hk Essays - Benchmark, Ashley, Global Benchmarks,

The vertical analysis deals with questions like: How has Laura Ashley Holdings plc asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the Women Clothing Stores industry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does Laura Ashley Holdings plc typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does Laura Ashley Holdings plc have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have Laura Ashley Holdings plc returns on equity been higher or its profit margins greater? While the labor productivity analysis answers the following: What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared to global benchmarks?

Brave New World essays

Brave New World essays In Aldous Huxleys novel Brave New World, Mustapha Mond believes that every person lives their life inside of a bottle (223). Plato used a similar line of thinking as Mustapha Mond in his Simile of the Cave. The cave in this case is considered the bottle. Monds statement is valid for the rest of the citizens in the Brave New Worlds World State, as well. One of the main themes in Brave New World is how human conditioning creates a bottle, or glass box, and although some bottles are, as Mond says, ...relatively speaking, enormous... (223), all people do live in some sort of a metaphorical bottle. This bottle controls what they believe and how they react to different situations in life. By bottle, Mond means certain surroundings as well as personal thoughts that remain somewhat constant. Constants can be broad, such as weather conditions that we are used to, or much more introverted like what time of day a person always goes to sleep. In a sense the bottle is our own individual culture that determines how one acts or thinks. Constants within the bottle can be sociological, such as what is considered acceptable, and what aspects of life in the society are considered normal. What is considered normal and acceptable is learned since birth, from observing and obeying parents, friends, and the rest of a given society. What is normal and acceptable are different for every culture that ever existed. These differences can sometimes be completely opposite and sometimes result in conflicts of racism, murder and sometimes even as extreme as war. Each persons bottle is created by different experiences along with different influences. Different people in the same society will have similar enough backgrounds that they will likely react in similar fashions to the same circumstances. As Professor Erchak wrote in his essay on culture...

How does films Crash, The Amistad and American History X describe and Essay

How does films Crash, The Amistad and American History X describe and debate integration in America today - Essay Example Naturally, racism itself is a complex term due to the fact that it is not one-sided or attributable to a singular group. The fact remains, as will be mentioned within this analysis, that racism easily crosses lines of color and can exhibit itself in a number of situations. As a means of analyzing such question, the author of this brief essay will analyze the way that three films represent the issues associated with racism: â€Å"Crash†, â€Å"Amistad†, and â€Å"American History X†. The first of the films which will be analyzed, entitled â€Å"Crash†, is perhaps the most complex analysis of racial issues within society. This is affected by the fact that rather than merely introducing the issue of race and expounding upon it within the story line, the filmmaker uses race and its interpretation between the various groups represented as vehicle of plot development and exploration. Moreover, by seeking to defined race and racism within the context of each of the different groups represented, white, black, and Latino, the viewer is made distinctly aware of the fact that a simple and convenient understanding of racism as being one-dimensional is not sufficient to comprehend the realities that are represented. This multidimensional representation of racism is useful due to the fact that society and filmmakers have traditionally only represented the issue from a given perspective (Sharma 2010). However, by representing the issue in a way that shows the give and take nature of race and racism within the society, the viewer is able to notice how traditional understandings of racism are ultimately encouraged and propagated by the views that â€Å"others† hold with relation to the topic. Accordingly, the second film that will be discussed, â€Å"Amistad†, relates the story of a slave uprising aboard a slave ship bound for the United States. This particular film represents well represents the moral bankruptcy of the practice of slavery as well as

Argumentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Argumentation - Essay Example While many experts decry the negative effects of global warming, it is in fact turning out that global warming is a good phenomenon going by its numerous positive benefits. Scientists note that the earth’s temperature is rising undoubtedly as a result of the greenhouse effect. The atmosphere is saturated with carbon dioxide that traps heat leading to a steady increase in the earth’s temperature and consequently, changes in climate. This carbon dioxide does not come from outer space but from burnt fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal. The other factor contributing to global warming and climate change is the rate at which forests are lost, especially within the tropics as a result of deforestation. Scientists are overwhelmingly in agreement that global warming is a reality and that human activities are its main causes. (Union of Concerned Scientist par 6-7). According to scientists, each year, for the past 37 years, has been warmer than the average temperature of all the years in the 20th century. In the United States, the 12 warmest years have occurred since 1998 with 2012 standing out as the hottest years. Since the late 1800s there has been an increase of more than one degree Fahrenheit on the average surface temperature of the earth. The past three decades have experienced the lion’s share of this increase (Union of Concerned Scientist par 4-6). The current decade has been the warmest since 1880. Scientists note that the earth could experience a 7.2 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature in the 21 century if nothing is done to curb global warming. This would be the case if emissions from fossil fuels such as oil and coal, which are the main culprits, not reduced. Scientists are worried that a number of negative consequences in relation to global warming are quite evident (Natural Resource Defence Council par1). For one, weather

Cyber-bullying Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cyber-bullying - Research Paper Example This is also done through text messages and emails which are forwarded throughout the social circuit. Another form of cyber bullying is sexting which is getting popular with the increase in use of mobiles phones that have imbedded cameras in them. Generally this is common with girlfriends sending pictures to their boyfriends via multimedia messages. But what these teenage girls do not realize is that there are legal implications to this. After break ups these boyfriends can use these pictures to blackmail or embarrass the sender. Cyber bullying is a psychological disturbing form of social cruelty among young people (Jaishankar 2011). Cyber bullying is increasing at a high rate with the increase in the use of technology like cell phones and computers. The ways in which bullying can take place are also increasing because young children who have access to technology invent various ways to harass other young children. Social networking sites also give a forum to these cyber bullies as it is a safe medium through which they can easily commit the crime of cyber bullying without the fear of being caught by the other person. In spite of all this social networking websites cannot be held accountable for any kind of hate speech that is posted on their websites. Cyber bullying has increased the number of suicides committed by teenage boys and girls. Some of these youngsters cannot take in the embarrassments and harassments they are being subjected to and hence fall prey to this act. The mention of cyber bullying now brings about a debate of how strongly governments should act against cyber bullying and whether new acts of laws be implemented against it or not as most of the culprits involved are juvenile. Many states in America have already implemented laws against cyber bullying. The state of Missouri had no made against the crime of cyber bullying until the suicide of a 13 year old girl Megan Meier in 2006. It was then that the state realized that it cannot persecute th e culprit because cyber bullying was not against the law at that time. It was after this incident that Missouri legislature and governor passed a new law that cyber bullying is unlawful harassment by electronic means of communication. This new law also requires the schools and colleges to make a written policy to report any such harassment, which includes not only cyber bullying but other kinds of felonies as well like stalking, to the local police. Now this crime is a class A misdemeanor. According to this new law the act of cyber bullying remains a class A misdemeanor unless 1) committed by a person twenty-one years of age or older against a person seventeen years of age or younger; or 2) the person has previously committed the crime of harassment (â€Å"Internet law-Missouri Governor signs cyber-bullying bill into law†. Web. 2008). After the case of Megan Meier, Missouri was not the only state that took this under consideration and made new laws in order to prevent people from getting harassed in this way. Under this law the offender is penalized if he or she is caught harassing or recklessly frightening an underage. Cyber bullying is a crime which is generally committed by young people mostly teenagers, and are committed against teenagers as well. The under eighteen children come under the juvenile category so are tried more leniently then the adults. The laws for juvenile offenders are much

Pigovian Tax: Analysis and Overview

Pigovian Tax: Analysis and Overview Neo-classicals uphold perfect competition as the ideal state of the market. But in truth, the economy is fraught with market failures. Therefore, we need government interference to correct many of these market failures. Pigovian Tax imposed by the government is one such course of intervention. It helps to curb negative externalities (e.g. pollution) and reduce the burden on the society caused by the externalities (social costs of production and consumption). Moreover, it attacks over-consumption, bringing it closer to the socially optimal level of production and/or consumption. The paper examines the effects of Pigovian tax and analyses its degree of effectiveness on an economy. What is Pigovian Tax? Pigovian tax is a kind of tax, which is levied to correct a negative cost that is created by the actions of any business firm, but that is not considered in a firms private costs or profits. Also known as sin tax, it is a tax placed on an action with a  negative externality,  to correct market failure (Mankiw, 2010). In the presence of negative externalities, the  social cost  Ã‚  of a market activity is not covered by the private cost of the activity. In such a case, the market outcome is not  efficient  Ã‚  and may lead to over-consumption of the product. A Pigovian tax equal to the negative externality is thought to correct the market outcome back to the level of efficiency. For example, a factory does not financially take into consideration the damages caused to the environment by their emissions. By imposing Pigovian Tax, the government can artificially make the firms bear the cost of the damages, which will ideally be equal to what the price would have been if a market for such an activity existed. In a country like Canada with a publicly funded health care system, that is, where the medical service of every patient is funded from government revenues, the cigarette tax acts as a Pigovian tax it raises the revenue necessary to offset the expenses towards the health care system, as a consequence of smoking. Pigovian Tax in Implementation This idea was first put forward by Arthur Cecil Pigou in the year 1912. In his book, The Economics of Welfare, he argued that industrialists seek their own marginal private interest, while not taking into account the social costs of their activities. Pigovian tax is the difference between marginal social cost and the marginal private cost, which is equal to the marginal external cost, shown as Tax in the diagram. The tax level may not equal the marginal external cost at quantities other than the socially optimum equilibrium level. The diagram indicates that marginal external cost increases with increase in quantity produced or consumed. After imposition of the Pigovian Tax, the new supply curve intersects demand (the marginal benefit) at the socially efficient quantity. As a result, the new competitive equilibrium, taking into account the amount of the tax, is efficient. Although this tax works perfectly in theory, its practical implementation is very difficult due to a lack of complete information on the cost of the damages to the environment. When Arthur Pigou first came up with the concept, he laid down a set of assumptions, one of which is a perfectly competitive market. Yet, perfect competition is an unrealistic situation. Monopoly, monopsony and oligopoly markets are commonplace. To internalize the external cost, the government needs to intervene by way of imposing taxes. Pigovian tax can be applied to all spheres of production, be it production of a good (automobile) or service (transportation, banking etc). Baumol and Oates (1975) argue that if Pigovian tax is set equal to the level of marginal damage (external cost) at the Pareto-optimal level of pollution, the industry will move towards its optimal pollution level. The tax is applied to the production of a good that has an externality. Overhead: Pigovian Tax Anatomy from Diagram 2- i. Unregulated result (Q, P) ii. Socially efficient level of production = Q iii. Efficient Pigovian tax = P-P iv. Tax payment to government (shared by consumer and producers = PACP v. Gross benefit from decrease in externality = ADBC vi. Foregone consumption benefits i.e., the social cost of abatement = ABC vii. Net benefit to society = ADB Pigovian tax enhances welfare of the society; restricting over-consumption. It also generates additional revenue for the government. Roland Coase (1960) propounded that if markets may not secure the optimal amount of externality, they can be very gently nudged in that direction without the necessity for full-scale regulatory activity. Yet again, the coarse theorem faces criticism. Property rights are not as strictly defined as required by the coarse theorem. Coarse argued that social costs are even worse if only the offender pays for the social harm and not the consumers for whom the goods and services are produced. Under the Pigovian Tax, it is only the firms who pay for the externalities. Moreover, it is difficult to calculate the right tax in a world of imperfect Coarsian bargains. The concept has evolved through time and many similar ideas were developed such as the Coarse theorem, emission trading i.e. cap and trade (Europe), Environmental Protection agencies (U.S.) formed with the idea of command and control, carbon tax, and tradable permits. The principal problem remains that of quantifying the externality. There is some debate about whether to quantify externalities if the methods are imperfect. The usual response is that as long as we are honest about the flaws in the numbers, it is better to have some numbers than none (Phillips, Carl V, 1999). The benefits accrued by taxing externalities are more than that without taxing the externalities as shown with the game theory approach. The co-ordination game consists of two players, Company A and Company B, with two strategies: Subject to Pigovian Tax and Not Subject to Pigovian Tax. The payoffs of each player are given in the matrix. Nash equilibrium occurs at 2 points, when both companies are subject to Pigovian taxes and when both companies are not subject to Pigovian taxes. If both the companies are ready to bear the social costs, the benefits of sustainability accrued to the companies and society as a whole are more than if the costs are not borne by either company. The many forms of Pigovian Tax Since players dont always come to a socially efficient negotiation, there is a traditional way of limiting externalities command and control. This approach sets quantity limits on activities that have external effects. However, the method is cumbersome. While this method has been undertaken by the US government, the economies of Europe consider cap and trade as a better solution. It causes the least polluting firms to do the majority of the production since their social cost of production is the lowest. Rajeev K. Goel and Edward W. T. Hsieh laid down a two-period model in their research (Durable Emissions and Optimal Pigovian Taxes) where a social planner minimizes social damage by setting the per-unit Pigovian tax on a polluting monopolist. Results show that for a given level of production, the durability of emissions and the socially optimal Pigovian tax are negatively related. Mike Moffatt, in his article named Pigovian Taxes Joining the Pigou  Club; Promoting Economic Growth and Reducing  Externalities, wrote in favor of Pigovian Tax, stating, One of the uses of taxes is to discourage activity that has negative externalities, or we believe is otherwise economically/socially harmful. The benefits accrued versus the inherent failings In addition to correcting social disequilibrium, these taxes also raise revenue for the state. In 2004-2005, the Canadian government collected $16.7 billion in other taxes, which were largely Pigovian taxes such as energy taxes and excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol (Moffat, 2006). In theory, using Pigovian taxes to correct what economists call market failures is simple. But in practice, its not so. The important problem often ignored by advocates of Pigovian taxes is what might be called the measurement problem or the Knowledge Problem. Pigou himself also declared that it must be confessed, however, that we seldom know enough to decide in what fields and to what extent the State, on account of [the gaps between private and public costs] could interfere with individual choice (Pigou, 1954). Pigou and  Friedrich Hayek  point out that the assumption that the government can determine the marginal social cost of a negative externality and convert that amount into a monetary value is a key weakness in the framework of the Pigovian tax. The economists blackboard model assumes knowledge we dont possess its a model with assumed givens, which are in contrast with real-world happenings.  Friedrich Hayek  would argue that this is knowledge which could not be prov ided as a given by any method, yet could be discovered, due to insuperable cognitive limits. However, the key difficulty with this tax is calculating what level of applied tax would counterbalance the negative externalities. Even when a Pigovian tax is charged to correct the market imperfection in a world with regulations and efficient transfers, the observed amount of the externality (e.g., pollution) is unlikely to be zero since we will still observe some externalities as a consequence of the exchanges and transfers. The rate of tax best set should be equal to the per-unit external cost that spills over into the society. A tax imposed without such calculations may well be inefficient and redundant. There is also political influence on the levied tax, in such a way that lobbying of government by the polluters may tend to reduce the level of the tax levied and which would ultimately reduce the mitigating effect of tax and lead to increase in production. Instead of accomplishing the goal of the tax imposed, the burden shifts to the society. Thomas A. Barthold (1994) argued that in the US in the year 1994, the actual policy decisions often came from budget requirements, and not concern for the environment. The taxes do not always comply with economic theory because social benefits and costs are hard to measure. He uses the 1989 Montreal Protocol as an example. President George H. W. Bush signed this protocol that allowed either a permit auction or a tax on ozone-depleting chemicals. Barthold attributes the decision to implement the tax to the pressure on the Ways and Means committee to come up with more consistent revenue. Like the other taxes imposed by the government, Pigovian tax gives air to malpractices like black marketing, smuggling and child labour, especially if they create large differences in the prices of products, which are popular, and if the demand for the product increases in spite of the increase in production. Pigovian Tax imposed by the government is a complex mechanism. It has its societal merits and elementary de-merits. While it covers the cost of negative externalities and eliminates the burden of society, on the same page, it may also hamper the growth of industries leading to inefficiency of small industries. In a monopsony market, where there is only one buyer, it is difficult to impose Pigovian tax since the burden of the tax will be borne by one entity. This may consequently lead to rise in the prices of the commodity. When Pigovian tax is imposed, in a monopolistic competitive market, the tax will be borne by a large number of consumers and hence, the burden of tax is divided. While it can be said that imposing Pigovian tax would lead to a reduction in the level of quantity produced of a commodity by an industry, it can also cause the industries to look upon to new advancements in technologies. This will open doors to research and innovation in the field. For example, the company AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals is always trying to innovate and make a leap forward in its development to achieve its target to reduce CO2 emissions. Its production facility in Mariager in Denmark uses wood to generate electricity. Wood and other plant-based materials are also used to produce chemical building blocks. Moreover, this shift in technology by commodity producers will cause the externality to be automatically internalised. Whatever benefits Pigovian taxes might be able to provide, it will usually give diminishing returns past a certain point, where the government might fail to achieve their objectives of meaningfully reducing the excess social costs. Instead, these kinds of taxes would appear to simply become a vehicle by which politicians may raise tax revenue by imposing a discriminatory tax policy aimed at an undesirable minority. Therefore, only where  institutional and trade solutions are not efficient, the government should consider whether specific  interventions, regulation or specific  taxes are appropriate to address externalities. These measures are preferable when the net efficiency gains from the  intervention are larger than the associated administrative and compliance costs. This suggests that intervention is desirable when externalities are reasonably large.

The Character of Elizabeth Gruber in The River Warren :: River Warren Essays

The Character of Elizabeth Gruber in The River Warren    After reading The River Warren by Kent Myers, I felt a kinship with Elizabeth Gruber. Her loss had been an enormous one. Her return to reality and the world around her took great inner strength. The numbness and the void she was experiencing is very real and can be all consuming if not put in check, not just for women but all humans. We as humans are all different and the grief process is different for all of us. Elizabeth, upon being aroused from her pit of grief, realizes that her strength and connection with her husband, Leo, is the only thing that is going to bring him back form his deep, dark, prison of regret, grief, and guilt. I felt her pain in both the loss of her child and the painful silence that her marriage had become. As Elizabeth drives to the field and assaults the tractor with a rock, I remember times when I would have loved to do the same thing. Only I was not brave enough to attack the iron mistress that takes away the farmer's spare time.    Many farmers I know respond to grief, stress and anxiety the same way Leo Gruber does. They bury themselves in their work. There they can think, and they have control. Many times, with all of us, the intense feelings of guilt and sorrow make us feel as if we have lost control of our world. So we retreat to a place where we can have control. For Leo it was his work, and his tractor. Liz Beth brought him back to the real world. Cowboys, farmers and men of the west learned to shut themselves off, and they weren't allowed to feel or show emotion. To these men showing real feeling and emotion was a sign of weakness, and the weak don't survive in the west, at least that is the way they were trained to think for many generations.    My father is a fourth generation South Dakotan. For many years as I was growing up I wandered if he had ice in his veins, just as Jeff had wondered about his father.