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It will not give teachers an incentive to improve their teaching. Teaching is a calling, not something you choose for the money. Teachers are what we call 'intrinsically motivated': they want to realize an ideal, in this case, educating and raising responsible citizens. Recasting this ideal into a financial reward syst... | |
It will give teachers an incentive to improve their teaching. For decades now, teachers have been remunerated based on 'seniority'. This means that they don't have an incentive anymore to improve themselves, no matter how motivated they were at the beginning. Why try to improve yourself if you have nothing to gain fro... | |
It will not attract more teachers. As said above, teaching is a calling. Many of the expected new teachers will be motivated solely by the increased pay, not by any intrinsic motivation. Because they are not intrinsically motivated, they will underperform. They might leave again after a year, but in that year they will... | |
It is fair to reward teachers on the actual results they achieve. Just as in the private sector, workers should be judged and rewarded on the actual results they achieve. Whether it's through sheer talent or through hard work, some teachers consistently deliver better results than other teachers. Those teachers are mo... | |
It is unfair to reward extra achievements on top of the base level. To provide societal value from education, the base level of performance in education is already set very high. This means that even teachers who perform at base level are already working very hard to provide the societal value we require. Any differenc... | |
Competition will diminish the quality of education across the board. Teamwork is essential for the effectiveness of schools. Making differences in performance more visible will hamper teamwork because it will create perverse incentives. For instance, teachers who have devised a successful method for teaching a particul... | |
It will attract more teachers eaching salaries for years have remained steady or even declined. This made teaching as a job unattractive and so the influx of new, talented teachers halted. Although the effect of fiscal changes on teachers’ pay has been minimal (controlling for the consequences of the financial crisis)... | |
Competition improves the overall quality of education. Measuring teachers' performances will create a transparent market for teaching talent. Underperforming teachers will be selected out because they are less in demand, unless they adapt and learn from what their competitors apparently do better. So, the overall qual... | |
It will not create uncritical 'learning drone' students. Creative and critical thinking begins with the basics: literacy and numeracy. Even learning to the test will result in literate and numerate students who can then move on to much more critical thinking. We can then define successful criteria that measure general ... | |
Teachers are the single biggest influence on student performance. Even though many factors influence student performance, the teacher is still the most important schooling factor. For example, having an effective versus and ineffective teacher has been shown to be equivalent to a class size reduction of 10-13 students ... | |
Teachers will attempt to cheat the system Cheating is inevitable in any bureaucratic system that holds educational institutions accountable- in any way- for the outcomes of the educational processes that they supervise. Teachers will have an incentive to cheat the system, for example by altering students' test result... | |
It is impossible to implement. Students come from very different backgrounds and have very different skill-sets. This makes the attempt to define a measuring system that covers all cases a bureaucratic nightmare. Even if this succeeds, it is still very difficult to define what a 'good performance' is, because a studen... | |
It will create uncritical 'learning drone' students. Teachers will start 'teaching to the test' to ensure their classes make the grade. Independent, creative, self-reliant thinking will therefore be discouraged as the teacher focuses on getting as high test results for their pupils as they can regardless of whether th... | |
It is unfair to reward teachers for results they can’t influence The success of a student depends on many factors, like innate talent, the ability for hard work and concentration and socio-economic background. This means that any progress that a student can make is largely outside of a teacher's control. This will res... | |
It is possible to implement. Testing students is not that difficult. After all, we have been examining students with all kinds of standardized test ever since formal education began. Similarly, we can know what teacher is involved in what result: the biology-teacher is relevant for biology, not French or arithmetic. T... | |
Cheating can be prevented by ensuring that the person giving and grading the test is not the same as the person preparing the students for the test. Likewise, the 'macro'-problem can be prevented by designing good measurement systems. If performance is measured as comparing results of individual students across time, t... | |
The existence of slums and favelas and their increasing criminality in Latin America cannot be explained by the lack of social subsidies. In fact, quite the opposite is the case: the leftward turn in Latin America with an increase in state subsidies that promised to help poor communities has yet to ease the problems of... | |
Poor communities create criminality The longer suburbs sectioned off for the economically vulnerable are in existence, the more likely they will turn into real slums, creating long lasting problems such as the ones currently experienced in the cities of Latin America. Latin America contains 13 of the 20 countries with... | |
This kind of idealism and desire to make the world an equal place has already gotten us into quite a bit of trouble, ruining a large part of the world under the rule of communism. The idea that we could solve all the world’s problems through redistribution of wealth through government subsidies is not only naïve but al... | |
Subsidies are the most efficient way for a state to redistribute wealth within its borders. Poor communities, often concentrated in rural areas or around large cities, carry a large risk for social instability, whether through epidemic illnesses, crime, drug abuse or political and social revolts. Even the most develop... | |
While we do not concede that subsidies are the most efficient means of redistributing wealth even if they are then is this redistribution something we want to see? Poor communities should instead be shown how to pull themselves up rather than having subsidies spoon fed to them. Giving those in poor communities the educ... | |
Rich communities have a disastrous effect on the environment as well. The question of whether development is possible without manipulating nature and the environment is again entirely separate from the question of subsidies. Ultimately, the problem is one of resources and the best distribution and management of those r... | |
Subsidies create a sense of social equality Subsidies help create the equality and non-discrimination that is essential in the new multi-cultural states of today. With more and more people moving across the globe and the clear realization of inequalities in lifestyles, creating this sense of equality is essential. If ... | |
Substandard living conditions have a broad environmental impact Unless we do something about it we risk seeing our planet destroyed. The destruction of forests for coal or agricultural land, the destruction of farmland through illegal buildings lacking proper infrastructure, water pollution, deserting arable land in t... | |
The change from an agricultural or rural economy to an urban one does not preclude subsidies as a way of lifting people out of poverty it simply means that subsidies have to be more targeted. As most cities continue to grow and attract more and more people from rural areas, the state needs to find a way to address the ... | |
Rather than criticising the inefficiencies of current subsides we should put efforts into improving subsidies so they work efficiently. This is clearly a very complex issue and would involve taking each poor community as individual with different needs. One specific example of where this has been efficient is subsidisi... | |
The risk of creating dependence Always looking at the state for solutions makes these communities dependent on the government in a world in which the state will continue to gradually lose its power. On an individual level increases in people taking disability benefits over the long term are a good example of dependenc... | |
Communities should be engineered to be self sufficient As the introduction and opposition argument 1 explain, subsidising poor communities involves taking money away from wealthy communities. It is unfair to make the wealthy members of a community pay for the benefit of the poorer members, when the poorer members shou... | |
Social change As modern societies are clearly moving away from an agricultural economy to an industrial and post-industrial economy, new demographic challenge arise with high concentrations of people in urban areas where jobs are available. From 2008 more than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities meaning that... | |
Government supervised redistribution of wealth is inefficient Given that in general state taxation and redistribution systems have been under fire for being inefficient, it is doubtful that subsidies, as a particular form of tax redistribution would be more efficient. Not only is a bureaucratic mechanism for creating ... | |
Telling poor communities they should help themselves is not the answer; they already want to help themselves. Poverty often occurs in a cycle, meaning that for many it is inescapable. Education in poor areas is often worse, leading to people being less qualified for higher paying jobs, stuck in badly paid work, therefo... | |
While getting the private sector involved might indeed be a more effective solution, the reality is that many of these poor communities are groups of outsiders. They often discriminated against by the rest of the population, including decision makers from private business. For example in France employers databases ofte... | |
This is exactly what makes HS2 a bad scheme. Yes there is overcrowding but the worst overcrowding is on peak services travelling into London – commuter services – not on long distance trains. It is notable that the operator that is most over capacity is First Great Western which covers a route – to Reading and on to Br... | |
More capacity is needed on Britain’s railways Capacity on the railways is a big problem in the UK. Due to growth since privatisation Britain’s railways take as many passengers as it is physically possible to do; more than a fifth of rush hour passengers have to stand. [1] Growth is almost certain to continue as the ro... | |
The UK is densely populated and concentrated in one part of the country so has less need of high speed connections. Other countries having a large number of high speed route miles should not be considered evidence that the UK needs more or that the UK is somehow ‘behind’ as conditions vary between countries. | |
Faster travel between British cities The most obvious benefit from high speed rail is that journey times will be less. From London the journey to Birmingham will be reduced from 84 to 49 minutes, Leeds from 132 to 82 and Manchester 128 to 68. [1] While faster journeys provide some economic benefit the are as much a so... | |
Bridging the north south divide The UK has a north south divide in terms of wealth and income. London and the South East has for the last few decades done much better than the north; while industry and mining in the north has declined financial services in the south have boomed. The result is inequality between region... | |
This makes the strange assumption that Leeds and Manchester, or even Birmingham is the north. In pure geographic terms they are not even half way up the country from London – what about Newcastle and Scotland? The evidence for the possibility of a high speed railway helping to solve regional inequalities is decidedly ... | |
This is not going to be the case with all cities for example journey times to Scotland could be reached for much less. With using tilting trains on the East Coast and upgrading to 140 mph running the journey time from London to Edinburgh would actually be marginally faster than using HS2. [1] The figures for the journe... | |
Estimates and guesstimates. We don’t know exactly how much HS2 will benefit the economy and still won’t even if it is built because we will never know how well the alternative spending of the money would have affected the economy. | |
Britain is behind the rest of Europe on high speed rail The United Kingdom has been somewhat of a laggard when it comes to high speed rail. In the first half of the century Britain’s railways were the fastest in the world (still holding the world speed record for steam). But since what we would now consider to be high... | |
HS2 would benefit Britain’s economy Big infrastructure projects often provide a big boost to the economy. HS2 will do this in two ways; the first will be in the economic activity created in building the line and the estimated 3100 jobs staffing the railway. Much more important however are the wider economic benefits. ... | |
The spending for HS2 would not contribute to the deficit as it is investment that will pay back the money over time and will also be creating assets that can in extremis be sold. The high cost by comparison to other high speed networks is almost entirely due to high land prices; this means that any big transport projec... | |
Some of these costs have already been included in the cost:benefit ratio such as the impact of pollution and greenhouse gases. Moreover there have already been changes made to ensure that the high speed line runs in tunnels through areas where the damage would otherwise be significant. More than 50% of the route to Bir... | |
There are other options There are plenty of other options that don’t have the disadvantages of HS2 (high cost, environmental impacts etc.) but do meet most of the requirements like increased capacity. First because it is capacity on main commuter lines that is mostly needed it makes more sense to lengthen platforms an... | |
Does not easily connect to the continent Would it not be nice to be able to travel from Edinburgh straight through to Paris without having to stop in London? This was part of the initial dream of the Channel Tunnel with proposals for regional Eurostar services. [1] Unfortunately HS2 will not provide this option. There... | |
High speed rail never makes a profit The UK already knows that it is difficult to make rail services pay their way, currently fares from passengers despite regular criticism of them being too high, only cover 65% of operating costs. [1] High speed rail is no different in this regard; most of China’s high speed lines m... | |
HS2 is too costly HS2 is already looking very costly. California’s San Francisco to Los Angeles High Speed rail is 520 miles at a cost of $68billion (£42bln), [1] HS2 will only be 33miles but is already expected to cost about the same £42.6billion. [2] The cost has already grown and there are regular claims even by re... | |
This is not a particularly big problem for the project and could easily be fixed by doubling the track later if there proves to be sufficient demand to justify it. | |
HS2 would damage the England’s green and pleasant land Railways are supposed to be green – they produce less greenhouse gas emissions than cars or planes. Yet many of those benefits are sacrificed by the desire for high speed which makes these trains much less environmentally friendly than normal trains due to the ext... | |
We should not just be considering fares as the be all and end all. Successful rail companies elsewhere don’t tend to make a profit on ticket sales but instead through diversification. Tokyu, one of Japan’s private railways, has revenue of $2.63 billion and profits of $587millio but only a third of the revenue comes fro... | |
None of the alternatives is a comprehensive solution and particularly not to the capacity problem. What happens once the double decker trains are at capacity? Then you are back to thinking of building new lines. Upgrading existing lines would require 14 years of weekend closures to allow the needed capacity increases. ... | |
Grey imports limit a company's control over its own products. Many manufacturers/distributors wish to control their distribution outlets for sound commercial reasons, for example, to protect the image of their brand. This becomes very difficult, possibly impossible, to do if grey imports are allowed, as this circumvent... | |
Allowing grey goods breaks down monopolies and passes on lower prices to consumers. Allowing grey imports means that manufacturers do not concentrate economic power in a monopolistic way which can be damaging to free trade (even Adam Smith1believed certain monopolies were antithetical to free trade). Banning them is t... | |
It may be impossible to completely stop such imports however the vast majority of shops will not import these items while they are not allowed to. Opening the market up will simply lead to a flood of imports with a resulting effect on native manufacturing. | |
Buyers benefit from grey imports, in the form of greater consumer choice. Consumers benefit from grey imports. The economics of grey importation drives sourcing to low-cost economies. Even if retailers take some of this benefit as improved profit margins, typically at least some of it will be passed on to consumers in... | |
Consumers do not really benefit overall from grey imports. Although manufacturers may reduce prices in some (typically, richer) countries, they are at least as likely to raise prices in less developed economies, depriving consumers there of access to international brands and luxury goods, and so depriving them of a rea... | |
Free trade involves a principle of free will. The buyer should be able to decide to whom he wishes to sell and on what terms, and if the seller does not accept those terms then the buyer should be able to refuse to deal with him. Manufacturers can have many good reasons for choosing to price goods at different levels i... | |
Impossible to Stop. Governments might as well accept that allowing retailers to sell grey goods has benefits because government will never be able to completely prevent such imports. Government regulation may prevent most retailers from selling grey goods but it won't stop all. For example Tesco in the UK sold cut pri... | |
The free movement of goods is consistent with the basic principles of free trade Allowing grey imports is consistent with the basic principles of free trade. (Free trade principles – WTO1) If a manufacturer/distributor is selling the same item at different prices in two countries, free market economics suggests that t... | |
A free flow in goods is a desirable end in itself. The rational, efficient supply chain of grey imports reflects the ideal of the free market. Moving it from the shadows to a position of legitimacy would make it even more efficient, by reducing the effort currently employed to keep the imports' trail hidden, etc. There... | |
Grey imports benefit the importing economy. As some grey imports will be products originally targeted at a foreign market but which turn out to achieve some popularity in the host market, they increase foreign trade. In this way, grey imports act to internationalise consumer tastes and cross-cultural understanding. Thr... | |
Once a good has been sold, manufacturers have no business telling their customers how to use it. This includes selling that good on. In general we do not accept as moral or socially permissible the idea that the makers of a good can tell their customers where and when they may use that good, who they may give it to, w... | |
Grey imports limit a company's control over its own products. A free flow of goods is not always an automatic good. The extra transport and pollution involved in grey imports alone is a serious argument against it. Grey importers often do not make clear that products sold under the same brand name in different markets... | |
Grey goods come into the country, but money goes out, weakening the economy. Grey imports damage the importing economy. By reducing the profitability of the manufacturer/distributor in the importing country, grey imports accordingly often lessen the amount of money that the company can invest in its operations in that... | |
While we do not see limitations on reselling by customers in general, there are, in fact, a good few occasions where such limitations on reselling and use occur. Books and other media are limited through copyright laws in their ability to be legitimately re-sold, motor insurance is indeed sold at least partly on the ba... | |
We need to be critical of the cumulative potential of the tax model proposed. Firstly, the theory of the state’s capacity and how it functions in practice differ substantially. The idea of taxation acting to enhance the productive capacity of a nation is based on assumptions that the institutions, human resources, and ... | |
Building productive capacity through increasing revenue Between 2003-2009 the annual growth rate of mobile cellular subscriptions in Tanzania was 44.21%, higher than the average in Africa (Ondiege, 2010). Estimations suggest around 18bn Tsh [1] will be collected a month through the SIM card tax model (Rweyemamu, 2013)... | |
The SIM card taxation is an inequitable model for Tanzania’s poor. The tax fee proposed will have detrimental effects to low-income users, whereby the cost exceeds the amount of money they spend on their mobile. For example considering the cost of tax, living, and mobile phone usage, the poor may be placed in a vulnera... | |
The importance of mobilising domestic resources In order to sustain development and growth nations need to build domestic resource mobilisation capacities - through collecting tax and savings. Domestic resource mobilisation enables the transition into a capitalist mode of production - poverty can be targeted and suffi... | |
Taxation remains a vital component of domestic resource mobilisation however focus needs to be placed on improving Tanzania’s top revenue sources before innovative new models. Although the performance of tax collection has improved - with tax revenues rising by a rate of 15.7% between 1996/97 and 2007/08 (AfDB, 2011) t... | |
A fair tax The model is for rolling out a tax for all, on a commodity used by all. The cost is small and fair, only applying to individuals who are able to afford to buy and use a working mobile phone. Those who can afford multiple phones will be hit harder so this is a progressive tax. Arguments suggesting the tax c... | |
The SIM card tax is actually under-ambitious for potential change to be maximised. Nevertheless, the tax initiates a step in the right direction. Firstly, it will ensure reductions are made in tax avoidance. Secondly, the model shows the potential role the private-sector can play in tax collection. Decentralisation, an... | |
With mobile phones now a crucial commodity for everyday life, the digital revolution will not be stopped by the SIM card tax. The initial reaction to the tax may result in a temporary decline in new subscriptions and SIM card set-up, however, in the long-run subscriptions will continue to rise. Many people are willing ... | |
Taxes cannot be justified while the network is poor Can taxation be justified when the network remains poor, limited, and temperamental in numerous locations? Network coverage in Tanzania is 2G and geographically concentrated (see MDI, 2013). It must be improved before the government begins to use it as a tax resource... | |
Quick-fix policies: a failing model of implementation Tax evasion remains a key concern across Tanzania. There remains a low tax base and high evasion. Imposing a quick-fix solution by taxing mobile phones fails to solve underlying issues. The model is widening the base of taxation, whilst neglecting the issue of tax ... | |
Halting the technological revolution The tax creates disincentives when we consider the potential losses that will result in the technology sector. The technological revolution in Tanzania will be jeopardised. The growth of mobile phones across Tanzania indicates the emergence of a ‘network society [1] ’ but if the po... | |
The SIM card tax will provide positive knock-on effects for network expansion and improvement. By enforcing tax payment to individual users, mobile phone customers are able to demand better service quality and distribution. The public-sector have the obligation and responsibility to ensure tax can be justified so will ... | |
Even though this point correctly presents a theoretical possibility, the reality is different. Europe has since come up with an alternative solution that means the need for unanimity does not always mean decision-making can be slowed by a spoiler; the opt-out. Countries can negotiate to opt out of further integration o... | |
Unanimity requirement gives an enormous bargaining leverage to the hands of individual states Unanimous voting provides states seeking additional gains with a tool to actually achieve their egoistic goals. In order for the whole Union to pass legislation that would be beneficial to all, a single state has power to neg... | |
This argument is based on the premise that federalization is a great idea. But, is it? It is hard to assess the extent to which federalization of the EU help make it a better union. What is clear, however, is that there are a whole load of questions to be answered before a federal union is attempted. As Cocodia [1] con... | |
The requirement for unanimity is undemocratic European Union has been based on principles of solidarity and mutual help. This means that sometimes, in order to ensure the ‘greater good’, one has to forgo a bit of his own self-interest. Because European Union holds together 28 culturally and economically different coun... | |
This is not completely true. The EU’s very economically successful pre-crisis state suggests that many of the decisions adopted by the EU are not “diluted to the point of being ineffective” and that in fact, EU works quite well. Although there are stark differences between individual member states they are able to over... | |
Disposing of unanimity requirement would make it easier advance the long-needed federalization of the European Union With Greece as a trigger, the Eurozone and the whole EU have significantly suffered in the last five years as a result of massive and still on-going economic crisis. The Euro currency is, damaged by the... | |
Similarly to the first counter-point, it is arguable to what extent it is true marginalization of smaller states when these states comply with terms of agreements. Why do they not seek further steps to avoid being included in such “disadvantageous” changes, e.g. opt-outs? Also, if the marginalization was truly that app... | |
Federalization is a continual and on-going process. It does not happen overnight, and most importantly, it has been happening ever since the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) was founded. Therefore it is incorrect to think that there is anything like ‘hidden federalization,’ when its driving force are revisions ... | |
The EU was based on the grounds of solidarity and the unanimity requirements ensures that no state will be repressed for the “greater good” While understanding the need to compromise, members of the EU are very different meaning that hardly any important decision made will fit all universally. The unanimity requiremen... | |
Qualified majority voting (QMV – an alternative to the unanimity requirement) favors big states and marginalizes the others QMV in the Council before the accession of Croatia required 74.8% of the votes (258 out of 345). These votes are determined by an equation that takes into account size of population, e.g. Germany... | |
Disposing of the unanimity requirements is essentially only hidden federalization of the European Union With the recent developments in the EU, the potential that some states may leave is a growing concern. People’s opinion towards the EU is becoming increasingly negative (trust towards EU has in 2012, compared to 200... | |
Unlike the former Soviet Union, the European Union is no ‘jail’ and members can, even though such move would be unprecedented, leave the union at any time. It is therefore hard to define ‘oppressing for greater good’ when we realize that the state tacitly agrees to it by staying in the union, possibly because the membe... | |
While African governments may be good at professing to want cooperation and integration the reality on the ground lags behind this considerably. No regional trade block has yet been really successful in creating a free trade area let alone a customs union and protectionism, restrictive trade practices and import bans o... | |
There is already some African integration that can be built on. While African integration has been slow there has been real progress in constructing the building blocks to allow further integration. African countries are already somewhat integrated: for example 14 countries in West and Central Africa use the CFA franc... | |
Many of Africa’s wars are ethnic conflicts (i.e. Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, the Congo). These conflicts will not be dissipated by simply redrawing – or attempting to dissolve - national borders. Instead of integration if borders are the problem then Africa needs to be redrawn into smaller states based on ethnicity as in E... | |
The AU can bring peace to the continent Integration can bring peace; just like the European Union has in Europe. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the UN has slowly changed its relationship with regional organizations. It is more willing and through its agenda for peace has been demanding that regional organizations ... | |
There is too much distrust amongst the AU’s membership already: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone all accuse each other of backing rebel movements in their respective civil wars. The UN is asking regional organizations to shoulder some of its "peace and security" responsibilities out of desperation, as prompted by its f... | |
Integration will fix the problem of borders For some commentators, Africa’s biggest problem is that its countries are remnants of colonial empires. In the post-colonial period, borders were drawn between states randomly, creating ethnic tension and geographic dissonance. Qaddafi argued that peace will break out when A... | |
Africa also has advantages that Europe did not have; there is no cold war dividing the continent into opposing armed camps, there are now many successful examples of developing world countries industrialising to draw on, and organisations like the EU that have forged on ahead have shown up some of the potential problem... | |
While it used to be correct that Africa prized sovereignty above everything else, including stability, [1] this is no longer the case. Just by signing up to the African Union states were showing that they were now willing to cede some sovereignty to the organisation as it involved ceding some power to the Pan African P... | |
African international organisations do not have a history of effectiveness In its thirty-nine year history, the predecessor of the AU, the OAU is almost universally judged as an abysmal failure. [1] It failed to challenge any major dictator on the continent and stood idle while civil war, ethnic conflict, poverty and ... | |
The role of leaders will prevent success A pan-African organization must be willing to stand up to African dictators and military rulers, the real cause of bloodshed and poverty on the continent. So far the AU has failed in this mission: Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is a charter member of the AU and the AU has done little... |
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