Economic Comparisons Between Brazil and Japan - Paper Example

Introduction

Economic growth can be defined as an increase in a country's productivity as a result of an increase in production of goods and services over a specific duration. Economic growth thus eliminates the effects of inflation which are mostly considered to be hindrances to the economic growth. Economic growth is always associated with living standards such that as the rate of the economy grows, the economy becomes capable of providing employment opportunities to her citizens as well as providing specialized health care to the citizens. The provision of employment opportunities leads to the elimination of theft and insecurity hence improving the living standards of citizens in the country.

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The economic strength of various countries makes it very easy to compare various countries and use the information to make consent decision regarding a country's performance of time. During comparisons, the research takes into consideration the growth parameters which can easily be used to place a given country in its category depending on their performance and position in the world ranking. The parameters which are often used include; the disparity in a country's Gross domestic product which measures the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specified time period, often referred to as the size of the economy. The report from the GDP, therefore, entails the market mix necessary for gauging the performance of a country in terms of their input and output. Secondly, the economic strength of various countries can also be compared using the living standards of the countries in question. Better living standards indicate better economies since the government has more than enough resources to sustain her members by ensuring quality housing, health, and sanitation and feeding programs.

The report, therefore, focuses on Brazil and Japan and their capacities to support the good living of their citizens. These capacities indicate the disparities and hence the possible reasons why such disparities exist and how they can be addressed. The disparities in growth pattern over a period of time plays a very crucial role in the existence of these two nations which have been chosen for study.

Brazil is one of the South American economies which over a long period of time has been struggling to match its economic growth over time while Japan has greatly advanced in technology which makes the country to enjoy economic stability. The choice of the countries was therefore as a result of their differences in production and categories. Brazil being categorized as a developing country and Japan as a developed country give the study a good analysis front since most lessons can be learned. Japan and Brazil hence provide a perfect platform for comparison in economic growth since they enjoy contrasting operations and nature. The economic growth of Brazil and Japan can, therefore, be compared in terms of their gross domestic products which measures all the production output both locally and internationally and the standard living in the two countries used to show the level of development and underdevelopment in these countries.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Japan

Japan is a small island with the rugged landscape which hence renders it unable to engage in agricultural activities. As a result of the nature of its surface, Japans economy thus depends mainly on manufacturing, trade, and fishing. Japans economy is one of the best world's oriented markets which has ventured very deep in exporting very valuable products to other world markets. They deal mostly with the export of electronic products and cars making the economy to be one of the strongest and best economies in the world. The Japanese economy has been on a steady rise from World War II when the government decided to have peaceful deals with other world countries to create good international rapport with other world's countries in enhancing their growth.

The Japanese GDP as at December 2017 was estimated at 4.939 trillion USD compared to 4.515 trillion USD in 2007. The statistics indicate a steady increase in GDP by about 9.4% within a period of 10years. The steady increase in the GDP of Japan is basically due to the fact that the Japanese government has been very consistent and aggressive in innovations which gives them a high competitive advantage in technology. Similarly, Japan enjoys massive peaceful coexistence with all other world countries which gives them a wider market for their products which are liked in all corners of the world. Regardless of its small size, Japan has managed to maintain the second-ranking for over 20years in terms of the GDP after the United States. The GDP of Japan for the past 5 decades can be summarized as shown in the table below.

GRAPH SHOWING JAPAN'S GDP FROM 1960

From the 20th century, there has been a global economic crisis which greatly affected the economic growth of giant nations such as the United States. The crisis included economic depressions and recessions which were caused by cold war as well as an energy crisis. Japan's GDP was least affected by these factors since they were mostly focused on development especially after the atomic bombing of her two major cities in 1945.

Standards of Living in Japan

As a result of the stability in the Japanese economy, the citizens enjoy many better-living conditions compared to other countries. The economic growth and living standards are always two aspects of the economy which go together since the presence of one triggers the emergence of the other. The living standards of a given country depend on;

Healthcare systems

The Japanese healthcare system is designed to offer universal coverage to all the citizens meaning that all Japanese citizens are covered by the public health insurance program. The service is thus provided free to citizens, expatriates as well as foreigners who have stayed in Japan for more than one year. Such kind of health care system is common in developed countries except for the United States where they practice a different healthcare system. The coverage, therefore, increases the life expectancy of citizens due to better living conditions (Sasaki, Izawa & Okada 2015)

Employment system

The Japanese government adopted a 4 pillar post-war employment system which takes care of lifetime employment, the seniority wage system, the bonus system, and enterprise unions. The pillars proved to be very expensive for the companies which had to find ways of accommodating them for the good of the economy. The system has since reduced the rate of unemployment hence improving the living standards of the Japanese as noted by (Ishida 2015)

Housing system

The Japanese government has put in place laws which protect the tenants by subsidizing the housing cost to benefit the tenants. Most citizens live in a house which is developed by the government for the interest of the citizens. The citizens thus pay low rental rates.

Life expectancy

Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. The life expectancy stands at 82 percent with very low mortality rates. The provision of universal health care system by the government has led to high life expectancy which means that most of the Japanese live very lavishing life with reduced costs or no costs on the basic commodities such as food, health, and housing. The citizens are also very much hard working and do a lot of practice which makes them physically fit.

Per capita income

The per capita income in Japan in 2017 was about 38,440 us dollars which means that most of the Japanese are averagely earning. The gap between the rich and the poor is very much low with most people on a salary scale or engaged in businesses.

Social progress index

Japan currently lags behind in ranking on social progress index compared to other developed countries like Germany, France, and England.

Human Development Index (HDI)

The Japanese Human Development Index (HDI), has been on a steady rise from the 20th century which was about 0.8 to 0.9. The figures show that Japan is one of the countries with high human development index. The development is attributed to the measures put by the government to promote inventiveness and foster intelligence among the citizens.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil

Brazil is one of the South American countries whose main export include minerals such as iron ore, crude oil and agricultural products such as soybeans, sugar and poultry products (Caldarelli, De Moraes & Paschoalino 2017). Brazil has the second largest economy in the American continent after the United States and ranked position 8 in the world economy. The country has a population of about 207 million which makes it very hard for the government to sustain the population and hence making it have a varying economic growth which keeps on fluctuating.

Brazil's GDP stands at 1.796 according to the latest statistics released by the international monetary fund and the World Bank. The figure has greatly reduced compared to the GDP in 2007 which was about 2.161 in 2009. The statistics show a reduction of about 31.3 percent. The figures show an economy struggling to find its bearing. For the past few years, Brazil's economy has been faced with protests which had a very negative impact on its economic growth. The table below, therefore, shows the economic growth of Brazil from 1960.

GRAPH SHOWING BRAZIL'S GDP FROM 1960

Standard of Living

Regardless of being ranked at position 8 globally, the living standards of Brazilians remains to be very low with most people living in very pathetic conditions. The gap between the rich and the poor still remains very high with over 70 percent of the population being poor. As a developing country, Brazil's health system remains to be expensive since the citizens have to cater for their medication which greatly affects the living standards of the Brazilians (Andrade & Garcia 2015)

Both the per capita and social progress index stands at 8,608 USD which means only a few people control the country's vast mineral and agricultural resources. It is also worth noting that due to high poverty levels in Brazil and poor health care system, the life expectancy remains at about 74 years with most people unemployed.

According to (Ravallion 2017), the economic growth of Japan and Brazil have more differences than similarities. The two countries deal with a different product for export which makes them have different figures. Unlike Brazil, Japan has been experiencing steady economic growth from the 1960s compared to Brazil whose growth varies. The Japanese steady economic growth has led to high living standards in Japan which have led to increased life expectancy compared to their Brazilian counterparts. From the tables, it shows that Japan, regardless of rugged nature of their land, the government has been keen enough to explore other sources which have eventually made Japan emerge as one of the best world economies with comprehensive universal health care system.

Brazil for quite a long time has been hit by political instabilities, poor leadership, and protests which greatly affected their economic growth compared to Japan. The energy crisis of the early 2000s and the global economic recession of 2008 severely hit Brazil making its economy to drop as indicated in the graphs. Japan's economy is therefore far much better than Brazil's economy in all dimensions.

Conclusion

The economic growth of various countries compared in terms of GDP and living standards which reveals how different countries have consistently faired over a period of time. The Japanese and Brazilian economic growth hence shows the growing disparities between the two countries. However, the use of GDP alone gives a false...