GDP and Its Limitations-Factors Determining Economic Growth-Genetic Inheritance and Mutation

Topic 1: GDP and Its Limitations

The national income accounts measure productivity, spending, and income; but these accounts were not designed to measure economic welfare. GDP only measures the value of marketed goods and services for a country during a given period of time. Goods and services that are not sold in markets, such as food produced and consumed at home and household articles, are not included in GDP. Discuss aspects of economic welfare ignored in GDP measurement.

Discussion Checklist:

A. What are the limitations of the GDP in measuring total output and national welfare?
B. What products (goods and services) are excluded from the GDP computation?
C. What are the impacts of the shortcomings of the GDP as a measure of the national product and national welfare?

Topic 2: Factors Determining Economic Growth

There are various ways of measuring long term economic growth of a country. There are also a number of economic and non–economic factors that affect long–run economic growth of countries.

Discussion Checklist:

A. What factors might contribute to a low growth rates in a country?
B. Compare growth rates across countries by visiting The World Bank website (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator). Why do some poor countries      experience higher growth rates than developed countries such as the U.S.?
C. Why might growth rates of developed nations be lower than those of poorer countries?

Source: The World Bank. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator

Topic 3

Genetic Inheritance and Mutation

Watch the following the videos to learn more about genetics and the implications of our genetic knowledge:

Our Molecular Selves:

https://www.genome.gov/multimedia/video/our_molecular_selves.mp4

Video transcript:  http://www.genome.gov/25520211

Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Genetic Knowledge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apjebtal8bQ&lr=1&uid=Up6Pd9fx8_UX7S38Ih_JqA

Video transcript:  http://www.genome.gov/25019880

• Describe a health problem that you believe has a genetic component at least partially inherited. Would you be interested in having genetic testing to determine whether you carry a genetic mutation for a particular disorder or a genetic predisposition for a disease? Why/why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of determining your predisposition?
• Using the resources provided in the prompt and in the unit’s Web resources, explore the current state of research for the health problem you described above. If you did not identify an inherited health condition within your family, then choose a disease that interests you or impacts a friend or other family member. Focus only on one of the following as they relate to the genetics of the disease. Share what you learn regarding research into the disease and look for similarities between the diseases you and your classmates describe.
  • Cause
  • Testing/Screening/Prevention
  • Treatments/Therapies/Cures

Sample paper

Question 1a

Some of the notable limitations of GDP include:

1. Ignorance of the quality of life – often the quality of life is used to of the general being of people and thus, it is ignored by GDP of any country. The quality of life includes wealth, employment, and the physical and mental health of people.
2. GDP underestimates informal markets – often GDP puts into consideration what happens in the formal market failing to take into account the informal market.
3. GDP overestimates negative externalities – GDP overestimates the negative effects that are associated with the production of goods and services in a country.

Question 1 b

Some of the goods excluded in a GDP include:

1. Sales of goods that were produced outside the domestic market
2. Sales of used goods

• Illegal sales of goods and services

1. Transfer of payments by the government
2. Intermediate goods used to produce final products

Question 1 d

1. Naturally occurring disasters and human accidents can raise the GDP of a country
2. GDP does not include measures or changes in the natural capital and resources making it difficult for a country to know their real worth(Kubiszewski, 2013).
3. GDP does not focus on the measure of the distribution of wealth in a region.

Topic 2 a

1. High population in a country
2. High levels of illiteracy in a region
3. Poor infrastructure
4. Hostile political environment
5. High levels of insecurity in a region

 Topic 2 b

1. Due to the high levels of population in these countries, there is a large pool of labor that is readily available to work and thus increasing the productivity f the developing countries.
2. Climate change – due to the higher rate of industrialization in the developed countries, there is a change in a climate where they experience longer dry seasons than rainy seasons, and at times, there is acidic rain which affects their crop and animal production. Unlike the developing countries where they experience a favorable climate that supports cropping and product production thus increasing their outputs.
3. The effectiveness of aid – it is correct to say that most developing countries are beneficiaries of foreign aid from international institutions that can be utilized to improve their economic status, unlike developed countries which are not the beneficiaries of this aid(Zhang, 2012).

Question 2 c

Developing countries stand a better chance to experience a higher growth rate than developed countries because of diminishing returns are weaker compared to those of developed countries. Diminishing return is the decrease in the marginal output of production processes, the factor of production increases while other factors of production remain constant. Moreover, developing countries have an opportunity to replicate production methods, technologies, and institutions of the developed countries.

Topic 3 a

Colon cancer is a perfect example of a disease that has a genetic component and is inherited from the parents to the children. Colon cancer is a malignant tumor in the large intestines. However, I would not be interested in having genetic testing on colon cancer basically because it can strain my family relation considering that there is the need to test my family members to determine a survivor or another individual from the family who has the same ailment. At times, the family members with the same ailment may be unwilling to go for the test or may have passed away owing to the infection. Moreover, receiving negative genetic results can be heartbreaking for the family (Greten, 2015).

Topic 3 b

Colon cancer in the colon develops healthy cells in the colon develop errors in their DNA. The most common form of hereditary colon cancer includes:

1. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer
2. Familia adenomatous polyposis

However, inherited gene mutations increase the risk of colon cancer in an individual.

References

Greten, F. (2015). Inflammation and Stem Cell Plasticity in Colon Cancer. In 17th International               Congress of Mucosal Immunology (ICMI 2015). Icmi.

Kubiszewski, I. C. (2013). Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress. .                  Ecological Economics, 93, , 57-68.

Zhang, J. W. (2012). Financial development and economic growth: Recent evidence from China  . . Journal of Comparative Economics, 40(3), , 393-412.