Global Learning FPLC Pratt 2006-7
From CTLpedia
Reflections on my Experience in the Faculty and Professional Learning Community, My Name, My Department, Mesa Community College, Contact me (mailto:gpratt@mail.mc.mariccopa.edu)
Global Learning FPLC Background
During the 2006-7 academic year, a number members of the MCC faculty gathered to discuss global learning. The group made the decision to focus our discussion on poverty and immigration.
Contents |
My Initial Views on Global Learning
I joined this FPLC due to my interest in globalization and my interest in how diverse groups learn.
Global Learning FPLC Activities Experienced
I was very fortunate to attend the majority of FPLC Global Learning meetings during the academic year. The entire community was eager to engage in thoughtful discourse. In addition to attending the meetings I had the opportunity to review many of the source documents recommended during the meetings.
In addition to attending our regular meetings I focused much of my reading on the two issues discussed by our Learning Community - Poverty and Immigration.
I spent considerable time reviewing contemporary thinking as reflected in the blog world, particularly as it was reflected in Brad DeLong and Big Picture Blogs.
Reflection on my Experience in Global Learning FPLC
The period I spent meeting with colleagues and reflecting on those discussions has been a valuable experience. As in instructor of economics I am challenged by the perspectives toward complex issues such as poverty and immigration. The past year had included rich discussions with very perceptive colleagues and I am indebted to them for their thoughtful consideration. [1]
Final Reflection on Global Learning in Teaching and Learning
I really do not have a final reflection, it is clear from our discussion this year that the significance of global learning is ongoing and will become increasingly important.
Annotated Resources and References on Global Learning
Sources
Online
Debates between Sachs and Easterly
http://www.nyu.edu/fas/institute/dri/Easterly/SachsDebates.htm
Econbrowser: Analysis of current economic issues and policy http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_distributio.html The distribution of world income One of the most profound questions in economics is why are some countries rich and others poor? A paper by John Gallup, Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Mellinger in the International Regional Science Review in 1999 introduced the concept of "GDP density", calculated by multiplying GDP per capita by the number of people per square kilometer. Basically GDP density is a measure of the total amount of economic activity that takes place at different spots on our globe. I found the map they produced quite fascinating. Foundation for Teaching Economics – Poverty Curriculum Unit Lesson 1 http://www.fte.org/capitalism/lessons/01/part1/ The two-part background outline defines "poverty" and "capitalism" in economic terms. In the accompanying three classroom activities, students first confront the slippery nature of their own use of the terms and then proceed to construct a tacit agreement about what the words will mean as they embark on their classroom investigation of whether capitalism is good for the poor. The exercise will also help students to focus on world poverty, rather than on the American form that tends to be more familiar to them. Learning to distinguish between relative and absolute poverty will give them labels for something they know but may not have found easy to express – that poverty in the United States may look like vast wealth from the perspective of sub-Saharan Africa. Is Capitalism Good for the Poor? is a unit about world poverty, absolute poverty, and lesson 1 is designed to help teachers and students sharpen their focus and zero-in on what they are studying and what they are not. Lesson 1, then, is not intended to address the question of whether capitalism is good for the poor. It is intended to provide the groundwork, so that the investigation designed to answer that question can begin in earnest in Lesson 2.
Foundation for Teaching Economics – Poverty Curriculum Unit Lesson 2 http://www.fte.org/capitalism/lessons/02/outline/ Throughout history, the road out of poverty has been built by economic growth, and the process continues today. In evaluating whether capitalism is good for the poor, therefore, the question to be answered is whether the institutions that characterize capitalist economies are effective in promoting economic growth. The evidence supplied by a survey of the world's wealthy nations suggests that yes, capitalism promotes economic growth. The developed economies of the world promote economic growth by incorporating incentives that encourage production, exchange, and creativity. These economies operate through capitalist institutions: They establish reliable political systems that ensure the rule of law, they secure property rights, and they open markets to competition.
Books
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Causes and Conditions of the Wealth of Nations. One of three influential books never read by contemporary audiences (The Bible and Das Kapital by Marx are the other two). See the analysis below of PJ O’Rourke. Smith in this work as well as The Theory of Moral Sentiments provides the rationale and intellectual foundation for the free market approach to poverty reduction.
De Soto, Hernando. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and fails Everywhere Else. In this book, Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues another reason: it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish. The real problem is that such countries have yet to establish and normalize the invisible network of laws that turns assets from "dead" into "liquid" capital. In the West, standardized laws allow us to mortgage a house to raise money for a new venture, permit the worth of a company to be broken up into so many publicly tradable stocks, and make it possible to govern and appraise property with agreed-upon rules that hold across neighborhoods, towns, or regions. This invisible infrastructure of "asset management"--so taken for granted in the West, even though it has only fully existed in the United States for the past 100 years--is the missing ingredient to success with capitalism, insists de Soto. But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else. With a fleet of researchers, de Soto has sought out detailed evidence from struggling economies around the world to back up his claims. The result is a fascinating and solidly supported look at the one component that's holding much of the world back from developing healthy free markets. --Timothy Murphy Click here for an outstanding 1999 interview http://www.reason.com/news/show/32213.html Easterly, William. The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics Penquin Press New York 2002. Unlike Sachs Easterly does not ask a rock star to foreward either of his books or to have a deposed third world dictator or billionaire philanthropist write glowing dust jacket blubs. Rather, using clear straightforward analysis Easterly describes the academic research as well as the on the ground consequences of over 50 years of centralized planning and decision making in the third world or, what he labels in his second book “The Rest” of the world. Easterly, a 20 year staff economist with the IMF who specialized in development aid to African countries presents the results of the analysis of 50 years of aid from the IMF and World Bank to developing countries. His analysis, like that of his adversary Sachs is 40 per cent positive analysis (he makes use of data from both the IMF and World Bank) and 60 per cent normative economics.
Easterly, William. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good Penquin Press New York 2006. Easterly extends his argument from The Elusive Quest in this reasoned analysis of the failure of centralization to improve the condition of the poor. Easterly begins by observing two great tragedies – the first is the 2.3 trillion people who live in extreme or absolute poverty world wide. The second is the 2.3 trillion dollars spent by the IMF and World Bank over the past 50 years in Africa and Latin America, large portion of which who have gone to Mugabe, et al that have driven recipient countries further into poverty. The most useful paradigm presented by Easterly is the dichotomy between the Searchers (market oriented individual decision makers) and the Planners (IMF, World Bank, Jeffrey Sachs) and the difference in outcomes between these two approaches.
George, Henry. Progress and Poverty.
Mankiw, Gregory. Principles of Microeconomics. 4th edition Chapter 20 Inequality and Poverty.
Mokyr, Joel The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. In a world of supercomputers, genetic engineering, and fiber optics, technological creativity is ever more the key to economic success. But why are some nations more creative than others, and why do some highly innovative societies--such as ancient China, or Britain in the industrial revolution--pass into stagnation? Beginning with a concise history of technological progress, Mokyr sets the background for his analysis by tracing the major inventions and innovations that have transformed society since ancient Greece and Rome. He attempts to answer the question of why the seed of economic and technological breakthrough seems to be centered in Europe and why some nations have lagged behind in both regards.
North, Douglass. Understanding the Process of Economic Change A key work in the field of development and growth, North argues persuasively that the complexity of economic change is founded upon the informal institutions (belief systems, norms and sociological networks) that create a foundation for freedom and market systems. North asserts that social scientists do not understand these processes as they stimulate or inhibit growth and thus poverty reduction. North argues that economic change depends largely on "adaptive efficiency," a society's effectiveness in creating institutions that are productive, stable, fair, and broadly accepted--and, importantly, flexible enough to be changed or replaced in response to political and economic feedback. While adhering to his earlier definition of institutions as the formal and informal rules that constrain human economic behavior, he extends his analysis to explore the deeper determinants of how these rules evolve and how economies change. Drawing on recent work by psychologists, he identifies intentionality as the crucial variable and proceeds to demonstrate how intentionality emerges as the product of social learning and how it then shapes the economy's institutional foundations and thus its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. He agrees with Easterly that centralized approaches such as those advocated by Sachs have a dismal track record. His conclusion is a pessimistic one, seeing the transformation of absolute poverty as a remote possibility.
O’ Rourke, PJ. Eat the Rich. A must read reflecting the essential difference in outcomes between centralized and decentralized approaches to poverty reduction. Regular readers will not be disappointed and first time observers to the O Rourke approach will find an insightful and humorous tour over the normative landscape of poverty reduction. P.J.’s conclusion in a nutshell: the free market is ugly and stupid, like going to the mall; the unfree market is just as ugly and just as stupid, except there’s nothing in the mall and if you don’t go there they shoot you.
O’ Rourke, PJ. On the Wealth of Nations. Another must read. O”Rourke summarizes the 900 page Wealth of Nations in fewer than 200 pages of readable a provocative analysis. He recognizes that the importance of Smith’s work today is for economic growth, development and poverty reduction. “Even intellectuals should have no trouble understanding Smith’s ideas. Economic progress depends upon a trinity of individual perogatives: pursuit of self interest, division of labor and freedom of trade” (1-2). In order to fully understand the first element of the Smithian thesis one can read The Theory of Moral Sentiments of chapter 3 in O”Rourke.
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged.
Sachs, Jeffrey The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time Penquin Press New York 2005
Sachs is the Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development Professor of Health Policy and Management. Well known for his consulting work to Poland, Russia, and Mexico Sachs is an advocate of centralized decision making, particularly in the area of poverty reduction. His book carries an introduction from Bono with glowing recommendations from Ernesto Zedillo and George Soros. Known for his advocacy of the Millenium Goals and Jubilee 2000 the book is 20 per cent positive economics with an outstanding set of definitions and historical contextualization of poverty (see pages 20, 28, 32, 36 and 41) and 80 per cent advocacy of a centralized approach a la Keynes or the model of the PRI in Mexico *(thus the glowing tribute from Zedillo) to resolving poverty. In essence, he argues against recent history (see Easterly) in suggesting that centralized guidance can eliminate absolute poverty from the world. A must read, although the reader must keep in mind the perspective (bias) of the author and newcomers to the field of growth and development may want to read Easterly before taking on Sachs.
Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds. This journalist presents a readable analysis of the outcomes from decentralized decision making. Another highly readable book that does a commendable job of addressing the philosophical foundations of free market thinking.
