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Begin New Search Topic Human Welfare Author Carol Graham

1. Happiness and health in China: The paradox of progress

Author:
Carol Graham, Shaojie Zhou, and Junyi Zhang
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The past two decades in China brought unprecedented rates of economic growth, development, and poverty reduction. Indeed, much of the reduction in the world’s extreme poverty rates during that time can be explained by the millions of people in China who exited poverty. GDP per capita and household consumption increased fourfold between the years 1990 and 2005.1 China jumped 10 places forward on the Human Development Index from 2008 until 2013, moving up to 93 of 187 countries, and life expectancy climbed to 75.3 years, compared to 67 years in 1980.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
China

2. Happy Neighbors Are Good For You, Wealthy Ones Are Not: Some Insights From a First Study of Well-Being in Mongolia

Author:
Carol Graham, Tuugi Chuluun, and Sarandavaa Myanganbuu
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
We conducted the first extensive study of well-being in Mongolia, a country that has experienced a dramatic transition in both its economy and polity in recent decades. We found that most of the standard determinants of well-being were no different in Mongolia than they are for most countries in the world, with individual income, health, marital status and exercise all positively associated with life satisfaction; the same variables had positive but weaker correlations with our hedonic well-being measure. As in many other contexts, we found that, controlling for individual income, average community income was negatively correlated with life satisfaction, although not with hedonic well-being. This is not surprising, as comparison effects are more likely to influence overall life evaluations than they are daily (or weekly) moods and experience. In contrast, average community-level well-being—in both evaluative and hedonic dimensions—was positively associated with individual well-being. While being around wealthier people may generate envy among some, being around happier people has positive externalities (except, perhaps, for the very unhappy). Thus, at least in Mongolia, wealthier neighbors are not necessarily g ood for you, but happier ones surely are.
Topic:
Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Mongolia

3. Putin's Agenda, America's Choice: Russia's Search for Strategic Stability

Author:
Carol Graham
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In May, President George W. Bush travels to Moscow and St. Petersburg for his fourth summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the past year, Putin has made a number of compromises with America on key questions such as the United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the presence of U.S. troops in Central Asia. As a result, American commentators have speculated about how many concessions Putin needs from the United States to placate his domestic critics and maintain the positive momentum of U.S.-Russia relations.
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Organization, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Central Asia, and Moscow

4. Strengthening Institutional Capacity in Poor Countries: Shoring Up Institutions, Reducing Global Poverty

Author:
Carol Graham
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In a speech preceding the recent Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Michel Camdessus noted that if the summit could only deliver one thing, it should be extending assistance to enhance institutional capacity in poor countries. Addressing this problem is key to achieving the Millennium Goals—established at the September 2000 UN Millennium summit—of reducing world poverty by half by 2015. Countless development efforts have failed because countries lack institutions with the ability to sustain their economic policies. The crisis in Argentina—triggered in large part by the country's reliance on an inflexible currency regime and by its inability to rein in fiscal flagrancy by local governments—is a case in point. Meanwhile, numerous discussions at Monterrey highlighted weak institutional capacity as a major obstacle to economic development.
Topic:
Human Welfare, International Organization, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Argentina and Mexico

5. Stemming the Backlash Against Globalization

Author:
Carol Graham
Publication Date:
04-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
There is much speculation about a new round of protests at the upcoming meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The protestors contend that globalization is bad for poor people in poor countries. But the evidence suggests the opposite: that globalization provides the poor in developing countries with new opportunities for upward mobility. Yet it also introduces new vulnerabilities, particularly for those in the middle income strata, which cause even the upwardly mobile in these strata to negatively assess their economic progress. We propose three sets of policies for poor countries — increasing access to higher levels and better quality education, eliminating market distortions that block the upward mobility of the poor (including excessive levels of inequality), and providing more broadly available safety nets for people without steady incomes — that could help prevent these negative sentiments from growing into a broader backlash against globalization, which would ultimately hurt the poor in these countries the most.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, Human Welfare, and Third World