Article Critique Union Labor Relations Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Critique Union Labor Relations - Article Example The increase in employees who join labor unions results in a subsequent rise in, their average income and a rise in the wage flow into the economical domain (Madland, 2009). His conclusion is that by all means, employees should join labor unions as it serves both economic and moral purposes. A couple of points in the author’s argument cannot be debated. They are logical, accurate, and reasonable. The assertion that sustainability can only occur if workers receive adequate rewards and get the freedom to buy their goods is correct. In a situation where the reverse occurs, workers feel cheated resulting in constant strikes, boycotts and go slows. This stalls economic development in the long term. Furthermore, the moral aspect of working ought to be fulfilled; it is not fair for those that build an economy to receive the least of its profits (Madland, 2009). The assertion that should the Employee Free Choice Act become legalized, union membership will have an increase is also of certainty. This validates union membership and strengthens their function, hence attracting membership. However, the author makes a point that cannot be validated. The assumption that unions always work to the good of an economy is the most doubtful of them all. If an economy becomes corrupted, then every sector in it malfunctions. Unions cannot be set aside from the malfunction that is within the United States economy. Unions in the modern day have become less accountable to the employees. There are certain moves and strategies made by labor unions that union members are not aware of and yet they are meant to protect their interests. The reason the number of unionized workers is much lower in the 21st century than it was in the 1950s is the lack of transparency. Union membership can be beneficial, but the author has exaggerated the impact it has on an economy. While unions benefit individual growth, their impact on the economy

Putin and Russia's Security Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Putin and Russia's Security Services - Essay Example His mission is to regain the lost security strength that had been lost during the Yeltsin regime. This is on condition that the world military organization is developing a reality that any country must observe. It is true that the Russian security system has been circulating around the KGB. In addition, the United States of America have been the greatest threat to Russian security. Therefore, Russia has invested heavily on agents whose work is to spy the activities of the U.S.A2. For example, two former Soviet agents were arrested in U.S.A by the FBI on 13th October, 1998 and were charged of selling military secrets to the capital of Russia, Moscow. On 13th June, 2000, a retired Russian Army Colonel was arrested on the basis of transiting information from USA to Russia in the period of cold war. Another Russian intelligent Stanislav Gusev was arrested by the FBI for recording transmissions from a bug implanted in a state conference

Stock Market Performance and the Real Economic Activity

Stock Market Performance and the Real Economic Activity Whether national economy is affecting the stock market or other way round? A lot of studies have done on the past what are relationship of these variables. In my work I have used cointegration and Granger Causality method to find out the relationship between the stock index price and Economic growth indicator GDP. Introduction The debate of whether stock market is associated with economic growth or the stock market can be served as the economic indicator to predict future. According to many economists stock market can be a reason for the future recession if there is a huge decrease in the stock price or vice versa. However, there are evidence of controversial issue about the ability of prediction from the stock market is not reliable if there is a situation like 1987 stock market crashed followed by the economic recession and 1997 financial crises. (Stock market and economic growth in Malaysia: causality test). The aim of the study is to find the relation between the stock market performance and the real economic activity in case of four countries The UK, The USA, Malaysia and Japan. With my limited knowledge I have tried to find out the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth. A lot of economists have different view about stock market development and the economic growth. If we focus on some related literature published on this topic one question arises: Is economic development is affected by stock market development? Even though there are lots of debate on some are saying that stock market can help the economy but the effect of stock market in the economy especially in the economy is very little. Ross Levine suggested in his paper published in 1998 that recent evidence suggested stock market can really give a boom to economic growth. (REFERENCE) It is not really possible to measure the growth by simply looking at the ups and down in the stock market indicator and by looking at the rates of growth in GDP. A lot of things can cause in the growth of stock market like changes in the banking system, foreign participation in the in the financial market may participate strongly. Apparently it seems that these developments can cause development of stock market followed by the good economic growth. But to check the accuracy one required to follow an appropriate method which would meaningfully measure whether stock price is really effecting the economic growth or not? In my work I have tried to find out the co integrating relationship between Stock price and GDP and tried to check if there is a long run and short run relationship between the stock price and GDP. The method used for the studies is Engle Granger co integration method. To do this I have used ADF (Augmented Dickey Fuller Test) to check for the stationary behaviour of the variables and then I have performed the Engle Granger Engle Granger co integration method followed by residual based error correction model. To check for the short run relationship I have used 2nd stage Engle Granger co integration method. To check the causal effect of the four countries stock market and economic growth I used Granger Causality Method. In this paper I have reviewed some studies of scholars which I have discussed on the literature review part. This paper contains five parts Part two is about the literature based on the past wok of scholars. Part Three discussed about the Data. Part four is about the methodology, Results are discussed on part five and part six is all about the summary and conclusion of the whole study. In my work I have founded there is no long run relationship between stock market and economic growth in all four countries. In addition there is no causal relation between stock index yield and the national economy growth rate. The empirical results of the thesis concludes that the possibility of seemingly abnormal relationship between the stock index and national economy of these for countries. Literature Review: Stock market contributes to economic growth in different ways either directly or indirectly. The functions of stock market are savings mobilization, Liquidity creation, and Risk diversification, keep control on disintermediation, information gaining and enhanced incentive for corporate control. The relationship between stock market and economic growth has become an issue of extensive analysis. There is always a question whether the stock market directly influence economic growth. A lot of research and results shows that there is a strong relationship between stock market and economic growth. Evidence on whether financial development causes growth help to reconcile these views. If we go back to the study of Schumpeter (1912) his studies emphasizes the positive influence on the development of a countrys financial sector on the level and the potential risk of losses caused by the adverse selection and moral hazard or transaction costs are argued by him how necessary the rate of growth argues that financial sectors provides of reallocating capital to minimize the potential losses. Empirical evidence from king and Levine (1983) show that the level of financial intermediation is good predictor of long run rates of growth, capital accumulation and productivity. Enhanced liquidity of financial market leads to financial development and investors can easily diversify their risk by creating their portfolio in different investments with higher investment. Another study from Levine and Zervos (1996) using the data of 24 countries found that a strong positive correlation between stock market development and economic growth. Their expanded study on 49 countries from 1976-1993, they used Stock Market liquidity, Economic growth rate, Capital Accumulating rate and output Growth Rate. They found that all the variables are positively correlated with each other. Demiurgic and Maksimovic (1996) have found positive causal effects of financial development on economic growth in line with the ‘supply leading hypothesis. According to his studies countries with better financial system has a smooth functioning stock market tend to grow much faster as they have access to much needed funds for financially constrained economic enterprises by the large efficient banks. Related research was done for the past three decades focusing on the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth they never considered about the stock market. An empirical study by Ming Men and Rui on Stock market index and economic growth in China suggest that possible reason of apparent abnormal relationship between the stock Index and national economy in china. Apparent abnormal relationship may be because of the following reason inconsistency of Chinese GDP with the structure of its stock market, role played by private sector in growth of GDP and disequilibrium of finance structure etc. The study was done using the cointegration method and Granger causality test, the overall finding of the study is Chinese finance market is not playing an important role in economic development. (Men M 2006 China paper). An article by Indrani Chakraborti based on the case of India presented in a seminar in kolkata in October, 2006 provides some information about the existence of long run stable relationship between stosk market capitalization, bank credit and growth rate of real GDP. She used the concept of the granger causality after using both the Engle-Granger and Johansen technique. In her study she found GDP is co-integrated with financial depth, Volatility in the stock market and GDP growth is co integrated with all the findings the paper explain that the in an overall sense, economic growth is the reson for financial development in India.(Chakraboty Indrani). Few writers from Malaysia found that stock market does help to predict future economy. Stock market is associated with economic growth play as a source for new private capital. Causal relationship between the stock market and economic growth which was done by using the formal test for causality by C.J. Granger and yearly Malaysia data for the period 1977-2006. The result from the study explain that future prediction is possible by stock market. A study focused on the relationship between stock market performance and real economic activity in Turkey. The study shows existence of a long run relationship between real economic activity and stock prices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Result from the study pointed out that economic activity increases after a shock in stock prices and then declines in Turkish market from the second quarter and a unitary (Turkish paper) An international time series analysis from 1980-1990 by By RAGHURAM G. RAJAN AND LUIGI ZINGALES shows some evidence of the relation between stock market and economic growth. This paper describes whether economic growth is facilitated by financial development. He found that financial development has strong effect on economic growth. (Rajan and Zingales, 1998) The study of Ross LEVINE AND SARA ZERVOS on finding out the long run relationship between stock market and bank suggest a positive effect both the variables has positive effect on economic growth. International integration and volatility is not properly effected by capital stock market. And private save saving rates are not at all affected by these financial indicators. The study was done on 47 countries data using cross sectional analysis. In theory the conventional literature on growth was not sufficient enough to look for the connection between financial development and economic growth and the reason is they were focused on the steady state level of capital stock per workerof productivity. And they were not really concentrated on the rate of growth. Actually the main concern was legitimated to exogenous technical progress. (Levine and Zervos 1998) Belgium Stock market study with economic development shows the positive long run relationship between both the variables. In case of Belgium the evidences are quiet strong that Economic growth is caused by the development of the stock market. It is more focused between the period 1873 and 1935; basically this period is considered as the period of rapid industrialization in Belgium. The importance of the stock market in Belgium is more pronounced after liberalization of the stock market in 1867-1873. The time varying nature of the link between stock market development and economic growth is explained by the institutional change in the stock exchange. They also tried to find out the relationship to the universal banking system. Before 1873 the economic growth was based on the banking system and after 1873 stock market took the place. (Stock Market Development and economic growth in Belgium, Stijin Van Nieuwerburg, Ludo Cuyvers, Frans Buelens July 5, 2005) Senior economist of the World Banks Policy research department Ross Levine has discussed about Stock market in his paper Stock Markets: A Spur to economic growth on the impact of development. Less risky investments are possible in liquid equity market and it attracts the savers to acquire an asset, equity. As, they can sell it quickly when they need access to their savings, and if they want to alter their portfolio. Though many long term investment is required for the profitable investment. But reluctance of the investors towards long term investment as they dont have the access to their savings easily. Permanent access to capital is raised by the companies through equity issues as they are facilitating longer term, more profitable investments and prospect of long term economic growth is enhanced as liquid market improves the allocation of capital. The empirical evidence from the study strongly suggests that greater stock markets create more liquidity or at least continue economic gr owth. (Levine. R A spur to economic Growth) A lot of research has established that future economic growth is influenced by countrys financial growth, stock market index returns are another factor of economic growth. The researcher focused to extend their study; they tie together these two strings and started analyzing the relationship between banking industry, stock returns and future economic growth. Research was done on 18 developed and 18 emerging markets and the results are positive and noteworthy relationship between future GDP and stock returns. Few important features can also be predicted such as bank-accounting-disclosure standards, banking crises, insider trading law enforcement and government ownership of banks. (Bank stock returns and economic growth q Rebel A. Cole a, Fariborz Moshirian b,*, Qiongbing Wu c a Department of Finance, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60604, USA b School of Banking and Finance, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia c Newcastle raduate School of Business, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia Received 29 September 2006; accepted 26 July 2007Available online 21 September 2007) Another paper was focused on the linkages between financial development and economic growth using TYDL model for the empirical exercises by Purna Chandra Padhan suggests that both stock price and economic activity are integrated of order one and Johansen-Juselias Coin-integration tests for this study found one co integrating vector exists. It is proved by the spurious relation rule in this study the existence of at least one direction of causality. He described that bi-directional causality between stock price and economic growth meaning that economic activity can be enhanced by well developed stock exchange and vice-versa. ( Title:  The nexus between stock market and economic activity: an empirical analysis for India Author(s): Purna Chandra Padhan Journal: International Journal of Social Economics Year: 2007 Volume: 34 Issue: 10  Page: 741 – 753 DOI: 10.1108/03068290710816874 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited) Chee Keong Choong (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Malaysia) Zulkornain Yusop (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Siong Hook Law (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Venus Liew Khim Sen (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Date of creation: 23 Jul 2003 Tried to find out the importance of the causal relationship of Financial development and economic growth. The findings of their study usin autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) describes about the positive long run impact on economic growth Granger causality also suggest same results. A study by Randall Filler(2000) using 70 countries data over the period 1985-1997 proves that there is a very little relationship between economic growth and stock market especially in developing countries and currency appreciation has occurred. From the result of the study we can see that an important role may be played by the stock market in an economy, and these are not essential for economic growth. However, another study on Iran by N. Shahnoushi, A.G Daneshvar, E Shori and M. Motalebi 2008 Financial development is not considered as an effective factor to the economic growth. The study was focused on the causal relationship between the financial development and economic growth. Time series data used for the study from the period 1961-2004. Granger causality shows there is no co integrating relationship between financial development and economic growth in Iran only the economical growth leads to financial development. Establishing link between savings and investment is very much important and financial market provides that. Transient or lasting growth is the ultimate affect of the financial market. Economic growth can be influenced by financial market by improving the productivity of the capital, Investment to firms can be channelled and greater capital accumulation by increasing savings. To ensure the stability of the financial market potential regulation is important due to asymmetric information, especially at the time of financial liberalization. (Economic Development and Financial Market Tosson Nabil Deabes Moderm Academy for technology aand computer sciences; MAM November 2004 Economic Development Financial Market Working Paper No. 2 ) Data: The empirical analysis was carried out using the quarterly data for The UK, The USA, Japan and Malaysia. The data were collected from the DataStream for the period 1993I to 2008III. Economic growth is measured as the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) of each country with the help of stock prices SP. For the software processing I used Eviews 6.0 for the planned regression in order to get the results. The empirical analysis is done from the quarterly data from the stock market indices and the and the GDP between the first quarter of 1993 and the fourth quarter of 2008. All the data has been extracted from the data stream and expressed in US$. The data for Japan share price is from Tokyo Stock Exchange. Malaysias Share price is form Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, UKs is from UK FT all share price index and USA share price is taken from the DOW Jones industrial share price index. The nature of the Data is series used for the time series regression. List of Variables: UGDP UK GDP USP UK Share price LUGDP Log of UK GDP LUSP Log of UK Share price USGDP USA GDP USSP USA (DOW Jones) Share price LUSGDP Log of USA GDP LUSSP Log of USA Share price MGDP Malaysia GDP MSP Malaysia Share price LMGDP Log of Malaysia GDP LMSP Log of Malaysia Share price JGDP Japan GDP JSP Japan Share Price LJGDP Log of Japan GDP LJSP Log of Japan Share price Methodology: Cointegration long term common stochastic trend between non stationary time series. If non-stationary series x and yare both integrated of same order and there is a linear combination of them that is stationary, they are called co integrated series. A common stochastic trend is shared in Cointegration. It follows that these two series will not drift apart too much, meaning that even they may deviate from each other in the short-term, they will revert to the long-run equilibrium. This fact makes cointegration a very powerful approach for the long-term analyses. Meanwhile, cointegration does not imply high correlation; two series can be co integrated and yet have very low correlations. Cointegration tests allow us to determine whether financial variables of different national markets move together over the long run, while providing for the possibility of short-run divergence. The first step in the analysis is to test each index series for the presence of unit roots, which shows whether the series are nonstationary. All the series must be nonstationarity and integrated of the same order. To do this, we apply both the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. Once the stationarity requirements are met, we proceed Granger bivariate cointegration (1987) procedure. 30 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 24 (2009) Series Stationary Test: In this study I have used Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF) to test the stationary of variables. The unit root test is usually used to confirm stationary of a series. The ADF is test for unit root where I have checked the Unit root and strong negative numbers of unit root is being rejected by the null hypothesis (level of significance). In this study I have used Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF) to check whether the series is stationary or not. ADF test is based on the estimate of the following regression: is in this case variable of interest = , is the differencing operator, t is the time trend and is the random component of zero mean and constant variance. The parameters to be estimated are { } Null and alternative hypothesis of unit root test are: , () () Here with the test we can find the estimates of are equal to zero or not. Y is said to be stationary if the cumulative distribution of the ADF statistics by showing that if the calculated ratio of the coefficient is less than the critical value according to Fuller (1976). If we accept the Ho the sequence is predicted to be having unit root and if Ho is rejected then we can say that the series doesnt have unit root. This proves that the series is stationary. The co–integration test can only be performed if both the sequences are all integrated of order I (1). Cointegration Test: Engle and Granger (1987) first established the cointegration method. It is a method of measuring long term diversification based on data. Linear combination of two non stationary series shows that they are integrated in order one I(1) that is stationary. And this is a co integrated series. Cointegration Long term common random trend between non stationary time series. The linear combination of both the non stationary series can be stationary if both the variables are integrated in same order. Cointegration is a very powerful approach in the long term analysis because a common stochastic trend is shared in cointegration that mean two series will not drift separately too much. They might deviate from each other but in the long run but eventually the will revert back in the long run. If there is very low correlation between the series still the series can be co-integrated as high correlation is not implied in cointegration. The reason for choosing the method as it will allow us to check the move between the variable in the long run even there might be a divergence in the short run. The first step in the analysis is check each index series whether the series for the presence of unit root which shows whether the series is non stationary. The method that I followed to do this is Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF). I proceed the Granger cointegration technique 1987 when the stationary requirements are met. According to Engle and Granger (1987) to check for cointegration if both the variables and are integrated with order one the proposed method for cointegration residual-based test for cointegration (Engle-Granger method). So from the above method we can find the equation By regressing with And after that and is denoted as the estimated regression coefficient vectors. After that I saved the residual from the above equation. Then, = – is representing the estimated residual vector. If the residual is integrated with order zero that means the series for the residual is stationary, and and are then co integrated and vice versa. I have checked it by performing Augmented Dickey fuller test on the residual series on level value with intercept only of each country. An in this situation (1, -) is called co-integrating vector if the series is stationary. Therefore is a co integrating equation, so, from it we can say that there is long run relationship between and. Granger causality test: Granger causality test is applied if the relationship is lagged between the two variables to determine the direction of relation in statistical term. It gives information about the short term relationship between the variables. In terms of conceptual definition causality is consist of different ideas, this concept produce a relation between caused and results were agreed upon. Aristo defines that there exist a link between causes and results and without causes these results are impossible. And this is strong relationship. Some economists believe that the idea of causality is the mix of both theoretical and explanation and statistical concept. The frontline operational definition of causality is given by some economist, but Granger is the one who provided the information to understand it correctly and completely. Granger causality approach (1969), lets think the variable y is Economic Growth (GDP) and x is Stock price index, if it is possible to predict the past values of y and x than from the lagged values of y alone. X is said to be granger caused by and y is helping in predicting it. in case of a simple bivariate model, causality can be tested between stock market growth and economic growth. Granger causality run on the basis of the following bivariate regressions of the form: (1) (2) Where GDP denotes economic growth and SP denotes the stock price index and they explain the changes in growth. Variables are expressed in logarithm form. The distribution of and are uncorrelated by assumption. From the equation one it can be said that current GDP is related to lagged values of itself and as well as that of SP. And equation 2 postulates same kind of behaviour for SP. Both the equations can be obtained by ordinary least squares (OLS). The f statistics are the Wald statistics for the joint hypothesis: and F test is carried out for the null hypothesis of no Granger causality. The formula of f statistic is Lagged term is defined here by m; number of parameter is defined as k. Test result for Unit Root: Augmented Dickey Fuller Model (ADF) is used to test the stationary of each variable. Null and alternative hypothesis describes about the investigation of unit root. If the null is accepted and alternative is rejected then the variable non stationary behaviour and vice versa is stationary. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test Japan t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -2.653258 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -2.693600   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -9.053185 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -9.003482   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level   -2.116137 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -2.203273   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference   -6.899295 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587   -6.844396   -4.090602   -3.473447 Table 01: Unit root test for stationary Japan If we have a look on the unit root test for the variables GDP and Share price to find out the stationary behaviour the Augmented Dickey Fuller Test with intercept and with intercept and trend in level and first difference. The t statistic value with trend is -2.653258 which is higher than the critical values in 1%, 5% and 10% critical value. The same applies with intercept and trend as the t statistic value -2.693600 is higher than the critical value in all the level of critical value. So from the nature of stationary behaviour we can say in level GDP shows nonstationary behaviour. And the first difference LnGDP is integrated with order one. In case of LnSP the results with intercept and with intercept trend in level are -2.116137 and -2.203273 which is higher than the critical values shows non stationary behaviour as they are higher than the critical value. The unit root test for the variables at first difference shows stationary as the t statistic value is than the critical value i n all level and they are integrated in order one. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test Malaysia t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -1.195020 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -1.933335   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -5.951843 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -5.923595   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level   -1.900406 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -1.891183   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference   -7.842122 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587   -7.779757   -4.090602   -3.473447 The unit root test result for LMGDP and LMSP values presented in natural logarithm. And the level values with intercept and with intercept and trend for LMGDP is -1.195020 and -1.93335 respectively. The values are higher than the critical value means the series has non stationary behaviour. On the other hand the 1st difference values with intercept and with intercept and trend are -5.951843 and -5.923595 respectively. The 1st difference values are integrated with order one. And in the same way I did the ADF test to check for Stationary behaviour of LMSP in level and first difference with intercept and trend. The values in level are -1.900406 and -1.891183 with intercept and trend us higher than the critical value and the series is not integrated with order one. The first difference t statistic values are -7.842122 and -7.779757 with intercept and with intercept and trend respectively are less than the critical value in both the case implies that the series is integrated with order on e. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test UK t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -0.690866 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -2.377333   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -7.474388 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -7.439027   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level -1.711599 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -1.261546   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -7.254574 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -7.391821   -4.090602   -3.473447 The results from Augmented Dickey Fuller test (ADF) for UK GDP in level with intercept and with intercept and trend is –0.690866 and -2.377333 respectively. Both the values in level are higher than the critical value and are integrated in order 0 shows non stationary behaviour. The t statistic values in 1st difference with intercept and with intercept and trend are -7.474388 and -7.439207 respectively. Which suggest that the critical values are less than the critical values in 1%, 5% and 10% level. So from the above hypothesis it can be said that it series is integrated with order one. When I performed the unit root test using the same method the series in level with intercept and with intercept and trend the values in are -1.711599 and -1.261546 respectively. The values are higher than the critical values implies that they are not integrated in order one shows non stationary behaviour. However, the 1st difference value of log natural share price is -7.254573 and -7.391821 wit h intercept and with intercept and trend respectively. So from the result we can say that the series is integrated in order one in both the cases with intercept and with intercept and trend. So the series in first difference is stationary. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test USA t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% Stock Market Performance and the Real Economic Activity Stock Market Performance and the Real Economic Activity Whether national economy is affecting the stock market or other way round? A lot of studies have done on the past what are relationship of these variables. In my work I have used cointegration and Granger Causality method to find out the relationship between the stock index price and Economic growth indicator GDP. Introduction The debate of whether stock market is associated with economic growth or the stock market can be served as the economic indicator to predict future. According to many economists stock market can be a reason for the future recession if there is a huge decrease in the stock price or vice versa. However, there are evidence of controversial issue about the ability of prediction from the stock market is not reliable if there is a situation like 1987 stock market crashed followed by the economic recession and 1997 financial crises. (Stock market and economic growth in Malaysia: causality test). The aim of the study is to find the relation between the stock market performance and the real economic activity in case of four countries The UK, The USA, Malaysia and Japan. With my limited knowledge I have tried to find out the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth. A lot of economists have different view about stock market development and the economic growth. If we focus on some related literature published on this topic one question arises: Is economic development is affected by stock market development? Even though there are lots of debate on some are saying that stock market can help the economy but the effect of stock market in the economy especially in the economy is very little. Ross Levine suggested in his paper published in 1998 that recent evidence suggested stock market can really give a boom to economic growth. (REFERENCE) It is not really possible to measure the growth by simply looking at the ups and down in the stock market indicator and by looking at the rates of growth in GDP. A lot of things can cause in the growth of stock market like changes in the banking system, foreign participation in the in the financial market may participate strongly. Apparently it seems that these developments can cause development of stock market followed by the good economic growth. But to check the accuracy one required to follow an appropriate method which would meaningfully measure whether stock price is really effecting the economic growth or not? In my work I have tried to find out the co integrating relationship between Stock price and GDP and tried to check if there is a long run and short run relationship between the stock price and GDP. The method used for the studies is Engle Granger co integration method. To do this I have used ADF (Augmented Dickey Fuller Test) to check for the stationary behaviour of the variables and then I have performed the Engle Granger Engle Granger co integration method followed by residual based error correction model. To check for the short run relationship I have used 2nd stage Engle Granger co integration method. To check the causal effect of the four countries stock market and economic growth I used Granger Causality Method. In this paper I have reviewed some studies of scholars which I have discussed on the literature review part. This paper contains five parts Part two is about the literature based on the past wok of scholars. Part Three discussed about the Data. Part four is about the methodology, Results are discussed on part five and part six is all about the summary and conclusion of the whole study. In my work I have founded there is no long run relationship between stock market and economic growth in all four countries. In addition there is no causal relation between stock index yield and the national economy growth rate. The empirical results of the thesis concludes that the possibility of seemingly abnormal relationship between the stock index and national economy of these for countries. Literature Review: Stock market contributes to economic growth in different ways either directly or indirectly. The functions of stock market are savings mobilization, Liquidity creation, and Risk diversification, keep control on disintermediation, information gaining and enhanced incentive for corporate control. The relationship between stock market and economic growth has become an issue of extensive analysis. There is always a question whether the stock market directly influence economic growth. A lot of research and results shows that there is a strong relationship between stock market and economic growth. Evidence on whether financial development causes growth help to reconcile these views. If we go back to the study of Schumpeter (1912) his studies emphasizes the positive influence on the development of a countrys financial sector on the level and the potential risk of losses caused by the adverse selection and moral hazard or transaction costs are argued by him how necessary the rate of growth argues that financial sectors provides of reallocating capital to minimize the potential losses. Empirical evidence from king and Levine (1983) show that the level of financial intermediation is good predictor of long run rates of growth, capital accumulation and productivity. Enhanced liquidity of financial market leads to financial development and investors can easily diversify their risk by creating their portfolio in different investments with higher investment. Another study from Levine and Zervos (1996) using the data of 24 countries found that a strong positive correlation between stock market development and economic growth. Their expanded study on 49 countries from 1976-1993, they used Stock Market liquidity, Economic growth rate, Capital Accumulating rate and output Growth Rate. They found that all the variables are positively correlated with each other. Demiurgic and Maksimovic (1996) have found positive causal effects of financial development on economic growth in line with the ‘supply leading hypothesis. According to his studies countries with better financial system has a smooth functioning stock market tend to grow much faster as they have access to much needed funds for financially constrained economic enterprises by the large efficient banks. Related research was done for the past three decades focusing on the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth they never considered about the stock market. An empirical study by Ming Men and Rui on Stock market index and economic growth in China suggest that possible reason of apparent abnormal relationship between the stock Index and national economy in china. Apparent abnormal relationship may be because of the following reason inconsistency of Chinese GDP with the structure of its stock market, role played by private sector in growth of GDP and disequilibrium of finance structure etc. The study was done using the cointegration method and Granger causality test, the overall finding of the study is Chinese finance market is not playing an important role in economic development. (Men M 2006 China paper). An article by Indrani Chakraborti based on the case of India presented in a seminar in kolkata in October, 2006 provides some information about the existence of long run stable relationship between stosk market capitalization, bank credit and growth rate of real GDP. She used the concept of the granger causality after using both the Engle-Granger and Johansen technique. In her study she found GDP is co-integrated with financial depth, Volatility in the stock market and GDP growth is co integrated with all the findings the paper explain that the in an overall sense, economic growth is the reson for financial development in India.(Chakraboty Indrani). Few writers from Malaysia found that stock market does help to predict future economy. Stock market is associated with economic growth play as a source for new private capital. Causal relationship between the stock market and economic growth which was done by using the formal test for causality by C.J. Granger and yearly Malaysia data for the period 1977-2006. The result from the study explain that future prediction is possible by stock market. A study focused on the relationship between stock market performance and real economic activity in Turkey. The study shows existence of a long run relationship between real economic activity and stock prices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Result from the study pointed out that economic activity increases after a shock in stock prices and then declines in Turkish market from the second quarter and a unitary (Turkish paper) An international time series analysis from 1980-1990 by By RAGHURAM G. RAJAN AND LUIGI ZINGALES shows some evidence of the relation between stock market and economic growth. This paper describes whether economic growth is facilitated by financial development. He found that financial development has strong effect on economic growth. (Rajan and Zingales, 1998) The study of Ross LEVINE AND SARA ZERVOS on finding out the long run relationship between stock market and bank suggest a positive effect both the variables has positive effect on economic growth. International integration and volatility is not properly effected by capital stock market. And private save saving rates are not at all affected by these financial indicators. The study was done on 47 countries data using cross sectional analysis. In theory the conventional literature on growth was not sufficient enough to look for the connection between financial development and economic growth and the reason is they were focused on the steady state level of capital stock per workerof productivity. And they were not really concentrated on the rate of growth. Actually the main concern was legitimated to exogenous technical progress. (Levine and Zervos 1998) Belgium Stock market study with economic development shows the positive long run relationship between both the variables. In case of Belgium the evidences are quiet strong that Economic growth is caused by the development of the stock market. It is more focused between the period 1873 and 1935; basically this period is considered as the period of rapid industrialization in Belgium. The importance of the stock market in Belgium is more pronounced after liberalization of the stock market in 1867-1873. The time varying nature of the link between stock market development and economic growth is explained by the institutional change in the stock exchange. They also tried to find out the relationship to the universal banking system. Before 1873 the economic growth was based on the banking system and after 1873 stock market took the place. (Stock Market Development and economic growth in Belgium, Stijin Van Nieuwerburg, Ludo Cuyvers, Frans Buelens July 5, 2005) Senior economist of the World Banks Policy research department Ross Levine has discussed about Stock market in his paper Stock Markets: A Spur to economic growth on the impact of development. Less risky investments are possible in liquid equity market and it attracts the savers to acquire an asset, equity. As, they can sell it quickly when they need access to their savings, and if they want to alter their portfolio. Though many long term investment is required for the profitable investment. But reluctance of the investors towards long term investment as they dont have the access to their savings easily. Permanent access to capital is raised by the companies through equity issues as they are facilitating longer term, more profitable investments and prospect of long term economic growth is enhanced as liquid market improves the allocation of capital. The empirical evidence from the study strongly suggests that greater stock markets create more liquidity or at least continue economic gr owth. (Levine. R A spur to economic Growth) A lot of research has established that future economic growth is influenced by countrys financial growth, stock market index returns are another factor of economic growth. The researcher focused to extend their study; they tie together these two strings and started analyzing the relationship between banking industry, stock returns and future economic growth. Research was done on 18 developed and 18 emerging markets and the results are positive and noteworthy relationship between future GDP and stock returns. Few important features can also be predicted such as bank-accounting-disclosure standards, banking crises, insider trading law enforcement and government ownership of banks. (Bank stock returns and economic growth q Rebel A. Cole a, Fariborz Moshirian b,*, Qiongbing Wu c a Department of Finance, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60604, USA b School of Banking and Finance, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia c Newcastle raduate School of Business, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia Received 29 September 2006; accepted 26 July 2007Available online 21 September 2007) Another paper was focused on the linkages between financial development and economic growth using TYDL model for the empirical exercises by Purna Chandra Padhan suggests that both stock price and economic activity are integrated of order one and Johansen-Juselias Coin-integration tests for this study found one co integrating vector exists. It is proved by the spurious relation rule in this study the existence of at least one direction of causality. He described that bi-directional causality between stock price and economic growth meaning that economic activity can be enhanced by well developed stock exchange and vice-versa. ( Title:  The nexus between stock market and economic activity: an empirical analysis for India Author(s): Purna Chandra Padhan Journal: International Journal of Social Economics Year: 2007 Volume: 34 Issue: 10  Page: 741 – 753 DOI: 10.1108/03068290710816874 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited) Chee Keong Choong (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Malaysia) Zulkornain Yusop (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Siong Hook Law (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Venus Liew Khim Sen (Universiti Putra Malaysia) Date of creation: 23 Jul 2003 Tried to find out the importance of the causal relationship of Financial development and economic growth. The findings of their study usin autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) describes about the positive long run impact on economic growth Granger causality also suggest same results. A study by Randall Filler(2000) using 70 countries data over the period 1985-1997 proves that there is a very little relationship between economic growth and stock market especially in developing countries and currency appreciation has occurred. From the result of the study we can see that an important role may be played by the stock market in an economy, and these are not essential for economic growth. However, another study on Iran by N. Shahnoushi, A.G Daneshvar, E Shori and M. Motalebi 2008 Financial development is not considered as an effective factor to the economic growth. The study was focused on the causal relationship between the financial development and economic growth. Time series data used for the study from the period 1961-2004. Granger causality shows there is no co integrating relationship between financial development and economic growth in Iran only the economical growth leads to financial development. Establishing link between savings and investment is very much important and financial market provides that. Transient or lasting growth is the ultimate affect of the financial market. Economic growth can be influenced by financial market by improving the productivity of the capital, Investment to firms can be channelled and greater capital accumulation by increasing savings. To ensure the stability of the financial market potential regulation is important due to asymmetric information, especially at the time of financial liberalization. (Economic Development and Financial Market Tosson Nabil Deabes Moderm Academy for technology aand computer sciences; MAM November 2004 Economic Development Financial Market Working Paper No. 2 ) Data: The empirical analysis was carried out using the quarterly data for The UK, The USA, Japan and Malaysia. The data were collected from the DataStream for the period 1993I to 2008III. Economic growth is measured as the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) of each country with the help of stock prices SP. For the software processing I used Eviews 6.0 for the planned regression in order to get the results. The empirical analysis is done from the quarterly data from the stock market indices and the and the GDP between the first quarter of 1993 and the fourth quarter of 2008. All the data has been extracted from the data stream and expressed in US$. The data for Japan share price is from Tokyo Stock Exchange. Malaysias Share price is form Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, UKs is from UK FT all share price index and USA share price is taken from the DOW Jones industrial share price index. The nature of the Data is series used for the time series regression. List of Variables: UGDP UK GDP USP UK Share price LUGDP Log of UK GDP LUSP Log of UK Share price USGDP USA GDP USSP USA (DOW Jones) Share price LUSGDP Log of USA GDP LUSSP Log of USA Share price MGDP Malaysia GDP MSP Malaysia Share price LMGDP Log of Malaysia GDP LMSP Log of Malaysia Share price JGDP Japan GDP JSP Japan Share Price LJGDP Log of Japan GDP LJSP Log of Japan Share price Methodology: Cointegration long term common stochastic trend between non stationary time series. If non-stationary series x and yare both integrated of same order and there is a linear combination of them that is stationary, they are called co integrated series. A common stochastic trend is shared in Cointegration. It follows that these two series will not drift apart too much, meaning that even they may deviate from each other in the short-term, they will revert to the long-run equilibrium. This fact makes cointegration a very powerful approach for the long-term analyses. Meanwhile, cointegration does not imply high correlation; two series can be co integrated and yet have very low correlations. Cointegration tests allow us to determine whether financial variables of different national markets move together over the long run, while providing for the possibility of short-run divergence. The first step in the analysis is to test each index series for the presence of unit roots, which shows whether the series are nonstationary. All the series must be nonstationarity and integrated of the same order. To do this, we apply both the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. Once the stationarity requirements are met, we proceed Granger bivariate cointegration (1987) procedure. 30 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics Issue 24 (2009) Series Stationary Test: In this study I have used Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF) to test the stationary of variables. The unit root test is usually used to confirm stationary of a series. The ADF is test for unit root where I have checked the Unit root and strong negative numbers of unit root is being rejected by the null hypothesis (level of significance). In this study I have used Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF) to check whether the series is stationary or not. ADF test is based on the estimate of the following regression: is in this case variable of interest = , is the differencing operator, t is the time trend and is the random component of zero mean and constant variance. The parameters to be estimated are { } Null and alternative hypothesis of unit root test are: , () () Here with the test we can find the estimates of are equal to zero or not. Y is said to be stationary if the cumulative distribution of the ADF statistics by showing that if the calculated ratio of the coefficient is less than the critical value according to Fuller (1976). If we accept the Ho the sequence is predicted to be having unit root and if Ho is rejected then we can say that the series doesnt have unit root. This proves that the series is stationary. The co–integration test can only be performed if both the sequences are all integrated of order I (1). Cointegration Test: Engle and Granger (1987) first established the cointegration method. It is a method of measuring long term diversification based on data. Linear combination of two non stationary series shows that they are integrated in order one I(1) that is stationary. And this is a co integrated series. Cointegration Long term common random trend between non stationary time series. The linear combination of both the non stationary series can be stationary if both the variables are integrated in same order. Cointegration is a very powerful approach in the long term analysis because a common stochastic trend is shared in cointegration that mean two series will not drift separately too much. They might deviate from each other but in the long run but eventually the will revert back in the long run. If there is very low correlation between the series still the series can be co-integrated as high correlation is not implied in cointegration. The reason for choosing the method as it will allow us to check the move between the variable in the long run even there might be a divergence in the short run. The first step in the analysis is check each index series whether the series for the presence of unit root which shows whether the series is non stationary. The method that I followed to do this is Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF). I proceed the Granger cointegration technique 1987 when the stationary requirements are met. According to Engle and Granger (1987) to check for cointegration if both the variables and are integrated with order one the proposed method for cointegration residual-based test for cointegration (Engle-Granger method). So from the above method we can find the equation By regressing with And after that and is denoted as the estimated regression coefficient vectors. After that I saved the residual from the above equation. Then, = – is representing the estimated residual vector. If the residual is integrated with order zero that means the series for the residual is stationary, and and are then co integrated and vice versa. I have checked it by performing Augmented Dickey fuller test on the residual series on level value with intercept only of each country. An in this situation (1, -) is called co-integrating vector if the series is stationary. Therefore is a co integrating equation, so, from it we can say that there is long run relationship between and. Granger causality test: Granger causality test is applied if the relationship is lagged between the two variables to determine the direction of relation in statistical term. It gives information about the short term relationship between the variables. In terms of conceptual definition causality is consist of different ideas, this concept produce a relation between caused and results were agreed upon. Aristo defines that there exist a link between causes and results and without causes these results are impossible. And this is strong relationship. Some economists believe that the idea of causality is the mix of both theoretical and explanation and statistical concept. The frontline operational definition of causality is given by some economist, but Granger is the one who provided the information to understand it correctly and completely. Granger causality approach (1969), lets think the variable y is Economic Growth (GDP) and x is Stock price index, if it is possible to predict the past values of y and x than from the lagged values of y alone. X is said to be granger caused by and y is helping in predicting it. in case of a simple bivariate model, causality can be tested between stock market growth and economic growth. Granger causality run on the basis of the following bivariate regressions of the form: (1) (2) Where GDP denotes economic growth and SP denotes the stock price index and they explain the changes in growth. Variables are expressed in logarithm form. The distribution of and are uncorrelated by assumption. From the equation one it can be said that current GDP is related to lagged values of itself and as well as that of SP. And equation 2 postulates same kind of behaviour for SP. Both the equations can be obtained by ordinary least squares (OLS). The f statistics are the Wald statistics for the joint hypothesis: and F test is carried out for the null hypothesis of no Granger causality. The formula of f statistic is Lagged term is defined here by m; number of parameter is defined as k. Test result for Unit Root: Augmented Dickey Fuller Model (ADF) is used to test the stationary of each variable. Null and alternative hypothesis describes about the investigation of unit root. If the null is accepted and alternative is rejected then the variable non stationary behaviour and vice versa is stationary. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test Japan t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -2.653258 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -2.693600   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -9.053185 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -9.003482   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level   -2.116137 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -2.203273   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference   -6.899295 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587   -6.844396   -4.090602   -3.473447 Table 01: Unit root test for stationary Japan If we have a look on the unit root test for the variables GDP and Share price to find out the stationary behaviour the Augmented Dickey Fuller Test with intercept and with intercept and trend in level and first difference. The t statistic value with trend is -2.653258 which is higher than the critical values in 1%, 5% and 10% critical value. The same applies with intercept and trend as the t statistic value -2.693600 is higher than the critical value in all the level of critical value. So from the nature of stationary behaviour we can say in level GDP shows nonstationary behaviour. And the first difference LnGDP is integrated with order one. In case of LnSP the results with intercept and with intercept trend in level are -2.116137 and -2.203273 which is higher than the critical values shows non stationary behaviour as they are higher than the critical value. The unit root test for the variables at first difference shows stationary as the t statistic value is than the critical value i n all level and they are integrated in order one. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test Malaysia t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -1.195020 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -1.933335   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -5.951843 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -5.923595   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level   -1.900406 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280   -1.891183   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference   -7.842122 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587   -7.779757   -4.090602   -3.473447 The unit root test result for LMGDP and LMSP values presented in natural logarithm. And the level values with intercept and with intercept and trend for LMGDP is -1.195020 and -1.93335 respectively. The values are higher than the critical value means the series has non stationary behaviour. On the other hand the 1st difference values with intercept and with intercept and trend are -5.951843 and -5.923595 respectively. The 1st difference values are integrated with order one. And in the same way I did the ADF test to check for Stationary behaviour of LMSP in level and first difference with intercept and trend. The values in level are -1.900406 and -1.891183 with intercept and trend us higher than the critical value and the series is not integrated with order one. The first difference t statistic values are -7.842122 and -7.779757 with intercept and with intercept and trend respectively are less than the critical value in both the case implies that the series is integrated with order on e. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test UK t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1% 5% GDP Level -0.690866 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -2.377333   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -7.474388 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -7.439027   -4.090602   -3.473447 Share Price Level -1.711599 -3.522887     -2.901779 -2.588280 -1.261546   -4.088713   -3.472558 1st Difference -7.254574 -3.524233   -2.902358 -2.588587 -7.391821   -4.090602   -3.473447 The results from Augmented Dickey Fuller test (ADF) for UK GDP in level with intercept and with intercept and trend is –0.690866 and -2.377333 respectively. Both the values in level are higher than the critical value and are integrated in order 0 shows non stationary behaviour. The t statistic values in 1st difference with intercept and with intercept and trend are -7.474388 and -7.439207 respectively. Which suggest that the critical values are less than the critical values in 1%, 5% and 10% level. So from the above hypothesis it can be said that it series is integrated with order one. When I performed the unit root test using the same method the series in level with intercept and with intercept and trend the values in are -1.711599 and -1.261546 respectively. The values are higher than the critical values implies that they are not integrated in order one shows non stationary behaviour. However, the 1st difference value of log natural share price is -7.254573 and -7.391821 wit h intercept and with intercept and trend respectively. So from the result we can say that the series is integrated in order one in both the cases with intercept and with intercept and trend. So the series in first difference is stationary. Variables level/1st Difference Augmented Dickey Fuller Statistic(ADF) test USA t statistic value With Trend t statistic value With trend and Intercept 1% 5% 10% 1%

Ancient Greece: A Time Of Great Cities And Lives :: Ancient Greece Essays

Ancient Greece: A Time Of Great Cities And Lives Ancient Greece was an interesting time and place with huge markets in which people could sell items of every kind. Strict laws with even stricter penalties if broken, a place where women were did not have as many rights as they do today, and along with the most outstanding army in their time. A quote that goes along with this time is; "I have killed one I have killed two -- the vampire who said he was youo." - Sylvia Platts. Likewise in the Ancient Greeks so called modern civilization, which has often been compared with the Nazi Germanies ethics of male domination. very cruel and yet enticing time to be alive. "Get your pots and pans..." Compared to today Ancient Greece was a city far ahead of its time and possibly the time in which people now live. Down in the streets of there was always someone willing to buy, trade or sell anything that you had or desired. With Ancient Greeks booming economy it's no wonder that it attracted almost one quarter of the worlds businesses and various smiths. These included bronze smiths, tanners and potters. It is no wonder that Ancient Greece was in its time considered the beginning of the of a new era that would be recognised as the centre of the worlds economy and was to be home to more than twice as many shops and people than the city already held. Although women in the world today are always talking about women and their rights and how they deserve to be equal in everything that they do and receive, it was not a problem to Greeks in their society which has been described as a place where women's freedom was restricted and their lives were restricted to that of a slave in some cases but was really no different than a women's freedom in today's society. In Greece it was a mans world in which a man could do what he pleased to a certain extent of the law. Which is better than today due to women's rights movements and decency laws that have been implemented in the past years. It also would have been interesting to see how the women really were treated instead of from books and and assignments. Along with all of the amazing feats that Greeks accomplished it is of no surprise that they had one of the strongest and most feared armies in all of the world in its time. Of all the battles and wars that the Ancient Greeks army had Ancient Greece: A Time Of Great Cities And Lives :: Ancient Greece Essays Ancient Greece: A Time Of Great Cities And Lives Ancient Greece was an interesting time and place with huge markets in which people could sell items of every kind. Strict laws with even stricter penalties if broken, a place where women were did not have as many rights as they do today, and along with the most outstanding army in their time. A quote that goes along with this time is; "I have killed one I have killed two -- the vampire who said he was youo." - Sylvia Platts. Likewise in the Ancient Greeks so called modern civilization, which has often been compared with the Nazi Germanies ethics of male domination. very cruel and yet enticing time to be alive. "Get your pots and pans..." Compared to today Ancient Greece was a city far ahead of its time and possibly the time in which people now live. Down in the streets of there was always someone willing to buy, trade or sell anything that you had or desired. With Ancient Greeks booming economy it's no wonder that it attracted almost one quarter of the worlds businesses and various smiths. These included bronze smiths, tanners and potters. It is no wonder that Ancient Greece was in its time considered the beginning of the of a new era that would be recognised as the centre of the worlds economy and was to be home to more than twice as many shops and people than the city already held. Although women in the world today are always talking about women and their rights and how they deserve to be equal in everything that they do and receive, it was not a problem to Greeks in their society which has been described as a place where women's freedom was restricted and their lives were restricted to that of a slave in some cases but was really no different than a women's freedom in today's society. In Greece it was a mans world in which a man could do what he pleased to a certain extent of the law. Which is better than today due to women's rights movements and decency laws that have been implemented in the past years. It also would have been interesting to see how the women really were treated instead of from books and and assignments. Along with all of the amazing feats that Greeks accomplished it is of no surprise that they had one of the strongest and most feared armies in all of the world in its time. Of all the battles and wars that the Ancient Greeks army had

Engagement Letter

Process general ledger transactions, including Journal entries f. Carry out bank reconciliations on a weekly basis 2. Payroll Services a. Enter staff timeshares b. Prepare payroll runs as per required frequency c. Monitor employee entitlements d. Reconcile payroll on monthly basis to ensure no discrepancies e. Prepare end of year payroll reconciliation and payment summariea. Reconcile, verify and report In relation to the SST accounting b. Prepare and Lodge Business Actively Statement as required c.Prepare and lodge Installment Actively Statement as required d. Lease with Australian Taxation Office In relation to these services a. Provision of telephone support b. Liaise with external accountant Should you require any additional work outside the above scope could you please advise in an email before commencement. If I believe this work to be outside my experience or competency I retain the right to decline the work and/or seek help from a person who holds the expertise. Service Fees any PaymentsAll bookkeeping fees for the services I provide to you will be based on the time spent and the degree of skill necessary to complete the tasks required as between the parties. We will issue you with an invoice for services rendered on a monthly basis enabling you to track all costs incurred. Our bookkeeping fees are: Bookkeeping Hourly Rate $45. 00 per hour (Note: All Bookkeeping Fees will be reviewed on an Annual Basis to ensure feasibility of the work) Terms of Payment All invoices must be paid within 14 days of the date of invoice.I reserve the right to top work if you fail to make any payment when and as it falls due This agreement may be terminated by either party with a minimum of 30 days' notice. Yours sincerely, Bookkeeper Client Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Letter of Engagement If you are in agreement with the payment terms and terms of engagement please sign and return the attached duplicate letter to me I hereby acknowledge and accept the terms of this en gagement as set out. I shall be personally liable for all fees for services performed in accordance with such agreement. Name: Print Name Signed .

Accounting for a Loss Contingency for a Verdict Overturned on Appeal Essay

M International (â€Å"M†) and W Inc. (â€Å"W,† a competitor of M) have been engaged in long- standing litigation over a specific patent infringement matter. Below is a summary timeline of specific events that have taken place related to this matter: In May 2007, W filed a claim against M for patent infringement. For the year ended December 31, 2007, management of M determined that a loss for this matter was probable and represented that the estimate of loss was in the range of $15 million to $20 million, with $17 million being the most likely amount of loss within the range. See more: Beowulf essay essay A jury trial took place in September 2009. The jury reached a verdict on September 24, 2009, and a judgment was ordered in favor of W. The judgment required M to pay W $18.5 million. In November 2009, M filed a Notice of Appeal with the Court of Appeals. In December 2010, the Court of Appeals issued a ruling in favor of M’s appeal and reversed the lower court’s ruling on the matter. This meant that the Court of Appeals overturned the jury verdict and the $18.5 million judgment against M. On January 6, 2011, W filed a petition for a re-hearing before the same panel of appellate judges against the reversal of ruling by Court of Appeals. On February 10, 2011, the appellate judges declined the petition for a re-hearing. On February 28, 2011, management of M determined this matter was closed upon discussions with in-house legal counsel.

Child crime essays

Child crime essays Smash! The sound of your car window being shattered just before your stereo, CDs and other personal items are stolen. Crime has always been a continuous problem in society without any real solution. Society has shifted its efforts from prevention of crime to the question of what punishment to set for offenders after they have committed the crime. Society has treated crimes committed by children with the same thinking as those committed by adults, punishment not prevention. Parents bare some responsibility for the crimes their children commit and the prevention of such crimes. The idea of parents being partially responsible for their childrens crimes has raised much opposition. Many who oppose parent responsibility believe that since the parent is not actually physically committing the crime that they should not bear any responsibility or punishment. More ardently oppose the parents being held responsible because the parents would be receiving harsher punishments then the children who actually committed the crimes. Those opposing the law also raise concern about the effectiveness of such a law, which holds parents responsible, on diminishing crimes committed by children. One of the largest concerns being raised is how the law distinguishes between good parents with uncontrollable teens and bad parents who just dont care. One final thought was raised to my attention which is that children are not bad and parents have not failed them, but that society has failed to create after school activities for children forcing them to mischief. I feel knowledge able of such viewpoints and understand where such opposition comes from, but also feel that because of such understanding and knowledge of said viewpoints I am fully equipped to write such a law addressing concerns raised by opposition of parental responsibility laws. Now that Ive given you many of the opposing views to a law holding parents responsi...

young goodman brown vs. StarWa essays

young goodman brown vs. StarWa essays The story that I have chosen to compare to the short story of Young Goodman Brown is the epic thriller motion picture, Star Wars. As most people probably know Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are the two main characters of the movie, Star Wars. Goodman Brown and Luke go through some of the same obstacles and challenges, as well as meet with similar characters. Another similarity between the stories is that each main character encounters evil, in some form or another. Both Darth Vader and the evil character in Goodman Brown are portrayed as symbols of evil. All characters meet temptations opposite of their beliefs. There is a contrast in both stories between good and evil. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have many encounters including ones which implement the use of violent weapons during the heat of battle. Light sabers were used by each man while in duels of good versus evil. Brown met up with a dark man that had a serpent staff, which he carried with him. The serpent represents evil and is dark, going from place to place in a twisted motion. The serpent waits and hides for their prey and attacks swiftly. Darth Vaders light saber is red which portrays death, similar to the serpent staff. The two colors black and red symbolize darkness and death contrasting to bright colors worn by Luke and Goodman Brown. Luke and Brown have comparable life experiences, after each make personal decisions to take a different path in life. Luke starts out living with his family, working around the house and making sure that all the gizmos and gadgets are working okay. Brown starts out living with his wife, Faith, while having a healthy Christian relationship by implementing religion and values. Luke has to leave one day, and comes back to find out his family had been murdered by Darth Vader. Brown leaves the secure home with his wife to go out with a shady character into the dark and unforgiving forest. Each of these events pro...

Charges against parties Essay Example For Students

Charges against parties Essay Strict Constr.Judges should use strictly legal precedent for legal opinionsStrict-aka-legal formalism//Broad-aka-Legal RealismBroad Constadapting changing law to fit needs of contemp. society. Impoundmentpres. refusal to fund program-if he doesnt support. Jud. activism(lib.)active role for courts;they should use jud. review to strike down on laws that violate const. or its principles. Judicial Reviewinterpret const. ; constit. of actions by gov. branches. Jud. self-rest.(cons)restrained role for courts;theyshould find actions of other branches of gov. constitutional ; permissible. libertarianindiv. freedom-all aspects of politics ; gov. liberalssocial equality/gov-soc;econ probs-not instilling morals. Plebiscite nat. poll dis/approval for policies or leaders in power. Pocket Vetoif pres. refuses to sign or veto, during 10 day consider, if Congress remains in session-bill=law w/out pres. signature. Pol. cultureshared values of society-affect what people want how they express those demands. Func.-partiesrecruit candid.,promote policies, connect st. local branches nationaly, assign peop to tasksposit. in gov once elected, internal dialogues-how govern,provide nat. organ. to coordin functionsThomas Painesfrom Britain; hates monarchy; as long as central Common Sense -power, rights of indiv. were in danger. Charges-partiesno clear vision or braod choices;aimed at getting elected; corrupted by interest gr. $; breakdown in par loyalty changed nature of political leadership weakened gov.

Grunert's Total Food Quality (TFQ) Model Aid Food Essay

Grunert's Total Food Quality (TFQ) Model Aid Food - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that several attempts have been made to consumers’ perspicacity of food that has facilitated or prohibited the food choice, consumer attitudes and incentives for purchase/non-purchase for UK food firms in designing marketing strategies. According to subsist research, organic food is identified as food without ‘chemicals’ and ‘growth hormones’, that is ‘not severely’ produced and is grown as â€Å"unsophisticated†. People buy food mainly for health motives; in sight of being best for their children because of lesser pesticides and manure residues. Furthermore, very well taste being free from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, genetic amendment and food additives are incentives for buying food. According to the Grunert’s Total Food Quality Model, the propensity towards augmented consumption of food can be correlated to a broader concern with regard to environmental issues. The major r easons that thwart consumers from purchasing food are: high price, be deficient in availability, gratification with conventional food, lack of reliance, the inadequate choice and paucity of perceived value. Although a number of consumers have shown curiosity in food, the food options of comparatively few people have been affected. Hence, expressed curiosity in food does not play a momentous role in food purchase and a disparity between positive attitude and behavior is evident. Thus, the acquaintance of consumers’ cognitive structures and their impact on the purchase decision will indeed shed light on consumers’ food purchases verdict that facilitates UK food firms in devising their marketing strategies. Economic theory has shown some confine in explaining the intricacy and multidimensionality of consumer activities. These bounds not only relate to the supposition of consumer rationality (that is utility exploiting behavior) and flawless information. The majority of ec onomic models use relative prices and disposable income or budget as illustrative variables of consumer deeds and treat every other sway (for instance social, economic and cultural factors) as cloaked or latent variables: quality inspection is one of them. The analysis of Grunert’s Total Food Quality Model guides United Kingdom food firms devising marketing strategies that how consumer attitude deals primarily with predilections and how predilections are formed in the mind of the consumer.

Developments In The European Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Developments In The European Union - Essay Example This effort was established by the Treaty of Maastricht in the year 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. With almost 500Â  million citizens, the EU combined generates an estimated 30% share of the worlds nominal gross domestic product, (US$16.8 trillion in 2007) which also reflects global concern as structural and humanitarian developments (International Monetary Fund). Thus, the EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states, guaranteeing the freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital minimising the formalities of the Minister of External Affairs of the different member states and the other states accessing for the EU status (European Commission). It also maintains a common trade policy, agricultural and fisheries policies, and a regional development policy to convert the geographical differences into one landmass and also providing a broader channel of development in turns of trade and commerce, for the in and out the flow of the business is multiple, of course, huge (Farah 2006). With a far-sighted view of cash flow that can feed a fifteen member states, which have adopted a common currency, the euro, thus, expanding the operation of the transactions into many other nations. It has developed a role in foreign policy, representing its members in the World Trade Organisation, at G8 summits, and at the United Nations. Twenty-one EU countries are members of NATO. It has developed a role in justice and home affairs, including the dealings with immigration to the states by the abolition of passport control between many member states under the Schengen Agreement (Europa 2005).

Back turned to Open Window by Matisse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Back turned to Open Window by Matisse - Essay Example The essay "Back turned to Open Window by Matisse" explores the piece of art by Henri Matisse. Henri Matisse was born in 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambresis, Nord, France. In 1889, after a bout with appendicitis, his mother gave him a set of paints for something to do while he recovered. The act of painting became an obsession for him and he developed his work throughout the rest of his life. Matisse had experienced a great deal of difficulty in creating a career that was respected and appreciated. A founding member of the Fauvists with Andre Derain, his use of color and light provided expression that was predominant over the use of detail. The artists from Munich who had supported the development of Expressionsim, Kandinsky and Jawlensky, as an example, believed that the work of 1905 that was most worthy of their attention was coming from the Fauves, their eye now to France in order to observe the advancement of their movement. His work post 1919 represented a softening of his approach and a ‘return to order’ in which he once again looked back to the Masters, such as the Dutch painter Vermeer of the 17th century, for inspiration. Vermeer worked with exploring the use of light within his work. The piece Seated Woman, Back turned to Open Window (1921-1923), was from a collection of work in which he was examining the uses of color and form towards representation but through the lens of expression for emotional context. The piece was sold in 1947 through a catalogue by Durand-Ruel that offered the work. for fifteen thousand dollars along with works from Manet, Degas, and Renoir which situated Matisse in the position of being one of the modern masters (O’Brien, 1999, p. 56). In the work Seated Woman, Back turned to Open Window (1921-1923), Matisse uses linear movement in order to direct the eye towards the focal point of the woman. The horizontal lines converge with the vertical in order to frame the exterior view as the shutter acts as a frame for her a s she sits in front of it. Repetitions of rectangular shapes within the window are mimicked in the horizontal brush strokes of the water. Their shape has been morphed to be more organic, but still reflect the frame that holds them. While the work is representational, it holds a bit of the abstract as the forms and shapes create the imagery of what they reflect, rather than precisely reflecting reality. The brush strokes are expressive and reflect the Fauve aesthetics while revealing his return to a more classic form and holding their representative value. The painting is somewhat flattened, the roundness of the objects pushed back with the abstraction of their essence visually defined by shape and color. The refined use of primary colors, predominately of blue and red, are enhanced with touches of an ochre yellow in order to create interest and definition. Light

Global Warming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Global Warming - Research Paper Example The government needs to take a number of drastic steps in the coming years in order to reduce our dependence on hydrocarbons, plus change the culture of America to make it generally more green. Only then will we turn back the clock on our environmental problems. The world’s climate is changing and the consequences are far reaching. When examining this important issue we must be sure to have our facts straight. Even before looking at the consequences and possible solutions, it is necessary to determine what is causing this phenomenon. Some people say climate change is part of a natural process which happens every few centuries and which caused the ice age and other periods in Earth’s history in which the temperature was different. This might be true. But many scientists believe that human beings cause global warming (Coren). They say it is caused by the huge amount of cars we drive on our roads and by our coal plants and our thousands of factories. These people say we have simply not been good stewards of the Earth and are now responsible for the fact that the surface of the planet seems to be warming because of trapped gases. Our fossil fuel use is the main reason those gases are present. Every time we drive a car to school or work, use electricity, or heat our houses, we are releasing carbon dioxide into the air and making our planet hotter. Another important source of greenhouse gases is caused by deforestation, mainly in the Amazon. There is a lot of money to be made in cutting down trees and planting land for animals to use so the animals can be made into hamburgers at the end of the day. Cattle itself is said by some people to be in part responsible for increasing the amount of methane in the atmosphere (Flannery, 201). So much of what we do to stay alive and to make money appears to be hurting our planet, according to scientists who are increasingly vocal about this important

Gender and Aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gender and Aging - Essay Example For instance, Ms. Beatrice engages in volunteering work in order to find time to share with her daughter and grandchildren (Anno. 2014). This helps her to feel better because of the company and the chance to interact with others. The aging services can help widows like Ms. Beatrice Newman cope with such challenges and age successfully by providing social occasions where they can interact with others. This is essential since it will make them feel appreciated and forget about their problems back at home. It would also be appropriate to encourage them to participate in volunteering activities where they can keep busy and socialize with other members of the society (Anno. 2014). This arises because the main challenge to them is loneliness and loss of touch of the family members. As a result, aging services can support caregivers by providing suitable facilities and conditions for taking care of the

Discrimination under Title Vii Civil rights Essay

Discrimination under Title Vii Civil rights - Essay Example ring and firing; 2) compensation, assignment, or classification of employees; 3) transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall; 4) job advertisements; 5) recruitment; 6) testing; 7) use of company facilities; 8) training and apprenticeship programs; 9) fringe benefits; 10) pay, retirement plans, and disability leave; or 11) other terms and conditions of employment.9 Discriminatory practices under these laws also include: a) harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, or age; b) retaliation against an individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating in an investigation, or opposing discriminatory practices; c) employment decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about the abilities, traits, or performance of individuals of a certain sex, race, age, religion, or ethnic group, or individuals with disabilities, or based on myths or assumptions about an individual's genetic information; and d) denying employment oppo rtunities to a person because of marriage to, or association with, an individual of a particular race, religion, national origin, or an individual with a disability. Title VII also prohibits discrimination because of participation in schools or places of worship associated with a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group. 10 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency tasked to enforce this law. It is empowered to prevent any person from engaging in any unlawful employment practice as set forth in section 2000e-2 or 2000e-3 of this title [section 703 or 704]. 11 Whenever a charge is filed by or on behalf of a person claiming to be aggrieved, or by a member of the Commission, alleging that an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor ­-management...Discrimination under Title Vii Civil rights The Title VII Civil Rights Act also makes sexual harassment in the workplace illegal.3 In the simplest terms, Title VII prohibits employers from making employment related decisions where the decision is motivated by a person’s protected trait.   Thus, for example, an employer may be sued for favoring a white employee over a black employee because of race or color.4 Title VII, the federal law that prohibits most workplace harassment and discrimination, covers all private employers, state and local governments, and educational institutions with 15 or more employees. In addition to prohibiting discrimination against workers because of race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, those protections have been extended to include barring against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, sex stereotyping, and sexual harassment of employees.5 This law protects employees of a company as well as job applicants. 6 Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed an employer could reje ct a job applicant because of his or her race, religion, sex or national origin. This Law however admits some exception. An employer is allowed to discriminate against an applicant or employee where the decision rests on a â€Å"bona fide occupational qualification† or BFOQ. This means that an employer can favor one person over another where the person’s trait is of essence to the performance of the job duties in question. The most notable example is hiring a female for modeling women’s clothing.

Gender and Aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gender and Aging - Essay Example For instance, Ms. Beatrice engages in volunteering work in order to find time to share with her daughter and grandchildren (Anno. 2014). This helps her to feel better because of the company and the chance to interact with others. The aging services can help widows like Ms. Beatrice Newman cope with such challenges and age successfully by providing social occasions where they can interact with others. This is essential since it will make them feel appreciated and forget about their problems back at home. It would also be appropriate to encourage them to participate in volunteering activities where they can keep busy and socialize with other members of the society (Anno. 2014). This arises because the main challenge to them is loneliness and loss of touch of the family members. As a result, aging services can support caregivers by providing suitable facilities and conditions for taking care of the

Justice and Legality in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Essay Example for Free

Justice and Legality in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Essay In this brief paper, legality will be taken to mean as â€Å"doing what the written laws or accepted customs require. On the other hand, justice refers to â€Å"doing for any person what is fitting and proper for that person. † Often dubbed as a â€Å"dark† comedy, Measure for Measure is comprised of characters that are confronted with moral dilemmas. The characters that will be analyzed based on the legality and justness of their actions are the Duke, Angelo, and Isabella. These three characters are interrelated in the sense that their actions affect the other characters in the play. This makes the plot complex just like in most plays of Shakespeare. Also, not only does Measure for Measure abound with intrigue and revelation but also with pertinent questions on freedom, sexuality, morality, and the Law. Hence, a reading of the characters necessitates an understanding of the questions the play raises. After analyzing the characters’ actions, the concluding part will look into the link between legality and justice. As I will argue, legality and justice are not one and the same. Rather, they are relational instances that are apparent in the actions of the characters. The play opens with the Duke assigning his role as leader of Vienna to Angelo. Angelo tried to decline at first yet the Duke was firm in his order. At the offset, one may immediately judge whether the act of the Duke and Angelo is just and/or legal. As the formal ruler of Vienna, the Duke gives up temporarily his mandate to Angelo. One may wonder what could be more important and urgent for the Duke than rule the whole of Vienna. By leaving his job as ruler, it may appear that the Duke’s act is illegal. However, if we understand the Duke’s action in the context of monarchy, what he did was not illegal for the precise reason that he embodies the law itself. Whatever the Duke says or wishes to do is considered the Law. On the part of Angelo, his obedience to the Duke’s order is lawful as it is his role to follow whatever the latter asks him to do. We then learn that with his new position as Duke, Angelo implements strictly the already existing law against fornication. We can confer from the beginning part of the play that Angelo complies fondly with the moral law. This caused Claudio to be imprisoned for impregnating Juliet, his lover, even though the sexual intercourse was consensual. In the following scene, the character of Isabella appears. As a morally uptight person and a loving sister of Claudio, Isabella begged Angelo to release his brother from prison. Angelo promised to show mercy only if Isabella sleeps with him. Shocked and disgusted, Isabella refused. In this scene, we come to know the hypocrisy of Angelo with regard to the moral law he imposes to the people. He bans illicit sexual activities yet he himself asks Isabella to sleep with him. Angelo’s actions are therefore illegal. In relation to Isabella, Angelo is being unjust since what he is asking of Isabella is not fitting for someone who is just about to enter the nunnery and serve God. The dilemma faced by Isabella – whether or not sleep with Angelo so as to save Claudio – is intriguing for it involves two virtues that must be upheld by a religious woman as herself. One virtue is chastity, of not giving up to the sexual condition of Angelo. On the other hand, she is also required to fight for the release of his innocent brother who was unfairly imprisoned. In the end, Isabella chose chastity over Claudio. By declining the sexual condition of Angelo, Isabella is being legal in the context of the moral law. Her choice not to sleep with Angelo attests to her determination to remain a virgin for God. However, the other side of the coin consists of her unjust act to leave his brother in prison. When the Duke, as a friar, intervenes to help Isabella, his plan was to trap Angelo so his only choice would be to release Claudio. In the Duke’s plan, Isabella will seduce Angelo to sleep with her. The moment Angelo takes the bait, Isabella would give up her place to Mariana who is Angelo’s former lover. By unwittingly sleeping with Mariana, Angelo would thus prove guilty of sexual immorality and would later on be forced to release Claudio. The plan, however, did not entirely succeed because after sleeping with Mariana, Angelo did not order the release of Claudio. By helping Isabella, the Duke who is pretending as a friar, was in fact being just in a sense that he is trying to help in the release of Claudio. Meanwhile, Angelo resolute stand not to release Claudio is illegal since he is in fact the one who truly committed a prohibited sexual act. If he is really staunch in disciplining the people then Angelo must put his own self in jail. The end part of the play consists of the Duke’s return as the ruler of Vienna. With his power over the people, the Duke was able to make everyone confess their wrongdoings. Angelo eventually admitted his misdeeds and Claudio was released from prison. The Duke then asks Isabella to marry him. The final scene exhibited the just and legal act of the Duke to release the innocent and correct the wrong. Angelo’s confession can be seen as just since he is committing what is proper to a person like himself. It can also be read as legal since his confession complies with the order of the Duke. Isabella, on the other hand, was just in the sense that she still pursued the issue of his brother’s release. Her choice to marry the Duke, if ever she does, will be legal as it is form of obedience to their ruler. Based from the characters’ actions, we may say that legality and justice are two different instances. The reason for being such is the fact that they are grounded on two different frameworks. Legality is based on the written law that is invoked in order to judge a particular action of a character. On the other hand, justice is based on the personal opinion of the characters that is used for the evaluation of certain actions. However, after probing into the actions of the characters, we see that their personal opinions are in fact strongly influenced by the established moral law. For instance, Isabella’s choice not to sleep with Angelo, although personal, is rooted in the moral law that dictates to have illicit sex is sinful. Along the same vein, Angelo’s seeming personal choice to confess depends heavily on the order imposed by the Duke. The boundary therefore between the personal and the outside basis for judgment is diluted. Thus, in the context of Measure for Measure, justice is subsumed into the realm of legality without necessarily being reduced to it.

History of Alzheimers

History of Alzheimers Learning From Alzheimers On November 25, 1901, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a 37-year-old neuropathologist and psychiatrist at the Hospital for the Mentally Ill and for Epileptics in Frankfurt, Germany, examined a female patient with an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and delusional behavior. After the patient died in 1906, Alzheimer examined her brain and found strange formations of the amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Today, Alzheimers disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. People with Alzheimers progressively lose memory, language skills, and the ability to perceive time and space. The risk of developing Alzheimers also increases with age. Like PD, the underlying disease of Alzheimer starts decade or more before diagnosis. While the exact mechanism by which the disease spread isnt known, the pathology is driven by the aggregation of misfolded proteins either amyloid-beta plaques or tau tangles, or both with the damage spreading from neuron to neuron in a prion-like manner. Alzheimers researchers have recently developed some ingenious tools to help track the disease in the living brain. In 2002, Chester Mathis and the psychiatrist William Klunk developed the PET imaging method to detect and measure amyloid-beta deposition in the brain of living Alzheimers patients. The method involves injecting patients with a radioactive tracer that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and bind selectively to the amyloid-beta protein. The detectors surrounding the patients head capture the radiation emitted by the tracer and convert them into a picture that represents the relative amounts of plaque buildup in different parts of the brain. PET imaging is an example of a biomarker, a metric that can quantify the progress of a disease in a living patient more sensitively than a clinical test like the UPDRS. No such imaging technique yet exists that can detect alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brains of people with PD. Other potential biomarkers are chemical assays that estimate the amyloid content in a patients cerebrospinal fluid, circulating blood, and urine. In the past decade, with the help of biomarkers, Alzheimers researchers have tested numerous drugs designed to target and break down amyloid-beta plaques. While some showed promise in open-label studies, they all failed when tested in phase 3 trials in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimers. One possible reason is that the drugs were given too late in the disease. To address that issue, Alzheimers researchers are working on three early-intervention studies. The first involves an extended family in South America. They are descendants from an individual who carried a rare mutation, called the Paisa mutation, for a heritable form of Alzheimers disease. By late 20th century, the mutation had spread to around 5,000 people in the city of Medellin. This Alzheimers kindred came to the attention of the University of Antioquia neuroscientist Francisco Lopera. A simple genetic screening test can determine which kindred members possessed the bad gene. Those individuals with the bad gene could be given anti-amyloid-beta drugs long before they showed any cognitive impairments. Loperas project is part of the Alzheimers Prevention Initiative headed by the psychiatrist Eric Reiman at the Banner Alzheimers Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. In the trial, the Paisa volunteers get a baseline cognitive assessment plus a biomarker evaluation (involving PET imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, and other assays) to measure the distribution of amyloid beta. They are given Genentechs drug crenezumab, or a placebo. Researchers follow individuals for at least five years. A second genetic study also part of Banners Alzheimers Prevention Initiative involves 1,300 currently healthy individuals age 60 to 75 in Europe and North America. Members of this cohort are at high risk of developing Alzheimers because they have been identified as carrying two copies of a gene called apolipoprotein E4. Such people are not guaranteed to develop Alzheimers like carriers of the Paisa mutation, but their risk is extremely high. Study subjects will receive either a placebo or one of two experimental drugs developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. The third study, known as the A4 trials, is supervised by Dr, Reisa Sperling of Harvard Medical School. It involves a cohort of 1,000 healthy individuals age 70 or older. The individuals in the group exhibit normal cognitive abilities but also have higher than normal levels of amyloid-beta plaques in their brains as measured by a PET scan. This puts them at higher risk for developing Alzheimers. The question is, can that risk be reduced or eliminated? *** PD researchers require imaging and other biomarkers for alpha-synuclein that enable scientists to identify people and also to monitor the disease as it progresses. Chester Mathis and his colleagues are developing a radiotracer that will bind to alpha-synuclein and yield a PET image for PD. The PET tracer is just one element in a bigger Fox Foundation project the Parkinsons Progression Marker Initiative. The idea is to follow several groups of people forward in time performing clinical exams, taking biological samples, and doing multiple imaging scans along the way. Other researchers are looking elsewhere for Parkinsons biomarkers that might allow for early diagnosis. Kathleen Shannon and her colleagues at Rush University Medical Center accessed old colon biopsies performed during routine colonoscopy procedures for three individuals who went on to develop PD. Because these biopsies were done two to five years before the onset of the PD motor symptoms, they provided an opportunity to see if alpha-synuclein was present in the gut before motor symptoms emerged. Another possible place to look for alpha-synuclein is the submandibular gland. Charles Adler of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, biopsied the submandibular glands in twelve people with PD for more than five years and found Lewy pathology in nine of them. The British mathematician Max Little has developed computer algorithms to analyze human voice recordings to detect irregular patterns in PD patients. His PD Voice Initiative uses phone call data as potential biomarkers to diagnose and measure the progression of PD. Key Takeaways Alzheimers researchers have developed some ingenious tools to help track the disease in the living brain.To address the issue that the drugs were given too late in the disease in human drug trials, Alzheimers researchers are working on three early-intervention studies. Inspired by the Alzheimers researchers, PD researchers are working on multiple fronts to develop biomarkers to track PD in the living brain.