Abundance or Scarcity: Is current global aggregate production of consumable 'necessities' sufficient for current global population? Or are food shortages and starvation due to insufficient aggregate production? [more inside]
posted by mary8nne on Nov 23, 2012 - 4 answers

How can I overlay global literacy and economic (poverty) data onto a map? [more inside]
posted by k8t on Sep 28, 2010 - 8 answers

I need to better understand the proposed tax systems. Mainly the fair tax or sales tax versus an income tax. I am writing a paper for school on the viewpoints of TTARA (The Texas Taxpayers and Research Ass.) and CTJ (citizens for tax justice) but cannot gain a clear idea of what each side is proposing. Obviously the republicans want the fair tax, and since TTARA is business minded, I assume they too seek the fair tax, or at least support it. But what is the Dem idea of fair taxation? Do they want an income tax? What is all this talk on CTJ about income tax cuts? I don’t have the patience to sift through all the material so I'm hoping someone can give me a basic idea of the differing positions on the matter. Mainly answer the question of who wants what and why, and who benefits most from each plan.... Also what about the working poor, do they benefit most from an income tax? Etc. Etc.
posted by madmamasmith on May 4, 2008 - 17 answers

Looking for statistics: How would I go about calculating how much impact Islamic charity or zakat can make on global poverty - if collected and distributed on a global scale? [more inside]
posted by raheel on Jul 3, 2007 - 2 answers

GlobalPovertyFilter: Is poverty in the third world and emerging countries like India and China due more to exploitation by multinational corporations, or due to disconnection from globalization? [more inside]
posted by ibmcginty on Jun 26, 2006 - 16 answers

How do I interpret CPI (consumer price index) in the following table? [more inside]
posted by frankie_stubbs on Jun 8, 2006 - 7 answers

More American urban sociology: I live in a city with a diverse mix of ethnicities and cultures. How come the only people I ever see begging for spare change are either white or black? Why do I never see asians or hispanics begging? Is this a real cultural phenomenon, or am I just making false conclusions based on a too-small sample size? [more inside]
posted by kenoshakid on Apr 21, 2006 - 13 answers