The economy is not a mechanism for making money but a tool that the State has available
to give their citizens a higher quality of life possible. Normally,
to assess the economic performance of a country, we use the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product
. This is nothing more than the monetary value of all goods produced in one year
within a country and end-uses, such as consumption, investment and exports
. Over the past nine years for which data are available Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Union
) which is the period 1999 - 2007, the U.S. GDP grew by
127% 124.1% compared to only twenty-seven European Union countries.
little change if we take into account the EU-15: growth of 123%.
These data should be combined with those for the GDP per capita, which is the average wealth of each individual which has
: the average income of a U.S. citizen in 1999
was higher by 60% compared to that of an EU-resident 27. Today the difference is 50%, due to
population growth much stronger than in North America and Europe. In short,
according to GDP, it seems that Americans enjoy a quality of life greatly
greater than that of us Europeans, and if this gap is decreasing, the reason
is the largest increase in U.S. population than in Europe and not a
better economic performance than the old continent to the New.
They then reason that many neo-liberal economists who argue that Europe should adopt
economic models more similar to that of
USA?
Probably not, for the simple reason that, in the words of Simon Kuznets the inventor of the GDP,
"the welfare of a nation" can "hardly be evidenced by a measure of national income
. We try to understand why. If an oil tanker sinks
off the coast of California, California's GDP increases. In fact going to increase the gross domestic product
expenses for the recovery of the ship, those for the purification of the sea and
expenditure for the purchase of new oil that will replace the oil lost in the accident
. So GDP increases due to economic activities not
improve the quality of life of the population.
established that at least there are reasonable doubts in considering the gross domestic product
as a valid measure of well-being, to this point the question arises whether there are alternatives
per capita income to measure the quality of life.
Among the many indices that have been developed in recent decades include the HDI, which is the
Human Development Index. This index takes into account not only the GDP per capita, even
in life expectancy, literacy rate and the average level of education attained by the population of a country
. According to data reported in
Human Development Report 2007/2008, report prepared annually by the United Nations, the differences between the European Union
in fifteen states and the United States in terms of HDI are minimal and there is a clear convergence of values \u200b\u200b
In 1980 the relationship between the HDI of the United States and the EU-15
was 96.734 compared with a ratio between their GDP per capita of 74.987. In 2005 the results were
99.215 and 79.525 respectively. Due to the lack of data is unfortunately not as easy
do the same analysis for the Europe of twenty-seven states. In any case we see change as
benchmark indices will get immediate feedback on a backhand
performance: the European economy over the past quarter century has practically reached
the U.S., if we refer to Europe to fifteen.
But to compare the economic performance of the two countries could also consider one or more
key areas for quality of life of the population and evaluate the performance recorded by the Member
that interest us.
Take for example the health field is very important to our health and then
for our wellbeing, both for the economy, health care costs as a percentage of GDP
very significant the more advanced economies. In particular, according
the Human Development Report (HDR), in 2004 the U.S. has used in health
15.4% of their total GDP, compared to only 8% of EU-27 and 8, 8% EU 15. From
note in particular that the United States the only private spending in the health sector amounted
8, 5% of GDP.
To get an idea of \u200b\u200bhow you think the country of the Union European Union in which the private sector
spends more in health and Greece with 3.7% of GDP. Given these findings, if
spending was a mere indicator of welfare, we should expect that the U.S.
enjoy perfect health when compared to that of us Europeans. Instead, if I browse some
table HDR discover that the reality is very different. Faced with a per capita health spending
almost triple in 2004 compared with that of Europe, the U.S. can guarantee
the presence of 256 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 323.5 EU-27 states.
If we look at the effectiveness of the services then we discover that the life expectancy of Americans is
of 77.4 years, compared to twenty-seven and Europe 76.6 78.7 EU-15, a difference
minimal when you consider the difference in cost. Finally, we report data on child mortality,
decreased dramatically in all industrialized countries between 1970 and 2005. However, in the United States currently
infant mortality rate of 6 per thousand, compared to 4.4 per thousand to fifteen
Europe and 5.4 of the twenty-seven.
What conclusions can we draw from these numbers?
certainly the result of the analysis makes it possible to argue that GDP is not a reliable indicator
very well and should be replaced by more advanced indices. The problem is that
GDP is easier to calculate than other indexes, and especially now came to this point
use that we have to wait a long time before it is abandoned.
In this regard, however, the European Commission has been very sensitive and
has developed a strategy for sustainable development of the Union ", renovated in 2006, which
concerned with assessing the Union's progress in various fields, such as socio-economic, demographic changes and the
public health. We are still at the beginning of a more realistic
economic performance and not only that, but it is already a significant step forward
the fact that one of the major world powers has raised the problem of evaluating their policies
not only through the development of gross domestic product.
The second conclusion to be drawn is that if you do a little more in-depth analysis,
often appears that the European economy in many areas is not less than U.S.
indeed is much more efficient. We have set an example by analyzing the health care costs and the results obtained
. This is not to say that Europe is the new El Dorado and that the U.S.
are intended to collapse, partly because many areas in the U.S. economy is still much more competitive than
European Union. The message that we want to send is rather wary of
superficial analysis often deliberately, for ideological reasons, to seek more
demonstrate the superiority of the American model in assessing the actual performance
economy.
to give their citizens a higher quality of life possible. Normally,
to assess the economic performance of a country, we use the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product
. This is nothing more than the monetary value of all goods produced in one year
within a country and end-uses, such as consumption, investment and exports
. Over the past nine years for which data are available Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Union
) which is the period 1999 - 2007, the U.S. GDP grew by
127% 124.1% compared to only twenty-seven European Union countries.
little change if we take into account the EU-15: growth of 123%.
These data should be combined with those for the GDP per capita, which is the average wealth of each individual which has
: the average income of a U.S. citizen in 1999
was higher by 60% compared to that of an EU-resident 27. Today the difference is 50%, due to
population growth much stronger than in North America and Europe. In short,
according to GDP, it seems that Americans enjoy a quality of life greatly
greater than that of us Europeans, and if this gap is decreasing, the reason
is the largest increase in U.S. population than in Europe and not a
better economic performance than the old continent to the New.
They then reason that many neo-liberal economists who argue that Europe should adopt
economic models more similar to that of
USA?
Probably not, for the simple reason that, in the words of Simon Kuznets the inventor of the GDP,
"the welfare of a nation" can "hardly be evidenced by a measure of national income
. We try to understand why. If an oil tanker sinks
off the coast of California, California's GDP increases. In fact going to increase the gross domestic product
expenses for the recovery of the ship, those for the purification of the sea and
expenditure for the purchase of new oil that will replace the oil lost in the accident
. So GDP increases due to economic activities not
improve the quality of life of the population.
established that at least there are reasonable doubts in considering the gross domestic product
as a valid measure of well-being, to this point the question arises whether there are alternatives
per capita income to measure the quality of life.
Among the many indices that have been developed in recent decades include the HDI, which is the
Human Development Index. This index takes into account not only the GDP per capita, even
in life expectancy, literacy rate and the average level of education attained by the population of a country
. According to data reported in
Human Development Report 2007/2008, report prepared annually by the United Nations, the differences between the European Union
in fifteen states and the United States in terms of HDI are minimal and there is a clear convergence of values \u200b\u200b
In 1980 the relationship between the HDI of the United States and the EU-15
was 96.734 compared with a ratio between their GDP per capita of 74.987. In 2005 the results were
99.215 and 79.525 respectively. Due to the lack of data is unfortunately not as easy
do the same analysis for the Europe of twenty-seven states. In any case we see change as
benchmark indices will get immediate feedback on a backhand
performance: the European economy over the past quarter century has practically reached
the U.S., if we refer to Europe to fifteen.
But to compare the economic performance of the two countries could also consider one or more
key areas for quality of life of the population and evaluate the performance recorded by the Member
that interest us.
Take for example the health field is very important to our health and then
for our wellbeing, both for the economy, health care costs as a percentage of GDP
very significant the more advanced economies. In particular, according
the Human Development Report (HDR), in 2004 the U.S. has used in health
15.4% of their total GDP, compared to only 8% of EU-27 and 8, 8% EU 15. From
note in particular that the United States the only private spending in the health sector amounted
8, 5% of GDP.
To get an idea of \u200b\u200bhow you think the country of the Union European Union in which the private sector
spends more in health and Greece with 3.7% of GDP. Given these findings, if
spending was a mere indicator of welfare, we should expect that the U.S.
enjoy perfect health when compared to that of us Europeans. Instead, if I browse some
table HDR discover that the reality is very different. Faced with a per capita health spending
almost triple in 2004 compared with that of Europe, the U.S. can guarantee
the presence of 256 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 323.5 EU-27 states.
If we look at the effectiveness of the services then we discover that the life expectancy of Americans is
of 77.4 years, compared to twenty-seven and Europe 76.6 78.7 EU-15, a difference
minimal when you consider the difference in cost. Finally, we report data on child mortality,
decreased dramatically in all industrialized countries between 1970 and 2005. However, in the United States currently
infant mortality rate of 6 per thousand, compared to 4.4 per thousand to fifteen
Europe and 5.4 of the twenty-seven.
What conclusions can we draw from these numbers?
certainly the result of the analysis makes it possible to argue that GDP is not a reliable indicator
very well and should be replaced by more advanced indices. The problem is that
GDP is easier to calculate than other indexes, and especially now came to this point
use that we have to wait a long time before it is abandoned.
In this regard, however, the European Commission has been very sensitive and
has developed a strategy for sustainable development of the Union ", renovated in 2006, which
concerned with assessing the Union's progress in various fields, such as socio-economic, demographic changes and the
public health. We are still at the beginning of a more realistic
economic performance and not only that, but it is already a significant step forward
the fact that one of the major world powers has raised the problem of evaluating their policies
not only through the development of gross domestic product.
The second conclusion to be drawn is that if you do a little more in-depth analysis,
often appears that the European economy in many areas is not less than U.S.
indeed is much more efficient. We have set an example by analyzing the health care costs and the results obtained
. This is not to say that Europe is the new El Dorado and that the U.S.
are intended to collapse, partly because many areas in the U.S. economy is still much more competitive than
European Union. The message that we want to send is rather wary of
superficial analysis often deliberately, for ideological reasons, to seek more
demonstrate the superiority of the American model in assessing the actual performance
economy.
Henry subsided
0 comments:
Post a Comment