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VCE Stuff => VCE Business Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Economics => Topic started by: brendan on October 18, 2008, 10:14:31 pm

Title: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: brendan on October 18, 2008, 10:14:31 pm
http://www.ide.go.jp/Japanese/Lecture/Sympo/2007/pdf/easterly_hand.pdf
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: Rietie on October 18, 2008, 10:23:11 pm
Didn't read the link.
But my answer to the question is: no.
As long as developed countries continue to live in wealth and luxury, other countries will continue to live in poverty.
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: brendan on October 18, 2008, 10:24:55 pm
that isn't a reason
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: AppleXY on October 19, 2008, 08:52:33 pm
lol what kind of reason is that rofl. So what you are saying is that if "wealthy" countries grow more wealth, the "poor" countries will enter into greater poverty ? :P

:S
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: Eriny on October 20, 2008, 10:12:14 am
Maybe that if the wealthy countries continue to maintain a similar percentage of the world's wealth, then poor countries will also continue to have a small percentage of the world's wealth?
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: Collin Li on October 20, 2008, 11:31:18 am
Hmm... but if enough wealth was created, and the percentages remained the same, poverty could be ended (unless you have a ridiculous 'relativistic' view of poverty, where by definition, it is impossible to eradicate poverty)
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: Eriny on October 20, 2008, 12:08:59 pm
I do agree, but I've heard that it's apparently impossible to feed the entire world, on say, the average American diet (though you could feed it a few times with a minimal vegetarian diet). What I mean to say is that with the amount of resources there are, there will be a limit as to how much total food there can be in the world if countries like ours and America keep insisting on eating the way we do and other countries start to partake in this kind of eating as well. I have no idea if this means that absolute poverty will always exist if we don't change though, I suspect not, though if every country tried to eat like us, it probably could ensure that absolute poverty persisted.

Hopefully that made sense.
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: bubble sunglasses on October 21, 2008, 02:59:08 pm

 so in conlcusion: wealth creation [and enjoyment] isn't inherently a zero-sum game, but, in the world today, it is, to a large extent :P
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: sxcalexc on October 21, 2008, 06:09:12 pm
The problem with foreign aid is how it is distributed. Money needs to be spent on infrastructure so that third-world countries can maintain themselves and subsequently educate more workers.
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: brendan on October 22, 2008, 09:36:58 pm

 so in conlcusion: wealth creation [and enjoyment] isn't inherently a zero-sum game, but, in the world today, it is, to a large extent :P

it's interesting that you contradict yourself in the same sentence.
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: bubble sunglasses on October 24, 2008, 05:02:30 pm

 so in conlcusion: wealth creation [and enjoyment] isn't inherently a zero-sum game, but, in the world today, it is, to a large extent :P

it's interesting that you contradict yourself in the same sentence.
  no I didn't. Perhaps I could have said "not in theory, but often in practice" for greater clarity. However, there is nothing contradictory about saying an object doesn't always have a particular quality, but often is found to have that particular quality: ie "dresses aren't always red, but they often are"
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: brendan on October 26, 2008, 12:40:11 am
You said:

wealth creation [and enjoyment] isn't inherently a zero-sum game, but, in the world today, it is, to a large extent :P

So to use the dress example it would actually read:

"Dresses aren't inherently red, but, in the world today, it is, to a large extent"

On wealth creation, why is it a zero sum game?

Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: bubble sunglasses on October 26, 2008, 01:02:01 am


 my lexis was poor, granted, but i didn't contradict myself
Title: Re: Can foreign aid end world poverty?
Post by: Collin Li on November 06, 2008, 10:28:43 pm
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/11/poor_arent_poor_because_rich_a.html