Question

Using a foreign country that is of interest to you, write a 3-4 page APA-formatted paper about the “Statistics Used in Classifications” with that foreign country.. preferably Jamaica... the statics used in classifications are Gross Domestic Product, Purchasing Power Parity, Human Development Index (HDI).

Answer 1

While evaluating the level of economic development- we have to look on the Statistics used for Classification.Especially, Gross domestic product, Purchasing Power Parity and Human Development Index are the statistics which will classify the development level.

Usually, GDP is the value of all goods and services produced by a country in a single year. Hence, here we will talk about United State's GDP. US is the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and net wealth whereas Jamaica accounts for 70% of country's GDP because it is heavily reliant on services. Jamaica is characterized as a middle income country. It has a bunch of natural resources therefore it is emerged as a world leader in export of minerals in 1970s. On the other hand, United States is considered as a highly developed country whose accounts for approximately a quarter of global gross domestic product. This country is the world's largest importers and second largest exporters of goods.

Now, speaking about the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). It is an economic theory that adjust the exchange rate between countries to ensure that a good is purchased for the same price in the same currency. Currently, US GDP based on PPP is about 21,427.68 billion international dollars. Jamaica's PPP has increased at an average annual rate of about 6.46% per international dollars. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the countries valued at price prevailing in the United States. US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in US.

Lastly speaking about Human Development Index (HDI). It measures the people's satisfaction in areas of long and healthy life in terms of life expectancy, quality of education, level of income for a decent living. The value of HDI in US is 0.920 which considers that the country is in a very high Human Development category. While Jamaica's 2018 HDI of 0.726 is below the average of 0.750 for countries in the high Human development group and below the average of 0.759 for countries in Latin America.

There are many reasons why US is considered to be richer - an entrepreneurial culture, world-class research universities, etc. Recently Jamaica has made fiscal turnaround and economic transformation because of strong commitment across political parties.