Essay Week 1 Case Study Dodd Vernon - 955 Words

1. Read the case entitled â€Å"Who Makes the Apple iPhone?† on page 33. 2. Answer the following questions in three pages. 1. What are the benefits to Apple of outsourcing the assembly of the iPhone to foreign countries, and particularly China? What are the potential costs and risks to Apple? Lower labor cost is one of the most basic reasons but as the case points out, that was only a small consideration. Apples ability to scale production up/down very quickly and even with short based on demand and based on product cycles seems to be one of the greatest benefits. China has more capacity, flexibility and seems to be willing to take larger risk to win business. This is evident in the article with the plants willingness to begin scaling†¦show more content†¦China Tech and manufacturing industries are benefiting because of the need to use highly skilled workers for research and development and to be innovative as they produce products for Apple. In doing this, it raises their competency levels and ability to remain technically competitive. China in general benefits as they develop a good reputation as a provider of goods and services for major companies such as Apple. 3. What are the potential ethical problems associated with outsourcing assembly jobs to Foxconn in China? How might Apple deal with these? Reputation damage for Apple is the largest issue in my opinion. Apple needs to be careful to not partner with an organization that treats their workers poorly, underpays them or takes advantage of their economic situation. If this were to happen, Apples reputation would be in jeopardy just like other companies have struggled with in the past (such as Nike and Martha Stewart). To prevent this, Apple simply needs to monitor and manage the relationship with Foxconn to ensure that they maintain good, safe and ethical work operations. The perception may be that outsourcing the work to China is taking advantage of the poor economic conditions where Chinese employees mistreat employees with low pay, long hours, mandatory overtime (often for little or no extra pay) and subject them to poor working conditions that can lead toShow MoreRelatedMerger and Acquisition: Current Issues115629 Words   |  463 PagesData Mergers and acquisitions : current issues / edited by Greg N. Gregoriou and Karyn L. Neuhauser. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-230-55379-6 (alk. paper) 1. Consolidation and merger of corporations. I. Gregoriou, Greg N., 1956– II. Neuhauser, Karyn L. HD2746. 5. M4365 2007 338.8’3—dc22 2007021799 10 16 9 15 8 14 7 13 6 12 5 11 4 10 3 09 2 08 1 07 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne To my mother Evangelia and in loving memory of my father NicholasRead MoreDamodaran Book on Investment Valuation, 2nd Edition398423 Words   |  1594 Pagesthough, that you can do me a favor as you go through the manuscript. If you find any mistakes - mathematical or grammatical - could you please let me know? It would help me ensure that the typos do not find their way into the final version. Chapter 1: Introduction to Valuation Chapter 2: Approaches to Valuation Chapter 3: Understanding Financial Statements Chapter 4: The Basics of Risk Chapter 5: Option Pricing Theory and Models Chapter 6: Market Efficiency: Theory and Models Chapter 7: Riskless

What Are The Major Economic Problems That Have Plagued...

1. What are the major economic problems that have plagued Latin America in the 20th century? During the 20th century Latin America went through a change after the U.S made the clam to directly defend Latin America. This caused a sudden trade switch from the Europe nation to the U.S. With this trade switch we start to see a big gap between the lower and upper class. With this gap the poor gets poorer and the rich become Carlos Slim. Carlos Slim was the world’s richest person form 2010-2013 and is a perfect example on how the upper class becomes billionaires. The wealth Disparity can also be seen in area like Sao Paulo, Brazil with their slums. With this wage gap crime started to flourish in Latin amerce along with corruption. Some of the best example of crime and corruption are the Colombian drug cartels with their wide spread murder and bribery tactics. 2. How did Peru and Nicaragua differ in terms of Indian acceptance of leftism in the 1970s and 1980s? Why? In the 1980’s Peru was a hotbed of leftist activity due to the fact of Peru majority was contested of Indians who lived in poverty. Some of the reasons for the left wing politics were debated the inequality, social privilege and Marginalization the masses. All of this started the shining path movement in Peru. The movement resulted in 70,000 murders from Guerilla warfare. Nicaragua was another leftist active country. The big different between Nicaragua and Peru was the percent of Indians. There was a 70 percent mestizoShow MoreRelatedThe Major Economic Problems That Have Plagued Latin America1497 Words   |  6 Pages1. What are the major economic problems that have plagued Latin America in the 20th century? During the 20th century Latin America went through a change after the U.S made the clam to directly defend Latin America. This caused a sudden trade switch from the Europe nation to the U.S. With this trade switch we start to see a big gap between the lower and upper class. With this gap the poor gets poorer and the rich become Carlos Slim. Carlos Slim was the world’s richest person form 2010-2013 and isRead MoreMy Presentation On Cultural Development1569 Words   |  7 PagesMy Presentation on Cultural Development Shermaine Cunningham UDC-CC What comes to mind when you think of culture? What do you think of when you hear development? We can associate cultural with different ethnic groups around the world like for instance East Africa. We can associate development with different countries around the world that provides the people with knowledge through technology like for instance Japan, which is a huge developing country. A country’s cultural developmentRead MoreColombia Essay.1417 Words   |  6 PagesColombia is a country in South America in the northwestern part of the continent. 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Big Bang Essay Example For Students

Big Bang Essay It is always a mystery about how the universe began, whether if and when it will end. Astronomers construct hypotheses called cosmological models that try to find the answer. There are two types of models: Big Bang and Steady State. However, through many observational evidences, the Big Bang theory can best explain the creation of the universe.The Big Bang model postulates that about 15 to 20 billion years ago, the universe violently exploded into being, in an event called the Big Bang. Before the Big Bang, all of the matter and radiation of our present universe were packed together in the primeval fireballan extremely hot dense state from which the universe rapidly expanded. 1 The Big Bang was the start of time and space. The matter and radiation of that early stage rapidly expanded and cooled. Several million years later, it condensed into galaxies. The universe has continued to expand, and the galaxies have continued moving away from each other ever since. Today the universe is still expanding, as astronomers have observed.The Steady State model says that the universe does not evolve or change in time. There was no beginning in the past, nor will there be change in the future. This model assumes the perfect cosmological principle. This principle says that the universe is the same everywhere on the large scale, at all times.2 It maintains the same average density of matter forever.There are observational evidences found that can prove the Big Bang model is more reasonable than the Steady State model. First, the redshifts of distant galaxies. Redshift is a Doppler effect which states that if a galaxy is moving away, the spectral line of that galaxy observed will have a shift to the red end. The faster the galaxy moves, the more shift it has. If the galaxy is moving closer, the spectral line will show a blue shift. If the galaxy is not moving, there is no shift at all. However, as astronomers observed, the more distance a galaxy is located from Earth, the more redshift it shows on the spectrum. This means the further a galaxy is, the faster it moves. Therefore, the universe is expanding, and the Big Bang model seems more reasonable than the Steady State model.The second observational evidence is the radiation produced by the Big Bang. The Big Bang model predicts that the universe should still be filled with a small remnant of radiation left over from the original violent explosion of the primeval fireball in the past. The primeval fireball would have sent strong shortwave radiation in all directions into space. In time, that radiation would spread out, cool, and fill the expanding universe uniformly. By now it would strike Earth as microwave radiation. In 1965 physicists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected microwave radiation coming equally from all directions in the sky, day and night, all year.3 And so it appears that astronomers have detected the fireball radiation that was produced by the Big Bang. This casts serious doubt on the Steady State model. The Steady State could not explain the existence of this radiation, so the model cannot best explain the beginning of the universe. Since the Big Bang model is the better model, the existence and the future of the universe can also be explained. Around 15 to 20 billion years ago, time began. The points that were to become the universe exploded in the primeval fireball called the Big Bang. The exact nature of this explosion may never be known. However, recent theoretical breakthroughs, based on the principles of quantum theory, have suggested that space, and the matter within it, masks an infinitesimal realm of utter chaos, where events happen randomly, in a state called quantum weirdness.4Before the universe began, this chaos was all there was. At some time, a portion of this randomness happened to form a bubble, with a temperature in excess of 10 to the power of 34 degrees Kelvin. Being that hot, naturally it expanded. .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .postImageUrl , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:hover , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:visited , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:active { border:0!important; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:active , .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u81e473a3ca7095e8e770f06e8d809cbc:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Love Is Not All Essay For an extremely brief and short period, billionths of billionths of a second, it inflated. At the end of the period of inflation, the universe may have a diameter of a few centimetres. The temperature had cooled enough for particles of matter and antimatter to form, and they instantly destroy each other, producing fire and a thin haze of matter-apparently because slightly more matter than antimatter was formed.5 The fireball, and the smoke of its burning, was the universe at an age of trillionth of a second. The temperature of the expanding fireball dropped rapidly, cooling to a few billion degrees in few minutes. Matter continued to condense out of energy, first protons and neutrons, then electrons, and finally neutrinos. After about an hour, the temperature had dropped below a billion degrees, and protons and neutrons combined and formed hydrogen, deuterium, helium. In a billion years, this cloud of energy, atoms, and neutrinos had cooled enough for galaxies to form. The expanding cloud cooled still further until today, its temperature is a couple of degrees above absolute zero.In the future, the universe may end up in two possible situations. From the initial Big Bang, the universe attained a speed of expansion. If that speed is greater than the universes own escape velocity, then the universe will not stop its expansion. Such a universe is said to be open. If the velocity of expansion is slower than the escape velocity, the universe will eventually reach the limit of its outward thrust, just like a ball thrown in the air comes to the top of its arc, slows, stops, and starts to fall. The crash of the long fall may be the Big Bang to the beginning of another universe, as the fireball formed at the end of the contraction leaps outward in another great expansion.6 Such a universe is said to be closed, and pulsating. If the universe has achieved escape velocity, it will continue to expand forever. The stars will redden and die, the universe will be like a limitless empty haze, expanding infinitely into the darkness. This space will become even emptier, as the fundamental particles of matter age, and decay through time. As the years stretch on into infinity, nothing will remain. A few primitive atoms such as positrons and electrons will be orbiting each other at distances of hundreds of astronomical units.7 These particles will spiral slowly toward each other until touching, and they will vanish in the last flash of light. After all, the Big Bang model is only an assumption. No one knows for sure that exactly how the universe began and how it will end. However, the Big Bang model is the most logical and reasonable theory to explain the universe in modern science. ENDNOTES 1. Dinah L. Mache, Astronomy, New York: John Wiley ; Sons, Inc. , 1987. p. 128. 2. Ibid., p. 130. 3. Joseph Silk, The Big Bang, New York: W.H. Freeman andCompany, 1989. p. 60. 4. Terry Holt, The Universe Next Door, New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1985. p. 326. 5. Ibid., p. 327. 6. Charles J. Caes, Cosmology, The Search For The Order Of The Universe, USA: Tab Books Inc. , 1986. p. 72. 7. John Gribbin, In Search Of The Big Bang, New York: Bantam Books, 1986. p. 273.BIBLIOGRAPHY Boslough, John. Stephen Hawkings Universe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Caes, J. Charles. Cosmology, The Search For The Order Of TheUniverse. USA: Tab Books Inc., 1986. Gribbin, John. In Search Of The Big Bang. New York: BantamBooks, 1986. Holt, Terry. The Universe Next Door. New York: CharlesScribners Sons, 1985. Kaufmann, J. William III. Astronomy: The Structure Of The Universe. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1977. Mache, L. .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .postImageUrl , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:hover , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:visited , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:active { border:0!important; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:active , .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3 .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u751977d35bcb99b7cdcf51e8677d62e3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: David Letterman Essay Dinah. Astronomy. New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1987. Silk, Joseph. The Big Bang. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1989.

The Gorge Yourself Enviroment free essay sample

â€Å"The gorge- yourself environment† We find foods everywhere we look; sitting along the roadsides, calling at you in bright colors from grocery store shelves, glowing in vending machines down the hallway. There is no way to escape the never-ending advertisements from fast food restaurant. This is where obesity begins; consuming more food portions than your body needs People need to set limits and health plans early in their life to overcome this new threat. In this research, journalist Erica Goode tries to evaluate the local and global influence of the fast food industry of the United States. Erica Goode is an award winning journalist and currently on the staff of the New York Times. In 1979, she got her master degree in social psychology. Goode relies on research studies in nutrition and public health to support her speculation. She was also awarded as a mass media fellowship sponsored by the American association for the advancement of science. We will write a custom essay sample on The Gorge Yourself Enviroment or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She has also written for publication, such as, vogue, self, Mirabella and edited book called letters for children (1996). Due to her work and experiences, she has won awards for her writing from the national mental health association and American psychiatric association. As of result, we can say that Goode have been considered one of the most reputable name in the industry of journalism. Further more, she also show her background and adequate knowledge and experience with the industry, which gives her more credibility and dependability in writing about various issues regarding one topic. In this research she talks about making decision for what and how much to eat are dictated by many factor besides hunger. Bigger, cheaper, and more varied meals, heavily advertised and widely available, may induces people to eat more than they need to. This includes on her having direct contact with people involved in her research, supplied with facts. In the research, Goode tells about the fast food industries and how people are so tempted to it? She considered different important areas of the industry, not just focusing on how the industry cater the changing meets and demands of the customer, but also the different processes, procedures and policies connected to the way the products are made and the amount that average person consumes. First, the author enables to present the different global concerns about the negative impact of fast food towards the health of the public, which include obesity. She also manages to connect other important aspects of one supply chain of the company, which is the artificial maker of flavors, where in, she mentioned to be highly reserved. Despite America being one of the most industrialized nations, this country is definitely not one of the healthiest. Even though we are living in a country with great economic power and amazing technology, we are also living in a country with the smallest nutritional knowledge. Where the land is overwhelmed with obesity. Fast food restaurants are quick to deny the blame that is being thrown at them by angry consumers and health professions. Fast-food restaurants have become typical in the past 30 years and practically all of America takes part of the cheap prices, quick service and tasty meals. Convenient as they are, these meals contain practically no nutrients. They are made up of mostly saturated fats and refined carbohydrates and are packed full of sodium and sugar. Fast food consumption can lead to adverse effects on the quality of dietary caused by higher energy intake. Increased risk of obesity is a major concern for parents as fast food has been a prominent feature on diet especially for children. Obesity effects growth and development of children on many aspects. The result of obesity will remain a greater hurdle of development for children consuming fast food. The problem of childhood obesity in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. Obesity is one of the easiest medical conditions to recognize but most difficult to get by. Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise. The biggest concern with children is the amount of exposure they get to these bad eating habits. Their busy parents use drive thru as a quick meal, and as a reward for good behavior. Their teachings show children that these meals are to be earned and give them a satisfying feeling while eating them. This helps develop a psychological connection that makes children feel more dependants on this food.

Tobacco Essays (910 words) - Smoking, Human Behavior, Tobacco

Tobacco Essays (910 words) - Smoking, Human Behavior, Tobacco Tobacco THIS IS A PAPER REGARDING THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY (3 PAGES). The Killing Business? This paper is about the tobacco industry. Some would find that the label killing business is very appropriate. Others would say that that name is misleading and inaccurate. Biased, I am not. So we will look at the issue in regards to the industry from both consumer and producer points of perspective with fairness and equality in reach. With an open mind now, lets peer closer at the aftermath tobacco has left us standing in. Something has to get a non-tobacco user to try his/her first cigarette, cigar, chew, or whatever it may be. What is that something? Tobacco ads play an important part in getting people hooked. The government has taken a step in the right direction by reducing the ways that the industry can advertise tobacco. They have limited it to written ads mostly like magazines, billboards, sponsorship (meaning that Marlboro could sponsor a racecar driver), and T-shirts. They arent able to advertise on television or radio in any way. This helps to steer youth away from tobacco. But is this grafting the industrys amendment of free speech? Not when the industry is responsible for thousands of deaths each and every year. What is it that makes a tobacco-user keep on buying the product? One of the most addictive substances in the United States. The mystery matter that keeps consumers coming back for more is nicotine. Is it necessary that the industry utilize nicotine to keep customers buying? Apparently so. The industry started lowering the tar in cigarettes to create a smoother flavor. But lowering the tar also meant lowering the nicotine because this method affected both aspects. So the industry generated a new breed of tobacco plants. The nicotine levels of the new flue-cured, Y-1, and rustica tobacco plants were 6% of the plants body weight. Before, tobacco only had 2%-3.5% nicotine. Chewing tobacco and snuff products have always contained fiberglass in them. These flecks of glass pierced gums and lips to allow nicotine to flow into the pores making it more addictive. The industry has since made the fiberglass obsolete and replaced it with actual nicotine crystals. These crystals penetrate the gums and dissolve inside of your jaw. Basically, consumers are now getting approximately double the nicotine in smoking and smokeless tobacco than had previously. The government has passed laws that prevent youth from purchasing tobacco goods. The legal age for acquirement of tobacco is 18. Does that in itself ward away potential teen tobacco users? To a certain degree, it works very effectively. Consumers under the legal age have no way around this law. However, there are some marketers that sell to underage tobacco users. But the industry is hardly to blame for that. The President devised a plan to raise prices of tobacco over the next four years in an attempt to discourage tobacco consumers. Realistically, no proposition such as that could ever be more ignorant and bemused. This scheme only gives rise to the industry. More profit for the tobacco unit would just make them that much wealthier. And in todays world wealth is the father to power. The whole raising prices idea has loopholes to it. Depending on how high the prices went up, some consumers would look the other way and decide that its time to abort the habit. Only to a certain poise would this method benefit anyone. If prices inflated, then some tobacco users would choose to quit. However, others would remain addicts and end up paying the difference on those who elected to stop using tobacco. The industry would still be profiting. Due to the increasing number of deaths, cancer, and other mishaps caused by tobacco, questions have arisen about tobacco remaining legal in the United States. The tobacco industry has been a stain on American lifestyles. Consumers have helped an equal share to make it that way. What would occur if the government decided to ban tobacco? The death rate would definitely decrease and cancer levels would drop. America would be forced to stop the addiction. Would this result in a revolt against the government? No doubt tobacco users would be outraged. In the long run, though, banning it would

Introduction to the Concept of Welfare Analysis

Introduction to the Concept of Welfare Analysis When studying markets, economists not only want to understand how prices and quantities are determined, but they also want to be able to calculate how much value markets create for society. Economists call this topic of study welfare analysis, but, despite its name, the subject doesn’t have anything directly to do with transferring money to poor people. How Economic Value Is Created By a Market Economic value created by a market accrues to a number of different parties. It goes to: consumers when they can purchase goods and services for less than they value the use of the itemsproducers when they can sell goods and services for more than each item cost to producethe government when markets provide an opportunity to collect taxes Economic value is also either created or destroyed for society when markets cause spillover effects for parties not directly involved in a market as a producer or a consumer (known as externalities). How Economic Value Is Quantified In order to quantify this economic value, economists simply add up the value created for all of the participants in (or onlookers to) a market. By doing so, economists can calculate the economic impacts of taxes, subsidies, price controls, trade policies, and other forms of regulation (or deregulation). That said, there are a few things that must be kept in mind when looking at this type of analysis. First, because economists simply add up the values, in dollars, created for each market participant, they implicitly assume that a dollar of value for Bill Gates or Warren Buffet is equivalent to a dollar of value for the person who pumps Bill Gates’ gas or serves Warren Buffet his morning coffee. Similarly, welfare analysis often aggregates the value to consumers in a market and the value to producers in a market. By doing this, economists also assume that a dollar of value for the gas station attendant or barista counts the same as a dollar of value for a shareholder of a large corporation. (This isnt as unreasonable as it may initially seem, however, if you consider the possibility that the barista is also a shareholder of the large corporation.) Second, welfare analysis only counts the number of dollars taken in taxes rather than the value of what that tax revenue is ultimately spent on. Ideally, tax revenue would be used for projects that are worth more to society than they cost in taxes, but realistically this is not always the case. Even if it were, it would be very difficult to link up taxes on particular markets with what the tax revenue from that market ends up buying for society. Therefore, economists purposely separate out the analyses of how many tax dollars are generated and how much value spending those tax dollars creates. These two issues are important to keep in mind when looking at economic welfare analysis, but they don’t make the analysis irrelevant. Instead, it’s helpful to understand how much value in the aggregate is created by a market (or created or destroyed by regulation) in order to properly assess the tradeoff between overall value and equity or fairness. Economists often find that efficiency, or maximizing the overall size of the economic pie, is at odds with some notions of equity, or dividing that pie in a manner that is considered fair, so its crucial to be able to quantify at least one side of that tradeoff. In general, textbook economics draws positive conclusions about the overall value created by a market and leaves it to philosophers and policymakers to make normative statements about what is fair. Nonetheless, its important to understand how much the economic pie shrinks when a fair outcome is imposed in order to decide whether the tradeoff is worth it.

Conscientious Objection Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conscientious Objection Response - Essay Example Every health care provider has a unique personal philosophy. For some, this personal philosophy is more important than what their religion dictates while others given their religious dictations extreme importance and number one preference. A health care provider’s experience also plays a decisive role in his/her willingness or refusal to provide the patients with a certain kind of treatment. For example, let’s suppose a health care provider gave an individual euthanasia in a state where it was legal. Later, the health care provider might feel guilty because of any reason including religion’s condemnation of euthanasia, his/her moral values, culture, or just the health care provider’s outlook on life. Thus, he/she might refuse to give euthanasia to any other individual for the rest of his/her practicing career. Money has always served as a main motivational driver for people in different professions. Many health care providers accept the patients’ pr oposals to provide them with a medical treatment in private for money even if the treatment is illegal

Depreciation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Depreciation - Essay Example The management of a business usually selects an appropriate method of depreciation depending on the kinds of assets employed in the business, the nature and purposes for which the assets are put to use in the business and the general conditions prevailing in the business environment. Sometimes the business may use a combination of one or more methods of charging depreciation. With this background, this paper analyses the calculation and accounting of depreciation for various kinds of assets in the light of the statement that "Accountants generally prefer to show fixed assets on the balance sheets of limited companies at their original cost, less an estimated amount of depreciation." "The assets of a business arephysical resources owned and used by the business and arelisted on the balance sheet to reflect the value." The assets are classified into two major classifications: current assts and non-current assets. Current assets are those which can be or expected to be converted into cash within a short trading cycle usually a year or so. The current assets are usually short term assets and are meant to be for the short term use of the business. Examples of current assets are cash, inventory and receivables. The non-current assets representing fixed assets that are of long term or more permanent in nature employed in the business. The non-current assets include assets like land, buildings, plant and machinery, equipments and vehicles. The non-current assets have some characteristic features that are common to this class of assets. The purpose of acquiring these assets is to use in the business as against converting into cash on a business venture. Except for the investments in land, the cost of other non-current assets is gradually written off over the period of useful life. This amount that is being written off is being treated as an expense for doing the business and is reflected as depreciation in the profit and loss statement of the business. The depreciation is a periodic charge over the respective assets. The dollar value of non-current assets is shown on the balance sheet as the original cost of the item at the time of purchase (the net asset value is calculated by deducting the accumulated depreciation from the marginal cost)(Business Victoria) 3.0 Definition of Depreciation: A precise definition of depreciation may take the following form: "Depreciation is a measure of the wearing out, consumption or other loss of value of a depreciable asset arising from use, effluxion of time or obsolescence through technology and market changes. Depreciation is allocated so as to charge a fair proportion of the depreciable amount in each accounting period during the expected useful life of the asset. Depreciation includes amortisation of assets whose useful life is predetermined. Depreciable assets are assets which (i) are expected to be used during more than one accounting period; and (ii) have a limited useful life; and (iii) are held by an enterprise for use

Propositions on Poker Machine Addiction Essay Example for Free

Propositions on Poker Machine Addiction Essay The American Gaming Association (AGA) is a group which represents its members who come from the commercial casino industry. Formed in 1995, the goal of the group is to create awareness and factual understanding of the casino world. The main purpose of the group is to educate the public and its stakeholders about casinos. In the process, it also benefits its members by giving support to them in terms of legislations that affect them and the industry, rules and regulations that they need to be familiar about, and several other assistance while operating their respective enterprises. The AGA also acted as a trusted source of information for media personnel and other industry partners. (About the AGA, 2003, n. p. ) As part of its advocacy, the AGA also highlights responsible gaming as an important element in enjoying casinos. It partners with schools and encourages its members and employees to create awareness on responsible gaming, and identifies the results of irresponsibility within casinos. The AGA started the orange wristband campaign under the â€Å"Keep It Fun† slogan, encouraging gamers to keep casino playing fun and never destructive. The wristband campaign continues to be part of the Responsible Gaming Education Week and Lecture Series, both hosted by the AGA. (Responsible Gaming, 2003, n. p. ) Propositions on Poker Machine Addiction The American Gaming Association submits this document to the Federal Government in response to the inquiry on propositions regarding the community effects of poker machines. Poker machines have been traditional entertainment tools. Since the creation of the first poker machine in the late 1800s, it has become widely identified with bars and liquor shops. (Poker machines history, n. d. , n. p. The availability of poker machines in public places has raised concerns that it might affect family structure. Coleman (1999, n. p. ) reports that in Australia efforts have been made to study the link between family issues and gambling. Poker machines have been pointed out to be the major culprit among all gambling devices. The same issues are present. Noting that poker machines are readily available to all and that getting addicted to it is not impossible, and with an existing statistics of gamblers whose family life has been put at stake because of their addiction to the game, an inquiry has been made on how the issue can be resolved. The first option for many would be to restrain the availability of poker machines. At the most, the machines can even be totally banned. While this is an efficient way to address the issue, there are many considerations that may affect this. Casinos around the world employ thousands of workers, and a deep cut in their revenues may mean an unforeseen increase in unemployment. Also, poker machines and other gambling entertainments remit big tax revenues. In New Orleans, for instance, video poker machines accounted over $200 million in taxes. With such a price tag at stake, it is difficult for the local governments to surrender into banning poker machines. (The Associated Press, 2008, n. p. ) Poker Machines and the World The issues besetting poker machines are not isolated. The same concerns happen all around the world. Actor Russell Crowe moved to ban poker machines in Australia though lost in the voting. (Poker machine ban effort a bust, 2008, n. p. ) The Australian senate, on the other hand, also created the Poker Harm Minimization Bill of 2008, which aims to restrict, limit, and monitor poker machine activities in the country. The dilemma crosses other continents. Poker machines are big hits across Asia too. Thus, poker machines are often blamed to many social problems. (Man vs. Machine, 2008, n. p. ) However, coinciding with this is the fact that poker machine players often have to deal with other problems, as a study of 43,000 Americans have found. It is therefore concluded that making the game unavailable to gamblers with interrelated problems will not solve their addiction. The same is true with thousand of other gamblers around the world. (Man vs. Machine, 2008, n. p. ) Gambling and the Family Considering that a big percentage of 43,000 poker-machine playing Americans who underwent the study have other behavioral problems while addicted to the game, it cannot be disclosed that the family problems are caused by playing poker machines. There is the possibility that poker is their way of escaping from the other stresses in their lives. It can also be said that poker is their way of solving their problem—a player whose family is undergoing financial turmoil may think that poker may give him the luck he has been waiting for to ease his family of financial burdens. (Man vs. Machine, 2008, n. p. ) However, it is acceptable to say that there are many players who have become addicted to the game, and at which point became disconnected with their families, begun failing to judge their finances properly, and miscalculated many personal and financial decisions for the sake of playing. The actual percentages of players who belong to these groups are difficult to tell. Yet, in crediting the existence of these two facets, it is easier to recognize the proper solutions to be carried out by the government. Individual choices Before any legislation, legislators must closely study the profile of poker machine players. In Australia, 62. % of casino players gamble in poker machines. This is a majority of all other casino games and gambling devices. Of these poker machine players, 98% play mainly in casinos and betting clubs. 85. 4% knows that playing the poker machine is a game of chance. Still, 73. 4% can play the machine for up to an hour. (Hing and Breen, 2002, 192) Here, the behavior of players can be seen. It also shows that the wide availability of poker machines elsewhere does little to affect the betting behavior of players, as majority plays mainly on betting clubs. It can be alarming, though, that gamers can sit and bet in the machine for up to an hour. Thus, this requires a close look. Gamers also have different reasons for playing. For the majority, playing the poker machine is purely to entertain themselves. It was a way to let time pass. A small percentage of the respondents (21. 4%) played for hopes to win. (Hing and Breen, 2002, 192) This dispels the second facet presented herein, where it has been theorized that some players play poker machines for money. It can be associated that because majority of the players see poker machines as a game of luck, there is no certainty of winning or gaining money with it. In a personal level, respondents who play poker machines have been found to be between 18 and 34 years old. They are singles in the sense that they have never married. Thus, they may have relationships. Majority of them do not have dependents. (Hing and Breen, 2002, 192) This questions the validity of the argument that poker machines break families. With a majority of players without families or living under circumstances of broken families already, it is notable to discuss that poker machines may not be causing the family problems to begin with. The other issues besetting the players should likely be causing the complications, and thus should be addressed as well. Proposed Implementations The Australian study is a comprehensive view of the profiles of poker machine gamers. However, it is difficult to pattern implementations in other counties with this single study. A rigorous study for each country or state is needed, for which solutions should be patterned. On the other hand, given that these findings are also true elsewhere, the AGA proposes the following strategies for implementation. With these, it is expected that the Federal Government will be able to find ways to decrease or eliminate the claimed probable causes of poker machines as destructive agents to families. Bet and Time limit Hills (n. d. , n. p. ) assert that a player can bet up to $2 per spin and play up to 200 spins per hour. Finding that majority of poker gamers can sit and bet for up to an hour, it is recommended that time restriction be implemented. A player can bet on a machine for up to the approved maximum time only. This ensures that the player will not be too absorbed in the game and will remain conscious about his betting behavior and betting practices. Coinciding with this, there should also be a limit on the bets that one can play in a specific set. If the maximum bet for the day has been reached, the player should stop even if the game is less than the maximum allowed. Support for Gaming Advocacies Currently, the American Gaming Association has education drives to combat gaming addiction. While the program has been successful in places where it has been introduced, the group needs the additional mileage that the Federal Government can provide. The support will also mean more people knowing about the campaign and educated about the ill effects of addictive gambling. It covers both prevention of gaming addiction and cure. Conclusion Many studies have associated gambling with breakage in family ties. With majority of gamblers playing poker machines, the device has become a point of contention. The local government, however, cannot decide on the proper move considering that a bog percentage of community revenues come from the machines. The Federal Government’s inquiry helped assess the situation. It paved the way to reconciling the benefits of poker machines in terms of the financial help that it is offering and the pre-meditated bad effects that it is highly addictive and that it affects families. A thorough study of gamers is necessary. From their profiles, proper actions can be made. Limits on betting and play can help, as well as support in the education drives such as that of the American Gaming Association. This way, the machines can continue helping the community while avoiding any destructive effect it may have with families.

Essay --

Kassandra Rodriguez Professor Goner Abuse in the workplace Abuse in the workplace is behavior that causes the workers any emotional or physical harm. Discrimination, sexual harassment/harassment, violence and bullying are forms of workplace abuse. These actions are not always detectable from each other because they often overlap. Harassment could be discriminatory, bullying could be a form of harassment, and any of these behaviors can lead to violence in the workplace. There are many questions that could be asked about this like, Do men often report sexual harassment? Do minorities report Discrimination? Do men or women really experience violence in the workplace? Violence in the workplace as an threat or act of physical harm toward another person at the work site. the abusers might use verbal abuse or physically assault their victims to intimidate them. A person who threatens a coworker with physical harm is usually considered a ‘typical’ bully. However, the boss or supervisor who often requests an employee to do work or threa tens to fire them also is a bully. Bullies sometimes pretend to ignore their coworkers to make them feel invisible. Bullies also use other tactics to humiliate their victims, such as rumors to spread lies about them or try to sabotage their work. Discriminatory behavior treats workers very unfair usually on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age. Discrimination is prohibited by federal and state laws. Unfair actions incorporate retaliation, harassment, denying employment and making decisions that affect people in these categories. Bullying, violence and discrimination often are categorized as workplace harassment. Therefore, harassment victims suffer the sa... ...t down and come up with some statistics and go over our data. Now, participant observation is a little different, The main objective of participant observation is to grasp a deep understanding and become familiar with a certain group of individuals. So where would we conduct this? in an office where there are more than 5 people being ran by 1 boss. How long? anywhere from 6 months to a year. We would keep close eye on how the boss/supervisor interacts with their employees. The main goal is to try and see how the working population is treated behind closed doors. Maybe, this study can help change the way people are treated for working hard. Change the way it is handled, make it more serious when someone files a complaint against a worker for sexual harassment or bullying. Would you want your kids to be treated in this manner? so lets try and stop it head on.

Spring and All

In William Carols Williams' poem â€Å"Spring and All,† he uses vivid images and metaphors to compare nature to those who endure a deadly disease while quarantined in a contagious hospital. The piece of land surrounding the hospital has been tainted by the dead of winter, which is used to represent those who lost their lives due to the sickness. Then the speaker describes the appreciated transformation the land begins to show, as winter slowly turns into spring. The dead piece of land beginning to show signs of life is used to represent the few that survive and will get o leave the dreary hospital.The speaker describes the piece of land surrounding the hospital as muddy, lifeless, and cold. The description of the land during winter is used to symbolize the gloomy feel of the hospital and those who will never leave it, consumed by their illness. Like winter, those who have died are like â€Å"twiggy/ stuff of bushes and small trees/ with dead, brown leaves under them/ leafless vines-,† (10-13. ) The lifelessness of the land and the bare dead plants is used as a metaphor for the tragic deaths of the quarantined patients.The speaker describes the sky and weather as â€Å"mottled clouds driven from/ the northeast – a cold wind,† (3-4. ) The cold wind is used to symbolize the cold chill of death and the misery that will blow through families who lost their loved ones. The poem then begins to portray the beginning of spring and the diseased filled land commences on a slow transformation with a chance of vitality. The land Is â€Å"lifeless in appearance, sluggish/ dazed spring approaches,† (14-15. ) These lines are meant to symbolize the lives of those who struggled and survived through the Illness.At first they are stricken Ill and appear dead In their beds, but as spring approaches they awaken weak, but alive and full of hope. Spring approaches and â€Å"now the stark dignity of/ entrance – Still, the profound change/ has come upon them: rooted, they/ grip down and begin to awaken,† (25-28. ) Not only does the last stanza represent nature breaking through all the dead and being reborn but also those who survived a contagious disease and will receive another chance at life.Spring has always been a symbol of rebirth because dead, leafless, and flowerless plants begin new growth; animals awaken from their long winter slumber, and also a popular time for new life to enter the world. It makes sense that this poem compares spring with the lives of those who have overcome a serious Illness, and will get another shot at life, almost as If they have been reborn. In this poem, winter Is used as a symbol for those who lost their lives, and the sorrows that will freeze the hearts of their family and friends.On the other hand, spring Is used to Illustrate the rebirth of nature and the second chance to those who led on and fought to stay alive. As the land outside the contagious hospital begins to transform with new life and beautiful colors It represents the hope of those that survive and could look out one of the hospitals window and witness new life beginning to grow as they experience their own new chance at life. Work Cited Williams, William Carols. â€Å"Spring and All,† Literature: A Pocket Anthology. 4th deed. Deed. R. S. Gwynne. New York: Longhand, 2009. 597.Spring and All By Jones land commences on a slow transformation with a chance of vitality. The land is meant to symbolize the lives of those who struggled and survived through the illness. At first they are stricken ill and appear dead in their beds, but as spring approaches those who have overcome a serious illness, and will get another shot at life, almost as if they have been reborn. In this poem, winter is used as a symbol for those who lost their lives, and the spring is used to illustrate the rebirth of nature and the second chance to those who to transform with new life and beautiful colors it represents the hope of those that

Ethics †Accountant Essay

?List 3 lessons about ethics from this article. 1. The first one is the most powerful lesson learned from practicing ethical conduct during Boisjoly’s 27-year engineering career in the aerospace industry, is that them, as individuals, become the result-ant sum of each ethical confrontational event as experienced from the beginning of their careers. 2. The second lesson is what he learned was to never delay informing superiors of bad news so he could protect his integrity with peers. 3. The third lesson is the continuous lesson learned from these personal experiences, is that the good guys can win. Even though we lose, we also have an influence in the outcome of the war. Which of the lessons listed above are relevant to someone entering the accounting profession? In my point of view, the third lesson, which talked about the good guys can win, is relevant to someone entering the accounting profession. The ‘Voice Choice’ is similar with accounting profession, because we need to assist on the truth. In this lesson also mentions accountability was usually applied to kill the messenger bringing the bad news, rather than punish the wrongdoer. In the accounting profession, the responsibility is also need to display the information not to punish someone. Therefore, these lessons help the author learned some ideas. Moreover, this idea could help him fit in the accounting profession. Boisjoly cites the following three types of behavior that are used by those confronted with an ethical dilemma: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Develop a hypothetical case involving external reporting that would cause an accountant (either a corporate accountant or an auditor) to choose between those three types of behavior. Here I will create a hypothetical case, and this case involves external reporting that will cause an accountant. This story was happened in China. A company has three accountants. They are Lily, Sam and Jack. For the record, this company just changed the manger. The manger wants to fire some employees who are not qualified with their stations. Moreover, the supervisor of accounting is available now. The three accountants do not worry about get fired, but all of them want to strive for the accounting supervisor. Therefore, they tried to do well on their own jobs, paid more attention to themselves’ personal image and interpersonal relationship. One day, the manager took some blank notes to Sam’s office, because he wanted to submit an expenses account. However, Sam refused the manger’s requirement because the blank notes were break rules. Then the manger went to Lily’s office, and asked for the same thing. The difference is Lily wanted to ingratiate the manager, so she reimbursed to the manger. Another day, the manger did the same thing to Jack. Jack let the manager go back to office at first, and he would send these notes back to manager’s office later. After that, he returned back the blank notes, and he did not approve the requirement. One week later, Lily was fired, Sam was still there, and Jack became the accountant supervisor. Someone asked manger why, the manager answered that â€Å"we cannot hire a person who do not follow the principles, We should reuse the people who either follow the principle or the way of methods. † Based on this story, we analyze Lily is related to ‘Loyalty’, Sam is related to the ‘Voice†, because he stands up for ethical principles.

C-141vsC-17compare&contrast essays

C-141vsC-17compare&contrast essays For the past 39 years, the C-141B Starlifter cargo jet has served the United States Air Force as its primary workhorse for handling transport duties during armed conflicts, as well as, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions throughout the world. However, the needs of todays military in the ever-changing worldwide environment have begun to reveal the C-141Bs age. In recent years, threats to the United States national security have increased the immediacy of replacing the C-141B with an aircraft that meets the current needs of our military, yet is flexible enough to meet future needs as well. The C-17 Globemaster III, originally developed to complement the C-141B, has now become the heir apparent to the aging Starlifter. Developed in 1991 and operational since 1995, the C-17 Globemaster III is in every way superior to the aging C-141B. With its four engines each producing 40,500 pounds of thrust, the C-17 is capable of a maximum speed of 515 mph and a service ceiling of 45,000 feet. Its powerful engines allow the C-17 to use a runway only 3,000 feet long. By comparison, the C-141Bs four engines produce only 20,250 pounds of thrust. This limits the aircraft to a maximum speed of 475 mph and a service ceiling of 41,000 feet. The C-141B requires a runway of at least 6,000 feet, which makes it impractical for many of the worlds runways. A big advantage of the C-17 is its minimal crew requirements. A crew of three is all it takes to fly this aircraft. A pilot and a co-pilot handle flying duties, while only one loadmaster is responsible for the cargo bay, cargo, and passengers. The C-141B, however, requires as many as six crewmembers to operate. A pilot, co-pilot, engineer, and scanner are necessary to fly the plane, and 2-3 loadmasters are required to manage the cargo and passengers. Of course, this also means twice as many crew need to be trained, and the training per person is generally more exp...

Halifax Explosion of 1917 - World War I History

Halifax Explosion of 1917 - World War I History Updated: 07/13/2014 About the Halifax Explosion The Halifax Explosion occurred when a Belgian relief vessel and a French munitions carrier collided in Halifax Harbour during World War I. Crowds gathered around to watch the fire from the initial collision. The munitions ship drifted towards the pier and after twenty minutes blew sky high. More fires started and spread, and a tsunami wave was created. Thousands were killed and injured and much of Halifax was destroyed. To add to the disaster, a snowstorm started the next day, and lasted for nearly a week. Date December 6, 1917 Location Halifax, Nova Scotia Cause of the Explosion Human error Background to the Halifax Explosion In 1917, Halifax, Nova Scotia was the main base of the new Canadian Navy and housed the most important army garrison in Canada. The port was a major hub of wartime activity and Halifax Harbour was crowded with warships, troop transports and supply ships. Casualties more than 1900 people killed9000 injured1600 buildings destroyed12,000 houses damaged6000 homeless; 25,000 people with inadequate housing Summary of the Explosion The Belgian relief vessel Imo was leaving Halifax Harbour on its way to New York and the French munitions ship Mont Blanc was on its way to wait for a convoy when the two ships collided at 8:45 am.The munitions ship was carrying picric acid, gun cotton and TNT. Her top deck carried benzol which spilled and burned.For 20 minutes crowds collected around Halifax Harbour to watch the billowing smoke filled with sparks and fire as the Mont Blanc drifted towards Pier 6. While crews from nearby ships raced to put out the blaze, the captain and crew of the Mont Blanc rowed in lifeboats for the Dartmouth shore. When the crew landed they tried to warn people to run.The Mont Blanc rammed Pier 6, setting its wood pilings on fire.The Mont Blanc exploded, flattening everything within 800 metres (2600 feet), and causing damage for 1.6 km (1 mile). The explosion was said to have been heard as far away as Prince Edward Island.Fires spread quickly after the explosion.Water around the ship vaporized, a huge tsunami wave flooded the streets of Halifax and Dartmouth and swept many people back into the harbour where they drowned. The next day, one of the worst blizzards ever recorded in Halifax began, and lasted for six days.Relief came immediately from the troops in the area. Assistance also poured in from the Maritimes, central Canada and the northeastern United States in the form of medical supplies and workers, food, clothing, building supplies and labourers, and money. Emergency teams from Massachusetts arrived, and many stayed for months. To this day, the people of Nova Scotia remember the help they received, and every year the province of Nova Scotia sends a giant Christmas tree to Boston in thanks.

Colour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Colour - Essay Example This research investigates the complex meaning of the color red, considering the ways its meaning can vary amongst individuals, cultures, and subcultures. In examining the colour red, one of the most overarching considerations is establishing an epistemological framework between cultures. Friedman & Miyake (2004) investigated the extent language shapes human perception. This study primarily revealed that cultures with more complex vocabularies for designating colour subsequently perceived colour in different ways. In terms of red, this is significant as it is difficult to speak of a singular ‘red’ throughout world culture, but rather a series of approximating notions of ‘redness’ that are at best pragmatically linked. This notion of redness has assumed symbolic recognition in global society. One of the most prominent such instances is the notion of red as embodying revolutionary ideas, or more specifically socialism and communism. Earl (1996) examined this thematic implementation of red in a variety of 20th century social contexts. Undoubtedly influenced by the Red Star communist symbol, as well as the Russian semantic linkage between red and ‘beautiful’, red came to acquire such prominent symbolic properties that countries with communist regimes were even referred to as ‘red’ countries. This symbolism extended to specific social movements; for instance, the perceived intrusion of communism into the United Kingdom and United States was referred to as the Red Scare. While there is the distinct possibility that these political notions of redness were influenced by deeper human instinctual perceptions of red, the symbolic perception of red also varies across cultures. In this way, rather than ‘red’ purely embodying revolutionary ideology, the color also connotes passion and virility. For instance, from a comprehensive qualitative approach, red roses, hearts, or even candy harkens these essential qualities. Ball (2001, p. 43)

Implanting a CHIP in every U.S. citizen Assignment

Implanting a CHIP in every U.S. citizen - Assignment Example There are several reasons why people consent to microchip implantation. First, it allows fast and efficient access to a person’s medical records in case of emergency (Merrill, 2009; Merill, 2007). It is highly efficient since a person will always carry the device within his body wherever he may go. Second, it could also serve as a means of identity verification (Merrill, 2007; Murray, 2004). Murray (2004) said aside from medical institutions, that the company has been working in convincing banks, credit card companies and security agencies that use of their product is highly beneficial in this aspect. Tracking would be another reason (Murray, 2004; Fuller, 2002). Kidnapping is a serious crime that is rampant today. A microchip implanted to a person can be used to track down his or her location. The microchip implant could also serve as another form of security measure. Additional security was the reason why Mexico implanted the microchip to 160 officials said Murray (2004). Th is served as another of their passes in entering and leaving classified government establishments. Further, the potential of the chip being glucose monitor is also being examined. This would be highly beneficial to diabetic patients who always monitor the level of their blood sugar. In 2007 however, the American Medical Association found several risks of microchip implantation said Merrill (2007). The first of these is that the chip migrates under the skin. Then it also disturbs the signal transmitted by electromagnetic and electrosurgical devices and defibrillators, he added. Further, the microchip might negatively react with certain pharmaceuticals. Aside from these medical issues, there are also privacy and social issues. Since tracking could be possible with the use of the device, a person could feel that his privacy is being invaded and that his moves are being watched. Instead of adding security, the microchip would then cause additional worry to its carrier. It can serve as a tracking device for law-enforcers. But the same device could also be used by criminals to hunt down their prey. If the microchip can be used for efficiency in security, then it can also be used to efficiently breach it. Just as intelligence and skills can be used for further advancement, it can also be utilized to violate laws and conduct criminal acts. There has been a fear that RFID would one day be recognized as a national ID for the Americans. It is just like a chain reaction, when more and more people use the product, then the closer it would get to being a national ID. With passage of bills in some states that ban the mandatory implantation of the said device, this worry has been somehow eliminated. Since there are states that will not mandate its people to have the chip within them, a national ID using this method will no longer be possible. The United States as a country is a leader in the word community. What gets accepted in the U.S. would be considered for acceptance by other countries if not totally accepted. The country being a super-power is a trend-setter and a leader in technological advancement. Its influence to the global community could be easily seen in various aspects such as economics, medicine, the sciences and other fields. The main concern of its leaders would be the benefit of its citizens, but when they pass a national statute, they must also

Philosophical concepts - What is Ethics What is my responsibility to Assignment

Philosophical concepts - What is Ethics What is my responsibility to the public - Assignment Example Ethics acts as rules that give the difference between right and wrong. The desire to act according to expectations of a certain society makes people to consider having the right code of ethics. Each member of a given society has obligation to improve the welfare of the organization. Such obligations and expectations, define the responsibility of each member of the society. Ethics define the rules of a given society while responsibilities define expectations of each member of the society according to its ethics (Solomon, 1984). Ethics are implemented through responsibilities and this makes them useful to the society. The issue of national security versus individual privacy is a current issue that can be resolved adequately through ethics and responsibility. Although the federal government has a responsibility of ensuring national security, it is unethical for those endowed with this responsibility to invade personal privacy. This indicates that within an organization, people have a role to implement ethics through responsibilities or obligation. All ethics within a given society require responsibilities however, not all responsibilities are

Efficient market hypothesis

Efficient market hypothesis Introduction: From the last several decades the efficiency of stock market has been the sole purpose of research studies. As a result, several theories have been introduced and implemented in relation to principally how the competition in the stock market will force the known information into the prices of securities. The knowledge of information on a variety of securities that are traded in the market is one of the major factors in influencing the movements of stock market. In the stock market, a securities price tends to move rise and fall depending mainly on the availability of the information. The stock prices in the efficient market correspond to available information and therefore register any rise or fall mainly when recent and unpredictable information is available. The up and down in the security prices largely depends upon the advantages and disadvantages associated with the available information and to what extent it will affect the companys performance which is represented by the secur ity. As it is very difficult to tell whether the information available is useful or not, in the same way it is quite impossible to make predictions about the trend of the stock market, such that whether there will be an upward or downward trend in the near future by using the available information. In the financial market it is not mandatory that all professionals related to market always possess the information about the securities and have skills to evaluate this information for their gain. The only thing the efficient market requires is that few individuals must have the information about securities and as a result of the information supplied by them, the whole market must be well informed and benefitted. Hence the available information plays an important role in determining the efficiency of the stock market. By focussing on the above idea, the concept of Efficient Market Hypothesis has been developed and became one of the most concentrated and debatable topic among professionals and people related to finance and stock market studies. RESEARCH AIM: The main aim of my research is to analyse the efficiency of stock market supported by the concept of Efficient Market Hypothesis. It also aims to depict the impact of the Efficient Market Hypothesis on security trading by reviewing the available literature. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: My research aims to answer the following questions: To what extent the available information, according to the concept of Efficient Market Theory, affects the security trading in stock market. What is insider trading and its impact on the efficiency of stock market. What are the various types of anomalies associated with the stock market and their effect on the stock market efficiency. LITERATURE REVIEW: In this part of my research paper I will re-examine the existing literature on the anomalies and the efficiency of the stock market. An efficient market is defined as a market where there are large numbers of rational, profit-maximizers actively competing, with each trying to predict future market values of individual securities, and where important current information is almost freely available to all participants. In an efficient market, competition among the many intelligent participants leads to a situation where, at any point in time, actual prices of individual securities already reflect the effects of information based both on events that have already occurred and on events which, as of now, the market expects to take place in the future. In other words, in an efficient market at any point in time the actual price of a individual securities already reflect the effects of information based both on events that have already occurred and on events which, as of now, the market expects to take place in the future. In other words, in an efficient market at any point in time the actual price of a security will be a good estimate of its intrinsic value.(Eugene F. Fama 1965) According to the Efficient Market Hypothesis, given by Fama, the ups and downs in the prices of securities in the financial market totally reflect known information at a specified period of time. In other words, Efficient Market Hypothesis states that the trading of securities by the individuals is always carried out purely based on the assumption that securities worth are always more or less than the price offer by market. Whereas, trading of securities trying to outperform the stock market will be luck instead of professional skills if current prices fully reflect all available information as well as stock markets are efficient. According to this hypothesis if new information is revealed about a firm it will be incorporated into the share price rapidly and rationally, with respect to the direction of the share price movement and the size of that movement. (Elearn -NetTel) . Efficiency is an unclear word in itself so for more clarification, in my dissertation, I will describe all ty pes of efficiencies: operational, allocation and pricing. I will also give full detail on levels of market efficiency : weak-form efficiency, semi-strong form efficiency and strong-form efficiency. According Random walk theory , there are no trends and format that are being followed by the prices of securities in stock market. There is another fact given by this theory which says that the prices of securities in the past can not be useful for future predictions and fluctuation in prices. The Efficient Market Hypothesis and anomalies related to the stock market developed by the researchers always contrasts with each other. The search for anomalies is effectively the search for systems or patterns that can be used to outperform passive and/or buy-and-hold strategies. (Invest Home). With the invention of any anomaly, there is always a kind of exploitation by the investors of the anomalies discovered in order to increase their profit. This practice make the anomaly disappear with the passage of time. There are so many internal and external factors of the entities that affects the operations of stock market and those factors are often known as Anomalies which plays an important role in over performing or under performing the operations of the stock market by taking into consideration the fact that these anomalies have good or bad effect on the prices of stocks and entities. There are different types of anomalies and some of the anomalies are discussed. Fundamental Anomalies: First type of anomaly is fundamental anomaly which basically depends upon the price of the stock and on the past performance of the entity due to which stock prices rises or fall. Several anomalies of these kinds exist related to the growth, present value and profitability of the companies concerned. Under fundamental anomaly, there exist a most historical and famous anomaly named Value investing and is regarded as the most appropriate strategy for investment purposes. These anomalies depend on the stock value and companys performance based on which the stock prices go up or down. A technique used is to divide the given index into high price and low price to book value stocks. The low price to book concept was developed by Eugene Fama and Keneth French favouring the hypothesis that lower risk is attached to value stocks whereas the stocks with growth are attached with higher risk. According to another anomaly named as low price to sales, stocks with low price to sales ratio perform b etter then high price to sales ratio. According to James P. O Shaughnesey, prices are the only strongest determinant of excessive return. There are several studies which advocates that stocks having low P/E ratio always perform better in the market as compared to stocks with high P/E ratios. In the same manner, the stocks with high dividend yield are better performers than stocks with low dividend yields. There are some other stocks named as neglected stock and are chosen by those with the contrarian strategy. A study was conducted by F.M DeBondtand Richard Thaler on 35 best and worst performer stocks between 1932 and 1977 in New York Stock Exchange and came out with the result that the performance of best performer stocks in the stock exchange falls whereas the stocks with bad performance in the past showed better results when compared to the results of the same stock in the past. Technical Anomalies: Another types of anomalies in which past prices and statistics are used to predict the prices of securities are known as technical anomalies. The techniques used in these types of anomalies include strategies related to support and resistance, moving averages and strength. Some researchers are against the method of technical analysis and say that the investors are hardly benefitted from these technical analysis techniques where as some researchers argue that there is enough evidence and facts that are sufficient to say that the technical analysis method is favourable for the investors. According to technical analysts, the selling of stocks is influenced by the resistance level whereas the buying is influenced at the support level. A signal to sell the stock is developed in case the support level is penetrated by the price whereas a signal to buy the stock is produced in case price penetrated the resistance level. According to the conclusion made by William Brock, Josef Lakonishok, an d Blake LeBaron, the outcomes are reliable with technical rules having forecasting power. But at the same time the cost related to transaction must be taken into account before implementing such concepts and strategies. Another conclusion given by them says that the stock returns generating is more complicated and different process as compared to the results obtained by conducting different studies and researches using various linear models. Calendar Anomalies: Calendar anomaly is another type of anomaly in which various effects are included. In January effect, general and small stocks perform abnormally better in the month of January. Philippe Jorion and Robert Haugen say that, the January effect is, perhaps the best-known example of anomalous behaviour in security markets throughout the world. An interesting fact about January effect is that it lasted for nearly two decades whereas any anomaly hardly survive as traders start taking advantage of the anomalies which results in vanishing of anomaly. Another effect named Turn of the Month was founded by Chris R. Hensel and William T. Ziemba, according to which, in between period 1928 to 1993, the returns for the turn of the month performed well and considerably greater than normal performance. According to study, those investors who make regular purchases may be benefitted if they make schedule to do the purchasing at the end and prior to the starting of next month. In addition to these effec ts another effect is known as Monday effect and is considered to be the worst day in stock market if investments are made on this day. According to study conducted by Lawrence Harris, the week end effect occurs during first 45 minutes of buying and selling whereas prices shows upward trend during the first 45 minutes of trading on all other days. This kind of anomaly may occur due to moods and behaviour of people after weekend holidays. Other Anomalies There are certain other facts that are responsible for affecting the operations of stock market. The size effect, announcement based effect, IPOs, Stock buybacks, insider transactions and S and P game. According to Fama and French (1992), the book to market ratio as well as the size capture the cross-sectional variation of average stock returns in NYSE, and Nsdaq securities. A complete investigation of book to market was provided by Tim Loughran in relation to dimensions of firm size, exchange listings etc and experimental findings of French and Fama are basically forwarded by two features of the data which includes relatively low returns on small, new and growing stocks. Srinivas Nippani, Augustine C. Arize study three main US corporate bond market indices by taking into account calendar based anomalies between the years 1982-2002. In the analysis, the whole bond market as well as two broad classes of industries namely industrials and utilities were taken into account. The study find the mixed response for the weekend effect in the overall bond index and industrial index whereas very less response to utilities index. The findings showed definite proof of January effect on the bond market. RESEARCH METHOD AND DATA: Data Collection Methods: The general idea of business research is that it is concerned with collection of data, making questionnaires and then analysing and evaluating the collected data. In addition to this, the identification of problem and the approach needed to solve the problem is also important. (Ghauri et al., 1995). Data sources are often referred to as the carriers of data information. Basically data sources are divided into two categories namely primary data and secondary data. Primary data is concerned with the interviews and observations collected while conducting research project where as, secondary data is collected by others and academic and non academic sources are included in this type of data. In my topic of research which is to study the efficiency of stock market, I want to use the Desk method that is secondary data collection method. This includes the gathering of information from sources like books, journals related to my topic of research, and from electronic media like internet which is one of the major sources of information. These all sources of information will be helpful for the accomplishment of my research. DATA SOURCES: As I have already describe that I will use secondary method in my dissertation so I have to search a lot for this topic and for this search my main resource is FBES (Faculty of Business, Environment and Society) which provides the best online business information services which is also including the digital management library. Some of the main sources (journal databases) for my research area are given below: EBSCO Business Source. Business Source Premiere. Emerald. Science Direct. NetLibrary. Overall these cover hundreds of journals, and give access to up to a million journal articles. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: While reviewing all the information from available literature on efficient market hypothesis, operations of stock market, price fluctuations and the anomalies of stock market, I have come to the conclusion that the following outcomes could be possible and predictable from my research, If the stock market is efficient then no information can play any role in making any change towards the performance of stock market. The efficient market hypothesis is expected to take any of the following forms which are weak, semi-strong and strong which purely depends upon the availability, and trueness of the past and present information about the stock concerned in the stock market. The anomalies like technical anomalies could be of great help to the researchers and analysts to predict the changing trend in the prices of stocks in the stock market but the transaction cost is the cause of concern while using such technical method. There are some other stock market anomalies which purely depend upon the internal and external factors of the entity and may result in fluctuations in the stock market. The anomalies related to stock market exist for short period of time but function against the concept of efficient market hypothesis and in my research I will find out the facts relating to the vibrations in the stock market as a result of these anomalies. LIMITATIONS AND EXPECTED DIFFICULTIES: While conducting my research I have to face certain difficulties and limitations which may occur during the course of my research. As my research involves the collection of secondary data, I have to be quite aware of the limitations that may arise due to the nature of data. Some of the limitations that are possible are as follows It could be possible that the theory and data we collected for our research is unclear and is not helpful for the companies in their decision making. It is important to check the source of the information as it could be wrong and misleading. It is possible that the theory is quite old for studies and research purposes in todays rapidly developing world. The theory may not be fit for application due to development of new and technological methods and techniques used for the analysis. REFERENCES: Chris R. Hensel and William T. Ziemba (1996)Investment Results from Exploiting Turn-of-the-Month Effects, Journal of Portfolio Management 22, 17-23 Elearn NetTel Financial Analysis Revised: Session 1: Market Efficiency [Online] Available From: http://cbdd.wsu.edu/kewlcontent/cdoutput/TR505r/page4.htm Eugene Fama and Kenneth R. French (1992)The Cross-section of Expected Stock Returns, The Journal of Finance 47, 427-465. Eugene F. Fama (1995) Random Walks in Stock Market Prices, Financial Analysts Journal 21, 55-59. Ghauri, P., Gronhaug K and Kristianslund I., (1995) Research methods in business studies a practical guide Hempstead: Prentice Hall Investor Home Historical Stock Market Anomolies [Online] Available From: James P. OShaughnessy (1998) 2nd edn. What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time. New York: McGraw Hills Lawrence Harris (1986) A Transaction Data Study of Weekly and Intradaily Patterns in Stock Returns, Journal of Financial Economics 16, 99-117 Loughran Tim (1997)Book-to-Market across firm Size, Exchange, and seasonality: Is There an Effect? Journal of Finance Quantitative Analysis 32, 249-268 Marc R. Reinganum (1997) The Size Effect: Evidence and Potential Explanations, Investing in Small-Cap and Microcap Securities, Association for Investment Management and Research, 1997. Robert Haugen and Philippe Jorion, (1996)The January Effect: Still There after All These Years, Financial Analysts Journal, January-February 1996. Srinivas Nippani and Anita K. Pennathur (2004) Day-of-the-week effects in commercial paper yield rates. Quaterly Review of economics Finance 44, 508-520 Werner F.M. DeBondtand Richard Thaler (1985)Does the Stock Market Overreact? The Journal of Finance 40, 793-805. Efficient Market Hypothesis Efficient Market Hypothesis Literature Review 2.0 Introduction In order to better understand the origin and the idea behind the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), the first section deals with an overview of the EMH. Section 2 deals with the Random Walk Model which is a close counterpart of the EMH. We then have examine the different degrees of information efficiency that exist, namely the weak form efficiency, semi-strong form efficiency and the strong form efficiency. In section 4, we have a brief overview of the different types of statistical tests that have been used in the literature to examine the weak form efficiency. Section 5 explains the implications of efficient markets for investors. 2.1 Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) The concept of efficiency is one of the essential concepts in finance. Market efficiency is a term used in many different contexts with many different meanings. Market efficiency involves three related concepts- allocation efficiency, operational efficiency and informational efficiency. Allocation efficiency: A characteristic of an efficient market in which capital is allocated in a way that benefits all participants. It occurs when organizations in the public and private sectors can obtain funding for the projects that will be the most profitable, thereby promoting economic growth Operational efficiency: A marketcondition that exists when participants can execute transactions and receive services at a price that fairly equates to the actual costs required to provide them.Economists use this term to describe the way resources are employed to facilitate the operation of the market. It is usually desirable that markets carry out their operations at as low a cost as possible. Information efficiency: The actual market price of a share should reflect its intrinsic value. Information efficiency implies that the observed market price of a security reflect all information relevant to the pricing of the security. The investor can manage to earn merely a risk-adjusted return from his investment, as prices move instantaneously and in an unbiased manner to any news. The efficiency in the market for financial assets and assets returns refers here to the information efficiency and should not be confused with the other types of efficiency. As explained by Rahman and Hossain (2006): For a stock market to be efficient, stock prices must always fully reflect all relevant and available information. This definition can be expressed as Æ’(Ri,t, Rj,t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ | à Ã¢â‚¬  M t-1) = Æ’( Ri,t, Rj,t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ | à Ã¢â‚¬  M t-1, à Ã¢â‚¬  a t-1), where Æ’(.) = a probability distribution function, Ri,t = the return on security i in period t, à Ã¢â‚¬  M t-1 = the information set used by the market at t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 1, à Ã¢â‚¬  a t-1 = the specific information item placed in the public domain at t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 1. This equation has two important implications. 1. Specific information item at t-1 (à Ã¢â‚¬  a t-1) cannot be used to earn non zero abnormal return. 2. When a new information item is added to the information set à Ã¢â‚¬  M, it is instantaneously reflected on market prices. The concept of market efficiency was first introduced by Bachelier (1900). Since then, there has been many studies like Working (1934), Cowles and Jones (1937), Kendall (1953), Cootner (1964). However it was Fama (1965) who first used termed it as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“efficient marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Fama (1970) later stated the sufficient but not necessary conditions for efficiency: i. there are no transaction costs in trading securities; ii. all available information is costlessly available to all market participants, and iii. all agree on the implications of current information for the current price and distributions of future prices of each security He also identified three degrees of informational efficiency namely the weak form, the semi-strong form and the strong form. 2.2 Random Walk Model (RWM) The Random Walk Model is a close counterpart of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The model was originally examined by Kendall (1953). It states that stock price fluctuations are independent of each other and have the same probability distribution. Thus the Random Walk theory suggests that stock price change randomly, making it impossible to predict stock prices. The Random Walk Model is linked to the belief that markets are efficient and that investors cannot beat or predict the market because stock prices reflect all available information and the new information arises randomly. As mentioned in Fama (1970) the two hypotheses constituting the Random Walk Model , that is (i) successive price changes are independent and (ii) successive changes are identically distributed, are implicitly assumed in the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The Random Walk Model is in direct opposition to technical analysis, which suggests that a stocks future price can be forecasted based on historical information through observing chart patterns and technical indicators. 2.3 Forms of Market Efficiency 2.3.1 Weak-Form Efficiency Fama (1970) stipulates that no investor can earn excess returns by formulating trading strategies based on historical price or return information in a weak-form efficient market. The weak-form efficiency thus assumes that the price of a stock fully reflects all information contained in past prices, that is the historical sequence of prices, rate of returns and other historical market information. A weak-form efficient market implies that it is of no use to engage in technical analysis that use past prices alone to find undervalued stocks. In order to test whether past share prices can be used to predict future share prices( that is, weak-form efficiency), statistical or econometric tests can be used. These studies seek to study the evolution of share prices from one period to the next period and try to detect correlation between the successive price changes. Technical analysts study the evolution of past share prices, with the aim of predicting share prices to make gains. 2.3.2 Semi-Strong Form Efficiency Fama (1970) described the semi-strong form efficiency as one where share price fully reflect all information contained not only in past prices but all public information. All public information includes capital market information as used in the weak form Efficient Market Hypothesis(EMH) as well as non-market information such as earnings, dividend announcements, price earnings ratio, information about the economy and political news (Reilly1997). New public information is almost instantaneously integrated in share price and the share price is adjusted so as to reflect the true value of the share. This means that an investor cannot use public information to generate gains on the stock market. In order to test for semi-strong form efficiency, event studies are often used. These event studies are performed by analyzing the effect of the release of new public information on the share price. If the market is semi-strong form efficient, the new public information ( for example annual reports, earning announcement or dividend announcement) is instantaneously integrated in the share price, so as to reflect the intrinsic value of the share. New information can be both good or bad. Thus they can cause increases or decreases at their release. 2.3.3 Strong Form Efficiency Under strong form efficiency, the current price reflects all information, public as well as private. Private information, in this context, means information not yet published. On the stock market, there are professionals (for example security analysts, fund managers) who have private as well as public information. Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) assumes that no investor has monopolistic access to any information. This means that as new public and private information is released, it is incorporated in share price to reflect its true value. An investor will not be able to consistently find undervalued or overvalued shares and make gains on the strong form efficient market. Fama (1970) perceives a strong form efficient market as one where investors are not expected to earn excess returns by relying on inside information. To test whether past share prices, public and private information can used to predict future share prices, the investment records and gains generated by professional investors are often studied. Investors should not be consistently able to make gains by using public and private information. At all moments, the share prices incorporate all public and private information to reflect the true value of the shares. 2.4 Statistical Tests to examine validity of Weak-Form EMH In order to examine the validity of the weak form efficiency, a number of statistical tests have been used in the literature. These tests can be categorized into two groups: i. Using mechanical trading rules also known as filter rules. These rules test for the possibility of non-linear dependence existing in the price data. Filter rules were first used by S.A Alexander (1961) and later Fama and Blume (1966) added to the literature. Professor Alexanders filter techniques attempts to apply a sophisticated criteria to identify movements in stock prices. An x percent filter is defined as follows: If the daily closing price of a particular security moves up at least x percent, buy and hold the security until its price moves down at least x percent from a subsequent high, then sell and go short (Fama and Blume, 1966). The short position is then maintained until the daily closing price rises at least x percent above a subsequent low when one is going to cover and buy. Moves less than x percent in either direction are ignored. ii. Statistical tests of independence between successive price changes. Serial autocorrelation tests and run tests are among the most popular tests. Some of the researches in this field use Spectral Analysis which decomposes a time series into a spectrum of cycles of different length. This spectral decomposition of a time series yield a spectral density function that measures the contribution of each of the frequency bands to the overall variance of the times series. There is also a relatively new test introduced by Lo and Mackinlay (1988), it is called the Variance Ratio which is based on the heteroscedasticity problem. The basic idea behind the Lo and Mackinlay (1988) variance-ratios test is that if a natural logarithm of a time series is a pure random walk, then, the variance of its k-differences in a finite sample grows linearly with the difference, Let (pt) denote a time series consisting of T observations p1,p2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦,pT of asset returns. Then, the variance-ratio of the k-th difference, VR(k), is defined as: VR(k)= à Ã†â€™2(k)/à Ã†â€™2(1) where, VR(k) is the variance-ratio of the shares returns k-th differences; à Ã†â€™2(k) is the unbiased estimator of 1/k of the variance of the shares returns k-th differences, under the null hypothesis; à Ã†â€™2(1) is the variance of the first-differenced share returns series, and k is the number of days of base observations interval or lag (Ntim et al. ,2007). 2.5 Implications of EMH Market efficiency has important implications for both investors and authorities. If a market is inefficient, investors should doubt the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hold the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  strategy and should try to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“beat the marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . While the authorities on their part should restructure the stock market by enacting effective law and enhancing financial media. The graph below shows the effect of EMH on stock prices. The straight line shows the reaction under EMH while the dotted lines show the over-reaction and under-reaction that occur with the existence of market imperfections. If a market is efficient, investors: 1. should not worry about investment analysis. They should rather concentrate on holding a well diversified portfolio. Investors holding an inefficient diversified portfolio will be exposed to risk which could be avoided and for which they will not be rewarded. In other words, the market only provides return for systematic risk, while specific risks have to be diversified away. 2. Should adopt a buy and hold policy once they have established their portfolios. This is because there is no advantage in changing from one group of securities to another. By doing this, there would be transaction costs which they would have to incur and as a result, the risk-adjusted return would be affected. Altering the composition of a portfolio can only be justified a) if the risk exposure has changed due to relative changes in the market value of the constituent securities. b) if tax payments can be minimized. Other implications of EMH are: Price changes are random and unpredictable Investors are not easily fooled by the glossy financial reports or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"creative accounting techniques Timing of new issues of securities are not important since prices represent the intrinsic and will reflect the degree of risk in the share. Thus under EMH neither fundamental nor technical analysis can be used to achieve superior gains. Investors should concentrate on constructing and holding efficiently diversified portfolios. 2.6 Empirical Evidences Based on the literature, it can be seen that there are two competing schools of thoughts about market efficiency. The first school argues that markets are efficient and as a result, returns cannot be predicted. For example early studies (Working, 1934; Kendall, 1943, 1953; Cootner, 1962; Osborne, 1962; Fama, 1965) on developed markets support the weak form efficiency of the market with a low degree of serial correlation and transaction cost. The studies in this school of thought, support the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and show that price changes could not be used to forecast future price changes, especially after transaction costs were taken into account. The second school, on the other hand, provides empirical evidence of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"anomalies that contradict the theory of efficient markets. Some of these studies are Summers (1986), Keim (1988), Fama and French (1988), Lo and MacKinlay (1988) and Poterba and Summers (1988). They found some à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"anomalies, which could not be explained by the theory of Fama (1965). Some of the market anomalies that they found are: January Effect/Turn of The Year Effect Stock returns are usually abnormally high during the first few days of January. The January effect occurs because many investors choose to sell some of their stock right before the end of the year in order to claim a capital loss for tax purposes. Then they quickly reinvest their money after the new year, causing stock prices to rise. Rozeff and Kinney (1976) was among the first to prove this market anomaly. Rozeff and Kinney (1976) methodology gives smaller companies greater relative influence than would be true in value-weighted indices where large firms dominate. Subsequent researches (Reinganum, 1983; Roll, 1983, among others) later confirm that the January effect is a small cap phenomenon. Size Effect/Small Firm Effect The Size Effect is the tendency for firms with a small market capitalization to outperform larger companies over the long term. For example Banz (1981) and Reinganum (1981) showed that small-capitalization firms on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) earned a return in excess of what would be predicted by the Sharpe (1964) Linter (1965) capital asset-pricing model (CAPM) from 1936-1975. However as mentioned by G.W. Schwert (2003, p.943), it seems that the small-firm anomaly has disappeared since the initial publication of the papers that discovered it. Alternatively, the differential risk premium for small-capitalization stocks has decreased over the years. Weekend Effect/Day of The Week Effect This is a phenomenon in which stock returns on Mondays are often significantly lower than those of the immediately preceding Friday. French (1890) observed this anomaly. He noted that the average return to the Standard and Poors (SP) Composite Portfolio was reliably negative over weekends in the periods 1953-1977. Again, like the size effect, the weekend effect seems to have disappeared, or at least substantially attenuated, since it was first documented in 1980. Value Effect/Price Earnings Ratio Effect The value effect refers to the tendency for stocks with low price earnings ratio to outperform portfolios consisting of stocks with a high price earnings ratio. Basu (1977) shows that investors holding low price earnings ratio portfolio earned higher returns. The existence of market anomalies have important implications. If stock returns do not follow a random process, then it is possible to design profitable trading strategies based on historical information 2.6.1 Empirical Evidences from Developing Countries Despite the large number of empirical studies that have been conducted to test the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) in developed countries with booming financial markets, studies to support or dispute the efficiency or inefficiency of the African stock markets are quite limited. There is a small number of empirical studies analyzing emerging African equity markets with regards to weak form of market efficiency test. While some of these studies have analysed single markets ( e.g. Samuels and Yacout 1981; Parkinson 1984; Ayadi 1984; Dickinson and Muragu 1994; Osei 1998; Olowe 1999; Mecagni and Sourial 1999; Asal 2000; Adelegan, 2004; Dewotor and Gborglah, 2004; Ntim et al., 2007), others have analysed groups of countries (e.g. Claessens et al., 1995; Magnusson and Wydick, 2002; Smith et al., 2002; Appiah-Kusi and Menya, 2003; Simons and Laryea, 2004; Jefferis and Smith, 2005). However, while there are only a few empirical studies, their conclusions as to the efficiency and predictability of future stock returns have been mixed. For example Dickinson and Muragu (1994) shows that the Kenyan stock market is weak form efficient, in contrast to the results of Parkinson (1984). Also, most of the existing studies made use of conventional weak form testing techniques such as serial correlation tests. Samuels and Yacout (1981) and Parkinson (1984) were among the first to use serial correlation tests to examine the weak form efficiency on the African continent. Samuels and Yacout analysed the weak form market efficiency in weekly price series of 21 listed Nigerian firms from 1977 to 1979 and provided empirical evidence that the market was efficient. Parkinson on his part, analysed monthly price series of 30 listed Kenyan firms from 1974 to 1978 and rejected the weak form efficiency. Dickinson and Muragu (1994) reinvestigated the Kenyan market by applying run and serial correlation tests to weekly stock price series of 30 listed companies on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and their results were in contrast with Parkinson (1984). They demonstrated that successive price changes are independent of each other for the majority of the companies investigated. Most of the developing countries suffer from the problem of thin trading (Mlambo and Biekpe, 2005). The problems caused by thin trading have been widely acknowledged in financial market researches (e.g., Dimson, 1979; Cohen et al. ,1983; Butler and Simonds, 1987; Lo and Mackinlay, 1990a and b; Bowie, 1994; Muthuswamy and Whaley, 1994) . Fisher (1966) who was the first to identify the bias caused by thin trading in the serial correlation of index returns, explained that recorded prices of securities are not necessarily equal to their underlying theoretical values. This is because when a share does not trade, the price recorded remains the closing price when the share was last traded. However, while most of the African stock markets suffer from thin trading, many existing studies fail to adjust for thin trading. For example recent studies conducted on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (Appiah-Kusi and Menya, 2003 and Simons and Laryes, 2004) made used of conventional techniques and did not adjust for thin trading. Other studies (Kabba, 1998; Roux and Gilberson, 1978 and Poshawale, 1996) which have examined the behavior of stock price and rejected the weak-form efficiency, have explained that the inefficiency might be due to delay in operations and high transaction cost, thinness of trading and illiquidity in the market.