Comparison of economic indicators between Canada and Argentina
Table of Contents
GDP Graph of Argentina and Canada. 3
Unemployment Graph of Argentina and Canada. 4
Inflation Graph of Argentina and Canada. 5
Human development Index Graph. 6
Graph on social progress index or adjusted HDI, multidimensional poverty index. 7
Comparison of unemployment graphs. 10
Comparison of Inflation graphs. 10
Comparison of HDI, multidimensional poverty graphs. 11
Effect of recession on Argentina and Canada. 12
Is high economic growth needed for achieving a high standard of living?. 12
What procedure do developing countries follow for achieving a higher standard of living?. 12
Introduction
The paper will bring about a comparative study between a developing and a developed country. The developing country chosen for the paper is Argentina and the developed country chosen for the paper in Canada. According to the current year estimate, the population of Argentina has been 45,211,980 as reported by the United Nations. Argentina rands 32 in the list of countries based on its population estimates. The currency used in Argentina is the Argentine peso, identified by $. The current population in Canada is 37,755,152 as reported by the UN in 2020. The country ranks 39 in the list of most populated countries. The popularly used currency of Canada is the Canadian dollar represented by CAD. Canadian pound was used in the country previously, which has now been replaced by the Canadian dollar. Comparing the population of the two countries, it can be noted that Argentina is populous than Canada.
GDP Graph of Argentina and Canada
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/argentina/gdp)
According to the official data from the World Bank, the Gross Domestic Data (GDP) of Argentina was 449.7 billion approximately in 2019, representing 0.38% of the world economy (Apella, 2016).
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp)
The GDP of Canada was 1743.43 billion US dollars in the year 2019 as reported by the data of the World Bank. The GDP contributes about 1.45% of the world economy (Ge and Tang, 2020).
Unemployment Graph of Argentina and Canada
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/argentina/unemployment-rate)
The rate of unemployment in Argentina rose to 10.4% in the first quarter of 2020 from 8.9% in 2019. The current rate remains below market expectation, which is 10.9%.
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/unemployment-rate)
The unemployment rate in Canada shows fell by about 1.4% in the current year, from 13.7 to 12.3%. Currently, the rate is slightly above market expectation, which is 12% (Bataille and Melton, 2017).
Inflation Graph of Argentina and Canada
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/argentina/inflation-cpi)
At the end of June 2020, the inflation rate of Argentina was recorded as 41.3%. The rate has dropped slightly from 42.1% as reported from the previous year’s data.
(Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/inflation-cpi)
The consumer prices displayed a downward movement in Canada by 0.4%, which is the biggest decline since September 2009 (Bergmann, 2019).
Human development Index Graph
(Source: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/ARG.pdf)
Between 1990 to 2018, Argentina displayed an increase in the Human Development Index (HDI) value from 0.707 to 0.830 (Antonakakis et al. 2016). Three indicators are considered that is, life expectancy, education, and GNI per capita.
(Source: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/CAN.pdf)
In the range of 28 years from 1990 to 2018, the human development index of Canada rose from 0.85 to 0.92, that is, by 8.5% (Ocampo, 2017).
Graph on social progress index or adjusted HDI, multidimensional poverty index
(Source: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/ARG)
Argentina scores 0.830 in the adjusted HDI index, ranking 48 among the list of all countries.
(Source: http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Argentina.pdf)
The multidimensional poverty index of the country is 0.011 as reported by the survey of 2005.
(Source: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/CAN)
Canada scores 0.922 in the field of adjusted human development Index and ranks 13 among all the other countries.
(Source: http://www.iariw.org/korea/curtis-slides.pdf)
In the field of multidimensional poverty index, Canada is distinguished based on three indicators, that is, health, education, and standard of living.
Comparison of GDP graphs
Considering the GDP graph of Argentina, it can be observed that the last growth rate of the country has been negative showing approximately 4%. The highest growth rate in the last ten years has been 5%, which is quite low as compared to other nations. Currently, the GDP stands at $449.7 billion, representing 0.38% of the world economy (Dorich et al. 2018). The highest GDP figure has been $642.7 billion while the lowest has been $18.3 billion. In the segment of economic activities, the GDP is contributed by important activities like agriculture, construction, manufacturing, services, mining, transport, utilities, and public administration.
Considering the GDP graph of Canada, it can be observed that the growth rate has been slightly negative showing 2%, while the highest rate has been 3.1% which is lower than Argentina. This is because the country has shown a downfall in its growth rate in the current year, being only 0.10%. In 2019, the worth of its GDP has been $1736.43 billion, which is quite massive as compared to Argentina (Laidler, 2020). The country contributes about 1.45% to the world economy, which is quite high as compared to Argentina. The major contributing sectors remain quite similar to that of Argentina, that is, construction, manufacturing, mining, and others.
Comparison of unemployment graphs
Through the analysis of the unemployment graph of Argentina, it can be observed that the unemployment rate jumped up to 10.4% in the first quarter of 2020. The figure remains slightly below the market expectations, which is 10.9%. This can be a bad signal for the economy. However, the economy has shown an impressive drop in the rate of underemployment, from 13.1% to 11.7% (Chimnani et al. 2016). Before this year, the unemployment rate was about 10.1%, which was a bit lower than the current year. The economy has observed the highest number of jobless people when the number climbed up from 198 thousand to 1394 thousand.
In contrary to the situation in Argentina, the unemployment rate in Canada fell from 13.7% to 12.3% after the labor market blossomed with the returning laborers. The economy reported the addition of 952.9 thousand more jobs, which displays quite a bright picture as compared to the Argentine economy. This has exceeded the forecasted picture, which was about gaining 700 thousand more jobs for the people (Mario, 2020). Along with this, the labor participation rate also increased consecutively from 61.4% to 63.8%. The number of full-time jobs added in the list was approximately 488 thousand and that part-time jobs were 465 thousand.
Comparison of Inflation graphs
In Argentina, the inflation rate has been quite high showing a percentage of 41.3 in the latest quarter of 2020. Comparing the percentage with that of the previous year, it can be observed that it has dropped infinitesimally from 42.1 to 41.3. The lowest drop-down of inflation observed in the economy in 10 years is 7% The most important categories that fall into the consumer price index are food and beverages, which contribute up to 29% of the total weight, followed by transport and clothing. Other areas are housing utilities, health, restaurants, hotels, recreational activities.
In Canada, consumer prices have revealed a slight drop of 0.4% on a year-to-year basis. Comparing the rate of fall with the previous month, 0.2% is observed. However, this fall is considered as the biggest decline in consumer prices experienced by the country after September 2009. The important segments in this context are health & personal care, tobacco products, recreational cannabis, household furnishings, clothing & footwear. However, it is noteworthy that every month the consumer prices went up to 0.3% and rebounded the 0.7% fall of the previous month (Thibodeau and Lachaud, 2016). The economy is in better position in terms of inflation rate as compared to Argentina.
Comparison of HDI graphs
The trends of human development index in Argentina has been shown for the period of 18 years in the graph. Between this period, the value increased from 0.797 to 0.83, which shows a percentage increase of 17.4. The three determinants of measuring the human development index as shown in the graph are life expectancy, education and GNI per capita. Between 1990 to 2018, the life expectancy in Argentina increased by 4.9 years. The average years of schooling of the children has increased by 2.7 years, while the GNI per capita increased by 61%. All these trends show a positive picture of the economy in the field of human development for the period of last 18 years.
Comparing the results of Argentina with Canada, it can be observed that Canada also shows a bright picture in the segment of human development. The country’s HDI value increased from 0.85 to 0.92, showing a percentage increase of 8.5. In the area of life expectancy, Canada has shown a positive trend of 5 years, which is equivalent to Argentina. The mean schooling years of children has increased by 3 years, which is also synonymous with Argentina. Finally, the GNI per capita has increased impressively by 43.5%. This increase has been quite low as compared to Argentina. Overall, Argentina scores higher in the field of human development trends as compared to Canada.
Comparison of HDI, multidimensional poverty graphs
The human development index value of Argentina has been 0.8 and the economy stands at 48th position in the list of all countries. The average achievements of the country in terms of health, education and income has been distributed evenly as the IHDI value shows a score of 0.714. The multidimensional poverty index shows the proportion of the population that is poor along all the dimensions (Chen and Hou, 2019). The two components of this index are incidence of poverty and average intensity across the poor, which are found to be 3% and 37.7% respectively.
Considering the case of Canada, the country score 0.922 in the segment of Human Development Index, standing at the rank of 13 among all the other countries. The country also shows quite an impressive picture in this field. The IHDI value of the country has been 0.841, which is higher than the world expectancy value. This shows that all the achievements are properly distributed among the poor segments. In the field of poverty, the country has performed well as it has taken initiatives for its eradication.
Effect of recession on Argentina and Canada
A recession can cause a “scarring” effect on a developing economy like Argentina. It can cause long-lasting damage to the economic conditions of the individuals and also to the overall economy. In developing countries, recession can greatly affect education due to which the social progress of the economy can be hampered.
A recession can also have adverse effects on developed economies like Canada, hindering its process of growth and development (Corrado and Corrado, 2017). However, developed economies are likely to overcome the after-effects of recession at a rapid rate as compared to developing economies. This is because developed economies have adequate finances and resources for coping up with the situation.
Inclusive growth
Till date, neither Argentina nor Canada can be categorised under the segment of countries having inclusive growth. However, Canadian government is trying to implement policies that favour inclusive growth and Canada is yet to observe inclusive growth in the upcoming years. In this inclusive growth agenda, the policymakers are trying to create opportunities for the deprived sections of the society such that the gap between rich and poor can be lessened. The government is also taking initiatives regarding trade liberalisation, financial deregulation, cutting down of taxes and flexibility of labour markets for achieving inclusive growth within the economy.
Is high economic growth needed for achieving a high standard of living?
Economic growth might or might not affect the standard of living in an economy as it is dependent on a large range of factors. Considering the case of Canada, it can be observed that economic growth has boosted up standard of living but the two are not proportional to each other (Bakker and Messerli, 2017). On the other hand, the economic growth in Argentina is not so massive as Canada. However, the standard of living in Argentina as reflected through the indicators of human development Index (HDI) is quite impressive as compared to Canada.
What procedure does developing country follow for achieving higher standard of living?
In this aspect, it is crucial for Argentina as a developing country to rebuild economic infrastructure and create suitable procedures for increasing the existing standard of living among people. There is a strong focus needed to be developed for improving existing infrastructure, production lines, and improves competitiveness in the market. Thus, there is an increase in the confidence of the people for improving present economic situation and provide more opportunities for enhancing the attraction of the foreign investors and spending more on the country(Abal Medina, 2020). This process helps in providing a direct impact on the production line and increases overall expenditure of the country and creates an increase in the GDP rate of Argentina.
Furthermore, the government of Argentina should also focus on procuring suitable procedures for creating a suitable strategy for improving position in the global market. In addition, there should be the utilization of systematic reforms in reducing the imposition of the existing rules and regulations for the country (Ferrer and Giarrizzo, 2016). The adoption of this procedure provides suitable insights on achieving an appropriate analysis of the weak financial situation and reduces poverty scenario in the future. Hence, it allows for the formulation of systematic procedures for managing operations and attracting further investors for developing the growth of Argentina.
Conclusion
From the above paper it can be concluded that both Canada and Argentina are showing signs of progress. Canada being an already developed country is signalling better growth and development in the upcoming years. Argentina, being a socially progressive country has good potentials for growth and development in the next few years. Both the countries are showing positive pictures in the field of human development index and distribution of their achievements among the population. Till date, Canada scores higher than Argentina in the core economical areas.
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