Sorry everyone, I know you were waiting patiently for this, but I went home after school feeling pretty lousy...and I am hoping to stave off something worse by going to bed early.  So, nothing to blog for you tonight...but come thinking about development issues tomorrow in class!!

One of the good things about Western aid to less developed countries is that it brings technology and medical aid where it has been previously lacking.  However, this is not always a wholly positive thing.  In the two articles you read tonight from The Economist ("Hailing the Google Bus" and "Growing Pains") identify and discuss some of the failings of Western aid to developing nations in terms of medical support and technology support.  What is the motivation of Google in providing a free mobile cybercafe?  Why is the medical support being given to the developing world not necessarily helping people in the long run?  What do you think might be a better way to provide the type of technology and medical care that will help the developing world?

We are going to start looking at how we measure and evaluate "development" on a global scale.  To start thinking about this, you need to go to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) site and look at some data on the 201o Human Development Index (HDI) http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/  I want you to pick one country from each of the four categories (Very High, High, Medium and Low) of human development and make some observation regarding the differences in data that you see there.  You may not understand all of the terminology, but pick something that interests you and post a comment here.  We will discuss

In reflection on our gin and vermouth producing countries, Here and There, I would like you to comment on your observations of how trade within a country and/or between two countries works best.  How could either country maximize the number of martinis it can produce, either alone or in trade with the other.  Who ends up most advantaged by a trade scenario?  How would this affect the workers of Here and There?  The companies producing gin and vermouth?  The government of Here and There?   Would free trade between Here and There be best?  What would need to be done to make the trade between the two produce an "equal" result so that they both benefit relatively equally from trading?  I will post a copy of the exercise on the Weebly website in case you want to  "crunch the numbers" again.  You can never have too much math!!

This week we have been discussing Globalization--what it is, how it manifests itself and how Thomas Friedman's concept of The World is Flat plays into making our world progressively smaller.  On this blog posting, I would like to hear your comments on whether you think Globalization is a good process or whether it has some problems associated with it.  Please keep your comments to approximately one paragraph and try not to repeat too much of what other students have already posted.