Making Movies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Making Movies - Research Paper Example Such an approach to language teaching and learning also provides optimum opportunities and avenues for consideration of Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory allowing for involvement and successful learning for all intelligences and learner types. There are a number of theories in relation to motivation but generally motivation is considered as intrinsic (learning for self) or extrinsic (learning for reward) (Atherton, 2010); among the many theories we find Maslow’s (1943) hierarchical theory, which purports five levels of motivation in terms of needs: physiological, security /safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. McClelland developed a system involving three types of motivational needs: power, affiliation and achievement (Christie, Jordan, Troth & Lawrence, 2007). Making movies provides stimulus for all motivational needs; it provides for extrinsic motivation by rewards pertaining to the final outcomes and assessment, together with peer and teacher praise. Intrinsic motivation is fueled by allowing students to be self-authored by writing their own scripts, which they then rehearse, edit and endorse; such activities provide more excitement and interest in learning and help promote confidence in students. Intrinsic motivation, inherent to self-determination theory, is influenced by three mental and emotional needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness (Alm, 2006). Movie making classes such as those described above increase competence by providing optimal challenges and effective peer and teacher feedback – both negative and positive – as well as praise. Autonomy is fostered because every student has choices and opportunities for self direction, thus feeding their need for internal control and the freedom to ascertain their own conduct. In terms of relatedness, movie making provides a feeling of security and cooperation among the group and the sense of each caring what the other says,

Ethics in Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics in Nursing - Essay Example Introduction ETHICS IN NURSING A nurse should provide care that respect human right and is sensitive to the values, customs and beliefs of all people (S. Barnun, 2008). They should at all times provide information regarding ethical issues. Nurses should also provide their patients with all the necessary information to enable them have informed consent and have freedom to accept or decline to treatment. The information given to them should be recorded and stored in a confidential manner. Nurses should be sensitive to the importance of social activities in correct concern. Ethics in nursing affects all areas of health profession which include direct care of patients, allocation of resources and finances and staff utilization. Nurses need to first cross examine their values systems in order to determine best approach and procedures to use when dealing with a patient with different values. Nurses have the challenge of dealing with patients whose values differ with theirs. Nurses should p rotect patients’ rights and interest and they should therefore make decisions which are ethical in all manner. Understanding of these ethical principles enables a nurse to make appropriate decisions in line of duty, given that in their daily work they deal with issues of moral and ethical nature (Beucham, 2008). Nonmaleficence is always considered a basic task of all nurses. This involves willingness to cause no harm such as physiological, social and even spiritual to the patient. Through this principle a nurse is able to evaluate whether the treatment given will lead to more harm or whether it will help the patient. This enables them to decide on the best treatment approach. The treatment offered should not cause excessive pain, should not be expensive and should be convenient. During treatment the nurse is obliged to giving the patient enough information on consequences, side effects and overall cost of the treatment. The nurse should consider all the potential and benefits of treatment or research and they should work and act carefully, considering the likely risks. This principle carries more weight compared to beneficence as it’s expected that a nurse should be sure of not doing any harm before he can be justified to promote clients legitimate interests. The nurse way of defining harm may differ with that of patient or community and hence should reflect on many definitions and meaning of harm. Veracity Fromer (2010) argues that this is a moral principle that underlies the thought to confide in and fiduciary relationship. This involves being truthful in informing the patients in concern to their health needs and this therefore enables them to make a choice and increase their decision making. Veracity is regarded as a key principle to the existence of trust which is fundamental in advancing the relationship between the nurse and the patient. This furthermore makes the data –gathering procedure easier and reduces the likelihood of nurses giving holistic care which do not meet the nursing goals. To determine the amount of information to give to a patient, clinical judgment is required to avoid giving the patient more than necessary information. There is a great challenge in situations where veracity has some implication in attending to patients from backgrounds where he or she is not allowed to know how

Reducing UK Deficit through Hyperinflation

Reducing UK Deficit through Hyperinflation The unprecedented UK budget deficits have drawn sufficient attention to the issue of the ability of the government to finance these deficits continuously by borrowing ever-increasing amounts from domestic and foreign residents by issuing government bonds. What might be particularly worrisome is that, since the 1980s, the UK government has been issuing debt (borrowing) in the current time period to pay back the principal and interest due on the debt it issued in previous periods. In other words, it has been simply ‘rolling over increasingly large chunks of government bonds. Adding to this concern is the belief intrinsic to most individuals that there is something inherently wrong with deficits and that, eventually, they would have to be reduced to zero. Introduction â€Å"Balancing the budget is like going to heaven: everybody wants to balance the budget, but nobody wants to do what you have to do to balance the budget† Senator Phil Gramm (R Tex.), 1990. Throughout the ages, national economies have experienced repeated fluctuations about trend in output, employment, prices, and interest rates, known as business cycles. Many explanations have been offered for these fluctuations in economic activity. They range from sudden supply-side disturbances, or shocks, caused by changes in technology or adverse weather conditions, to unanticipated changes in the money supply. Early business cycle theories assumed that the fluctuations in output and prices about trend were caused by the internal dynamics of a market economy. Sustained economic growth was thought to place severe strains upon the economy. For example, after a prolonged economic recovery, the continually increasing aggregate demand might cause wages and input costs to rise faster than selling prices. This, according to the early theories, would lead to a cutback in business investment and employment as firms, particularly those that had overinvested earlier, started to experience shrinking profits. This link between real and nominal variables, coming in the wake of a sustained period of recovery, was thought to cause recessions. During the era of the gold standard and fixed exchange rates, it was widely believed that business cycles were transmitted across national boundaries by detrimental fiscal and monetary policies of countries that were trading partners. Most of the early theories were in the gold standard era, and hence financial factors such as bank panics, shortages of liquidity, and fluctuations in interest rates were thought to be primarily responsible for economic downturns. While economists are by no means unanimous in their analyses of business cycles, the trend today is towards a demand-side money-induced explanation of these cycles in economic activity (Lucas, pp. 7-8). Since 1980s in United Kingdom there has been a growing feeling amongst economists and policy makers that an increase in taxes in the future is ‘inevitable. Nervousness about the large bond-financed deficits compounded by doomsday predictions in the media has convinced workers that the tax cuts are temporary. This has stunted the outward shift of labor supply and labor demand. It remains to be seen if the present administration does keep taxes at the low levels of 1987 and 1988, or conveniently ignores election year promises and raises them. In this world of individuals with rational expectations, the results of the policies of any one administration are strongly contingent on the expectations of individuals regarding the continuation of these policies by succeeding administrations. Once again, we must remember that policy is not a one-shot deal, but a ‘rule or a sequence extending into the future and the past. Economists tend to view the aggregate effects of fiscal policy from one of three perspectives. To sharpen the distinctions among them, it is helpful to consider a deficit induced by a lump-sum tax cut today followed by a lump-sum tax increase in the future, holding the path of government purchases and marginal tax rates constant. Under the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis proposed by Barro, such a deficit will be fully offset by an increase in private saving, as taxpayers recognize that the tax is merely postponed, not canceled. The offsetting increase in private saving means that the deficit will have no effect on national saving, interest rates, exchange rates, future domestic production, or future national income. A second model, the small open economy view, suggests that budget deficits do reduce national saving but, at the same time, induce increased capital inflows from abroad that finance the entire reduction. As a result, domestic production does not decline and interest rate s do not rise, but future national income falls because of the added burden of servicing the increased foreign debt. A third model, which we call the conventional view, likewise holds that deficits reduce national saving but that this reduction is at least partly reflected in lower domestic investment. In this model, budget deficits partly crowd out private investment and partly increase borrowing from abroad; the combined effect reduces future national income and future domestic production. The reduction in domestic investment in this model is brought about by an increase in interest rates, thus establishing a connection between deficits and interest rates. Budget deficits are financed by issuing government bonds to domestic and foreign residents (borrowing) or by selling bonds to the central bank (monetizing the debt). The processes of government spending, taxes, and money creation are linked quite explicitly by the arithmetic of the intertemporal budget constraint. The most important sources of tax revenue for the government are income taxes, corporate taxes, and payroll taxes. As all these tax revenues are functions of the national income, they consequently decrease when GNP falls, or when the economy goes into recession. On the other hand, transfer payments such as unemployment benefits increase in recessions, thereby causing budget deficits to rise in periods of economic sluggishness, even in the absence of any change in fiscal policy. Because of this independence of the magnitude of the deficit to changes in policy, many economists feel that less attention should be paid to the actual deficit and more to what is known as the high-employment or the standardized-employment deficit (also full-employment deficit, structural deficit). This is a hypothetical construct that replaces both the actual government spending and tax revenues in the actual budget by estimates of what government spending and tax revenues would be, given current tax rates a nd spending provisions, if the economy were operating at full employment. A 6 per cent unemployment rate is assumed to be the full-employment mark in the UK. The high-employment deficit, therefore, is unaffected by the state of the economy, since it ignores the actual expenditures and tax revenues and instead focuses on what they would be at full employment. This measure of deficit changes only when specific policies change, and for this reason economists believe that it is a better indicator of fiscal policy than the actual deficit, as the aggregate business cycle effects have now been sifted out (Baumol and Blinder, pp. 288-290). The inflation-adjusted deficit is the actual deficit adjusted for the inflation component of the interest payments. When the UK government (or any borrower for that matter) pays interest on the government bonds outstanding in an inflationary environment, more dollars must be returned to the lender in recognition of the fact that inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the currency. These interest payments, made to restore the lenders purchasing power, exaggerate interest expenses and distort the government expenditure figures. To sift out this additional government expenditure due to inflation, we subtract the inflation premium from the interest paid on the national debt, thereby counting only the real interest payments, a technique which provides us with a more accurate measure of the deficits. Large budget deficits financed by money creation are widely believed to be the primary force sustaining prolonged high inflation processes. The relationship appears to be closer for hyperinflationary episodes, which are usually associated with the presence of massive budget deficits. Hyperinflation, understood in this paper as a process of accelerating inflation, in fact occurs because governments have unsustainably large budget deficits. Fiscal adjustment is a prerequisite for stopping hyperinflation. Suppose the economy is initially at a point like H, moving along the unstable path with accelerating inflation. The objective of the authorities is to move the economy to a stable stationary equilibrium such as A. This will require a reduction in the deficit to [d.sub.0]. However, this will not suffice to restore inflation stability since real money balances are below the steady state level (i.e., to the left of A); expansionary monetary policy is also needed. This can be achieved through an open market purchase of government bonds. Under rational expectations, the proper combination of fiscal and monetary policies will instantaneously stop hyperinflation (Grossman and Helpman, 1991). In this specific example, as proposed in Dornbusch (1986), expansionary monetary policy supports the fiscal effort. Indeed, an open market purchase of government bonds reduces the interest payments and the value of the total deficit. The government can thus take advantage of the higher demand for money to reduce the deficit. In this case, the reduction in the primary deficit would be smaller than would otherwise need to be. The once-and-for-all increase in the demand for money that results from a successful stabilization effort contributes to a permanent reduction in the deficit. The stabilization strategy just discussed is useful to explain the analytical implications of assuming partial adjustment in the money market and rational expectations vis-à  -vis instantaneous adjustment in the money market and adaptive expectations. The reduced-form dynamic equations are similar in both cases. However, as just shown, when the right policy combination is followed, hyperinflation can be controlled instantaneously in the former case, while it will at best be reduced through a gradual process in the latter. The rigidity in expectations creates a strong barrier to rapid reductions in inflation. There are useful insights regarding the role of tight fiscal policy in anti-inflation programs. First, it is apparent that small reductions in the deficit may not be sufficient to reduce permanently the rate of inflation. Second, it was also argued that there is not a one-to-one relation between deficits and inflation rates; while a given budget deficit might be associated with a stable rate of inflation under one set of initial conditions, it could also lead to an unstable path of prices under others. Finally, there is an interesting asymmetry emerging from this model. While small increases in the budget deficit can move the economy into unstable paths that can eventually result in large increases in inflation, stabilization of the rate of inflation (once the economy is moving along the unstable path) can require even larger contractions in the fiscal deficit. In particular, if the economy is in a sufficiently hyperinflationary state, the monetary authorities might find that the onl y feasible stabilizing alternative is the complete elimination of the use of inflationary finance. In this paper it is shown that under plausible assumptions regarding the adjustment of the money market it is possible to find conditions under which large money-financed deficits can lead to hyperinflation even when agents have perfect foresight. The basic analytical framework is similar to the one used in Sargent and Wallace (1973), Evans and Yarrow (1981), Bruno and Fischer (1986), Dornbusch and Fischer (1986), and Buiter (1987). It assumes that budget deficits are entirely financed through seigniorage, a Cagan-type demand for money function and rational expectations (which in the present model, given the absence of uncertainty, is equivalent to perfect foresight). The main difference is that in the present model the money market does not clear instantaneously. Literature review The adjusted deficit values, therefore, assist us in putting the deficits in perspective and enable us to attribute changes in deficits to specific policy regimes. Another important form of measurement of the budget deficit is the primary deficit. The total budget deficit can be divided into two components: the primary or non-interest deficit, and the interest payments on the public debt, that is Total deficit = primary deficit + interest payments The primary deficit therefore represents all government outlays, except interest payments, less all government revenue. This definition will have huge significance when we discuss the role of the interest payments on outstanding government bonds. The overall budget might be in deficit even if the primary deficit is in surplus (or when we have a primary surplus). This is because in every time period the government makes a significant amount of interest payments on past debt. After mandatory spending, interest payments constitute the second largest chunk of UK government expenditures. Thus we can see that the overall budget will be in deficit unless the interest payments on the existing debt are more than matched by a primary surplus (Dornbusch and Fischer, pp. 581-583). According to Dornbusch and Fischer, this forms the core of the mechanics of deficit financing (p. 597). They write: ‘If there is a primary deficit in the budget, then the total budget deficit will keep growing as the debt grows because of the deficit, and interest payments rise because the debt is growing. As in Diamond (1965), a deficit is created by the government once and for all increasing its debt by reducing taxes on personal incomes. This is equivalent to the government transferring new bonds to the households. The traditional assumption has been that in subsequent periods taxes on personal incomes are raised in order to pay the interest on this additional debt. Instead, in the present paper I consider the case in which it is the future taxes on corporations that are raised. In the present model we find that, because taxes on personal incomes are discounted at a higher rate than the interest on government debt, deficits financed by raising future taxes on personal incomes increase wealth and aggregate expenditure, causing a current account deficit. This is the general view about the effects of deficits in finite horizon models. We, however, find that unanticipated deficits financed by raising future taxes on corporate incomes are neutral. This result arises because corporations, unlike households, are infinitely lived, and therefore taxes on corporations are discounted at the same rate as the interest on government debt. Thus, when the government incurs a deficit by transferring new bonds to the households, and it announces that it is going to raise taxes on corporations to pay the interest on these new bonds, the value of shares in corporations falls by the same amount as the value of new bonds that are issued, leaving wealth and aggregate expenditure unchanged. A correction of the fiscal imbalance has been crucial for stopping hyperinflation. This factor is well documented in the works of Yeager (1981), Sargent and Wallace (1973), and Webb (1986) on the hyperinflation episodes in the central European countries and United Kingdom on the episodes of recessions. Substantial reductions in the budget deficit, monetary reform, and a fixed exchange rate were crucial for the successful stabilization policies in those countries. Indeed, fiscal restraint, which in most cases meant outright elimination of the budget deficit, was probably the most important of these policy measures. One distinctive feature of hyperinflationary episodes is that the rate of inflation accelerates over time, thus suggesting that these processes are inherently unstable. Cagans seminal work on this issue provides an alternative interpretation. In Cagans view hyperinflationary episodes could only be unstable if they were â€Å"self-generating,† and he considered that although â€Å"there is no reason why (self-generating inflations) could not occur; so far they have just not been observed† (p. 73). However, Cagans stability analysis only considers the case in which the money process was exogenous. If one extends Cagans seminal paper through the introduction of money-financed budget deficits and rational expectations, and then analyzes the dynamic properties of the system, as was recently done by Evans and Yarrow (1981), Kiguel (1986), and Buiter (1987), the results are astonishing. Large money-financed budget deficits could be the source of instability; however, they could only lead to hyperdeflation. These deficits can never be the source of hyperinflation. The presence of large budget deficits in a perfect foresight framework has a surprising effect on the dynamic behavior of inflation. Auernheimer (1976), Evans and Yarrow (1981), and Kiguel (1986) showed that in order to obtain a hyperinflationary process one needs to assume adaptive expectations. In other words, in Cagans framework, large budget deficits could result in hyperinflation only when agents make systematic mistakes in forecasting the rate of inflation. It has been recognized for some time that it is very difficult to justify the use of adaptive expectations in macroeconomic models. Economic agents eventually learn the process that generates inflation, and they will use that information in the formation of their forecasts on inflation. As a result, it is difficult to accept that large budget deficits would lead to accelerating inflation only in the presence of systematic mistakes. The effect of anticipated deficits financed by taxing corporate incomes is the exact opposite of the conventional view about anticipated deficits in finite horizon models. If the government announces that at some future date it will incur a deficit by issuing new bonds to the households, and that corporate income taxes are going to be raised in the periods after that in order to pay the interest on this debt, then at the time the policy is announced aggregate wealth will fall, for the following reason. As taxes on corporations are discounted at the same rate as the interest on government debt, the present value of the taxes is equal to the value of the bonds transferred to the households as of the time that the policy is carried out. However, when the policy is announced households are not sure that they will survive to collect the transfer of bonds. Thus, they discount these transfers at a higher rate than the market rate of interest. On the other hand, as corporations are infinitel y lived, the valuation of shares in corporation is such that taxes will be discounted at the market rate of interest. This then means that at the time the policy is announced aggregate wealth and expenditure will fall, causing a current account surplus. This result is the opposite of the conventional view about the effects of anticipated deficits in finite horizon models, as emphasized by, for example, Feldstein (1983), and Frenkel and Razin (1986). Finally, the fact that taxes on corporations in UK are discounted at a lower rate than taxes on personal incomes means that a revenue neutral tax reform involving a shift in taxes from personal incomes to corporate incomes will result in a loss of wealth and a fall in aggregate expenditure, causing a current account surplus. Much of the literature on monetary unions has concentrated on their effects on trade and hence on the effects on the efficiency with which factors of production are used. Rose (2000) shows, in a multi-country panel study, that there may be significant effects on trade from membership of a monetary union. Whilst Honahan (2001) does not dispute the potential for benefits, he points out that much of the weight in Roses results comes from small countries leaving (or sometimes joining) colonial and post-colonial monetary unions. These decisions were often associated with a bundle of changes in relation to partner countries that themselves had a major impact on trade. Given that there are likely to be reasonably large gains in the scale of trade from joining a monetary union, there are also likely to be significant increases in the level of output. Grossman and Helpman (1991) argue that there is a strong link between openness and growth and much of the evidence is surveyed in Pain (2002). These gains come from the arrival of new technologies, increases in specialization by comparative advantage and the reaping of economies of scale within industries that have become more specialized. In addition, a monetary union reduces the barriers to trade even within a common customs area by reducing transactions costs, and this is likely to have a major impact on the level of output that can be produced with a given level of inputs. Given the theoretical importance of the output gap, it is unfortunate that its measurement is so problematic. This will always be the case however when we are trying to separate out ‘high frequency events such as the business cycle from ‘low frequency events or persistent phenomena such as the trend in potential output. As Watson (1986) points out, a time series of 30 years could contain a significant number of examples of cycles of periods of less than 5 years, yet only a few examples of cycles of 10 years or more. Therefore we have more information in a finite sample on the shorter cycles, and correspondingly less information on longer cycles and the permanent shocks (which can be regarded as infinitely long cycles). Techniques for trend extraction have to address this problem directly, and filters for trend extraction are designed to remove specific frequencies and, in particular, cycles from the data under consideration. The central point of Feldstein (1986) article is to present empirical evidence in support of the view that budget deficits cause a currency to appreciate. He regresses the real exchange rate between the U.S. and UK on a measure of the budget deficit in the United Kingdom and a set of other variables. For the period 1973 to 1984 (twelve annual observations), he finds that the estimated effects on the real exchange rate are strong and robust to the inclusion or exclusion of other variables. Branson and Love (1988), on the other hand, outline a theory that assumes that the movements in the nominal exchange rate cause movements in the real exchange rate. These, in turn, cause movements in the supply of (tradable and non-tradable) output and employment and, hence, the trade balance. Their empirical results indicate that appreciation of dollar over the period caused a large unemployment loss in manufacturing. Barth et al. (1990) note that the choice for measuring of the deficit affects the nature of the linkage between deficits and interest rates. Specifically, studies that use cyclically adjusted deficits or federal debt instead of federal deficits are more likely to find a significant relation between the fiscal variable and interest rates. Recent evidence reported by Barth et al. conforms with these observations. Barth et al. (1990) also conclude that low frequency data (annual versus quarterly or monthly) and long-term interest rates (instead of short-term rates) are more likely to produce a significant relation between deficits and interest rates. However, recent studies do not support these generalizations. The summary shows that many studies that use quarterly data yield a significant relation between deficits and interest rates (e.g., Bruno and Fischer, 1986; Dornbusch and Fischer, 1986; Buiter, 1987). Moreover, several of the studies surveyed (e.g., Honahan, 2001; Rose, 2000) find a significant relation for short-term interest rates. Barth et al. (1990) note that expected deficits play a greater role than contemporaneous deficits for long-term rates. One should note that results of all such studies are sensitive to the measurement of expected deficits. Frenkel and Razin (1986) find that announcement effects of the unanticipated deficit on interest rates are positive and about the same throughout the yield curve. Both rational expectations studies (Bruno and Fischer, 1986; Dornbusch, 1986) find positive relations, one for long-term rates and one for short-term. Finally, Feldstein (1983) and Dornbusch and Fischer (1986) find a positive relation between 10-year rates and projected cyclically adjusted deficit as a percent of GNP. Therefore, this relation apparently does exist for long-term rates, but concluding the same for short-term rates would be premature. Discussion The politics of tax cuts are not necessarily straightforward. Since the UK Budget of March 1993, discretionary tax increases have added about [pounds] 18 billion to expected tax revenue in 1996/97. It might therefore appear odd to the electorate for there to be a remittance of [pounds] 5 billion of these tax revenues as an election approaches. However, a reasonable defense of this might be that the fiscal position has turned out to be better than originally forecast. When the first tranche of tax increases was announced in the March 1993 Budget it was expected that even with the additional revenue the PSBR to GDP ratio in 1996/97 would be 4 1/2 per cent of GDP. The additional fiscal changes announced in the November 1993 Budget contributed to a reduction in the forecast deficit to 2 3/4 per cent of GDP. Now, with no further tax changes the Treasury is forecasting that the deficit will be 2 per cent of GDP, substantially lower than they first thought it would be. In terms of the economics of the UK Budget judgment, the slowdown in economic activity that appears to be occurring, especially the very weak state of domestic demand would appear to allow some relaxation of the fiscal stance. In addition, our projections suggest that even after allowing for tax cuts the general government financial deficit will fall below the 3 per cent reference level for the European Union excessive deficits procedure. The main difficulty with the tax cuts is that they retard the progress that the government has made in reducing its borrowing towards the level that would be permitted by the so-called ‘golden rule that the government borrow no more than is necessary to finance investment. This may be seen either in balance sheet terms or by examining borrowing in relation to investment expenditure. The consequence of the deterioration in the public sectors balance sheet is that this years taxpayers are leaving more liabilities and fewer assets to next years taxpayers than they started with. This suggests that the future services provided by public sector capital will be lower and debt interest higher than they would otherwise have been. This means that future taxes need to be higher in order to pay for the extra debt interest. This situation can be prevented by the government following the golden rule that borrowing be no more than is necessary to finance capital investment. Deficits have to be financed either by issuing debt or by creating base money. Sargent and Wallace (1973) have argued that persistent budget deficits will eventually result either in monetization of the outstanding stock of debt, thus depriving the monetary authorities of their autonomy in setting policy targets, or in a repudiation of at least part of the debt. Hence lack of fiscal discipline could undermine the independence of a newly created European Central Bank, which might come under potential pressure to loosen its policy stance if some member states had serious budgetary problems. Its credibility could be affected if agents thought that a softer stance would become inevitable to alleviate the financial difficulties of highly indebted countries running large deficits. One of the consequences would be an increase in interest rates reflecting a revision in expectations incorporating higher future inflation rates. Fiscal discipline would still be a major concern even if the UK monetary authorities remained steadfast in their anti-inflationary commitment, because those states with unsustainable fiscal positions might have to pull out, whose irreversibility would then be questioned. As a result, markets could take a different view of the degree of substitutability of the assets issued by the different countries. Furthermore, other externalities would be at work, in the form of pressure on other member states to come to the rescue of those with unsustainable debt/deficit paths. Another possibility is that conflicts would arise ‘on issues related to the distribution of (seigniorage) among member countries (Pain, 2002). Other consequences for the country as a whole of the lack of fiscal discipline would be a general rise in interest rates and an external deficit for Europe vis-à  -vis the rest of the world, with adverse effects on the ECU exchange rate. As to the introduction of binding fis cal constraints, the argument is often put forward in the literature that they may appear to improve welfare, but only if the existence of a trade-off between fiscal and monetary policy is ignored (Pain, 2002). Development of a government bond market provides a number of important benefits if the prerequisites to a sound development are in place. At the macroeconomic policy level, the UK government securities market provides an avenue for domestic funding of budget deficits other than that provided by the central bank and, thereby, can reduce the need for direct and potentially damaging monetary financing of government deficits and avoid a build-up of foreign currency denominated debt. A government securities market can also strengthen the transmission and implementation of monetary policy, including the achievement of monetary targets or inflation objectives, and can enable the use of market-based indirect monetary policy instruments. The existence of such a market not only can enable authorities to smooth consumption and investment expenditures in response to shocks, but if coupled with sound debt management, can also help governments reduce their exposure to interest rate, currency, and other financial risks. Finally, a shift toward market-oriented funding of government budget deficits will reduce debt-service costs over the medium to long term through development of a deep and liquid market for government securities. At the microeconomic level, development of a domestic securities market can increase overall financial stability and improve financial intermediation through greater competition and development of related financial infrastructure, products, and services. The creation of a monetary union will inevitably affect the setting of fiscal policy. Even if only monetary policy becomes the responsibility of the new institutions, with fiscal policy remaining in the domain of national government, the fact that they will no longer be able to monetize debt has implications for policy choices. Fiscal policy may play a more important role as a stabilization tool. In the standard Mundell-Fleming framework, in which sticky prices are assumed (Frankel and Razin, 1987) fiscal policy is most effective when exchange rates are fixed and there are free capital movements, conditions which has to be fulfilled by the UK government. Because in a fixed rate system a fiscal expansion does not lead to a rise in interest rates and to an appreciation of the exchange rate, some countries might resort more frequently to fiscal measures to respond to shocks, especially if they are country-specific. Such budgetary policies could result in a looser overall fiscal stance, especially if the fiscal authorities failed to distinguish between temporary and permanent shocks. It is often claimed that fiscal policy is the appropriate policy resp

Catcher in the Rye :: essays research papers

The Struggling Boy The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is an enthralling and captivating novel about a boy and his struggle with life. The teenage boy ,Holden, is in turmoil with school, loneliness, and finding his place in the world. The author J.D. Salinger examines the many sides of behavior and moral dilemma of many characters throughout the novel. The author develops three distinct character types for Holden the confused and struggling teenage boy, Ackley, a peculiar boy without many friends, and Phoebe, a funny and kindhearted young girl. In the novel one distinctive type is the loner; the character type which Holden Caufield portrayed. Holden's loneliness and confusion puts him in a depression that he can't escape. Holden thinks to himself "It made you depressed, and every once in a while you got goose flesh. It didn't seem at all like Christmas was coming soon. It didn't seem like anything was coming."(pg.118) Another trait that was portrayed throughout the novel was peculiarity. The teenage boy Ackley who lives across the hall from Holden is very strange and has few friends. Ackley was very dirty, never brushed his teeth, and almost always stayed alone in his room. Holden says " His teeth were always mossy- looking, and he was dirty as hell, but he always had clean fingernails."(pg.22) Innocence and kindheartedness is displayed in the novel through Holden's young sister, Phoebe. Whenever Holden is depressed about being alone he thinks of memories with his younger sister Phoebe and feels completely better. Phoebe is always there for her brother to listen to his stories and complaints.

Learning from a Competitor’s Experience Essay

David Cook was known to be the father of Blockbuster Inc. In 1982, Cook founded the Cook Data Services, Inc which wholly offered software and computer devices. This company was founded in Dallas, Texas. Cook then ventured to another field of business by the recommendation of his wife. Thus, in the year 1985, Cook opened the first Blockbuster store (Microsoft Encarta 2007). Since then, the company has been hailed as one of the largest entertainment brands in the world. Blockbuster offers movie and gaming rentals on-store and online. With over 8,000 stores throughout the world, it serves not just as a rental store but also a retailer store for movies and other related media productions. To name a few, franchises of the company can be found in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Ireland, Panama, Puerto Rico, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Brazil, Chile, Taiwan, Italy, Denmark, Venezuela and Columbia (Blockbuster Online). Besides its vast territory, the company also offers a wide range of selection of movies and other entertainment merchandise. Though it has just started at that time, it is the only video rental company that employs computer monitoring for its customers’ accounts. Not long, the company opened more branches in different parts of the United States where it first flourished. Later on, the company was then renamed to Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and then further took its present name as Blockbuster, Inc. In 1987, H. Wayne Huizenga of the Waste Management, Inc. entered the company and expanded it overseas making it the largest video rental chain store not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom. It was then owned by Viacom and after which became independent from the company (Microsoft Encarta 2007). Presently, the CEO of Blockbuster Inc. is James Keyes, former president and CEO of 7-Eleven (Yahoo Finance). The company offers a wide range of services to its clients. As has been mentioned earlier, it not only presents rentals but also retails movies and other media. Music and gaming merchandise can also be found in most of its stores. Store hours are mostly from 10:00am to midnight every day. Videos and other media are available in large quantities and a variety of formats in each store ensuring that all customer needs are satisfied. The customers can also choose from their various options for membership plans. Recently, the company has expanded not only with on-store rentals, but also by mail and via the internet, making it easy for customers who reside in places where no branches of the company are erected. The company also provides security for patronage of non-adult customers. No roughly violent films and pornographic videos are included in their broad selection. Although there are some videos that are sexy, the company ensures that no youngster could rent or buy such a movie without the consent of the parents if they have a family account. Even though Blockbuster is a fully-pledged investor company, it participates in many community affairs activities in its region. Its cooperation bears alliances involving Children’s Miracle Network and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. It also partakes in many cultural diversity organizations as well as entertainment events such as National Urban League and American Black Film Festival respectively (Blockbuster Online). Blockbuster Inc. is not the only chain of video rental stores although it is one of the competitive companies in the industry. It has its fairly viable competitors in the market both including on-ground and online stores. One of its on-ground competitors is Hollywood Video which is also a subsidiary of Movie Gallery. Just Like Blockbuster Inc. , Movie Gallery, Inc. focuses on retail stores and online subscription plans of video, gaming and music merchandise (Movie Gallery Website). Nevertheless, it is way behind Blockbuster Inc. when it comes to both in-store and online rental services. Another competitor is Hastings Entertainment, Inc which is also based in the United States. This company only operates in the domestic market. In addition, the company not only offers video, music and entertainment merchandise. It is a miscellaneous retailer of a wide variety of products from videos to t-shirts and books. It also has its website which offers its vast selection of products (Wright Investor Service). The most controversial competitor of Blockbuster Inc. is Netflix. Netflix was the pilot company to offer online service for video rentals and retailing. Due to this endeavor, it is the top online service for the said industry (Crunchbase). Nevertheless, Blockbuster Inc. tried to counter the company by building its own online rental and retailing service. From then on, although it never surpassed the quantity of members that Netflix has, Blockbuster has exceeded the number of visitors Netflix has on its website. Website Analysis Blockbuster Inc. started to embark on online rental service in the Unites States last August 2004 (Press Release). This is in counteraction of Netflix’s leading online movie rental service. The company’s website is popularly called Blockbuster Online and is somehow independent with on-ground stores. Visiting the website, observations can be formulated regarding the effectiveness and creativity of the website to online customers. The welcome page of Blockbuster Online is simple but effective. It is simple in a sense that no pop-ups can be found; there are no visual animations or advertising videos; no sounds and background music to entice the customers. Nevertheless, it is quite effective for the very reason that it uses the familial connection occurring with its customers. This can be evident through the use of a family picture in front of a television, assumed to be watching movies. It gives the customers a sense of home and belongingness. On another visit of the website, the featured picture is a woman lying down on a sofa in front of the television. These also give an idea that although movie viewing is comfortable in a family setting, it can also be done alone and still enjoy the activity. In both pictures, the people involve are holding remote controls. This very small detail gives an impression that each are about to watch a movie although if one looks at the pictures alone, the television is not visible. Furthermore, the movie guides and popcorn on the table in the pictures give a new dimension to movie home viewing. The said details represent the idea that satisfying movie viewing is not only possible in the big screens but also possible in the home. One would even be made to conclude that it would be a lot feasible and safe to watch movies in the home rather than in theatres. The color scheme of the website, with its blue, light blue, yellow and white major colors, is also very appropriate for the services it offers. The colors used give an impression of brightness and lightness of the website. It gives a serene and calming touch to anyone who visits the website. In the simplicity of the welcome page of the website, the customers may also be persuaded to think that the services it offers are practical and cheap. It makes them feel that fees are inexpensive and affordable. On the other hand, the welcome page can be seen as a very uncreative effort in designing. As one lingers longer on the page, it can be noticed that the website looks like an ordinary advertisement box in a newspaper page. This is unfavorable since it will decrease the customers’ interest in exploring more of the website. Although the welcome page is uncomplicated, it contains many promotional materials like the company’s offer for a free trial. It also presents free shipping and a step-by-step menu to help customers who are new to the website. The three easy steps to enjoy the rental service include select movies, receive by mail and return by mail or in-store exchange (Blockbuster Online). The various different links from the welcome page to the other pages of the website makes up for the simplicity of the welcome page. Complex links can be found in the different parts and corners of the welcome page. Links to a variety of web pages regarding the company are located at the bottom of the welcome page. This is very uneasy for the customers since it is in very small font sizes that it becomes unnoticeable. This part of the website includes the terms and conditions policy of the company. Nonetheless, the rent and buy movie links on the page are easy to follow. One particular detail that has caught attention is the link opening default settings of the website. In the links related to rental services and other customer-related topics such as movie categories and new movie releases, the links open on the current page. On the other hand, if the link leads to the company’s information or financial and business issues such as investing and the company profile, the link opens on a new window. This is very interesting since it implicitly draws the line between customer-related issues and internal issues of the company. Further on, the different links to the secondary websites are too many and are hard to track which may lead to the customer getting lost in the whole website. This may also be the effect of the website’s moderate organization of the links. Nevertheless, upon familiarity of the website links, customers can get used to the incomprehensible first impression organization of the website. The sign-up page of the website is simply designed too. A step-by-step process of the whole transaction of the rental service is included in a graphical and a worded method. It looks like a comic strip which accounts for its easy-to-comprehend characteristic. The big sign-up button is also interesting enough due to its large size and appealing color and font type. These properties of the page may convince the customer to sign up for a membership plan. Features of the rental service are also in the web page in brief making it a summary of the whole service that the company provides. The rent movies page is quite colorful and interesting especially for movie fanatics. It includes different categories and featured movies. In all of these categories, the movies featured all have small movie posters with the relative size of a DVD front cover. It gives a very unique influence on the customer since the customer can somehow see a glimpse of the movie. The rental page also provides a link on the procedure on how to rent via the internet. Like the rental page, the buyers’ page is also filled with the DVD front cover posters of on-sale movies. The structure also consists of different movie categories wherein the customer can choose from. However, in the buyers’ page, the movies in feature incorporate a button which adds the movie to the list of movies the customer wants to buy. Together with this element is the price of the movie. The payment terms can be done through credit card and other online wiring financial services such as PayPal. This is very secure for online clients, thus contributing with the website’s ease of operation characteristic. Another amazing element of the website is its trailers and video clips page. In this part, the customer can take a glance of the movies and also watch the trailer of the movie. It is very appropriate and efficient since most customers would first want to see clips of the movie before they rent or buy it. This amazing feature adds up to the website’s effectiveness. Some of the web pages in the site require information upload from the customers and members. Such web pages include the store locator and the contact page (Blockbuster Online). In the store locator page, the client is asked to type in the address and then a button is clicked to reveal stores near the vicinity. This is very useful for online customers who wanted to avail of in-store exchanges that the company offers. Although the feature is very simple, it has its own link page to set it apart from the rest of the website. On the contact page, the client can contact the company on certain issues such as membership and DVD issues. However, the system used is not that of a presentation method but rather an e-mail type. In this method, instead of giving the company’s contact numbers, headquarters address and email-address, the company asks the customer to input the category issue, the client’s information and contact details as well as the messages or questions concerning the company’s services. It is much like an e-mail web page where one can submit the mail directly to the company. The system that the company uses is very reliable and easy to manage for their part since they can somehow sort the mails that they receive. This method also prevents prank callers and mailers from dumping junk on the company’s telephone lines and mailbox. Nevertheless, the negative part for this process is that the customers may feel reluctant to communicate with the company since the company requires personal information from the client which can be jeopardized unintentionally. The help page is also available for the customers. In the help page, the customers can find a way to better understand the structure of the large website of the company. In this page, the customers can also clarify doubts and questions regarding rental services, membership plans and promotional materials. Similar to the rental and buyers’ page, the help page contains categories. In this page, help issues are categorized in different classifications so as to better answer the customers’ concerns. A very interesting section of the Blockbuster Online is its information page. Found on this page are the company profile, financial reports, investors page and others. It actually has nothing to do to the services that the company may offer to the clients but rather it consists of bits and pieces of the company’s needs such as employees and investors. In this page, business opportunities such as franchises and careers opportunities such as jobs for prospective employees are found. The financial reports of the company are also published on this area. It gives the company a sense of transparency for its customers. It enables the clients to see what has been happening inside the company. This is a very significant factor for such business establishments since it fosters trust from the customers. The webpage also offers a sidebar in almost all its links. For example, on the rental page, a queue list is on the right sidebar which enables the customer to view what movies he has selected for rental while on the buyers page, the customer has a shopping cart where the items he wishes to buy are listed. The sidebar also gives information on movies and other rental and retail issues. The sidebar is a good element to include in a website. Another noteworthy detail is the search engine located on the website which allows the customers to enter keywords and search the whole website. This feature is very helpful for the clients. In the help page, such search engine is also available to find answers on frequently asked questions. This gives the clients ease of access to the help page. In summary, the website is very effective in achieving its goal of reaching customers through the internet. Although the rental service via the internet and by mail is only available in the United States, the online service gives an outlook of the whole company. The layout and the consistent use of the color scheme give a unified theme to the website giving the excellent yet uncomplicated look and feel of the website. And though the web design is quite simple and moderately unattractive, it attains its goal to be an alternative and accessible way of rental service to customers in a variety of places. Service and Price Options Membership Plans and Retail Options Blockbuster Online renders two major membership or subscription plans for its customers. These two categories are Blockbuster Total Access and Blockbuster by Mail (Blockbuster Online). The only difference on the two major membership plans is that in Blockbuster Total Access, rental services include both by mail and in-store exchanges of movies while in Blockbuster by Mail, in-store exchanges are not allowed. The different plans under these two categories also vary. Blockbuster Total Access can either be premium or just ordinary. In premium, the customer has an unlimited number of in-store exchanges while in ordinary, limited in-store access is available. Regarding Blockbuster by Mail plans, the customer can order online for movie rentals and these are delivered by mail on the customer’s doorstep. Exchanges and returns of movie rentals are also done online and by mail (Blockbuster Online). Thus, in this type of membership plan, the customer need not go to a Blockbuster store. This membership plan is perfectly suitable for subscribers who do not have rental stores in their vicinity. Prices for rental services differ depending on the membership plan of the customers (see Comparison Chart). Retail services are by movie basis. Furthermore, online retail service is done via credit card or online wiring service. In addition to be able to buy movies on line, the customer has to have an account on the Blockbuster website. Prices of movies on sale depend on the movies’ producers. Nonetheless, new releases are much more expensive than old movie copies. Comparison Chart Movie Selections The company has a wide range of movie selections. It also offers TV shows and series as well as game software and music videos. The copies of movies are purportedly sufficient for its number of members and customers. However, the rental service is still subject to the availability of the movie copies. The number of copies also depends on the movie type. Classics have much less number of copies that new releases. Furthermore, most wanted videos have more copies than ordinary hit movies. The large selection of movies is simplified by the website through organizing the movies into different categories and subcategories. The major categories are action & adventure, animation, comedy, documentary, drama, family & kids, foreign, horror, music & performing arts, mystery & suspense, romance, science fiction & fantasy, special interest, sports & fitness, television, war and western. Under these categories are further subcategories of which some are listed below: Action & adventure – action comedy, action thriller, adventure drama. Science fiction & fantasy – sea adventure, swashbucklers, sword and sandal. Animation – animated musical, anime. Comedy – comedy drama, comedy thriller, dark humor, family comedy, heist/caper comedy. Documentary – adventure travel, art history, biography, history, language & literature. Drama – addiction drama, police drama, childhood drama, crime drama, medical drama. Family & kids – infant, toddler, children’s entertainment, family classics, kids’ fantasy. Foreign – Asian, Chinese, European, Filipino, French, German, Indian, Spanish, Japanese. Horror – alien invasion, ghosts & haunts, monsters, occult, nature-gone-wild. Music & performing arts – concerts, classical, dance, gospel, opera, musicals, singers. Mystery & suspense – crime, detective film, spy, whodunit, political thriller. Sports and fitness – extreme sports, Olympics, dance, diet & nutrition, yoga and Tai Chi. (Blockbuster Online). Competitor’s Information Application Blockbuster Inc. offers a lot of useful information and business experiences as well as practical guides for the establishment of a beginner. It gives insight that can be utilized in order to enter the market with security and stability. The long history and the many amendments to the company’s organization and management can be a lesson to future business establishments even in a different industry. Experienced website history is possessed by Blockbuster Inc. although they are not the first mover in the field of online rental service. Nevertheless, their advantage is that they have made possible and excellent revisions of competitors’ websites making their own website less prone to errors and negative feedbacks. It is therefore this very advantage that a new emerging business can take hold from the information obtained from Blockbuster Online. To further explain such circumstance, it is appropriate to give specific situations. For example, the simplicity of Blockbuster’s website instills over familiarity of customers which can lead to decrease of interest. Thus, if one has to build up a website on the same line of business, one has to make sure that the website include more interesting designs such as animations and video presentations. Addition of background music may also be added to increase the website’s attraction. Scroll over animations and flash presentations of step-by-step procedures may also be employed. It is also appropriate that confidentiality of customers’ information is prioritized. One very important detail that Blockbuster Online lacks must be included in this new website. This detail concern a web page dedicated for the employees of the company where every employee have access to more confidential data regarding the company. This will give an impression to consumers that the company values its own people. Furthermore, a web page containing a live chat room may be of help for quick answers of clients that regard their time too valuable to wait for questions on video rental services. The gathering of data from a future competitor of a budding business establishment is just the beginning of the many challenges and trials that the business will undergo to gain stability and prosperity. It is even the easiest way to accomplish. Data gathering is uncomplicated. What is important is the ability to evaluate the obtained data and utilize it for the benefit of one’s own company. References BlockBuster Online. —. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://www. blockbuster. com/. Crunchbase. Netflix. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://www. crunchbase. com/company/netflix. Microsoft Encarta 2007. (2006). â€Å"Blockbuster Inc. † Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. Movie Gallery. Business Description. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://www. moviegallery. com/company/about. aspx. Press Releases. Blockbuster Inc. Company Profile. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://www. b2i. us/profiles/investors/ResLibrary. asp? BzID=553&ResLibraryID=6807&GoToPage=5&Category=27. Wright Investor Service. Hastings Entertainment, Inc. – Company Profile Snapshot. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://wrightreports. ecnext. com/coms2/reportdesc_COMPANY_418365102. Yahoo Finance. Blockbuster, Inc. Retrieved June 29, 2008, from http://finance. yahoo. com/q/pr? s=BBI.

Conformity and anarchy and through unusual language Essay

â€Å"Fight Club† by Chuck Palahniuk explores the theme of masculinity through clever characterisation, exploration of conformity and anarchy and through unusual language.  The traditional role of man was as the head of the family unit. Looking after and providing for his wife and children in the hunter-gatherer role. What if a man has no wife and children? What is his role? What if the man comes from a broken family where he had no father? How is he supposed to live a good male life if he has no good example to follow? These are some of the issues that Chuck Palahniuk confronts on the theme of masculinity in â€Å"Fight Club†. In this essay I will explore the author’s use of characterisation, conformity, anarchy and interesting and unusual language in support of this main theme. The characterisation of the main figure is executed particularly well. The characters of Joe and Tyler are cleverly interwoven throughout the novel until the reader’s realisation that they are both actually the same person. There are a lot of hints in the novel, which suggest this up until it is actually revealed. Several times the narrator, Joe, says,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I know this because Tyler knows this.†Ã‚  This could be taken as meaning that they are very close friends and tell each other everything or that they are both the same person. The author also refers to the idea of multiple personalities in, â€Å"If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?†Ã‚  I think that this illustrates the concept that Joe is a chronic insomniac and changes personality in his sleep.  There are many similarities between Joe and Tyler up until we discover they are the same person. They both love Marla but only Tyler sleeps with her. This provides comic moments when we realise that all through the book Marla has been talking to Joe as her lover but Joe has been talking to her as his friend’s girlfriend. Both Joe and Tyler end up looking like each other, â€Å"Tyler and I were looking more and more like Identical Twins. Both of us had punched-out cheekbones, and our skin had lost its memory, and forgot where to slide back after we were hit.† Tyler starts off looking beautiful, an idyllic version of Joe, he is what Joe wishes he could be. This is indicated in  Ã¢â‚¬Å"perfectly handsome and an angel in his everything-blond way.† He is smart, funny, and knows all of the interesting facts that Joe wishes he knew, like how to break security locks and make C4 explosives. Joe, after discovering how boring his life is asks,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Deliver me Tyler from being perfect and complete†,  In my opinion Tyler starts as an angelic, saviour figure and turns into an evil alter ego once Joe finds out the truth. The key â€Å"Fight Club† theme of masculinity is explored by examining the notions of, conformity and Anarchy. The theme of conformity and non-conformity is examined by the contrast between Joe’s boss and Tyler. Joe’s boss who wears a different tie for each day of the week plays the stereotypical male role. He contrasts directly with Tyler who squats in a house in the warehouse district, urinates in tomato soup at a hotel and splices single frames of pornography into family movies. He is the ultimate non-conformist. This is the exact opposite of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Mister Boss with his midlife spread and family photo on his desk and his dreams about early retirement and winters spent at a trailer-park hookup in some Arizona desert.† I believe this represents the American Dream and conformity contrasted against Tyler’s vision of anarchy and chaos in a non-conformist nightmare. The language choice in this seems dismissive of the boss’ dream. â€Å"Some† suggests that the dream is irrelevant. The boss also represents Joe’s idea of his father. Joe believes that  Ã¢â‚¬Å"If you’re male, and you’re Christian and living in America, your father is your model for god. And sometimes you find your father in your career.†