International Reserve System: Is it Feasible? Essay -- Economics Econo

International Reserve System: Is it Feasible? During the last decade, the world saw some of the most severe economic shocks and crises since The Great Depression of the late 1920’s. The crises of Mexico in 1994, Russia in 1995, Asian countries in 1997 and even recently in Latin America in 2000 have shown us that the economic shocks have a very drastic and crippling effect on the stricken countries. Rapid capital outflow; firms and banks overwhelm by bad debts; inability to provide loans; bank closures due to sudden capital losses and devaluation of the home currency, all have struck the affected countries simultaneously that their central banks did not have enough sufficient reserves to protect themselves. The realization of the poor central bank’s regulation, also aided by the fact that markets throughout the world are now interlinked, quickly caused panic and similar shocks to spread to neighboring countries and even regions. An international organization, which controls a form of reserve system, could have b een the lender of last resort for these sickened countries in their time of need. A working example of a reserve structure for banks would be the Federal Reserve System currently being used by the United States. This consists of 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks that is coordinated under one main Board of Governors. The main roles of the Fed is to issue new currency, administer discount loans to banks, examine the management of local banks and their financial status and provide a system of standardized banking regulations for banks to follow. Lastly, but most importantly, the Fed acts as a lender of last resort to banks facing financial collapse.[1] This not only provides stability for consumers but also prot... ...y (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994). 5) Federal Reserves Bank, Boston web site, http://www.bos.frb.org 6) Frederic S.Mishkin, The economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets (New York : World Student Series, 2003) 7) Jorge A. Chan Lau / Zhaohui Chen, â€Å"Financial Crisis and Credit Crunch as a Result of Inefficient Financial Intermediation.†, IMF Working Paper, August 1998 http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/wp98127.pdf or http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/CAT/longres.cfm?sk=2738.0 8) IMF web site, http://www.imf.org 9) The Asian Crises, http://faculty.washington.edu/karyiu/Asia/papers/index.htm 10) Works in International Monetary Fund-Financial Medic to the World?, ed. Lawrence J. McQuillan and Peter C. Montgomery (Stanford: Hoover University Press, 1999) 11) World Bank web site, http://www.worldbank.org

Economic Development and Social Change Essay

Section 1 1) What is the primary goal of modernization theory in contrast to theories of capital formation? Compare and contrast Hoselitz’ formulation of modernization theory with Lewis’ theory of capital formation In the 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment, an idea named the Idea of Progress emerged whereby its believers were thought of being capable of developing and changing their societies. This philosophy initially appeared through Marquis de Condorcet, who was involved in the origins of the theoretical approach whereby he claimed that technological advancements and economical changes can enable changes in moral and cultural values. He encouraged technological processes to help give people further control over their environments, arguing that technological progress would eventually spur social progress. In addition, Émile Durkheim developed the concept of functionalism in the sociological field, which emphasizes on the importance of interdependence between the different institutions of a society and their interaction in maintaining cultural and social unity. His most well known work, The Division of Labour in Society, which outlines how order in society could be controlled an d managed and how primitive societies could make the transition to more economically advanced industrial societies. Another reason for the emergence of the modernization theory derived from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, which represented the widespread practical interest on economic development during a time when there was a constant relation between economic theory and economic policy that was considered necessary and obvious. It was by analysing, critiquing, and hence moving away from these assumptions and theories that the modernization theory began to establish itself. At the time the United States entered its era of globalism and a ‘can do’ attitude characterized its approach, as in the functionalist modernization advanced by B. Hoselitz: â€Å"You subtract the ideal typical features or indices of underdevelopment from those of development, and the remainder is your development program†. As he also presents in Social Structure and Economic Growth , this body of economic theory â€Å"abstracted from the immediate policy implications to which it was subject†Ã ‚  and also â€Å"assumed human motivations and the social and cultural environment of economic activity as relatively rigid and unchanging givens†(23-24). He claims that the difference lies in the extra examination of what is beyond simply economics terms and adjustments, by â€Å"restructuring a social relations in general, or at least those social relations which are relevant to the performance of the productive and distributive tasks of the society†(26). Most forms of evolutionism conceived of development as being natural and endogenous, whereas modernization theory makes room for exogenous influences. Its main aim is to attain some understanding of the functional interrelationship of economic and general social variables describing the transition from an economically â€Å"underdeveloped† to an â€Å"advanced† society. Modernization theory is usually referred to as a paradigm, but upon closer consideration turns out to be host to a wide variety of projects, some presumably along the lines of ‘endogenous change’ namely social differentiation, rationalization, the spread of universalism, achievement and specificity; while it has also been associated with projects of ‘exogenous change’: the spread of capitalism, industrialization through technological diffusion, westernization, nation building, state formation (as in postcolonial inheritor states). If occasionally this diversity within modernization is recognized, still the importance of exogenous influences is considered minor and secondary. I do not view ‘modernization’ as a sing le, unified, integrated theory in any strict sense of ‘theory’. It was an overarching perspective concerned with comparative issues of national development, which treated development as multidimensional and multicausal along various axes (economic, political, cultural), and which gave primacy to endogenous rather than exogenous factors. (Tiryakian, 1992: 78) In the context of Cold War modernization theory operated as a highly interventionalist tool enabling the ‘free world’ to impose its rules and engage in ‘structural imperialism’. Typically this occurred in the name of the forces of endogenous change such as national building, the entrepreneurial spirit and achievement orientation. In effect modernization theory was a form of globalization that was presented as endogenous change. Modernization theory, therefore, emerged from these ideas in order to explain the process of modernization within societies. The theory examines  not only the internal factors of a country but also how with the aid of technology and the reformation of certain cultural structures, â€Å"traditional† countries can develop in the same manner that more developed countries have. In this way, the theory attempts to identify the social variables, which contribute to social progress and the development of societies, and seeks to expl ain the process of social evolution. The question of the functional relations between all or most culture traits is left open, and special attention is â€Å"given only to those aspects of social behaviour that have significance for economic action, particularly as this action relates to conditions affecting changes in the output of goods and services achieved by a society†(30). They conceptualize the process of development in a similar linear, evolutionary form as older evolutionary theories of progress, but seek to identify the critical factors that initiate and sustain the development process. These factors, they argue, are both intrinsic and extrinsic: the former involves the diffusion of modern technologies and ideas to the developing world, while the latter requires the creation of local conditions, such as the mobilization of capital, which will foster progress. Modernization theorists believe that primitive production, an anachronistic culture, and apathetic personal dispositions combine to maintain an ar chaic socioeconomic system that perpetuates low levels of living. Modernization theorists hold that policies designed to deal with these traditional impediments to progress primarily through economic intervention, provide the key to prosperity. Overall, Hoselitz’s modernization theory is a sociological theory of economic growth that determines the mechanisms by which thesocial structure of an underdeveloped economy was modernized – that is, altered to take on the features of an economically advanced country. Hoselitz’s answer was based on the â€Å"theory of social deviance† – that is, that new things were started by people who were different from the norm. Unlike Lewis’ theories that we will revise later, Hoselitz thought that small-scale private economic development was the best way of achieving development in Third World economies. This particularly involved revaluing what he called â€Å"entrepreneurial performance†, something that Lewis also agrees with, but in a way that provided not only wealth but also social status and political  influence. In Chapter 8 of Sociological Aspects of Economic Growth, Hoselitz focuses on the creation of â€Å"generative cities† ( that is, cities producing innovations) rather than traditional rural areas were the focal points for the introduction of new ideas and social and economic practices. Many of the early colonial settlements in the New World and South Africa, Hoselitz claimed, were parasitic, enjoying a certain degree of economic growth â€Å" within the city itself and its surrounding environs† only at the expense of the rest of the region, which was ruthlessly exploited for its natural and agricultural resources (p.280). Although prescriptions for inducing social change and removing cultural obstacles to economic modernization in developing countries may be described as social policies, they do not seek to deal directly with mass poverty and its attendant problems of malnutrition, ill-health, inadequate housing, illiteracy, and destitution. These critical welfare concerns are seldom referred to by modernization theorists, namely by Hoselitz. Instead, the implicit assumption in his writings is that the process of economic development and social change will raise levels of living and remedy these problems automatically. Since economic growth, engendered by capital investments in modern industry, will expand employment, the proportion of the population in subsistent poverty will steadily decline. The increasing numbers of workers in the modern economy will experience a steady rise in real income that will be sufficient not only to satisfy their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter but permit them to purchase consumer commodities as well as social goods such as medical care, education, and social security. Arthur Lewis was one of the first economists to create a theory about how industrialized and economically stable countries are capable of helping undeveloped countries progress. He presented this theory in his work Economic Development with the Unlimited Supplies of Labor† where he brings about the concept of capital formation. He defines it as the transfer of savings from households and governments to business sectors, resulting in increased output and economic expansion. He claims that his â€Å"model says, in effect, that if unlimited supplies of labor are available at a constant real  wage, and if any part of profits is reinvested in productive capacity, profits will grow continuously relatively to the national income, and capital formation will also grow relatively to the national income†(158). From here bridged off his development of the two-sector model of the economy and the theory of dualism. Both posit the existence of a substantial pool of underutilized labo r in a backward, subsistent agricultural sector of an economy that perpetuates low levels of production and mass poverty. This model comprises two distinct sectors, the capitalist and the subsistence sectors. The former, which may be private or state-owned, includes principally manufacturing industry and estate agriculture; the latter, mainly small-scale family agriculture and various other types of unorganized economic activity. Here the capital, income and wages per head, the proportion of income saved, and the rate of technological progress are all much higher in the capitalist sector. The subsistence sector is both at a very low level, and also stagnant, with negligible investment and technical progress and no new wants emerging. Institutional arrangements are the ones maintaining this chronic disequilibrium between the sectors, implicit in these differences in real income and productivity. In the extended family the members receive approximately the average product of the group even if the marginal product is much less. The process of development, initiated by an increase in the share of capitalist s in the national income, I essentially the growth of the capitalist sector at the expense of the subsistence sector, with the goal of the ultimate absorption of the latter by the former. To some extent, this is similar to Hoselitz’s development of the modernization theory, whereby the claims that the formation of his generative cities (a) creates a new demand for industrial raw materials from the surrounding region, and (b) attracts new population to the cities, thereby increasing the demand for food from the countryside. The net effect of these forces is a â€Å"widening of economic development over an increasing area affecting a growing proportion of the population outside the city†(Hoselitz, 282). However, Lewis’ theory has several limitations and conditions, most importantly that his theory can be applied only in countries with unlimited supplies of labor. Unlimited supplies of labor arise from the employment of  more workers than is productively effective. Lewis went through all of the areas of Caribbean society where he thought there were pools of labour in which the marginal productivity was negative, negligible or zero. His plan now was to make this a potential, industrial labour force. He could take all of the labour away from agriculture, away from casual labour, without lowering the profit margins of the places where they are currently employed. This was not a radical, disruptive assault on the existing economic order, which resulted in one of the main reasons that his theory was so successful. Ineffective production, occurring when an additional worker prevented the previous one from producing another product (hence equaling a negative marginal productivity) was common in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and other undeveloped regions of the world. Several sectors of the economy employ too many people with negligible, zero or negative marginal productivity. According to Lewis these productively unnecessary individuals are employed in agriculture, or are casual workers, petty traders, or women of the household. He claims that the transfer of these people’s work from these areas towards commercial employment is one of the most notable features of economic development. The second source of labor for expanding industries is the increase in the population resulting from the excess of births over deaths. After his analysis of the effect of development on death rate, whereby he concludes that â€Å"[death rates] come down with development from around 40 to around 12 per thousand†(144), he claims therefore that â€Å"in any society where the death rate is around 40 per thousand, the effect of economic development will be to generate an increase in the supply of labor†(144). From this point of view, he states, †Å"there can be in an over-populated economy an enormous expansion of new industries or new employment opportunities without any shortage of unskilled labor†(145), though too many people could again cause ineffective production. He clarifies this by saying, â€Å"Only so much labor should be used with capital as will reduce the marginal productivity of labor to zero†(145). This can be achieved by offering and maintaining decently high wages. The wages offered should be only slightly higher than the wages available in the subsistence sector, since wages that are too high may attract more workers than needed. But firstly, and perhaps most importantly, entrepreneurial-minded capitalists are required in order to invest in the nation. Tax holidays attract the foreign capitalists. It is not a very difficult task, because they have very good incentives to come. The planter class in the Caribbean seemed just like the planter class in the American South – it had no desire to go industrial and no desire to go competitive. It was still trapped in a situation between an old monopoly system and a market situation since they were able to negotiate for a protected market for sugar, not a competitive market. Lewis then looked around realized the only way he could keep this program of industrialization launched would be by visiting England and America where capitalists and entrepreneurs were flourishing and foster their entrance into the Caribbean. Again, he employed the concept of a dual economy where a subsistence sector existed, but also from where he created from scratch this modern industria l sector to establish on modern capitalism. Capitalists in North America and Europe found these labouring conditions and costs in the Caribbean quite attractive. Getting this labour to the imported capitalists would not be resisted locally because he was taking those labourers with marginal productivity of zero. Once they began working, he would then re-invest more capital into the factory, so that it could expand, employ more workers, export more products, and increase profits, hence developing a self-feeding system that would eventually lead the national income to grow. Although Hoselitz also is of the belief that the formation of a dual economy is beneficial, rather than necessarily attract foreign capitalists through such incentives, Hoselitz believes that the creation of westernized cities led the way forward. He claims that cities modelled after the Western cities exhibited a spirit difference from the traditionalism of the countryside. In this way, he differs slightly from Le wis in that he favored a shift in political power away from traditional leaders and toward total control by economic and urban modernizers in underdeveloped countries, not necessarily foreign entrepreneurial capitalist as Lewis asserts. Lewis knew that some products would work better than others, so he developed an Industrial Programming Market – a number of basic calculations about those particular commodities, if produced in the Caribbean, would be  particularly competitive internationally. And so as a result of this study Lewis found that the production of airbrushes, gloves, furniture, needles, shirts, and leather goods would be particularly good to produce, given the skills of the labour force available at the time. For the self-feeding system to be a continuous process, costs of labour had to remain fairly constant. If the cost of labour rose too rapidly, they would not be sustained since the goods would no longer be internationally competitive. The key to this model is indeed international competitiveness. Capitalists can create more capital when the supply of money is higher, and hence if governments create credit, inflation arises yet does not have the same effect as the inflation that arises durin g depression periods. This inflation only has an effect on the prices in the short-run so that in the long run the final effect equal to what it would be if capital was formed by the reinvestment of profit. Lewis discusses at some length the methods by which governments of underdeveloped countries can raise revenue, especially the substantial funds required for government capital formation. For familiar political and administrative reasons much of this revenue has to be raised from indirect taxes, notably import and excise duties and export taxes. He argues that indirect taxation is more likely to increase than to decrease the supply of effort: The taxpayer usually does not know how much tax is included in the prices of the articles he buys, so in so far as the disincentive effect of taxation is psychological it can be avoided by using indirect rather than direct taxes†¦ If it is an increase in indirect taxation, the effect is probably to increase effort rather than to reduce it (414). Because of the multiple restrictions in this model, it is designed for countries with unlimited supplies of labor and hence this growth has a limit: â€Å"The process must stop when capital accumulation has caught up with population, so there is no longer surplus labor†(172). Furthermore, if wages are too high, they may consume the entirety of the profit leading to no re-investment. Several other reasons for the end of capital formation vary; the occurrence of natural disasters, war or a change of political system can also prevent further economic expansion in a closed economy. Lewis’ model is powerful but also highly restricted and specific to only a handful of nations. Some critics also claim that the distinction between the two sectors is too sharp; that small-scale agriculture is often far from stagnant and the emergence of the production of cash crops by individual producers has in fact been a key instrument in economic development since capital formation is actually created in this type of agriculture. Also, this model requires low wages for the labor force, yet very low wages result in a wide gap between the lower and upper class in a society, an issue that many have questioned thoroughly. Lewis says openly that exploitation can easily occur in this model, but that it is part of capital accumulation. He believes that one has to sacrifice a generation to grow the economy, because he assumed that if all goes well and more consumers are attracted to Caribbean, they will generate more business, and the economy will grow to the point where the weal th can be redistributed to the people. He reckoned that it would take, given the rate of growth that he observed in the Caribbean, one generation, thus a period between 40 and 50 years, to grow the economy and claim that poverty could be eradicated in this region. And yet the cost of this would be exploiting this generation, so that their children could benefit from it later. Hoselitz, as stated earlier, applied the ideas of Parsons and other sociologists to an analysis of the development process under the assumption, drawn from Adam Smith, that increasing productivity was associated with more detailed social divisions of labor: A society on a low level of economic development is, therefore, one in which productivity is low because division of labor is little developed, in which the objectives of economic activity are more commonly the maintenance or strengthening of status relations, which social and geographical mobility is low, and in which the hard cake of custom determines the manner, and often the effects, of economic performance. An economically highly developed society, in contrast, is characterized by a complex division of social labor, a relatively open social structure from which caste barriers are absent and class barriers are surmountable, in which social roles and gains from economic activity are distributed essentially on the basis of achie vement, and in which, therefore, innovation, the search for and exploitation of profitable market situations,  and the ruthless pursuit of self-interest without regard to the welfare of others is fully sanctioned. (Hoselitz, 1960: 60). These preceding theories both provide us with some preliminary indications and developments of views of modern social orders broader than that envisaged in the initial models provided. They stress the historical dimensions of the process of development, emphasizing that this process is not universal, something in the very nature of humanity or in the natural development of human societies. Instead, the modernization process is fully bound to a certain period in human history, even though in itself it is continuously developing and changing throughout this period. Development and the challenges it brings forward constitute a basic given for most contemporary societies. Though it certainly is pervasive in the contemporary setting, it is not necessarily irreversible in the future, and it would be wrong to assume that once these forces have impinged on any â€Å"society†, they naturally push toward a given, relatively fixed â€Å"end-plateau.† Rather, as we have seen, they evoke within different societies, in different situations, a variety of responses which depend on the broad sets of internal conditions of these societies, on the structure of the situation of change in which they are caught, and the very nature of the international system and relations, whether those of â€Å"dependency† or of international competition. Section 2 5) Briefly outline David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage; then outline in greater detail Samir Amin’s theory of periphery capitalism and why he thinks that trade between the central and peripheral capitalist economies does not meet the conditions of Ricardo’s theory In 1817, David Ricardo, an English political economist, contributed theory of comparative advantage in his book ‘Principles of Political Economy and Taxation’. This theory of comparative advantage, also called comparative cost theory, is regarded as the classical theory of international trade. According to the classical theory of international trade, every country will produce their commodities for the production of which it is most suited in terms of its natural endowments climate quality of soil, means of transport, capital, etc. It will produce these commodities in excess of its own requirement and will exchange the surplus with the imports of goods from other countries for the production of which it is not well suited or which it cannot produce at all. Thus all countries produce and export these commodities in which they have cost advantages and import those commodities in which they have cost disadvantages. Ricardo states that even if a nation had an absolute disadvantage in the production of both commodities with respect to the other nation, mutually advantageous trade could still take place. The less efficient nation should specialize in the production and export of the commodity in which its absolute disadvantage is less. This is the commodity in which the nation has a comparative advantage. Ricardo takes into account the following assumptions: there are two countries and two commodities; there is a perfect competition both in commodity and factor market; cost of production is expressed in terms of labor; labor is the only factor of production other than natural resources; labor is homogeneous i.e. identical in efficiency, in a particular country; labor is perfectly mobile within a country but perfectly immobile between countries; there is free trade; production is subject to constant returns to scale; there is no technological change; trade between two countries takes place on barter system; full employment exists in both countries; there are no transport costs. In 1973, Samir Amin, an Egyptian political economist, begins his dialogue in Unequal Development by referring to Marx’s writing on non-European societies, namely India and China, and creates a work in which he reevaluates Peter Evans’ theory of Dependent Development and simultaneously presents his theory of peripheral capitalism in developing societies. He shows how these early ideas established the notion of the centre and the periphery, and how â€Å"the development of capitalism in the periphery was to remain extraverted, based on the external market, and could therefore not lead to a full flowering of the capitalist mode of production in the periphery†(199). He then begins to develop his own theory of the transition to peripheral capitalist economy by questioning David Ricardo’s assumptions in his theory of comparative advantage, and later outlines nine theses to support his views. Peripheral capitalism is based on, but not identical to, the imperialistic relationships developed between colonizing nations and their colonies. In this economic relationship, the players are the same – the colonizing nation becomes the â€Å"center†, while the colony becomes the â€Å"periphery† – but the role that each society plays is different from the classic imperialist relationship. The peripheral economy is marked by extreme dependence on external demand, or extroversion, as well as stunted and unequal rates of development within the society. Amin maintains that in order for these societies to break free of extroversion and develop, they must be actively removed from the peripheral capitalist relationship. He proposes nationalization and socialization as an alternative, a system which-when contrasted with peripheral capitalism-could not be a more different approach to economic development. Unfortunately for the developing nation s, socialism was largely unsuccessful as an economic experiment, consistently causing stagnation and underdevelopment in societies that attempted it. Peripheral capitalism evolves from colonial imperialism, an economic system in which the colonizing nation penetrates deep into the heart of the colonial economy in an effort to manipulate it towards the benefit of the mother country. Every aspect of the colonial economy is geared not towards the expansion of the colonial economy itself, but rather towards the production of something that the colonizing nation cannot produce itself. As a result, the success and the existence of a particular sector of the colonial economy is dependent upon whether or not the mother country has a need for that sector; colonial economies are rooted heavily in external demand. This extroversion leaves the colonial economy without an indigenous set of linkages, as economic sectors that will benefit from colonial activity function mostly within the economy of the colonizing nation. When autocentric, or internally-driven, economic growth is blocked in such a way that a peripheral economy emerges with the sa me sort of external dependence on the central economy that was suffered by the colonial economy. The peripheral economy is typically plagued by an unequal division of labor, or specialization, between itself and the central economy. While the latter enjoys the benefits and progress associated with industrialization, the periphery tends to remain predominantly agricultural. What little industry may exist in the peripheral economy is most often â€Å"light† industrial production of small, simple goods, as opposed to the â€Å"heavy† industrial production of machinery and complex products that characterizes the central economy. Additionally, Amin argues that there is often a â€Å"hypertrophy of the tertiary sector†(200) of the peripheral economy; too much of the economy is devoted to providing services, â€Å"expressed especially in the excessive growth of administrative expenditure†(201) effectively anchoring the society’s development due to a lack of productive advancement. Yet another malady of the peripheral economy is the reduced value of the local ‘multiplier effect’, another result of the remnants of economic infrastructure modification from the colonial period. If an economy is replete with linkage sectors, then any money put into the leading sector will generate a multiplied effect in all of the forward and backward linkages of that industry. Peripheral economies, however, are effectively stripped of linkages during their colonial phase of development hence spending in the peripheral economy ultimately benefits the central economy, where most of the peripheral industries’ linkages are realized. Not only is the local multiplier effect reduced in the peripheral economy, but Amin claims that it also leads to â€Å"the marked propensity to import†(201), and thus is in effect transferred to the central economy, where revenue is collected every time money is spent in the periphery. Because peripheral input ultimately goes abr oad, local businesses are not stimulated, as they would be if linkages were realized within the periphery, worsening the already-detrimental conditions of the peripheral economy. Adding to the lack of stimulation of local business is the fact that peripheral industries tend to be dominated by monopolies established from foreign capital. After the majority of revenue goes to the central economy through linkage industries, what little money remains in the local economy is often put into businesses controlled by central capitalists. In other words, almost every dollar put into the periphery ultimately finds its way to the central economy. In Unequal Development, Amin maintains that no economy can be expected to develop without successfully making the transition from extrovert to introvert so that it can â€Å"assert the dominance of the exporting sector over the economic structure as a whole†(203), and that no peripheral capitalist economy can independently heal the economic wounds inflicted by colonialism. Therefore, the only way to promote development in peripheral capitalist economies is to actively remove them from their disadvantageous relationship with the central economy, which, according to Amin, should be replaced by internal nationalization and socialization of the once-peripheral economy. The establishment of a nationalist socialist state would serve both to eliminate external dependence, as well as to reconcile the disarticulated nature of the local economy. The first critique of Ricardo’s theory made by Amin is its lack of specificity – claiming that his examples of trade between Portugal and England were very exclusive to intra-European trade and could not exactly be applied to relations between several different country relations around the World. If there is a large difference in GDP between two countries, then what statistics demonstrate is that the country with the smaller GDP would benefit more from this transaction, and this was â€Å"the source of special problems that dictate[d] development policies in the periphery that [were] different from those on which development of the West was based†(201); a factor that Ricardo hadn’t considered it in his theory. Another vital yet neglected consideration was the importance of the commodity in terms of a nations’ GDP: wine was a big section of the Portuguese GDP, greater than it was for England, so the trade benefited the Portuguese to a greater extent than it did to the British. He elaborates upon this idea by explaining how the relation between central and periphery assumes the mobility of capital, since the centre is investing greatly in the periphery. What the periphery chooses to specialize in is to a large extent determined by the centre, since very often the selection comes after it has been forced to serve the imperial country. As he clearly states, this type of trade â€Å"compels the periphery to confine itself to the role of complementary supplier of products for the production of which it possesses a natural advantage: exotic agricultural produce and  minerals†(200). The result is a decrease in the level of wages in the periphery for the same level of productivity than at the centre, hence limiting the development of industries focused on the home market of the periphery. The disarticulation due to the adjustment of the orientation of production in the periphery to the needs of the centre prevents the transmission of the benefits of econo mic progress from the poles of development to the economy as a whole. Overall, this is what Amin defines by ‘unequal specialization’, which in turn violates the conditions of Ricardo’s theory. Another argument that Amin makes involved the Keynesian multiplier effect. He claims that this effect does not take place to the situation at the centre because of its advantaged stage of monopoly, characterized by difficulties in producing surplus. Due to this unequal specialization as well as the significant propensity to import that follows, the effect is a transferring of multiplier effect mechanisms and the accelerator theorem from the periphery to the centre. Furthermore, Amin includes the social aspect of this process, which is a result of the individual history of each nation and the power imbalance created. Amin finds that the nature of the pre-capitalist formations that took place previously and the epoch in which they became integrated in the capitalist system are both very important factors in determining the presence or lack of development to come. He also draws a line between two different terms, ‘peripheral formations’ and ‘young central formations’, whereby the latter, based on the predominance of a simple commodity mode of production, are capable of independently evolving towards a fully developed capitalist mode of production. Amin terminates by asserting â€Å"the domination by central capital over the system as a whole, and the vital mechanisms of primitive accumulation for its benefit which express this domination, subject the development of peripheral national capitalism to strict limitationsâ₠¬ (202). These countries would hence not gain equal benefits under this trade, only if the patterns of specialization were undertaken in more ideal conditions, conditions that approximated Ricardo’s theory more closely. Rather than being a positive force for development, this type of trade becomes a force created under development. It will contribute to development in the centre, and underdevelopment in the periphery. He concludes that this inevitably hinders the development of peripheral nations: â€Å"the impossibility, whatever the level of production per head that may be obtained, of going over to auto centric and auto dynamic growth†(202).

New Technology in Beauty Industry - Chemical Peels vs Microdermabrassion Free Essay Example, 3000 words

Industry websites, trade shows, and courses are just a few ways in which one can make sure those in the beauty industry remain up to date on the latest industry developments. Most of our beauty routines have become more intertwined with the latest technology. The advent of the computer software and internet has revolutionized the beauty industry. As a result, it has brought significant changes in the manner in which cosmetics and personal care products are being manufactured. There are many types of chemical peels that one can use depending on the type of results you want and what you are willing to go through in terms of downtime and pain. Initially, the formulas used for peeling were regarded as closely guarded secrets and as a result of the remarkable results achieved, these procedures attracted significant interest. Since then scientists have added a variety of agents used for chemical peeling with newer agents being added daily. The beauty industry is moving towards procedures which would provide deeper and longer lasting effects. With regard to microdermabrasion, the process involves pushing specially refined crystal at very high velocity unto the skin surface to exfoliate dead skin cells and to enhance the generation of new skin cells. We will write a custom essay sample on New Technology in Beauty Industry - Chemical Peels vs Microdermabrassion or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The procedure is used to treat various skin conditions complaints. Microdermabrasion results can actually be seen following just one treatment, thereby making the procedure to be viewed as old technology. Besides, it can also be utilized as a profitable addition or as a stand-alone treatment to almost any other facial treatment provided by a clinic or salon. In the beauty and hairdressing industries it is very crucial to keep abreast with the new technologies that bring new and exciting treatments. The revolution of the beauty industry is attributed to huge leaps in technological advances. The paper will discuss the new technology in beauty industry, with chemical peels as new technology and microdermabrasion as the old technology. With the advent of the internet, numerous online retailers are selling chemical peel solutions, either alone or as a kit, in different strengths and percentages. The customers are now able to able to purchase take-home ki ts from the dermatologist offices, even though they usually recommend that you get the peel done there instead of doing it yourself.

Effectivity of Anti Smoking Campaign in the Philippines

INRODUCTION Smoking is the inhalation of the smoke of burning tobacco encased in cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. Casual smoking is the act of smoking only occasionally, usually in a social situation or to relieve stress. Many health experts now regard habitual smoking as a psychological addiction, two and one with serious consequences.[1] It is the practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke tasted or inhaled.[2] This is primarily practiced as a route for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs which is nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment.†¦show more content†¦Emphysema does not develop suddenly, it comes very gradually. Years of exposure to cigarette smoke usually causes the development of emphysema.[6][7][8][9] CESSATION OF SMOKING Most patients are aware of the adverse health effects of tobacco but lack the motivations to quit. Others, particularly those with COPD, have repeatedly tried to quit but are seemingly powerless to do so. Traditionally, physicians and other healthcare workers have relied primarily on counselling to treat tobacco addiction. However, combining counselling with pharmacotherapy has been shown to active the highest quit rates. Tobacco use is responsible for 90% of lung cancers in males and 80% in women. Head and neck cancer is seen primarily in smokers. Those patients who continue to smoke after treatment are at increased risk for a second head and neck primary cancer. Smoking cessation can decrease the risk of these cancers. Smoking Cessation has been demonstrated to substantially reduce the risk of deaths from cardiovascular diseases. There is a rapid decrease in risk for myocardial events in patients with and without previous cardiovascular disease after smoking ce ssation. Many patients become motivated to stop smoking after spirometry results indicate abnormalities of lung function related to smoking. Some patients are also motivated to quit after a

Infosys Strategic Human Resource Management - 1301 Words

Unit 2: Case Analysis Infosys (A): Strategic Human Resource Management By: Crystal Lyon GB520: Strategic Human Resource Management November 17, 2014 Introduction Infosys went through a rapid growth from 250 employees to 15,000 employees and about $5 million to $750 million in revenue within a decade. It was also ranked No. 1 in the Business Today Best Employer survey. This was until 2003 when Infosys was dropped off the list. This devastation caused the company to hold a meeting in November of 2003 to set in motion a new path for the company. This plan was to have Infosys back on the Top Ten lists for both Best Performing Companies and Best Employers by the year 2007. This only gave them a time span of 5 years to get†¦show more content†¦Due to the governmental standards in India during this time period, it made it difficult for Infosys to take off. It took a year and 15 visits to Delhi to get permission from the government to import a computer. It took a year to get a phone line set up. This is due to the foreign exchange for travel being controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. That meant longer execution time for business. In 5 years time, Infosys had only one client. By 1989, the U.S. government had put a restriction on the number of B1 visas being issued each year, so Infosys was no longer able to visit their client locations in the U.S. This caused the company to almost go out of business. Murthy spoke up and told the co-founders that he was confident that the company was going to be successful and offered to buy out the others that wanted to leave. He stated, â€Å"If you are staying on, then I am staying with you.† (Delong, Tandon, Rengaswamy, 2005). The team decided to stay on, but knew that they had to make a drastic change if they were going to be successful. The Issue By 1999, Infosys had grown at a rapid rate. It was doubling in size every 20 months. HR realized that Infosys was now a small large company. Infosys management decided to implement a series of changes including building a portfolio of core companies and services and reorienting the way people were measured, comp ensated, promoted, and rewarded.Show MoreRelatedCase Analysis- Apple Inc1055 Words   |  5 PagesOmowumi Aiyeku Professor Andrew Klein Strategic Human Resources Management September 5, 2011 Case Analysis Question: What is Strategic Human Resources Management and how does it link the people with the strategic needs of the business? Introduction Human resource management is a combination of strategically coordinated efforts to manage people. 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Math Mathematics and Favorite Subject Free Essays

I know very well what my weak point is. I am not a writing women; I am in love with numbers. Mathematic is my favorite subject since I began to study. We will write a custom essay sample on Math: Mathematics and Favorite Subject or any similar topic only for you Order Now My mother is an accountant, and my father is a civil engineer. The first thing that I teach me was to count 1 to 10 with only one year and half. Math is my favorite subject, for three reasons, this subject-matter pushes me to think carefully, be organize when solving math exercises, and the most important numbers are easy to me. For these reasons I enjoy every single day in my job. First of all, it helps me in my life because I learn to think and concentrate clearly. When I have a Math problem, I read it and try to think in a easy solution. This helps me understand the situation. When I have all the data, I write the formula. I always try not over thinking it, because this can affect the result. My mother told me that math is like a puzzle, like a game. Second, I am extremely organized with numbers. I always follow all the rules and keep the solutions steps by step in my records. The result need to be clean, which means that anyone can understand the result without my presence. By the time that I have the solution, I feel free and comfortable. I can only hear in my head, I win, I win!!! The third and final reason is that numbers are easy for me. Equations, problems, geometry, addition, multiplication and rest are fun to me. I see this subject as hobby not as a class. Numbers are infinite; they are like the stars in the sky. Galileo Galilei said that, â€Å"The great book of nature is written in mathematical symbols†. In conclusion, Math was my life in Kinder Garden, Elementary School, Middle School, and High School, will be the same for the rest of my life. This class showed me how to put my brain to work. I learned how to work and study at the same time like a game. Numbers are easy and bring me happiness every day since I was a little girl. Thanks to my mother, father and teachers who always supported in this subject, I am a good mathematician today. How to cite Math: Mathematics and Favorite Subject, Papers

Australian Multinational Corporation †Free Samples for Students

Question: Discuss About the Australian Multinational Corporation? Answer: Introduction MYOB is one of the best Australian multinational corporation which is based on providing the tax and the accounting depending upon the services that are provided to the different small and the medium based organization. Here, the focus of the company is mainly to handle the intellectual property development with the emphasis on the software development and to work with the business management products. The company can provide with a better return to the ownership where the private majority is set to continue to the shareholders in the company. MYOB is considered to be the best company which can handle the subscription based products with the browser accounting products that are for the cloud-enabled versions. Herr, the size and the scope of the company is now able to outgrow the system with the technology and the development of the software. (Black et al., 2013). The processes are based on the management, sales and the inventory in an effective manner. Here, the gradation is mainly f or the tracking of the sales, with the profits and the orders. The formats are related to the stock that has been collected on demand with the accurate supply of the needs to manage the system with the records of the client. The enabling of the system technology will help in saving the time and the financial resources in the effective manner, where there is a minimized form of the concentration on the integration process. MYOB works on handling the operational issues and the inconsistencies in the system, where the people are trying the work on handling the customization of the sales screen, payment types and the fields that have been set to enter the market with the faster sales and the intuitive version. MYOB retail manager works on taking the stocks for the business with the easy management and the connection to the POS hardware. (Saeed et al., 2013). The acquisition methods set for the MYOB is ERP with the enterprise resource planning to work on the different features which are related to focus on the cloud-based accounting. Here, the ERP is set with the MYOB EXO where the business planning and the growth will help in building a proper process for the business management solution. The program tends to provide with the insight that the inventory and the project costing have to be held with the human resources and the planning with better operations. The reports are mainly for the deep views which a id the planning and works on the multiple add-on processes that include the customer relationship management and the point of sale. The setup is of the different forms which include the job recruitment and the timeclock patterns with the employee service information. The advancement of the system with Australian and New Zealand business includes the combination of the full accounting with the ERP set for the designing of the growth and a higher degree of the customization. MYOB focus on the customized version with the online resource areas which is for the community forums. The standardized setup is based on providing the system with the cloud and the on-premise solutions where the five modules are generally to add the services and then support as per the needs of the system. This is based on the business size and the other forms of the geographic locations. MYOB is set with the solutions where the professionals can use the different practices to handle the resource area and the com munity forums. (Mohamed, 2013). The standards are based on working over the regional training locations in Australia. Evidence of Research The company mainly focuses on the sales register and the other entering of the sales which includes the receiving of the payments as well as the printing of the email and invoices. Here, the sales are mainly depending upon the transaction journals with the printing of the receipts where the analysis is based on working with the sales procedures in an effective manner. The company focus on handling the which with the built-in scheduling and the document management system in an effective manner. (Henny et al., 2013).For this, the customers are required to work on the picking and the delivery of the system where there is assigning of the stock to the different groups as well. With the change in the storage of the multiple pricing, the locations are set with the average, standard and the cost costing. The recording of the sales order with the proper setup of the general ledger accounts will help in analyzing the sales with the conversion of the sales order to the sales invoice. There are formats which are for the MYOB software that enter the sales transaction with the different types of the records. The conversions are from the sales order to the sales invoice that is set for the recording of the credits as well as the other cash sales using the invoice. The sales returns are for the selling of the inventory to the customers, where there are times to plan on how to handle the returning of the items which also includes how the sales return is recorded for the MYOB software. For the proper setup of the task, there are transactions which are important for the general ledger accounts where the balance is for the customer account to handle the different types of the sales transactions. The forms are set to take hold of the credit sales with the record of the cash sales that have been with the sales invoice. There are Invoice tabs to handle the system functioning along with the proper delivery of the order with the accurate checks of the invoices. (Black et al.,2013). There is a need to also control the accounting information system in the different companies as there are problems related to the control and how the trusted employees plan to do the fraud in the company. There are incidents where the people tend to use the fake names and the profile ids of the employees who are not working in the company and then connect the payment to their bank account. Along with this, it is also seen that the people try not to delete the data of the employees who have left the company and then try to use their details so that they can easily link their bank accounts to their ids. (Mohamed, 2013). Discussion The Accounting Information Systems are set with the collection, storing and handling the different researches which are based on including the investors, creditors and the taxation authorities. The accounting information system is mainly for handling the investments with the payroll activities. The forms are set to evaluate the decisions that have been made by the information system as well as the other auditing and financial reporting modules. It has been seen that the accounting software and the packages are for the handling of the costs with the complexity of the system. Hence, for this, there is a need to work on the packages accounting software which is not only for the records or the process to the financial data but also includes the functional modules for the system. (Henny et al., 2013) The major focus has been on the large organizations which need to work on the connectivity and the consolidation that is set in between the organizations with the increased forms of the accou nting system. The centralization with the applications is set to handle the system development with integration that includes the cloud-based applications for the accounting information system. The accounting software in Australia has been able to cover the different technology with the advancement to review the changes with the competitive edge that is set for the software packages and the accounting software. There are different challenges which are related to work on the system development as well as the improvement in the strategy for the software packages. It has been seen that Xero is the best company which can cover all the problems and use the cloud computing technology for handling the system setup. With this, it is seen that there are different forms of the system functionalities that are for feasibility approach in 1973 and is set for the development of SAP RF which could easily be handled through the wider range of business operations. The Peachtree is for the accounting firm where the standards are also set to improve the value of the company with the integrated forms of the office suit. This also enables the users to work on the expansions of the integrated of fice suit which has been set with the Teleware company. There are different challenges that have been set to take hold of the New Zealand accounting company Xero. It works on involving the people with 1622 small business and have been able to check on the Australian small business with the adoption of the accounting software. (Bradshaw et al., 2012). The process works on the sales ledger that works on the handling of the petty cash ledgers as well as the trial balance to adjust the different entries as well as the other trial balances to work on the financial development. ERP is the system which includes the accounting technology with the information set to handle and set the manufacturing, supply chain, and the human resources. The cloud-based accounting information system helps with the development of the lower organizations for a better growth and at a lower cost. The forms are transactional with the operational accounting roles where the processing could be mainly through viewin g the functional users and working on the mobile devices, web browsers as well as the other client applications. The system is based on working with the centralized standards where the data is stored to handle the purchasing, inventory and the accounting of the data. The transactions occur when there are configurations based on the accounting information with the accounts that are payable for the clerks to enter the invoice and work on the system for the storing of the same in the database. The major achievement is the computer-based accounting information system which works on the streamline reporting with the development set for the advancement in the modeling as well as the support of the data mining. The accounting competition is for the smaller and the medium based organizations, where the market includes the companies that have been taken into consideration for the cloud sharing of the accounting software market. (Laing, 2013). The company then offers the standards where the u sers are for the desktop accounting software. The company focus on the accounting with the challenge that could not reconcile the accounting reports from the other departments which are mainly due to the incompatibility of the formats and the duplication. The system includes the RFP which is for the detailing of all the requirements that are for the vendors to ask about the information with the selection of the software products that help in easy infrastructure and development. The organization also need to make sure that one works to control the input files with the sampling of the master records in an effective manner. Conclusion For the proper standards, there is a need to use the cloud computing techniques that will help in properly handling the information with the focus on the characteristics which are based on the controlling of the data. The risks are related to the cybercrimes with the information assets that are based on handling the advantage, efficiency and the information security with cost effectiveness. The accounting software is considered to be remarkable with the development of a better computer language. (Horngren et al., 2012). The forms are set to handle the small and the medium based organization with the accounting standards to take hold of the encryption for the proper accounting. Reference Black, P. and Chen, Z., 2013. Mandarin comes to Darwin: How a Language Adapts to an Australian Situation. InApplied Linguistics Association of Australia National Conference 2012: Evolving Paradigms: Language and Applied Linguistics in a Changing World(pp. 525-547). School of Education, Curtin University. Bradshaw, A., Pulakanam, V. and Cragg, P., 2012, January. IS Implementation and the Creation of Knowledge Assets in SMEs: the Impact of Consultants. InICSB World Conference Proceedings(Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 1). International Council for Small business (ICSB). Henny, H., Lianawati, C., Hari Setiabudi, H., Diana, Y. and Merlin, S., 2013. EVALUATION OF UTILIZATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON KOPWANI ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS USING COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS AND GAP ANALYSIS. Horngren, C., Harrison, W., Oliver, S., Best, P., Fraser, D. and Tan, R., 2012.Financial accounting. Pearson Higher Education AU. Laing, G.K., 2013. Service learning: An auditing project study.International Education Studies,6(1), p.174. Mohamed, Z., 2013. The Perception of Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) on the Importance of a Proper Accounting System: Malaysian Evidence.Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing,9(10), pp.1302-1321. Saeed, U., Intuit Inc., 2013.Weighted performance metrics for financial software. U.S. Patent 8,621,437.