Entries by tag: singapore
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html
This is the latest Ted Talk to cross my viewscreen. It's Richard Wilkinson, speaking about the differences between societies with wide vs narrow differences between the highest and lowest income groups. The finding is intuitive, but the specific data that he pulls together, and the way he makes sense of it, is very interesting. At the end of brings it all together with some science about stress. According to him, the stressors that cause the greatest increase in cortisol are "social evaluative threats" to one's esteem or status. In other words, "people are sensitive to being looked down on". In societies where there is greater equality, there is less stress, hence explaining the increased longevity, health and peace that is seen in those societies. Of course, the US rates only second to Singapore in his scaling of wealth disparity, with Japan and Sweden at the other end of the scale. Anyway, it's worth seeing for yourself, if you have the 15 minutes.
This is the latest Ted Talk to cross my viewscreen. It's Richard Wilkinson, speaking about the differences between societies with wide vs narrow differences between the highest and lowest income groups. The finding is intuitive, but the specific data that he pulls together, and the way he makes sense of it, is very interesting. At the end of brings it all together with some science about stress. According to him, the stressors that cause the greatest increase in cortisol are "social evaluative threats" to one's esteem or status. In other words, "people are sensitive to being looked down on". In societies where there is greater equality, there is less stress, hence explaining the increased longevity, health and peace that is seen in those societies. Of course, the US rates only second to Singapore in his scaling of wealth disparity, with Japan and Sweden at the other end of the scale. Anyway, it's worth seeing for yourself, if you have the 15 minutes.
According to the World Economic Forum, that is. The US held second until last month, now Sweden and Singapore have passed the US. Switzerland just passed the US to take the #1 spot last year. China's moving up and has reached #27. Germany's also climbing the scale, now in the #5 spot. Japan's #6. Finland is #7 and Denmark is #9 putting Scandinavia as a whole in the top 10. Netherlands is #8 and Canada is #10. At the moment. Things are definitely shifting.
The rating is based on 12 variables: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.
SOURCE
http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20News%20Releases/NR_GCR10
The rating is based on 12 variables: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.
SOURCE
http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20News%20Releases/NR_GCR10
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