Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Wealth Depicted

Most citizens will quickly gloss over any financial statistics (however educating they may be) that they encounter, creating a gap between what they understand, and what they could understand. A man by the name of Hans Rosling is looking to change how people interact with statistics by changing how they are visualized and presented. Here's an example of his work:



The acceleration of progress from the 1800's to today (illustrated in the video) is due in no small part to capitalism. While "free market" is often a bad word(s) today, it is important that we not take for granted the role it has played in our standard of living today. By allowing individuals the freedom to trade with others by mutual consent, resources (time, capital, property etc.) are put in a position to be employed in their most productive uses. Systems that allow/encourage capitalism will also likely need to be implemented in the world's poorest countries before they can begin their journeys on the path to prosperity.

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