Flutterby™! : developing world myths

developing world myths

2006-11-30 16:47:15.700255+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Must watch: Hans Rosling at TED: Myths about the developing world. Fantastic use of graphics, some good busting of preconceptions of what "developing world" means.

[ related topics: Politics Graphics Video Economics ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2006-11-30 18:45:02.248621+00 by: ebradway

Man Google Video sucks... Watch the original from TED:

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/te...?key=hans_rosling&flashEnabled=1

There are also some decent Quicktimes out there of the presentation...

Did everyone catch "the tremendous change was in social change before economic change"?

Viet Nam improved at first through social change. It was only when Viet Nam was getting "close" to the US in terms of fertility and lifespan that it benefitted from the change from communism to a free market economy.

Rosling's presentation is simply packaging information that academics have known in a way that's accessible to non-academics. As an academic, I can tell you that we aren't really encouraged to make our work accessible. Sure, we teach classes but the common workload formula for tenure-track positions in 40% teaching, 40% research and 20% service. Candidates for these positions are usally judged on their history of publishing and funding - not quality of teaching.

#Comment Re: made: 2006-11-30 18:57:51.016629+00 by: Dan Lyke

Thanks, I should have gone and tried to find that link first.

What I caught was the health care change before economic change, and that both the decrease in infant mortality and the per capita income went way up when the political freedoms increased.

And I think Gapminder requires some front page space, but I need to download and play with some of their sofware first.