Também tem a ver com desigualdade ... | Video on TED.com

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine | Video on TED.com

What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading.

China versus Índia: o que explica as diferenças nas taxas de crescimento?

Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth? | Video on TED.com: 

Economist Yasheng Huang compares China to India, and asks how China's authoritarian rule contributed to its astonishing economic growth -- leading to a big question: Is democracy actually holding India back? Huang's answer may surprise you.

Podemos ser ricos sem democracia?

"Yes if you are an individual, but probably not if you are an entire country. As the figure below shows, there are very few countries that have developed beyond $5,000 in 2005 PPP dollars without becoming democracies somewhere along the way (unless they are an oil economy).

Clicar para aceder a uma versão maior

 
Continuar a ler em: "Dani Rodrik's weblog: Can you get rich without democracy?

Divergências atípicas ou notícias do futuro

Economist's View: "The Great Divergence, the Other Way Around"

Clicar para aceder a uma versão maior

Ainda sobre Cuba

Brad DeLong lembra alguns factos sobre a Cuba anterior à Revolução (devem aceder à nota completa). Serve para qualificar aquilo que foi referido aqui.

Ten Pieces Worth Seeing (Mostly Economics): February 2, 2010 - Grasping Reality with a Ten-Foot-Long Flexible Trunk: "[...] Let's Get Even More Depressed About Cuba: [...] The hideously depressing thing is that Cuba under Battista--Cuba in 1957--was a developed country. Cuba in 1957 had lower infant mortality than France, Belgium, West Germany, Israel, Japan, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Cuba in 1957 had doctors and nurses: as many doctors and nurses per capita as the Netherlands, and more than Britain or Finland. Cuba in 1957 had as many vehicles per capita as Uruguay, Italy, or Portugal. Cuba in 1957 had 45 TVs per 1000 people--fifth highest in the world. Cuba today has fewer telephones per capita than it had TVs in 1957 [...]."

Experiências de sustentabilidade

As duas referências abaixo são relativas à União Indiana e a Cuba, com ambas a incidir nas questões da sustentabilidade - no caso da referente a Cuba, o âmbito é, no entanto, mais geral. Fala-se da sustentabilidade na agricultura, das sementes geneticamente modificadas, dos inputs de energia usados por unidade de output da agricultura, e coisas quejandas. A informação surpreende: por exemplo, se o pico do petróleo sucedesse de imediato, qual seria o país cuja agricultura se aguentaria melhor? Cuba. Mas há mais.

No entretanto, duas citações retiradas da nota do The Oil Drum, de que gostei em particular. A primeira diz-nos que "[...], stability needs resilience." Isso será óbvio, pelo menos para alguns, mas o óbvio, quando é importante, deve ser sublinhado. A segunda, é histórica, explica-se por si, e impressiona pela transparência e dureza, com que os interesses (aqui, imperial-colonialistas) se afirmavam na praça pública, no século XIX:

"[...] an exerpt from Lord Macaulay's speech in the British Parliament on 2nd Feb 1835 (quoted elsewhere in various contexts on the web--typically nationalistic sounding ones). I first found it in Amartya Sen's book The Argumentative Indian: 

'I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.'" 

• The Oil Drum | Agriculture: Wisdom of the Uncivilized Crowds

• Common Ground - Cuba: creative, complex and contradictory - February 10

_________________

PS: Quanto aos alimentos geneticamente modificados não creio que estamos em condições de prescindir deles num (muito) próximo futuro; o que não pode acontecer é estarmos sujeitos nesse capítulo à estratégia da Monsanto - o testemunho dado na primeira nota é, a esse respeito, impressivo.

História de dois países diferentes, na mesma ilha: República Dominicana e Haiti

Já conhecia alguma coisa do que se diz aqui, através do Colapso, de Jarred Diamond (recomendação de leitura sempre actual). É informativa e interessante, a mais de um título.

Comhar SDC Chairman’s Blog » Haiti and Sustainability (via The Irish Economy)

Democracia, incentivos e desenvolvimento

World Poverty Map - Creating a World Without Poverty - Esquire: "What Makes a Nation Rich? One Economist's Big Answer: Say you're a world leader and you want your country's economy to prosper. According to this Clark Medal winner from MIT, there's a simple solution: start with free elections."

__________
PS (21.11.09): Sobre o mesmo tópico: Do elections in developing countries improve economic policy? | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists: "There is some evidence that democracies enjoy better economic growth. How do elections, a core component of democracy, impact economic policy? This says that free and fair elections in developing countries improve economic policy by disciplining governments. But infrequent or uncompetitive elections may actually make things worse."

As origens, normalmente, não são para os desprevenidos aquilo que seria de esperar

As origens intelectuais e políticas das políticas de desenvolvimento? Bem, pelo menos, cruza com muito do que era invocado para justificar o "ultramar português". Tese interessante, mas há mais: por exemplo, a relação entre capitalismo/mercados livres e colonialismo/imperialismo - inesperada para a "convencional wisdom" na matéria; o posicionamento dos economistas clássicos versus outros intelectuais do tempo na questão da escravatura:

• How the British Invented “Development” to Keep the Empire and Substitute for Racism 16.0.09: "To repress independence movements, however, Hailey made a distinction between political development and economic development: “Political liberties are meaningless unless they can be built on a better foundation of social and economic progress.” (A line that autocrats have been using ever since.) The Colonial Office thought many colonies “little removed from their primitive state,” so “they will probably not be fit for complete independence for centuries.” Of course, changing the language from racist to economic development did not mean racism suddenly disappeared. As Wolton shows, “the white Western elites still believed in their fundamental superiority.” In the end, Wolton says, “The major powers would continue to be able to determine the future of the colonial territories – only this time the source of their legitimacy was based less on racial difference and more on their new role as protector and developmental economist.” After the war, even more officials went out to the Empire in what became known as the “second colonial occupation.” Why does this history matter today?" 

• The Imperial Origins of State-Led Development: 17.09.09: "So imperialism is not so clearly linked to capitalism and free markets after all; historically there has been a closer link between colonialism/imperialism and state-led approaches to development. People who like Imperialism are fond of a big military state presence, so it’s not so surprising that they are also fond of a big economic state presence."

• Lies My Poets Told Me: The Prehistory of Development Economics: 12.11.09:  "A couple months ago, Bill addressed the imperial origins of state-led development, arguing that economic development was a substitute for racism as a rationalization of empire. I think it’s worthwhile to delve a bit further into the intellectual and social context in which these ideas were put forward. Why bother? Because ideas matter for policy. There are good, hard-nosed reasons for believing that rationales are not mere epiphenomena of political interests. Understanding why and how certain policies are implemented requires some digging into the justifications of policymakers. A bit of intellectual archaeology might also identify some path dependence in economic thinking about development. The point is not to impugn the motives of current policymakers or academic researchers, but to shed light on any hidden intellectual baggage that might be weighing down their efforts. Old dead economists might teach us something valuable after all."

Recensões da The New York Review of Books

Os livros têm como denominador comum as questões de género e desenvolvimento:

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwideby Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn 

"[...]And what are some of those facts? A girl in India dies every four minutes because her parents don't believe she's worthy of medical care; a third of all women worldwide are beaten at home; women between the ages of fifteen and forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined ; according to the United Nations, 90 percent of females over the age of three were sexually abused in parts of Liberia during the civil war there; there are, very conservatively, according to the British medical journal The Lancet, ten million child sex slaves. If Kristof and WuDunn have their way, righting "gender inequality in the developing world" will be embraced as the moral battle of the twenty-first century, as totalitarianism was in the twentieth and slavery was in the century before that.[...]"   

Muitos, e isso acontece no nosso país, chamam às mulheres: "o gado".

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalismby Muhammad Yunus, with Karl Weber 

"[...] Once Yunus and his team began to lend money, something unexpected happened: they found that women, who in most cases had never before handled money, were much more likely than men to use it responsibly and pay it back. Women tended to invest their earnings in their families—in education, housing, and health care. Men, on the other hand, were more likely to spend it on themselves. "Thus," Yunus concluded, "lending to women creates a cascading effect that brings social benefits as well as economic benefits to the whole family and ultimately to the entire community." Grameen has found the same pattern—men play, women pay—in every country in which it operates. In short order, Grameen changed course: its loans would be to women; if a man in the family wanted a loan, he could ask his wife to apply, and it would be up to her to decide if he was a good credit risk. Inevitably, the power dynamic between them shifted.[...]"

Ler em Breaking a Conspiracy of Silence - The New York Review of Books

Países em vias de desenvolvimento e as alterações climáticas

• Ler em Developing countries and global warming: A bad climate for development The Economist
  
  

"Most people in the West know that the poor world contributes to climate change, though the scale of its contribution still comes as a surprise. Poor and middle-income countries already account for just over half of total carbon emissions (see chart 1); Brazil produces more CO2 per head than Germany. The lifetime emissions from these countries’ planned power stations would match the world’s entire industrial pollution since 1850.

Less often realised, though, is that global warming does far more damage to poor countries than they do to the climate. In a report in 2006 Nicholas (now Lord) Stern calculated that a 2°C rise in global temperature cost about 1% of world GDP. But the World Bank, in its new World Development Report*, now says the cost to Africa will be more like 4% of GDP and to India, 5%. Even if environmental costs were distributed equally to every person on earth, developing countries would still bear 80% of the burden (because they account for 80% of world population). As it is, they bear an even greater share, though their citizens’ carbon footprints are much smaller"

A Política Comum de Pescas como contexto

Como regra, nunca nos podemos esquecer de questionar sobre o contexto. Ao sabermos de uma qualquer situação, boa ou má, agradável ou desagradável, e devemos, imediatamente, questionar sobre qual o contexto em que ela se insere. Na eventualidade de não haver possibilidade de aceder à informação sobre aquele, que fique a nota mental de faltar algo importante para a adequada apreciação da situação em causa. Isto é importante: os seres humanos tendem a esquecer o contexto, li algures.

Ora, não gosto de nenhum tipo de piratas, e não há contexto que justifique a pirataria. Mas, de novo, não o podemos esquecer - para a combater, obviamente - e, não menos importante, para que a pirataria de uns não camufle a pirataria dos outros. No caso da pirataria na Somália existe uma razão adicional para nos preocuparmos com o contexto: a Política Comum de Pescas é uma das suas componentes que, aliás, legitima e esconde a pirataria dos outros (de nós europeus).

• Arrastões europeus pirateiam costa de África Presseurop

"Tomada de reféns e actos de pirataria ao largo da Somália são notícia quase todos os dias. Fala-se é muito pouco dos arrastões europeus que pilham as águas territoriais africanas e prejudicam os pescadores locais. Esta actividade também é uma foram de pirataria, escreve o Die Welt.

Quase não passa um só dia, em que não se ouça falar de capturas de embarcações, tomadas de reféns e pedidos de resgate por piratas somalianos. Mas, na semana passada, um pequeno anúncio despertou a nossa curiosidade: os soldados franceses estacionados ao largo da costa somaliana intervêm igualmente sobre embarcações de pesca francesas. Cabe-lhes proteger uma dúzia de embarcações que praticam a pesca do atum, para que não se tornem alvo dos piratas. Mas coloca-se uma pergunta: que vão procurar os pescadores franceses ao largo dessas costas?

A resposta é a seguinte: em muitos países, foram reduzidas as quotas de pesca, mas não o contingente de barcos. Por isso, há demasiados barcos inactivos. Além disso, as frotas de pesca ultramodernas vindas da Europa, Rússia, China, Japão e alguns outros países pescam até ao esgotamento das reservas de todos os oceanos, e até das águas territoriais africanas, sem se preocuparem com os pescadores locais. Vários países, incluindo a União Europeia, compraram a muitos países pobres de África o direito de pescar ao largo das suas costas, numa zona que se estende até às 200 milhas. A UE vende depois, a preço reduzido, as licenças aos seus pescadores. Acrescenta-se-lhes uma armada de embarcações de pesca ilegais, com pavilhões de fora da Europa."

Paul Romer e as regras para mudar regras (Vídeo) - TED

- Ler mais detalhes em Paul Romer's radical idea: Charter cities Video on TED.com.

Cocaína

George Monbiot, em Time to draw the line on cocaine, chama a atenção para aspectos do tráfico da cocaína, que usualmente são ignorados. Merece ser lido:

"But we are where we are, and right now people's enthusiasm for cocaine is a
humanitarian and environmental disaster. The cocaine business as currently
constituted is the most immoral trade on Earth. By participating in it, you
directly commission murder, torture, displacement and deforestation. According
to the Colombian government (not, admittedly, the most trustworthy source on
such matters) every gram of cocaine you take destroys four square metres of
rainforest. The trade gives that government the excuse to wage an unending war
against the peasantry, which is also caught between rightwing paramilitaries and
leftwing guerillas, both of which make their money from powder. You might think
it's daring and subversive to snort a line or two, but the real risk is run by
people thousands of miles from here. You can choose whether or not to
participate. They can't."

Tese interessante ...

The Invisible Hand of Population Control - reasononline (via A Fistful of Euros):

"The chief goal of all other species is to turn food into offspring. More food means more offspring. It is this biological logic that underlies the perennial fears of human overpopulation. Most creatures live in environments that correspond to open access commons. Recent fertility trends strongly suggest that the simple biological model of human breeding is wrong, or at least, is wrong when the institutions that support economic freedom and the rule of law, e.g., markets, price stability, honest bureaucracies, security of private property, and the fair enforcement of contracts, are well-developed. Economic freedom and the rule of law are the equivalent of enclosing the open access breeding commons, causing parents to bear more and more of the costs of rearing children. In other words, economic freedom actually generates an invisible hand of population control."

PS: Qualificando esta tese, este apontamento do mesmo blogue: The invisible hand of letting people know who’s boss afoe A Fistful of Euros European Opinion 

Pathways

Pathways é uma revista da Universidade de Stanford dedicada a assuntos de pobreza, desigualdade e de políticas sociais - é grátis, e pode ser acedida em Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality - Pathways. Recomenda-se.

O exemplar referente ao verão de 2009 saiu, e o seu índice é o seguinte:

"TRENDS:

• Getting to Equal: Progress, Pitfalls, and Policy Solutions on the Road to Gender Parity in the Workplace Have we "stalled out" in the historic march toward gender equality in the workplace? Pamela Stone weighs the evidence and makes the case for a new way forward[pode-se cruzar com tudo o que tem sido dito neste blogue sobre género, quotas de participação feminina].

RESEARCH IN BRIEF:

• New research developments A surprising trend in wealth inequality, the biological determinants of poor children's academic performance, the long-term effects of job displacement, and other cutting-edge research.

GOING GLOBAL: ANTIPOVERTY LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD:

• Flexicurity Joshua Cohen and Charles Sabel argue that the time has come to build a 21st century labor market modeled on key principles of Denmark's "flexicurity" system.

• Pro-Poor Stimulus: Lessons from the Developing World Martin Ravallion looks to antipoverty programs in developing countries to understand how developed nations like the United States can provide stimulus while reducing long-term poverty.

• Combating Poverty by Building Assets: Lessons from Around the World Ray Boshara describes the key features of asset-building programs throughout the world and examines how the United States can apply them to achieve economic security for the poor.

• Northern Exposure: Learning from Canada?s Response to Winner-Take-All Inequality Jacob S. Hacker describes how the United States and Canada have taken two different roads and why the Canadian road provides lessons that the United States might take to heart.
  

INTERVENTIONS:

• Spotlight On...Growing Power and the Urban Farming Movement In our new "Spotlight On" feature, we talk with Growing Power's Will and Erika Allen about the potential and future of urban agriculture in combating poverty. "
  
  
  

Mais contextualização (agora, de outro tipo)

- Ler em RGE - When Will There Be Good News? Does it Help There Already Was Some?

Mais sobre eficiência energética...

"A report by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) is warning developing nations against using the recession as an excuse not to invest in energy efficiency -- the cheapest form of energy available.

Energy demand in emerging economies is expected to skyrocket in the coming years and supply is headed for a crisis. Efficiency -- using less energy for the same output -- is the most important and cost-effective fix. In fact, investing solely in existing efficiency technologies would yield billions in future savings across all developing regions, reports MGI in Promoting Energy Efficiency in the Developing World."

Ler (tem recomendações interessantes) em McKinsey’s Energy Fix for Developing Countries: Efficiency SolveClimate.com

Coisas tristes (II)

As notícias que vêm de Cuba são, apesar de tudo, tristes. Aquilo, no limite, mesmo para aqueles que tinham toda a informação, e se afastaram do comunismo, tinha um não-sei-quê de diferente, havendo a esperança que a evolução pudesse salvaguardar o que de realce e de bom foi possível conseguir. Acontece é que mesmo essas "conquistas" são relativizadas à luz do que se vai sabendo.

Duas referências feitas pela Causa Nossa:

• A Aba da Causa
  

  "A revolução exangue" Vital Moreira

• El naufragio cubano · ELPAÍS.com

Refrigeração sem electricidade - TED

About this talk:

Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity -- to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics worldwide. Tweaking some old technology, he's come up with a system that works.

Why you should listen to him:

Adam Grosser is a venture capitalist, working with startups that are exploring new ideas in data communications, electronics and energy management. With a background in engineering and entertainment, he enjoys looking for opportunities that map over a few of his passions -- which also include greentech.

His passion for a sustainable solution to refrigeration -- for storing food and medicines -- led to the project he describes in his 2007 TEDTalk.

- ver em Adam Grosser and his sustainable fridge Video on TED.com.