As an employee of the World Bank I have been asked to research the
needs of a country with a particular economic concern.  I need to
choose a country with a concern such as its population, unemployment,
etc...  I will need to search the internet to find data sets for the
concern that I have chosen.  I will then need to select a 2nd country
to find data
sets for the same concern that i identified in part 1.
In a 3-4 page paper i will need to answer the following questions: 1)
Where was I able to find the data sets?  2)What is the relationship
between the variable that I selected and the economy?  3)  What trends
do i see in the data sets?  4) Support my assertions of trends with
statistical evidence.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 02 May 2005 16:51 PDT

econga8210-ga,

Congratulations for being part of a fascination institute like the World Bank.

I am very familiar with sources of comparative country statistics, and
I would like to try to assist you with your assignment.

I have to emphasize the word 'assist'. GA researchers are not allowed
to do homework-style assignments or similar projects.  You didn't
really state exactly what type of assistance you would like from a
researcher here.

I can certainly offer to do the following:


--Direct you to some of the major sources of information for comparing
national data, including the UN, the OECD, some privately-run
websites, and of course, the World Bank itself.

--Suggest some issues for you to explore, along with the relevant
datasets that shed light on the issues.

--Show you how to use the datasets to examine trends over varying lengths of time.


I believe that with that sort of background, you would be well on your
way to completing your paper

Would that sort of assistance make for an acceptable answer to your question?

Let me know.


pafalafa-ga


P.S.  Also tell me what sort of deadline you are working against.

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Clarification of Question by econga8210-ga on 02 May 2005 19:18 PDT

Yes, i believe your information would help.  I have until May 20th to
get this finished.  Any information or direction you can give will be
most helpful!!  Will i be able to contact you as i am working to get
assistance or will you just post an answer and that will be it? Let me
know.

Thanks!

Two countries that I think you will find interesting to compare are
the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  Although they share the island of
Hispaniola, with Haiti occupying the western third and the Dominican
Republic occupying the eastern two thirds, their economic development
has diverged considerably.  Whereas Haiti is the poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere, the Dominican Republic has experienced very
rapid economic growth.  Here are some figures from the CIA World
Factbook that you may find interesting to explore.

Dominican Republic land area 48,380 kmē.  Population 8,950,034. 
Population growth rate 1.29%.  AIDS adult prevalence rate 1.7%.  GDP
per capita $6,300.  Unemployment rate 17%.

Haiti land area 27,560 kmē.  Population 8,121,622.  Population growth
rate 2.26%.  AIDS adult prevalence rate 5.6%.  GDP per capita $1,500. 
Unemployment rate exceeds two thirds of the labor force.

Haiti has almost the same population as the Dominican Republic, with a
faster growth rate, squeezed into only about half the land area of the
Dominican Republic.  Haiti also is experiencing more rapid population
growth despite considerable mortality from AIDS.  Citizens of the
Dominican Republic enjoy spending power more than four times greater
than that of Haitians.  Far more Dominican Republicans also have jobs.

There is a great deal of data available on the Internet from a variety
of sources that will allow you to pursue these areas further.  I also
recommend the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond, Viking Penguin (2005).
 It has a chapter comparing and contrasting Haitian and Dominican
Republican history, interactions with the environment, and the
resulting economic effects.  Ironically, Haiti was a much richer area
than the Dominican Republic with considerable agricultural wealth
during the colonial period, but rapid and almost complete
deforestation created considerable environmental and economic
problems.  In contrast, the Dominican Republic maintained much of its
forests through the creation of forestry reserves covering nearly a
third of the country's land.

Although both countries have been ruled by dictators for a
considerable portion of their history, the dictator's governing the
Dominican Republic elected to pursue industrialization and to
drastically decrease their country's dependency on agriculture.  As of
1998, only 17% of Dominican Republicans worked in agriculture, whereas
66% of Haitians work in agriculture.  Only 9% of Haitians work in
industry, whereas 24.3% of Dominican Republicans do.  The Dominican
Republic has also been much more successful at developing a tourism
industry, whereas Haiti has been wracked by ongoing violence and
extreme poverty that decrease its attractiveness.

Additional data sources on Haiti and the Dominican Republic:

"Business Environment Report Dominican Republic" OECD (April 2003)
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/21/2635572.pdf

"Dominican Republic Data Profile" The World Bank Group (April 2005)
http://devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?SelectedCountry=DOM&CCODE=DOM&CNAME=Dominican+Republic&PTYPE=CP

"Dominican Republic at a glance" The World Bank Group (September 15,
2004) http://www.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/sendoff.cgi?page=%2Fdata%2Fcountrydata%2Faag%2Fdom_aag.pdf

"Dominican Republic" The World Factbook, CIA (April 21, 2005)
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/dr.html

"Haiti Data Profile" The World Bank Group (April 2005)
http://devdata.worldbank.org/external/CPProfile.asp?SelectedCountry=HTI&CCODE=HTI&CNAME=Haiti&PTYPE=CP

"Haiti at a glance" The World Bank Group (September 15, 2004)
http://www.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/sendoff.cgi?page=%2Fdata%2Fcountrydata%2Faag%2Fhti_aag.pdf

"Haiti" The World Factbook, CIA (April 21, 2005)
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ha.html

Sincerely,

Wonko

Is this an internship with the World Bank or is this a college
assignment?  I happened to apply to be an economist with the World
Bank but it appeared to me that I need a masters in economics or
several years experience as an economist before they'd consider me
(neither of which I think you have from the question you asked).
I'm most curious and would love some insight in how you got your job
if you do in fact have a permanent economist position with them.