...consisted of developing nations are experiencing rapid economic growth in the past decades. However, for the majority of the population, quality of life have not improved accordingly. In most countries, social security policies are under-budgeted which could be used help the lower-income, unemployed, elderly, or those stricken by natural disaster. As one of the most developed nation in the region, Singapore still fell behind on social protection spending. Combined with rapidly aging population, Singaporeans have the highest savings rate in the world. Fearing that the government will not be able to help them in the future (Quasem 2013). From the extract of the article above, this paper will underlie the definition and academic analysis of Singapore’s underspending on its social protection policy. Which will include a discussion on its current GDP, Economic inequality, fiscal policy, and subsidy. Even though the article discusses on the problem as a continent, with the given world count limitation, the essay will only look on Singapore alone. A concluding statement will follow with an appropriate argument of the consequence of the policy currently at hand. Discussion With $65,048 per capita GDP, Singapore is known for having the fifth highest per capita GDP in the world (Singstat.gov.sg 2005). GDP, or gross domestic product, is a measure of the total value production of goods in services within a nation at a given time period. Whereas GDP per capita is a measure of the amount...
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...nations. While these measures have traditionally focused on social and economic data, recent trends have extended to address other features. One important aspect in this regard is the underlying societal gender discrimination and the diverse outcome for males and females. This is commonly referred to as gender inequality. According to Dorius and Firebaugh (2010), gender inequality is where one gender possesses an excessively large proportion of valued items, such as political influence, wages or good health. Although every region of the world has developed policies and laws to tackle gender inequality, Asia-Pacific has countries with varying social and economic circumstances. This essay will examine gender inequality in two Asia-Pacific states, namely China and Singapore. The essay will consider employment and family-based gender inequality in each nation and assess the similarities and differences between them. Gender inequality has major impacts on nations, in particular on the Asia-Pacific zone. Francisco (2007) delineates various forms of inequality, namely mortality, natality, basic facility, special opportunity, professional, ownership and household forms of inequality. In this field, Jutting, Morrison, Dayton- Johnson and Drechsler (2008) argue that gender equality is vital to promote economic growth, wealth creation and poverty reduction. As an illustration, the Asia-Pacific region foregoes approximately 2-4 percent of GDP per year due to low female workforce participation...
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...GEK2003 Politics and Governance in Singapore Name: Toh Zhi Qi Matrix no: A0111368 L Tutorial Group: E2 ESSAY QUESTION Q2: Of the many issues facing Singapore’s politics, which, in your view, is the most fatal for the PAP and if unresolved, could severely affect the PAP in the coming general elections? During the 2011 General elections, the PAP lost a GRC for the first time and the election was described as a watershed election by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In the past 7 years, Singaporeans are getting increasingly unhappy with the ruling party despite enjoying relative peace and prosperity amid the gloomy global economic conditions. These issues ranges from foreigners influx, housing prices, transportation bottleneck, widening income gap, rising demands of citizens to the PAP governing style. Among these issues, the problem of foreigner influx is the most fatal as it is the root to many problems. The foreigner influx issue is indeed very challenging and if not tackled properly, can potentially affect the PAP adversely in the coming general elections. Firstly, the foreigners influx issue, the core of the problems. To tackle the persistent low birth rate, Singapore have experienced an overwhelming influx of foreigners especially from China and India. According to the latest statistics, our population swell to 5.39m; foreigners comprising of 1.55m, and citizens accounted for 3.31m. Singapore has loosened its immigration policy to boost her economy and maintain...
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...Gender inequality is a significant challenge for many nations in the world, counting those in the Pacific. A critical aspect of gender inequality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on economic opportunities, decision making and women’s well- being. In many Pacific island countries, it has taken decades for the enduring view that a women’s place in society is at home in accordance with spiritual beliefs, custom, tradition, and norms. Empowering women represents a diverse range of concepts and may vary widely among individuals, cultures and countries. This essay will examine the benefits of empowering women at an individual level, benefits which can be summarized as economic, political and social. Firstly, economic empowerment is one of the most important driving forces behind economic growth and poverty reduction. Economic empowerment interprets women’s ability to act on their own and make decisions on matters that affect them. In order to increase economic advancement of women, there is an urgent need to formulate the right policies that can allow such an objective to grow unhindered by uncertainty and doubt. Education policies that encourage and offer training opportunities in developing women’s entrepreneurship opportunities and improving women’s access to finance is another major instrument in generating income, reducing poverty and improving the standards of health and so forth. Formal and non- formal education systems are the key foundations for more women participating...
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...Development may be associated with structural transformation from a primary good based production to manufacturing and service base economy. It may also be associated with social aspects such as poverty, employment state and equality. Commonly, countries tend to measure economic development to determine the overall development. The scope of economic development includes the process and policies by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people. 1 The measurements commonly used by countries are notably Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product/Income. Other measurements include, but are not limited to; the Human Development Index, Happiness Index, UN agencies' inclusive wealth...
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...The most common market that influences income is the labour market; it influences the jobs we get and also the wage rate (Parkin et al 2012). The labour market is a place where workers and employers interact with each other in order labour for wage. Employers in the labour market compete to hire the best labour force while workers compete for the best satisfying job (William E, 2013). The government intervene on this market to regulate workers being exploited from employers, the intervention also create problems for both the workers and employers. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages on government intervention on this market. Firstly, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantage of minimum wage on labour force followed by other government interventions such as taxation. There are several advantages of the minimum wage on workers. The minimum wage could benefit low wage workers (Hui T.W 2013), it could also lead to skill upgrading which will enable workers to earn higher pay is premised on existing skill training and increased opportunities of workers. A general job-specific, professional and executive training course has been implemented by the Singapore government which is being funded to increase workers employability and skills. It also motivates employers to seek improved skill workers which will increase productivity in line with the higher paid wage. Therefore, minimum wages provide a platform to skill upgrading and wage increase whereby enhancing...
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...hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being ill and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having the ability to go to school and not being able to read. Poverty is being in unemployment. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.” (World Bank, as cited in Lang 2007, p.31). More than three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day which is approximately half the world’s population. In 2005, the developing world had about 72 million children of primary school age not enrolled in school; of this 72 million, 57 percent of them were girls. Each year, 2.2 million children die because they lack immunisation (Globalissues.org, 2013). This essay will discuss the fundamental determinants of poverty with the two main contenders being geography and institution. It would also discuss the proximate determinants of poverty in Kenya. What causes poverty is an important question when trying to explain poverty, but it is not one which can easily be answered. These causes can be grouped into ‘proximate’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘fundamental’ causes of poverty. The proximate cause is the ‘nearest cause’ in the chain of causation, ABCDE. The fundamental cause is what sets the chain of causation in motion. The fundamental cause of E is A, and B, C and D are intermediate causes (Rycroft 2009, p.232). In order to design a policy to reduce poverty, identifying the fundamental causes of poverty is essential...
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...- over half of them children under five (WHO, 1999). The main causes of these deaths from infectious diseases occur in developing countries - the countries with the least money to spend on health care. Instead of this, in wealthy countries people are suffering from non-communicable diseases, just because of their illness related behaviour.Non communicable diseases are the top cause of death worldwide, killing more than 36 million people in 2008. Cardiovascular diseases were responsible for 48% of these deaths, cancers 21%, chronic respiratory diseases 12%, and diabetes 3% (WHO, 2011). This health inequality effects not just how people live, but often dictates how and at what age they die. In this essay I would like to reflect upon the main causes, preventions about all diseases whether it is infectious or lifestyle related diseases, and my response to the global health inequalities that is existing. According to Willi (2004) the sociological imagination consist of four interrelated parts:1) Historical factors, 2) Cultural factors, 3) Structural factors, and 4) Critical factors. I would like to explain historical factors in relation of my topic. I am born and grew up in Asian region, there People are likely to try native remedies because they cannot afford to go to regular doctors. Lack of education is another teething trouble; there is a lower level of awareness because of the lack of education among people. They do not know how to prevent the spread of disease, and even if...
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...English essay Question: is gender equality ever possible? Question analyze: key words are gender equality, ever, possible. Gender equality is defined as men and women have same rights. Ever is an absolute term. First mean point: it is possible as there are obvious improvement in social area today compare to the past. However, there are improvements does not mean that gender inequality can be totally eliminated. (India gender parity index has improved from 0.464 in 1975 to 0.918 in 2010. ) Second mean point: gender equality is possible as there are measures to protect woman’s rights. However, this is only for those developed country, for those third world countries the sexism still exists, and it is hard to solve due to economic and political problems. Third mean point: the low education level of female in some part of the world make a vicious cycle, thus women unable to gain their rights. (87% of Afghan are illiterate, in India 44.5% of girls are married before the age of 18.) Fourth mean point: it is impossible to eliminate the gender discrimination as it against some races’ religion and culture. (in Africa people believe only women undergoes genital mutilation is pure, and those who does not are less value. In Malaysia, due to their religion, women have to respect their husband and cover most of their bodies. ) Fifth mean point: it is impossible as men and women are born different physically. Women have to give birth to child. In conclusion, gender equality...
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...direct investment (FDI), multinational corporations, integration of the world capital markets and much more. Thus, globalization can be defined as the interdependence of national economies through trade, finance, production and a growing web of treaties and institutions. The evidence of globalization is clear. Nowadays, over $4 trillion in foreign exchange transactions are made every day, where more than $15 trillion of goods and $3.7 trillion of services are sold across national borders. A more intuitive example can be a British person driving the German car with a Dutch engine that was assembled in Mexico from made in US components, which in turn, were fabricated from Korean steel. But what influenced the trend for globalization? This essay will outline two main macro factors that helped globalization to evolve. It will then pass on to describing four major features of globalization. To begin with, the globalization was driven by the decline in barriers of the free flow of goods, services and capital that has occurred since the end of the Second World War due to the GATT arrangements. This resulted in significant fall in average tariff rates since 1950 that are now at a 4% level leading to steady growth of international trade over the last half of the century, when by 1998 it was three times more than it was in 1950. In addition, many countries removed restrictions to FDI. Therefore, these trends resulted in the globalization of markets and production. Firms saw the opportunity...
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...achieve than the other aspects of development it has a symbiotic link with the other aspects of development it helps generate savings for investment 5. a) b) c) GDP is not a sufficient indicator of development because, some economic activities are left out of the calculation large countries have bigger GDP it does not reflect how income is distributed 6. a) b) c) GDP per capita is a useful indicator because, it helps inter country comparison of living standards it helps to understand what each individual earns in a country it is a better indicator than total GDP 7. a) b) c) To make GDP per capita internationally comparable, they must be calculated in US$ they should be calculated in the strongest international currency they can be calculated in any currency adjusted for purchasing power in different countries. 8. a) b) c) The Lorenz curve is a good indicator of development since it tells you the percentage of poor people in a country the degree of inequality of income distribution the quality of life in a country 9. a) b) c) The Gini Coefficient is a better indicator of income...
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...education system which is adapted to the condition of a country. Moreover, every country is still mapping out a road towards a proper education system. In this long transition, education has brought many effects to the development on economy, politics and society. This essay will examine each of these three key points individually and consider how education has affected the development of countries. Education is important to the individual’s economy. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor at present all over the world. Poverty seems to be inherited, and the majority of these poor are the children of people who lived in poverty and are not able to acquire knowledge as equally as the rich peers do. The result of this is that poor children have to struggle to compete with adults to gain jobs. However, there is a solution which is offering poor children basic knowledge, because the education is the main key to getting rid of the condition of poverty (Brown, 2008). Education is very important to a child’s future development. A good education will be the cornerstone where future employment opportunities and good chances are established (Plan, 2008). Evidence shows that, more years of schooling leads to higher income. For instance, for rural...
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...Essay Question: Illustrate your answer with s In this essay I hope to go through the strengths and weaknesses of the Neoliberal approach to development using examples of countries in which they have implemented Neoliberal influenced reforms in order to develop their country. I will then attempt to evaluate my findings to see whether or not the Neoliberal approach is successful or not or is it something which has its weaknesses and strengths and cannot be judged either way. The term Neoliberalism can be defined as a ‘modernised or revised form of liberalism, one based on belief in free market capitalism and the rights of the individual. This is a definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary 1989. In the 1970s Neoliberalism enjoyed increasing popularity and an aspect of the theory we should look at its influence on the Washington Consensus which was an extensive list of economic policies written by John Williamson in 1989. This was a package of standards created to aid countries in economic crisis. Neoliberalism reduces the influence of state and trade unions on markets and reduces the public sector workforce. It also increases in the privatisation of formerly public owned institutions, decreases state interference and opens up markets of an economy to foreign companies. A country which takes on Neoliberal approaches to its economy, in theory should favour strong individual private property rights, rule of law and the institution of freely functioning markets and...
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...THE GLOBALIZATION RORSCHACH TEST: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, INEQUALITY AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT NANCY BRUNE and GEOFFREY GARRETT* November 2004 Forthcoming in Annual Review of Political Science vol. 8, 2005 In this review essay, we address the three principal questions that have dominated the debate over the distributive effects of globalization. First, how has globalization affected inequality among countries? Second, how has globalization affected inequality within countries? Third, how has globalization affected the ability of national governments to redistribute wealth and risk within countries? We conclude that despite the proliferation of social science research on the consequences of globalization, there is no solid consensus in the relevant literatures on any of these questions. This is because scholars disagree about how to measure globalization and about how to draw causal inferences about its effects. Keywords: globalization, inequality, economic growth, government spending, privatization ___________________________________________________________ * Nancy Brune is a doctoral candidate at Yale University. She can be reached at nbrune@isop.ucla.edu. Geoffrey Garrett is Vice Provost and Dean of the International Institute, Director of the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations, and Professor of Political Science at UCLA. He can be reached at ggarrett@international.ucla.edu. The authors Alexandra Guisinger, David Nickerson and Jason Sorens...
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... 2014 H C U H a m b u r g D r . – I n g . M i c h a e l B o s e Multi-‐ethnic and multi-‐cultural society of Malaysia Maryam Azizullah – Excursion Kuala Lumpur 2014 Multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society of Malaysia Malaysia is known as an Asian Tiger State due to its quick dynamic development and its economic growth after independence, but is characterized by the colonial history and old structures. It is also known for its multi- ethnic and multi-cultural society. Its diversity of races, religions and cultures characterizes the country and influences the everyday lives of the population. The Essay will briefly describe the range of ethnic groups, the related challenges of the past and current issues with a closer look at the new concept of the Government named ‘1Malaysia’. 1. Ethnic groups and religions The Malay population consists of two main ethnic groups, the ‘Bumiputeras’ and the ‘non-Bumiputeras”. The ‘Bumiputeras’ are Malays and other indigenous groups, as for example the ‘Orang Asli’ and constitute the majority with 60.5 % of the population. The second major group consist of Chinese (26 %) and Indian (8%) people, most of whom migrated during the colonial period as foreign workers. Working on tin mines and rubber plantations during the colonial period, they now represent a socioeconomic well established middle-class...
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