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Bernard English

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Showing posts with label International Comparisons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Comparisons. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

We’re Not No. 1! We’re Not No. 1! by Nicholas Kristof FROM The NY Tiimes

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Visual display of income inequality between high and low earners in various countries

Least earnings disparity: Sweden
Greatest earnings disparity: Namibia

Pakistan may rank "better" than the U.S and Taiwan, but I still wouldn't want to live there.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

IQ and the Values of Nations by Satoshi Kanazawa FROM Psychology Today

"His comprehensive study of 172 nations in the world demonstrates that the average intelligence in society increases its degree of democracy."

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Does IQ Determine the Wealth of Nations? by Gene Callahan FROM Mises.org [long article]

"However, the authors erroneously leap from their (perhaps defensible) contention that about 80% of an individual's IQ is dependent on genes to the non sequitur of asserting that the same percentage of genetic influence can be assumed for a nation's mean IQ."

Thursday, May 20, 2010

About That Mediterranean Work Ethic by Bill C. FROM Twenty-Cent Paradigms

The link just takes you to a chart depicting hours per worker for different countries. Regardless of whether the conclusion is right or not, it is a reminder to be careful about national stereotypes.
"That is, according to the OECD, the average Greek worker logs 2120 hours per year - 690 more than a German worker."

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Finland vs. France as the best place to live

One study By Matthew E. Kahn, PhD, and Fran Lostys rated Finland as the best place to live. See Living Green in Reader's Digest. The top 5 countries to live in (with an emphasis on environmental factors) were:

1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Austria

An altogether different list was compiled by International Living, which for the second year in a row ranked France as the best place to live. Below are the top 20 countries as ranked by International living (actual list in Brazil Magazine) and some quotes from the article explaining France's position:

1. France
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. New Zealand
5. United States
6. Switzerland
7. Denmark
8. Italy
9. Luxembourg
10. Argentina
11. Norway
12. Belgium
13. Germany
14. Spain
15. Austria
16. Finland
17. Malta
18. Croatia
19. Liechtenstein
20. Portugal



  1. France's infrastructure is among the best in the world (it ranks fifth in this category with a score of 77 out of a possible 100).

  2. According to the World Health Organization France has the best overall health care system in the world. Life expectancy now averages 83 years for women and 76 for men.

  3. Paris is not cheap (a recent report by Mercer Consulting reports that this city is the 15th most expensive in the world), but, outside the capital, you'll find the cost of living lower and the choice of properties selling for less than $100,000 impressive.

  4. Yet, despite France's long tradition of state involvement in the economy, successive recent governments, both left and right, have been striving to create the kind of pro-business environment sought by international investors.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Where Are the Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities in the World?

Seems to me Taipei should be somewhere on the list.
See the full article at Wired.

And the 11 most bike friendly cities?
1. Amsterdam (Take a look at some photos of Amsterdam bicycle culture.)
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Copenhagen
4. Boulder, Colorado
5. Davis, California
6. Sandnes, Norway
7. Tronheim, Norway
8. San Francisco, California
9. Berlin 10. Barcelona
11. Basel, Switzerland Source: TreeHugger

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Gun Ownership Rates

Per 100 civilians, according to 2007 Small Arms Survey. See swissinfo.
Note: small arms are guns that can usually be carried.

US: 90
Yemen: 61
Finland: 56
Switzerland: 46
Iraq: 39
Serbia: 38
France: 32
Canada: 31
Austria: 31
Germany: 30

From The Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City press release there is the following interesting observation:

"Brazil’s firearm homicide rate surpasses that of some countries at war, with a firearm death rate that grew threefold from 7 to 21 deaths per 100,000 in the period 1982–2002."




Thursday, November 1, 2007

A comparison of the US and Taiwan

Category Taiwan US
total area 35980 sq km 9,826,630 sq km
population 22.9 million 301.1 million
median age: 35.5 36.6 years
birth rate: 8.97 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) 14.16 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
male life expectancy: 74.65 years male: 75.15 years
female life expectancy: 80.74 years female: 80.97 years (2007 est.)
government branches: executive, legislative, judicial, examination, and control executive, legislative, judicial
ethnic groups: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84% mainland Chinese 14% indigenous 2% white 81.7% black 12.9% Asian 4.2% Amerindian and Alaska native 1% native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.2%
net migration rate: 0.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) 3.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
religion: mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5% Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10% (2002 est.)
household savings rate: 20% (2007)
Taipei Times
-.3% (2005)
Bureau of Economic Analysis
homeownership rate: 86% (2002)
Lu and Chen
69% (2005)
Danter.com
average home size: 42.2 ping (2006)
Liberty Times
70 ping USA Today
suffrage (投票, 參政權, 選舉權): 20 years of age 18 years of age
legislative branch unicameral legislative yuan bicameral congress
(225 seats; 168 members elected by popular vote) senate (100 seats) and house of representatives (435 seats)
GDP per capita (PPP) $29,600 (2006 est.) $43,800 (2006 est.)
population below poverty line: 0.9% (2006 est.) 12% (2004 est.)
public debt: 34.6% of GDP (2006 est.) 64.7% of GDP (2005 est.)
export partners: China 22.5%, Hong Kong 15.7%, US 15%, Japan 7.3% (2006 est.) Canada 22.2%, Mexico 12.9%, Japan 5.8%, China 5.3%, UK 4.4% (2006)
import partners: Japan 23%, China 11.9%, US 10.9%, South Korea 7.2%, Saudi Arabia 4.9% Canada 16%, China 15.9%, Mexico 10.4%, Japan 7.9%, Germany 4.8%
major exports 2006 (economist.com) machinery&electrical equipment 49.8%, base metals 10.7%, precision instruments 8.2%, plastic&rubber articles 7.1% capital goods (excl auto) 45.8%, industrial supplies 30.5%, consumer goods (excl auto) 14.3%, automotive vehicles, parts&supplies 11.8%



All data from CIA Factbook unless otherwise noted.




Monday, October 15, 2007

IELTS 2006 Results

These results may not mean much to any individual test taker's performance, but they are often talked about so here is the chart:



Some comments on the article:

ARTICLE TEXT
Do you show a wide range of vocabulary, or do you just use the same words over and over again?
COMMENT
Yes it is good to use a variety of words, but I often find students using the wrong words just so as not to use the same word twice. This happens in both the speaking and writing sections. If you are not confident about your alternative word, you may be making things worse.

ARTICLE TEXT
Q: What should I do if I don't know anything about the topic in the chart?
A: Don't worry. You are being tested on your ability to highlight and explain key facts, trends and changes as they are shown. No prior knowledge is necessary for this section.
COMMENT
This may be true. However, I have found that students who have no background knowledge whatsoever take longer to understand the chart and are more likely to misinterpret it. Increasing your general knowledge by reading newspapers should help you with both the speaking and writing sections of the IELTS, even if only slightly.

ARTICLE TEXT
Coherence and Cohesion: Do your sentences and paragraphs make sense? Are they linked using a range of connecting words?
COMMENT
Quite often when students are advised to use connecting words to make their writing more fluent. But actually, as the advise above suggests, using connecting words helps structure your argument. If you either use them carelessly or do not use them at all, you may confuse the reader as well as yourself.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Richard Lynn and international IQ rankings

Research Interests:
Intelligence
Sex Differences
Race Differences
Eugenics




THE EXCERPT BELOW IS FROM Dr. LYNN'S HOMEPAGE: http://www.rlynn.co.uk/
The theory I have advanced to explain these race differences in IQ is that when early humans migrated from Africa into Eurasia they encountered the difficulty of survival during cold winters. This problem was especially severe during the ice ages. Plant foods were not available for much of the year and survival required the hunting and dismembering of large animals for food and the ability to make tools, weapons and clothing, to build shelters and make fires. These problems required higher intelligence and exerted selection pressure for enhanced intelligence, particularly on the Orientals.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Global Peace Index Rankings


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