information?
Go the following website from the bbc. Approximately which person are you? What is your projected life expectancy? How does the United States figure in the population growth? Speculate as to why population growth is slowing down in industrialized countries like the US. What are some potential problems for society as people live longer and future generations are smaller in industrialized countries? What did the results page say about resources and the year 2050? In light of the resource forecast predict what might happen to prices of goods with inelastic demand? As a potential investor, how could you use this
information?
8 Comments
Dalia Martin del Campo
11/2/2011 03:02:42 pm
According to the bbc website, when I was born in 1993 I was approximately the 5,596,484,282nd person in the world. Almost eighteen years have passed by and we are about to reach 7 billion. The website mentions that the average life expectancy in the USA is 78 years, but as a female I have a higher average of 80.5 years. This is probably due to the fact that females in general watch what they eat and take care of their bodies more than males do. Little of the current growth is happening in developed countries such as the United States. The most reasonable explanation as to why population growth is slowing down in industrialized countries is that, for the same reason that we are an industrialized country, more women are going to college and getting higher degrees of education. If women go to school, they are more likely to wait to have children. Even when they do, women in our society on average will have one to two children. Whereas in underdeveloped countries, women do not have the means to afford an education, therefore they have larger families as that turns into their vocation. However, small families can create conflicts in industrialized countries such as ours because as people live longer, they will retire at an older age taking up jobs, and a small future generation means more jobs available but less people trained for them. The UN mentions that by the 2030s, if the trends of population and consumption of resources continue, we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us. A good with inelastic demand means that the consumer cannot responds quickly to a price change therefore the prices of these certain goods will go up. For example gas, as there is no other substitute, people will still buy gas because it is a necessity. If the price goes significantly higher, those who can will turn to alternative transportation. I would invest in these goods assuming that a small portion of the people will actually turn to the alternatives.
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Cesar Ramirez
11/3/2011 11:23:47 am
I heard almost over a month ago that the population count had already reached seven billion. I heard the same news two days ago which did cause some confusion. I am the 5,641,228,305th person to have been born according to the bbc website. In the United States, the average male life expectancy is 75.4 years while the overall average is 78 years. On a personal level, I'm not worried about being a male and living a few years less than the average. To me, it seems fair since it is in no way the smallest life expectancy. The United States seems to be in the middle with the studies performed on the site, including growth. So are we really slowing down or are we just not growing as rapidly as other countries? I remember a discussion in AP Statistics last year where a survey was performed on men and women to see how long it took them to get married. It turns out that people were waiting a few years longer. Whether those people were finishing college or simply not ready to get married, there were not enough couples to have enormous amounts of births. As people wait, and get older, they tend to want to have less kids. A population of 10 billion by the end of the 21st century is appalling. The thing that comes to mind is how the world will support so many people everyday until they die. To reiterate, the average life expectancy is 78 years. If people continue to live this long, while the population grows, it will take the equivalent of two Earths to support us. It is ironic that the population will have a hard time surviving because people live too long. We owe that to better sanitation, medical, and living conditions. The most important resource for billions of people is food. With inelastic demand, one could raise the prices of food. Consumers wouldn't respond so quickly since food is a necessity. For those of you who don't like farming, consider this job when the world reaches a population of 10 billion.
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Teddy Ulin
11/3/2011 02:33:52 pm
Based on the BBC website, I am the 5,701,285,496th person to have been alive on Earth. The average life expectancy for a male in the United States is 75.4 years, and the overall average is 78 years. So for me, my average life expectancy is that of an average United States, 75.4 years. Of course this number means very little to the individual, but does show that on average United States citizens have generally high life expectancies. The United States is currently growing on average at a rate of .9%, which comes from a combination of births and immigrants. At the very moment I’m writing this, BBC has the U.S population at 311,340,709. Using simple math, that translates to an increase of around 2,800,000 per year(not exact of course). Of course a population increase of .9% seems miniscule, but that still is a huge increase in population. Although the world’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years, from just over 3 Billion to an estimated more than 7 Billion in 2012, the rate of growth has slowed in industrialized countries. I would speculate that the main reason population growth is slowing down in industrialized counties like the U.S has to do with the fact that women are pursuing higher education, and both waiting to have children and having fewer children than they used to in the past. Similar to Cesamos, I also remember that class discussion he referred to in statistics last year, which would help support the claim about women having fewer babies in industrialized countries. Dalia also touched upon the fact that women who go to school are more likely to wait to have children. Families that are involved in the workforce like those of the U.S, tend to have fewer children than those in third-world countries. If the population continues to skyrocket exponentially with no means of control, we could see huge problems in the future. First, lets look at the basic issue of feeding people, which is already a severe problem today. In addition, the job market will only get tougher with more able bodies to do work. This in hand causes people to reach for further education, which hopefully will slow the growth, but even with the growth slowed the population will continue to rise because of the long life expectancy. It was mentioned in the website that if the population and use of resources trends continue, the population will need to equivalent of two earths to support them (in the 2030’s). We’ve worked with some exponential growth problems in calculus this year involving the population, and the numbers are simply astounding how high they are expected to reach. The fact that the population could rise a whole 3 million in my lifetime is shocking, and really the world isn’t prepared for this. As mentioned, resources will become scarcer, and most importantly food. The demand is inelastic, so prices will rise and likely the rate of inflation will follow close behind. If I were an investor, the first thing I would do is invest in companies that specialize in providing necessities such as food, since I know they won’t crash and their product prices will only rise. In addition, if I were rich enough I’d probably buy a good chunk of land and start a farming industry, because in a world that is ever growing in population and more space is being filled, you’d be smart to secure a constant supply of food. Of course there are other lucrative things to invest in, such as clean energy because the environment won’t be able to support the industrial waste of 10 Billion people for years to come without any effect. It’s a scary thought, so one must make sure they are prepared for such a world.
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Dominic Skinner
11/3/2011 02:46:47 pm
I am the 5,635,586,427th person born. My projected life expectancy is 75.4 years compared to 80.5 years for women. Although the United States population is increasing, it is doing so at a much slower pace than other countries. This is due to women having access to higher education and more job opportunities. In undeveloped countries however, families are more likely to be bigger because the family is the women’s main priority. This is the main factor in populations increasing at a high rate. We are already seeing problems that can arise with having an older generation, namely that health care costs will rise because of the complications that come with getting older. As a result Americans may have to retire later than they would like in order to cover these costs The younger population will also have to start covering these jobs left by the retiring older population, possibly creating shortages in industries. The U.N predicted that as early as 2030 we would need another earth in order to satisfy our demand for resources. Because everyone needs items like food and housing, prices are sure to skyrocket. As an investor, both markets would prove extremely lucrative and would make for safe investments in the future because people will have no choice but to pay.
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Marina Spadarotto
11/3/2011 03:05:48 pm
Being born in early January, 1995, I am placed as the 5,685,144,800th person born on Earth. As women in the United States of America, this website speculates that I will live to be 80.5 years old and with an education, have one or two children. I believe this website has come to that conclusion due to the fact I live in an industrialized country where both men and women attend college, setting back the time to have children. Also, families in industrialized countries have slowed due to the economy as well. Middle class families cannot afford to keep bringing more children into the world since our economy has been dropping as the years go by. Although, small families can have a downside, seeing that the life expectancy of a person from a small family is much longer than one of a large family. The longer people live, the longer they work. And the longer they work, the less job opportunities there are for the younger generation. Families in third world countries tend to greatly expand their families because the likeliness of them all surviving is very slim. By having an immense amount of children, the parents are bound to keep the generations going, even if there is a hand full of unexpected deaths. People who create large families are huge benefactors to the worlds population and also have an impact on resources. Inelastic products take long periods of time to develop and have a pretty steady supply range. With the population growing, the demand rate is greatly increasing, offsetting the balance of supply and demand. If I were to invest in something, I would chose something that people absolutely need. Things like cell phones and candy would not be a reliable source. Resources like energy and gas are always being consumed by people even if the price goes up. Theres almost no way around resources like these, which makes it a good investment.
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Kirsten Sherman
11/3/2011 03:34:31 pm
According to BBC news, I am the 5,754,703,990th person to inhabit this earth. Every hour in the US, there are 484 births with 288 deaths. The obvious fact is that our growth rate is twice that of the death rate. The average life expectancy in America is 78 years. Due to the fact that I am a female, my average life expectancy is 80.5 years which seems perfectly fine to me. Americans have had it easy. We’ve lived having the privilege of not needing to worry about the dramatic increase or decrease of our population. Women have never been forced to have kids, and it’s always been a choice of the family. We Americans have been raised on education, and the values of it. While some people may or may not choose to accept and honor the value, others that see it and account for it end up with a significant amount of more choices in their lives. You travel to somewhere like Japan, or most of Europe, this stays the same. The true dramatic change is when you get to places like Africa, or India, where women are forced to have five to seven children in order to assure that at least two or three will live. They are not offered the chance to do or be something different. Education is a huge factor in when women get pregnant, and how many children they end up having. Statistics show that birth rates are the highest in women who have the least amount of education. Along with education, age is also a contributing part of the fertility rate of women. For ladies with a college degree, birthrates are highest for those who are in their early thirties. For women with less to no education, birthrates range from late teens to early twenties, and tend to continue on into their thirties. even though population growth may slow down, it still will increase. in 2050, resources will be incredibly limited and sparse. simple foods will become inelastic, and the prices will be very high. Supply will be minimal, demand will be very high and alsong with a high demand, prices will remain high as well. I strongly agree with what Teddy had to say about investments. Something such as clean or renewable energy will be a must have in future years and future generations.
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Catherine White
11/3/2011 05:51:52 pm
According to bbc I am the 5,749,642,595th person alive having 80.5 years as my life expectancy. The United States current population growth has expected to slow down. Our global population will have reached 10 billion by the year 2083. The people living in the US under the age of 25 makes up 43% of the global population. Our country is rated in the 60% of countries that is least - developed. I feel the population has slowed down in industrialization countries like ours because a lot of people now days cannot afford to have children. Since our economy had our downfall it has been difficult for a lot of poor, middle class, and rich families to keep their jobs or college graduates to find jobs. They do not have enough money support to pay for children let alone themselves. The future generations will have problems in the industrialized countries because of all the technology that has been created just over the last few years. All the new technology and machinery that is being used is eliminating jobs for thousands of people. In my results it estimates if the current population and consumption trends continue, by the year 2030 we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us. It estimates that we as one of the richest countries consumes double the resources used by the rest of the world. The price of goods could rise knowing that the demand will not shift. Consumers will not stop buying the things they feel like they need so suppliers can raise the prices knowing that their product will still be purchased. As a potential investor you could use this information because this could help you decide if you think it would be safe investing in a company or not. Being an investor and knowing that the prices would go up and the demand would stay the same, you would probably invest in that company feeling like that would be a safe investment.
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10/13/2013 11:53:01 am
No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.
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