Genetic, Biological and Environmental Influences on School-Age Crack Research Paper

Genetic, Biological and Environmental Influences on School-Age Crack Babies in Dealing with Multiple Stimuli and Forming Close - Research Paper Example Research has shown that almost one million infants born in the USA have been at one time exposed to one of the many illicit drugs while in utero. The social effects associated with these infants or crack babies when normally present themselves clearly when these children reach age of going to school. In most cases, the stimulation process becomes very erratic and such children are faced with difficulties of dealing with these multiple stimuli and have issues when it comes to having close attachments with people around them such a teachers and other pupils (McNichol & Tash, 2001). Dealing with multiple stimuli and forming close attachments Research has shown that we have a permanent developmental, neurological and behavior consequences which could be directly attributed to the exposure on drug use by parents. One notable thing has been that parents and even academic institutions are still quite unprepared in dealing with this problem effectively (McNichol & Tash, 2001). Given the envi ronment in which such children are exposed to at an early age, it becomes difficult for them to integrate fully with the society around them. It is a known fact that children do inherit certain genetic components from their parents. The drug use interferes with a child’s development. ... Close observations made on these children have shown that they are normally persistently withdrawn from their environment and enjoy personal space more than keeping company of others. It has also been noted that these crack babies are normally prone to some sudden snaps and episodes of violent behavior as compared to other children. These have been attributed to the fact that their parents exposed them to drugs in their prenatal stage. Research has shown that infants exposed to cocaine during the prenatal stage exhibit increased risk of having motor dysfunction (Schneider & Chasnoff, 1992). Also, the risk of having intra-venicular hemorrhages is increased. Questions still abound as to the exact effect of hemorrhages when it comes to the development process. The exposure has been noted to majorly affect the central nervous system causing abnormalities to these children (Doberczak, 1988). Fulroth, Phillips and Durand (1989) noted that a number of babies who have been exposed to cocaine in their prenatal stages show signs of withdrawal from the society or the environment around them. However, some researchers did dispute this basing their argument to the fact that the duration after birth matters and that the children normally normalize after the ages of 1 to 2 years. However, 30 to 40% of those children studied showed that they experienced language development problems which were compounded by attention problems that went through their fourth year of growth (Schneider & Chasnoff, 1992). Other studies have also shown that many of the children who have been borne out of drug abuse related mothers have numerous cognitive and behavioral difficulties. This has been attributed to the environmental influences. Other studies such

Co Operative Society Essay Example for Free

Co Operative Society Essay What Is a cooperative society ? A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit. [1] A cooperative is defined by the International Cooperative Alliances Statement on the Cooperative Identity as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. [2] A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or by the people who work there. Origins In 2001, it merged with 11 cooperative federations which had been its main suppliers for over 100 years. [citation needed] As of 2005, Coop operates 1,437 shops and employs almost 45,000 people. According to Bio Suisse, the Swiss organic producers association, Coop accounts for half of all the organic food sold in Switzerland. [citation needed] Euro Coop is the European Community of Consumer Cooperatives. [edit] Business and employment cooperative Main article: Business and employment co-operative Business and employment cooperatives (BECs) are a subset of worker ooperatives that represent a new approach to providing support to the creation of new businesses. Like other business creation support schemes, BECs enable budding entrepreneurs to experiment with their business idea while benefiting from a secure income. The innovation BECs introduce is that once the business is established the entrepreneur is not forced to leave and set up independently, but can stay and become a full memb er of the cooperative. The micro-enterprises then combine to form one multi-activity enterprise whose members provide a mutually supportive environment for each other. BECs thus provide budding business people with an easy transition from inactivity to self-employment, but in a collective framework. They open up new horizons for people who have ambition but who lack the skills or confidence needed to set off entirely on their own – or who simply want to carry on an independent economic activity but within a supportive group context. New generation cooperative New generation cooperatives (NGCs) are an adaptation of traditional cooperative structures to modern, capital intensive industries. They are sometimes described as a hybrid between traditional co-ops and limited liability companies. They were first developed in California and spread and flourished in the US Mid-West in the 1990s. [26] They are now common in Canada where they operate primarily in agriculture and food services, where their primary purpose is to add value to primary products. For example producing ethanol from corn, pasta from durum wheat, or gourmet cheese from goat’s milk. [27] Types of cooperative Housing cooperative [pic] [pic] Co-op City in New York is the largest cooperative housing development in the world with 55,000 people. [28] Main article: Housing cooperative A housing cooperative is a legal mechanism for ownership of housing where residents either own shares (share capital co-op) reflecting their equity in the cooperatives real estate, or have membership and occupancy rights in a not-for-profit cooperative (non-share capital co-op), and they underwrite their housing through paying subscriptions or rent Housing cooperatives come in three basic equity structures[citation needed]: †¢ In Market-rate housing cooperatives, members may sell their shares in the cooperative whenever they like for whatever price the market will bear, much like any other residential property. Market-rate co-ops are very common in New York City. †¢ Limited equity housing cooperatives, which are often used by affordable housing developers, allow members to own some equity in their home, but limit the sale price of their membership share to that which they paid. †¢ Group equity or Zero equity housing cooperatives do not allow members to own equity in their residences and often have rental agreements well below market rates. Main article: Building cooperative Members of a building cooperative (in Britain known as a self-build housing cooperative) pool resources to build housing, normally using a high proportion of their own labour. When the building is finished, each member is the sole owner of a homestead, and the cooperative may be dissolved. [citation needed] This collective effort was at the origin of many of Britains building societies, which however developed into permanent mutual savings and loan organisations, a term which persisted in some of their names (such as the former Leeds Permanent). Nowadays such self-building may be financed using a step-by-step mortgage which is released in stages as the building is completed. [citation needed] The term may also refer to worker cooperatives in the building trade. citation needed] Utility cooperative Main article: Utility cooperative A utility cooperative is a type of consumers cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications services to its members. Profits are either reinvested into infrastructure or distributed to members in the form of patronage or capital credits, which are essentially divi dends paid on a members investment into the cooperative. In the United States, many cooperatives were formed to provide rural electrical and telephone service as part of the New Deal. See Rural Utilities Service. In the case of electricity, cooperatives are generally either generation and transmission (GT) co-ops that create and send power via the transmission grid or local distribution co-ops that gather electricity from a variety of sources and send it along to homes and businesses. [29] In Tanzania, it has been proven that the cooperative method is helpful in water distribution. When the people are involved with their own water, they care more because the quality of their work has a direct effect on the quality of their water. A remarkable development has taken place in Poland, where the SKOK (Spoldzielcze Kasy Oszczednosciowo-Kredytowe) network has grown to serve over 1 million members via 13,000 branches, and is larger than the country’s largest conventional bank. [ In Scandinavia, there is a clear distinction between mutual savings banks (Sparbank) and true credit unions (Andelsbank). [ The oldest cooperative banks in Europe, based on the ideas of Friedrich Raiffeisen, are joined together in the Urgenossen. Federal or secondary cooperatives Main article: Cooperative Federation

The Handmaid’s Tale :: Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale Essays

The Handmaid’s Tale The Handmaid’s Tale and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? draw on different narrative techniques to establish our relationship to their protagonists. Margaret Atwood allows the reader to share the thoughts of the main character, while Philip K. Dick makes the reader explore the mysteries behind the story. Atwood’s style works because she can directly show her readers what she wants. Dick’s opposing style works for him because he can present paradoxes and mysteries and let the reader form the conclusion. Both of these styles are skillfully utilized to create complex stories without losing the reader along the way. Both of these works establish relationships between the reader and the protagonist. In Atwood’s, the reader feels empathy and sympathy for the main character, Offred. Dick’s story is less clear-cut. While the initial reaction is usually empathy and sympathy for the human Deckard, further study often leads to the controversy that Deckard may truly be an android. The goals of the authors differ greatly, and so do their narration styles. But they are both effective in getting across the author’s intentions. Atwood needs to make the reader relate to the main character, to get inside the thoughts and feelings. So she uses certain style, for instance, to make the reader relate more to the character, she would have phrased that sentence: I need to make you relate to Offred, to get inside her head, and understand her thoughts and feelings. This sort of personal narrative of the thought process is the style of The Handmaid’s Tale. You learn Offred’s motivations and they are so perfectly articulated that you begin to yearn for the same things she does, and to despise the same things she does. This kind of personal relationship is necessary for the setting of the story. The best way to explain this future society and it’s rules and to make the reader truly have an emotional response to it, is to put the reader right into that society and let them feel what it’s like. This is the way Atwood gets across her feelings about the future world that Offred lives in. She forms a close relationship with the reader and the character, and then shows the reader Offred’s feelings about different aspects of the world. This is not to say that everyone reading the book will get the exact same thing from it.

Good Will Hunting Identity Essay Essay

The identity theorist’s Erik Erikson and James Marcia were crucial contributors to the psychological interpretation of a person’s personality and social development. Erik Erikson is most famously known for his theories on the adolescent search for identity and his ideas regarding a person’s self-discovery. James Marcia expanded further on Erikson’s concepts through his proposal of the four identity statuses, which include moratorium, foreclosure, diffusion, and achievement, as well as the four human crises’. As psychology is becoming more and more developed in our modern society, it has become more socially acceptable to criticize or expose the issues psychology entails, particularly human identity, which often times can be the most controversial topic. In the blockbuster film, Good Will Hunting, the main character Will has natural genius capabilities but struggles to understand his place in the world due to a dramatic past and his tough exterior as an orphan from South Boston. Although it is arguable that Will appreciated his talent but preferred to live his life as it was before recognition, Will Hunting depicted the theories of identity through his relationship with Skylar and his guidance from Sean. Even though Will enjoyed his life of literature and education behind closed doors, it was indeterminable whether Will was content with his life or eager to leave his comfort zone in Southie to challenge his intellect at the beginning of the film. For example, while working as a janitor at MIT Will solves a problem that the current students at the institute had yet to conquer, however Will would not admit to the professors that he had solved it. This shows that Will lacks aspects of self-realization because once the professors realize he is the genius, Will mocks the therapy sessions and mathematical lessons that the professors organized in order to help him reach his full potential. In addition to that, Will’s best friends depict the epitome of â€Å"city kids† who balance blue collar jobs with nighttime bar reunions and it is evident that because this is the only life Will has ever known, he is hesitant to lead the life he is stereotypically supposed to. It takes the guidance from Will’s best friend Chuck, to finally persuade Will to take advantage of his gift, not for himself, but for his friends and  every other kid with the same lack of opportunities who would give anything for Will’s intelligence. At first Will was uncomfortable with realizing his intelligence but eventually he learned he needed to take advantage of his skills. Sean’s influence on Will proved that Will experienced the process of identity discovery proposed by James Marcia because of Sean’s ability to help Will out of his identity crisis. According to Marcia a person experiences four identity crises including future work, moral standards, religion, and political view. During the movie, Sean helps Will by guiding him past the future work crisis through therapy sessions and Sean’s real life experience recollections. In addition, Sean enables Will to overcome his moral standard crisis particularly regarding women. Throughout the movie Sean is able to overcome Will’s sarcastic defense mechanisms and on their last session when each man reveals they were abused as children, Sean sees the true person that Will is and realizes he has properly prepared him for a future job in the real world. Sean encourages Will’s relationship with Harvard Student Skylar because he wants Will to recognize his ability to have an emot ional relationship with a woman without pushing them away, which ultimately proved his change in moral standard. When Will meets Skylar she is unlike any girl he has ever known, and as their relationship grows serious, Will’s fear of commitment supports his struggle with his identity status. After Will receives Skylar’s number he is not contemplating commitment nor immediately calls her. Psychologically he is at the stage of moratorium where he delays decisions about Skylar before going out with her again as well as not disregarding his options with other woman, as he tells his psychologist Sean that he has slept with many woman. However, when Will takes Skylar to the dog track he proves his committal to her as his girlfriend, which supports the proceeding identity status of foreclosure. Next, after their relationship grows serious, Skylar asks Will to come to California with her as she attends Stanford yet Will refuses her offer and feels the need to distance himself from her. The issue escalates further when Skylar tries to comfort Will about his tragic past, which infuriates Will even further. After their break-up Will searches for the  meaning of life with help from his best friend’s who purchase him a car to help him commute to a new job which would enable him to break from his â€Å"tough city guy† image. Between the time of breakup, job interviews, and guidance from Chuck Will discovers his potential and strives to successfully use his talent through the identity status of diffusion. Finally Will reaches the achievement identity status as he leaves Boston to reunite with Skylar in California, which proves to be the greatest decision of his life. Overall, Will did undergo the four identity statuses and experience the crises that James Marcia and Erik Erikson proposed in their theories of self-discovery. Will’s relationship with Skylar particularly proves that Will underwent the four identity statuses of moratorium, foreclosure, diffusion, and achievement because of his refusal to get emotionally attached to her at first, and then by the conclusion of the movie, ready to commit his life to her. Also, through the guidance of Sean Will overcame the identity crises of future work and moral standards. In the end, although it appeared as if Will could never behind his reputation of a South Boston rebel, through his relationships with Skylar and Sean Will was prepared to reach his full potential.

A Most Dangerous Game

â€Å"It is a very great pleasure and honour to welcome Mr. Sanger Rainsford, the celebrated hunter, into my home. † These are the first words spoken to Rainsford by General Zaroff upon his arrival on Ship-trap Island. Formally greeting Rainsford gives Zaroff an appearance of a proper gentleman; well-educated and well-mannered. But by his dark eyes, military moustache, and strong face you can also tell that he is obviously a strong leader and military general.Behind his high cheek bones, white hair and sharp nose is a strange madness not reflected by his looks. Murdering fellow human beings despite his proper look provides a stark contrast between what is seen on the outside and what personality lies on the inside. Much better described then the other characters in the story, General Zaroff is obviously a â€Å"round† character in the story â€Å"A Most Dangerous Game†.Through his words and actions we are given a deeper view of the General Zaroff character and fr om that information it is easy to assume his way of thinking and his reason for making certain decisions. Giving General Zaroff’s character a lot of depth creates the perfect â€Å"round† character. Sticking to his belief that killing humans is great fun and more of a sport then murder through the entire story, General Zaroff is a static character who obviously never learned a lesson from his experiences.Arrogant, proud, and inconsiderate to the great value of life, General Zaroff is a pretty bad guy. ‘But the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reach the limb on which Rainsford lay; a smile crept across his face†¦ he turned his back on the tree and walked carelessly away. ’ In this short couple of sentences, the author demonstrates the arrogance of Zaroff. To demonstrate his inconsiderateness to the value of human life, Zaroff, when asked why he could do such a thing (hunt another human being) he answers, â€Å"Ennui. Boredom. By hunting Ra insford, Zaroff demonstrates that he is looking for a worthy opponent and by not sending him off with the others who got trapped on the island to exercise and gain muscle he obviously sees Rainsford, a fellow hunter, as a worthy opponent. Casually walking away from the tree he knew that Rainsford was in shows that because he knew exactly where Rainsford was, he wanted to give him another try to escape, mostly because he expected a lot more from him and was still bored because Rainsford was too easy to track.By saying things like, â€Å"Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and, â€Å"Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score. † shows that he is obviously impressed by Rainsford’s intelligence and creativity. The author tells us a lot about General Zaroff in many different ways as to give contrast to the character. Though the things he says and does are very much the same, his physical appearance (shown by what the author tells us about him) is very difficult then how he behaves throughout the story.

Political Theory # 2 Essays

Political Theory # 2 Essays Political Theory # 2 Essay Political Theory # 2 Essay In John Locke’s work entitled, â€Å"Second Treatise†, he articulated that, â€Å"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone; and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that, being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions† (Colie, 1968). The aforementioned statement is where the problem came from. Actually, the alteration of John Locke’s term â€Å"possessions or property† into â€Å"pursuit of happiness† by Jefferson has strong ground/basis (Colie, 1968). Explaining further, this is because due to the fact that, when John Locke utilizes the term â€Å"possession or property†, he does not only refer to the tangible objects that individuals own, for instance, house and lot, cars, Xbox, laptops etc, instead he also took into consideration a much broader application, which now actually incl udes â€Å"life and liberty† (Curtis, 1981). Since John Locke did not only refer to concrete or physical objects like life and liberty, then Jefferson translated in into the term â€Å"happiness† (Curtis, 1981). Jefferson articulated it that way to be able to convey the message that he and John Locke were not only speaking about material things, they were also referring to those â€Å"essential things† which may bring about happiness in the long run (Curtis, 1981). For individuals to have a clearer and better understanding of the aforementioned, it should be mentioned where this is actually rooted from. John Locke was actually talking about the state of nature here in his magnificent work known as the â€Å"Second Treatise† (Curtis, 1981). He was saying that the state of nature is where men are after the â€Å"state of perfect freedom, state of equality, state governed by rationality, as well as a, state of liberty† which further explained and made simple by Jefferson by saying â€Å"pursuit of happiness† (Curtis, 1981). Health In addition to that, the word, â€Å"health† has been removed by Jefferson simply because when he stated, â€Å"to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness† (Curtis, 1981). It is very clear that the term life already entails health since it is a smaller topic or aspect which is covered by life (Curtis, 1981). It is done to avoid redundancy and eventually confusion (Curtis, 1981).

Review of Sylvia Plaths Novel The Bell Jar

Review of Sylvia Plath's Novel 'The Bell Jar' Written in the early 1960s, and Sylvia Plaths only full-length prose work, The Bell Jar is an autobiographical novel that relates the childhood longings and descent into madness of Plaths alter-ego, Esther Greenwood. Plath was so concerned about the closeness of her novel to her life that she published it under a pseudonym, Victoria Lucas (just as in the novel Esther plans to publish a novel of her life under a different name). It only appeared under Plaths real name in 1966, three years after she committed suicide. Plot The story relates a year in the life of Esther Greenwood, who seems to have a rosy future in front of her. Having won a competition to guest edit a magazine, she travels to New York. She worries about the fact that she is still a virgin and her encounters with men in New York go badly awry. Esthers time in the city heralds the start of a mental breakdown as she slowly loses interest in all the hopes and dreams. Dropping out of college and staying listlessly at home, her parents decide that something is wrong and take her to a psychiatrist, who refers her to a unit that specializes in shock therapy. Esthers condition spirals even further downwards due to inhumane treatment in the hospital. She finally decides to commit suicide. Her attempt fails, and a rich older lady who was a fan of Esthers writing agrees to pay for treatment in a center that does not believe in shock therapy as a method for treating the ill. Esther slowly starts her road to recovery, but a friend she has made at the hospital isnt so lucky. Joan, a lesbian who had, unbeknownst to Esther, fallen in love with her, commits suicide after her release from the hospital. Esther decides to take control of her life and is once more determined to go to college. However, she knows that the dangerous illness that put her life at risk could strike again at any time. Themes Perhaps the single greatest achievement of Plaths novel is its outright commitment to truthfulness. Despite the fact that the novel has all the power and control of Plaths best poetry, it does not skew or transform her experiences in order to make her illness more or less dramatic. The Bell Jar takes the reader inside the experience of severe mental illness like very few books before or since. When Esther considers suicide, she looks into the mirror and manages to see herself as a completely separate person. She feels disconnected from the world and from herself. Plath refers to these feelings as being trapped inside the bell jar as a symbol for her feelings of alienation. The feeling becomes so strong at one point that she stops functioning, at one point she even refuses to bathe. The bell jar also steals away her happiness. Plath is very careful not to see her illness as the manifestation of outside events. If anything, her dissatisfaction with her life is a manifestation of her illness. Equally, the end of the novel does not pose any easy answers. Esther understands that she is not cured. In fact, she realizes that she might never be cured  and that she must always be vigilant against the danger that lies within her own mind. This danger befell Sylvia Plath, not very long after The Bell Jar was published. Plath committed suicide in her home in England. A Critical Study The prose which Plath uses in  The Bell Jar does not quite reach the poetic heights of her poetry, particularly her supreme collection Ariel, in which she investigates similar themes. However, this does not mean the novel is not without its own merits. Plath managed to instill a sense of powerful honesty and brevity of expression which anchors the novel to real life. When she chooses literary images to express her themes she cements these images in everyday life. For example, the book opens with an image of the Rosenbergs who were executed by electrocution, an image that is repeated when Esther receives electro-shock treatment. Really, The Bell Jar is a  stunning portrayal of a particular time in a persons life and a brave attempt by Sylvia Plath to face her own demons. The novel will be read for generations to come.

English as a Native Language (ENL)

English as a Native Language (ENL) Definition: The variety of the English language spoken by people who acquired English as their first language or mother tongue. English as a Native Language (ENL) is commonly distinguished from English as an Additional Language (EAL), English as a Second Language (ESL), and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Native Englishes include American English, Australian English, British English, Canadian English, Irish English,  New Zealand English, Scottish English, and Welsh English. In recent years, the proportion of ENL speakers has steadily declined while the use of English in ESL and EFL regions has rapidly increased. Observation A wide variety of countries, such as Australia, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, the United Kingdom and the United States, speak English as a native language (ENL). ENL countries are established when large numbers of English speakers migrate from other English speaking countries, displacing other languages, both local and immigrant. Other countries, such as Fiji, Ghana, India, Singapore, and Zimbabwe  use English as a second language (ESL). In ESL countries the language is imported during a colonial period and promoted through education, but there is not a massive migration of native English speakers.(Roger M. Thompson,  Filipino English and Taglish. John Benjamins, 2003) ENL Varieties English varies markedly from one ENL territory to another, and often from one region to another within heavily populated countries such as the US and UK, a state of affairs which, as travelers know well, can lead to problems of intelligibility. In the UK, for example, there are significant differences of accent, grammar, and vocabulary between Anglophone visitors to London and many of the local people (speakers of Cockney and near-Cockney), as well as in Scotland, where many people routinely mix Scots and English. In the US, there are significant differences between many speakers of African-American (or Black) English and what is sometimes called mainstream English. . . . It is therefore risky to classify a territory as ENL and leave it at that, the ENLhood of a place being no guarantee whatever of unhampered communication in English.(Tom McArthur, The English Languages. Cambridge University. Press, 1998) Standards of English Standard English is typically seen as correct and grammatical, while non-standard dialects are seen as wrong and ungrammatical, regardless of whether the speaker or the speakers ancestors spoke English as a native language. Disapproval of non-standard varieties is not the prerogative of the formerly colonized. The reason that Singapore has had a Speak Good English Movement and India does not is that Singapore has a highly informal contact variety, usually known as Singlish, which has no parallel in India.(Anthea Fraser Gupta, Standard English in the World. English in the World: Global Rules, Global Roles, ed. by Rani Rubdy and Mario Saraceni. Continuum, 2006) Pronunciation ​It is obvious that interdialectal contact tends to speed up phonological change, and new social norms can easily change the acceptability of formerly stigmatized pronunciations: innovation is therefore to be generally expected in ENL communities. By contrast, ESL societies are likely to be characterized by interference phenomena and overgeneralization, and therefore exhibit innovation (of different types)unless these local features are criticized as deviances when compared with an external standard, say the educated speech of the South of England. (Manfred Gà ¶rlach, Still More Englishes. John Benjamins, 2002)

How did D-Day impact world history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How did D-Day impact world history - Essay Example 6th June, 1944 saw approximately 160,000 Allied Troops landing on a 50-mile stretch of heavily-equipped French coastline, ready to fight the Nazi Germany in Normandy beaches, France (Boyer 1). In this invasion, there were over 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircrafts which were deployed. This caused more than 9,000 deaths and injuries to the Allied Soldiers. However, the soldiers were too many and more than 100,000 soldiers began marching to Europe to defeat Hitler’s reign (Badsey 30). This operation was spelled as the beginning of the termination of Nazi’s domination over Europe and the Third Reich. Such factors were attributed by Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister) who proposed continuity of the Nazi attacks (Ambrose 19). The D-Day was accredited by three different perspectives. The three unique perspectives included the Eldert collection, the LST (Landing Ship Tank) at Fort Knox and Patton on D-Day (Ambrose 20). William Eldert was among the men who served with the 658th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and he also worked in the Pacific Theater. He spent most of his service while living in the LST. His collection included clothing, Misc. Items, medals, badges, dog tags, bags, weapons, currency, pamphlets, booklets, photos, personal correspondences and memory books among other items (Ambrose 21). The second exceptional perspective was the LST building at Fort Knox. This building is identified as a one of a kind building. The building was closely associated with the development of the landing ship (LST). This large ship enabled the Allies to land their weapons on the Normandy beaches where the operation took place (Badsey 37). The British had designed this LCT (Landing Craft Tank) in 1940 to carry six tanks. However, they needed a much larger vessel which was able to carry more tanks and armory equipments for the operation. On the contrary, there were several challenges that they faced to come up with

Helping Harvard Medical School Make the Grade Essay - 1

Helping Harvard Medical School Make the Grade - Essay Example Some of these companies also sponsor only those where a positive outcome will be likely (Gagnon 1625). Therefore, tension exists between the desire to carry out the study for marketing advantage and adhering to laid down scientific principles. This concern is real thus cannot be said that they result in more good than harm. The pharmaceutical companies are a source of valuable resource for medical research. They are the primary funding of most of these studies. Banning it would not be practical as it will deny the companies data about their products and even lead to claims about products being made with minimal scientific evidence. As such, the finding should be controlled through disclosure mechanisms where those engaging with the firms reveal the details of the undertakings. This way, constant revaluation of the monetary aspects of the collaborations can be done. Moreover, the contractual agreement should be used for the benefit of the medical school and the industries. By protesting the Harvard conflict of interest policies, the student risked compromising the quality of education they receive. According to Morgan, Baker, and Evans, such policies are intended to ensure that there a right balance is struck between ensuring the integrity of the institution and permitting the members of the faculty to i mprove health through discoveries and eventual introduction of new drugs (670). By opposing the policies, they were compromising the ability of the institution to ensure that biomedical research funded by the companies are done in the appropriate way without emphasis being put on marketing advantage and economic gains both for the firms and the individual professors and lecturers. Even without the state passing similar regulations, Harvard could still have been able to pass its policies. Personally, I have not been in a class where the lecturers seemed to be giving biased information because of their work outside the university. However, should that occur, I believe it will be prudent enough to raise the concern so as to safeguard the quality of information given to the students. From the case, it is clear that dissent should be expressed through the right channels just the same way those who opposed the undertakings between the professors with the companies did by engaging the righ t authorities and administrators. Â  

Read the requirement carefully Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Read the requirement carefully - Essay Example The difference in the products and the way in which firms compete is also discussed. The assumptions that hold for the perfect market are also explained and highlighted. A perfectly competitive market is the one in which the market forces work without any hindrance. This means that the demand and supply interact to determine the price which is accepted by all the other firms. This market is only a theoretical one based on assumptions and it tells us that how a markets should respond to the changes in demand and supply. The perfect market is nonexistent in our real world like all the other perfect things but it is important to understand it. This is because the perfect market structure can be used to compare the other markets and their responses to changes in different situations. (Goshit & Mai-Lafia, 2009) Firstly, let us consider the case of equilibrium in a perfect market. The supply and demand will become equal at some point and that point will be considered as the equilibrium poi nt of the market. The following drawing shows a perfect market at equilibrium. The forces of supply and demand fix the price at $5. (Goshit & Mai-Lafia, 2009) Now, like all the other markets, the perfect markets also faces demand and supply shocks to which it reacts accordingly. Mostly the market responds to changes in demand as the consumer is considered sovereign. Let us now consider the case where the consumer demand increases. This may be due to any reason but let us suppose that it is due to an increase in the price of a substitute. The market will shift accordingly. The following drawing shows how. (Archambault, 2008) The increase in demand will result in extra demand at the same price. This will create a shortage of the product. The supply will react accordingly and there will be a movement along the supply curve. This will lead to a new equilibrium at a higher price and a higher quantity. This is because the consumers were willing to pay more for the good and thus the market forces reacted and short run equilibrium was attained. This increase in demand will also add to the consumer and producer surplus which is the area between the two graphs. These two refer to the difference between the amount that the consumer or the producer expects and the price. (Krugman and Wells, 2008, p.71-72) The long run response of the market will be different. The long run equilibrium of a market is when the marginal cost becomes equal to the lowest of average total cost (ATC). This equilibrium will be disturbed by the increase in demand. The firms will now charge a higher price than their marginal costs and thus their average revenue will exceed their average total costs. The firms will be earning an abnormal profit. (Peck, 2006) The following graphs show the disturbance. As a result of the abnormal profit, new firms will enter the industry to make profit for themselves. This will cause the supply to increase. This increased supply will push the prices downwards back to n ormal with a higher amount of goods traded than before. The long run equilibrium will be attained and the market will return back to normal. (Burnette, 2012) The following graph shows the effect of new firms entering the market. Perfect markets differ from the markets we see daily. There are assumptions that need to be considered. The first one is that there are many sellers in the market, which means that the competition is intense. Secondly,

Midterm Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Midterm Exam - Essay Example A country’s state of democracy is affected by its economic state due to the presence of funds and jobs, which reduces the level of poverty in individual country. According to researchers in these regions, oil as a source of wealth has played major role in the political democratization of these countries (Peruzzotti 34). They include the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Middle East that are rich in oil deposits. However, various strategies have been put in place to help as sources of wealth since the economic levels of these countries largely influence democracy levels in these countries. Economic stability due to oil as a source of wealth in these Arab countries has largely influenced the political structure. Various economical factors have led to the democratization of these countries. The economic stability of a country accrues to a large percentage of the political stability. Economic stability means that there are enough funds to cater for the governmentâ₠¬â„¢s operations. Democracy highly depends on the level of literacy in the society. In most of the developed countries, education is highly valued due to its contribution to the level of democracy in the member states, a situation where people are a literate. Education directly or indirectly provides knowledge to members of the society. Most of the countries provide education measures that contribute to the level of awareness. Education of the public provides them with the knowledge to help the society to vote the right representatives in congress or parliaments according to the provided individual government. In most third world countries, illiteracy contributes to political instability, which entails to high rates of in democracy in most of the countries. Leaders from the gulf countries provide the public with political knowledge that helps them to vote for the right representatives. Oil has a major role in the provision of amenities such as education and other social amenities. T here are certain roles that come up due to the presence of oil in a country. Oil provides for the larger part of the country’s heritage by contributing to the tourism industry. The industry has contributed to the economy of these Arab countries due to the increased tourist attraction constructions such as the Palm Islands and other national projects that will help in the provision of funds to most of the running projects in these Middle East countries. Tourism is a project that has been put into consideration to help most of the countries to maintain their budgets after all of the oil reserves have been utilized. For example, countries such as Dubai have started constructing buildings and other tourism facilities that help in attracting the Western countries o these regions after the oil reserves have gone dry. This will balance the economy source of income, which must contribute to political stability in the country. Tourism will ensure that the provision of social utilizes such as education, health and other social responsibilities. Due to education, members of the society have the knowledge to choose some of the elite members. Elite politicians have a major role to shape the political structure in the community. In modern day society, provision of health activities has been an act from the politicians to search lure leaders to look for the best representatives in the community. Oil has contributed as the major source of income in the Gulf members, which helps in provision of funds to provide for government operations. Funds have contributed to health facilities which help in the control of social amenities a such as education that helps individuals to have a broader

Should companies disclose to the people if they make digital Essay

Should companies disclose to the people if they make digital correction on advertisement - Essay Example I am sure this will be a good omen for the companies because they can easily come out in the open and make their point clear which indeed is significant towards their understanding domains. If the company makes a concerted effort, the digital correction on advertisements would mean that they have a better word of mouth overall and that the varied publics will speak highly of the company (Kadir 2013). It will also implicate for the company being truthful about its dealings and a sense of openness is easily visible across the board. Another reason why disclosure is all the more crucial for the sake of the companies is because digital correction on advertisements reveals their intent to come out in the open and that too without much difficulty. This is the reason why companies tend to be ethical more than anything else. This will be the basis of finding out how anomalies exist and how such nuances can be resolved in an amicable way (Westrup 2009). The disclosure does not mean that the company is looking to cover up its mistakes of the past yet there is an element of honesty attached with the disclosure which is all the more significant and reassuring from the companys perspective. Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that coming out clean is a better policy than making one mistake after the other. The digital corrections on advertisements stand as a honest policy which will win many favors by the people at the helm of affairs within the company levels. It leaves no stone unturned and addresses the problems which are faced by the organizations in their day to day work bases (Gleason 1998). This is the reason why companies should always think to bring about sanity within their prevalent ranks and hence fully disclose any digital corrections that may take place over the advertisements that they are producing and/or relaying to the general public (Rosi 2010). I would like to end my speech with the belief that the digital corrections on

Other Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Other - Assignment Example , with regards to the price of LASIK, this follows the national average and is generally represented between $1,500 and $2,000 per treatment (Bethke, 2012). Ultimately, the individual can understand accounting an action where oil process as an integral means by which prices ultimately sets. Due to the fact that different regions of the nation have different expenses, this can be seen as one of the prime motivators for why prices fluctuate to such a great degree with regards to the services which it previously been analyzed. For instance, the price of LASIK eye correction may be in order of magnitude higher in San Diego that it might necessarily be in Little Rock Arkansas. This is due to the fact that a host of expense differentials exist between these two locations. For instance, the heating/cooling and light bill that the San Diego office will necessarily have to engage with, is necessarily much greater than that of the somewhat less developed, less densely populated, and lower costs will rock Arkansas. Similarly, the average wages of the employees that will be required to run such an office will also be higher. This necessarily requir es the price setting to match these actual aerial and accounting realities (Levinrad, 2012). Similarly, with regards to actuarial services, the overall level of risk that might exist within current market has a direct impact on the amount of money that the entity/a group will be required to pay with regards to their insurance furthermore, if insurance prices within a given region are necessarily high, prices will be forced to match this as a means of continuing to generate a profit margin. Obviously, the same can be said of prices are necessarily lower than the national average with regards to insurance and the given market. a. Argue for or against men and women being charged the same price for health care coverage ( as of 2014, it will be illegal to adjust premiums based on gender, but it will be fine to do so based on age, place

Should companies disclose to the people if they make digital Essay

Should companies disclose to the people if they make digital correction on advertisement - Essay Example I am sure this will be a good omen for the companies because they can easily come out in the open and make their point clear which indeed is significant towards their understanding domains. If the company makes a concerted effort, the digital correction on advertisements would mean that they have a better word of mouth overall and that the varied publics will speak highly of the company (Kadir 2013). It will also implicate for the company being truthful about its dealings and a sense of openness is easily visible across the board. Another reason why disclosure is all the more crucial for the sake of the companies is because digital correction on advertisements reveals their intent to come out in the open and that too without much difficulty. This is the reason why companies tend to be ethical more than anything else. This will be the basis of finding out how anomalies exist and how such nuances can be resolved in an amicable way (Westrup 2009). The disclosure does not mean that the company is looking to cover up its mistakes of the past yet there is an element of honesty attached with the disclosure which is all the more significant and reassuring from the companys perspective. Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that coming out clean is a better policy than making one mistake after the other. The digital corrections on advertisements stand as a honest policy which will win many favors by the people at the helm of affairs within the company levels. It leaves no stone unturned and addresses the problems which are faced by the organizations in their day to day work bases (Gleason 1998). This is the reason why companies should always think to bring about sanity within their prevalent ranks and hence fully disclose any digital corrections that may take place over the advertisements that they are producing and/or relaying to the general public (Rosi 2010). I would like to end my speech with the belief that the digital corrections on

Discuss the risk management process and its interactions with the Essay

Discuss the risk management process and its interactions with the project lifecycle - Essay Example Risk management is a process that leads to identification of the uncertainties that may arise in the future and provide remedies and precautions for handling these risks. Risks faced by an organisation may create a negative impact on its assets and the reputation it has gained. The aim of Risk management is to identify the potential risks that the company might face and develop resources for mitigating the adverse effects of such losses. An organisation may face various types of risks like financial risks, operational risks, perimeter risks and lastly strategic risks. Financial risks may result in the losses related to cost of claims and liability of judgments (Conrow 2003). Operational risks may be faced by the organisation in the form of labor strikes and strategic risks involve risks related to changes in management or loss of reputation. Risk management has a pivotal role to play in effective project management. The following paper, will throw light on crucial objectives of risk management, the process of risk management and interactions between risk management the project lifecycle. Objectives of Risk Management The process of risk management aims at identification of the potentially hazardous and harmful situations. ... The purpose of risk management is to develop strategies and plans for managing and mitigating the potential risks faced by the organisation. In this manner, risk management aims at preventing the organisations from various types of risks that it may face in the long run and provide effective tools for setting appropriate strategies. Risk Management Process Assessment of risks has a fundamental process that involves five steps in implementing an appropriate system of control so that risks can be minimised. It helps in the identification and analysis of the various risks that are harmful for the workplace and negatively impact the organisation. Therefore, risk assessment is a straightforward examination of the dangerous elements that can harm the people, as well as the reputation of the organisation in the long run. So there is a need to take proper precautions for eliminating all kind of risks in order to minimise the fuss that is created in the functioning of the organisation (Culp 2 001). The first step of risk management process involves identification of hazards and the harmful effects that these hazards possess. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify how people would be affected by the potential danger that is created by the risks. It is required that proper ramifications are undertaken for mitigating the possibilities of such risks. Various strategies and tools are identified to be crucial, for mitigating the dangerous effects of the risks. At this level, sources through which risks can be avoided are analysed, and appropriate measures are undertaken to keep the things at place. These sources of risks can be internal or external to the organisation. An example of internal and external sources of risks can be the employees and the operational

Motivation and Organizational Culture Essay Example for Free

Motivation and Organizational Culture Essay What makes a good manager? What makes an employee motivated? There are different types of leaders and everyone has a place in workplace psychology. What is the role of the managers and employees? In workplace psychology management’s role should be to motivate employees and get the tasks completed. Managers are a key in the workplace; they are role models for the employees. Managers should keep a professional relationship with employees but not be so strict that their employees are scared to ask for help or talk about what they need. The key to being able to talk to managers is a positive for managers and employees. It tells the manager what the employee needs to be motivated and always the manager to know where the employee is. Managers keep some of the pressure of the upper level managers and owners. Motivating employees is a key part of management because it helps get the job done and keep the employees happy. If an employee is not motivated and unhappy with their job then they will not do a good job and their work becomes sloppy, eventually they will quit. In workplace psychology employees have the role of carrying out tasks and helping the company become successful. Employees need a clearly defined task, adequate working environment, motivation, and feedback. I the case of Ayame Nakamura, managers need to talk with her to understand her work style and how she can be motivated to do her best. Each person is different and coming from a non-confrontational culture Ayame needs to work in a non-confrontational environment. Her managers need to give her positive feedback so she knows what she is doing right. Being told what she is doing right and wrong in a positive, non-confrontational way may boost Ayame’s motivation, and she may enjoy work again (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, 2011). Ayame was brought up to avoid being confrontational and always be polite. Japanese are very strict in their business and are very straight forward. If Ayame’s work environment is hostile then she is more likely to think she is doing a bad job. In most cultures, if someone feels they are doing bad then they will try harder, if they never receive the feedback for doing a good job they lose motivation and eventually just stop trying. Ayame comes from a very straight forward culture and does not understand when someone is not straight forward with her. Ayame’s employer needs to change his approach with Ayame to give her more motivation and understand feedback clearly (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, 2011). Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard have a model called situational leadership theory. In Hersey-Blanchard theory there are different types of managers; telling managers tell employees when, where, and how to complete tasks. They also have low relationships with their employees. Selling managers provide detailed tasks and have a high relationship with employees. Participating managers give low detail on tasks and have high level of communication with employees. Delegating managers give little direction and have low level relationships with employees. Ayame’s managers could help make her more motivated by taking time to get to know the way she works. If they talk to her and understand where she is at in her hierarchy of needs then they can come up with a reward system to motivate Ayame. Also, understanding that Ayame needs to have a non-confrontational environment this is another thing that can motivate her. It seems that Ayame has telling manager and she needs a selling or participating manager. Giving Ayame a good relationship and communication will help her know what she needs to do. Ayame relies on feedback from her employer and is not getting it in her current situation (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, 2011). Giving employees what they need and keeping them motivated is the job of the manager. There are many different types of managers and some do not give employees what they need. Managers have responsibility to the company to make it as efficient as possible. Some key things managers should remember is that employees need tasks that are clearly defined, some employees may need more direction then others, and all employees need high level of support. Feedback lets employees know what they are doing well and what they can work on. Having something to work toward keeps an employee motivated. A motivated employee is more likely to be happy on the job and complete tasks efficiently; while, an unhappy employee is more likely to be slower, sloppier, and more likely to quit.

War Changes Henry in Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage :: Red Badge Courage Essays

War Changes Henry in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage There have been many great war stories; one is The Red Badge of Courage (1895) written by Stephen Crane. This book is circled around Henry Fleming, a young man who wants to join the Union Army during the Civil War. The Civil War has been a great subject for many books, as it was a great changing point in American History that lasted for 4 years. The story is written about Henry Fleming, who wanted to join the Union Army for a long time, but his mother didn't want him to. The story lasts over a period of a few days, probably two. He grew up on a farm, in a rural area, where he was secluded from large areas, like many other soldiers who fought in the Civil War. He is usually a good farmer boy, who follows what his mother says. With no mention of his father in the story, he is most likely dead or he ran away. This makes Stephen Crane's writing look like many families today, where there is only one parent to care for them. He eventually signs up with the Union Army, without his mother's full support. On his way there, he is greeted by many others who say how he is so great for joining the army. He gets to the Army camp eventually, and everyone there is waiting in anxiety for a battle. Here he meets other soldiers, such as the "Loud soldier," and the "Tall Soldier." They talk about battles, and soldiers who run from war, comparing them to children and anything but men. This makes him think if he, if the battle gets too violent, will run. Eventually the first battle comes, and the first rush with it. He defends his position, and doesn't run away. But the second wave of attacks came, and he ran away as fast as he could. He meets up with a group of injured soldiers, when he remembers that he ran from battle. This made him ashamed of himself, even more when he has to lie about being injured. This shows how the writer likes to use emotions on the character effect the reader, some people might be mad he ran a way, others might be disappointed in him for it. Overtime, Henry has many bad experiences since he ran from the battle. He was injured when a bullet grazes the backside of his head, and he also suffers from extreme dehydration, but is saved by a military camp he came to.

Sonnet 69 :: essays research papers fc

Sonnet 65 (Shakespeare) 1 Since brass, nor stone, nor boundless sea, 2 But sad mortality o’er-sways their power, 3 How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 4 Whose action is no stronger than a flower? 5 O how shall summer’s honey breath hold out, 6 Against the wreckful siege of batt’ring days 7 When rocks impregnable are not so stout, 8 Nor gates of steel so strong, but time decays? 9 O fearful meditation! Where, alack, 10 Shall time’s best jewel from time’s chest lie hid? 11 Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back, 12 Or who his spoil o’er beauty can forbid? 13 O none, unless this miracle have might: 14  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  That in black ink my love may still shine bright. Withstanding Mortality through Verse Melissa Zyduck Explication #1 Sonnet 65 Carducci Feb. 21st, 2001 Sonnets are rhymed poems consisting of fourteen lines, the first eight making up the octet and the last six lines being the sestet. The basic structure of the sonnet arose in medieval Italy, its most prominent exponent being the Early Renaissance poet, Petrarch. The appearance of the English Sonnet, however, occurred when Shakespeare was an adolescent, around 1580 (Moore and Charmaine 1). Although it is named after him, Shakespeare did not originate the English sonnet form. The English sonnet differs slightly from the Italian, or Petrarchian, Sonnet and the Spenserian Sonnet in that it ends with a rhymed couplet and follows the rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg). Thus, the octet/sestet structure can be alternatively divided into three quatrains with alternating rhymes and ending in a rhymed couplet. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 65 is part of a sequence of one hundred and fifty-four sonnets allegedly written sometime between 1592 and May of 1609 (Duncan 13; Moore and Charmine 1). In sonnets 1 through 126, the speaker addresses a young man often referred to as the Youth, and in sonnets 127 through 154, a woman, or Dark Lady, is addressed Sonnet 65 is also part of a unit with Sonnet 64 (Best 1), the two coming together to form their own â€Å"fearful meditation† (9) on time and ruin reaping youth and beauty from the world and leaving only cold death (Cooney 3). Shakespeare opens the poem with the speaker listing paradigms of the long-lasting substances â€Å"brass† and â€Å"stone† (1). â€Å"Earth† and â€Å"boundless sea† (1) are also long lasting, but are superior in that they are nearly limitless in extent. All of these elements, by their nature, should be capable of holding out against â€Å"sad mortality† (2), but none of them are free of its operations (Duncan, 240) as it â€Å"o’er-sways their power† (2).

Tom Sawyer Character Analysis

The novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain addresses how it was to be a kid when the author was a child. In this novel, Tom Sawyer the protagonist, and his friend Huckleberry Finn witness a murder. Both of the children swear to keep it a secret but eventually, Tom confesses because he cannot stand to see an innocent man put to death when he could stop it. Sawyer was a lively, adventurous, and tricky child who was given the opportunity to mature, and grow up because he had a touch with maturity after he witnessed a murder. Yes, but that’s different. A robber is more high-toned than what a pirate is – as a general thing. In most countries they’re after high up in the nobility- dukes and such† (280). This quote from the novel, by Sawyer is a wonderful example, which shows the boy’s adventurous side. The reader, just from reading the quote can get the feeling, this boy feels confident in his words. Meaning, this boy acts just like any other pla yful young boys, as if they know everything.Assuming that the children that act like they know everything, like to show it, this quote supports the thesis about Sawyer, that he is lively and adventurous. Not only does the quote show how Sawyer would act, and present himself, but it also acts as an example to show the boys imagination and things he would get himself into. At one point in the novel, Sawyer and a few of his friends felt as if no one loved them, and decided to live an isolated, criminal life and be pirates.They were gone for a while which caused their whole village to believe they were dead. Sawyer’s poor aunt Polly was completely torn apart trying to figure out what she had done to cause her lively, curious young boy to run away to die. But at the boy’s planned funerals, the three of them came strutting in as if they had not been gone at all. This shows that Sawyer would get into all kinds of adventures and schemes. They boy was not only lively and advent urous but very tricky and clever too. Related essay: â€Å"Stand and Deliver Character Analysis†Sawyer was forced to white-wash his fence on a Saturday and he really do not want to do it. As other young boys would walk by, Sawyer would act like he was having a lot of fun doing his job. This would intrigue the other boys and they started offering him things in order for them to have a try at the fun white-washing. When it was done, Sawyer did not have to work anymore, the white-washing finished itself and he gained a multitude of new things. This shows how smart and tricky sawyer could be.Tom Sawyer was a young boy who wanted nothing but fun. He would have fun and wild adventures with his friends, act as if he knew everything about the world and use his tricky cleverness to get that he wanted. Even though Sawyer witnessed a murder, and could have used this opportunity to mature and grow up, he stuck to his innocent boy self. He was a lively, adventurous and tricky young boy who was almost forced to, but did not gro w up even after his brush with the harshness of the real world.

Utilitarianism and Happiness

The philosophical theory that I choose to do is called â€Å"utilitarianism†. In a brief sentence, utilitarianism means the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Basically what this means is, doing the right thing is based on how many people your action benefits rather than how much it benefits you. According to the Oxford American Dictionary utility means â€Å"the state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial†(oxford dictionary,2013). The whole theory is all about how much it benefits and how useful or profitable an action or an idea is. For example: if killing one criminal brings forth happiness to a hundred people, then killing that one criminal is not a bad idea. Simply because it makes one hundred people happy. According to utilitarian’s the ultimate goal or the most important part of life is to seek happiness. But the happiness that you seek must not only benefit you, but it has to benefit a large sum of the people. This is called the â€Å"greatest happiness principle†(Wikipedia, Feb, 11,2013). Now this is the main idea of utilitarianism, but it does branch out in the different direction due to many philosophers that thought of this theory. Utilitarianism is not discovered by just one person, it’s made up of many ideas from many different philosophers. Although many people believe that utilitarianism started with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, there were philosophers that came up with similar ideas as utilitarianism. Before we talk about the authors of this theory, we must really understand the history of utilitarianism and how it came to be. Way back in history when humans invented writing in the Sumerian Civilization of the Old Babylon, the ancient Mesopotamian people wrote a poem/story called the â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh† about a friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. In this story there’s a character by the name of Siduri that tells Gilgamesh â€Å"Fill your belly. Day and night make merry. Let days be full of joy. Dance and make music day and night†(Wikipedia, Feb, 3, 2013). This quote dates back to the very first advocacy of hedonistic philosophy in the human civilization. It is believed to be written during 2500 – 2000 B. C. A little forward in time and we come to meet Aristippus of Cyrene (435 – 356 BC). Aristippus is a student of one of the greatest philosophers to ever oam the planet, the father of philosophy, Socrates. Though Aristippus didn’t follow in the footsteps of his teacher, he had his own ideas and own theories of philosophy, one of them being hedonism. Aristippus idea of hedonism is that all people have the right to do anything to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure. For example: if drinking and doing drugs bring you the greatest amount of pleasure and happiness, then there is nothing wrong in doing so. You may be asking yourself, why I am telling you about the history of hedonism. So let me explain, in the 18th – 19th century. The British philosopher’s by the name of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill came up with the theory of utilitarianism by taking hedonism of Aristippus and adding the â€Å"greatest happiness principle† (Kerby Anderson, 2012). The hedonistic theory of doing anything to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure turned into doing anything to achieve the â€Å"greatest good for the greatest number of people† which is now called utilitarianism, this philosophical theory is basically an innovation of hedonism. Though many philosophers had part in its discovery, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill brought utilitarianism to its true glory, if they didn’t explain their philosophy in the way they did. Perhaps I wouldn’t be writing this essay right now. So the ones to be credited for utilitarianism is Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. But its not to say that this theory doesn’t have its advantages and disadvantages. Like all things in life, there are benefits and there are hindrances. The Advantage of utilitarianism is simply the happiness that you gain from doing something, whether the happiness is for you or someone you care about. In the end, someone is happy. If you’re in confusion on a certain decision and don’t know what to do, you can simply apply the greatest happiness theory and make your decision based on that. That way, you don’t seem selfish only thinking about your happiness and people will respect that choice and someday repay your kindness by sacrificing their happiness for yours. By sacrificing your happiness for someone else already makes you good human being. Its fits to show that our actions have consequences. If someone cares only about his/her actions alone, he/she wouldn’t have many friends ue to the lack to affection and concerns that he/she shows towards others. Another important advantage of utilitarianism is when you’re faced with a challenging and difficult task; it gives you the methodology of choosing the right path, the one that will benefit the most people. Instead of questioning how beneficial it will be for you. You begin to value other peopleâ⠂¬â„¢s happiness over your own. Therefore giving you the best possible option. Though it is good to put other before you, utilitarianism has its disadvantages as well. This particular philosophical theory has many disadvantages, but the one that matters to me is. Utilitarian’s only care about happiness, whatever brings the greatest amount of people the greatest amount of happiness. Sure, happiness is good, but what about people who don’t get that happiness. For example: out of 50 people, 35 of them get happiness. What happens to the other 15 people? Are we to just ignore how they feel? They are humans too, they have feelings as well. We can’t abandon them just because the other 35 people are happy. Secondly, if we care about others more than we care about ourselves. How can we possibly be able to live with ourselves? We can’t always be looking out for other people. We have to take care of ourselves as well. In the end, it’s our life. We have to look out for ourselves and make the decisions based on how well our life is going to be. There’s a saying in the famous movie pirate of the Caribbean â€Å"Even a good decision if made for the wrong reasons can be a wrong decision†(Jonathan Pryce, 2003) So, I strongly believe that when it comes to making life changing decisions, we must always put ourselves before others.

Macroeconomics – institutions by Acemoglu

In Progress. Abstract: In this paper, we discuss how and why institutions— broadly, the economic and political organization of societies— affect economic incentives and outcomes. After briefly surveying a number of theories of institutional differences across countries, we focus on two questions: why societies may choose institutions that are not good for economic development, and why institutions, even bad Institutions, persist.In light of the Ideas we develop, we discuss three case studies of Institutions alluding and persistence: the united States, India and Guatemala. L. Introduction Institutions, defined broadly as the political and economic organization of societies, differ markedly across countries and over time. For example, until recently, a large number of societies were organized along socialist lines, with widespread collective ownership of the means of production and centrally planned resource allocation, while much of the rest of the world was capitalist, with predominantly private ownership and resources allocated Vela markets.For much of the 1 8th and 9th centuries, a number of societies, Including the Caribbean, much of Central and Latin America, and parts of Asia, were organized with political and economic power concentrated in the hands of a small elite, and relied on productive relationships based on slavery and forced labor. In contrast, economic and political power was more equally distributed in parts of Europe, North America and Australia, and the majority of laborers were free.Similarly, as emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), North and Whiniest (1989) and Till (1 990), there were Important differences In the organization of the European societies during the 17th century. While England and the Netherlands had developed limited governments, France and Spain had absolutist regimes.Economic theory and basic common sense suggest that differences in the organization of society should have an effect on economic outcomes: when institutions ensure that a potential investor has property rights over the proceeds from his Investments, he Is more likely to invest than when he expects the fruits of his efforts to be taken by other parties In the economy or by the government. An obvious hypothesis is then to link variations in economic performance across countries to their institutions. We refer to this point of view as the institutions hypothesis.According to one version of this hypothesis, what is crucial is whether the organization of the society ensures that a broad cross-section of the society have effective property rights, so that those with productive emphasis on â€Å"a broad cross-section of the society' is meant to capture the notion that it is not sufficient for the rights of a small elite, landowners, dictators or Politburo members, to be enforced. Citizens need to have effective property rights, and be involved in politics, at least some degree, to ensure the continuation of these repertory rights in the future.Do we see marked differences in the economic performance of societies with different institutions? The examples mentioned in the first paragraph suggest so: while West Germany prospered with a capitalist system, East Germany did much less well under socialism. While Western Europe, North America and Australia grew rapidly, the elite-dominated societies of the Caribbean, Central America and India stagnated throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), while England and the Netherlands prospered during the 17th century, Spain and France failed to do so.Also telling are cases where large changes in institutions are correlated with radically changed growth paths. Examples of this are Argentina in the sass's with the rise of populism and Person, South Korea during the early sass's with the transition from the Rhea to the Park regime, and Indonesia in 1965 with the transition between Saguaro and Short. In addition to these selective examp les, much empirical evidence suggests that institutional differences are a major source of the differences in economic performance across countries.For example, cross-country work by a number of economists and political scientists found a first-order effect of institutions on growth or the level of income (e. G. , Knack and Keeper, 1995, or Hall and Jones, 1999). More recently, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) we found that as much as % of the income gap between the top and bottom of the world income distribution may be due to differences in their institutions. 4 But these findings pose as many questions as they answer: 1 . If some institutions generate more income and growth, why do a large number of societies adopt institutions that are bad for economic development? . Why do institutions that are detrimental to economic performance persist rather than being overhauled at the first opportunity? Despite the importance of these questions for understanding differences in econ omic performance across countries, there is relatively little research on this topic. In this paper, we develop a number of conjectures related to these questions. Then, in light of these ideas, we discuss three case studies of institution building and persistence: the U. S. , India and Guatemala.In the process, we also provide a brief survey of a number of theories of comparative institutions. II. Institutions As emphasized in the introduction, our focus is on the set of institutions— the organization of society— that determine economic incentives. Why such institutions and social arrangements will affect economic outcomes is clear: economic actors will only undertake investments when they expect to be rewarded for their spending and effort. In a society where property rights are not well enforced, investment and output will be low.We therefore take the degree of enforcement of property rights to be a central feature of the institutions and the broad organization of a society. To of private property, which we take to correspond to a set of institutions ensuring that a broad cross-section of society have effective property rights. 2. Extractive institutions, which place political power in the hands of a small elite. With extractive institutions, the majority of the population does not have effective property rights, since the political power of the elite means that they can hold up the citizens after they undertake their investments.We expect institutions of private property to encourage investment and development, while extractive institutions are less likely to dead to high investment and successful economic outcomes. Notice that there is more to institutions than the legal code or the formal definition of property rights at a point in time; in particular, political institutions matter. This is for the simple reason that in a society where there are few constraints on political elites, these agents can change the legal code or manipulate the ex isting property rights to their advantage. Therefore, effective constraints on political elites are an essential ingredient of institutions of private property. In reality, there are many intermediate cases teens the extremes of institutions of private property and extractive institutions, and a complex interaction between the exact form of the political and economic institutions and whether they provide effective property rights protection to citizens. There is also a deep and difficult question of how the state commits to providing property rights to the citizens (see Whiniest, 1997, for a discussion of this problem).To limit the discussion, we do not focus on these issues. So what determines whether a society ends up with institutions of private property or extractive institutions? Let us distinguish four broad theories, which we call: 1. The efficient institutions view. 2. The incidental institutions view. 3. The rent-seeking view. 4. The inappropriate institutions view. We now discuss what we mean by these different views, and examine some selective examples of institutional theories falling within each category. . The Efficient Institutions View According to this view, societies will choose the institutions that maximize their total surplus. How this surplus will be distributed among different groups or agents does not affect the choice of institutions. The underlying reasoning of this view comes from the Cease Theorem. Ronald Cease (1960) argued that when different economic parties could negotiate costless, they will be able to bargain to internalize potential externalities.The farmer, who suffers from the pollution created by the nearby factory, can pay the factory owner to reduce pollution. The same reasoning can be applied to political situations. If the current laws or institutions benefit a certain group while creating a disproportionate cost for another, these two groups can negotiate to change the institutions. By doing so they will increase the size of the total surplus (â€Å"the pie† that they have to divide between themselves), and they can hen bargain over the distribution of this additional surplus.Many different versions of the efficient institutions view have been proposed. Demesne (1967) argued that private property emerged from common property when land become sufficiently scarce and valuable that it was efficient to privative it. Other famous examples are Case's (1936) earlier work and the more formal analysis by Grossman and Hart (1986), is more concerned with the governance of firms or markets than the political organization of societies, but his reasoning was guided by the same principle.North ND Thomas applied this reasoning to the nature of feudal institutions arguing that they were an efficient contract between serfs and Lords. While Williamson and North and Thomas do not specify how different parties will reach agreement to achieve efficient institutions, Becker (1960) and Whitman (1989) have invest igated how democracies can reach such agreements via competition among pressure groups and political parties.In their view, an inefficient institution cannot be stable because a political entrepreneur has an incentive to propose a better institution and with the extra surplus generated will be able to make him more attractive to voters. We believe that, despite correctly emphasizing certain forces that are likely to be at work, the efficient institutions view does not provide the right framework for an analysis of the differences in institutions across countries. Both historical and econometric evidence suggests that the economic costs to societies of extractive institutions have been substantial.For example, our estimates in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) suggest that changing Insignia's or Sierra Lens's institutions to those of Chile loud lead, in the long run, to a more than 7-fold increase in these countries' income. It is difficult to argue that these institutions are t herefore efficient for Nigeria, Sierra Leone or many other less-developed countries in Africa or Latin America. In the rest of the paper, we therefore focus on theories of institutions where societies may end up with institutions that are not optimal for aggregate growth or income. 2.The Incidental Institutions View The efficient institutions view is explicitly based on economic reasoning: the costs and benefits of different institutions are weighed against each other to determine which institutions should prevail. Efficiency arises because individuals calculate according to the social costs and benefits. Institutions are therefore choices. A different approach, popular among many political scientists and sociologists, is to downplay choices over institutions, but think of institutions as the byproduct of other social interactions. Here, we discuss three such theories.The first is the theory developed by Barrington Moore (1966) in his Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, th e second is Till's (1990) and Herb's (2001) theory of state formation, hill the third is Burner's (1976) theory of the emergence of capitalism in England. Barrington Moore constructed his famous theory in an attempt to explain the different paths of political development in Britain, Germany and Russia. In particular, he investigated why Britain had evolved into a democracy, while Germany succumbed to fascism and Russia had a communist revolution.Moore stressed the extent of centralization of agriculture and resulting labor relations in the countryside, the strength of the ‘bourgeoisie,' and the nature of class coalitions. In his theory, democracy emerged when there was a strong, politically assertive, immemorial middle class, and when agriculture had commercialese so that there were no feudal labor relations in the countryside. Fascism arose when the middle classes were weak and entered into a political coalition with landowners.Finally, a agriculture was not commercialese and rural labor was repressed through feudal relationships. In Moor's theory, therefore, class coalitions and the way agriculture is organized determine which political institutions will emerge. Although Moore is not explicitly concerned with economic development, it is a direct implication of his analysis that societies may end up with institutions that do not maximize income or growth, for example, when they take the communist revolution path.While this theory is highly suggestive and clearly captures some of the potentially significant comparative facts there are clear problems with it. For instance, though Moor's remark â€Å"no bourgeoisie, no democracy' is famous, it is not clear from his analysis whether this is Just an empirical correlation or a causal theory. More generally, Moore does not clarify the connection between the formation of class coalitions and political outcomes. It is also not clear whether this theory is empirically successful.There are many examples of societ ies with relatively strong capitalist classes in Latin America, such as Argentina and Chile, which did not make the transition to a consolidated democracy until recently. In fact, in these societies capitalist classes appear to have supported the coups against democracy, suggesting that the role of the poor segments of the society (the working class) in inducing demagnification could be more important than that of the bourgeoisie (see Archduchesses, Stephens and Stephens, 1992, Guacamole and Robinson, Bibb).In a very different vein, Till (1990), building on the Hibernia tradition, proposed a theory of the formation of modern states. He argued extensively that modern state institutions such as fiscal systems, bureaucracy and parliaments are closely related to the need to raise resources to fight wars and thus arose in places with incessant inter-state competition. Herbs (2001) has recently provided a substantive extension of this line of research by applying it to the evolution of st ate institutions in Africa.He argues that the poor functioning of many modern African states is due to the fact that they caked the features–high population density and inter-state warfare— necessary for the emergence of the modern state. Although interesting and sweeping, this theory does not seem to accord well with a number of major facts. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we documented that among the former colonies, it was the less densely settled places that became richer.In fact, North America, Australia and New Zealand were very sparsely settled in 1 500, especially when compared to West Africa around the same time. Despite this, they developed effective states and institutions of private property. This suggests that the issues stressed by Till and Herbs are not the major determinants of institutions, at least, in the context of the development of institutions among the former European colonies, including Africa. Burner's (1976) theory of the rise of capitalism in Europe can also be thought as an example of the incidental institutions view.Although Brenner subscribes to the Marxist view of feudalism as an extractive institution (see next subsection), he interprets the rise of capitalism as the byproduct of the collapse of existing social institutions after the Black Death. Brenner argues that the decline of feudalism resulted from the successful class struggle by the relatively powerful British peasantry. Brenner, however, believes that the peasantry's aim was not to build capitalism; capitalism just emerged like an incidental phoenix from the ashes of feudalism.Because, economic growth required this set of (extractive) institutions to be replaced by capitalist institutions. Therefore, Burner's work also gives us an incidental- institutions theory for why some societies grow faster. None of these theories provide a framework that is at the same time consistent tit the first-order facts of comparative development and useful for generating predictions. Therefore, it is difficult to apply these theories to understand why some countries develop extractive institutions.Moreover, being trained as economists, we find it to be a shortcoming of this group of theories that institutions and political outcomes arise as byproducts, not as the direct consequences of actions taken by rational agents. The fact that the key outcomes are byproducts of other interactions, not choices, leads to the additional problem that these theories often do not generate tight empirical predictions (I. E. Comparative static). But an analysis of comparative development, above all else, requires comparative static results regarding when institutions of private property will emerge.In the remainder of the paper, we therefore focus on the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views to build a simple framework for comparative development. 3. The Rent-seeking View According to this view, institutions are not always chosen by the whole so ciety (and not for the benefit of the whole society), but by the groups that control political power at the time (perhaps as a result of conflict with other groups demanding more rights). These groups will choose the institutions that maximize their own rents, and the institutions that result may not coincide with those that maximize total surplus.For example, institutions that enforce property rights by restricting state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler who wants to appropriate assets in the future. By establishing property rights, this ruler would be reducing his own future rents, so may well prefer extractive institutions to institutions of private property. Therefore, equilibrium institutions will not be those that maximize the size of the overall pie, but the slice of the pie taken by the powerful groups. Why doesn't a Cease theorem type reasoning apply?Although a large literature, especially in industrial organization, has emphasized how informational problems may limit the empirical applications of the Cease theorem, we believe that the main reason for the non-applicability of the Cease theorem in politics is commitment problems (see Guacamole, 2001, for a more detailed discussion of this issue). If a ruler has political power concentrated in his hands, he cannot commit not to expropriate assets or revenues in the future. Effective property rights require that he credibly relinquishes political power to some extent.But according to the Occasion bargain, he has to be compensated for what he could have received using this power. Herein lies the problem. When he relinquishes his power, then he has no guarantees that he will receive the promised payments in the future. Therefore, by their very nature, institutions that regulate political and social power create commitment problems, and prevent Occasion bargains that are necessary to reach efficient outcomes. As an application, consider the decision of a powerful rich elite to mount a coup in a populist redistributive regime, such as that of Salvador Allendale in Chile in 1973.By undertaking a coup, the rich will ensure that economically. Why wouldn't the elite enter into a Occasion bargain with Allendale who would wish to place future restrictions on taxes so as to remove the threat of the coup? The problem, as pointed out and analyzed in Guacamole and Robinson (2001 a), is that the democracy cannot promise not to increase taxes again once the threat of the coup disappears. By its very nature, taxes are set by the politically powerful agents, determined by the institutions at that time.Promises made at the past may be worthless when they are not backed by political power. The first systematic development of this point of view is the economics literature is North (1981), who argued in the chapter on â€Å"A Neoclassical Theory of the State† that agents who controlled the state should be modeled as self-interested. He then argued that the set of property rights wh ich they would choose for society would be those that maximized their payoff and because of transactions costs' these would not necessarily be the set which maximized social welfare.Though his analysis does not clarify what he meant by transactions costs, problems of commitment might be one mispronunciation for this. The notion that elites may opt for extractive institutions to increase their incomes is of course also present in much of the Marxist and dependency theory literature. For example, Dobb (1948), Brenner (1976) and Hilton (1981) saw feudalism, contrary to North and Thomas (1976)g's model, as a set of institutions designed to extract rents from the peasants at the expense of social welfare.Dependency theorists such as Wholesalers (1974-1982), Rodney (1972), Frank (1978) and Cards and Falsetto (1979) argued that the international trading system was designed to extract rents from developing countries to the benefit of developed Mounties. Perhaps, the earliest, and often igno red, contribution to this line of reasoning is in the book by Beard (1913). Anticipating many of the insights of rational choice political science literature, Beard argued that the U. S.Constitution was an institution designed to benefit those who wrote it (such as James Madison) at the expense of the rest of society. Another important example of inefficient institutions designed to extract rents from the society is the Spanish colonial system (Stein and Stein, 1970, Coauthors, 1978, Lockhart and Schwartz, 1983). Finally, the notion that leaver is an inefficient institution designed to extract rents from slaves is also widespread (for example, Williams, 1944, Geneses, 1963, Beckoned, 1972).More recent, and for our purposes more relevant, contributions in this tradition have sought to explain comparative development. For example, in the context of Africa, Bates (1981) formulated an influential and important theory based on rent-seeking by elites. Bates argued that when elites were no t invested in the productive sectors of the economy, mostly agriculture in the context of Africa, and had to rely on urban interests to remain in power, they were likely to distort prices, for example by using marketing boards to transfer resources from the rural areas to the cities.The implications of this for political stability and economic growth were disastrous. Anger and Soulful (1997, 2000) have used related ideas to analyze long-term development in the Americas. They argued that the different paths of development observed in North and Latin America in the last 300 years were due to institutional differences. In North America institutions promoted development, in Latin America they did not. Why did Latin America develop a set of institutions that impeded Caribbean, the factor endowments were suitable for growing crops such as sugarcane.Such crops had large technical scale economies and could be cultivated by slaves, factors that led to large concentrations of landownership an d repressive institutions designed to control labor. Therefore, despite their costs for economic development, extractive institutions were adopted by elites who benefited from the system. On the other hand, in North America, factor endowments were suitable for growing crops with limited scale economies such as wheat, and this led to an egalitarian distribution of land, income and political power.Their theory therefore emphasizes the impact of factor endowments and technology on inequality and institutions building, and ultimately economic development. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000, 2001 a), we developed a complementary theory, emphasizing how European colonialists set up institutions of private property in areas where they settled in large numbers, since these institutions were directly affecting their own investments and well-being. This led us to emphasize how European settlements ere often conducive to the development of institutions of private property in the colonies .In contrast, European colonists introduced or took over existing extractive institutions in other colonies. They were more likely to do so when they did not settle, for example due to an adverse disease environment, and when extractive institutions were more profitable, for example, as in Central America where the densely settled large population could be forced to work for low wages in plantations or mines. These extractive institutions did not benefit the society as a whole, but they were inefficacy for the Europeans, who held the political power and were the extractors.We believe that the rent-seeking view provides the best framework for thinking about why certain countries ended up with extractive institutions, and provides a number of useful comparative static, which will be discussed in Section Ill. 4. The Inappropriate Institutions View According to this view, institutions may be efficient when they are introduced, but they are also costly to change (see below on this). Ther efore, institutions that are efficient for a set of circumstances may no longer be efficient once the environment hinges. Nevertheless, it may be difficult or too costly to change these institutions at this point.The idea here goes back to Crosschecking (1963). In the context of financial institutions, Crosschecking argued that certain arrangements, such as bank finance, might be more appropriate for backward countries trying to catch up. This is widely thought to be a good explanation for why banks are more prevalent in Germany, even today when Germany is no longer a backward country. So perhaps, social arrangements that were introduced at some point as an optimal response to the resistances may continue to prevail, even after they cease to be the optimal response.In the context of financial institutions, this point is developed in Guacamole, Action and Kilobit (2001). Another economic example is the QWERTY typewriter keyboard. David (1986) argued that this was appropriate at the t ime because it slowed down the speed of typing, when the rudimentary nature of typewriters meant that rapid typing would make them Jam. However, despite the fact that the QWERTY arrangement was inefficient once the basic technology improved soon after, it has similar thesis.Perhaps, extractive institutions were appropriate for certain resistances, but they continue to apply even after they cease to be the efficient institutional arrangement. Related ideas have been suggested in the literature. For example, Wittingly (1957) argued that centralized despotism, which may not have been very costly in terms of economic outcomes in China before the 1 5th century and arose as the result of providing desirable public goods such as irrigation, persisted almost to the present, creating a substantial economic and social burden.Given how long institutions persist (see Section ‘V) the view that institutions of a different age ay continue to apply even when they become costly to economic suc cess is highly plausible. Nevertheless, in the context of comparative development, it appears more useful to combine the inappropriate institutions view with the rent-seeking view, explicitly allowing for political elites to introduce inefficient institutions. In fact, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we suggested a hypothesis combining the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views, and provided evidence in favor of this hypothesis.We argued and empirically demonstrated that extractive institutions, tit power concentrated in the hand of a small elite, were much less costly during the age of agriculture than during the age of industry. When agriculture is the main source of income, and the political elite owns the land, this elite will have, to a first approximation, adequate incentives to increase the productivity of the land. In contrast, in the age of industry, many different agents, not previously part of the ruling elite, need to undertake investments and be involved in productive activities.Without effective property rights, these agents are unlikely to invest, so extractive institutions become much more costly once industrialization opportunities arrive on the scene. This explains why the sugar colonies of Barbados, Haiti and Jamaica were amongst the richest places in the world in 1700 but rapidly fell behind when industrial technologies became available. Overall, we therefore conclude that to understand the significant differences in how countries are organized, we need to move away from the pure efficiency view.Moreover, existing series of institutional differences based on the incidental institutions view cannot provide a satisfactory tarring point, and make less sharp empirical predictions, since institutions are simply byproducts of other social actions. Instead, we believe that conflict over the distribution of rents matters, and the rent seeking view provides the best starting place for an analysis of institutional differences across countries.In addition, there may be an important element of the inappropriate institutions view, so that institutions that were introduced at a certain point in time may become less appropriate and more â€Å"harmful† in the future, but may still remain in place. Ill. Institutional Origins The rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views do not immediately generate a theory of comparative institutions. They simply point out that inefficient institutions may be chosen by political elites, and the institutions in place may become more costly for growth over time.As discussed above, by the institutions hypothesis, we mean that differences in the development experiences of countries can be explained by differences in their institutions. To make this hypothesis operational, we need to choose institutions of private property. In other words, we need to develop comparative static on institution building. This is not an easy task. In fact, some of the pioneering theories of institutions, such as North (1981), give us few clues about when we should expect extractive institutions to prevail.Here, we highlight a few potential determinants of what type of institutions politically powerful groups will choose: 1. Economic Interests: A first determinant of whether institutions of private property will emerge is whether they will lead to outcomes that are in interests of the politically powerful agents. For example, institutions that restrict state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler ho wants to appropriate assets in the future.Yet this strategy may be in the interest of a ruler who recognizes that only such guarantees will encourage citizens to undertake substantial investments or lend him money, or will protect his own rents. They will also be in the interest of the major groups that can undertake investment in production activities in the future. Anger and Solidify explanation for why extractive institutions emerged in the Caribbean but not in North America falls within this category. In the Caribbean, the factor endowments made extractive institutions more profitable for the elite.In particular, sugar production, which could exploit economies of scale and profitably employ slave labor, was conducive to a society where a small elite would control both political and economic power. Our argument in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) for why European settlement in the colonies led to institutions of private property is also based on the same reasoning. When a large number of Europeans settled in an area, they preferred institutions enforcing property rights, since these property rights would enable them to undertake investments.Our argument in Guacamole Johnson and Robinson (2001 a) is also related. There, we suggested that high population density and relative prosperity (I. E. , GAP per capita) of the colonized territory encouraged European colonialists to set up extractive institutions. The reasoning is that high po pulation density implied a large labor force that Europeans could force to work for low wages, and both high population density and the relative prosperity of the population provided Europeans with a greater resource base for extraction or taxation. Economic interests† therefore suggest that we should expect extractive institutions to develop when the powerful agents have little to gain from enforcing property sights because they have few investment opportunities themselves and are not linked to other productive agents in the society, and when there are resources, such as crops or abundant labor, that can be effectively exploited by extractive 2.Political Losers: Another important factor is whether institutional development will destabilize the system, making it less likely that elites will remain in power after reforms. An institutional setup encouraging investment and adoption of new technologies may be blocked by elites when they fear that this process of growth and social change will