Public Policy

• Economic performance

• Social welfare

• Population/Migration

• The environment

• Civil liberties, rights, and freedoms

Economic Performance

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)This is the Purchasing Power Parity adjustment for the countries of the world as of 2003. The U.S. economy is used as a reference or benchmark, so that country is set at 100. Bermuda has the highest index value, 154, thus goods sold there are more expensive than in the United States.

Social Welfare: Health Care

Social Welfare: Public Health

Social Welfare: Education

Population and Migration

Population and Migration

The Environment

HDI = Human Development IndexHDI ranks countries by level of development. The HDI value is composed of the following data: life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and income index or GDP per capita. The higher the value, the more developed the country.

The Gini IndexDifferences in national income equality around the world are measured by the national Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 corresponds with perfect equality (where everyone has the same income) and 1 corresponds with perfect inequality (where one person has all the income, and everyone else has zero income). The Gini Index does not measure levels of poverty—it measures a country’s the distribution of wealth.

Civil Liberties

Freedom House IndexUnited States Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score:

Status:

Great Britain Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score: Status:

Russia Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score: Status:

China Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score: Status:

Mexico Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score:Status:

Iran Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score:Status:

Nigeria Political Rights Score: Civil Rights Score:Status:

What makes a country “partly free” or “not free”?

Post-Materialist Values• the political culture in advanced democracies reflects an emphasis on these “post-modern” or “post-materialist” values:

• secularism: non-religious life

• materialism: valuing concrete objects and possessions

• technology: nuclear disarmament

• ecology: preservation of the environment

• freedom and equality of the individual