Northern America:

Human Face: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Started many of the economic programs
that the United states uses today, such as social security and unemployment benefits. Creator
of the Social safety net
Good traits: CNN reported that even in 2010, a very tough year for the economy, people were
still very generous.The Chronicle of Philanthropy recorded a 13% rise in donations to charity
that year.
Bad Traits: ABC reported that in places like Germany, Japan, and South Africa, Americans are
generally regarded as greedy and selfish. Outsiders appear to think of U.S. culture as being
very selfish and self-centered.
Summary of Economic Situation: Canada, the United States, and Mexico, the three nations that
comprise North America, are all free-market capitalist societies. Both Canada and the United
states offer many benefits such as unemployment benefits, health benefits and others. While
the U.S.and canada are some of the richest countries in the entire world, Mexico is extremely
poor, with an average salary of $6,143, according to worldsalaries.org.

Latin America:
Human Face: Che Guevara, a revolutionary from Argentina who was inspired to help the revolt
in Cuba by the incredible poverty he saw traveling through South America.
Good Traits: People of LAtin America are extremely positive, despite their economic situation.
Huffington Post reports that 7 out of 10 of the worlds happiest countries are Latin America.
Translates to positivity about the economy.
Bad Traits:The rich do not seem to care much for the poor. CNN Reports that a UN study says
the wealth gap in Latin America is widening. Richest 20% earn on average 20 times more than
poorest 20%.
Summary of Economic Situation:
Venezuela: Extremely bad situation. Inflation rate at 64%, price of oil (Which accounts for 95%
of hard-currency income) is plummeting. Source: The Guardian
Brazil: The Economist forecasts rough times ahead for Brazil due to such issues as
deforestation, the falling price of oil, and drought problems in the southeast of the country
(Where Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the countrys two biggest cities, are located)

Colombia: The Economist reports that it has overtaken Peru as the fastest-growing economy of
the larger Latin AMerican nations, with a growth rate of 6.4% per quarter. This is due to Coal
and oil being their biggest exports, whose prices have remained relatively stable.
Argentina: Situation is very poor due to the fact that Argentina had to default on its loans
because of a group of American investors that refused to accept a deal to resolve payment
disputes. Their finance minister, Fabrega, quit after just one year. Source: The economist

Africa
Human Face: Nelson Mandela. The former president of South Africa who used his liberal
economic policies to make South Africa one of the greatest economies in Africa. Inspired by the
poverty and poor situation that the South African people were in.
Good Traits: Africa contains 60% of the worlds unused farmland, making it poised to become
the worlds breadbasket. $0% of Africans have some secondary or tertiary eduction, expected to
grow to 50% by 2020. Source: UK newspaper The independent
Bad Traits: According to Forbes, 3 out of the worlds 10 worst economies are AFrican. UN Food
and Agriculture Association estimated in 2010 that 30% of Africans are in poverty.
Economic situation: The Guardian reports that despite economic growth in Africa, this is failing
to develop the continent and lift people out of poverty. Economic growth last year was 4.7
percent and expected to total 5% this year.

India
Human Face: Gandhi (Duh!). Indias most famous public figure who championed freedom and
equality. He was inspired to do his great work by the poverty that he saw while in South Africa,
and then came back to India to champion the cause of the poor and the oppressed in his home
country.
Good Traits: India is massive. It has the second-most people in the world, giving it boundless
opportunities among the over 1 billion people in the country.
Bad Traits: The Guardian reports that the Charities Aid foundation ranks India as only the 134th
most generous country. This supports a view of Indian culture as being perhaps less selfless
and more pragmatic. Language could also be an obstacle, as India is so diverse that 59% of
Indians speak something beside Hindi.

Economic Situation: IMF predicts that India will be the fastest-growing major economy by 2016.
Current growth rate is 6.3%, and it is expected to be 6.5% when it overtakes China by next year.
Size of the economy from 2012-2013 was more than 1.5 trillion dollars.
Middle East:
Human Face: King Salman of Saudi Arabia. the fact that there is a king that controls the
economy is symbolic of the backwards nature of most Middle Eastern economies. King of Saudi
Arabia since January. Derives most of his vast wealth from control of the countrys plentiful oil
reserves.
Good traits: Smithsonian Magazine reports that, despite perception, Middle Easterners are
generally quite hospitable towards outsiders, even in places such as Iran that are generally
perceived as hating those from the west.
Bad Traits: The obvious thing, of course is instability. Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and
Pakistan are all considered unsafe by the US government, which has issued travel warnings for
all of them. Iraq and Syria especially are unsafe for Westerners due to the activities of ISIS.
Summary of Economic Situation: The Middle Eastern economy is in quite a rough spot.
According to the new York times, the entire Middle East accounts for just 4% of global exports,
2.4% less than just Germany. This is mainly due to the extreme amounts of violence and strife
that have gripped the region for a long time now.

China:
Human Face: Deng Xiaoping. He was the Chairman of the Communist party in China that
created the program of Special Economic Zones. These zones, such as Shanghai and
Shenzhen, are friendly to free market enterprises and are a huge part of the reason why China
is such an economic powerhouse today.
Good Traits: The Chinese have a huge focus on having men of merit lead their government.
This has always been a huge part of the philosophy of Confucianism, which is the basis of most
of Chinas culture. This has led to the ongoing crackdown on corruption in China.
Bad Traits: In one word - Corruption. China is hugely corrupt. According to the Washington Post,
more than 100,000 officials have been disciplined since Xi Jinpings anti-corruption program
began. Corruption is an extremely big problem for China.
Summary of Economic Situation: According to the World Bank, economic output for China grew
by 7.7% in 2013. It also reports that Chinas growth should be steadily slowing in the near
future, but that this is not unexpected or necessarily bad, because growth rates would still be
good. The economy is shifting more towards service-sector jobs.

Europe (EU):
Human Face: Mario Draghi, current president of the European Central Bank. Oversaw the
massive bailout programs the ECB instituted in 2011.
Good Traits: Growth in 2015 is expected to be about 1.3%, the best growth since 2010
according to The Economist.
Bad Traits: Many of Europes economies are still Struggling. In Spain, for example, 23.4% of
people are unemployed.