Monday, December 23, 2019

Sustainability And Csr Project Sp17 Ba 342 - 1062 Words

Sustainability/CSR Project – SP17 BA 342 Wai Yi Karen Lam Introduction: Discover Financial Services, Inc. (DFS) is an American direct banking and electronic payment services company which was founded in 1985. It provides financial and banking services, such as credit cards, student loans, and home equity loans to businesses and individuals around the globe. DFS issues the Discover card, which is the third largest credit card brand in the United States. It also operates PULSE, Discover Network, and Diners Club International with acceptance in more than 185 countries. Regarding its latest annual report, DFS had a network sales volume of $312 billion, including $118 billion from Discover card sales and a net income of $2.3 billion in 2015.†¦show more content†¦Besides, DFS aims to minimize its impact on natural resources by purchasing paper from suppliers which practice sustainable forestry and are close to DFS’s facilities so as to reduce carbon emission in delivery. Plus, it encourages clients to switch to paperless statements and replaced about 1,400 printers and fax machines with multifunctional devices. The above projects have led DFS to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver status. LEED is a rating system to assess the environmental performance of a company. URL: https://www.discover.com/company/corporate-responsibility/Discover_Corporate_Responsibility.pdf Community Engagement: DFS strongly believes that giving back to the communities makes the communities and the company stronger. This is the major initiative that strives DFS to continuously contribute to the society. DFS aims to create a brighter financial future, drive success in schools, and show commitments to the community. It supports local communities by adopting a school in every community where it does business. It provides resources and financial aid to fund academic programs. It also encourages its employees to tutor, mentor, and implement interior and exterior beautification projects at those adopted schools. Other than that, DFS donated $115,000 to National Council on Agricultural Life which provides loans for affordable housing, $380,000 to support new established small

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Historical Report on Race Free Essays

They were sold into slavery where they were considered property, had o rights, past down to the next generation, and etc. (Schaefer p. 177). We will write a custom essay sample on Historical Report on Race or any similar topic only for you Order Now Slaves had to follow many different codes and it shows how badly African Americans have suffered over the years. Slaves were controlled by fear and intimidation. When slaves did not follow the codes they were punished in many different ways. For example: whipped, beaten, imprisoned, hung, or etc. On top of that women also had to deal with rape and there was nothing they could do about it. In 1865 slavery was dismissed throughout the United States (Schaefer p. 180). Since then African Americans have experienced many other hardships. For example: discrimination, segregation, hatred, racism, and etc. It has not by any means been an easy going ride for African Americans. There have been many different political, social, and cultural issues or concerns throughout America’s history, because of the color of their skin. There has been discrimination towards African Americans and has hindered them from performing the best that they can. There was laws created to help support oppression of African Americans. As time went by laws were passed to help Stop discrimination with the help of African Americans standing up against the discrimination that they were dealing with. For example: â€Å"in 1 955, a black seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus† (History 2014). This brought around a citywide boycott that helped put a stop to segregation. There are many organizations that have come about to help voice ways of preventing discrimination. For example: in 1942, James Farmer organized an organization called Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Core was created and to help end discriminatory policies through direct-action projects (Congress of Racial Equality 2014). These organizations helped start the beginning of the end of coordination, segregation, slavery, De cure segregation, and etc. Legislation meant to constrain race with prejudicial boundaries that enacted. For example: Jim Crow Laws or De cure segregation. Jim Crow laws were created to separate the whites and blacks. They were set in place to supposedly treat blacks as separates but equal (Schaefer p. 180). It separated the whites and blacks in many different ways. Blacks were not allowed to eat in the same restaurant, use the same bathrooms, stay in the same hotels, or go to the same schools. While they were enslaved there were slave codes that they had to follow. For example: they were not allowed to gamble, they had curfews, they could not own property, they could not marry, they could not have a weapon, or etc. (Schaefer p. 177). The united States made it very difficult for African Americans to become who they are in today’s society. African Americans fought legislation in many different ways. They boycotted, ran away, or etc. , just to get away from the laws or to try and end the rules. Although African Americans were beaten or arrested they still continued to stand their grounds to get what they deserved. The government also put into place a restrictive covenant. Racially restrictive covenants played a major role in contributing to residential segregation† (Ramose 1995). This covenant helped keep blacks from living in white neighborhoods. African Americans fought the system to overturn the covenant and to be able to live where ever they wanted. In 1963 President Lincoln put Emancipation Proclamation into effect. â€Å"Emancipation Proclamation freed all people that were held as slaves, but only was meant for the states that were involved in the Confederacy† (Schaefer p. 180). The thirteenth amendment stopped slavery all together, in every state. There have been many laws created to help stop discrimination wrought the United Stated. Not only for African Americans but also for other minorities. How to cite Historical Report on Race, Papers Historical Report on Race Free Essays I am writing to you because you were inquiring about African Americans within the U. S. history. We will write a custom essay sample on Historical Report on Race or any similar topic only for you Order Now African Americans have a long history in America which I will be glad to discuss here to better inform you. A major part of their life was slavery in the beginning of their time in the United States. African American had problems with civil rights in the early creation and even in the current times. This has cause major cultural, political and social concerns throughout American history. Legislation and different important people have taken action to change the way African Americans are treated in society. African Americans have been through many things during the history of the United States. Since early is American history, African Americans have been considered colored. Slavery and slave labor was formed and in 1619 when a Dutch ship brought 20 legally contracted servants or slaves to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia (African American World, 2012). The problem with slavery is that are bought as slaves and some of the slave owners would beat, rape, or even kill female and male slaves alike. Raping of an African slave was not only legal, but it also was a normal thing to do for owners of slaves (Scholastic, 2012). The harsh treatment of slaves was not right in any sense, no matter how people explained the treatment of. It is inhumane and takes the rights of people away, and this is not the way to treat anyone or anything that is one of God’s creatures. In 1861, during the spring, northern and southern states thoughts about state and federal laws, westward expansion, and opinions on slavery led to the American Civil War (American Civil War, 1996-2012). In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and granted African Americans â€Å"separate but equal† treatment that was recognized by many states. Jim Crow laws were passed to spate Blacks and Whites from everything from transportation to stopping African Americans from voting (Jim Crow laws denied blacks dignity, vote, 2003). In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. The next year, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a White person. Malcolm X became known as a minister of Islam in 1962 and rejected the nonviolent movement for civil rights and integration of blacks into Society. Malcolm X even stated at one point the equal rights should be secured by â€Å"any means necessary† that he later decided against. Later that same year, more than 200,000 people marched to see Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech, which was the largest civil rights demonstration in history. Later in 1964, not only does Martin Luther King Jr. got awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act provided the federal government powers to prosecute discrimination in employment, voting, and education. In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated by Nation of Islam member after he decided to separate from the organization. Race riots broke out that same year from the arrest of a young African American man that was charged with reckless driving as well as additional causes of mass unemployment, poor living conditions among L. A. ’s African Americans with cause of widespread racism. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 which caused a week of rioting across the nation. Reverend Jesse Jackson founded Operation People United to Serve Humanity which is a movement that stressed African American economic growth and education (African American World, 2012). The various groups mentioned tried to fight the legislation with assassinations, murders, and the still ever-present lowering of respect of the African American people. The legislation was passed by public outcry and heavy criticism of the way that the United States was handling the segregation of African American people. It is easier to understand the present outlook of the nation if you understand that African Americans are still looked down on and that there are still changes that need to be made to make African Americans equal to other races that may be considered better  than them. NO race is better than another and we should fight for equality of all people and races. The reality of this is that no one will really be considered equal. There will always be hate because there will always be differences of people, beliefs, and upbringing. People have opinions about things and this will always be the way it is going to be until the end of time. I hope this letter answers some of your questions and I look forward to hearing back from you and hearing about your vacation to Mexico. How to cite Historical Report on Race, Papers Historical Report on Race Free Essays Good morning readers, today’s blog will be about the African American racial group. Through this reading we will answer many questions. Like, what have been the experiences of this racial group throughout history? What have been political, social, and cultural issues and concerns throughout American history? What legislation meant to constrain race within prejudicial boundaries? How did the group fight this legislation? Finally, what legislation meant to alleviate prejudicial boundaries has been enacted? How did the group promote this legislation? Most African Americans are descendants of slaves. We will write a custom essay sample on Historical Report on Race or any similar topic only for you Order Now Many of these slaves were sold into slavery as P. O. W. s by other African states. The others were kidnapped by their own people or many others like European or American slave traders. This was due in part to the ever growing need of free labor in the â€Å"New World†. The first of Africans were brought to Jamestown, VA in 1619. They were not brought over as slaves, but as indentured servants and were released after so many years. By the 1700s there were 25,000 black slaves in the American colonies, which was about 10% of the population. By the late 1700s many people were noting the apparent hypocrisies of slavery and demanded freedom for slaves. Through the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ideas of freedom and equality were set forth, but still provided the continuation of the institution of slavery. The rights of free blacks were also restricted in many places, and many of them were denied the right to vote and were excluded from public school. Then in 1790 there were more than 59,000 free blacks in America and by 1810 the number had risen to 186,446. By the 1830s there were more than 319,000 free Blacks in America. With the Supreme Court’s â€Å"Dred Scott† decision blacks were not considered citizens nor could they ever be citizens. With the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation slaves were free in the southern states. It was the 13th Amendment that outlawed slavery in America, and the 14th Amendment that granted full U. S. citizenship to African-Americans. The 15th Amendment extended the right to vote to black males. With the Jim Crow laws state and local laws mandated De Jure segregation in all public facilities through 1965. For black throughout history we see many political, social, and cultural issues and concerns. We see that there were many laws that were set in place to discriminate against black slave and later on free black slaves. Even when they were freed, slaves found it hard to live a normal social life in America. The rest of white America still saw them as slaves and unequal to the rest of the citizens of America, because they were yet to be citizens themselves. They also mainly faced cultural issues when they were first brought to American. This is because they were faced to learn English, get English names, and some were not allowed to practice their own religion. Legislation was also made to constrain race and enforce prejudicial boundaries. State and local laws known as Jim Crow laws were enacted between 1876 and 1965. They made de jure racial segregation in all public facilities of Southern states. It started in 1890 with â€Å"separate but equal† status for African Americans. Separate but equal led to conditions for blacks that tended to be inferior to the ones provided for whites. These De jure segregations were mainly in the Southern states. In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Do to this action she was arrested and charged with civil disobedience. This action and the many other demonstrations which it started would lead to a series of legislative decisions that contributed to undoing the Jim Crow system. Blacks also took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. earlier demonstrations like the one led by K. Leroy Irvis of Pittsburgh’s Urban League in 1947, was against employment discrimination by Pittsburgh’s department stores. Finally, there was legislation made to alleviate prejudicial boundaries that had been enacted. In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act outlawed discrimination in public places. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended the legally sanctioned state barriers of voting in all federal, state, and local elections. This was promoted by blacks that would go out and vote in federal, state, and local polls. How to cite Historical Report on Race, Essay examples Historical Report on Race Free Essays Krista Hanna Eth/125 Mr. Lew 18 February 2013 Historical Report on Race *I am writing as a Native American, a letter to my friend of a different culture. Dear Molly, I am writing in response to the letter you sent me, to answer questions and expand your knowledge about the Native American culture. We will write a custom essay sample on Historical Report on Race or any similar topic only for you Order Now First off let me start by saying that life wasn’t always grand for me. As a Native American, we learned to adopt our own way of live. We lived off reservations, and lived a more traditional way of life. A life that we thought was best for us and our kids to grow up in. We produced our own food, shelter and weapons and provided for ourselves in the most natural way possible. It wasn’t always easy though, and others seen more value out of our land and resources than us. I was forced off my land and had to adapt to the new peoples way of life. That in which they called a white society; this society created many acts in my life time in order to weaken our society such as those of the Allotment Act and the Reorganization Act (Schaefer, p. 47, 2012). People of my cultural lived on reservations, we had learned to separate ourselves and adopt our own way of life and government. Native Americans had created their own nation and it caused and has caused a lot of tension between us and the U. S. culture. As a Native American, we were all about live the traditional way of life. There was value to our land and the resources that we used and the white people wanted and did take it from us. It seemed as if we were constantly at war with the white people so that we could protect what we thought was rightfully ours. They had created an act known as the Indian Removal Act, which was passed in 1830 (Schaefer, p. 150, 2012). This opened more land for settlement and allowed people to come in and take over our reservations (Schaefer, p. 150, 2012). In 1946, Congress had created the Indian Claims Commission (Schaefer, p. 150, 2012). This was a good thing for us, or so we thought. It meant that finally our voice was going to be heard. There were three members apart of the commission, and they were given a five year deadline, but there kept getting extension after extension, until; in 1978 the whole thing was abolished (Schaefer p. 155, 2012). At times, it seemed as if maybe the government was trying to help us, that or they were trying to use us. In 1952, the BIA began programs, so that they could relocate young Native Americans to Urban areas and by 1962 they had created what was called the Employment Assistance program; also known as the EAP (Schaefer, p 157, 2012). Basically there primary goal was to relocate us by offering us better jobs opportunities that, that of the reservation could not offer. But this plan had soon backfired on them. By 1965, one-fourth to one third of the people in the EAP had returned home to their reservations (Schaefer p. 157, 2012). Today, most of our land has been taken from us and no longer exist. Native Americans themselves are not being treated as badly as we were back then, but it’s the culture and our name that continues to be insulted. Schools have such a thing as mascots, and they create names for them. They use those such as the â€Å"Braves† or â€Å"Redskins. † Those names have a meaning to the Native American culture, it tends to bring up the past for us, and though there intentions may not be that of insulting us, some of us don’t like it too much. It hasn’t always been easy for us, and at times I wanted to give up. But everything seems to turn out for the better. I’ve learned that every culture and person has their own way of living and when someone sees a greater value of that person’s living then they have to have it. Things don’t always have to be that way; people can come up with their own greater value of living. Remember, you don’t always have to have someone else’s greater value to have a greater value of your own. Make an even better living for yourself than trying to take someone else’s. I hope you learned well from this letter and I wish you the best. Your Friend! Resources: Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and Ethnic Groups (13th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. How to cite Historical Report on Race, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Adrienne Rich Twenty One Love Poem free essay sample

Adrienne was known to be one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century,and was credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse. Richs poetics depends on a readers experience of her poetry. It is an event of cultural engagement in which the poems, resonating with and against each other, urges the reader to test various hermeneutic and ideological stances, and it requires the dialogic interaction among poet, poem, reader, and cultural context. For these reasons, the reader is indispensable to Richs feminist poetics. I believe the readers are the ones to perceive the personification in her poetry. Through his/her perception the images can be understood or retranslated into several different possibilities. Such freedom conceded to the reader can be interpreted as a demonstration of the persona’s disengagement from a given ideology. The publication of Twenty-One Love Poems in 1976 in effect marked Richs coming out as a lesbian. The rules break like a thermometer,/ quicksilver spills across the charted systems/ were out in a country that has no language/ whatever we do together is pure invention/ the maps they gave us were out of date/ by years , were all things she wrote that pronounced that she was coming out. In 1970 Rich separated from her husband, with whom she had three children. He was subsequently ruled to have killed himself. She was with her partner, the writer Michelle Cliff ,for more than 30 years. (http://www. guardian. co. uk/March292012) The Dream of a Common Language is a collection of poetry that was written by a woman, about women, for women. This book was the first book published after Rich decided to come out about her sexuality in 1976 and the book was first published in 1978. The Dream of a Common Language was poetry for community, poetry meant to exploit purpose, poetry meant to be marked up in the margins, poetry meant sung to someone of significance. The collection is divided into three sections. The first, â€Å"Power,† is about the accomplishments of individual women. The second portion of the book, â€Å"Twenty-one Love Poems,† is the open proclamation of Rich’s sexual preference and Not Somewhere Else, but Here,† where Adrienne Rich is believed to continue her exploration of female relationships. Twenty one love poem is a quatrain, with various stanzas of fourteen or sixteen lines. Its in a sonnet form which was originated in Europe. A sonnet is a signified poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Adrienne Rich is known for poetry about social and political commentarty, feminism, social commentary, etc. A collection of Love Poems should certainly be taken in context with lesbian sexuality. In her Twenty-One Love Poems, Adrienne Rich classifies a series of nature images in order to examine the relationship between self and city, self and lover. On all accounts this collection of poems, nature serves as a symbol of psychic life and shock, and it can be difficult to describe the various natural metaphors which Rich uses. One can, however, group these images into categories. To me, the poem is about choice, actions, and how we define love ourselves rather than through destiny, meeting of souls, etc. The poem has some classic existential themes; the opening line: no ones fated or doomed to love anyone says our choices in love are our own. It has an existential theme to it. Looking at the section beginning â€Å"No one has imagined us,† I didn’t identify the â€Å"us† necessarily as female but more generally just as humanity struggling and that their the only one who notice how rough things are, which, incidentally, I think is more powerful left unnamed because it allows the reader to take on the poem for him or herself. Then I read â€Å"live like trees,† which i get the sense it means they want to live naturally, free from the patriarchal oppression, and be able to branch out, take up space in this city. The poet makes reference to the opera Tristand und Isolde (a story about lovers that do confuse death and love, due to a love potion) and makes a point to say that the opera is NOT the story that fate, magic, love potions, etc. , have nothing to do with it. The existential theme is continued when the poet mentions a tape recorder a device that can only record sound, what is actually said and done. In a sense, she is saying that actions are what are important thoughts and intentions are meaningless in death, what remains after we are gone is how we were are seen by others. If our actions define who we are or how we tried to love, the recorded may have caught some ghost of us that recordable actions are what will be remembered after death. She is saying that love is what we say and do, what we choose to act upon by ourselves despite the forces that rage within us and against. I think its also interesting that the poem is directed mainly toward women, not men (especially given the poets background and other poems about sexuality and lesbianism) None the less the poem signifies how homosexuality may have been viewed in the late 1970’s and how homosexuals may have felt during this period, basically hiding in the shadows so they would not be judged. The increasing visibility of gay people generated a backlash during the 1970s. It is perhaps the most discussed anti-gay rights campaign of the decade. Poetry is used to offers a way of distinguishing our need, not for rejecting needs, or even for achieving them.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Composer Artist Paper Essays - Adoration Of The Magi In Art

Composer Artist Paper The baroque period was characterized by a heroic, dramatic and emotional theme. With well know names like Rembrant, Bach, Pennini, Caravaggio, Bernini, Tintoretto, Velasques, Poussin, Handel, and Rubens, the period produced many popular pieces of music and art. The art of the period was filled with movement, light versus shadow, and the use of the whole surface. The composers incorporated new ideas into their music such as different major and minor scales, the use of the violin, a regular rhythm, a melody that was hard to sing to, terrace dynamics, the basso continuo, and instrumental music was now considered as good as vocal music. The baroque period was an important piece of history in the shaping of the music and art world. George Frideric Handel was a composer of amazing talents and abilities. Although in today's society he is not as well known as Bach, his work was kept in high regards by the people of the time. Both Handel and Bach were born in 1685 about a month apart, and together the world was stunned by the masterpieces created by these great minds. Handel, being born on February 23, in Halle, Germany, was not from a musical family. As a child he was introduced to the harpsichord by his aunt, and soon after he began to practice the art that he loved. His father showed no interest in Handel's music and disowned him saying, " Then let him be a clown, a tightrope walker, a minstrel or a bear trainer!" On a business trip, Handel accompanied his father to the city of Weissenfels, where he happened to slip away into the town church, and began to play an improvised rendition of the postlude to the service. After seeing the remarkable talent of the young boy, the duke of the church persuaded Handel's fa ther that "?to ignore this talent would be a sin against God."2 Handel began his lesson with Duke Zackow soon after, being instructed in the playing of the organ, the harpsichord, and the violin. At the age of 17, Handel experienced the loss of his father. He would quickly move on and enroll as a law student t Halle University. Shortly after beginning school, he became the organist at the protestant cathedral. After a year of school, Handel moved on into the world of the theatre. Handel was inspired to attempt his hand in composing an opera. Almira was Handel's first attempt at an opera, and was warmly welcomed by the audience. Almira was characterized by a nondescript libretto, German recitatives, and a small amount of Italian arias.2 This work was recognized by even the greatest of composers, notably Bach who admired the opera and borrowed part to put in his own works. The popularity of his first opera convinced Handel to write a second. Handel immediately followed up his first work by writing his second opera, Nero. unlike the first opera, this one was a complete failure, only being preformed three times. Although Nero was a failure, Handel pursued his career as an opera writer with such works as Agrippina, Joshua, and Israel in Egypt. Handle would move on to new and different types of music including many oratorios such as Handel's famous Messiah written in 1741. The Messiah is a piece lasting two and one half hours long and amazingly composed in only 24 days. Messiah was first preformed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. The piece was very popular after it's premier, convincing Handel to take it to bigger and better places. He moved on, taking the Messiah into London, England. The first performance of the Messiah in London was poorly received by the audience due mostly because of religious opposition to the use of a Christian text in the theatre. Finally, after ten years of unpopularity, it began to become desirable in London. The Messiah consists of three parts. The first part begins with angels announcement of the Messiah's coming arrival and the birth of Christ. The second part has been described as "?the accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus, mankind's rejection of God's offer and mankind's utter d efeat when trying to oppose the power of the Almighty." The third part shows

Monday, November 25, 2019

The multiculturalism into which American Literature has developed

The multiculturalism into which American Literature has developed If someone had to inquire about the multicultural problem that we face today, then probably majority of the answers would still lie on the racial differences just as in the early settings. The answers would focus on issue of American foreigners who were incidentally native through their family link of various American generations.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The multiculturalism into which American Literature has developed specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The multicultural literature once dominated by white text has greatly transformed and many writers floods the same literature that has over the time accused various races in terms of ignorance, violence, crime, immoral, brutal, and uncontrollable feral passions among other forms of un-civilization. Currently, the syllabus on American literature has to meet the diversity enhancements as mandated in the university requirements. Revisions on career outline indicate that there is a wide difference between what students learn about the contemporary world, and the historical perspectives regarding multicultural settings. Students are today able to embrace all the current literature about culture because all the materials are new and are remarkably free from the historical prejudices. The world studied today is quite different from what existed in the past. There is lack of the exclusivities in teaching methods and literature learning in current American literature. There is an overwhelming change over the confined nature of past-institutionalized form of study where the teachers in the subject matter directed or were in control over the topics of discussions. The development is evident in current discussions, for instance it is possible to find authentic discussions regarding African-American studies, Lesbianism studies or even various forms of music evolution studies such as analysis of Jazz music evolution. Students have overcome the societal inequities brought about by the civil right era, which in some cases become more insidious especially during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Students are currently willing to have open discussions of multicultural issues and therefore the teachers conduct the proceedings non-dogmatically by allowing different point of views. There is development on language and aesthetic as well especially on issues relating to power of translating native languages. The current study of American literature provides excitement, satisfaction, surprise, criticism and doubt among readers, which maintain the zeal and anxiety over diversification of culture. Majority of recently written literature about multiculturalism voices the victims by giving them opportunity to share experiences.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There is clear indication of how various cultures in Americ a enriches the society through sharing of cultural differences and arts. The mutual interaction and assimilation expands the multicultural perspectives through learning and appreciation of ethnic heritage. Current multicultural literature has a close description touching on assimilation of American cultures. Most of the current literature writes have explanation indicating their pride of belonging to a multicultural community while still being able to retain the unique heritage of their origin unlike prejudiced historical writings. Today’s literature indicates that there is evident push from Americans who advocate to participate in multicultural practices and experiences for instance through appreciation of foreign art, music or food. Literature writers immerse the American literature into the vibrant cultures by depicting the positive differences and benefits they represent. The past couple of decades have seen culturally related wars over the procedures of teaching American literature. Heated debates over multiculturalism have spread beyond the college books to news materials such as magazines, thus enticing mixed reactions. Some people feel that American literature is failing, while others see the situation is a transformation of teaching methods. Classical and traditional literature that writers forgot or overlooked is finding a transformation through modernized form of interpretation. There are hopes for the twenty-first century for the reason that more challenges will enrich the abandoned American literature and heritage with more positive or diverse analysis of the traditions.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Literary analysis paper from a historical perspective Essay

Literary analysis paper from a historical perspective - Essay Example Words used in the literary pieces also give away the race and perhaps the gender of the author as will be seen in this paper on the analysis of two of Langston Hughes’ poems. As a Harlem Renaissance writer, Hughes had his own taste of the bitter pill of racial discrimination in the field he had chosen where black poets were given few if not no chance at all for their works to be published (Hutchinson, 1995). As his people were fighting for equal rights as their white counterparts, Hughes definitely experienced the difficulties of such a situation; not to mention the troubles he met in his personal life. Hughes’ parents separated after his birth and he lived in several cities as a result of his mother transferring from one city to another to find a job. After high school, he went to live with his father who became a successful cattle rancher in Mexico, escaping the racism in the north where the young writer went back home after one year (. His works are reminiscent of su ch facts, picturing his life and background. Dream Deferred depicts the hopelessness brought about by weariness when a dream is postponed. Being recognized among the great poets in his time, Hughes most probably did not just speak for his own dreams but the ideals of his people as well.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Organizational Change Model Assignment Term Paper

Organizational Change Model Assignment - Term Paper Example While reductionist and normative approaches have their uses in managing projects, it is vital for managers in charge of implementing any type of change to learn of more responsive processes such as those involved in action research to improve their efficiency as project managers (Gustavsen, 2003). Understanding action science also helps in developing interpersonal within the organization. In larger contexts, such as that of XYZ Inc.’s expansion into Shanghai, China, action research is more political as well as complex, and tends to be coordinated across several change processes. In such a context, action research also includes a variety of stakeholders who have are invested in the organization. Kurt Lewin is believed by many to be the man who came up with the first form of an action research model (Gustavsen, 2003). The action research model is mostly used to implement organizational change in multifaceted social situations where the workers and customers whose lives or circum stances will be affected ought to participate in creating and implementing the change that will affect their lives. The action research also is being increasingly used for expansion objectives in international settings. In this case, XYZ Inc. is creating a branch in a developing nation with a thriving economy. The changes involved do not just mean relocating operations to a different geographical location, but also include taking into account new customer demographics, and cultural work values of workers from a different nation. In addition, the action research model is rooted in American notions of what change entails. For instance, the action research model actually perceives change in a different way from Eastern cultures such as that of China. Implementing this model of change will thus mean that a more deep-seated foundation is laid when the Shanghai branch is being created, as the action research model will even have to have its basic doctrines revised to fit in more with its society. In order to achieve success in such settings, the action research model is created to address different cultural assumptions when necessary. This model can also be applied to promote innovation and social change, as is evidenced by successful global social change projects. Its suggestions are also meant to rectify imbalances in resource allocations and power structures across different groups. This will be vital in traditionally bureaucratic societies such as the Chinese society as it will deal with any feelings of disgruntlement among workers. In recent times, the action research model has made adaptations such as the involvement of workers in any organization’s change process. This is referred to as ‘participatory action research’ in corporate circles. This is a big contrast from traditional approaches towards change where change practices are created and then implemented by hired consultants (Gustavsen, 2003). While XYZ Inc. is not headquartered in a nation that has bureaucratic leanings, it still has to change its structure so that it changes from being too management oriented to being more of a customer-centric institution. This can be made possible through the action research model. In addition, action research, as a method of organizational change, is likely to be accepted in the Chinese society which has a systemic understanding of the world. Nations with a large majority of Buddhist adherents, such as China, tend to be

Monday, November 18, 2019

SCADA Worm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SCADA Worm - Essay Example n facilities ranging from power plants to petroleum refineries, SCADA Worms can rapidly affect large scale industrial computer networks and IT operations. Moreover, SCADA Worms are highly sophisticated and capable of braking through different firewalls. These computer viruses infect Windows based operating systems and server environments, which are one of the most commonly used IT infrastructure equipment in USA. Next, SCADA Worms generally attack the Siemens based IT applications, which are again highly common in most of the US industrial automation and information environments. (Cherry and Langner, 2010; Kline and Krachenfels, 2010) According to most IT experts (e.g. Kim and Solomon, 2010) information security involves seven major domains. These are user domain, workstation domain, LAN domain, LAN-to-WAN domain, remote access domain, WAN domain, and system/application domain. General arrangement of these domains is shown in Figure – 1: Presently, industrial control systems are physically guarded at the workstation domain. User authentication systems and password policies are implemented at user domain. Anti-virus and Firewall software are used at the interface between the workstation domain (e.g. client side computers) and the remote access, LAN, or LAN-to-WAN domains (e.g. server side routers). But reports from Iran, India, and Indonesia show that these arrangements are essential but not enough to stop SCADA Worm (Kline and Krachenfels, 2010). Scientists like Coppolino et al (2012) suggest that Markov model based intrusion detection systems deployed at the system/application domain can be a useful deterrent against the SCADA Worm. The detection system at the industrial control engine must be both undetectable and modifiable. On the other hand, security providers like GarretCom put forward the idea of assimilating security tools from â€Å"a lot of disciplines working together to create industrial environments in a world that is increasingly connected† (Kline

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Postmodernism in the media

Postmodernism in the media Introduction to postmodernism, the media and the real The increasingly mediatised culture we live in today has lead us to be dominated by and dependent upon the production and consumption of images. Notions of objectivity and empiricism in the photographic have long since disappeared, but can we still locate our sense of the real in images? This dissertation will use many theories and ideas that discuss the role of photography, postmodernism and the real within todays culture and media. It will start with a discussion of the reasoning for the initial shift back towards the real. This shift mainly stemmed from postmodernism and the media. Postmodernism dealt with the idea of never ending reference and the fear about post-modern culture was that this never ending reference meant that all grip on reality had disappeared. There was a wish to return to something more stable and basic: the real? Photographers started to try and return to the purely descriptive photography from the times before the mass referencing of postmodernism. Due to pos tmodernism, we are constantly searching for meaning and analysis in images. This constant analysis of images has exhausted our trust and interest in the photograph; there was a need to create images different from the ones we see every day in the media in order to re-find our trust in the image as truth and as art. Which will lead onto looking at how, due to advances in technology and developments in photography, the new fast changing everyday image led to our relationships and emotions becoming mediatised. We re-live events and experiences through images, which leads to a loss of the real. We remember the image rather than the event. The media have a huge influence on events, advertising even our emotions and relationships. I will look at how some photographers can play a part in the manipulation and influence from the media that seems so much to control us and shape our world. But some photographers began to step away from the media, and postmodernism, older, slower technologies b egan to re-emerge. The single image produced from these methods of working could bring back the processes of our memory that have been complicated due to the sheer amount of information we get from other technologies. This leads onto the main question posed in this dissertation: can we ever (re)find the real? How much is this notion of the real influenced and shaped by the media influence in our world? Some would say that even photos that appear to be descriptive cannot escape being subjected to analysis and placed within a context of viewing. Maybe they can never be void of reference and construction? Maybe images can never provide the clear, stable version of reality that we want from them? Will we continue to be consumed by images, or is there a future beyond the cycle of referencing left by postmodernism? Can we ever (re)find authenticity, originality and a true form of photography that can direct us to the real? How has this affected our media? And how has it influenced the media to change and shape our world? Chapter One What caused people to lose a sense of the real? Postmodernism emerged as an art form in the mid to late 1980s and seemed to grow from and relate to the modernist movement. Postmodernism simply rejected the idea of originality; the original, new element within a photograph was replaced with the concept of reference and quotation. Finding something authentic and original as an idea was discarded. Essentially, postmodernism is the end of the new as something new within Postmodernism is looked upon as the byproduct of re-combining one or more different elements from within an already existing culture. An image has to refer to, use or quote another image or text, which will have referred to another image, which will have referred to a further different image and so on; a never-ending reference has begun and we begin to lose a sense of the real. Postmodernist culture enjoyed this play with signs of never ending reference, where the more you played the less anyone seemed to know what reality it was touching (Bate 2004)(1) Some early Postmodernist photographers include Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Edward Weston and Cindy Sherman. Shermans untitled films stills refer to trashy Hollywood films. These early works of hers were cleverly named Untitled then Film Still no indicating that they can be given any meaning and could refer to an actual specific existing film. The viewer is given a reference which leads to yet another representation, not reality itself. In short: here is a picture from a film, but I am not going to tell you which one, a message complicated by the fact that the photographs were not actual films stills. (Bate2004)(2) The factor that was feared about postmodernism is that the never-ending reference meant that all grip on reality has disappeared and this lead to a wish to return to a simpler, more stable and basic way of working. We have lost a sense of what is real within art and culture due to reality being discarded in favour of mass inter-textual referencing. But the fear about post-modern culture was that there no longer an anchor to reality at all, that reality had disappeared into an endless chain of other representations. (Bate 2004)(3) There began to be a wish to return to the values of the straight and pure photograph of modernism and everything that post modernism had rejected. A wish to return to something stable and basic, a wish to take a purely descriptive photograph. Some photographers managed to create purely descriptive work, an example of this could be Justin Partykas work The East Anglians. This ongoing body of work about the rural and agricultural area of East Anglia is a purely descriptive study of the landscape and people, who live, work and own the land in it. But the title The East Anglians could refer to Robert Franks The Americans a post World War II look beneath the surface of American life. Is anybody of work free from this postmodernist trap every photographer seems to fall into. The rise in postmodernism lead to photography being used more as an art form, and began to become popular with both artists and the public. It was no longer a low form of art and became widely accepted. Photography was used more by everyone and so began to develop further, leading to major advances in technology. With the invention of mobile phone cameras and the internet and email, it is easy to take a photograph and send it anywhere in the world in seconds. These new technologies mediatised our relationships and emotions. Yet despite the idea that these mobile technologies bring us all closer to each other, we are caught up in a contradiction, since they increasingly mediatise our relationships to one another. To look at something it has to be kept at a distance. (Bate 2004)(4) With digital technology today, there is no longer a need to wait for photographs to be processed, no need to wait until the end of a holiday or event to see the photographs and an less limited amount of photographs can be taken on that one camera as opposed to the 24 or 36 with the most commonly used 35mm negative film. This means people are taking so many photographs of everything rather than considering what particularly they would like photographs of. An unlimited sense has been brought into photography. This has lead to a loss in the real, and a loss in the value of photography. Previously at an important event such as a holidays, birthdays or weddings, families would use probably just one camera and probably only one or 2 films per event, some families using just one film per year for every event, resulting in a few photographs being taken which would then be put in an album and often reviewed. Now with digital technologies, people tend to have many cameras per family and at eve ry event, small or large, hundreds of photographs can get taken, the difference being these would then be put on a computer and most would never be looked at. This is where we have lost the value of photography, before digital it was precious, every photograph was considered, thought about and enjoyed afterwards. This has also lead to us remembering the photograph of the event rather than the actual event. If we spend all day photographing what is going on around us, we will remember just those photographs and not what was actually happening; we remember the image rather than the real. Perhaps to properly look at something you have to take a step back, away from our fast pace society. The loss of the real in postmodernism and now in the digital era has left artist and photographs wishing to go back to simpler times. New art is often now made up of redundant processes which are older and slower which then sets this new art form apart from the images and photographs we see in everyday media culture. New technologies are being left in favour of older and slower ones which are apparently more real. More traditional and simple methods of photography seemed to be linked to the concept of the real, as they are different from the photographs we see every day on the news and in the media. Hal Foster in his book The Return of the Real says he feels that we have not left postmodernism completely, it has become what is normal to us; we have a postmodernism realism. The consequence of this that we change the way we want reality to be constructed. Foster feels that simply postmodernism has become dà ©modà ©. (Foster 1996)(5) Photography now draws on elements of film, advertisements, postcards etc. to create imagery that is inter-textual and referential to those other pictures, these new images create the realism of this visually mediated culture; post-modern realism is now the normal. Along with the development of photography, video and film also began to expand and change. Photography was the only way of stopping time, a photograph was a moment captured in time on film forever. Now a freeze frame like that can come from any number of sources. Photographs began to be pulled from existing moving images a video. This is achievable by anyone as DVDs or VHSs or even live television can be paused, creating a freeze frame a moment, captured in time. What was once the sole privilege and product of the photograph is now equally likely to be the result of a cinema or video freeze-frame (Bate 2004)(6) This has changed photography, as now instead of the image being of an actual event, they were now selected from the way the event had already been interpreted. Newspapers and news channels were no longer using photographers to capture the perfect picture; they were using video and selecting the image from the video. This is called second order realism. Selecting the decisive moment is still dependant on a person knowing when to push a button, but is now selecting a still from an already decided and produced moving image. A photograph is supposed to be a moment locked in time but now it is more often than not pulled out of an image bank full of video freeze-frames. Film and video has stolen what makes photography special the decisive moment. Therefore the specificity and specialness of photography has to find itself in some other attribute of photography. Chapter 2 How does the media shape our world and the concept of real? Mass media is a huge part of our lives today, and has to influence us in some way. Images have become our reality due to the media. A news story would not impact without an image, and as soon as an image is shown it is a reality and remembers as if the viewer was at the event themselves. Guy Debord in Comments on the Society of the Spectacle talks about how developments in photographs and mass media have contributed to what Debord describes as the society of the spectacle. In the spectacular world images and representations become our reality and everything exists as and for images. Real-life experiences become repressed and events take place in a mediated, pseudo-reality. Experience, events, and even our emotions, both on an individual and public scale are heavily mediated. Where images refer to one another endlessly the originality and authenticity of them are abolished. As a result of this, it is claimed we have lost any relation to the real. The spectacle has now spread itself to the point where it now permeates all reality (Debord 1988) (7) Victor Burgin studied people who believed that media events were their own memories in Possessive, Pensive and Possessed. Sociologists at the University of Provence found that people can become confused and merge their own personal memories with memories from scenes of films or other media productions. I saw at the cinema would simply become I saw. (Burgin 2006)(8) This is called a screen memory, where you remember something from a film instead of from real life. It is in place of and conceals a similar suppressed memory. In the past, big events did happen but people knew less about them as there was no type of media production to let them know. It rarely went beyond those involved. Now because of media we all know about every event, and add these events to our memories, even though we have not actually physically experienced them. We forget our real experiences and replace them with events from the media. For example, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City will be remember by everyone worldwide, but only a small number of people actually experienced and saw the event, but everyone will remember the event and visualise it from the images they saw. When thinking of these terrorist attacks many people will think of this and many other images which were taken at the event. These images will be in their memory as if they were in New York City on that day, meaning they remember events from a media production which has now become their own memory which relates back to Burgins study into screen memories. Our reaction to big events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks is to experience and re-live the event through the images which are presented to us. Thomas De Zengotita talks of how there is a bubble of mediated representation which he calls the blob. In the world of the blob, momentous catastrophes such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks are almost poignant enough to burst the bubble, Something like that will feel as if it might be sharp enough, as if it might pierce the membrane and slice the pulp. (De Zengotita 2007)(9) With the developments in digital photography and manipulation we can find that we re-live and experience events that did not even happen. We look at a manipulated image, take it to be the truth and believe what is in there. The media can now influence us to believe something that is not true. Once we have seen the images, manipulated or not it is not surprising that our reaction is to experience and re-live the event through those images, adding them to our bank of mediated events in our memory. In other words, it all becomes part of the spectacle. Conclusion In this dissertation I have looked into postmodernism within photography and how this has changed what is the real and how the media influence the real and our emotions and shapes our world today. The rise in postmodernism meant a no-ending reference for every photograph, film etc. On photograph refers to another photograph which refers to a video, which in turn refers another photograph and so on. There was nothing new; post modernism was the end of the new. This results in a loss of the real, a loss of just purely descriptive photography. This loss of the real within photography is only enhanced by developments in photography making it accessible to everyone meaning the value of a photograph and photography is not as high. Which in turn is was not helped by the development in video and film, anyone being able to create a freeze-frame, a moment trapped in time by pausing their DVD, VHS or live TV player. Photography has lost what was special about it the decisive moment. Therefore, older more traditional photographic methods have begun to be used again, in a search for the real within photography. Furthermore, the media document every event and present their interpretation of this event to people in images. People experience and re-live that event through the images the media presented to us, and add those images into their own memories even though they did not actually experience the event themselves. This leads to losing what we know as reality. In my opinion, postmodernism and the no-ending reference meant that we are now always looking for analysis of a photograph and a reason and reference behind it. We cannot appreciate the beauty of a photograph if we are looking for something else within it, and that is where and why we end up losing a sense of the real. Developments in photography and film also have not helped with this, and a limit on the amount of photographs we take would mean the images can assist our memory not be our memory. This sense of the r eal is not lost, but could be forgotten within photography, and taking a step back just to look at a photograph as a whole would bring back the real into that photograph. References Postmodernist culture enjoyed this play with signs of never ending reference, where the more you played the less anyone seemed to know what reality it was touching (Bate 2004) In short: here is a picture from a film, but I am not going to tell you which one, a message complicated by the fact that the photographs were not actual films stills. (Bate2004) But the fear about post-modern culture was that there no longer an anchor to reality at all, that reality had disappeared into an endless chain of other representations. (Bate 2004) Yet despite the idea that these mobile technologies bring us all closer to each other, we are caught up in a contradiction, since they increasingly mediatise our relationships to one another. To look at something it has to be kept at a distance. (Bate 2004) Postmodernism has become dà ©modà ©. (Foster 1996) What was once the sole privilege and product of the photograph is now equally likely to be the result of a cinema or video freeze-frame (Bate 2004) The spectacle has now spread itself to the point where it now permeates all reality (Debord 1988) I saw at the cinema would simply become I saw. (Burgin 2006) Something like that will feel as if it might be sharp enough, as if it might pierce the membrane and slice the pulp. (De Zengotita 2007) Bibliography Books FOSTER H; The Return of The Real; The Avant-Garde at the End of The Century; 1996 DEBORD G; Comments on the Society of the Spectacle; 1988 DE ZENGOTITA T; Mediated: How The Media Shape Your World; 2007 Essays BATE D; After Thought, Source 40: 30-33; Belfast: Photo Works; 2004 BATE D; After Thought II, Source 41: 34-39; Belfast: Photo Works; 2004 BURGIN V; Possessive, Pensive and Possessed; The Cinematic, London, Whitechapel Ventures Ltd 2007 Websites http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0903-SEP_FALLINGMAN http://www.justinpartyka.com http://www.cindysherman.com/index.php http://www.lensculture.com/bate1.html

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Survival Tips For Small Businesses :: essays research papers

You may be in Mail Order, Direct Mail, or you may be a local merchant with 150 employees; whichever, however or whatever... you've got to know how to keep your business alive during economic recessions. Anytime the cash flow in a business, large or small, starts to tighten up, the money management of that business has to be run as a "tight ship." Some of the things you can and should do include protecting yourself from expenditures made on sudden impulse. We've all bought merchandise or services we really didn't need simply because we were in the mood, or perhaps in response to the flamboyancy of the advertising or the persuasiveness of the salesperson. Then we sort of "wake up" a couple of days later and find that we've committed hundreds of dollars of business funds for an item or service that's not essential to the success of our own business, when really pressing items had been waiting for those dollars. If you are incorporated, you can eliminate these "impulse purchases" by including in your by-laws a clause that states: "All purchasing decisions over (a certain amount) are contingent upon approval by the board of directors." This will force you to consider any "impulse purchases" of considerable cost, and may even be a reminder in the case of smaller purchases. If your business is a partnership, you can state, when faced with a buying decision, that all purchases are contingent upon the approval of a third party. In reality, the third party can be your partner, one of your department heads, or even one of your suppliers. If your business is a sole proprietorship, you don't have much to worry about really, because as an individual you have three days to think about your purchase, and then to nullify that purchase if you think you don't really need it or can't afford it. While you may think you cannot afford it, be sure that you don't "short-change" yourself on professional services. This would apply especially during a time of emergency. Anytime you commit yourself and move ahead without completely investigating all the angles, and preparing yourself for all the contingencies that may arise, you're skating on thin ice. Regardless of the costs involved, it always pays off in the long run to seek out the advice of experienced professionals before embarking on a plan that could ruin you. As an example, an experienced business consultant can fill you in on the 1244 stock advantages. Getting eligibility for the 1244 stock category is a very simple process, but one with tremendous benefits to your business. The 1244 status encourages investors to put equity capital into your business because in the event of a Survival Tips For Small Businesses :: essays research papers You may be in Mail Order, Direct Mail, or you may be a local merchant with 150 employees; whichever, however or whatever... you've got to know how to keep your business alive during economic recessions. Anytime the cash flow in a business, large or small, starts to tighten up, the money management of that business has to be run as a "tight ship." Some of the things you can and should do include protecting yourself from expenditures made on sudden impulse. We've all bought merchandise or services we really didn't need simply because we were in the mood, or perhaps in response to the flamboyancy of the advertising or the persuasiveness of the salesperson. Then we sort of "wake up" a couple of days later and find that we've committed hundreds of dollars of business funds for an item or service that's not essential to the success of our own business, when really pressing items had been waiting for those dollars. If you are incorporated, you can eliminate these "impulse purchases" by including in your by-laws a clause that states: "All purchasing decisions over (a certain amount) are contingent upon approval by the board of directors." This will force you to consider any "impulse purchases" of considerable cost, and may even be a reminder in the case of smaller purchases. If your business is a partnership, you can state, when faced with a buying decision, that all purchases are contingent upon the approval of a third party. In reality, the third party can be your partner, one of your department heads, or even one of your suppliers. If your business is a sole proprietorship, you don't have much to worry about really, because as an individual you have three days to think about your purchase, and then to nullify that purchase if you think you don't really need it or can't afford it. While you may think you cannot afford it, be sure that you don't "short-change" yourself on professional services. This would apply especially during a time of emergency. Anytime you commit yourself and move ahead without completely investigating all the angles, and preparing yourself for all the contingencies that may arise, you're skating on thin ice. Regardless of the costs involved, it always pays off in the long run to seek out the advice of experienced professionals before embarking on a plan that could ruin you. As an example, an experienced business consultant can fill you in on the 1244 stock advantages. Getting eligibility for the 1244 stock category is a very simple process, but one with tremendous benefits to your business. The 1244 status encourages investors to put equity capital into your business because in the event of a

Monday, November 11, 2019

Economics and Firms

Micro Economic Essays These are some suggested micro economic essays. The essays are from different exam boards. In practise they ask similar questions so they will be helpful whatever your exam board. There are different ways to answer questions. But, all these answers contain enough material to get the top grade. Whenever the question requires evaluation, the essay contains the necessary critical distance. On the last page, there are some general tips for evaluation. Note: These essays are for revision purposes giving suggestions for how to answer questions. Don’t try to pass them off as your own work. For more micro economic help. See also the Economics Revision Guide available at www. economicshelp. org/ Copyright  © T. Pettinger 2011. All Rights Reserved (For single use license only) www. economicshelp. org Micro Economic Essays Market Structure 1. Discuss how firms within an oligopolistic market compete. 2. Discuss whether monopoly is always an undesirable form of market structure. 3. Explain how interdependence and uncertainty affect the behaviour of firms in Oligopolistic markets 4. Evaluate the view that only producers, and not consumers, benefit when oligopolistic firms collude to try to reduce the uncertainty they experience. . Explain why contestable markets generally function more efficiently than noncontestable markets. 6. Explain various barriers to entry to a market and how these barriers might affect market structure. 7. In the past, utility industries such as the postal service, electricity and gas, have been heavily protected by entry barriers. Evaluate the possible effects on efficiency and resource allocation of removing these barriers. 8. Explain the meaning of price discrimination and the conditions necessary for price discrimination. 9. Evaluate the view that, because price discrimination enables firms to make more profit, firms, but not consumers, benefit from price discrimination. 10. Evaluate different ways in which governments could make markets more competitive. 11. Discuss the extent to which new technology, such as the internet, has increased or decreased the competitiveness of markets. Government Intervention 1. Discuss the impact of deregulation on the local bus industry in Great Britain. 2. Evaluate the view that the government should give financial assistance to firms producing cars in the UK to increase their competitiveness. . Evaluate the view that government intervention can correct all the market failures caused by the effects of economic activity on the environment. 4. In some European countries, price controls are imposed upon pharmaceutical companies. Discuss the case for government intervention to control market prices. 5. Discuss whether the government should ever consider nationalising privatis ed industries? Labour Markets 1. Footballers receive high pay, while those in disagreeable occupations, such as road sweepers, are among the most lowly paid. How does economic theory explain such differences in pay? . Assess the case for and against the government intervening to raise the disposable income of workers on low pay. 3. Do you agree that if a trade union persuades employers to increase wages in a labour market, employment must inevitably fall in that labour market? Justify your answer? 4. Assess three labour market policies which might be used to increase the level of employment amongst incapacity claimants and lone parents on benefits. 5. Discuss the impact of net migration on UK labour markets 6. Discuss the relative merits of welfare benefits and taxes for reducing relative poverty in the UK. Market Failure / Transport 1. Discuss whether Cost-benefit analysis is a practical way to decide whether projects, such as new roads, should go ahead. 2. Discuss the case for a toll on motorway travel. 3. Discuss whether giving increased subsidies to firms providing bus services would correct the market failure arising from urban road congestion. 1. Discuss how firms within an oligopolistic market compete. An oligopolistic market is a market structure dominated by a few firms. One definition of an oligopoly, is a market where the five firms biggest firms have 50% or more of the market share. There are different ways firms in an oligopoly may compete. Firstly, the kinked demand curve model suggests that prices will be stable because firms have little or no incentive to change prices. If a firm increased price, they would be uncompetitive and lose market share; therefore demand is price elastic for a price increase. If they cut prices, other firms follow suit and there is a price war; therefore, if they cut prices, demand will be price inelastic and they will have less revenue. Therefore, the best solution is to keep prices stable. The Kinked Demand curve P P1 Profit max occurs at Q1 where MR = MC MC D=AR Q Q1 MR Because there is no incentive to change price, firms compete through non-price competition such as advertising, branding, after sales service and offering a better product. In other words firms try to sell goods through measures other than price. Non-price competition is particularly important for markets where branding is important such as soft drinks, clothes and mobile phones. Firms will try hard to differentiate their products through extra features, good reputation and effective advertising campaigns. However, the kinked demand curve has imitations. It doesn’t explain how prices were arrived at in the first place. In the real world, it doesn’t explain why prices in oligopoly do change. It is only one theoretical model to explain some behaviour under certain conditions. Also, if firms seek to maximise market share rather than profit maximisation then they may compete by cutting prices. Although, this makes t hem less profit, some firms may see increasing market share as the most important long-term objective. If demand is price inelastic, cutting prices will lead to lower revenue, however a firm may feel it is worth it. This is because cutting prices leads to increased market share, and it may enable a reduction in competition in the long term. Also with higher output they may be able to benefit from economies of scale and get rid of surplus stock. However, price wars are often selective (e. g. supermarkets cutting certain products) or short term. Also, shareholders often prefer profits and dividends to growth maximisations If there are a small number of firms, and there are barriers to entry in the industry, then firms in oligopoly may be able to collude. This is when they formally or tacitly agree to restrict supply, keep to quotas and therefore maintain higher prices which maximise profits. Collusion is actually illegal, but if there are barriers to entry then it may be possible for firms to tacitly collude and avoid detection. Collusion will be more likely if there is a dominant firm in the market who can influence market by setting output and prices. If there are large economies of scale in the industry, the oligopoly is more likely to be highly concentrated with less competitive pressures. The outcome of an oligopoly depends on several factors. If the oligopoly has very high barriers to entry, such as, economies of scale and strong brand loyalty, then it will be much easier for firms in oligopoly to act a like a monopolist and set higher prices. For example, the market for cola is highly concentrated; a large share of the market is held by two firms (Pepsi and Coca-Cola), and because of strong brand loyalty there is little price competition in this oligopolist market structure. However, in other oligopolies, such as clothing, there are lower barriers to entry and more competition. If an oligopoly is contestable, (no barriers to entry), then the oligopoly may be ery competitive and the outcome similar to competitive markets. 2. Discuss whether monopoly is always an undesirable form of market structure. A pure monopoly is when there is only one firm in the industry. However, a firm with a high market share (greater than 25%) is said to have monopoly power. A monopoly is seen as undesirable for several reasons. A monopolist ma ximises profit where MR = MC. Therefore it sets a price (PM) higher than in a competitive market (P1), leading to a fall in consumer surplus. Selling at the price of Pm, means that the firm is allocatively inefficient because at Qm, price is greater than marginal cost. Secondly, this monopoly diagram is productively inefficient because it is not the lowest point on the average cost curve. (Note if the market was competitive the firm would produce at P1, where D=AC+MC; this is normal profit and allocatively efficient) A monopoly may also have fewer incentives to cut costs because of a lack of competitors. Therefore, it will be x inefficient. This means the cost curves of a monopoly will be higher than they would if there was more competitive pressure. Similarly a monopoly may lack the incentives to develop new products and offer a good quality service. . g. the standard of food in a service station arguably drops due to lack of competition. Some monopolies may become too big and therefore suffer from diseconomies of scale because in a big firm it is harder to co-ordinate and motivate workers. Monopolies may also be able to use their market power to pay lower prices to suppliers. For example, a big supermarket like Tesco may be able to squeeze the pr ofit margins of farmers who supply them. Tesco’s can use their monopoly buying power to reduce incomes of farmers because farmers don’t have any alternatives to selling to supermarkets. Lastly, monopolies make supernormal profit and this can be said to be an inequitable and unfair distribution of resources in society. However, monopolies are not always against the public interest. If an industry has high fixed costs, then the economies of scale may mean the most efficient number of firms in an industry is one. If industry demand was 10,000, then the most efficient number of firms would be one. If there were more firms, then the average costs would be higher. However, this kind of natural monopoly is only relevant to certain industries like tap water and national networks of electricity and gas distribution. In many industries, economies of scale are not that large. Even in the car industry, which has high fixed costs and scope for specialisation, there is sill enough room for several firms. In some cases, monopoly can use their supernormal profit to invest in research and development. For example, a drugs company may rely on a patent to make supernormal profit which justifies the high cost of research and development. However, for many industries like supermarkets, it would be difficult to justify a monopoly as supermarkets have limited need for research and development. Thirdly, it is often assumed monopolies face less competitive pressure and so are likely to be x-inefficient. However, this is not always the case. A firm may gain monopoly power because it is efficient and dynamic; for example, Google, has monopoly power, but people wouldn’t consider it to be inefficient. The desirability of monopoly depends on the market and industry. As a general rule, competitive markets have several advantages over monopolies. However, in certain cases, monopoly may be justified, especially if these industries have very high fixed costs and there is a need of profit for research and development. In other cases, the government may need to allow the monopoly, but regulate the firm to prevent price increases (e. g. in case of privatised firms like water and electricity) 3. Explain how interdependence and uncertainty affect the behaviour of firms in Oligopolistic markets. Firms in oligopolistic markets can behave in numerous different ways. The kinked demand curve model suggests interdependence is very important. The model suggests that firms don’t have an incentive to increase prices because if they increased price, others wouldn’t follow suit and therefore they would be more expensive and lose market share. The Kinked Demand curve P P1 Profit max occurs at Q1 where MR = MC MC D=AR Q Q1 MR The kinked demand curve also suggests that there is little incentive for firms to cut prices because if they did, other firms would probably retaliate and cut prices as well (other firms wouldn’t want to lose market share). Therefore, for a price cut, demand is inelastic. Therefore, the kinked demand curve model suggests because of the interdependence of firms, prices will remain stable and firms will compete on nonprice competition. However, the kinked demand curve model makes a lot of assumptions which may not stand up in the real world. A firm cannot assume that others will respond to a price cut by also cutting prices. There is a great uncertainty; perhaps the firm wants to avoid a price war. Therefore, a firm may cut prices hoping that others won’t follow suit. This will happen if the firm is pursuing profit maximisation. Another model for oligopoly is collusion. In collusion firms seek to restrict output and increase price; this maximises profits for the industry. However, there is always the temptation for firms to exceed their quota and break the collusive agreements. If the collusive agreements are tacit, then there is no certainty that firms will stick to the agreement. Also, a firm may want to break the collusive agreement itself. They may think that other firms won’t retaliate so they can get away with it. It is this uncertainty which encourages firms to try and break the collusive agreement. Because of uncertainty about whether a price war may break out, firms may try to enter into collusive agreements. These could be informal agreements such as following the dominant firm and increasing prices at same rate. These collusive agreement and collusive practises are very desirable to insulate against uncertain prospects of a price war and consequent fall in profits. 4. Evaluate the view that only producers and not consumers, benefit when oligopolistic firms collude to try to reduce the uncertainty they experience. When oligopolistic firms collude, they are effectively acting like a monopolist. They are looking at the profit maximising price and output for the whole industry and setting output quotas accordingly. This will lead to higher prices and higher profits for firms. Because firms benefit from supernormal profits they can spend more on research and development. However, it could be argued that consumers may benefit from this investment. For example, in industries like automobile production and drug research, expensive investment is required to develop new engines and new drugs. Collusion is necessary to generate sufficient profits to finance investment. Although it means higher prices, consumers benefit in the long run because they get better quality products. However, there is no guarantee that firms will use profits for research and development into better products. They may simply give it to shareholders in the form of higher dividends. Alternatively, they may use the supernormal profits to fund predatory pricing in another market. This would be very bad for consumers. Under collusion, consumers face higher prices and a decline in consumer surplus, but they don’t benefit from any extra economies of scale. In monopoly, supernormal profit margins are justified because it is argued the monopoly is able to benefit from economies of scale which lead to lower average costs and therefore lower prices for consumers. However, in collusion, the consumer doesn’t benefit from economies of scale, but just faces higher prices. However, you could argue that collusion is essential to enable firms to survive. For example, there may be a bus industry which is struggling to survive. Without collusion one or two firms would go out of business. This would be bad for consumers because there would be less choice and less competition. Collusion may be necessary to keep the service going. Although prices may rise, this may be better in the long term because the service survives. However, there may be better ways to keep a bus industry in business. If necessary, the government could subsidise the industry. Collusion is not the best way to keep unprofitable firms in business. The merits of collusion depend on the industry in question. If the industry is already profitable, then collusion is unlikely to give any benefit to the consumer. The benefit will be the producers who gain more profit. However, in some industries collusion may give benefits to the consumer in the form of more funds for investment and better products or just enough profit to keep the firms in business. 5. Explain why contestable markets generally unction more efficiently than non-contestable markets. A contestable market is a market which has no barriers to entry or exit. This implies that sunk costs (costs which cannot be recovered on leaving) are zero or very low. This freedom of entry means that there is always the potential for new firms to enter. This threat of competition helps to keep prices low. If firms set prices too high, the supernormal profit wo uld encourage new firms to enter. The low prices help to increase allocative efficiency because prices will be close to marginal cost. A contestable market may also be more X efficient. The threat of competition means firms have more incentives to cut costs and remain efficient. Otherwise they will become unprofitable. For example, in a monopoly firms may have low incentives to be efficient and therefore, have no incentives to cut costs – leading to X inefficiency. A monopoly also tends to be productively inefficient, because it restricts output and keeps prices high, leading output which has high average costs. However, in a contestable market this will not happen. You could also argue that contestable markets enable some economies of scale (there doesn’t have to be 1,000s of firms like in perfect competition). This can mean contestable markets have greater efficiencies of scale. 6. Explain various barriers to entry to a market and how these barriers might affect market structure. A barrier to entry is a feature which makes it difficult or impossible for a new firm to enter the market. A common barrier to entry is the existence of economies of scale. If an industry has high fixed costs, then new firms will face higher averages costs than the incumbent firm. If a firm enters the market and sells Q1 then it cannot compete with firms who are already publishing at the MES with an average cost of AC1. Economies of scale can occur for various reasons such as technical, specialisation, managerial. They are common in industries which require large investment such as car production, airplane production. Brand loyalty is another common type of barrier to entry. If incumbent firms have a strong brand loyalty, it makes it difficult for new firms to enter. They would need to spend a large amount of money on advertising. Advertising is a sunk cost – they cannot get it back, if they have to leave the market. Therefore, it becomes a barrier to entry. Examples include soft drinks like Pepsi and coca cola. Sometimes barriers to entry can occur for geographical reasons. For example, only a few countries are able to produce diamonds. Being the first firm in the industry often leads to barriers to entry. For example, Microsoft was the first firm to dominate office software. This made it difficult for new firms to enter because everyone wanted compatibility with Microsoft. Google, was not the first search engine, but, now the internet is developed it would be hard for anyone to knock it off top spot because Google has built up a critical mass of support and is included in many packages automatically. Finally, barriers to entry might occur because it is difficult to get access to supplies. e. g. a new airline might not be able to get landing slots at Heathrow airport. 7. In the past, utility industries such as the postal service, electricity and gas, have been heavily protected by entry barriers. Evaluate the possible effects on efficiency and resource allocation of removing these barriers. Removing the barriers may encourage new firms to enter the market. If new firms enter the market it will become more competitive. A more competitive market will help to reduce prices as new firms try to gain market share. This should enable greater allocative efficiency. If a firm has a monopoly power, they are able to set prices higher than marginal cost. More competition will lower prices closer to marginal cost (although in these industries, marginal cost is often very low and fixed costs very high; therefore, perfect allocative efficiency is unlikely) Another benefit of competition is that firms may have greater incentives to offer a better service to customers. Firms will not just compete on price, but also non-price competition. For example, electric firms may offer special deals to insulate the house or create more energy efficiency. This greater competition will reduce x inefficiency in the industry. It is also possible that the threat of entry may encourage more innovation; helping to improve dynamic efficiency. However, there are potential drawbacks of deregulation. Firstly, many of these industries are natural monopolies. For example, the distribution of gas is a natural monopoly because of the high fixed costs. Therefore, there is a danger of creating a private monopoly, which charges higher prices. These private monopolies will need regulating. However, the regulators can make sure new firms have access to the network, therefore, even in an industry which was thought to be a natural monopoly can have competition, at least, in the retail sector. If new firms enter the market, competition may reduce the profitability of the industry. This may leave insufficient funds to finance investment in improving the network. Also, firms have a temptation to offer short-term price cuts rather than invest in the long-term future of the infrastructure. The customer may benefit in the short term, but loose out in the long term. However, you could argue, that firms exaggerate how much money they need for investment; the majority of profits goes to shareholders rather than gets invested. Firms may use resources to try and create barriers to entry or resources to keep existing customers; arguably this is an inefficient waste of resources. 8. Explain the meaning of price discrimination and the conditions necessary for price discrimination. Price discrimination involves selling the same good to different groups of customers for different prices. Third degree price discrimination involves selling to different groups. For example, OAPs may get cheaper train tickets than adults. Second-degree price discrimination involves charging different prices depending on the quantity bought. For example, the first 100 units of gas and electricity may be more expensive than subsequent units. First-degree price discrimination involves charging the maximum price that customers are willing to pay; it involves reducing all consumer surplus. It is rarely practical except in a Dutch auction. The first condition necessary for price discrimination is that consumers must have different elasticities of demand. For example, people travelling at peak time to get to work have a more inelastic demand and (like market segment A) so can be charged a higher price. Group B, which could be students, have a more elastic demand. Therefore, a lower price is charged. Secondly, it must be impossible to resell the good between the different markets. For example, it mustn’t be possible for an adult to use a child’s ticket to travel on the train. The firm must be a price maker. Price discrimination is not possible in perfect competition. Also the costs of implementing price discrimination ust be less than the benefits. 9. Evaluate the view that, because price discrimination enables firms to make more profit, firms, but not consumers, benefit from price discrimination. Price discrimination enables firms to increase the profitability of the industry. Firms can set a profit maximising price for different groups of consumers and therefore increase total profits. Therefore, some consumers will pay higher prices. For example, customers with inelastic demand – buying peak tickets will have a reduction in consumer surplus as firms increase their prices. Therefore some customers will lose out and pay a price higher than marginal cost (allocative inefficiency) However, some customers will benefit from price discrimination. The higher prices paid by inelastic customers can subsidise lower prices for other groups of consumers. For example, the high prices paid by customers travelling at peak time can help subsidies lower prices for old aged pensioners. Often people with inelastic demand (adults, people travelling peak time) have greater ability to pay than people with elastic demand (e. g. tudents, old people) Therefore, you could argue that price discrimination enables a fairer distribution of resources in society. However, it is not always possible to use price discrimination on the grounds of income. For example, an unemployed adult would have to pay full fare on the train. Pensioners who get cheap tickets could be quite well off. It could be argued that it is unfair firms make profit at the expense of consumers. However, profit can be beneficial for consumers. Firstly, firms may use profit to fund research and development. This enables dynamic efficiency and enables consumers to benefit from better quality products and services in the long term. This is important for some industries like pharmaceutical drugs and airplanes where a lot of investment is needed. However, it is debatable how much firms like supermarkets and cinemas would spend on research and development. Another potential benefit of profit is that it might enable a firm to stay in business, who otherwise would go out of business. For example, without price discrimination a train firm may not be able to survive. There might be no one individual price greater than average cost. However, through price discrimination, it can cover its losses and stay in business. In this case price discrimination is definitely beneficial for consumers. It is better to have higher prices than to have no service at all. Price discrimination also enables firms to spread demand more evenly over a season. It gives a reward to consumers who can travel out of season / off peak. This reduces overcrowding at peak times. 10. Evaluate different ways in which governments could make markets more competitive. To make a market more competitive requires a reduction in barriers to entry and encouraging new firms to enter the market. The first policy would be deregulation. This involves removing legal barriers to entry. For example, there used to be a legal monopoly for the delivery of letters. Removing this legal barrier enables new firms to enter the market providing choice and competition. However, there are problems. Firstly, these industries like mail delivery are often natural monopolies. This means the most efficient number of firms is one. For example, there are very high fixed costs in delivering tap water to every home in the UK. Therefore, deregulation of tap water would not encourage a new firm to enter because a new firm would never be able to compete and set up a network of pipes. The government could remove legal patents, for example drug patents. This would make the market for drugs more competitive. However, if the government abolished patents, it would discourage drug companies from investing in new medicines and alternatives. This would increase competition, but could leave the consumer worse off. The government could make sure the Office of Fair Trading investigates any potential anti-competitive practises. For example, if firms engage in predatory pricing or vertical price fixing agreements they will prevent new competitors from entering. If the government increased the penalties for predatory pricing (selling below cost), then new firms would have more confidence to enter. However, the OFT already have the potential to investigate, so it is doubtful whether increasing potential fines will make much more difference. Also, practises of vertical price fixing can be difficult to spot. If markets are dominated by monopolies; the government could consider breaking up the monopoly into smaller firms. For example, the US government considered breaking up Microsoft because it had too much market power. This could be an effective way to increase competition, however there are some problems. Firstly, the government may disrupt the smooth working of the firm. The new smaller firms may not be able to benefit from economies of scale. Also, there is the potential for the new firms to collude, because they share a common starting point. The last policy could be government subsidies for new firms to enter. For example, the government could subsidise firms to enter the gas industry and sell it. However, government subsidies require higher taxes and the government may have poor information about the best type of firms to subsidise. 11. Discuss the extent to which new technology, such as the internet, has increased or decreased the competitiveness of markets. The internet has become an important tool for business. It has changed the way people shop and buy, having implications for the competitiveness of markets. A competitive market implies several firms, with relative ease of entry, low prices and low profits. An uncompetitive market would be characterised by a few firms and higher prices. The internet has made it easier to find information about prices and costs. This has helped increased the competitiveness of markets. Consumers have easy access to relative prices; this existence of perfect information is a characteristic of perfect competition. Therefore many retail markets like selling books and DVDs are more competitive than before the internet. However, other markets are less influenced by the internet. For example, restaurants and clothing are market segments rely on traditional sales, rather than over the web. For many firms, the internet has helped reduced start up costs. This is because, with an internet presence, costs are much lower than buying a physical building. Thus for internet start ups, sunk costs (costs which can't be recovered) are much lower. However, it is only a few businesses that can rely on just an internet presence; there is still the need for factories and shops for the majority of businesses like manufacturing cars. In some businesses, the internet has created barriers to entry; for example, firms who dominate Google search rankings have a powerful barrier to entry. A new firm may find it difficult to enter because it is hard to get the good rankings which send a lot of customers. Google itself has generated strong brand loyalty, and a dominant market position, which is difficult for anyone to overcome. However, pay per click advertising is a way to get business from search results and it has lower overheads than traditional advertising. Improved technology such as the internet and better international travel means that markets are increasingly global in nature. This means firms increasingly face competition from abroad. For electronics and cars, markets are very global, increasing their competitiveness. However, globalisation does not always increase competition. The growth of strong multinationals has in a way helped push out smaller independent retailers with a corresponding decline in diversity and competition. Another issue is that in some markets, the internet has changed people’s patterns considerably. For example, many young people don't buy music, but download for free on internet sharing sites. This has changed the market much more than an increase in competition. However, it has meant the decline of several record shops and music publishing companies, leading to a higher market concentration in this area. Section - ­? Government Intervention 1. Discuss the impact of deregulation on the local bus industry in Great Britain Deregulation involves opening up a monopoly to competition. Often deregulation involves privatisation as well. For example, the bus industry in the UK, used to be run by a state monopoly (local council). However, after deregulation, new private firms can enter. The first impact of deregulation is the increase in number of firms and hence greater competition. As more firms enter the market, there is more price competition and therefore, price of bus tickets could go down. However, it is argued that prices haven’t fallen, but increased. This is because, firstly, the bus industry has large economies of scale. It is not practical to have several bus companies competing; the most efficient number of firms is 1 or perhaps 2. In the above diagram, the minimum efficient scale is 10,000 bus journeys a week. If the total demand was 10,000 then the most efficient number of firms would be one. If there were two or three firms then the average costs will be higher than if there was a natural monopoly. Also, with only one or two companies, there is not sufficient competition to reduce prices significantly. It is easy for two companies to collude, even tacitly. Also, before deregulation, bus companies were owned by local councils and low fares were often subsidised. However, the private companies want to maximise profits and often they find demand is inelastic so prices have risen. It is argued that more competition and the entry of private firms have created greater incentives for bus companies to offer better services. For example, since deregulation, there are more electronic bus stops, which give information on arrival times. This may be due to deregulation or just because better technology has made it more feasible. The problem with deregulating the bus industry is that it is simply difficult to have effective competition. Some would even argue the bus industry is a natural monopoly. It is argued two bus companies can be inefficient because they duplicate routes and cause congestion. However, others point to some gains from competition such as better quality buses and efforts to attract customers. 2. Evaluate the view that the government should give financial assistance to firms producing cars in the UK to increase their competitiveness. Government assistance could be justified on the grounds of market failure. For example, there could be market failure with UK firms under providing education and training schemes to their workers. When the workers are qualified, they may leave giving the firm no benefits but all the cost, therefore, because of the positive externalities involved, firms have little incentive to train and educate workers Governments could overcome this by paying for training schemes to increase labour productivity. The improved labour productivity will help the UK remain competitive and give long term economic benefits. The problem of this scheme is that it will cost money and there is no guarantee that it will be successful. For example, the government subsidies may be spent on training that does little to increase labour productivity; e. g. workers may be unwilling to learn or the firm may use the government subsidy to increase its profits rather than promote useful training schemes. Government assistance may encourage firms to be inefficient because they come to rely on government help. In the 1970s, the UK government gave a lot of financial assistance to British Leyland because it was losing money. However, the money did little to transform the company. If a company is losing money, it is probably due to bad management or producing the wrong kind of products. In this case it is unhelpful for the government to give assistance in the hope they become more competitive. In this case, the government assistance is encouraging inefficient firms to stay in business. It will be expensive for the taxpayer and have no real benefit. Governments often have poor information about the dynamics of industry. For example, the government may not know the best firms to subsidise or how to subsidise them. When it comes to increasing competitiveness it should be firms who have the best idea. If the banks are not willing to lend money to firms, it is probably because they don’t have a good business plan; therefore, the government would be advised to avoid it as well. However, government assistance could be justified if the problem was a lack of suitable finance. For example, in a credit crunch firms may be unable to gain sufficient finance for investment, even though this investment would be good. Therefore, government assistance could be justified. Here the lack of business finance is an example of market failure. Generally, cars have no positive externalities, they contribute to global carbon emissions, so governments might want to subsidise more environmentally friendly firms. However, the government might want to subside investment into low emission cars, which run on hybrid fuels. In a free market, there may be insufficient investment in this kind of technology because firms ignore the positive externalities of the low emission engines; therefore, this justifies government intervention. Governments could justify subsidising ‘green technology’ in cars, if they have sufficient positive externalities. This diagram shows how a government subsidy can increase output from Q1 to Q2, which is socially efficient. 3. Evaluate the view that government intervention can correct all the market failures caused by the effects of economic activity on the environment. Economic activity creates many negative externalities, which include damage to the environment. To some extent government intervention can overcome market failure and provide a more socially efficient level of economic activity. Economic activity may cause pollution. This damage to the environment is a negative externality and is ignored by the free market. Therefore, there is overconsumption of driving cars. In a free market equilibrium, at Q1, the marginal social cost is greater than the marginal social benefit. The diagram below shows that the free market equilibrium is Q1. However, at Q1 SMC is greater than SMB therefore there is overconsumption. However, the government can place a tax on the good, to make people pay the true social marginal cost. This shifts supply to S2 = S1 + Tax and reduces demand to Q2. This is socially efficient because the SMC=SMB at this output. Therefore, in theory the government have overcome the market failure. However, in practise, it is more difficult to achieve social efficiency. A tax on production may be ineffective in reducing demand if demand is very inelastic. There is scope for tax evasion e. g. a tax on disposal of toxic waste may lead to ‘fly tipping’ – illegal dumping which damages the environment. It is also difficult to measure the true external cost of economic activity. For example, the cost of global warming may be much higher for future generations; therefore, efforts to reduce demand now, may be insufficient. Also, some costs of growth may be unpredictable. e. . the Chernobyl disaster was not predicted and after the event, government intervention is too late. Also some economic activity is too damaging to just place a tax on the good. In this case it may be more efficient to have regulations, for example, saying that nuclear power shouldn’t be used at all. Another issue regarding the environment is that it requires global cooperation. For exampl e, the UK government may seek to limit carbon emissions. One policy may be a system of pollution permits. Here the government regulator gives firms the right to pollute a certain amount. If firms wish to exceed their pollution quotes, they have to buy more permits; this creates an incentive to reduce pollution and introduce new technology. In theory, pollution permits can provide a market-based system to reduce pollution levels. However, it may be difficult to implement; e. g. difficult to measure pollution levels. However, a more pressing difficulty is that carbon emissions are very much a global issue. If the biggest polluters, such as, China and the US keep increasing their carbon emissions, it makes the UK governments efforts’ relatively futile. 4. In some European countries, price controls are imposed upon pharmaceutical companies. Discuss the case for government intervention to control market prices. The first argument for government price controls is the idea of monopoly power. If firms have monopoly power in a market, they are in a position to increase prices. As the diagram below shows, this monopoly power enables firms to set prices (Pm) above marginal cost, which is allocatively inefficient (P>MC). In an ideal world, the government would be able to increase competition. But, in some markets, competition is not practical. In the case of Pharmaceutical companies they may get a pure monopoly because of their patent. In the example, of tap water, very high fixed costs mean competition is not practical. Therefore, monopoly power is inevitable and price controls are the only realistic way to prevent abuse of monopoly power and prevent allocative inefficiency. There are also issues of equity. In the case of drugs, it could be argued they should not be too expensive otherwise people cannot afford them. It is also the same with gas and water supplies. As an essential public service, it is important that they remain in reach of all income groups. Also, some goods like medicinal drugs may be paid for by the government. Capping prices on medicinal drugs will help to limit the government’s health care budget and therefore lead to lower taxes. However, there are arguments against price controls. If governments limit price, firms may not make sufficient profit to encourage more research and development. To develop new drugs is quite risky with no guarantee of success; therefore, it is essential to give firms sufficient incentive to develop them. Lower prices and lower profits could decrease dynamic efficiency. Also allocative efficiency may be an inappropriate measure given that the marginal cost of producing a drug is very low, but fixed costs are very high. There is also an element of potential government failure. For example, the government may not have sufficient information about the state of the industry to make an appropriate decision on price. Government could set prices which are too low and cause firms to leave the market. 5. Discuss whether the government should ever consider nationalising privatised industries? Nationalised firms are owned and run by the government. Privatisation is the process of selling the firms to the private sector; this means the firm will be run like a normal public limited company, rather than by the government. Several industries like rail, electricity, gas and telecoms were privatised in the 1980s and 1990s. There are several strong arguments for suggesting privatised firms are more efficient than nationalised industries. Firstly, it is argued that a private firm has a strong profit incentive to cut costs. A nationalised firm is not subject to the pressure of private shareholders, therefore it is more likely to be x-inefficient and productive inefficient. If the government nationalised privatised firms like BT and British Gas, it may result in greater inefficiency and therefore higher prices. However, private firms may make mistakes because shareholders encourage short termism and risk taking. In the case of the banking industry, risks were taken to make more profit, but the government had to step in to bailout the banks when they made losses. Governments can, in theory, take a longer-term view and avoid short-termism. However, governments may also be subject to political pressure, which encourages them to sacrifice long-term investment for short-term gain. Some industries like the banking have a great importance to the wider economy. If banks went under, it might cause loss of confidence in bank deposits; this could cause a mass withdrawal of money, leading to a fall in financial confidence. In this case, the government may have no option but to nationalise private firms. Here the motive is preventing a collapse in bank confidence. This argument is mainly relevant to the banking sector. If a car firm collapsed there would be less reason to intervene, apart from to protect job losses, which is an expensive way to prevent unemployment. One problem of privatised industries is that they were often in industries considered to be natural monopolies. For example, tap water and distribution of gas and electricity is essentially a natural monopoly. A natural monopoly, where industry demand is close to the minimum efficient scale (10,000 in above diagram) and therefore most efficient number of firms is one. Therefore, some privatised firms are a private monopoly and could exploit consumers through higher prices. This might be a reason to nationalise the firm. However, another option is regulation. Regulators can regulate price increases so we get the benefits of privatisation without the drawbacks of monopoly power. However, in practise, regulators may struggle to get right balance between protecting consumer and interests of firms. Regulators could suffer from regulatory capture and so they are too kind to the firm. Other industries, like rail could justify greater government intervention because they have many positive externalities, which mean the good is under-consumed in a free market. For example, rail travel helps reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Under privatisation, rail maybe under-consumed with too little investment. There is a stronger case for renationalising rail because a government can make allowances for the external benefits in offering public transport. However, an easier option maybe for the government to subsidise the private firm. The subsidy should, in theory, help to overcome the under-consumption in a free market and prevent the need to renationalise. Generally, privatised firms have better incentives to be efficient and respond to changing market signals. If the privatised firm is in a competitive market, for example, BT, there is no benefit to renationalising the firm because competitive pressures keep prices down. However, in an industry like rail, there may be a greater justification of renationalisation. In this industry, competition is not realistic so the government have created a private monopoly. Also, the external benefits to railways means that the government may need to have closer direction and subsidy to overcome market failure. Also the experience of the banks shows that sometimes, the government needs to nationalise firms for wider economic interest. Labour Markets - ­? Section Footballers receive high pay, while those in disagreeable occupations, such as road sweepers, are among the most lowly paid. 1. How does economic theory explain such differences in pay? Economic theory suggests that wages are determined by factors such as marginal revenue product, and the supply of labour. Jobs such as road sweepers do not need qualifications or specialised skills. Most people are able to do that job. Therefore the supply curve is elastic, meaning many are willing to work at relatively low wages. Cleaners – Elastic supply Low wages Footballers inelastic supply, higher wages However, jobs such as being a top footballer are highly skilled. Only a small % of the population is able to be a good footballer, therefore supply is inelastic. Because of the inelastic supply curve, footballers find it easier to bargain for higher wages. As well as differences in supply, footballers will have a higher marginal revenue product. Marginal Revenu e products depends on marginal product (the productivity of workers) and Marginal revenue of last good sold (this depends on the price of the good sold. Footballers can affect the revenue of their club significantly. Therefore, the MRP of footballers is high, a good footballer can make a lot of revenue for his team, in terms of advertising revenue and gate money; therefore because MRP is high, wages will be high. Road sweepers, however, do not have a high marginal revenue product. The council doesn’t gain extra income from cleaning the streets. It is seen as a service rather than revenue-generating job; therefore, it is seen as a job with a low MRP. Another reason could be that road sweepers face monopsonistic firms who are able to cut wages. Footballers have agents to help them get higher wages. Also public sector workers like road sweepers tend to be lower paid than private sector workers. 2. Assess the case for and against the government intervening to raise the disposable income of workers on low pay. The government could intervene through increasing minimum wages and / or offering means tested benefits. The two different strategies will have different effects. The first reason for raising the pay of low-income workers is to reduce relative poverty. Relative poverty reflects inequality in society. Often this inequality stems from unequal opportunities such as middle class parents can afford to get better education for their children so they get higher pay. By increasing incomes of the low paid, the government is helping to reduce inequality. Reducing inequality also has some practical economic arguments, as well as moral justifications. Income inequality could aggravate feelings of social alienation; this could cause problems such as crime, vandalism and tensions within society. Increasing the incomes of workers on low pay may create greater incentives for low paid workers to move from benefits to paid work. If wages are low, it may encourage people to remain on unemployment benefits and income support. Increasing wages, could save the government paying out benefits and reduce the poverty trap. Higher wages may increase worker productivity, motivation and loyalty to the company. This is known as the efficiency wage theory. It is argued if wages are too low, people don’t mind if they get made redundant. Higher wages increases worker loyalty and therefore productivity. Finally, workers low pay may be due to monopsonistic employers who want to exploit their monopoly power to pay lower wages than market forces. Therefore, if the government increases wages through minimum wages then it will not cause unemployment. However, there are practical problems to intervening to raise disposable incomes of workers. If the government increase wages by imposing a higher minimum wage, there is the scope for creating real wage unemployment. If wages rise, firms may not be able to afford the workers, especially if the job is traditionally low paid work in the service sector. However, this analysis assumes labour markets are competitive. In the real world, employers often hold a degree of monopsony power. This enables the employers to set lower wages and exploit workers. In this case, a minimum wage helps to overcome the effect of monopsony employers and won’t cause unemployment. If the government increase wages through offering means tested benefits then this may create a poverty trap. Basically, means tested benefits may discourage workers from working longer hours or getting better paid jobs. This is because the gain in income is limited due to the means tested benefits for low paid jobs. Also, means tested benefit may encourage firms to pay lower wages knowing that the government will top up the wages. A better solution may be to offer lower taxes for low paid workers. Another solution would be to offer benefits in kind, such as housing benefit and cheaper prescriptions e. t. c. This increases their disposable income without distorting labour markets. 3. Do you agree that if a trade union persuades employers to increase wages in a labour market, employment must inevitably fall in that labour market? Justify your answer? If the labour market is competitive, i. e. good information, many employers, then in theory an increase in wages above the equilibrium will cause a fall in employment. The diagram below shows that a rise in wages to W2 (through trade union pressure) causes a fall in employment from Q1 to Q2. If demand for labour is inelastic, then the fall in employment will be relatively small. Some labour markets may have inelastic demand if – labour is a small % of total costs or the workers are indispensable part of the production process. If demand for labour is perfectly inelastic then an increase in wages will not cause any fall in demand for labour. However, if demand for labour is elastic, then higher wages could lead to a big fall in demand for labour. There are other reasons why employment might not fall. Firstly, if the employer has monopsonistic power, it is able to pay workers a wage below the market equilibrium. The diagram bellows shows that increasing the wage from W2 to W3, will actually keep employment the same at Q2. If trades unions increase wages from W2 to W1, then employment levels will rise from Q2 to Q1. Arguably many employers in the UK have a degree of monopsonistic power; workers find it difficult to move and therefore employers can keep wages lower. This is especially the case in the service sector where workers work part time and have weak contracts. Another issue is labour productivity. It is argued that paying higher wages may increase the loyalty of workers to the firm; this is known as the efficiency wage theory, and if workers are more loyal they will have greater productivity. A more likely scenario is that trades unions argue for a productivity deal. This is when they bargain for higher wages in return for new working practises, which increase labour productivity. If labour productivity and MRP of workers increase then firms will be able to afford the higher wages. Another possibility is that if real wages increases, there will be an increase in aggregate demand causing higher output and higher demand for workers. On the other hand this increase in wages may just cause inflation. Also, on a micro level, higher wages in one sector will not affect the macro economy significantly. Empirical evidence in the UK, suggests that since the minimum wage was introduced in 1997, it hasn’t caused unemployment, this is despite the fact the minimum wage has increase faster than inflation. 4. Assess three labour market policies which might be used to increase the level of employment amongst incapacity claimants and lone parents on benefits. An increase in the minimum wage might increase the incentives for people to take a job rather than stay on benefits. If wages are low, there may be little incentive for people to take a job rather than stay on benefits. However, higher minimum wages may increase unemployment. Firms may reduce demand for workers because they cannot afford the higher wages. A NMW can lead to unemployment of Q3 – Q2. However, the UK minimum wage has been increased without any obvious fall in employment levels. This could be due to the fact employers have monopsonistic power and can afford to pay higher wages. Alternatively demand for labour may be inelastic. If demand is inelastic, the fall in employment will be small. Another policy is for the government to provide targeted training schemes for those on incapacity benefits. The government could train them in using computers and IT. This may enable them to work online from home. This makes them employable, despite their disabilities. However, it is not clear how successful these schemes would be. For example, even with better IT skills, it may be difficult to find jobs which enable you to work from home. Lone parents on benefits may not have time to take out training schemes because they need to look after children. Better child-care provision. If the government offer free or subsidised childcare, then lone parents will be able to go out and work, saving the government benefits. However, the cost of providing childcare may be as expensive as providing benefits. Also, the government cannot guarantee that lone parents will actually take out the opportunity to leave children in child-care. The real difficulty may be finding a job or the low differential between wages and benefits. . Discuss the impact of net migration on UK labour markets Net migration will increase the supply of labour, possibly causing wages to fall. This effect will be most noticeable in areas where migrants concentrate e. g. London and the South East. The effect will also be most noticeable in industries where migrants tend to work; this could be fruit pickers, builders or plumbers. However, although the supply of l abour increases, it is important to bear in mind, that an increase in the population will also cause an increase in economic growth and increase in demand for labour. The extra supply of labour should be met by the extra demand for labour. Therefore, the real wage rates could stay the same. The impact of migration also depends on the skills and qualifications of migrants. If the migrants don’t speak English and have low skills, they may struggle to find employment in the UK labour market. Therefore, it could cause a rise in structural unemployment. If the migrants do speak English and have skills which are in short supply, it can help deal with labour market shortages that do exist. For example, recently the government said it would be setting migration policy to allow workers with specific skills to enter; for example, maths teachers and nurses. This helps to fill gaps in the labour market. Note, it is unlikely to depress wages in these sectors because the wages are set by the government and not market forces. It is also possible, that migrants, especially if illegal migrants are more likely to work in the black market. For example, workers from low wage countries may be more willing to accept wages below the official minimum wage. This could lead to a bigger underground (unofficial) labour market and economy. However, there is no guarantee migrants will gravitate to the unofficial labour market, by nature it is hard to quantify. 6. Discuss the relative merits of welfare benefits and taxes for reducing relative poverty in the UK Relative poverty occurs when people receive an income significantly less than the average in society. For example, one definition may be a monthly income of less than 50% of the average monthly income. Welfare benefits include; job seekers allowance, income support, child benefit and pensions. The biggest cause of poverty is unemployment because relying on unemployment benefits gives a relatively low income; therefore increasing JSA would increase equality of distribution and make people on low incomes better off. However, there is a risk that higher benefits may increase voluntary unemployment; this is because income from benefits may be similar to the income from a job, therefore there becomes a disincentive to take a job. If higher benefits do discourage people from taking a job, it will increase cost of benefits to the government and also mean that people become economically inactive and lose motivation to work. However, it depends how much benefits were increased compared to the level of wages. It might be possible to increase welfare benefits but maintain an incentive to work. For example, if you take a low paid job, you could retain some income support. Also the minimum wage helps to increase the incentive to work in the UK. Income support or family credit involves giving means-tested top up benefits to those on low wages; this will help reduce income inequality. But, similar to unemployment benefit, there is a danger of creating a disincentive to work. However, at least meanstested benefits are cheaper than universal benefits. Also the government can try grade the means tested benefits, so there isn't a cut off point which discourages people working longer hours A higher state pension would also help reduce inequality amongst pensioners; however, it would be very expensive to increase the universal state pension, especially because there are increasing numbers of OAPs in the UK. Therefore, it may be more effective to target pensions to those who need it most, i. e. use means tested benefits. This could involve an extension of the govt minimum income guarantee for pensioners. The only problem of this is that it may discourage workers from saving for a private pension, because, they will not then get as much from the govt. A switch from regressive to progressive taxes would help improve income distribution, e. g. cutting cigarette tax and increasing income tax. A progressive tax takes a higher % of income from the rich. E. g. a top band of income tax could take 40% of incomes over ? 27,000. If the govt increased the top rate, this would cause a reduction in income inequality because it would reduce take home pay of high earners; also the revenue could be spent on increasing benefits to those on low incomes. However, this would cause problems because higher taxes may discourage people from working harder. Therefore, higher rate of income tax may cause lower AS and not increase revenue for the govt. However, the extent of this depends upon the income and substitution effect. For example, some people need to maintain a certain level of income; therefore, if taxes increase the income effect means that they need to work harder to earn more. It depends how much the tax rate is increased. Often it is the very wealthy who feel it is worth living in another country if tax rates become too high. Other policies, which may be more effective, could include an increase in the Minimum wage; this increases the wages of those on low pay. However, it may cause unemployment if the labour market is competitive. Also, it will not help the poorest on unemployment benefits. But, if labour markets are monopsonistic then a minimum wage will not cause unemployment. Also a min wage could increase labour productivity and incentives to get a job. Empirical evidence suggests a min wages does not cause unemployment. To conclude, it may be possible to reduce income inequality by increasing income tax rates and means tested benefits such as income support. However, there is a danger that if they are increase too much they may cause disincentive within the economy, this is something the govt will have to be careful about. There is a conflict between reducing relative poverty and damaging incentives to work. Policies are likely to be more effective if used in conjunction with general policies to reduce unemployment, which is one of the biggest causes of relative poverty. Section – Transport and Market Failure. 1. Discuss whether Cost-benefit analysis is a practical way to decide whether projects, such as new roads, should go ahead. Cost-benefit analysis is a way to evaluate potential projects and decide whether they are in the interest of the public. Cost-benefit analysis studies involve calculating the social costs and social benefits to a particular project. If the social benefits exceed the social costs, it is indicative that the project is desirable. The first stage of cost-benefit analysis is to identify all the different costs and benefits. These include the monetary costs such as materials to build road, and pay workers. But, also in building a road there are external costs, such as, damage to the environment, noise pollution and air pollution. These external costs are harder to identify and give a monetary value to. For example, you could ask people involved in project or living near road. However, it is difficult for people to give unbiased opinions and they are likely to put their own perspective onto the evaluation or survey. When a monetary value has been placed on all the benefits and costs, it becomes easier to decide whether the project should go ahead or not. The first problem encountered in using cost-benefit analysis is that it can be difficult to put a value on certain costs and benefits. For example, building a new airport may cause noise pollution, but it is hard to put an economic value on this. You could ask people, but this is unreliable and people may give different figures. Therefore, guestimates need to be used, but they may be wrong. A second problem is that it is hard to identify all potential costs and benefits. For example, building a nuclear power station it might be hard to know potential future problems. For example, the Chernobyl nuclear accident would be something not included in a cost benefit analysis. In any planni