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Researching Issues
from: Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping
the Poor |
Suggested Questions to Guide Your Research
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES:
1)
GLOBAL INCOME INEQUALITY
Why are some nations rich and some nations
poor? Why is there global income inequality?
Who do poor nations remain poor, and rich nations remain rich?
Where does capital flow in the global economic
system i.e. where does foreign investment occur? Could that help explain why some nations
remain poor?
How valid is it to divide the world into rich vs. poor countries? Are some nations in the middle somewhere,
i.e. neither rich nor poor?
Suggested
resources:
International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
The Haves and the
Have-nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality / Branco
Milanovic. Basic Books, 2011.
2)
OVERPOPULATON
How is it decided – and who decides -- what the
capacity of the lifeboat will be?
Moreover, how valid is it to assume that the lifeboat’s capacity is
fixed and cannot be expanded?
Why is there a difference in the population growth
rates between rich and poor countries?
What socioeconomic conditions impact population growth rates?
Why do people in poor countries have large families?
Suggested resources:
International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
3) FOREIGN
AID AND PHILANTHROPY
What is the rationale
for foreign aid and international charity?
Why should rich nations help poor nations?
Suggested resources:
The
Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances, 2010
The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation – “All Lives Have Equal Value”
Bill
Gates: U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
The White Man's Burden : Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so
Much Ill and So Little Good / William Easterly
Penguin Press, 2006. HC59.7.E22 2006
4)
IMMIGRATION
Does immigration help or hinder a country’s economic
growth?
Do immigrants reduce or harm the quality of life for current residents?
Suggested resources:
International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES:
What are the national and international peace and
security implications for ignoring the world’s poor?
Is it ethically or morally justifiable to be concerned only with the economic
conditions of your own group (i.e. your own country, class, race, family,
etc.), while ignoring or downplaying the poverty of those outside your group?
Suggested resources:
One World: The Ethics of Globalization / Peter
Singer. Yale
University Press, 2002. JZ1318.S583 2002
The Law of Peoples / John Rawls. Harvard University Press, 1999.
Recommended databases for Magazine, Journal & Newspaper
Articles
Gale
PowerSearch databases - on campus or off-campus w/ library card
Articles
from academic journals, popular magazines and newspapers;
excellent set of general periodical databases.
Google Scholar -
Google’s academic search engine accesses a wide range of academic articles, theses,
books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional
societies, online repositories, and universities.
The PLS Online Catalog is the online
catalog to find books in Skyline Library and in all libraries in the Peninsula
Library System.
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last revised: 2-11-11 |