Friday, January 31, 2020

Famine in Third World States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Famine in Third World States - Essay Example But the countries of Africa are still dying of hunger. Why is that The main myth is that there is insufficient amount of foodstuffs produced in the country. But the fact is that the planet produces enough food to provide every individual with 3,500 calories every day. The problem is that many people are too poor to buy food, though even the poorest countries possess sufficient agricultural lands, and even export their products. In 1974 an outstanding philosopher Robert Nozick has created his theory of 'entitlement', which was outlined in his work 'Anarchy, state, utopia'. The main point of the theory is that the rights of an individual are sacred, and alienation of the property must be voluntary. He has acknowledged the necessity of the 'minimal state' which would deprive individuals the right of violence, but at the same time it would protect them from tyranny. Nozick was sure that any attempt to regulate the process of the property transfers is doomed to fail. The state must not dictate any redistribution of wealth, which can be presented in tax system. Nozick has absolutely rejected any idea of a 'social state'. It has always been easy to make nature guilty in people suffering from famine. But it should be remembered that only the poorest layers of the society suffer from hunger, though the nature is the same for everyone. The roots of the problem lie in politics, which makes effectiveness the corner-stone, and not sympathy. People are deprived of the right to earn enough money, they are made starve, thus becoming ready to give away their labor force for the minimal payment. The growth of population is also considered a problem. But it is interesting that active growth of population has never been a problem to developing countries. Such problem appears only in those countries where ineffective political system deprives people equal access to education, medicine, workplaces and social guarantees. According to Nozick, all actions of individuals must be voluntary, and here we see an absolutely different situation: the politics of the starving countries is consciously directed at depriving people of all possible rights. In the countries of the third world land belongs to large owners, who often appear to be ineffective in terms of business. The world experience shows, that small farmers receive 4-5 times larger crops than big farmers do. But in poor countries the inner policy is directed at concentrating all the land in the hand of few owners, thus giving people no right for equal access to land and its products. Nozick was the supporter of the idea that all individuals must have free access to all resources and he also bore an idea of the free market with minimal limitations. But I should say, that to my mind, the idea of free market have never solved the problem of famine. The formula 'free market is good, government is bad' has never helped with eliminating famine in third world states. In every state government is occupied with the redistribution of resources. In this problem authorities must help consumers, especially the poorest ones, with the help of tax preferences, grants, and credits. In such situation the state and the population supplement each other thus creating an

Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Significance of Interspecies Communication Essay -- Exploratory Es

The Significance of Interspecies Communication "Koko is the kind of daughter who, even at 32 likes to settle into her mom's lap and cuddle. Never mind that she is 300 pounds" (Adams 1999). When Koko, a baby gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo, was adopted by her mother, Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson, she was suffering from malnutrition. Koko, one of the most recognized gorillas in the world, is able to communicate with humans through American Sign Language or Ameslan, the hand of the deaf, used by an estimated 200,000 deaf Americans (Patterson 1978). Koko is famous for her ability to communicate with humans and her active role in saving her endangered species. Patterson inherited an interest in psychology from her father who was an educational psychology professor at the University of Illinois. In 1970, Patterson earned her undergraduate degree in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois, after discovering that she was far more interested in the make up of the animal brain. She later attended Stanford University, where she first encountered a chimpanzee using sign language to communicate with humans (Adams 1999). Soon after that, she became fascinated with Koko and the possibility of working with her in the same manner as the chimpanzees in the video. . The name Hanabi-Ko, which is Japanese for "Fireworks Child," was given to the gorilla, because of her Fourth of July birthday and Koko became her nickname (Patterson 1978). In 1972, when Dr. Patterson first visited Koko in the San Francisco Zoo, Koko was a three month-old lowland gorilla playing with her mother. After nine months, Dr. Patterson finally convinced the zoo director to let her teach Koko sign language. On her first visit, "Patterson greeted ... ...rch 9, 2004, From Educational Broadcasting Corporation Web site: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/koko/print/newhome.html Linden, E. (1986). Silent partners. New York: Times Books. Pp.115- 129. Patterson, Francine. (1978). Conversations with a gorilla. National Geographic, Vol. 154. No. 4, 438-465 Robinson, Peter. (1999). Koko and me. Forbes, ASAP, Vol. 164 Issue eight, p81,1p Schneider, Elaine Ernst. (2001). American sign language (ASL) vs. signed english (SE). Retrieved March 8, 2004, From Lesson Tutor. Web site: http://www.lessontutor.com/eesASLIntro.html Spilky, Scott. (2002). The caretaker. Retrieved March 13, 2004, From The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Web site:www.las.uiuc.edu/alumni/spotlight/03fall_patterson.html Trask, Larry. (1998). Koko the talking gorilla. Retrieved March 8, 2004, Web site: larryt@cogs.susx.ac.uk

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Root Causes of Financial Crisis in the 1990s

Introduction The objective of this paper is to discuss the root causes of financial crisis in the 1990s. In this light, the paper has identified financial liberalisations that occurred in the late 1980s as a principal cause of crisis in the 1990s. The paper begins by presenting a discussion of financial liberalisation in section 2 below and then focuses on how it resulted in financial crisis in the 1990s. The paper employs the East Asian Financial Crisis as a case study and provides a discussion of how financial liberalisation contributed to the crisis 1997/1998 in section 2; while section 3 provides general conclusions and recommendations of the paper. Financial Liberalisation and the East Asian Financial Crisis One of the main causes of financial crisis in the 1990s was financial liberalisation which facilitated the flow of capital across borders. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, most developed and developing economies liberalised their financial systems and removed a number of regulations regarding the movement of funds. In particular many countries eliminated restrictions on foreign exchange movement thus increasing the flow of cross-border capital. One major crisis that occurred during the 1990s was the Asian Financial Crisis. This crisis has been linked directly to an increase in cross-border capital flows which resulted to currency crisis across the East Asian Countries that were involved in the crisis. Most of the countries involved in the crisis witnessed depreciation in their currencies which in turn led to major crisis across all the countries involved. Thailand was facing competition for its exports which led to a decline in its export sales. One of the reasons for Thailand†™s export declines was as a result of the devaluation of the Chinese Yuan in 1994 (Pathan et al., 2008). Rising export competition Thailand forced many businesses to shift from manufacturing to the real estate. Banks began providing loans to home buyers to facilitate real estate investments. A banking facility – The Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF) offered funds to both local and foreign borrowers thus facilitating their real estate investments (Pathan et al., 2008; Bisgnano, 1999). In the early 1990s, the East Asian countries were witnessing significant economic growth. As a result, these economies maintained huge current account deficits (Bird and Rajan, 2000). As a result, large inflows of capital and a depreciation of international reserves were required to reduce finance the deficits (Bird and Rajan, 2000). During This period, many East Asian economies also made significant efforts to liberalise their domestic financial systems as well as the capital account balance of payments. The establishment of the BIBF in Bankgok is a typical example of how domestic liberalisation facilitated the attraction of foreign capital. It enabled domestic banks to accept foreign-currency-denominated loans and deposits from foreign investors. These loans were later used to offer loans to the domestic market. This process led many local firms to increase their leverage thus increasing their financial risk. Net capital inflows for all countries in the region were positive and most often than not exceeded the current account deposit. In addition, international reserves were significantly high (The World Bank, 2000). Capital inflows were significantly high in Malaysia and Thailand. These countries were classified among the top ten emerging market economies to received net private capital flows during the period under study (Lopez-Mejia, 1999). A significant portion of the loans were made in foreign currency. This strategy increased the gearing of many foreign and local borrowers. The huge influx of capital combined with high current account and trade deficits in the first half of the 1990s resulted in the massive decline in the value of the currencies of the region, which eventually transformed into the financial and economic crisis of 1997 and 1998. Moreover, most of the countries involved in the crisis were operating a semi-pegged exchange rate regime, which also contributed to the currency crisis. Significant movements in the Thai Bhat meant that the currency could no longer sustain its value. the currency was forced to crash in 1997. On the 2nd of July 1997, the Thai Bhat was allowed to float freely and its value fell tremendously against other currencies (Joosten, 2004; Pathan et al., 2008). Despite the introduction of foreign exchange controls as well as large spot and forward interventions by the government and Central bank, the magnitude of the disaster on the currency was so high that these measures could not stop it. As a result, the devaluation of the Thai Bhat on the 2nd of July 1997 marked the onset of the East Asian Financial Crisis (Joosten, 2004; Li and Kwok, 2008). The currency crisis in Thailand was transmitted to five other East Asian economies. As explained earlier, the main cause of the crisis was the liberalization of the financial system which led to large cross border movements in foreign currency. The large movement in the East Asian currencies led to the ir depreciation which eventually led to the crisis. Singapore has often tried to compare itself to London as a major financial Centre. Consequently, U.S financial institutions often used it as a safe haven for depositing toxic assets. Given the liberalised nature of global financial markets, Singapore attracted a lot of toxic assets from the U.S which also helped in fuelling the crisis in Singapore (Lim and Maru, 2010). In Indonesia, the channel taken by the crisis was somewhat different from those of other countries like Korea and Thailand (Joosten, 2004). The Central Bank (Bank of Indonesia) increasing became concerned about an economy that was operating above full employment and decided to take measures that would slow down the economy to ensure that it return to full employment. The Central bank however, lacked the tools required to reduce aggregate demand. This is because it became concerned that if interest rates were increased, more foreign capital would flow into the economy a situation that would result to a currency crisis. Lack of an appropriate monetary policy tool meant that the Central Bank was unable to prevent an imminent crisis. Like Indonesia, Malaysia’s economy was operating beyond full employment. During the year 1995, the country witnessed an increase in public investment. The money was spent mainly on large infrastructure projects (Joosten, 2004). By the end of 1996, the count, Malaysia witnessed a decline in its current account deficit and the concerns over capacity overutilization were reduced. However, given increasing concerns over the ability of other East Asian countries as good investment environments, investors began to perceive Malaysia as a safe haven. Consequently, the country witnessed a huge influx of foreign capital which resulted in an increase in bank lending that in turn fuelled an asset boom. The influx in capital led to an increase in the country’s current account deficit over the period 1992-1995 as wel as declining exports. Huge current account deficits combined with trade deficits, the local currency could no longer sustain its value. This means that Malaysia could n ot escape the crisis either. The Philipines also had a sound economy when compared to other East Asian economies. The country operated at low levels of foreign debt and showed no immediate risk of a crisis. However, an influx in foreign capital soon fuelled a rapid lending boom that was mainly used in the financing of risky investments and as such the country began facing difficulties (Joosten, 2004). Table 1: Current Account (% of GDP). YearIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesRepublic of KoreaThailand 1992-2.0-3.7-1.6-1.3-5.5 1993-1.3-4.6-5.50.3-4.9 1994-1.6-7.6-4.6-1.0-5.4 1995-3.2-9.8-4.4-1.7-7.9 1996-3.4-4.4-4.8-4.4-7.9 Source: (Joosten, 2004). Table 1 above illustrates the current account as a percentage of GDP for the East Asian Economies that were involved in the crisis over the period 1992 to 1995. It can be observed that all five countries exhibited a negative current account indicating that they operated current account deficits throughout the five year period leading up to the crisis. Korea however had a positive figure of 0.3% in the year 1993. Thailand showed the worst economic performance as evidenced by its largest current account deficit which kept widening with time. Conclusions and Recommendations The objective of this paper was to identify the root causes of financial crisis in the 1990s. Using the East Asian Financial Crisis as a case study, the paper concludes that one of the major causes of financial crisis in the 1990s was financial liberalization. Financial liberalization facilitated the movement of capital across borders. The East Asian Economies liberalized their financial systems thereby allowing a huge influx of foreign capital. Given that most of these countries suffered trade deficits, the capital was spent mainly on infrastructural development which means that enough returns could not be realized to cover the current account deficits. As such the current account deficits had to be financed with international reserves. This resulted in a currency crisis across the region which eventually led to the financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. One of the main lessens that can be learnt from this crisis is that countries with huge current account deficits should not attract fo reign capital if they are also operating trade deficits. This is because most of the foreign capital is used to finance unprofitable projects that cannot generate enough cash flows to offset the current account deficit. This increases the financial risks of both the private and public sector, which eventually result in a financial crisis. References Bird, G. and Rajan, R. S. (2000) â€Å"BANKS, FINANCIAL LIBERALISATION AND FINANCIAL CRISES IN EMERGING MARKETS†, available online at: http://www.freewebs.com/rrajan01/liberalfull.pdf , accessed: [8th January, 2012]. Bisgnano J. (1999). Precarious Credit Equilibria: Reflections On The Asian Financial Crisis. BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS Monetary and Economic Department Basle, Switzerland Working Papers. Joosten W. (2004). The Asian Financial Crisis in Retrospect. What HappenedWhat Can we concludeCPB Memorandum. CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. Li, K., Kwok m. (2008). Output volatility of five crisis-affected East Asia economies Japan and the World Economy, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 24 April 2008. Lopez-Mejia, A. (1999), â€Å"Large Capital Flows: A Survey of the Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses†, Working Paper 99/17, IMF. Mahui, M. N., Maru, J. (2010), â€Å"Financial Liberalisation and the Impact of the Financial Crisis on Singapore†, Third World Network 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Pathan, S., Skully, M. & Wickramanayake, J. (2008) Reforms in Thai bank governance: the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, International Review of Financial Analysis, 17 (2), 345-362. World Bank (2000), East Asia: Recovery and Beyond, New York: Oxford University Press.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Analysis of Moral Development in Young Children Essay

This paper is written to examine various influences on the moral development of young children. Specifically, the paper will speak to the definition of moral development, the views held by educators Piaget and Kohlberg on this area of development in young children and the application of moral development theories by Early Childhood Educators. Theories posited by Sigmund Freud with regards to the psychological development of children in the early childhood arena will be discussed as well. Suggestions for parents on supporting the moral development of their children will also be addressed. Moral Development is defined as â€Å"changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviors regarding standards of right and wrong† (Santrock, 2010). Moral development†¦show more content†¦His personality is affected by the rules that he observes being followed in society and the superego is formed as a sort of â€Å"Jiminy Cricket† or conscience to help him determine what is right and wrong based on these observations. Third is the ego. The ego is the mediator. In the ego is hopefully found a balance of what one wants to do with what one ought to do. Without full development of all three facets of personality as theorized by Sigmund Freud, appropriate and moderate behavior cannot be achieved. The ego is different from the other two facets in that it is a subconscious and conscious operator, as well as a preconscious operator. This means that the ego is always in place, whether or not the person on whom the ego is acting is aware (Goldwater, 2010). As stages in psychological development have been defined by Freud, stages in moral development have been outlined by early educators Jean Piaget and Kohlberg, who put forth differing views on the moral development of children. Piaget theorized that children process morals in stages, first one then the next, with a transition in between. The first stage (from ages 4 to about 7) is referred to as â€Å"heteronymous morality†, where children think of rules as constants, that is to say, rules are part of the world’s makeup with no input or possibility of change by people. As children progress from seven to ten years of age, they move from one stage to the next, maintaining some of the traits of theShow MoreRelatedTV To Blame For Rising Violence Essay examples932 Words   |  4 Pagespolice chief an article taken from the Times on 28th June 2002. 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