POVERTY: Poverty Of Muslim World Can't Be Blamed On West

03/04/2011

Global Recession: Much of the Mideast unrest has to do with the extreme poverty endemic to the region. Sadly, the tendency is still to blame the West and turn to false Islamist prophets for solutions.
Witness the popular return of Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The exiled Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader recently gave a rousing speech in Cairo in which he called on Egyptians and other Muslims to rid themselves of secular regimes and build Islamic theocracies.
He assured the masses that Allah would reward them for rejecting Western individualism and materialism.
His message resonated, judging from the million Muslims who jammed into Tahrir Square to hear Qaradawi, while thunderously chanting, "Allahu Akbar!"
Such Islamist leaders are taking advantage of the growing discontent among Muslim masses. Their economic plight has gone from bad to worse amid the global recession. The radical Muslim Brotherhood may offer an attractive alternative for Muslims struggling just to put food on the table.
But it's a false choice.
Replacing monarchies with mullah-cracies is hardly the answer. Both snuff out the entrepreneurial spirit that drives industrialization and modernization.
Is there any hope for capitalism in the Islamic world? Not with Qaradawi controlling the debate.
The popular al-Jazeera talk-show host sternly warns that capitalism is not compatible with Islam. He exhorts Muslims to build an economic system based on seventh-century Shariah principles, which include the banning of interest and credit — a cornerstone of Western economies. (Charging, paying or earning interest — including holding mortgages, CDs, credit cards or bank stock — is illegal under Islamic law.)
"The collapse of the capitalist system based on usury and paper and not on goods traded on the market is proof that it is in crisis and shows that Islamic economic philosophy is holding up," Qaradawi said.
Apparently the sheik hasn't looked at any numbers comparing Muslim economies with Western economies. They don't stack up, to put it mildly.
The best yardstick for measuring economic success is per-capita GDP. None of the Muslim nations holds a candle to the U.S.
Qaradawi's Egypt, for example, ranks 111th in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $1,697. In contrast, the U.S. ranks 10th, with a per-capita GDP that's more than 45 times higher.
The Islamic system of finance and commerce is no model. If you add up the GDPs of all the Muslim economies in the world, they barely equal the GDP of Germany — despite all their oil wealth.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/565012/201103041845/Poverty-Of-Muslim-World-Cant-Be-Blamed-On-West.htm

POVERTY: Unemployment Does Not Equal Poverty

January 19, 2011:  DAVID LEONHARDT

Perhaps the most surprising part of the new Gallup study of unemployment around the world is that poorer countries don’t tend to have higher jobless rates. After surveying workers in 129 countries, Gallup concludes that “there is no significant relationship between unemployment rates and GDP per capita.” (and more)

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/unemployment-does-not-equal-poverty/

POVERTY: Faith and poverty in the world

2010, September 8
Using data from a recent Gallup report showing a correlation between wealth and faith, Charles M. Blow reports in graphic form. Each sphere, sized by population, represents a country. Spheres are colored by dominant religion in that country.
The United States is an outlier among the relatively richer countries. While the United States is the richest country by GDP per capita, 67% of Americans say that religion is important in their daily lives. Compare that to France, Britain, and Japan who report 30% or less.
On the flip side of that, it looks like there's a cluster of countries with both low GDP and low religiosity, such as Vietnam and Russia.
Many scientists believe "religion plays a more functional role in the world's poorest countries, helping many residents cope with a daily struggle to provide for themselves and their families."
Does this suggest that outliers might use other ways to cope with struggle?
http://flowingdata.com/2010/09/08/faith-and-poverty-in-the-world/

POVERTY: India

India has been in the news for its robust economic performance and for growth despite the recent global recession. The recent Indian Premier League suggests unbelievable investor confidence and provides great advertising opportunities, fantastic revenue, world-class sport, extraordinary entertainment, phenomenal television ratings and immense customer satisfaction. Yet, the incredible indices of development in India mask the inequity in the country and the human cost of the nation's progress. For millions of Indians hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment insecure, social security non-existent, health care expensive, and livelihoods under threat. The vibrant economy, “the shining India,” is restricted to the upper classes, while the majority in Bharat eke out a meagre existence on the margins.
Indices of wealth and development: The gross domestic product (GDP), the indicator of economic growth, is employed to assess the wealth of nations and the well-being of societies. However, its adequacy to evaluate the human condition or the welfare of nations has been questioned. An increase in GDP reflects economic growth but does not take into consideration its sustainability, life expectancy, health and education of people nor its impact on the environment. An example of its biased assessment is that misfortunes for some, due to natural disasters and wars, also mean economic opportunity and wealth for construction, pharmaceutical and defence industries and an increase in the index.
The Human Development Index (HDI) was conceptualised to focus on people-centred measures and policies, rather than on national incomes. The HDI employs life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and enrolment ratios and a measure of the GDP per capita to evaluate human health and longevity, knowledge and education and standards of living. While the HDI does provide a bigger picture when compared to the GDP, it has also been criticised for not capturing the complexity of the human situation.
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article411026.ece?homepage=true

MALARIA: statistics improve

What controlling malaria will do for African economies is multiple — the effect on GDP, the effect on health spending, lost school days, lost work days.
The high birth rate in Africa, which is on track to have two billion people by 2050, may even fall as fewer infant deaths cause families to have fewer children.
Eight African countries besides Zambia have halved their infection rates in the last decade: Eritrea, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Cape Verde and Sao Tome.
However, the success does not necessarily translate into lower malaria spending, on average 40 percent of Africa's public health budget, since the gains can be reversed.
"If we make a one-time push and pull resources back, it's going to be a disaster. You can't give someone a bednet, have it wear out in a few years and then expect everything is going to be OK.
Nigeria, DRC, Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania, in that order, have the highest number of cases and together account for more than half of all malaria deaths worldwide.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36717825