Economic Justice In The World? Essay, Research Paper

Many countries in the Eastern Hemisphere live very well and have high incomes. They have strong industries and skilled workers and are rich in resources. The government of these countries take care of the unemployed, the old, the sick and the poor. They provide health care, vacations and child care. Education is strongly respected and technology is high.

But, then in the continents of Asia and Africa you have just the opposite. There is poverty, famine, and sickness. Population is high and resources are poor. Most people are farmers and farm barely enough to feed themselves and their family. Industries are scarce and basically home-based. Transportation is not well developed except for waterways. These countries have poor agriculture and a poor educational system. Illiteracy is high. So, we can see that the countries of the Eastern Hemisphere have a broad range of different standards of living. This is so unfair and unbalanced. I think that there is no economic justice in the Eastern Hemisphere today because there is such a difference in the standard of living between the nations of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

We can assess the standard of living by looking at many different factors. Are the resources that are available scarce or plentiful? Are the resources renewable or non-renewable? Is the economic system traditional, socialist, communist, command or capitalist? How big is the country and how large is the population (population density), and how fast does it grow? How long is the life expectancy? What is the literacy rate (how many people can read and write)? What is the gross domestic product (GDP) or the value of all goods and services. What is the per capita income (GDP divided by population)? Does the country develop and have new technology? Does the government take care of its people? Is there health care, child care, and elder care? Is there a transportation system?

In the more developed nation like Sweden and England in Europe or Japan in Asia, the factors that we look at to assess the standard of living shows that there’s a high literacy rate, high per capita income, high life expectancy, high technology, low population growth, and a generally high rate of quality of life (human development index or HDI).

In a less developed nation such as India, China, and Bangladesh in Asia, Russia in Europe, and Nigeria and Somalia in Africa, the factors that we look at to assess the standard of living shows that there’s a low life expectancy, a low literacy rate, a growing population, a low per capita income, a high population density, and a generally low HDI. The economic system of a less developed nation is usually a traditional economy. New technology is scarce. Transportation systems are poor. The government doesn’t do much to help their people.

In conclusion, I feel that since so much of the land area of the Eastern Hemisphere

is taken up by poor countries like China, Russia, Africa, India and Bangladesh, who all have a pretty low standard of living, that there is an injustice in that hemisphere. Because, on the other hand you have countries like England, Sweden, Japan and Australia who have a high standard of living. It seems so unfair that so much land and so many people don’t have the resources and technology to better their standard of living. There definitely is economic injustice in the Eastern Hemisphere.