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Impacts- Econ Good- Poverty
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Impacts- Econ Good- PovertyEconomic Productivity solves Poverty, Disease, and War Bailey 7 (Ronald, Ronald Bailey is the award-winning science correspondent for Reason magazine and Reason.com, where he writes a weekly science and technology column , August 1, “Peace and Prosperity Through Productivity Can economic growth solve all the problems in the world?”, http://www.reason.com/news/show/121697.html) ET Productivity can save the planet and produce peace and prosperity for all. Productivity is the tool that can eliminate all of the scourges of humanity—poverty, hunger, disease and war. Norwegian-American economist and business consultant Tor Dahl passionately made this argument in his keynote presentation at the World Future Society's annual meeting. Dahl is the chairman emeritus of the World Confederation of Productivity Science. One must be on guard against the exaggerated claims of the mavens of any discipline for the significance of their field. Of course, mavens believe that what they do is vitally important, otherwise why would they do it? That said, Dahl was very persuasive. Economic growth reduces poverty and saves the environment from destruction – prefer environmental think tank World Institute 99 (World resources institute, winter 98-99, independent environmental think tank non profit, http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8372 ) ET Economic growth is an important factor in reducing poverty and generating the resources necessary for human development and environmental protection. There is a strong correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and indicators of development such as life expectancy, infant mortality, adult literacy, political and civil rights, and some indicators of environmental quality. However, economic growth alone does not guarantee human development. Well-functioning civil institutions, secure individual and property rights, and broad-based health and educational services are also vital to raising overall living standards. Despite its shortcomings, though, GDP remains a useful proxy measure of human well-being. The world economy has grown approximately fivefold since 1950, an unprecedented rate of increase. The industrialized economies still dominate economic activity, accounting for US$22.5 trillion of the US$27.7 trillion global GDP in 1993 [1]. Yet a remarkable trend over the past 25 years has been the burgeoning role played by developing countries, in particular the populous economies of east and south Asia. (See Rapid Growth in Low Income Economies.) Impacts- Econ Good- PovertyGrowth from social services solve poverty Madan 2 (Anisha, Financial analyst for GE and MBA at Kellogg School, Northwestern University, The Relationship between Economic Freedom and Socio – Economic Development, http://www.econ.ilstu.edu/uauje/PDF's/CarrolRound/madanpost.pdf, UAUJE, pg 5-6, 2002, AD: 7/6/09) Merely studying the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth rates, however, is not enough. Whether the benefits of freedom and "increased economic growth rates" translate into something real and make a significant contribution to socio-economic welfare of people is a matter of critical concern. Today, one in five of the world’s people - 1.2 billion - live on less than a dollar a day. It has been the experience of most of the countries that have seen positive growth rates that the number of people living in poverty has increased. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has developed the Human Development Index (HDI), which ranks countries based on the level of human development they have attained. (The HDI is explained in depth in Section IV.A.2 of this paper). The link between economic growth and human development is neither automatic nor obvious. For example, in 1998-99, Moldova had the highest economic growth rate of 16.5% but its HDI score in 1999 was only 0.69, which means that it had more than 30% shortfall in human development. Another example is Turkmenistan, which had the second highest growth rate of 14.9%, but its HDI score was only 0.68. As a counter example, Canada had the highest HDI rating of 0.932 buts its growth rate in 1998-99 was only 3.8%. Moreover, fifty-six percent of the developing world lacks the most basic sanitation, and more than 50 countries have lower real per capita incomes today than they did a decade ago. Where poverty is extreme and unending, human rights are eroded and the level of human capital deteriorates. Therefore, if progress does not benefit the citizens of the country, then it is not progress in concrete terms. Thus, it is important to look beyond economic growth and focus on the status of the people. The criteria for judging whether people are better off can be clearly delineated. This research study assumes that people will be better off if there is greater equality of income, if per capita income increases, and if they have better access to education and health care through which they can lead a more fulfilling life. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. Education is a basic need because it improves skills, improves productivity, and lowers reproductivity by improving the status of women. Education also contributes to meeting other basic needs. If the behavioral changes from education can be built into other welfare programs dealing with health, nutrition, and sanitation, savings by a factor of ten to twenty on the cost of implementing these other programs can be attained (Streeten, 1981). Only when people’s basic needs of health, education, and a reasonable standard of living are met, can they derive benefits from the country’s increased growth rates. When there is greater equality of income, then the poor are equally able to benefit. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper, socio-economic development can be said to consist of access to resources, health, education, and greater income equality. The level of socio-economic development indicates the quality of life. Economic growth is the solution to global poverty. Ben-Ami 6 (Daniel, Journalist with a Specialty in Economics, Editor of Fund Strategy, “Who’s afraid of economic growth?” May 4, 2006, http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CB04D.htm, AD: 7-6-9) Perhaps the best starting point is to remind ourselves that economic growth and affluence have had enormous social benefits. These are all too easily forgotten in a society with little sense of history. Our lives are substantially better than those of any previous generations. Anne Krueger, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), looked at some of the key global indicators over the previous half century in a speech in 2002. She is worth quoting at length 'Infant mortality has declined from 180 per 1000 births in 1950 to 60 per 1000 births. Literacy rates have risen from an average of 40 per cent in the 1950s to over 70 per cent today. World poverty has declined, despite still-high population growth in the developing world. Since 1980, the number of poor people, defined as those living on less than a dollar a day, has fallen by about 200 million, much of it due to the rapid growth of China and India. 'If there is one measure that can summarise the impact of these enormous gains, it is life expectancy. Only 50 years ago, life in much of the developing world was pretty much what it used in be in the rich nations a couple of centuries ago: "nasty, brutish and short." But today, life expectancy in the developing world averages 65 years, up from under 40 years in 1950. Life expectancy was increasing even in sub-Saharan Africa until the effects of years of regional conflicts and the AIDS epidemic brought about a reversal. The gap between life expectancy between the developed and developing world has narrowed, from a gap of 30 years in 1950 to only about 10 years today.' (22) Download 0.75 Mb. Share with your friends:
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