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TEACHING INCLUSIVENESS AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE ON POVERTY

TEACHING INCLUSIVENESS AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE ON POVERTY . Ranjini Thaver, PhD Economics Stetson University. The human brain is a wonderful thing; it works from the moment you are born……. even when you are poor ~Adapted from Anonymous. OUR CENSUS DATA.

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TEACHING INCLUSIVENESS AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE ON POVERTY

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  1. TEACHING INCLUSIVENESSAN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE ON POVERTY Ranjini Thaver, PhD Economics Stetson University The human brain is a wonderful thing; it works from the moment you are born…….even when you are poor~Adapted from Anonymous

  2. OUR CENSUS DATA • How many teach a course on Poverty? • How many teach a chapter on Poverty in Intro classes? • Do all Principles Texts cover Poverty? • How many cover Poverty in their classes at all? • What is the rationale behind such coverage? Answer later…

  3. CENSUS • How many in this audience consider yourselves rich? • Middle class? • Poor? • What does the Census Bureau show?

  4. Facts About Income Inequality -2008: M&B, 19th ed. Source: Bureau of the Census, www.census.gov. Numbers do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. LO1

  5. Income Inequality Over-2008: M&B, 19th ed. LO4

  6. The top 5% • TAX FOUNDATION.ORG • ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME RETURNS -2009 • Top 5% : > $155k • Top 1%: > $355 • Top .1%: > $1.4m So, who are the poor?

  7. Incidence of Poverty-2008: M&B, 19thed LO5

  8. RATIONALE BEHIND SUCH A MODULE • “Big think” questions for undergraduates –Educating Economists • Econ force for the good of society • Poverty is a real economic force in our society • Many students come from “working class” • Engaged learning – vs. alienation • GALLUP POLL – 55% of Americans oppose decreasing government budget on poverty • World leaders and institutions focus on poverty • Academia has been lagging –ivory tower; Behavioural Economics

  9. DEMOGRAPHICS • What words/ images/phrases do you associate with the poor? • The rich…

  10. ASSOCIATIONS • Hard working • lazy • Food stamps • Cheaters • Inner city • Suburbs • ambitious • McDonalds - Junk food - • Subprime mortgages • Housing Crisis • Takes a large share of government budget • Welfare

  11. POVERTY EXERCISES • Poverty exercise 1: decide to commit to a life of poverty • BUDGETING FOR POVERTY • Thanksgiving exercise • In-class exercise**** here too • PRIVILEGE EXERCISE – class based. Several on the Internet.

  12. POVERTY LINE-2011: choose one household size that you represent and record your income level. • One person .... 11,484 • Two people........................... ........14,657 • Three people.................................. 17,916 • Four people.................................... 23,021 • Five people..................................... 27,251 • Six people................................... .. 30,847 • Seven people.................................. 35,085 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/measure.html

  13. Create a monthly budget with that income level. Basic categories: • Food • Clothing • Shelter • Utilities • Transportation • Child care • Education • Health care • Anything else?

  14. What’s missing? • emergencies; • Econonomic security • other factors contributing to success…

  15. http://vimeo.com/35903896 Is Quality of life important for the poor? self-esteem; image; See: http://www.utoronto.ca/qol/profile/adultVersion.html

  16. SUCCESS IS A FUNCTION OF: • Individual ability and motivation • Structural forces- social structure and infrastructure • Political representation –democracy • Opportunity - Bill Gates, Steve Jobs • Luck –Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jay Leno, Einstein, Darwin, Mandela, etc… • IQ; EQ; SQ; PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE

  17. BUT HOW IS POVERTY COVERED IN OUR TEXTBOOKS?

  18. TRADITIONAL TEXTBOOK coverage of poverty • TWO QUESTIONS: • How unequal is our society? • Rationally decide on how much equality society wants • What appropriate policy • ISSUE IS TRADE-OFFS: equity vs. efficiency • OKUNS’S LEAKING BUCKET - relevant?

  19. DEFINITION OF POVERTY? • DEFINITION OF POVERTY • Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/measure.html • Sen and others: capabilities deprivation

  20. A typical module • Allow participants to take a “quality of life” survey. Ask them how important image is to self-esteem and to success? Will not immediately relate this to our discussion on poverty. • Ask participants to define poverty and share with the class. Will not immediately discuss this.

  21. suggest words/ phrases commonly used to describe poor people. Will not respond immediately. • suggest a few policies directed towards the poor.

  22. Have participants in groups to create a budget on the basis of the minimum wage, or the poverty line for a family of 4. Discuss this budget in class. What have they forgotten? At this point, we also discuss the answers that participants provided in the above questions.

  23. How have participants’ definition of poverty changed after the budgeting exercise, if at all? • Any changes to the policies mentioned above? • What kinds of poverty exist?

  24. Show a short video on poverty around the world • Show how economics textbook cover the topic of poverty and inequality • Addressing the myths about poverty and poor people:

  25. Show stats on the demographics of the poor nationally and in local area • If time permits: • show the video on “we can do something.” • What does Stetson Unervsity do? Our microcredit VITA, AND MONEY SMART CLASSES • Discuss means of assessing the learning outcomes of such an inclusive learning module. I hope to develop my own ideas through interaction with participants.

  26. We are the first generation that can look poverty in the eye and say this and mean it - We have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science. Do we have the will to make poverty history?” -Bono lead singer of U2

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