Do Women Earn Less than Men?
Mar 15th
This post takes the same title as that of the impressive 4 minute youtube clip by LearnLiberty.org. Helps with learning about why women – on average – tend to earn less than men, as part of the IGCSE Economics course.
Understanding why wages differ between jobs using supply and demand analysis
Mar 15th
Image: Some rights reserved by 401K
Three websites to help you understand how wages differ using supply and demand diagram analysis.
Why the distribution of income in the UK is unequal by economicshelp.org
Wage differentials between occupations by tutor2u.net
A bit more advanced:
Banks
Mar 15th
Might be useful for the IGCSE Economics course: an introduction to banking system, and an explanation of Central Banks (although this is quite high level stuff).
Micro-credit Schemes
Mar 7th
This is a nice and simple introduction to microfinance which features microcredit, as explained in the video itself.
You could explore this web site which is an example of a charity organisation seeking to facilitate microfinance. There is a useful video on the home page.
Similarly, this website gives details of microcredit in practice:
The Grameen Bank, founded in Bangladesh by Muhammad Yunas, is often cited as the main pioneer in the field of microfinance. This short video features Yunas and explains the concepts:
This video gives an example of apparent success:
WorldBank provides an example from Mauritania:
Fair Trade Organisations
Mar 7th
A brief and accessible explanation is here:
BBC Bitesize Fair Trade (Geography GCSE)
Here are some videos to introduce you to the idea of Fair Trade:
Some rights reserved by Oxfam East Africa
DiagramConsultores gives us this case-study video on Fair Trade in the Domincan Republic:
mobiuslive posted an excerpt video from eq.tv on fair trade:
Types of Aid
Mar 7th
The IB Economics Syllabus (2005) requires you to understand:
Types of aid
• bilateral, multilateral
• grant aid, soft loans
• official aid
• tied aid
Image: Some rights reserved by Oxfam East Africa
You can quite quickly find out what these mean by visiting these websites:
BBC Bitesize Types of Aid (Geography GCSE website)
Types of Aid by Scalloway.org.uk
PDF file – AID – what are the different types? by World Vision Australia School Resources
Stock Exchange
Feb 28th
In the IGCSE Syllabus for Economics we have the following:
describe the functions of central banks, stock exchanges, commercial banks;
This post addresses the second of those financial institutions listed, stock exchanges.
First, this entertaining video produced in 1952 for a US audience does a good job of explaining how a stock exchange works:
This video from the mid 1990s shows how the New York Stock Exchange had moved on from the 1950s – what do you think are the main differences?
Then, if you have time, see how interconnected the world’s stock exchange markets are today when crisis hit in 2008 as a major investment bank in Wall Street was suddenly taken off the world finance market as it filed for bankruptcy (find out what that phrase means). Two news clips introduce the events …
A major crisis like this had happened before. For the historian in you, this documentary clip summarises the 1929 Wall Street Stock Market Crash …
Differences in Earnings between different Occupational Groups
Jan 26th
Here are some resources to help you with this aspect of the IGCSE Economics syllabus:
Source: Capital Gains Tax Rate & Income Inequality Chart
Via http://www.fastcodesign.com
Via http://www.parkcityindependent.com
Introduction to Development
Jan 22nd
This post offers some resources to help learn about the key syllabus pints under section 3.2 of the 2005 IB Economics syllabus.
Definitions of economic growth and economic development
and
Differences in the definitions of the two concepts
This video excellent by Flame India includes points on limitations of using GDP to compare welfare (below) and alternative measures (HDI). Take note of the definitions by Michael Todaro and also the contributions of Amrtya Sen and Mahbub ul Haq. Note how Economic Growth contributes towards Progress in Human Development.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) versus Gross National Product (GNP) as measure of growth
To recap the meaning of GDP, you might use this opengecko post:
To see some examples of actual GDP figures, you could use this post:
Comparing GDP and Other Indicators Across Countries
PAJ Holden gives a detailed explanation of the difference which lasts 8 minutes:
This video summarises the differences much more quickly:
Limitations of using GDP as a measure to compare welfare between countries
Notice – Joseph Stiglitz also points out the difference between GDP and GNP (above) as well.
Allowance for differences in purchasing power when comparing welfare between countries
Alternative measurements of development
Composite Indices – HDI and beyond by hdr.undp.org
See the original (via EU Infrastructure) here.
Problems of measuring development
For this section, you may conduct your own online research and/or consult your text book.
Changes in Earnings Over Time For An Individual
Jan 21st
Tasks:
1) You should also create a hand-drawn chart to show how , in theory, a person’s earnings might change over the course of their lifetime. This should be saved as a digital version (you might draw it using online tool such as dabbleboard, or you might draw it by hand on a tablet, or you might draw it on paper and scan / photograph it).
2) Your task is to write the script for a audio report describing and explaining (giving likely reasons for) how earnings are likely to change over the course of a person’s lifetime, and you should refer to your image. You should aim for a report that lasts approximately 2 minutes maximum.
Image: Some rights reserved by dslrninja
Resources:
These resources should help you to visualise things. Some are quite complex – it is up to you to simplify the information while keeping some of their main information ‘in tact’.
Average Lifetime Earnings Trajectories by Education – by Political Calculations. Click on the image in the blog article.
Peak Earnings by Mother Jones
US Average Income per Income Earner by Age Group for 1995 and 2005 – via Political Calculations
Distribution of US Individual Income by Age, 1995 via Political Calculations
Education and raises by Marginal Revolution
This following ‘infographic’ actually tackles how ‘discretionary income’ changes – you should read what this actually means as it is different from earnings, but still worth exploring.
How Does Discretionary Income Change Over A Lifetime?
