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The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )
- Thread starter rascal
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rascal
Player Valuation: £60m
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/20/jobs-revival-benefits-work-jobseekers-allowance
When the nascent English settlement of Jamestown was starving during it's bitterest period, under siege from chief Wahunsenachw, they sent out a delegation to plead for ceasefire and sustenance. And one man, I believe called John Harrington, who came from London, was part of the party that went to entreat with Wahunsenacawh. And when he did, the local Indians bound him to a tree, and their women stripped the flesh off his bones with mussel shells, and as he was still alive, they cast these pieces of his own flesh into a fire before him.
And I often think just how funny it would be to do that to Iain Duncan Smith.
When the nascent English settlement of Jamestown was starving during it's bitterest period, under siege from chief Wahunsenachw, they sent out a delegation to plead for ceasefire and sustenance. And one man, I believe called John Harrington, who came from London, was part of the party that went to entreat with Wahunsenacawh. And when he did, the local Indians bound him to a tree, and their women stripped the flesh off his bones with mussel shells, and as he was still alive, they cast these pieces of his own flesh into a fire before him.
And I often think just how funny it would be to do that to Iain Duncan Smith.
New report by a group called Innovations for Poverty Action casts doubts on how effective microloans have been (sadly). Makes for quite depressing reading. No idea who this group are so can't comment on the reliability of the research.
http://www.poverty-action.org/node/8171
"Microcredit--providing small loans to underserved entrepreneurs--has been both celebrated and vilified as a development tool. Six new studies from four continents bring rigorous evidence to this debate, finding that while microcredit has some benefits, it is not a viable poverty alleviation tool.
The studies, conducted by researchers affiliated with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), conclude that while microloans can increase small business ownership and investment, the small, short-term loans generally do not lead to increased income, investments in children's schooling, or substantial gains in women's empowerment for poor borrowers.
"The studies do not find clear evidence, or even much in the way of suggestive evidence, of reductions in poverty or substantial improvements in living standards. Nor is there robust evidence of improvements in social indicators," the introductory paper to the studies reads.
The six studies, conducted independently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Mongolia, and Morocco, and released in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, followed over 37,000 individuals in total. Across all six studies, researchers conducted randomized evaluations in which one group of potential borrowers received access to microcredit, while the other group received no such offer. By comparing outcomes between these two randomly chosen groups, researchers were able to identify the effect of expanded access to microcredit on business activity, financial behavior, and household welfare. The results showed modest, but not transformative, improvement in the lives and financial well-being of individuals one to four years after they accessed microloans.
All studies found some evidence of expanded business activity, but these investments did not often result in significant increases in profits. In Mexico, for example, where Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) followed over 16,000 households, those with access to the loans showed increased business revenue and costs, but these did not translate into increased profits or income. In general, microcredit had mixed effects on household income and consumption.
In some instances, however, microcredit did afford people more freedom in how they earn and spend money. In Morocco, borrowers cut back on wage labor as business sales and profits improved. In Mexico, microcredit helped women avoid selling assets to pay off debts.
Results from all six studies show little support for the assumption that microloans, which are often offered to women, increase women's empowerment or investment in their children's education. Researchers found in Morocco, for example, that the loans made no difference in the chances of children being enrolled in school or on a number of women's empowerment measures.
Economist Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a co-founder and co-director of J-PAL, co-author of the India and Morocco studies, and founding editor of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, said, "These loans do help, but the changes are not transformative, certainly not transformative enough to justify charitable donations to the standard microcredit model. We have seen, though, that these are viable profit-making products, and so investors interested in a double-bottom line should take note." Duflo suggests researchers and non-profits focus their attention on other approaches for financial inclusion for the poor.
"We must think beyond the standard microcredit model. Modern microfinance--savings and insurance, and more flexible credit products--often has generated larger impacts than simple credit," said economist Dean Karlan of Yale University, founder of Innovations for Poverty Action, and chair of finance at J-PAL, who co-authored the Mexico study. "Financial services can make important differences in people's lives, but we need more innovation and evidence to determine what is best to do, and meanwhile we should set our expectations appropriately," Karlan said."
A nice benefit of having a more participatory approach to politics. The basic gist is that the more engaged the electorate are in decision making, the higher the levels of tax compliance.
http://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/6699?locale-attribute=en
"This paper provides the first experimental evaluation of the participatory budgeting model showing that it increased public participation in the process of public decision making, increased local tax revenues collection, channeled larger fractions of public budgets to services stated as top priorities by citizens, and increased satisfaction levels with public services. These effects, however, were found only when the model was implemented in already-mature administratively and politically decentralized local governments. The findings highlight the importance of initial conditions with respect to the decentralization context for the success of participatory governance."
http://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/6699?locale-attribute=en
"This paper provides the first experimental evaluation of the participatory budgeting model showing that it increased public participation in the process of public decision making, increased local tax revenues collection, channeled larger fractions of public budgets to services stated as top priorities by citizens, and increased satisfaction levels with public services. These effects, however, were found only when the model was implemented in already-mature administratively and politically decentralized local governments. The findings highlight the importance of initial conditions with respect to the decentralization context for the success of participatory governance."
The Gates Foundation says the lives of poor people around the world will improve more over the next 15 years "than at any time in history."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/us-gates-foundation-letter-idUSKBN0KV0B720150122
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/us-gates-foundation-letter-idUSKBN0KV0B720150122
Ashtonian
Banned on request
On the news today about the government and mps wanting to bring in a law for plain packaging as of 2016 for tobacco products. It will, and i quote 'save thousands of lives'.
How?!
they really havent got a clue have they? and these are the ones running the country. Changing to plain packaging will probably kill or harm far more people than ones who stop smoking.
But they would know that if they were in touch with reality.
How?!
they really havent got a clue have they? and these are the ones running the country. Changing to plain packaging will probably kill or harm far more people than ones who stop smoking.
But they would know that if they were in touch with reality.
How would it harm things mate?
Ashtonian
Banned on request
Plain packaging would make counterfeit ciggerettes much easier to reproduce and package up which would, combined with the increase in price, make them more appealing for people who cant afford to buy their favourite brand.
And smoking knock off ciggies is horrible to your health even more so than normal. You dont know whats in them and if they are even branded or not. It would only effect the mnore working class sure but so many more counterfeit ciggies would flood the country because they would be much easier to pass off. More people would happily save a few quid not knowing the difference and they could even leak into newsagents and such if they are not aware.
All compared to someone deciding not to undertake smoking because the pack doesnt look nice enough..........
The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Good points made, Ash. It is terrifying that there are so-called experts sitting in meeting rooms deciding this stuff, and not a single one piping up and saying 'err, but what about...?'. And it's been going on for ever, not just in this govt.
Fair point, I hadn't thought of that. How big is the counterfeit ciggy market (I appreciate by its nature its hard to measure)? It would be interesting to know just what prompts people to start smoking in the first place. Instinctively it seems as though packaging would be relatively low down the list of reasons, but I'm sure someone has studied this.
The Cowboy
Player Valuation: £60m
Les norks, I would've thought.
red1
Arsenal fan
Why can't they just leave people alone? What is it their problem if people want to smoke and die it's legal isn't it? Massive nanny state in action. Next, they'll be saying people can't smoke in their own homes you wait and see. When questioned why they'll give the usual reply THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!
Clint Planet
Utter Cad.
Not quite sure what this forlock tugging article has to do with the UK general election. Was it in response to my previous post?
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