...Special Topic 2 The Economics of Social Security Critical Analysis Questions 1,3,4,5,6 Social Security is not based on the same principles as private insurance. Private insurance and pension programs invest the current payments of customers in buildings, farms, or other real assets. These real assets generate income that allows the insurance company to fulfill its future obligations to its customers. Social Security taxes current workers and uses the revenues to finance benefits for existing retirees. Social Security has been a good deal for present and past retirees, however, it is not a good deal for today’s middle aged and younger workers. Those who retired in the 196’s and 1970’s received real benefits of three or four times the amount that they paid into the system, which is way better than if they had invested the funds privately. Future retirees can expect to earn a real rate of return of about 2 percent more on their Social Security tax dollars, which is way less than what they would earn from personal investments. I believe today, we should be permitted to invest our Social Security tax dollars. Because of the shorter life expectancy of blacks, the Social Security system adversely affects their economic welfare. Compared with Whites and Hispanics, blacks are far more likely to pay a lifetime of payroll taxes and then die without receiving much in the way of benefits. On the other hand, Social Security is favorable to Hispanics because of their above average...
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...Discussion Questions Individual Why is economics considered a social science? What role does economics play in your personal and professional lives? According to Colander (2010), economics is the study of how people coordinate their wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political realities of the society. There are three central problems in economics; what and how much to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. As a society of human beings, people make decisions based on cost and benefits (Colander, 2010). Because it analyzes how and what people do in certain circumstance typically involving money and goods, economics is considered a social science. In my personal and professional life, I am constantly making economic decisions when it comes to choosing between social parties with friends or work. Some of my friends are still in school and do not work. I work full time and go to school, so I cannot always afford to stay out as late as others. My choice is not so much about spending money, but based more on my time management and the need of getting sleep for work the next morning versus staying out late and partying with friends. What is the difference between real and nominal GDP? Does GDP accurately reflect the nation’s welfare? Why or why not? How can a country’s GDP be manipulated? In your opinion, is the U.S. GDP being manipulated? Explain your answer. GDP stands for gross domestic product, and “is a measure of the total...
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...Name – Olagunju Tahir Matric No. – 139022111 Course Title – Theory of Risk and Insurance Topic - Social and Economic benefits of Insurance. Insurance occupies a critical position in any developing economy yet insurance penetration remains abysmally low in Nigeria. Insurance penetration is measured by Total Premium to Gross Domestic Product. Nigeria is ranked 85th in terms of global Insurance Density Premium Per Capita (IDPPC) while South Africa occupies 32nd position-Sigma Publication 2011. The latter is number 1 in Africa with IDPPC of $1,037 while that of Nigeria is $10. Prior to rebasing of the GDP, insurance contribution was N 300billion or just a little less than 1% of Nigerian GDP. Insurance contributes 15% (approx) to South Africa GDP whilst the average for Africa is 3%. The rebasing of Nigeria GDP which came on stream on Sunday 6th April 2014, has further depressed Nigeria IDPPC to 0.56% of GDP. With the attendant hardship associated with economic downtown and systemic disappearance in public corporate and solidarity funding for social and economic disasters, businesses and households have become increasingly vulnerable to risks of losses caused by fire, industrial accidents, sudden death of critical staff or family breadwinner, motor accidents, flash floods and emerging risks such as aircraft crashes, terrorism and kidnapping. The last two are not covered by conventional insurance but are special risks the market accommodates under special arrangement on request...
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...Global Social and Ethical Responsibilities Expanding to a global organization will present some ethical challenges to any organization. Every country has their own set of ethics, values, and moral standards. Most of these standards, ethics and values are set because of the economic status, religion and or the legal system of the country. In most instances the ethical and social responsibility can be extended to the company’s belief system of the country. When a company is venturing out, it is important that the company understand the other companies’ beliefs. The company must understand what is considered showing respect, what is an insult and what is different from day to day life in their country. It is necessary for a business to ensure that they know all the desires of the stockholders and attempt to meet most of those expectations in order for a business to be successful. When a domestic-only organization expands into the global arena it is a responsibility of the company to provide for quality research and training. The research will guide the training. The company staff and the different teams must be aware of the many different legal requirements of the host country as well as the strings of attachment still maintained here in the continental United States. Different protocols are extremely important, for example business takes place in some countries only after social affairs and meetings are done. Taking care of business over a meal or show is very...
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...Joseph Mulangaliro 02/23/15 Writing and Other Cultures Effect of Social Economic Status Social economic status is often broken down into three categories of class (high SES, middle SES, and low SES) to represent the income an individual’s family or a specific individual may fall into. When talking about putting a family or person into one of these status’, one must look at three variables; income, education, and occupation. These variables play a huge role in how an individual would develop in as an child, view their health, and how they would ultimately value education. The environment that most low SES children are in result to less direct speech from parents, little time spent on reading books, and not seeing the doctor often because of no healthcare. These environments are sometimes small cramped apartments where the parents usually aren’t around because they either have to work or just don’t have the time. When comparing it to the environment to high SES children, the infants of these families experience more directed speech which leads to learning more words. As well as doing better in school, this goes along with having a better relationship with their parents. Parental roles in addressing their children may be linked to their position of their respective groups within society. The hard working class of individuals often has low power, small positions in their workforce. This positioning of social hierarchy requires a certain lifestyle and livelihood that is stable...
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...Social Security is the economic security for Americans, retirees, disabled persons, and families of retired, disabled or deceased workers. The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. The first Taxes were collected in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump sum payments were made that same month. The regular monthly benefits were started in January 1940. The pension aspect of the Social Security program was originally designed as a prepayment plan, with benefits to contribution. Social Security is largely a pay-as-you-go program. This means that today's workers pay Social Security taxes into the program and money flows back out as monthly income to beneficiaries. This is also the pre-funded retirement program. The money is accumulated in advance so that it will be available to be paid out to today's workers when they retire. This program is another form of saving for future. It reduce the risk at the older age by avoid loss of income due to retirement, death, disability, or unemployment, and to ensure access to health care. The amount of our Social Security benefits will depend mainly on three things the number of years we worked at qualifying jobs, how much money we made, and the age we retire. Why we have problems? Right now we are facing problem in the social security because the next decade will see the largest drop in worker-to-beneficiary ratios in history, as baby boomers begin to retire. The problem gets compounded when you consider that people's life spans...
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...Economic and social development of Latin America has something to do with different geographical factors. These include the productivity of lands, health conditions, frequency and intensity of natural disasters, settlement patterns, makeup and spatial distribution of productive activities, colonial experiences. Latin America has considered geography as unchangeable, true it is, but still it does not imply that policies should overlook or better yet ignore this fact. Geographically speaking, the whole Latin America lies in different latitudes of the Earth. Thus, places in this region experiences different climate patterns and seasons. This leads us to our first geographical factor that affects their development, the productivity of land. Latin America is known for agricultural products such as vegetables, root crops, and meat. These yields are needs climate and soil conditions that will satisfy for their growth. Considering the climate and soil conditions in temperate and tropical zones of Latin America, it is highly possible that the productivity of their lands differs, as well. However, those in temperate zones yield more crops than those in the tropical. The difference is the result of inputs used by temperate zones farmers that used technological advancements such as fertilizers, tractors, seeds and labour force that increases the yields whether or not the climate and soil type suit the crop. This difference is brought about by the advances...
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...Executive Summary Social media, online social networking service, has been existed for a long time. In that time, people use social media as an effective way to expand our social circle. People who use these sites form a social network, which provides a very strong and powerful way to connect, share interests, and keep in touch with others across the miles. However, as “the valuation of Facebook raised in a significant way, settling at figures in excess of $80 billion just after the company’s developer conference in September, 2011” (O'Dell, 2011). This valuation of the social media is only ranked second to Google’s. Even an obtuse CEO can realize the important impact on the business industry that social media will bring. Such a high valuation is not only because Facebook provides more than 600 million users a platform to communicate with each other, both in their leisure time and at work. Therefore, it is obvious to observe the social media’s economic impact. The economic impacts of the social media are increased work opportunities, decreased business cost, positive push in consumers’ purchasing behavior, increased opportunities for small businesses, and increased employees’ productivity. However, one thing should be noted that there may some different economic impacts in different countries because each country has their own cultures, economies, and business structures. Introduction of Social Media Social media, online social networking service, is among the most popular...
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...The profound economic change that occurred in the early 1900’s was largely influenced and formed by the industrial revolution, in particular the second wave that occurred in the late 1800’s. The revolution as a whole resulted in the change from economies based on agriculture and farming, to industry based profits. This second wave of the revolution not only refined and improved the prior inventions of iron and coal, but brought with it new highly developed technologies such as steel, electricity, oil and chemicals that lead to the creation of new industries that had not existed prior. The introduction of large scale steel and iron production, as well as advanced railway systems and the opening of the Suez Canal, allowed countries to export vast amounts of resources easily, therefore boosting economies. The introduction of electricity into society during this time also had a profound impact on the economic situation of many countries and individuals by allowing possible work hours to be increased dramatically. In 1914, Britain, Germany, France and the US owned 72% of the world’s manufacturing output, having a profound impact on the economies of the countries but also creating a climate of competition between the strong industrial powers. To a certain extent, this economic change throughout the world had a significant impact, and acted as a catalyst for increasing social and political change. Political change was evident during the early 20th century given that dynastic rulers...
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...Ann Fain September 2004 Political, Social and Economic Oppression 500 Years of Mexican Indigenismo For the last 500 years, the indigenous populations in Mesoamerica have been marginalized and viewed by first the Europeans and then by the Criollos and modern Mesoamericans as an inferior, powerless and primitive race. Subsequently, they have been forced to endure extreme social, economic and political inequalities, which originated during the colonial period and persist to present day. Although they have initiated countless protests and uprisings and are arguably the backbone of Mesoamerican economic development, they remain in a subordinate position in society and suffer considerably from the lack of education, inadequate health care, malnutrition and repeated human right violations. This essay discusses the disproportionate social, economic and political circumstances of the Mexican indigenous population throughout the last 500 years, and the institutions, ideas and attitudes that have persisted in terms of three major stages: the colonial period, post independence and the post revolution era. First, through the ecomienda system, Spanish political sovereignty, and social reorganization, the colonial period established the foundation for most of the oppressive institutions in Mexico today. Second, the post independence era did not bring sovereignty, equality and freedoms to the indigenous as it did to other sectors of Mexican society, but rather served to propel ...
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...RUNNING HEADER: Social, Political and Economic Forces Explain how social, political and economic forces have influenced organization and the practice of management Maxine Williams Portmore Community College, Old Harbour 3 December 2009 Introduction The social, political and economic forces do indeed influence how organizations operate as well as the practice of management. When an organization plans to conduct marketing activities or expand its market, it is recommended that they conduct SWOT analysis to find out its strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats in order to move forward. They do this by evaluating the social, political and economic forces in the environment. In addition, the practice of management is influenced by the social environment e.g. cultural climate in a country and an organization. It is further influenced by the political environment such as trade regulations, wage legislation, political instability et al. The economic factors will also influence the practice of management by the economic growth rate, labour costs, the skill level of workers et al. The author will discuss these factors in greater detail throughout the body of the paper. Defining the Social, Political and Economic Forces The social environmental factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macro-environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Political factors include government regulations...
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...INTRODUCTION Most developing countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, on average witnessed significant and consistent economic growth in their early years of independence (World Bank, 2004). Although majority of these countries succeeded in expanding their basic infrastructure and social services among others. It was therefore anticipated that much progress will be achieved in terms of raising the average income per head and improving on the general welfare of Africa following the average growth in real per capita income of about 3.8 % per annum between 1967 and 1970 (Mbanga, 2008). In the early 1970s, developing countries borrowed to finance their current account deficit. Such borrowing was geared towards boosting the level of economic growth and development. By 1980s, the developing countries’ debt had accumulated and the international financial institutions from this period started to provide both technical and financial debt-management assistance to debtor countries. However, this effort still aimed at fostering economic growth, was also equally meant to reduce both debt burdens and poverty level of these...
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...The Comparison between social and economics issues of flooding can be seen in the examples of Pakistan and Cumbria, Both these places have seen floods effecting economic and social issues. Flooding is a naturally occurring event that can be influenced or effected by human intervention, it occurs when discharge of a river exceeds the banks full capacity in a river channel. Floods are triggered by an increase in water volume that can be affected by many different factors, giving it great effect on human inhabitance in locations close to rivers situated around a floodplain. Pakistan has had a generally weak economy with a GDP per capita of about $2,710 and Cumbria with a GDP of $37,356 this shows us that Pakistan is less likely to have to resources to react to a flooding, while Cumbria will have the money to not only react but put in possible precautions to stop or subdue the flooding. With Pakistan having such a low GDP it ‘s right that we should see a large percentage of their population working in agriculture 45.1% and with some states such as Burkina Faso having 90% of its labor force in Agriculture, this compared to Cambria’s percentage of people in agriculture 29% the next largest being 21% (Healthcare and Education) shows that the effect my not be as strong on Cumbria as there will be less people living on flood planes due to little agricultural activity. Although Cumbria with less of a agricultural labor force and Pakistan with its greater agricultural labor force, Cumbria...
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...THE ECONOMIC RECORD, VOL. 81, NO. 255, AUGUST, 2005, S2–S21 Economics of Social Capital∗ PARTHA DASGUPTA Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK The literature on the idea of ‘social capital’ is now enormous. Offering an alternative to impersonal markets and coercive states, the communitarian institutions built around social capital have looked attractive to scholars in the humanities and social sciences. The literature in consequence has a warm glow to it. In this article, I first study the various contexts in which the promises people make to one another are credible and then suggest that the accumulation of social capital is a possible route to creating such a context. I offer a tight definition of social capital – namely, interpersonal networks – so as not to prejudge its ability to enhance human well-being. The links between the microfoundations of social capital and the macroeconomic performance of economies are then studied. I also show that economic theory not only identifies circumstances in which communitarian institutions can function well, but that it also uncovers a dark side, namely, their capicity to permit one group to exploit another within long-term relationships. I felt greatly honoured on receiving the invitation to deliver the R.C. Mills Memorial Lecture at this conference. Now that I am actually about to deliver it, I feel even more honoured. You will appreciate that the invitation raised a problem for me: given...
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...What is the relationship between social policy and economic policy? (Your answer must refer to Keynesian and Monetarist economic ideas in relation to welfare Trying to explain the relationship between social and economic policy can be seen as quite a complex task. But, if you look at the wider picture it can be said to become quite easy to see if the two go well together and how they intertwine with eachother to benefit the welfare state. In order to go further and try to explain the relationship between social and economic policy, it is best to make sense of what exactly is meant by economic policy and to take a look at the different types of economic policy which helps to shape the welfare state. It is a government policy for maintaining economic growth and tax revenues. Alcock et all. (2012) explains ecenomic policy as government activites in the economic field focused on certain activites and topics. Some of these topics consist of securing economic growth, meaning the production of more services in the economy and the promotion of the manufacturing industry with tax benefits and grants. Managing the rates of employment through employment agencies also fits into one of the topics as well as using taxation policies to redistrubute income, property and wealth between different social groups. Taking these topics and interventions into consideration, the relationship between social and econoimic policy can be difficult to explain as in this certain case they...
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