Wrap-up Working Guide

Professor:
Lic. Miguel Armando Paniagua

Subject:
Global Environment 0

Group and section:

2-1

Student:
Eva Sofía Díaz Villatoro

Antiguo Cuscatlán, April 26, 2020

 Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado
Global Environment 0
Miguel Armando Paniagua
April 2020
Second term – working guide

Directions: use this material to get ready for the midterm test relative to this semester’s second
period. All questions can be answered using the material (slideshows, videos, and texts) shared with
you.

Based on the article “The asset we cannot afford to neglect” answer the following questions. It might be
the case that more than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate one.

1. Why it can be said that education is the foundation of human progress?

a. Education is something that every person should get
b. Education allows people to feel dignified and cherished
c. Education is important to signal oneself as a productive individual
d. The more education a population has, and the better the quality of it, the more innovative it becomes, this
generating more value and wealth

2. Why are we living today in a “Knowledge based” economy?

a. People need to know how to do things in order to be valuable to the market
b. Nowadays most cherished skills are related with soft areas, creative and innovative endeavors, rather
than physical or automated tasks
c. Education coverage is wider now than ever, thus more people have access to knowledge
d.

3. What is the difference between education enrollment and education quality?

a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE ARTICLE
i. Think about coverage and the nature of learning

Educational enrollment is the number of children who have access to education, while educational quality
refers to whether that percentage of children who are actually studying receive basic and substantive
education that allows them to prosper at the same level as children from developed countries. Some 260
million children are not even in school. More than double that number are in school, but they learn so little
that they will emerge without the basic literacy and numeracy they need to thrive.

4. Why does the text say that countries are underinvesting in education?
a. Governments do not care about education
b. Education is a long-term investment, thus it provides no political gains for current leaders
c. Government are positively biased towards infrastructure projects because they provide short-term
growth, and international aid is easier to find to fund this kind of projects
d. There is no money for education
5. What is the education vs. infrastructure credits dilemma?
a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE ARTICLE
i. Think about the answers to the previous question
R/ Investing in education does not have a return as evident as investing in the construction of a bridge or a
highway. Investing in a child will not have an obvious return until that child has reached the age to join the
workforce.

Developing country governments do not require funding for education. Most prioritize loans for physical
capital, such as transportation and energy infrastructure, over human capital investments such as education.
This is simply a bad economy: countries with first world roads and bridges, but fifth-class education systems
are not moving fast in terms of long-term economic growth and human development.

Building human capital is essential for all countries, of all income levels, they can compete in the economy
of the future. Investment in education is equal to or even more important than investment in infrastructure.
According to the World Bank, most countries invest less than they imply in quality education and health,
among other things because we do not know what that non-investment costs them.

Based on the article “What is populism?” answer the following questions. It might be the case that more
than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate one.

6. Is populism good or bad per se?

a. TRUE. Populist leaders always end up doing things worse off for their societies
b. FALSE. Populist leaders are good since they consider the people’s desires
c. TRUE. Populist governments take advantage of people’s nerviness
d. FALSE. Populist leader might act well or wrong from their position of power. Populism is just a way to
get into office, a way to make politics.

7. What is the difference between a “Thin” and a “thick” ideology?

a. A Thin ideology has very few adepts, a Thick one has many adepts
b. A Thin ideology has no core values, nor core belief to follow; on the contrary, a Think ideology provides
a whole cosmovision
c. A Thin ideology is comprised of very few elements, while a Thick one builds upon a great deal of rules
and values
d. A Thin ideology is temporary, a Thick one lasts through ages

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of populism? (select weather you think each idea is
either an advantage or not)

IDEAS ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

It forces Elites to move from historical status quo X
It might entail serious threats to the democratic system X
Based on the TEDtalk: “An escape from poverty” – Jacqueline Novogratz answer the following
questions. It might be the case that more than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate
one.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jacqueline_novogratz_an_escape_from_poverty?referrer=playlist-the_quest_to_end_poverty#t-125470

9. Why poverty is not just about income?

a. Money is not enough. In fact, is not about money, it is about what can you buy with money
b. Money is useless if there are not thigs that might be bought with it
c. Wellbeing is a multidimensional concept: it considers access to services, the freedom to make your own
decisions, etc.
d. Multidimensional poverty considers education, health, and income

10. What is the difference between being poor and being vulnerable to become poor?
e. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO

R/ Explaining it with the example of the video, Jane within her environment, she stopped being someone
poor, however, earning $ 4 per day and supporting 2 children, she is located within the population with
extreme poverty. Now, because she is no longer "poor" within her community, she can choose to access
low-cost housing in a development project. However, due to his condition, he is a vulnerable person, a
single mother and part of a minority (carriers of HIV).

11. What does the speaker say about hope and dignity?
f. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO

R/ It urges us that regardless of our economic level, we can do something from our reality to help those
who are more vulnerable than us, to be grateful for what we have and that as difficult as crises are, this
should motivate us to reinvent ourselves and build a decent system where the most vulnerable people can
have access to basic services that they do not have and that affect their quality of life and health.

Based on the article: “Like father, not like son” answer the following questions. It might be the case that
more than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate one.
(Article available in Conscious)

12. Social mobility its reflected when in a society, on aggregate, exhibits strong intra-generational
income correlations
a. TRUE
b. FALSE

13. More equal societies tend to show higher levels of social mobility
c. TRUE
d. FALSE
Based on the TEDtalk: “The story we tell about poverty isn’t true” – Mia Birdsong answer the following
questions. It might be the case that more than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate one.
https://www.ted.com/talks/mia_birdsong_the_story_we_tell_about_poverty_isn_t_true?referrer=playlist-the_quest_to_end_poverty&language=en

14. Why does the speaker states that poor people are the strongest resource to fight poverty?
a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO
Because over the years the strategy to fight poverty has not worked as expected, however these people are
key to creating a functional strategy, if you can understand the problems they live in, if we listen and look
for true stories of who they are marginalized people, families and communities take away their prejudices
and stigmas, thinking that they are poor because they want to or because they are lazy, better strategies
could be created to combat poverty.

15. Why poverty is about not having options? Why the luxury of choice is a privilege of the non-poor?
b. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO
With all the economic, opportunity, educational limitations, etc.; the options are reduced more and more,
to the point that you cannot choose even the basic needs such as what to eat? where to study? What to wear?
For that same reason, choosing is a privilege of the non-poor. More resources, greater options and
possibilities.

16. Why does the speaker states that the way we have approached poverty fight has been wrong all
over the way?
c. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO
Because it has focused on the problem is the people, when seeing these stories and many more, we see that
people have the desire to get out of poverty but the system is not created so that they can achieve it and who
or what they have done is because apart from having the desire they have had a bit of luck along the way.

17. Why do we need to listen to the true stories from the poor?
d. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE VIDEO
Because in those real stories we will find true solutions to fight poverty, that's where the real experts are.

Based on the article: “Central America’s Besieged Women” answer the following questions. It might be
the case that more than one answer might be valid. Choose the most accurate one.
(Article available in Conscious)

18. How cultural norms make it harder for women to escape poverty, according to the text?
a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE ARTICLE
The macho culture is a factor that prevents many women from developing professionally because of their
husbands who do not like being outside the home and therefore do not allow them to work, disobeying them
implies mistreatment. Women face unemployment rates that are 50 percent higher than men.

19. What strategies women use to escape from gangs’ attention?

a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE ARTICLE
Women give up shop windows or signage, operate quietly from inside their homes, and deliver products
directly to customers. They travel to distant cities, often in the middle of the night, to sell their products,
increasing commercial risk and transportation costs. All this limits the growth potential of your business.
20. How Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) help women in Central America?
a. OPEN QUESTION – PROVIDE ANS ANSWER ON YOUR OWN BASED ON THE ARTICLE
In Central America, financial institutions are limited to offering financing, however under all the
environment they live in, women seek financial education and help with emergency planning. Financial
institutions should pay attention to the needs of women entrepreneurs and adapt their services accordingly.
For example, they should provide financial products that allow women to save secretly, hidden from the
curious eyes of their husbands, their spouse's associates, or gang members. Loan products that offer lower
interest rates or advanced specific goals, such as savings for health emergencies, including physical attacks,
would also help.

Answer the following questions based on the context within the following slideshows
• • Unit 4-Social Factors-Poverty
• • GLE_0-U3-Globalization-Populism
• • GLE_0-U4_education

21. What is the difference between education’s private and social returns?
Private returns allude to increased income individual derivatives of the increase in human capital. Regarding
social returns, greater education and therefore a higher level of human capital has a positive impact on labor
productivity, on externalities and on the “effects of overflow”.

22. Describe the “human capital” theory of education returns

The rate of return in human capital theory is defined as "the difference between output and wages
over the net capital stock or some variable that indicates the investment made in a given period of
time" (C. Ruiz, 1996 : 18). The costs of education are estimated through the time that an individual
or society as a whole could have dedicated to activities that involve a salary and the direct costs
on them. For example: study material, per diem and transportation.

The general benefits of education are the sum of direct benefits (referred to the extra income
resulting from education); and indirect (referring to higher social productivity and its impact on
national income, not captured by individuals, but by society), indirect benefits can produce greater
social cohesion, technological innovations or intergenerational benefits.

23. Describe the “sorting” theory of education returns

The “sorting” theory argues that the primary function of education is to reflect innate labor productivity to
employers in the labor market. Education is presumed to have no other function than to provide people with
credentials that reflect their innate productivity for employers, where higher levels of educational
achievement are associated with greater innate ability.

24. Why employers need to screen?

Under screening, employers (who are not informed about worker productivity) can either demand minimum
levels of education from applicants or simply look at their given levels of education to "select" potential
employees and infer their innate abilities.
25. Why jobseekers must signal?
Workers (who are informed about their own productivity) acquire education with the purpose of "pointing
out" their innate abilities to potential employers.

26. Describe the idea of “right-wing populism”, and provide an example of a current political leader
that follows this way of doing politics
Right-wing populism deploys welfare policies in the perspective of social control and citizen security and
is characterized by the preeminence in its political discourse and in its electoral programs of the most easily
recognizable topics in right-wing thought: the priority of security over to equality, the tendency to
criminalize and judicialize social problems and the construction of an exclusive nationalism, with ethnic or
culturalist overtones. A current right-wing populist political leader is Donald Trump, President of the
United States.

27. Describe the idea of “left-wing populism” and provide an example of a current political leader
that follows this way of doing politics
Populism is a political ideology that divides society into two homogeneous and antagonistic entities: the
people and the elites, arguing that politics must be the expression of the general will of the former. Left-
wing populism rhetoric often consists of anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the system, and speaking for
the people. Important issues for the populist left typically include anti-capitalism, social justice, pacifism,
and anti-globalization. A political leader who governs under left populism is Evo Morales or Hugo Chavez.

28. What are the services that populist leaders provide?

The people against the elite. This town is not the demos, that is, all the citizens, but a part, because each
leader has his town. Thus the drug tries to combat loneliness and forge a new national community or
interests.
They revolve around an absolute leader. Since there are no longer intermediaries, here is the medicine to
establish a direct political relationship.
They promote the invention of an enemy. The migrants, the poor, the Muslims, the blacks, the "communists",
the caste of powerful, etc ... This channeling of rage is a medicine against the lack of meaning and
orientation of contemporary life.
The majority
The minority (identity markers)

29. Why populism can be depicted as a market phenomenon?

Because they express what the people want to hear, the people against the elite, they revolve around an
absolute leader, they promote the invention of an enemy. They practically create a story of heroes and
villains creating controversy among the population that causes something akin to a market phenomenon.

30. How economic unfairness is different from inequality, and why the forms is blamed of making it
easier to populist leaders to get into power?
"If there is misery here, misery for everyone" said a fisherman in Cádiz. And unfortunately that is the
equality so desired by populists, to equalize to the downside. The term inequality normally refers to
inequality between individuals and groups within a society, but it can also refer to inequality between
countries. Economic inequality is related to the idea of equal opportunities and equal results. The economic
injustice is related to the lack of justice regarding the income that a person can receive for the work they
perform, or rather, for the effort and dedication that a job requires to earn a salary that does not cover even
their basic needs and does not allows them to progress and improve their standard of living.

31. How absolute and relative poverty can be defined?

Absolute poverty
It is based on the idea of “material subsistence”. It is considered that people that people that lack food,
housing and enough clothing suffer from “absolute poverty”. According to this definition many developing
countries still have vast amounts of people suffering from absolute poverty.

Relative poverty
This concept links poverty not just with a fixed standard, but with the “general level of life” of a given
society. This concept considers the fact that poverty is cultural-dependent. This means that what it means
to be poor varies from one society to another. Poverty cannot be measures with a universal standard.

32. Why it is said that wellbeing might be relative to one’s own concept and environment and that is
a contextual dependent sentiment?
Things that might be considered essential in one society might be regarded as luxury goods in other ones.
In developed countries, running water, toilets, regular consumption of fruits and vegetables might be
considered as basic needs. However, in many developing countries the above-mentioned items might no be
part of people’s daily lives.

33. What are the two theories -presented in this course- regarding the origins of poverty? Describe
them
It must be stated that the concept of “poverty” powerful as it is, it fails to account for every aspect of
human’s welfare. In the past, having a fridge, a TV and phones might have been regarded as a luxury.
Nowadays, this assets are mostly regarded as basic needs.

34. It is possible that there might be some groups that get hit harder by poverty than others? List
some of those groups presented in the slideshow. Why these groups might be more vulnerable?
Yes, in general disadvantaged groups of people that face any kind of discrimination in any aspect of their
lives face a bigger risk of being poor.
Some of the groups are:
- Children
- Women
- Some minority groups
- Elderly people

35. How poverty can be defined

Poverty does not only imply a lack of income and consumption: it also manifests itself in the form of low
educational levels, unsatisfactory results in health and nutrition, lack of access to basic services and a
dangerous environment.