In a video titled “Stats That Reshape Your Worldview,” Hans Rosling visually presents statistical data, comparing the past and present development of countries in the world. He starts off with child mortality and compares the eastern and western nations from the year 1962 until 2003. It is made easy to see that fifty years ago, child mortality in the East was rather high. The size of the family was also significantly larger, comparing to the western world where family size was smaller and life expectancy larger.
Hans Rosling then does the same with salaries, and this all gets tied into the economic development of the countries (Stats That Reshape Your Worldview). In reality, this is a multi-planned process that closely depends on the social development of the country, as well as shifts in the economic betterment of living conditions and the quality of life of citizens. Some of the problems that statisticians face are the difficulty of measuring economic development, as it is often controversial and unique to each particular location.
It is non-linear, and the process itself is shaped by periods of growth and decay, qualitative and quantitative changes in the economy, positive and negative tendencies. It is made obvious that the second half of the twenty-first century saw some major economic development in almost all countries of the world. The eastern nations shifted to smaller families, and the income started growing. An unemployment rate is another measure that illustrates the economy of the country, and the amount of wealth of the East has shifted towards the figures of the West (Nafziger 39).
Macroeconomics is used to analyze economic growth, and GDP is often calculated to trace any changes. One of the major movers of the economy is the production and technological progress. In modern times, knowledge and all sorts of information have become a strong factor. The internet proved to be a great tool for knowledge exchange, and Hans Rosling greatly supports the sharing of statistical information. Presently, there are problems in accessing the data, as it is privatized, and very little people have the ability to see the true nature of things.
The neoclassical economic direction takes its basis in the optimal market system, which regulates itself and allows for the best usage of all production factors. The most optimal market is the one that allows for an intermix of economic aspects of the nation. The connection between the interchange of the capital and work determines what sort of combination in production and money spent can take place. The national product and the bettering of conditions of life can be influenced by capital investments or an increase in the workload.
Technological advances usually lead to a combination of the increase in employment and investments (White 188). As is shown by Hans Rosling, the industrial revolution has increased the amount of products and services, and this provided for a higher increase in the economies of nations. It is interesting to see that a small region can have very different levels of development depending on the natural resources, agriculture, geographical factors and many more aspects and specifics of the location. It is extremely important that all information collected in regards to economic development is shared between different countries, so that patterns and ideas can be used to increase the quality of life all over the world.
Works Cited
Nafziger, Wayne. Economic Development. New York, United States: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.
Stats That Reshape Your Worldview. Ex. Prod. Hans Rosling. Stockholm, Sweden: Ted. 2006. Film.
White, Colin. Understanding Economic Development. Northampton, United States: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. Print.