9/30 essay: Go to the Gapminder data site (founded by Hans Rosling). The x and y axes can be changed with the little arrows. The year can be changed with the slider at the bottom. You can even have the plot play through time. Each bubble represents a nation and can be selected and deselected in the right panel. There’s a two minute “How to” video at the top as well. Pick at least one configuration (life expectancy vs income in the UK and Cuba over the pat 80 years, for example). Try any combination(s) you like (no wrong answers here). Write what data you are displaying. Write about what you see or what surprises you, if anything. As best you can, connect what you see to ideas in previous readings from Rosling, West, Sen, another course, or from your experience.

The configuration I chose was life expectancy vs. income in the United States and Vietnam starting in 1915 until now. In 1915, the average income per person in Vietnam was $1,500 and in the United States, it was about $12,000. At this point, the life expectancy was around 30 years in Vietnam and 55 years in the US. Around the 1980s, both countries saw significant increases in incomes, and at the same time, the life expectancy leveled off around 75 to 80 years old. Overall today, the US has a slightly longer life expectancy than Vietnam by about 5 years, 79 vs. 74.7 years old. The US also has a higher income per person of $63.5k, whereas Vietnam’s is $8650. One thing that surprised me, was how steep of an incline in life expectancy Vietnam showed. Around the $1400 income range was where Vietnam’s life expectancy increased drastically, and for the US, the increase in life expectancy was more gradual as income increased. In addition, in 1917, there was a drop in life expectancy in both countries, but it was more drastic in Vietnam. In Vietnam the age dropped to 20.4, almost 10 years, but then this rebounded right after. This makes me wonder if there was a famine or other “disaster” that affected life expectancy.

The overall shape of the graph stands out. Vietnam’s life expectancy increases at around $1400 income per person, but the US life expectancy increases as income increases. The drastic change could come from when a less developed country is given resources and is able to “skip steps,” like we mentioned last class, to develop. Vietnam did not have to have trial and error but could have been able to get technology from other countries that had a higher life expectancy and just put those actions into practice to increase their life expectancy. This graph also shows that you don’t have to have a very high income to obtain a higher life expectancy. Sen mentioned that if countries increase their health rates first, it is easier to then increase economic development. This comparison of Vietnam to the US portrays this point. Vietnam does not need the high income per person but instead was able to increase life expectancy at the $1400 income range, and then once a higher life expectancy was reached, Vietnam’s income also increased. Countries can increase the economic opportunities first, and then achieve health, but it does not have to be that way. Any country can increase its life expectancy, even if it doesn’t have the highest income per person. I originally thought that an increase in income would directly correlate to an increase in life expectancy, but after zooming in on Vietnam’s trend, I think increasing life expectancy can also help create an increase in income.