important in China o High level of inequality poses threat to sustainability of growth as it undermines the social and political stability o Growth prospects and inequality-related domestic demand big influence on other economies o PGI profile determines global inequality and poverty scene; this profile can help other countries PGI Growth and inequality are positively correlated, implying further rises in income equality in China. Poverty and rising inequality can be alleviated o Establishing and developing rural capital markets o Fiscal spending and redistribution being made progressive than regressive o Promotion of trade and FDI in inland China Inevitable and long term solution is urbanization o Encourage rural residents to settle in inland China o Rural citizens treated equally with urban citizens in public education, families have chance for better future Debate about urbanization strategy o One group encourages the formation and development of megacities o Other prefers the growth of small and medium cities o Difference: a choice between a centralized system (Japan) or a decentralized one (Germany) Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World Climate change is the defining human development issue of our generation Poor people are the ones who deal with this issue the most o Increased exposure to drought, intense storms, floods and environmental stress disable the poor from a better lifestyle We live in an ecological interdependent human community
Rich countries cause the issues for the poor people and their countries Real choice facing political leaders and people today is between universal human values and participating in the widespread and systematic violation of human rights Avoiding dangerous climate change is recognition of three distinctive features o Combined force of inertia and cumulative outcomes of climate change o Urgency to address the matter o Global scale: everyone must address the problem together The world lacks a clear, credible and long-term multilateral framework that charts a course for avoiding dangerous climate change Beyond a threshold of 2 degrees celcius the risk of large-scale human development setbacks and irreversible ecological catastrophes will increase sharply droughts, floods and storms leave people feeling insecure but climate shocks also erode long-term human development Five key transmission mechanisms through which climate change could stall and reverse human development. They will interact with wider social, economic and ecological processes o Agricultural production and food security o Water stress and water insecurity o Rising sea levels and exposure to climate disasters o Ecosystems and biodiversity o Human health to Important set targets for mitigation and first step is putting a price on carbon emissions o Directly tax carbon emissions o Cap-and-trade (govt sets cap on carbon emissions and allows to trade within a set amount)
Inequality in Earnings at the Close of the Twentieth Century Sociologists have continued to focus on the question of how people are allocated to positions in the earnings distribution, rather than on the structure of those positions Review the broad changes in earnings inequality, and the animated debates about the causes and consequences of these changes Debate over the origins of the new trends covers a wide range of issues that can be roughly grouped into four categories o Changing demographics of the labor force o The impact of economic restructuring o Role of political context and institutions o Dynamics of globalization Income tax data suggest that earnings inequality had two peaks in this century o First occurred prior to World War I o Second is the eve of the great depression
1973-1996 story of this period is not that the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, but that virtually everyone lost ground and those at the bottom lost the most. Polarization in the earnings of black men and women grew in the 1980s decade. Key finding is that earnings inequality has been growing among virtually all groups. o Even among white men employed full-time, year-round, the group that has traditionally enjoyed the highest wages, most generous benefits, and greatest protection from cyclical downturns, the trends of wage stagnation and polarization has been marked.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations The annual labor of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labor, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations. Proportion must be regulated by two different circumstances: o Skill, dexterity, and judgment with which its labor is generally applied o By the proportion between the number of those who are employed in useful labor, and that of those who are not so employed. (second is more important) The different produces of their respective talents, by the general disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other mens talents he has occasion for. As it is the power of exchanging that gives occasion to the division of labor, so the extent, of this division must always be limited by the extent of that power, or in other words, by the extent of the market. What Price the Moral High Ground A persons tastes are her own business, and rationality requires merely that she act efficiently in pursuit of whatever preferences she happens to hold. (self-interest) o For every behavior that is consistent with this assumption, there seems to be another that contradicts it. o Our models of human behavior appear to mold the behavior of both the modelers themselves and those they teach. He will argue that wage differentials in other settings shed light on the strength of peoples concerns about others. Economic choices of many people are significantly guided by unselfish motives.