Eotyrannus - Facts and Figures

Name: Eotyrannus (Greek for dawn tyrant); pronounced EE-oh-tih-RAN-us Habitat: Woodlands of Western Europe Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (125-120 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 15 feet long and 300-500 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; relatively long arms with grasping hands About Eotyrannus The tiny tyrannosaur Eotyrannus lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 50 million years before more famous relatives like Tyrannosaurus Rex--and, following a common theme in evolution, this dinosaur was much smaller than its giant descendant (the same way the first, mouse-sized mammals of the Mesozoic Era were much smaller than the whales and elephants that evolved from them). In fact, the 300- to 500-pound Eotyrannus was so slender and wiry, with relatively long arms and legs and grasping hands, that to the untrained eye it might look more like a raptor; the giveaway is the lack of single, giant claws on each of its hind feet, as sported by the likes of Velociraptor and Deinonychus. (One paleontologist speculates that Eoraptor was actually a non-tyrannosaur theropod closely related to Megaraptor, but this idea is still being digested by the scientific community.) One of the most remarkable things about Eotyrannus is that its remains were discovered on Englands Isle of Wight--western Europe isnt exactly famous for its tyrannosaurs! From an evolutionary point of view, however, this makes sense: we know that the earliest tyrannosaurs (like the 25-pound, feathered Dilong) lived a few million years before Eotyrannus in eastern Asia, while the largest tyrannosaurs (like the multi-ton T. Rex and Albertosaurus) were indigenous to late Cretaceous North America. One possible scenario is that the very first tyrannosaurs migrated west from Asia, quickly evolving to Eotyrannus-like sizes, and then reached the culmination of their development in North America. (A similar pattern held with horned, frilled dinosaurs, the tiny progenitors of which originated in Asia and then made their way westwards to North America, spawning multi-ton genera like Triceratops.)

My Personal Strengths And Weaknesses - 916 Words

When I think of my personal strengths and weaknesses in school, finding the time to study, always seems to fall on the weaker side. I find myself knowing when I can study and focus the best but rarely following through with studying during those times. My major strength has always been my motivation once I begin. I can sit down to do a project with the intention of finishing it within that single sitting. I become extremely focused and efficient to complete the project or finish the goal I have set for myself. The problem is that I don’t often sit down in a quiet environment to focus on the work needing done. For example, I will sit down to do chemistry homework late at night because I procrastinate it all day; instead of getting up before my morning class and doing it when I am more alert and better able to focus. The time management project opened my eyes to all the improvements that I can make to how I can better manage my time. My personal study habits consisted of sitting down at my dining room table with my laptop. I normally try to write all of my notes down on paper and go back through to highlight important information. When I am sitting down to study it is normally after a day of classes with about 4 or more people sitting in my living room with me. We all try to get our homework done but soon after starting one or two want to stop and just talk. If I’m not studying in my dining room I sometimes try to hide out in my room to get quiet and focus on typing any papersShow MoreRelated My Personal Strengths and Weaknesses Essay792 Words   |  4 Pageslearning experience and being able to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses can help us become better individuals in anything we choose to do, whether it is positive abilities and skills that can help achieve our goals or negative personal areas that need improvement. Knowing yourself and what you can do, can help you recognize and overcome your weaknesses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of my greatest strengths at work that I have recognized would have to be my ability to be a well-organized individual. I tend toRead MorePersonal Statement : My Strengths And Weaknesses863 Words   |  4 Pagesevaluate my listening skills, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and describe how I can improve my skills. My listening self-assessment score of 36 indicates that, although my skill level is decent, I have room to improve significantly. I regularly attend professional meetings where either informational listening or critical listening is required. Despite this, I consider my listening skills subpar and am aware of my need for improvement. In understanding how I can improve, I must first assess my strengthsRead MorePersonal Strengths And Weaknesses Of My Working Style1450 Words   |  6 PagesDiscuss your working style, including two personal strengths and two personal weaknesses that relate to your working style. My working style very from job too job but I think and and can be summed up by saying that I am extremely dependable and flexible. I rarely miss a day of work; in the last three years I have missed one day of work and that was related a serious family matter. Also I am on time regardless of the event. Being punctuate is appreciated by most but if you are attendingRead MoreMy Personal Strengths and Weaknesses in Netball Essay1696 Words   |  7 PagesI consider are my strengths and weaknesses for Netball and why I think each one is a strength or weakness. Strengths Weaknesses Shooting Shoulder Pass Bounce Pass Chest Pass Pivoting Footwork High-running Pass Reaction Time Agility Speed Strengths: Strength 1: Shooting is one of my strengths as I think I perform it correctly. By correctly I mean having a balanced position (standing with my feet shoulder widthRead MoreEssay about My Personal Strengths and Weaknesses for a Career725 Words   |  3 Pagescannot do will alter what employers and positions there are for you. Throughout my higher education at Full Sail University, I have been able to overcome weaknesses that I have and raised other strengths beyond what I thought I could. Matching what you are good at and not so good at can help shape what your life path will be. Looking deeper into my personal capabilities, I have discovered three strengths and three weaknesses that I have and I’m working on eliminating or improving. If you are not goodRead MorePersonal Strengths and Weaknesses1028 Words   |  5 PagesAn individuals personal strengths and weaknesses are life learning experiences and we all as human beings have different levels strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes a persons strengths and weaknesses may seem very difficult to discuss at times. No one ever wants to admit that they have wea knesses because they are feel ashamed or embarrassed to let others to know that their weaknesses exist. It is best for a person to really know himself or herself in order to accurately evaluate the areas thatRead MorePersonal Strengths and Weaknesses Essay781 Words   |  4 PagesMy Personal Strengths and Weaknesses I believe that life is a learning experience and being able to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses can help us become better individuals in anything we choose to do, whether it is positive abilities and skills that can help achieve our goals or negative personal areas that need improvement. Knowing yourself and what you can do, can help you recognize and overcome your weaknesses. One of my greatest strengths at work that I have recognized would haveRead MoreStrengths and Weaknesses898 Words   |  4 Pagesthis paper is to show you the personal strengths and weakness that I identified by asking friends and family their opinion on the topic regarding yours truly, and by examining myself for areas that I am really good at (also known as strengths) and areas I need to improve (otherwise known as weaknesses). After I have identified them, I will tell you how recognizing my strengths and weakness can help me to improve myself to achieve a more peaceful and satisfying personal life. I will start withRead MoreStrengths and Weaknesses Essay844 Words   |  4 PagesStrengths and Weaknesses Throughout the Mid-SEE I have written reflections on my writing and participated in group activities. I have received comments back from my peers and suggestions to help with revising my paper. With the help of my professor, Professor Church and my classmates, I was able to comprehend their suggestions to me to make my essay better and by revising my classmate’s essays, I was able to point out mistakes that I might have made in my essay, which made myself go back to myRead More Strengths and Weaknesses Essay900 Words   |  4 Pagesthis paper is to show you the personal strengths and weakness that I identified by asking friends and family their opinion on the topic regarding yours truly, and by examining myself for areas that I am really good at (also known as strengths) and areas I need to improve (otherwise known as weaknesses). After I have identified them, I will tell you how recognizing my strengths and weakness can help me to improve myself to achieve a more peaceful and satisfying personal life. I will start with the

Legal Responsibilities of Google for Research - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theLegal Responsibilities of Google for Research. Answer: The legal responsibilities of a business are obligations that regulations and laws of the society within which business functions require it to execute. Little difference prevails between the diverse opinions on corporate social responsibility concerning what creates the business' legal responsibilities (Carroll Shabana, 2010). Google is an American international technology organization that specializes in Internet-connected products and services and is required to comply with certain legal responsibilities. Therefore, Google Company has various legal responsibilities that are discussed in this paper. First, Google has the legal responsibility of ensuring that information flows freely. The activities of Google, similar to those of other players in the internet segment, are grounded on the doctrine of the free movement of information (Syodinou, 2012). The freedom of information and liberty of expression, comprising both the right to spread and obtain information, are stated via the freedom to collect information and the autonomy to find, index, and offer links. The strategy of Google to navigate Internet traffic to its numerous applications and services also plays the function of assembling helpful consumer information that is critical for personalizing promotion (Syodinou, 2012). However, the information that flows and is kept in the products and services of Google often correlate to the works safeguarded by copyright or sets up a large portion of a database. For example, the web that is shielded by the creator of the database has sui generis right (Coopers, 2014). A demonstrative example of copyrighted violation by-products of Google in Europe is the Google News of Belgian cases. Concisely, the editors of the Belgian Press gathering society Copiepresse required prohibitory sanction against Google in the year 2006 for having reused, stored, extracted, and reproduced the content of Belgium newspaper in its Google News everyday press review. Google had used the information without consent from editors of Belgium press (Cooper, 2014). Google was found guilty by the court as it had violated both the database and copyright Sui generics on September 5th, 2006. Second, Google has the legal responsibility of allowing automated processing tactics. Through AdWords, the company permits advertisers to choose keywords for the purpose of ensuring that their advertisements get displayed to users of the internet in reply to those keywords being put in the search engine of Google (Syodinou, 2012). However, there has been an issue of keyword's use legality which matches trademarks. For example, pursuant to the conflicting positions articulated in the French case law, the Cassations French Court asked the subsequent basic quizzes to Justices European Court: First, if the Googles use, within its AdWords advertising structure, of keywords analogous to trademarks made a breach of those trademarks (Syodinou, 2012). The other important question was if Google could be freed from liability upon the basis of the E-commerce Directive's Article 14, in which case it was innocent of the breach. The Court on 23rd March 2010, ruled that while Google was functioning trades course, it was not utilizing the trademarks for its self-advertising service and thus it was impossible to hold it liable for trademark contravention (Syodinou, 2012). In the second main issue, the Court concluded that E-commerce Directives Article 14 ought to be construed as denoting that that the law stated therein relates to an internet service-giver within cases where that service giver has not done its functional role of such a type as to offer control over, or knowledge of, the stored data. Google Corporations third legal responsibility is to protect the users privacy. The companys privacy policy articulates three important elements. The first element is the information collected by Google (Synodinou, 2012; Google Registry, 2014). Google collects information in two ways comprising of information given by users and information it obtains from the use of its services by users. The second element is the manner the collected information is used. Google uses the collected information from Registry services of Google to improve, provide, protect, maintain and advance new services, as well as to safeguard Google Registry and her users. When one contacts Google Registry, your communications record might be stored (Google Registry, 2014). Your email address might be used to notify you about Googles services and send you administrative messages. Moreover, Google Registry might process private information on servers within multiple nations all over the earth. The company can store, transfer, and or process someones private information on a server situated in a foreign country. The other element is logging on and updating personal information (Holland, 2010). Whenever Google services are utilized, the firm aims to give you access to your private information. When that information is erroneous, Google tries to offer you means of quickly updating it or deleting it unless you have to store that information for legal purposes or legitimate business (Cooper, 2014). The fourth legal responsibility of Google is removing search results. For example, in Europe, the company has started removing search outcomes for searches on some persons in adherence to a contentious court declaration that inaugurated the purported right to be disremembered (Too, 2014). The European Union Justices Court ruled that it is the responsibility of Google to get rid of irrelevant or outdated search outcomes held by the third parties. The Corporations fifth legal responsible is to ensure that all suppliers in their entire activities follow the regulations, rules, and laws of the nations within which they operate. For example, Google is devoted to safeguarding the workers human rights and treating them with dignity and respect as the international community fathoms. This applies to every employee, comprising direct employees, students, temporary, contractual, migrant, and any other kind of employee (Panmore Institute, 2017; Google, 2015). The organization is legally responsible for safety and health of all people involved in its business. This is its sixth major responsibility (Google Inc., 2015). In this case, suppliers are obliged to know that in addition to reducing the occurrence of work-related illness and injury, a healthy and safe working condition improves the services and products quality, production consistency, and employee retention and morale (Google.org, 2014). A supplier is as well required to recognize that ongoing worker education and input is valuable to recognizing and solving safety and health issues at the place of work (Shenkar, et al., 2014). The safety and health standards are, but not limited to emergency preparedness, food, housing and sanitation, and physically challenging work. Googles other legal responsibility of taking care of the environment. The company believes that environmental responsibility is central to manufacturing unique products (Google Inc., 2014). Within manufacturing operations, a supplier would lessen adverse impacts on the natural resources, environment, and community while protecting the public's safety and health. The ecological standards include product content limitations, environmental management systems, and resource efficiency among others (Ioakimidis et al., 2006). In conclusion, Google has the legal responsibility to certain things, and, therefore, it cannot ignore these duties. The corporation has the legal responsibility to ensure that information flows freely. The freedom of information and liberty of expression stated via the freedom to collect information and the autonomy to find, index, and offer links. Googles other responsibility is to allow automated processing tactics, protect the users privacy, and remove search results. The European Union Justices Court ruled that it is the responsibility of Google to get rid of irrelevant or outdated search outcomes held by the third parties. Additionally, the company has the legal duty to create a healthy working environment for its employees, ensure that all it suppliers follow the regulations, rules, and laws of the nations within which they operate observed, and take care of the environment. References Carroll, A. B Shabana, K. M. (2010). The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research, and Practice. International Journal of Management. 86-105. Cooper, D. (2014). Google, the CJEU, and the Long Arm of the European Data Protection Law.Retrieved https://www.insideprivacy.com/advertising-marketing/online/google-spain- data-protection-ruling-extends-eu-privacy-law/ Google Inc. (2014). Google Inc. Form 10-K, 2014. Retrieved https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000128877615000008/goog2014123110-k.htm Google Registry. (2017). Privacy Policy. Retrieved https://www.registry.google/about/privacy.html Google. (2015). Responsible Manufacturing. Retrieved https://www.google.com/about/responsible-manufacturing.html Google.org. (2015). Data-driven, Human-focused Philanthropy Powered by Google. Retrieved https://www.google.org/ Holland, C. (2010). The Google Settlement: a Brief Overview. Legal Information Management, 10(03), 181-183. doi:10.1017/s147266961000068x Ioakimidis, M., Stergioulas, A., Tripolitsioti, A. (2006). Environmental resposibility in the sport industry. Choregia, 103-116. doi:10.4127/ch.2006.2.1-2.103-116 Panmore Institute. (2017). Google Stakeholders Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Retrieved https://panmore.com/google-stakeholders-corporate-social-responsibility-csr- analysis Shenkar, O et al. (2014). International Business. London: Routledge. Synodinou, T. (2012). Google versus the Law. Retrieved https://www.worldfinancialreview.com/?p=1546 Toor, Amar. (2014). Google Begins Removing Search Results Under Right to Be Forgotten Law. Retrieved https://www.theverge.com/2014/6/26/5844982/google-begins-removing- search-results-under-EU-right-to-be-forgotten

What contributions did Ford and Taylor make to the organisation of work Essay Example

What contributions did Ford and Taylor make to the organisation of work? Essay Organisations, like organisms, evolve over time. Understanding the nature of organisations and how they have changed helps us to better understand the purpose of managerial work. Contributions to organisational work are based on past events which are unlikely to be recreated in their entirety, thus rendering the strategy less efficient than it was in the original situation. The implementation of classical management theory was the main focus of works by Taylor and Fayol, with business managers such as Ford being heavily influenced by these ideas. Though Taylors concepts have been fundamental for the organisational structure of some post-industrialist firms as well as current ones, I believe the way in which they have been implemented is flawed as it indicates that the strategies only work for a narrow range of firms. The inception of scientific management Taylors principles of scientific management (Taylor in Pugh, D, 1990) were based on the assumption that workers put in as little effort as possible into their work just to earn money. Hypothetically, if this assumption were true, the evaluative arguments of Taylors ideas being too harsh may not have existed; but shifting all the responsibility for the organisation from the worker to the manager, monitoring each workers progress and encouraging the efficiency of workers by relating pay to performance led to an employee backlash. The severity of his ideas even meant that some governments forbade the use of Taylorism in a firms management structure. We will write a custom essay sample on What contributions did Ford and Taylor make to the organisation of work? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What contributions did Ford and Taylor make to the organisation of work? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What contributions did Ford and Taylor make to the organisation of work? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Fords impact on the automobile industry was a visible manifestation of the visible hand (Chandler, 1977) of management. Although the continuous assembly line was a vital part of mass production, improvements in technology enabled small car components to be made accurately and the interchangeability of parts and the simplicity of attaching them together (Womack et al, 1990, p.26) allowed for a more efficient car-making process to emerge. The single purpose machine tools churned out standardised parts that didnt need to be adapted for every car by skilled workers, giving rise to the interchangeable worker. The pace of the conveyor belt of the assembly line set the pace of work the factory, permitting managers to focus on other ways to improve the firm rather than focusing on productivity and efficiency. As labour costs were a significant proportion of Fords costs, reducing the need for a specifically trained workforce led to a massive fall in the value of luxury cars, bringing a large part of the population in the US and UK into effective demand. Taylors theories are also based on the assumption that there is one best method in which an action can be undertaken, and all that is necessary is research into situation to find such a method, hence the name, scientific management. Not only has this strategy worked for the automobile industry, current examples can be seen in large chain restaurants and coffee shops such as Starbucks, as well as in the service sector. Buchanan and Huczynski (2001) identified telephone service jobs as a classic example of a job that required one specific procedure, in the form of customised call scripts, which can be followed. Fast food restaurant and call centre jobs have a high level of monotony, leading to passive workers who have little or no room to climb up the career ladder and tailor their own jobs. Focusing primarily on cutting costs by finding the most efficient method of production led to the downfall of scientific management and the rise of the people-orientated approach. The demise of scientific management Not being able to find the best way of producing a product or providing a service renders Taylors strategies impracticable. Ford tried to repeat the success of the Model T in the UK after the boom in car sales in the US; however, he did not foresee the strength on the trade unions in the UK. The labour market in the UK was inflexible and unable to adapt to the dehumanising nature of Fords factories. Although forcing workers to follow work ethic in a mindless and unquestioning manner improved the speed, precision and efficiency of production, the Model T failed to attract a large market in the UK. After sacking union workers and not listening to UK managers, Ford introduced the Model A which was better adapted to suit potential customers. This was one of the first proofs that Taylors concepts were only effective on a narrow range of non-complex industries, in which the best method of production could definitely be found after research. Tolliday (1992) noted that Fords successes were primarily based on Fords conception of fitting everything together, thus facilitating the advancements in technology and gifted mechanics to produce the Model T for a large market. I think that his success was partly down to luck as there was a constant supply of new workers in Detroit to make up for the 70% of workers that quit in the first week of Fords moving new assembly line manufacturing system. Additionally, in Buchanan and Huczynskis (2001) analysis of Taylor, they mention how he understates the complexity of what management is and what exactly managers do, and his basic assumptions that pay is a driving factor for work has been proven wrong by the Hawthorne experiment. The results demonstrated that labour has become a crucial part of the firm as, even though the experiment failed men, women joined an institution to become part of a team and forming a social aspect with co-workers outside of working hours. The need for recognition and belonging was a motivating factor in getting more women into the workforce. I think that without fully understanding the market and what managers do, commenting on how different models contribute towards organisational behaviour and their relative successes is futile. Defining management as an exact science or profession is difficult (Mintzberg, 1975, p.53) as decisions are not always taken rationally but are based on judgement and intuition. Whether this decision is good or bad can only be told in retrospect. Conclusions Increasing consumer choice and individuality of products as well as the growing complexity of markets and goods makes it harder to implement Taylorist principles. The further you move from standardisation and mass production using specialised machinery, Taylors theories begin to seem too extreme and thus would fail no matter how you tried to execute them. Given the political, social and cultural changes since Taylor first created the notion of scientific management, his theories seem of limited relevance compared to their significance at the time.

Identify the Common Poplars in North America

Identify the Common Poplars in North America The genus Populus  most common North American natives include  one true poplar in the north, four primary species of cottonwoods and the quaking aspen. Most of the known 35 natural poplar species live in the Northern Hemisphere. The cottonwoods thrive in an ecosystem associated with riparian and wetland areas in eastern and western North America. The aspens are most comfortable in boreal environments dominated by conifers with aspen being a major broad-leaved species. Balsam poplar  (Populus balsamifera)  is the northernmost American hardwood and a major deciduous tree in Canada and Alaska. The Common North American Poplar Species Quaking aspenBalsam poplarEastern cottonwoodBlack cottonwood All have long reproductive catkins that appear just before the new leaves of spring and can help in identification. The resulting fruit is a capsule that opens into 2 tp 4 parts. The tufted seeds are shed in masses of white cotton which can cover the ground inches deep. The leaves of aspen and Eastern cottonwood are deltoids  where black cottonwood and balsam poplar are ovate. They occur on a branch alternately, are simple (single leaf) and mostly toothed. Interesting Facts The Eastern Cottonwood,  Populus deltoides, is one of the largest North American hardwood trees.  The aspen  has the widest range in the United States.  It occurs throughout the eastern United States and throughout Canada.Yellow poplar is not a true poplar and not listed here.

Diet Fabs

Diet Fabs In todays society people have started to become overweight at early stages, due to the foods that they eat. People try many diets, proper exercise and to manage food, but it seems that more and more people cant control there eating habits. There are many opinions when it comes to dieting and how it should be done. What one person might think is good for you the other person might say it is not.Americans suffer from what you call diet. It seems that everywhere you go; there are certain diets that are available in supermarkets, malls and pharmacies. There are all kinds of diet pills on store shelves that people will buy just to lose weight not knowing the effect that it will have on their inner body. Back in the day people were not really concern about their weight like they are today, it seems to be all about the image one must portray.English: Back cover of Barbie booklet about how to...Commercials on TV have so many celebrities sponsoring diet clubs just so you will join and to thin k well, if Marie Osmond can do it then I can to.Some food are ridiculously temping to eat even though you are not suppose to eat it because it is high in calories and full of food additives that are not good for you. With so many food shows on TV how can you lose weight if the shows are cooking good looking food?Millions of people today are fighting obesity than before because people lack going home and cooking a healthy meal instead they will stop and grab fast food and take it home to feed their kids. Fast food chains have become more convenient for most families just because both parents are working and do not have the time to cook. Obesity is wide spread...

Plato's Allegory of the Cave Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plato's Allegory of the Cave - Essay Example He expresses a point unknown and less considered by many, that a philosopher could be zero in knowledge. Through the puzzle, the victim of such circumstances only discovers of such truths after a long time. Exposure, which happens to be less in the profession, uncovers such truths hence making it a puzzle that majority of the philosophers are ignorant and hide behind the veil of ignorance. The claim that Socrates makes to be the wisest of all and later declares his ignorance as every other philosopher therefore makes the riddle. Socrates happens to come out as one of the wisest philosophers. By denouncing the level at which philosophers are placed in the society, he tried to connect with what is considered as the real world. He comes out as one who is certain of the shortcomings in his world that other philosophers have not discovered. By saying ‘I know that I do not know’, he comes out as a wise philosopher who knows he does not know everything. He brings out an aspect of acceptance that one can never be self-sufficient. Regardless of how much one is perceived by others to be sufficient, a gap in everybody can only be discovered through exposure. This is the opposite of what the world thinks of philosophers. It is also the opposite of what philosophers think of themselves. To many of them, their small professional world gives them confidence as all knowing. Majority do not acknowledge their struggles as part of a problem emanating from ignorance. To them, the struggles are just part of the process. Allegory of the Cave is a dialogue between Plato’s teacher, Socrates and Plato’s brother. Socrates, who is the main narrator, brings out a dark, congested world inhabited by people in a particular class of wisdom. In that small world symbolized by a cave, there is commonality of knowledge since all are pinned to the same wall. They face the same issues and none of them feels free to explore the outside world even when freedom is declared. The Allegory is given in a setting of a prison where prisoners are put in an underground cave. The cave receives limited light that makes it hard for each one of them to see anything that happens behind them. All they know are their own shadows and those of people passing behind them. Their manner of communication and the things they talk to each other relates to what they share in common. Their discussions are tied around what is common to them and any attempt to release them will not be easy for them. Select one incident from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave that best serves to illustrate the meaning of this statement. According to the allegory, the prisoner disabused of his error and liberation to walk around represents Socrates. Due to the conditions he has been in before, the prisoner is likely to suffer so many things. Part of the problems will be facing the light that has been rare in the former state. Any exposure to the light will be so disturbing but a positive step tow ards discovering the reality outside the prison. The exposure will be the start of getting wisdom as he tries to define different things around him. For example in the Allegory, giving seasons and the years will be a demonstration of newly found wisdom that never existed in the former state. The incident brings out a realization of the real world where fantasies do not apply. Facing realities makes one realize how much they do not know even after being higher in knowledge as per fellow people. To Socrates, getting

Aeroflots global marketing approach in Russia & U.K Case Study

Aeroflots global marketing approach in Russia & U.K - Case Study Example No other industry is regulated such a degree on an international level. The aviation industry to still dominated by flag carriers, which have historically been molded by the political concerns of national governments but now are under threat from the low cost carriers. At a time of high competition, particularly on most profitable routes, the difficulties faced by airlines are compounded by the high exposure this industry from outside control. Volatility in fuel prices, war, international tourism, industrial action and the impact of illness such as SARS and Avian flu are some of the risks.The end of Soviet Union brought sweeping changes to the ownership and management of the industry with privatization and entry of new private businesses in the airline and airport sector. Presently only four commercial airlines -Aeroflot, Sibir, Pulkovo and UT Air - carry more than one million passengers a year. Aeroflot dominates the international market whilst in the domestic market it faces compet ition from the others (Sibir is the leading Russian domestic passenger carrier). Aeroflot provides 37.7% of the total seats supplied in the overall Russian-EU market with Lufthansa the next nearest carrier with 12.6%. As part of the privatization process, many of Aeroflot regional divisions became independent airlines and now compete with their former parent. Aeroflot is an open, joint stock company; with state owns 51% shares. Aeroflot flies to 126 destinations in 70 countries of the world. Russia has currently 215 registered airlines (267 in 2000), including 55 state-owned carriers, a number which is expected to decrease in the years to come with increased competition, more stringent governmental licensing procedures and the enforcement of higher safety requirements. Based on 2005 data, Aeroflot's share of the Russian airline market in terms of passengers carried would increase from 17% to about 35% on domestic routes and from 31% to 48% on international routes (i.e. from and to R ussia). In terms of total passengers carried on both domestic and international routes, Aeroflot will control a 41% market share vs. 23% on a stand-alone basis, with a huge gap between it and its nearest competitors - Sibir (12%), UTAir (5%) located in the oil-rich Khantimansiisk region, and VIM Avia (5%), a recently established charter carrier operating a fleet solely composed of foreign-made aircraft. Domestic expansion, in addition to bringing returns to scale, should have the effect of establishing domestic feeder routes that would ultimately provide a basis for renewed growth in Aeroflot's international business. 3. Standardization Vs. Adaptation: As a principal objective of the Russian government is to develop domestic air transport through major restructuring in order to increase efficiency and quality of services. The state would pay for the new shares with its stakes in the largest state-owned airlines: 100% state-owned Pulkovo, GTK Rossiya and Dalavia, Krasair (51%), Vladivostokavia (51%) and Sibir (25%). Aeroflot would hence end up with stakes in all of its major competitors, while the state would increase its ownership in Aeroflot. Aeroflot management and the state since late 2004 and was initially suggested as a way to increase the company's market capitalization. The larger free-float probably resulting in a higher market capitalization, the Russian flag carrier would also expand the scale of its operations on both international and domestic routes, which is important given

The Automotive Industry in Mexico and Brazil Essay Example for Free

The Automotive Industry in Mexico and Brazil Essay The automotive industry in Mexico and Brazil is one of the most dynamic business in Latin America, with both countries are disputing the 8th place as the highest car producers in the world [a}. While the production of cars in Mexico is directed to foreign consumption, the Brazilian one is mainly directed to its internal and regional markets. Both countries offer several advantages, such as low labor cost and high qualified personnel, however there are many challenges that must be considered such as pending political reforms and high crime rate in Mexico, and high inflation rate and economic deceleration in Brazil. Whereas, Mexico is better located geographically, Brazil’s potential internal market makes it the best option to invest currently, as long as it has best regulatory conditions and may offer better tax incentives. Whereas a weak local currency may affect the assembly of cars industry in both countries, Brazil’s infrastructure spending is entering a frenzied period [b] to meet its commitments to host the Olympics (2014) and the World Cup (2016), which may contribute to make it a popular destination for Foreign Direct Investment.

Cystic Fibrosis and Gene Therapy Essay -- Science Genetics Biology Pap

Cystic Fibrosis and Gene Therapy The average life span of a person with Cystic Fibrosis is 25-30 years of age. Although the more traditional treatments of this disease are adequate, is there something else that could be even better? Gene therapy is fast becoming one of the more studied aspects of genetics today. Let's take a look at some details of Cystic Fibrosis and gene therapy. Technical Aspects Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disease in the United States today. CF is an autosomal recessive disease that occurs approximately one out of 3,300 live births (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 1998). Autosomal means that the gene for CF is not carried on the sex chromosomes and males and females are both afflicted by this disease. Recessive inheritance is when both parents "carry" the abnormal gene in their DNA but they themselves do not show evidence of the disease. The mother and father have one normal gene and one abnormal gene and don't show signs of disease because the normal gene dominates the abnormal gene. To have CF, a child must inherit two abnormal genes, one from each parent. Remember that chromosomes are made up of DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is made up of genes, and genes are made up of building blocks called base pairs. The specific gene responsible for CF was identified in 1989 on human chromosome 7 (Pseudomonas Genome Project, 1998). A mutatio n, or change in the genetic material, resulting in a substitution or loss of one of the base pairs causes the CF gene to be abnormal (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 1995). CF does not affect all people the same way. The basic problem for all patients however is an abnormality in glands, which produce mucus or sweat. The mucus produced by people... ...ctsabo.htm">http://www.cff.org/factsabo.htm Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, "Gene Therapy". Obtained from the WWW 10/31/98: http://www.cff.org/genether.htm Genentech Incorporated, "Gene Therapy-An Overview". Obtained from the WWW 10/31/98: http://www.gene.com/AE/AB/IWT/Gene_Therapy_Overview.html McClean, Phillip. "Variation in Chromosome Structure". Obtained from the WWW 10/15/98: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/mcclean/plsc431/chromstruct/chrmo2.htm Pseudomonas Genome Project, "Cystic Fibrosis". Obtained from the WWW 10/31/98: http://www.pseudomonas.com/cystic_fibrosis.html Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, "An Introduction to Cystic Fibrosis for Patients and Families" in Respiratory Diseases and Disorders Sourcebook". Health Reference Series, V. 6, 1995. Sect. 5.1, p. 240. WWWebster Dictionary. Obtained from the WWW 11/2/98: http://www.m-w.com/

Purchase Orders

ABC Instructor Assignments 1. Ken's Carpets sells carpet for both residential and business use. To better estimate costs, the company recently adopted an activity-based costing system. Last year, the company incurred $300,000 in overhead costs. Based on an intense study of their company, the following activities, allocation bases, and percentages of overhead costs were determined: Activity| Allocation Base| Proportion of Overhead Cost| Purchasing| Number of purchase orders| 25%| Materials processing| Number of square feet| 50%| Sales| Number of sales orders| 25%|The number of activities for residential and business is as follows: | Residential| | Business Total Total Overhead| Number of purchase orders| 700| | 500 1,200 75,000| Number of square feet| 4,000,000| | 2,000,000 6,000,000 150,000 | Number of sales orders| 400| | 100 500 75,000| Required: A. | Calculate the total overhead that should be allocated to each of the three activities. Number of Purchase $75,000, Number of square feet $150,000, Number of sales orders $75,000. | | B. | Calculate the overhead rates for each of the three activities. Number of purchase 62. 5, Number of square feet 0. 025, Number of sales orders 150| | | C. | If a particular residential job requires 4 purchase orders and 1 sales order for total of 1,500 square feet of carpet, how much overhead should be allocated to the job? 4*62. 5 + 0. 025*1,500+1*150 = $437. 50| 2. Mountaineer Tents manufactures and sells heavy and light duty tents to various outdoor retailers. To better estimate costs, the company recently adopted an activity-based costing system.Last year, the company incurred $900,000 in overhead costs. Based on an intense study of their company, the following activities, allocation bases, and percentages of overhead costs were determined: Activity| Allocation Base| Proportion of Overhead Cost| Purchasing| Number of purchase orders| 55%| Inspections| Number of inspections| 20%| Sales| Number of sales orders| 25%| The number of activities for heavy and light duty tents is as follows: | Heavy-duty| | Light-duty| Number of purchase orders| 5,000| | 4,000| Number of inspections| 3,000| | 1,000| Number of sales orders| 800| | 400| Required:A. | Calculate the total overhead that should be allocated to each of the three activities. Number of purchase 4,950, Number of inspection 800, Number of sales 300| | | B. | Calculate the overhead rates for each of the three activities. Number of purchase 1. 82, Number of inspection 5, Number of sales 4| | | C. | If a single sales order requires 10 purchase orders and 30 inspections to fill, how much overhead should be applied to the order? 1*4+10*1. 82+30*5 = 191. 82| 3. The following overhead cost information is available for Millennium Inc. for 2006: Activity| Allocation Base| Overhead Cost|Purchasing| Number of purchase orders| $300,000| Machine setups| Number of setups| 150,000| Quality control| Number of inspections| 50,000| During the year, 4,000 purchase orders w ere issued; 8,000 machine setups were performed; and 2,000 inspections were conducted. Required: A. | Calculate the overhead rates for each of the three activities. Purchasing 75. 00, Machine Setups 18. 75, Quality Control 25| | | B. | If a particular job requires 10 purchase orders, 6 setups, and 5 inspections to fill, how much overhead should be applied to the job? | 10*75+6*18. 75+25*5 = 987. 5

History of Biological Warfare Essay

Biological warfare, also called germ warfare is the use of bacteria, toxins, virus or harmful organism by the military as weapons of war against the enemy. This means that a small quantity of these microorganisms have the capability to kill millions of people if spread evenly and effectively. These biological weapons can also cause sickness to enemy soldiers and disrupt enemy’s logistics and supply lines. Although biological warfare as such has hitherto not taken place on a large scale, yet assuming and apprehending its probable occurrence, many nations have built their individual defensive strategies to be on the safe side. On the basis of this assumption and probability, much research for the purpose of defense against biological weapons has been conducted by the scientists, highly sensitive industries and the governments. But since carrying out germ-warfare against humanity or using harmful bacteria or organism against human beings was considered entirely inhumane, an international treaty banning biological weapons came into force in 1975. By virtue of this treaty, production, possession, and use of such weapons were completely prohibited. More than 150 nations signed this treaty. Deadly Forms of Warfare in History The origin of biological warfare is traced back in ancient times, when the Assyrians, in 6th century B. C poisoned enemy wells with poisonous herbs (eukaryotes or fungi) that cused the enemy lose sanity or consciousness. This was the starting point of biological warfare in human history. Thence onward this typical warfare was used by many in the past e. g. Solon of Athens poisoned the water supply of Phocaea with extremely poisonous herb Veratrum, during his city’s siege; the archers of Scythian, during 4th century B. C. poisoned the tips of arrows to cause infection into the wounds of enemy; the Spartans used sulfur during the Peloponnesian War in 400 B. C. In medieval times, soldiers used to throw dead bodies into the wells. During the Indian-French wars in1689 and 1763, blankets used by smallpox patients were given to Indians for carrying the disease to the latter. It was Germany, which, during World War I, used poisonous gas for the first time against Allied forces at Belgium and Ypres. The use of poisonous gas by Germany caused about 30 percent of casualties suffered by the US army. The use of poisonous gas proved so fatal and devastating in nature that many nations unanimously agreed to ban the use of gas and extremely harmful chemical substances in future wars. But again it was Iraq which breached the agreement and used chemical weapons against Iran in eight years long war (1980-1988). Iraq was also held responsible for using chemical weapons against the independence seeking Kurdish people. Relatively New Forms of Warfare Some of the new forms of warfare that have lately engaged nations in the design, technique and art of modern warfare include: 1. Chemical Warfare 2. Biological Warfare 3. Radiological Warfare 4. Mine Warfare 5. Guerrilla Warfare 6. Amphibious Warfare 7. Psychological warfare 8. Siege Warfare 9. Nuclear Warfare From the above forms of warfare, the chemical, radiological, and biological warfare are singled out as ones in which CBR weapons are used for mass killing; disabling millions of people instantly, transmitting fatal diseases into enemy rank and file; incapacitating the enemy physically, and destroying their food supplies. How do they Work? Chemical Warfare Chemical Warfare involves all those chemical substances which affect the nervous as well as the respiratory systems, besides affecting skin, eyes, and nose. The chemicals, which include gases, liquids, and powders, can be sprayed from airplanes, dropped as bombs, fired in the form of artillery shells, or spread over the area through land mines. But there are some colorless and odorless nerve agents which, if inhaled, can cause immediate death while some chemical agents can cause temporary blindness or confusion. The mustard gas also called ‘Blister Agent’ caused many casualties during World War I. But it is quite relieving to see the chemical agents not widely used in warfare since the end of World War I (1918). Radiological Warfare Radiological Warfare involves those substances that give off radiation, and which may damage the internal organs of a person and even cause death. Radiological warfare is extremely dangerous because the released radioactivity in the process renders the entire area unfit for human life. Mine Warfare Mine Warfare is the use of explosive devices called mines to kill enemy troops and destroy their ships, tanks, and other equipment. Some mines explode when a person steps on them or run over by a tank or jeep, while the naval mines are detonated by the passing of a ship. The two major kinds of mines are: 1. The Land Mines 2. The Naval Mines The main types of land mines are:1) antipersonnel mines, 2) antitank mines, 3) chemical mines, 4) controlled mines, and 5) nuclear mines. There chief four kinds of naval mines include: 1) acoustic mines, 2) contact mines, 3) magnetic mines, and 4) pressure mines Guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is conducted by the fighter bands that employ the tactics of sudden raids, ambushes, and other attacks on small-scale. The term â€Å"Guerrilla† which means â€Å"Little War† in Spanish, was first used by the Portuguese and Spanish armies during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Amphibious warfare Amphibious warfare is the mode of army operations by land air and sea forces with the objective of capturing a coastal area or a beach. Generally the amphibious operations are considered the most intricate form of modern warfare. During World War II (1939-1945), after Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and destroyed US naval installations in the Pacific Ocean, a common objective of United States amphibious warfare was to seize islands in order to build their advance on. These air and naval bases were captured for their operations against Japan. Antidotes for Biological Weapons The antidote for biological agents is a complete kit which contains medicines and treatments for nerve gas. It also contains injectors to fight anthrax, and antibiotics and drugs to reduce the effects of radiation exposure. Normally the kits are kept locked in military vans by the army. It is worthwhile noting that according to the briefing documents prepared by the Army Medical Department for the senior medical command in Iraq â€Å"Millions of dollars’ worth of such kits are incinerated in Iraq each year†. Army spokesman, Foster, D. said that the service’s policy is â€Å"to issue the [kits] to each unit prior to deployment, and ensure all unused [kits are] turned in prior to the unit’s redeployment for destruction. † Also the vice president for strategic security programs at the Federation of American Scientists, Ivan Oelrich, said that sending the Antidote-kits is a rational policy just in case â€Å"some terrorist gets hold of 10 gallons of nerve as† (Bob, 2007) Gas Mask Among other protective coverings such as injections of antidotes, gas masks too are used as one of the defensive measures against chemical agents. Gas mask protects a person from breathing poisonous gases and vapors into the lungs. Only air is allowed to enter the mask through the filter pads, which purifies and filters the air. The charcoal which is padded within the cheeks of mask purifies the air by trapping harmful gases and particles. Particulate filters can remove particles of smoke, dust, and even some harmful biological agents. The purifying materials are in the cheeks of present-day masks, which are often part of an entire protective suit. In World War I (1914-1918), masks were used to protect troops against gas attacks. Gas was not used in World War II (1939-1945), but armies had masks in case gas warfare began. During the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and the Iraq War, which began in 2003, gas masks were issued to troops and civilians in areas where it was feared Iraq would attack. (Lussier and Frances M, 2007)

Econmic Sanctions Essay Example

Econmic Sanctions Essay Example Econmic Sanctions Essay Econmic Sanctions Essay There are many foreign policies that the United States of America follows by. There are many mechanisms of control In International relations that the U. S abides by to help ensure peace and equality. One of our actions to help ensure peace and unity is economic sanctions. Economic sanctions have been used for many years now in international relations. There has been countless number of times that the U. S has used this form of relations to deter a country away from its wrongful path of destruction. In recent news president Bark Obama has issued economic sanctions against Russia for their takeover of Crimea. The purpose of economic sanctions is to influence other countries in that their current behaviors or policies are wrongful to international law. The point of economic sanctions Is to punish the country that is acting out of norm. The country or countries enforcing these sanctions try to deprive the country being sanctioned of goods and trade that are essential for survival as a way of punishing them. The overall goal of these sanctions Is to try to Influence the country to change Its ways or o find a new source of trade or a different way of obtaining the goods that are being sanctioned. The host country that is applying the sanctions wants the target country to change its ways into what the host country feel is beneficial to all parties involved. We want to show the target country committing the act what will happen if they continue to keep up with their actions that are assumed morally wrong. This will show them if they continue to misbehave and going against the widely accepted international relations behavior it will be a very bleak future. In the example of most cent news involving Russia and the territory of Crimea president Obama is enforcing sanction on Russia because he believes it was wrongful of Russia to Invade Ukraine to take over the territory of Crimea. These actions dont follow the norm of international relations where one country Russia doesnt Just Invade another country Ukraine to take over the land Crimea. In the past the International laws were different and we would constantly see the boarders changing but in recent years this is a taboo act. There are many ways of using economic sanctions to get what the host nation believes is widely accepted rules. The different types of sanctions are quotas on imports and exports. Quotas on imports and exports is a limit on how much you are allowing yourself and ally countries to import and export goods with the target country. Another form of sanctions is restrictive import and export licensing. Embargos and boycotts Is a third and fourth form of sanctions. Embargos is a complete halt in trade and commerce with the target nation. Boycotts are a prevention method of doing business with the target country. When you boycott a good you dont Import that countries good. Tariffs are another form of economic inaction which Is basically a tax on goods or services that are Imported. Restrictions or canceling of trade agreements is another big example of sanctions. This is a big nation. It can prevent basic necessity of goods for the citizens and hider them from performing their daily routines. There are many opinions on whether or not economic sanctions really do work or do they harm both countries. One argument on the failure of sanctions is that when you impose sanctions against non-democratic nations because they are more difficult to punish (Allegiant). Against non-democracies, broad sanctions that impose significant costs on society allow undemocratic leaders to extract more rents, thereby strengthening their political position and making them less likely to yield (Allegiant). What this means is that it will be harder to influence a non-democratic nation that is currently under our sanctions to follow our ideology by imposing sanctions that will hurt the society. This will only make the non-democratic leader stronger and more powerful and in turn it will have the complete opposite effect of what we are trying to currently do. A second opinion on how sanctions fail is that it affects too many bystanders negatively. Successful sanctions must target the unfriendly within the target countries while shielding innocent bystanders from harm (Major). In order to have a successful sanction you need to be able to persuade and/or influence the country using coercion while you keep the innocent bystanders usually the citizens from too much harm. One danger of using sanctions as a punishment is that imposing heavy costs on the target nation, rather than achieving the desired policy change, often can be seen as a surrogate for success (Major). What this means is that if we put too much pressure on the target nation and hinder hem too much then our overall goal of persuading them into what we feel morally right might not happen. The opposite in fact can happen in a democratic nation if we make their lives much harder than before, they will feel that we are the ones who are ultimately wrong. Sanctions fail because non-democracies are difficult to punish (Allegiant). Overall sanctions are more likely to fail then they are to succeed. There are many good outcomes that can happen from economic sanctions. The overall goal of an economic sanction is to persuade or influence the target country onto complying with widely accepted international relation policies. Sanctions work by forcing the target countrys government to concede, or by leading a popular revolt that overthrows the government which can in result establish a government that will make the follow the principles that the host country is implying. Sanctions are most likely to be effective when they target the decision-makers responsible for any wrong doing and deny the assets and resources that are most valuable to these decision- making elites (Major). What this means is that for sanctions to work we need to deny he valuable assets to the target country. One example of when the U. S imposed sanctions in the past is during World War II. The U. S imposed an oil embargo against the nation of Japan. This hindered the Japanese greatly and it made them make an irrational decision on retaliation against the U. S at Pearl Harbor. This ended up working out because it caused the U. S to show its power and we ended up using the first atomic bomb against Japan. After we bombed Japan the Japanese realized that if it wanted to avoid any more destruction then it would have to succumb to the U. S and follow our sanctions. There has been a recent study that one of the best determinants of sanctions success has been the amount of damage done to the product (GNP) by somewhat over 2. 5 percent (Major). The target country that the sanction is being imposed on is going to take a hit in their economy. But this suffering is going to be the motivation for the countrys government that if it wants to hurt the economies any more than it is going to have make some drastic changes or to set up a new government that is willing to make the changes. The degree to which a group achieves its most favored policy on a particular issue is more a result of the reapportion of its resources that it devotes to that issue (Major). If we want the target country to conform to the sanction then we will need to put an adequate amount of resources to that issue. We will not persuade or force the country to make changes if we dont show them that this needs to happen. We need to be forceful and prove we are not messing around. Back to the example of Japan and WI, if we had not used the atomic bomb on Japan, the country would be totally different. We showed them that we meant business and it will have to listen to us or it would possibly face total extinction like their two major cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The less apparent costs of economic sanctions, as compared to those of armed force, may encourage a facile resort to economic sanctions that would have been intolerable in the case of military action (Mallory). This is a good reason why economic sanctions are able to succeed. A sanction is going to be less costly than going to war with that nation. We never know the outcome of what can happen in a war but we can control the outcome if we impose a sanction. The host country can always retract and remove sanctions imposed upon the target country. But once we go to war with a country it is very hard to back off from the war without hurting the countrys image. It will make them look weak if we decide to back off from a war that we started. In conclusion sanctions are a true form of international politics. You have to be careful on how you impose them because you will never know how the target country will react. Sanctions are more likely to fail then they are to succeed. How much will the host country puts into the sanction and how much resources it will allocate to get the target country to conform will be the ultimate factor if it will succeed to not. Sources Used

Battle of Churubusco - Mexican-American War - Winfield Scott

Battle of Churubusco - Mexican-American War - Winfield Scott Battle of Churubusco - Conflict Date: The Battle of Churubusco was fought August 20, 1847, during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Armies Commanders United States Major General Winfield ScottMajor General William J. Worth8,497 Mexico General Manuel RinconGeneral Pedro Anaya3,800 Battle of Churubusco - Background: With the beginning of the Mexican-American War in May 1946, Brigadier General Zachary Taylor won quick victories in Texas at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Pausing to reinforce, he later invaded northern Mexico and captured the city of Monterrey. Though pleased with Taylors success, President James K. Polk was increasingly concerned about the generals political aspirations. As a result of this, and reports that an advance on Mexico City from Monterrey would be difficult, he began stripping Taylors army of men to form a new command for Major General Winfield Scott. This new army was tasked with capturing the port of Veracruz before moving inland against the Mexican capital. Polks approach nearly brought disaster when a badly outnumbered Taylor was attacked at Buena Vista in February 1847. In desperate fighting, he was able to hold off the Mexicans. Landing at Veracruz in March 1847, Scott captured the city after a twenty-day siege. Concerned about yellow fever along the coast, he quickly began marching inland and was soon confronted by a Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Attacking the Mexicans at Cerro Gordo on April 18, he routed the enemy before advancing to capture Puebla. Resuming the campaign in early August, Scott elected to approach Mexico City from the south rather than force the enemy defenses at El Peà ±Ãƒ ³n. Rounding Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco his men arrived at San Augustin on August 18. Having anticipated an American advance from the east, Santa Anna began redeploying his army to the south and assumed a line along the Churubusco River (Map). Battle of Churubusco - Situation Before Contreras: To defend the southern approaches to the city, Santa Anna deployed troops under General Francisco Perez at Coyoacan with forces led by General Nicholas Bravo to the east at Churubusco. In the west, the Mexican right was held General Gabriel Valencias Army of the North at San Angel. Having established his new position, Santa Anna was separated from the Americans by a vast lava field known as the Pedregal. On August 18 Scott directed Major General William J. Worth to take his division along the direct road to Mexico City. Marching along the east edge of the Pedregal, the division and accompanying dragoons came under heavy fire at San Antonio, just south of Churubusco. Unable to flank the enemy due to the Pedregal to the west and water to the east, Worth elected to halt. In the west, Valencia, a political rival of Santa Anna, elected to advance his men five miles south to a position near the villages of Contreras and Padierna. Seeking to break the deadlock, Scott sent one of his engineers, Major Robert E. Lee, to find a path through the Pedregal to the west. Successful, Lee began leading American troops from Major Generals David Twiggs and Gideon Pillows divisions across the rough terrain on August 19. In the course of this movement, an artillery duel commenced with Valencia. As this continued, American troops moved unnoticed to the north and west and took positions around San Geronimo before nightfall. Battle of Churubusco - The Mexican Withdrawal: Attacking around dawn, American forces shattered Valencias command at the Battle of Contreras. Realizing that the triumph had unhinged the Mexican defenses in the area, Scott issued a series of orders following Valencias defeat. Among these were orders which countermanded earlier directives for Worths and Major General John Quitmans divisions to move west. Instead, these were ordered north towards San Antonio. Sending troops west into the Pedregal, Worth quickly outflanked the Mexican position and sent them reeling north. With his position south of the Churubusco River collapsing, Santa Anna made the decision to begin pulling back towards Mexico City. To do so, it was critical that his forces hold the bridge at Churubusco. Command of the Mexican forces at Churubusco fell to General Manuel Rincon who directed his troops to occupy fortifications near the bridge as well as the San Mateo Convent to the southwest. Among the defenders were members of the San Patricio Battalion which consisted of Irish deserters from the American army. With the two wings of his army converging on Churubusco, Scott immediately ordered Worth and Pillow to attack the bridge while Twiggs division assaulted the convent. In an uncharacteristic move, Scott had not scouted either of these positions and was unaware of their strength. While these attacks moved forward, the brigades of Brigadier Generals James Shields and Franklin Pierce were to move north over the bridge at Coyoacan before turning east for Portales. Had Scott reconnoitered Churubusco, he most likely would have sent the bulk of his men along Shields route. Battle of Churubusco - A Bloody Victory: Moving forward, the initial assaults against the bridge failed as Mexican forces held. They were aided by the timely arrival of militia reinforcements. Renewing the assault, the brigades of Brigadier Generals Newman S. Clarke and George Cadwalader finally carried the position after a determined attack. To the north, Shields successfully crossed the river before meeting a superior Mexican force at Portales. Under pressure, he was reinforced by the Mounted Rifles and a company of dragoons which were stripped from Twiggs division. With the bridge taken, American forces were able to reduce the convent. Charging forward, Captain Edmund B. Alexander led the 3rd Infantry in storming its walls. The convent quickly fell and many of the surviving San Patricios were captured. At Portales, Shields began to gain the upper hand and the enemy began to retreat as Worths division was seen advancing from bridge to the south. Battle of Churubusco - Aftermath: Uniting, the Americans mounted an ineffective pursuit of the Mexicans as they fled towards Mexico city. Their efforts were hampered by the narrow causeways which traversed swampy terrain. The fighting at Churubusco cost Scott 139 killed, 865 wounded, and 40 missing. Mexican losses numbered 263 killed, 460 wounded, 1,261 captured, and 20 missing. A disastrous day for Santa Anna, August 20 saw his forces defeated at Contreras and Churubusco and his entire defensive line south of the city shattered. In an effort to buy time to reorganize, Santa Anna requested short truce which Scott granted. It was Scotts hope that peace could be negotiated without his army having to storm the city. This truce quickly failed and Scott resumed operations in early September. These saw him win a costly victory at Molino del Rey before successfully taking Mexico City on September 13 after the Battle of Chapultepec. Selected Sources PBS: Battle of ChurubuscoSon of the South: Battle of Churubusco Aztec Club: Battle of Churubusco - Map

Forms of and Influencing Factors on Informal Entrepreneurship in China Dissertation

Forms of and Influencing Factors on Informal Entrepreneurship in China - Dissertation Example Since the end of Cultural Revolution in China, the informal entrepreneurs occurred before reform and through the 80’s, consisting of very small-scale activities in retail and services such as street vendors. Some of them achieved success beyond their expectations. But for most, business was a means of subsistence. However, with the development of economy in China so far, motivations for many informal entrepreneurs are not only subsistence-related; but also their informal activities are directed at maximizing their business’s profit. Allen (2002) claims that since China officially became a member of the WTO in 2001, and has agreed to undertake additional economic reforms, the market is freer, and the key to the country’s success lies in its fast-growing ‘informal’ sector. Therefore, there has been increasing interest in researching the types of informal entrepreneurship and the factors that have led the people to do it in China. 1.1 What is informal entrepreneurship in China? However, what is the informal entrepreneurship of China? Allen (2002) defines this sector as all firms or individuals not controlled by the government or publicly traded. Informal entrepreneurship is a vast term that includes self-employment, and private enterprises employing the unregistered migrant workers. unlike the formal entrepreneurship that is subject to the regulation and management by the government, and is encouraged, supported and managed by the government (Tsinghua University, 2006). ... What are the main types of informal entrepreneurship in China? 2. Why there are lots of people choosing to do this in China? Both of these questions will be researched by combining the unique contextual conditions of China, as well as the government policies and regulations. for instance, the largest population is one of the most important factors to be concerned as it increases the needs of people to be addressed by the government and encourages people to find alternate means of earning money since the number of jobs is limited.  Additionally, it is very interesting that almost all studying abroad Chinese students have always reflected on the same problem: they are complete strangers to the lifestyle of people in Europe because there are less and less ‘informal stores or street vendors’ in the European countries, especially at night, they miss China so much. Thus, it seems the demand of ‘informal business’ is quite large and sustainable in China since m any businesses are operated 24/7 thus providing the consumers with more flexibility in terms of approaching the informal entrepreneurs. The aim of this research project is to provide a theoretical base within Chinese context and special nation conditions of China in order to help foreign practitioners as well as local entrepreneurs to gain a deeper and more practical insight into Chinese informal entrepreneurship environment. 2.0 Literature Review This section reviews the literature to discuss what numerous authors, scholars and researchers in the past have said about informal entrepreneurship in general and that in China in particular. Topics discussed in this

The Slave Trade in Colonial America Research Paper

The Slave Trade in Colonial America - Research Paper Example Slave traders, nevertheless, justified slavery, using British common law, some Christian beliefs, and natural rights philosophy, where these sources promoted slavery through racism. These sources stressed the inferiority of other races and the supremacy of the white race and culture, as well as the authority of Catholicism.1 For centuries, slavery progressed in Colonial America, but not without resistance from abolitionists and slaves themselves2. This paper describes the history and important events during the slave trade in Colonial America. It no longer deals with the abolition of slavery, but focuses on the economic aspects of the slave trade. The Beginnings of Slavery The history of slavery does not begin in colonial America but centuries before that, and it is said to have started in Europe. Booker T. Washington said that slavery of Africans began in A.D.990.3 The Moors who did not have â€Å"curly hair† also actively traded slaves in various countries in Europe and the Middle East.4 The Arabs even brought their â€Å"black ivory† to Cyprus and distributed them across Europe.5 The Portuguese, however, were attributed to be the originators of slavery in Christian Europe.6 Prince Henry, the Navigator (1394-1460), third son of King John I of Portugal, established a navigation college at Sagres on Cape Saint Vincent in 1419, because he wanted to discover new lands and convert the heathens into Catholics.7 All non-Christians were then called as â€Å"heathens,† a pejorative word for people considered as uncivilized. During this time, the world was divided between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the two Catholic powers with naval capabilities. The British wanted to emulate these old superpowers and explored North America as its colonial territory. From here, they brought and traded slaves, who sustained their new economy.8 The first group of English people sent to the Americas in 1590, the Roanoke, was not a success; they mysteriously dis appeared and were never found again.9 Still, this did not dent the English from pursuing the colonization of America. In 1606, a group of English investors had created the Virginia Company.10 They recruited people who were willing to be the new settlers in America. These new settlers did not originally conceive the need for slavery in their blueprint, because they focused on freedom and the opportunity to own land. Later on, it became clearer that in order to become rich, it was crucial to have the necessary labor to conduct economic activities competitively.11 This â€Å"peculiar institution† of slavery expanded as part of the plantation systems, first in sugar plantations, and then to tobacco and cotton plantations.12 The slaves are then called â€Å"black gold† because of trading profits and plantation profits. One scholar stressed that slavery is not based on color alone, but more for economic reasons: â€Å"The reason for Negro slavery is economic, not racialâ₠¬ ¦[it has more to do with] the cheapness of labor. As compared with Indian and white labor, Negro slavery was eminently superior†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 13 Slavery spread deeply and widely in South, where slave trading generally became predominant. Slave Trade in Colonial America The exact time and place of when and where the slave trade began in America is still debatable. One source

Leafblad Consulting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leafblad Consulting - Assignment Example The final organizational profile is expected to include history, overview, and summary of goals and strategic planning. After approval of the position description and organizational profile by TCHFH, Leafblad Consulting starts outreach phase for their approach whose ultimate goal is to develop a robust slate of the candidates for Vice Presidency for TCHFH. Their outreach process comprises announcement, research, candidate contact, initial interviews, and candidate presentation. It takes Leafblad Consulting 3 to 4 weeks for the decision-making and its format includes interviews of the search committee, selection, offer presentation, and reference checking. Full circle is brought to the process by the amplification period that takes from 1 to 2 weeks to complete. Leafblad Consulting has a very effective system of communication which helps in reaching the desired goals. Although the firm has not been around for long, yet it has managed to have a long-term contract to provide the Bush Fo undation with recruitment and executive search services. The firm has created BePollen Lars, thus introducing the Pollen community for developing a resource that shares opportunities and stories of the latest happenings across different industries and sectors. This issue goes further behind bushCONNECT, the event organized on May 12 that was powered by the Bush Foundation to develop collaboration among different leaders’ network. The search process employed by Recruiting Strategies, LLC for every client is very refined. They have right framework and policies to ensure that they recruit the right people and customize the employees’ talent to optimize their tendency to address the client’s needs. The company promises a high-energy, strategic, and results-oriented approach to the search of organizational executives. The company’s experience of recruiting and sourcing exceeds 25 years.

Viscosity Science Lab Essay Example for Free

Viscosity Science Lab Essay Purpose: To determine of changing the viscosity will affect the time it takes for a marble to flow through a liquid. Hypothesis: If a marble is dropped into dish soap and corn syrup, than I predict that the marble in the dish soap will travel faster than the marble in the corn syrup because I know that the viscosity of the corn syrup is thicker than then the viscosity of the dish soap. Also, the particles in the corn syrup are more compact than those in the dish soap. This makes the marble sink faster in the dish soap than the corn syrup. Apparatus: * 2 identical marbles * 250 Graduated Cylinders of 250mL * 250mL of dish soap * 250mL of corn syrup * 1 timer/stopwatch Procedure: 1. Drop one marble in the graduated cylinder of corn syrup and begin timing 2. Continue timing until the marble hits to the bottom and stop the timer 3. Record the time result in the qualitative chart 4. Record all observations in the quantitative chart 5. Repeat all steps from 1-4 fir the graduated cylinder of the dish soap 6. Clean up the work area Observations: Qualitative Observations Dish Soap| Corn Syrup| * Green * Quick * Pungent * Bubbles * Translucent * Level rose * Bright * Not Viscous| * Level Rose * Very Slow * Bubbles *  Translucent * Pungent * Viscous * Muted * Dark| Quantitative Observations: Dish Soap| Corn Syrup| 7.24 seconds| 87.25 seconds| Data: See graph attached at the end of this lab. Conclusion: Yes, my hypothesis was correct. I discovered that a marble travels approximately 7 seconds in 250mL of dish soap and approximately 87 seconds in corn syrup. Also, I found that the corn syrup is more viscous than the dish soap which is what caused the slow and fast sinking. This result occurred because the particles in the corn syrup are much larger than normal particles. These large particles within the corn syrup take up more space. Since the particles take up so much space, they tend to block each other and not let them pass through. It is very difficult for large particles to move past each other unlike small, tiny particles, like those in the dish soap. The particles in the dish soap are very small and can move more freely and quickly. In the dish soap, the particles are very small and can move past each other easily when compared to the particles in the corn syrup. Another reason also contributed to the result of this experiment. Attraction. Some types of particles tend to attract more than others and that is exactly what happened in the corn syrup. The particles in the corn syrup attracted more than the dish soap. The large particles in the corn syrup held tightly to each other, that when the marble fell in that it made it hard for the marble to pass through more than one particle at a time. IN the dish soap, the particles did not attract as much as the corn syrup which let the marble move easily and quickly through the liquid. The strength of attraction as well as the particle size is important in determining a fluid’s viscosity. Application: This viscosity experiment can be used in real-life when making sun-tan lotion as well as other cosmetic products. It is important for the lotion to be viscous because the lotion could not be applied and spread around the  body if the cream was not viscous enough to suit its use. It would drip all over you! It wouldn’t dry or stay in one place. Many well-known businesses hire highly educated scientists to calculate the right viscosity level and if it is not correct nobody would buy the product. People who once thought highly of the product would think that it has gone bad and useless. Profits would go down for the business and since nobody would by it, the business would have to be shut down. Many jobs would be lost and many businesses would have to be shut down. Jobs from the factory, the transport services, the marketers, and the retail stores would be lost and many people left with nothing but a pension. Viscosity is seen all around the world and it is very important for the measurement of viscosity to be pin-point and accurate.

The Red Symbol in The Handmaids Tale Essay -- Literature, Margaret At

In the dystopian novel, "The Handmaid's Tale" written by Margaret Atwood, the color red is a reoccurring, significant symbol throughout the book. The dominant color of the novel, the color red is paired with the Handmaids. The Handmaids are always seen in their red uniform, even down to their red shoes and red gloves. From the opening pages of the novel we are informed that they are trained at the â€Å"Red Centre,† and we are introduced to the importance of the red imagery as Offred, the narrator and protagonist of the novel, describes herself getting dressed: â€Å"The red gloves are lying on the bed. Everything except the wings around my face is red.† Which reveals to us how the handmaid’s are required to wear all red, representative of the way they are visually defined, and therefore confined within their role in the caste system as sexual servants to their Commanders. Red is worn only by the handmaids; the color red indicates sexuality, fertility and childbirth, accordingly outlining their function as a sexual object; their sole purpose being to bear children for their Commanders. One of the most reoccurring symbols throughout the novel, red is interrelated with all things female (the Handmaids.) Inversely, red is furthermore a symbol of death, violence and blood, which Offred portrays as a color which â€Å"defines us.† The reoccurring appearance of the color red creates a thought-provoking parallel between femininity and power, as it signifies the religious â€Å"sinfulness† of promiscuous sex between the handmaid’s and their â€Å"married† commander. Offred later states: â€Å"I never looked good in red, it’s not my color,† implying the sacrifice of her individuality due to the roles Gilead has forced her into. It is not their intellige... ...ed tulips in place and keeping them alive, there are human beings under the white bags, but Offred is beginning to neglect what is under her red dress. Offred aches to reminisce about the life she once knew, yet now images are enforced into her mind and she understands them how her cult/society now requires her to perceive this different world. Red is a scandalous and dishonorable color, outlining the Handmaids as such. Everything correlated with the handmaids is red; Offred’s own name, for instance, which so distressingly epitomizes dualism can be read as "Of Fred," signifying her ownership to her commander-yet furthermore can be read as "Off Red,† suggesting off with the red dress, symbolizing her yearning for nonconformity from the red dress and all the afflictions correlated with red in her life- blood, death and violence, which have come to â€Å"define† her.

Hris Replacement Essay

Cost Plan Part of project management is the estimation of the project cost. The budget can be derived from the project plan by looking at the following criteria (Marchewka, 2009): * estimated duration of activities, * resources identified and assigned to tasks, and * wages and overtime rate for resources. In addition to hard numbers resource leveling is important. Resource leveling helps with accurately planning a project and will help identify if people are scheduled to have more work than hours in a day. Having too much work assigned to one person is a risk to the project. Figure 2 – Riordan Budget Report illustrates the Riordan HRIS replacement project budget based on the resources allocated to tasks in the project plan. The budget report will be monitored weekly at the beginning of the project and daily as the project progresses. Additional cost factors such as material, facility cost, insurance, and other administrative costs will be added to the project budget cost to establish the overall project budget. Figure 2 – Riordan Budget Report Performance Measurement It is important to not only to establish critical tasks and sub-tasks, but also to identify a means to measure current progress against estimated progress. Without a clear understanding of where the project is in regards to the timeline management is unable to identify potential trouble spots and delays that can drive up costs and derail the project. What Is Performance Measurement The U. S. General Accounting Office (GAO) provides the following definition of Performance Measurement: â€Å"Performance measurement is the ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments, particularly progress towards pre-established goals. It is typically conducted by program or agency management. Performance measures may address the type or level of program activities conducted (process), the direct products and services delivered by a program (outputs), and/or the results of those products and services (outcomes). A program† may be any activity, project, function, or policy that has an identifiable purpose or set of objectives. †(Performance-Based Management Special Interest Group [(PBM SIG)], 2001, p. 3). When undergoing a project or process there must be a method in place to judge or measure the progress and outcome, which will allow management to make intelligent decisions. Performance Measurement delivers that data management requires by applying a method of evaluating progress toward accomplishing predetermined goals, including information on the efficiency with which resources are transformed into goods and services (PM Solutions Center for Business Practices, 2005). Performance Measurement vs. Value Measurement In measuring performance, program management is trying to gather information to help them make decisions to affect change that, with any luck, will improve that performance. For example, project performance measures are initiated to provide crucial information to managers in order to provide purpose and direction over the project. Those measures must be pertinent and applicable to the organizational level that can immediately effect change based on information it learns in order to control the performance of the project. In measuring value, you are trying to demonstrate that decisions you made to implement change, through project management improvement initiatives, has indeed added value to the organization. This is actually measuring value rather than performance, which may not be the same. While improved performance can be translated into value, value measurement, provide information on the performance of the organization rather than performance of the project. Riordan Project Performance Measures Measurement Construct The Measurement Construct utilized in the Riordan Project is based on the adherence to estimate. Accurate project estimation is crucial in keeping project costs down and stakeholders happy. The Key Performance Indicator project managers want to minimize is expressed by the formula [(E-A)/E], where E = estimated Value to complete project and A = actual Value used to complete project. Project managers can substitute any value into the equation, such as hours or cost, to determine adherence to estimate. This will allow the project management team to spot trends early on during the project and then make the necessary adjustments. To better illustrate this concept figure 2 depicts the subtasks identified as Milestones. The project management has estimated the time required to complete the 1st phase of the project (Project Preparation) would require 10 days. Completion of the phase is signaled by the development of the Statement Of Works. The project management team could measure the performance of the project resources or team members by comparing the actual time required to complete the Milestone against the estimated time to complete the Milestone. Figure 3 – Milestones Figure 2 depicts that the estimated time to complete phase 1 was 10 days. If the actual time required to complete phase 1 was recorded at 12. 5 days the performance measure would be as follows: [(10-12. 5)/12. 5]= -20% This value describes a value of -20% of efficiency of the performance of this task. Ideally the task performance would be 0%; the milestone would have been completed within the time estimated during the project inception. While many may feel it is better to come in under the original estimate, the goal is to optimize resources and organizational assets throughout the project. Over committing assets and resources on one project may have undesirable effects in other areas of the organization. The key is to have exactly the required assets and resources available when required and only when required. Project Baseline The project baseline is set when all of the details for the planned project are set. The project baseline in MS Project ® is set by selecting View > Gantt Chart > Tools > Tracking > Set Baseline > Entire Project (eHow, 2011). The Riordan HRIS replacement project baseline is illustrated in Figure 3 – Riordan HRIS Project Baseline Illustration. Figure 4 – Riordan HRIS Project Baseline Illustration Evaluation Figure 5 – Riordan HRIS Replacement Tracking Sheet Risk Analysis Reporting Project Evaluation and Reporting takes a key role in the process and collection of project information for all members involved in the project to track changes, maintain budgetary requirements, and complete objectives on-time. â€Å"Monitoring the progress of the project allows you to adapt the program as needed to ensure that you attain your objectives.

Europe Economic Crisis

ISSN 0379-0991 Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses EUROPEAN ECONOMY 7|2009 EUROPEAN COMMISSION The European Economy series contains important reports and communications from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament on the economic situation and developments, such as the Economic forecasts, the annual EU economy review and the Public ? nances in EMU report. Subscription terms are shown on the back cover and details on how to obtain the list of sales agents are shown on the inside back cover.Unless otherwise indicated, the texts are published under the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission, BU24, B-1049 Brussels, to which enquiries other than those related to sales and subscriptions should be addressed. LEGAL NOTICE Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained in this publication, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear.More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa. eu). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Of? ce for Of? cial Publications of the European Communities, 2009 ISBN 978-92-79-11368-0 doi 10. 2765/845 40  © European Communities, 2009 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Luxembourg European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and ResponsesEUROPEAN ECONOMY 7/2009 FOREWORD The European economy is in the midst of the deepest recession since the 1930s, with real GDP projected to shrink by some 4% in 2009, the sharpest contraction in the history of the European Union. Although signs of improvement have appeared recently, recovery remains uncertain and fragile. The EU’s response to the downturn has been swift and decisive. A side from intervention to stabilise, restore and reform the banking sector, the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) was launched in December 2008.The objective of the EERP is to restore confidence and bolster demand through a coordinated injection of purchasing power into the economy complemented by strategic investments and measures to shore up business and labour markets. The overall fiscal stimulus, including the effects of automatic stabilisers, amounts to 5% of GDP in the EU. According to the Commission's analysis, unless policies take up the new challenges, potential GDP in the EU could fall to a permanently lower trajectory, due to several factors. First, protracted spells of unemployment in the workforce tend to lead to a permanent loss of skills.Second, the stock of equipment and infrastructure will decrease and become obsolete due to lower investment. Third, innovation may be hampered as spending on research and development is one of the first outlays that businesses cu t back on during a recession. Member States have implemented a range of measures to provide temporary support to labour markets, boost investment in public infrastructure and support companies. To ensure that the recovery takes hold and to maintain the EU’s growth potential in the long-run, the focus must increasingly shift from short-term demand management to supply-side structural measures.Failing to do so could impede the restructuring process or create harmful distortions to the Internal Market. Moreover, while clearly necessary, the bold fiscal stimulus comes at a cost. On the current course, public debt in the euro area is projected to reach 100% of GDP by 2014. The Stability and Growth Pact provides the flexibility for the necessary fiscal stimulus in this severe downturn, but consolidation is inevitable once the recovery takes hold and the risk of an economic relapse has diminished sufficiently.While respecting obligations under the Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact, a differentiated approach across countries is appropriate, taking into account the pace of recovery, fiscal positions and debt levels, as well as the projected costs of ageing, external imbalances and risks in the financial sector. Preparing exit strategies now, not only for fiscal stimulus, but also for government support for the financial sector and hard-hit industries, will enhance the effectiveness of these measures in the short term, as this depends upon clarity regarding the pace with which such measures will be withdrawn.Since financial markets, businesses and consumers are forward-looking, expectations are factored into decision making today. The precise timing of exit strategies will depend on the strength of the recovery, the exposure of Member States to the crisis and prevailing internal and external imbalances. Part of the fiscal stimulus stemming from the EERP will taper off in 2011, but needs to be followed up by sizeable fiscal consolidation in following years to reverse the unsustainable debt build-up.In the financial sector, government guarantees and holdings in financial institutions will need to be gradually unwound as the private sector gains strength, while carefully balancing financial stability with competitiveness considerations. Close coordination will be important. ‘Vertical’ coordination between the various strands of economic policy (fiscal, structural, financial) will ensure that the withdrawal of government measures is properly sequenced — an important consideration as turning points may differ across policy areas. Horizontal’ coordination between Member States will help them to avoid or manage cross-border economic spillover effects, to benefit from shared learning and to leverage relationships with the outside world. Moreover, within the euro area, close coordination will ensure that Member States’ growth trajectories do not diverge as the economy recovers. Addressing the underlying cause s of diverging competitiveness must be an integral part of any exit strategy.The exit strategy should also ensure that Europe maintains its place at the frontier of the low-carbon revolution by investing in renewable energies, low carbon technologies and â€Å"green† infrastructure. The aim of this study is to provide the analytical underpinning of such a coordinated exit strategy. Marco Buti Director-General, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED Member States BE BG CZ DK DE EE EL ES FR IE IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE UK EA-16 EU-10 EU-15 EU-25 EU-27 Currencies EUR BGN CZK DKK EEK GBP HUF JPY LTL LVL PLN RON SEKBelgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Germany Estonia Greece Spain France Ireland Italy Cyprus Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Hungary Malta The Netherlands Austria Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Slovakia Finland Sweden United Kingdom European Union, Member States having adopted the single currency (BE , DE, EL, SI, SK, ES, FR, IE, IT, CY, LU, MT, NL, AT, PT and FI) European Union Member States that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 (CZ, EE, CY, LT, LV, HU, MT, PL, SI, SK) European Union, 15 Member States before 1 May 2004 (BE, DK, DE, EL, ES, FR, IE, IT, LU, NL, AT, PT, FI, SE and UK) European Union, 25 Member States before 1 January 2007 European Union, 27 Member States euro New Bulgarian lev Czech koruna Danish krone Estonian kroon Pound sterling Hungarian forint Japanese yen Lithuanian litas Latvian lats New Polish zloty New Romanian leu Swedish krona iv SKK USD Slovak koruna US dollar Other abbreviations BEPG Broad Economic Policy Guidelines CESR Committee of European Securities Regulators EA Euro area ECB European Central Bank ECOFIN European Council of Economics and Finance Ministers EDP Excessive deficit procedure EMU Economic and monetary union ERM II Exchange Rate Mechanism, mark II ESCB European System of Central Banks Eurostat Statistical Office of the European Communities F DI Foreign direct investment GDP Gross domestic product GDPpc Gross Domestic Product per capita GLS Generalised least squares HICP Harmonised index of consumer prices HP Hodrick-Prescott filterICT Information and communications technology IP Industrial Production MiFID Market in Financial Instruments Directive NAWRU Non accelerating wage inflation rate of unemployment NEER Nominal effective exchange rate NMS New Member States OCA Optimum currency area OLS Ordinary least squares R Research and development RAMS Recently Acceded Member States REER Real effective exchange rate SGP Stability and Growth Pact TFP Total factor productivity ULC Unit labour costs VA Value added VAT Value added tax v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This special edition of the EU Economy: 2009 Review â€Å"Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses† was prepared under the responsibility of Marco Buti, Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, and Istvan P. Szekely, Director for Economic St udies and Research. Paul van den Noord, Adviser in the Directorate for Economic Studies and Research, served as the global editor of the report.The report has drawn on substantive contributions by Ronald Albers, Alfonso Arpaia, Uwe Bower, Declan Costello, Jan in ‘t Veld, Lars Jonung, Gabor Koltay, Willem Kooi, Gert-Jan Koopman, Martin Hradisky, Julia Lendvai, Mauro Griorgo Marrano, Gilles Mourre, Michal Narozny, Moises Orellana Pena, Dario Paternoster, Lucio Pench, Stephanie Riso, Werner Roger, Eric Ruscher, Alessandra Tucci, Alessandro Turrini, Lukas Vogel and Guntram Wolff. The report benefited from extensive comments by John Berrigan, Daniel Daco, Oliver Dieckmann, Reinhard Felke, Vitor Gaspar, Lars Jonung, Sven Langedijk, Mary McCarthy, Matthias Mors, Andre Sapir, Massimo Suardi, Istvan P. Szekely, Alessandro Turrini, Michael Thiel and David Vergara. Statistical assistance was provided by Adam Kowalski, Daniela Porubska and Christopher Smyth. Adam Kowalski and Greta Haems were responsible for the lay-out of the report.Comments on the report would be gratefully received and should be sent, by mail or e-mail, to: Paul van den Noord European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Directorate for Economic Studies and Research Office BU-1 05-189 B-1049 Brussels E-mail: paul. [email  protected] europa. eu vi CONTENTS Executive Summary 1. 2. 3. A crisis of historic proportions Vast policy challenges A strong call on EU coordination 1 1 1 5 Part I: Anatomy of the crisis 1. Root causes of the crisis 1. 1. 1. 2. 1. 3. Introduction A chronology of the main events Global forces behind the crisis Introduction Great crises in the past The policy response then and now Lessons from the past 7 8 8 9 10 2. The crisis from a historical perspective 2. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 2. 4. 14 14 14 18 20 Part II: Economic consequences of the crisis 1. Impact on actual and potential growth 1. 1. 1. 2. 1. 3. 1. 4.Introduction The impact on economic activity A s ymmetric shock with asymmetric implications The impact of the crisis on potential growth Introduction Recent developments Labour market expectations A comparison with recent recessions Introduction Tracking developments in fiscal deficits Tracking public debt developments Fiscal stress and sovereign risk spreads Introduction Sources of global imbalances Global imbalances since the crisis Implications for the EU economy 23 24 24 24 27 30 2. Impact on labour market and employment 2. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 2. 4. 35 35 35 37 38 3. Impact on budgetary positions 3. 1. 3. 2. 3. 3. 3. 4. 41 41 41 43 44 4. Impact on global imbalances 4. 1. 4. 2. 4. 3. 4. 4. 46 46 46 48 50 Part III:Policy responses 1. A primer on financial crisis policies 1. 1. 1. 2. 1. 3. Introduction The EU crisis policy framework The importance of EU coordination 55 56 56 58 59 2. Crisis control and mitigation 62 vii 2. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 2. 4. Introduction Banking support Macroeconomic policies Structural policies Introduction Crisis resolution policies Crisis prevention Introduction The pursuit of crisis resolution The role of EU coordination 62 62 64 71 3. Crisis resolution and prevention 3. 1. 3. 2. 3. 3. 78 78 78 80 4. Policy challenges ahead 4. 1. 4. 2. 4. 3. 82 82 82 85 References 87 LIST OF TABLES II. 1. 1. II. 1. 2. III. 1. 1. III. 2. 1. III. 2. 2.Main features of the Commission forecast The Commission forecast by country Crisis policy frameworks: a conceptional illustration Public interventions in the banking sector Labour market and social protection measures in Member States' recovery programmes 71 27 27 58 63 LIST OF GRAPHS I. 1. 1. I. 1. 2. I. 1. 3. I. 1. 4. I. 1. 5. I. 1. 6. I. 1. 7. I. 2. 1. I. 2. 2. I. 2. 3. I. 2. 4. I. 2. 5. I. 2. 6. II. 1. 1. II. 1. 2. II. 1. 3. II. 1. 4. II. 1. 5. II. 1. 6. II. 1. 7. Projected GDP growth for 2009 Projected GDP growth for 2010 3-month interbank spreads vs T-bills or OIS Bank lending to private economy in the euro area, 2000-09 Corporate 10 year-spreads vs.Gove rnment in the euro area, 2000-09 Real house prices, 2000-09 Stock markets, 2000-09 GDP levels during three global crises World average of own tariffs for 35 countries, 1865-1996, un-weighted average, per cent of GDP World industrial output during the Great Depression and the current crisis The decline in world trade during the crisis of 1929-1933 The decline in world trade during the crisis of 2008-2009 Unemployment rates during the Great Depression and the present crisis in the US and Europe Bank lending standards Manufacturing PMI and world trade Quarterly growth rates in the EU Construction activity and current account position Growth composition in current account surplus countries Growth compostion of current account deficit countries Potential growth 2007-2013, euro area 18 24 24 27 29 30 30 31 15 16 16 16 8 8 9 10 10 12 12 15 viii II. 1. 8. II. 1. 9. II. 1. 10. II. 2. 1. II. 2. 2. II. 2. 3. II. 2. 4. II. 2. 5. II. 2. 6. II. 2. 7. II. 2. 8. II. 2. 9. II. 2. 10. II. 2. 11. II. 2. 12. II. 3. 1. II. 3. 2. II. 3. 3. II. 3. 4. II. 3. 5. II. 3. 6. II. 3. 7. II. 3. 8. II. 4. 1. II. 4. 2. II. 4. 3. II. 4. 4. II. 4. 5. III. 2. 1. III. 2. 2. III. 2. 3. III. 2. 4. III. 2. 5. III. 2. 6. III. 2. 7. III. 2. 8. III. 2. 9. III. 2. 10.Potential growth 2007-2013, euro outs Potential growth 2007-2013, most recently acceding Member States Potential growth by Member State Unemployment rates in the European Union Employment growth in the European Union Unemployment and unemployment expectations Unemployment and hours worked Change in monthly unemployment rate – Italy Unemployment expectations over next 12 months (Consumer survey) – Italy Change in monthly unemployment rate – Germany Unemployment expectations over next 12 months (Consumer survey) Germany Change in monthly unemployment rate – France Unemployment expectations over next 12 months (Consumer survey) – France Change in monthly unemployment rate – United Kingdom Unemployment expectations over next 12 months (Consumer survey) – United Kingdom Tracking the fiscal position against previous banking crises Change in fiscal position and employment in construction Change in fiscal position and real house prices Fiscal positions by Member State Tracking general government debt against previous banking crises Gross public debt Fiscal space by Member State, 2009 Fiscal space and risk premia on government bond yields Current account balances Trade balance in GCC countries and oil prices The US trade deficit The Euro Area trade balance China's GDP growth rate and current account to GDP ratio Macroeconomic policy mix in the euro area Macroeconomic policy mix in the United Kingdom Macroeconomic policy mix in the United States Central bank policy rates ECB policy and eurozone overnight rates Central bank balance sheets Fiscal stimulus in 2009 Fiscal stimulus in 2010 Output gap and fiscal stimulus in 2009 Fiscal space and fiscal stimulus in 2009 31 31 32 35 36 3 7 38 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 41 42 42 42 43 44 44 45 46 49 50 51 52 65 65 65 66 66 66 67 68 68 69 LIST OF BOXES I. 1. 1. I. 2. 1. II. 1. 1. II. 1. 2. II. 1. 3. II. 1. 4. II. 4. 1. III. 1. 1.Estimates of financial market losses Capital flows and the crisis of 1929-1933 and 2008-2009 Impact of credit losses on the real economy The growth impact of the current and previous crises Financial crisis and potential growth: econometric evidence Financial crisis and potential growth: evidence from simulations with QUEST Making sense of recent Chinese trade data. Concise calendar of EU policy actions 11 17 25 28 33 34 49 57 ix III. 2. 1. III. 2. 2. III. 2. 3. III. 2. 4. Measuring the economic impact of fiscal stimulus under the EERP EU balance of payments assistance Labour market and social protection crisis measures: examples of good practice EU-level financial contributions 70 73 76 77 x EXECUTIVE SUMMARY assively liquidated their positions and stock markets went into a tailspin. From then o nward the EU economy entered the steepest downturn on record since the 1930s. The transmission of financial distress to the real economy evolved at record speed, with credit restraint and sagging confidence hitting business investment and household demand, notably for consumer durables and housing. The cross-border transmission was also extremely rapid, due to the tight connections within the financial system itself and also the strongly integrated supply chains in global product markets. EU real GDP is projected to shrink by some 4% in 2009, the sharpest contraction in its history.And although signs of an incipient recovery abound, this is expected to be rather sluggish as demand will remain depressed due to deleveraging across the economy as well as painful adjustments in the industrial structure. Unless policies change considerably, potential output growth will suffer, as parts of the capital stock are obsolete and increased risk aversion will weigh on capital formation and R&D. The ongoing recession is thus likely to leave deep and long-lasting traces on economic performance and entail social hardship of many kinds. Job losses can be contained for some time by flexible unemployment benefit arrangements, but eventually the impact of rapidly rising unemployment will be felt, with downturns in housing markets occurring simultaneously affecting (notably highly-indebted) households.The fiscal positions of governments will continue to deteriorate, not only for cyclical reasons, but also in a structural manner as tax bases shrink on a permanent basis and contingent liabilities of governments stemming from bank rescues may materialise. An open question is whether the crisis will weaken the incentives for structural reform and thereby adversely affect potential growth further, or whether it will provide an opportunity to undertake far-reaching policy actions. 2. VAST POLICY CHALLENGES 1. A CRISIS OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS The financial crisis that hit the global econ omy since the summer of 2007 is without precedent in post-war economic history. Although its size and extent are exceptional, the crisis has many features in common with similar financial-stress driven recession episodes in the past.The crisis was preceded by long period of rapid credit growth, low risk premiums, abundant availability of liquidity, strong leveraging, soaring asset prices and the development of bubbles in the real estate sector. Over-stretched leveraging positions rendered financial institutions extremely vulnerable to corrections in asset markets. As a result a turn-around in a relatively small corner of the financial system (the US subprime market) was sufficient to topple the whole structure. Such episodes have happened before (e. g. Japan and the Nordic countries in the early 1990s, the Asian crisis in the late-1990s). However, this time is different, with the crisis being global akin to the events that triggered the Great Depression of the 1930s.While it may be appropriate to consider the Great Depression as the best benchmark in terms of its financial triggers, it has also served as a great lesson. At present, governments and central banks are well aware of the need to avoid the policy mistakes that were common at the time, both in the EU and elsewhere. Large-scale bank runs have been avoided, monetary policy has been eased aggressively, and governments have released substantial fiscal stimulus. Unlike the experience during the Great Depression, countries in Europe or elsewhere have not resorted to protectionism at the scale of the 1930s. It demonstrates the importance of EU coordination, even if this crisis provides an opportunity for further progress in this regard.In its early stages, the crisis manifested itself as an acute liquidity shortage among financial institutions as they experienced ever stiffer market conditions for rolling over their (typically shortterm) debt. In this phase, concerns over the solvency of financial instituti ons were increasing, but a systemic collapse was deemed unlikely. This perception dramatically changed when a major US investment bank (Lehman Brothers) defaulted in September 2008. Confidence collapsed, investors The current crisis has demonstrated the importance of a coordinated framework for crisis management. It should contain the following building blocks: †¢ Crisis prevention to prevent a repeat in the future. This should be mapped onto a collective 1 European Commission Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses udgment as to what the principal causes of the crisis were and how changes in macroeconomic, regulatory and supervisory policy frameworks could help prevent their recurrence. Policies to boost potential economic growth and competitiveness could also bolster the resilience to future crises. †¢ Crisis control and mitigation to minimise the damage by preventing systemic defaults or by containing the output loss and easing the social hardship stemming from recession. Its main objective is thus to stabilise the financial system and the real economy in the short run. It must be coordinated across the EU in order to strike the right balance between national preoccupations and spillover effects affecting other Member States. Crisis resolution to bring crises to a lasting close, and at the lowest possible cost for the taxpayer while containing systemic risk and securing consumer protection. This requires reversing temporary support measures as well action to restore economies to sustainable growth and fiscal paths. Inter alia, this includes policies to restore banks' balance sheets, the restructuring of the sector and an orderly policy ‘exit'. An orderly exit strategy from expansionary macroeconomic policies is also an essential part of crisis resolution. The beginnings of such a framework are emerging, building on existing institutions and legislation, and complemented by new initiatives.But of course policy makers in Europe have had no choice but to employ the existing mechanisms and procedures. A framework for financial crisis prevention appeared, with hindsight, to be underdeveloped – otherwise the crisis would most likely not have happened. The same held true to some extent for the EU framework for crisis control and mitigation, at least at the initial stages of the crisis. Quite naturally, most EU policy efforts to date have been in the pursuit of crisis control and mitigation. But first steps have also been taken to redesign financial regulation and supervision – both in Europe and elsewhere – with a view to crisis prevention. By contrast, the adoption of crisis resolution policies has not begun in earnest yet.This is now becoming urgent – not least because it should underpin the effectiveness of control policies via its impact on confidence. 2. 1. Crisis control and mitigation Aware of the risk of financial and economic meltdown central banks and governments in the European Union embarked on massive and coordinated policy action. Financial rescue policies have focused on restoring liquidity and capital of banks and the provision of guarantees so as to get the financial system functioning again. Deposit guarantees were raised. Central banks cut policy interest rates to unprecedented lows and gave financial institutions access to lender-of-last-resort facilities.Governments provided liquidity facilities to financial institutions in distress as well, along with state guarantees on their liabilities, soon followed by capital injections and impaired asset relief. Based on the coordinated European Economy recovery Plan (EERP), a discretionary fiscal stimulus of some 2% of GDP was released – of which two-thirds to be implemented in 2009 and the remainder in 2010 – so as to hold up demand and ease social hardship. These measures largely respected agreed principles of being timely and targeted, although there are concerns that in some cases measures were not of a temporary nature and therefore not easily reversed.In addition, the Stability and Growth Pact was applied in a flexible and supportive manner, so that in most Member States the automatic fiscal stabilisers were allowed to operate unfettered. The dispersion of fiscal stimulus across Member States has been substantial, but this is generally – and appropriately – in line with differences in terms of their needs and their fiscal room for manoeuvre. In addition, to avoid unnecessary and irreversible destruction of (human and entrepreneurial) capital, support has been provided to hard-hit but viable industries while part-time unemployment claims were allowed on a temporary basis, with the EU taking the lead in developing guidelines on the design of labour market policies during the crisis.The EU has played an important role to provide guidance as to how state aid policies – including to the financial sector – could be shaped so as to pay respect to competition rules. Moreover, the EU has provided balance-of payments assistance jointly with the IMF and World Bank to Member States in Central and Eastern Europe, as these have been exposed to reversals of international capital flows. 2 Executive Summary Finally, direct EU support to economic activity was provided through substantially increased loan support from the European Investment Bank and the accelerated disbursal of structural funds. These crisis control policies are largely achieving their objectives.Although banks' balance sheets are still vulnerable to higher mortgage and credit default risk, there have been no defaults of major financial institutions in Europe and stock markets have been recovering. With short-term interest rates near the zero mark and ‘non-conventional' monetary policies boosting liquidity, stress in interbank credit markets has receded. Fiscal stimulus proves relatively effective owing to the liquidity and credit constraints fa cing households and businesses in the current environment. Economic contraction has been stemmed and the number of job losses contained relative to the size of the economic contraction. 2. 2. Crisis resolution ontext, the reluctance of many banks to reveal the true state of their balance sheets or to exploit the extremely favourable earning conditions induced by the policy support to repair their balance sheets is of concern. It is important as well that financial repair be done at the lowest possible long-term cost for the tax payer, not only to win political support, but also to secure the sustainability of public finances and avoid a long-lasting increase in the tax burden. Financial repair is thus essential to secure a satisfactory rate of potential growth – not least also because innovation depends on the availability of risk financing. †¢ Macroeconomic policies. Macroeconomic stimulus – both monetary and fiscal – has been employed extensively.The chal lenge for central banks and governments now is to continue to provide support to the economy and the financial sector without compromising their stability-oriented objectives in the medium term. While withdrawal of monetary stimulus still looks some way off, central banks in the EU are determined to unwind the supportive stance of monetary policies once inflation pressure begins to emerge. At that point a credible exit strategy for fiscal policy must be firmly in place in order to pre-empt pressure on governments to postpone or call off the consolidation of public finances. The fiscal exit strategy should spell out the conditions for stimulus withdrawal and must be credible, i. e. ased on pre-committed reforms of entitlements programmes and anchored in national fiscal frameworks. The withdrawal of fiscal stimulus under the EERP will be quasi automatic in 2010-11, but needs to be followed up by very substantial – though differentiated across Member States – fiscal conso lidation to reverse the adverse trends in public debt. An appropriate mix of expenditure restraint and tax increases must be pursued, even if this is challenging in an environment where distributional conflicts are likely to arise. The quality of public finances, including its impact on work incentives and economic efficiency at large, is an overarching concern. †¢ Structural policies.Even prior to the financial crisis, potential output growth was expected to roughly halve to as little as around 1% by the While there is still major uncertainty surrounding the pace of economic recovery, it is now essential that exit strategies of crisis control policies be designed, and committed to. This is necessary both to ensure that current actions have the desired effects and to secure macroeconomic stability. Having an exit strategy does not involve announcing a fixed calendar for the next moves, but rather defines those moves, including their direction and the conditions that must be sat isfied for making them. Exit strategies need to be in place for financial, macroeconomic and structural policies alike: †¢ Financial policies.An immediate priority is to restore the viability of the banking sector. Otherwise a vicious circle of weak growth, more financial sector distress and ever stiffer credit constraints would inhibit economic recovery. Clear commitments to restructure and consolidate the banking sector should be put in place now if a Japan-like lost decade is to be avoided in Europe. Governments may hope that the financial system will grow out of its problems and that the exit from banking support would be relatively smooth. But as long as there remains a lack of transparency as to the value of banks' assets and their vulnerability to economic and financial developments, uncertainty remains. In this 3European Commission Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses 2020s due to the ageing population. But such low potential growth rates are li kely to be recorded already in the years ahead in the wake of the crisis. As noted, it is important to decisively repair the longer-term viability of the banking sector so as to boost productivity and potential growth. But this will not suffice and efforts are also needed in the area of structural policy proper. A sound strategy should include the exit from temporary measures supporting particular sectors and the preservation of jobs, and resist the adoption or expansion of schemes to withdraw labour supply.Beyond these defensive objectives, structural policies should include a review of social protection systems with the emphasis on the prevention of persistent unemployment and the promotion of a longer work life. Further labour market reform in line with a flexicuritybased approach may also help avoid the experiences of past crises when hysteresis effects led to sustained period of very high unemployment and the permanent exclusion of some from the labour force. Product market ref orms in line with the priorities of the Lisbon strategy (implementation of the single market programme especially in the area of services, measures to reduce administrative burden and to promote R and innovation) will also be key to raising productivity and creating new employment opportunities.The transition to a low-carbon economy should be pursued through the integration of environmental objectives and instruments in structural policy choices, notably taxation. In all these areas, policies that carry a low budgetary cost should be prioritised. 2. 3. Crisis prevention particular in China, into the world economy. This prompted accommodative monetary and fiscal policies. Buoyant financial conditions also had microeconomic roots and these tended to interact with the favourable macroeconomic environment. The list of contributing factors is long, including the development of complex – but poorly supervised – financial products and excessive short-term risk-taking.Crisis p revention policies should tackle these deficiencies in order to avoid repetition in the future. There are again agendas for financial, macroeconomic and structural policies: †¢ Financial policies. The agenda for regulation and supervision of financial markets in the EU is vast. A number of initiatives have been taken already, while in some areas major efforts are still needed. Action plans have been put forward by the EU to strengthen the regulatory framework in line with the G20 regulatory agenda. With the majority of financial assets held by cross-border banks, an ambitious reform of the European system of supervision, based on the recommendations made by the High-Level Group chaired by Mr Jacques de Larosiere, is under discussion.Initiatives to achieve better remuneration policies, regulatory coverage of hedge funds and private equity funds are being considered but have yet to be legislated. In many other areas progress is lagging. Regulation to ensure that enough provisions and capital be put aside to cope with difficult times needs to be developed, with accounting frameworks to evolve in the same direction. A certain degree of commonality and consistency across the rule books in Member States is important and a single regulatory rule book, as soon as feasible, desirable. It is essential that a robust and effective bank stabilisation and resolution framework is developed to govern what happens when supervision fails, including effective deposit protection.Consistency and coherence across the EU in dealing with problems in such institutions is a key requisite of a much improved operational and regulatory framework within the EU. †¢ Macroeconomic policies. Governments in many EU Member States ran a relatively A broad consensus is emerging that the ultimate causes of the crisis reside in the functioning of financial markets as well as macroeconomic developments. Before the crisis broke there was a strong belief that macroeconomic instability had bee n eradicated. Low and stable inflation with sustained economic growth (the Great Moderation) were deemed to be lasting features of the developed economies.It was not sufficiently appreciated that this owed much to the global disinflation associated with the favourable supply conditions stemming from the integration of surplus labour of the emerging economies, in 4 Executive Summary accommodative fiscal policy in the ‘good times' that preceded the crisis. Although this cannot be seen as the main culprit of the crisis, such behaviour limits the fiscal room for manoeuvre to respond to the crisis and can be a factor in producing a future one – by undermining the longer-term sustainability of public finances in the face of aging populations. Policy agendas to prevent such behaviour should thus be prominent, and call for a stronger coordinating role for the EU alongside the adoption of credible national medium-term frameworks.Intra-area adjustment in the Economic and Monetary Union (which constitutes two-thirds of the EU) will need to become smoother in order to prevent imbalances and the associated vulnerabilities from building up. This reinforces earlier calls, such as in the Commission's [email  protected] report (European Commission, 2008a), to broaden and deepen the EU surveillance to include intra-area competitiveness positions. †¢ Structural policies. Structural reform is among the most powerful crisis prevention policies in the longer run. By boosting potential growth and productivity it eases the fiscal burden, facilitates deleveraging and balance sheet restructuring, improves the political economy conditions for correcting cross-country imbalances, makes income redistribution issues less onerous and eases the terms of the inflation-output trade-off.Further financial development and integration can help to improve the effectiveness of and the political incentives for structural reform. at the Heads of State Level in the autumn of 2008 â €“ for the first time in history also of the Eurogroup – to coordinate these moves. The Commission's role at that stage was to provide guidance so as to ensure that financial rescues attain their objectives with minimal competition distortions and negative spillovers. Fiscal stimulus also has cross-border spillover effects, through trade and financial markets. Spillover effects are even stronger in the euro area via the transmission of monetary policy responses.The EERP adopted in November 2008, which has defined an effective framework for coordination of fiscal stimulus and crisis control policies at large, was motivated by the recognition of these spillovers. †¢ At the crisis resolution stage a coordinated approach is necessary to ensure an orderly exit of crisis control policies across Member States. It would not be envisaged that all Member State governments exit at the same time (as this would be dictated by the national specific circumstances). But it would be important that state aid for financial institutions (or other severely affected industries) not persist for longer than is necessary in view of its mplications for competition and the functioning of the EU Single Market. National strategies for a return to fiscal sustainability should be coordinated as well, for which a framework exists in the form of the Stability and Growth Pact which was designed to tackle spillover risks from the outset. The rationales for the coordination of structural policies have been spelled out in the Lisbon Strategy and apply also to the exits from temporary intervention in product and labour markets in the face of the crisis. †¢ At the crisis prevention stage the rationale for EU coordination is rather straightforward in view of the high degree of financial and economic integration.For example, regulatory reform geared to crisis prevention, if not coordinated, can lead to regulatory arbitrage that will affect location choices of institutions and may change the direction of international capital flows. Moreover, with many financial institutions operating cross border there is a 3. A STRONG CALL ON EU COORDINATION The rationale for EU coordination of policy in the face of the financial crisis is strong at all three stages – control and mitigation, resolution and prevention: †¢ At the crisis control and mitigation stage, EU policy makers became acutely aware that financial assistance by home countries of their financial institutions and unilateral extensions of deposit guarantees entail large and potentially disrupting spillover effects. This led to emergency summits of the European Council 5European Commission Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses clear case for exchange of information and burden sharing in case of defaults. The financial crisis has clearly strengthened the case for economic policy coordination in the EU. By coordinating their crisis policies Member States heighten the credibi lity of the measures taken, and thus help restore confidence and support the recovery in the short term. Coordination can also be crucial to fend off protectionism and thus serves as a safeguard of the Single Market. Moreover, coordination is necessary to ensure a smooth functioning of the euro area where spillovers of national policies are particularly strong.And coordination provides incentives at the national level to implement growth friendly economic policies and to orchestrate a return to fiscal sustainability. Last but not least, coordination of external policies can contribute to a more rapid global solution of the financial crisis and global recovery. EU frameworks for coordination already exist in many areas and could be developed further in some. In several areas the EU has a direct responsibility and thus is the highest authority in its jurisdiction. This is the case for notably monetary policy in the euro area, competition policy and trade negotiations in the framework of the DOHA Round. This is now proving more useful than ever. In other areas, ‘bottom-up' EU coordination frameworks have been developed and should be exploited to the full.The pursuit of the regulatory and supervisory agenda implies the set-up of a new EU coordination framework which was long overdue in view of the integration of financial systems. An important framework for coordination of fiscal policies exists under the aegis of the Stability and Growth Pact. The revamped Lisbon strategy should serve as the main framework for coordination of structural policies in the EU. The balance of payment assistance provided by the EU is another area where a coordination framework has been established recently, and which could be exploited also for the coordination of policies in the pursuit of economic convergence. At the global level, finally, the EU can offer a framework for the coordination of positions in e. g. the G20 or the IMF.With the US adopting its own exit strategy, press ure to raise demand elsewhere will be mounting. The adjustment requires that emerging countries such as China reduce their national saving surplus and changed their exchange rate policy. The EU will be more effective if it also considers how policies can contribute to more balanced growth worldwide, by considering bolstering progress with structural reforms so as to raise potential output. In addition, the EU would facilitate the pursuit of this agenda by leveraging the euro and participating on the basis of a single position. 6 Part I Anatomy of the crisis 1. 1. 1. ROOT CAUSES OF THE CRISIS INTRODUCTIONThe depth and breath of the current global financial crisis is unprecedented in post-war economic history. It has several features in common with similar financial-stress driven crisis episodes. It was preceded by relatively long period of rapid credit growth, low risk premiums, abundant availability of liquidity, strong leveraging, soaring asset prices and the development of bubbles in the real estate sector. Stretched leveraged positions and maturity mismatches rendered financial institutions very vulnerable to corrections in asset markets, deteriorating loan performance and disturbances in the wholesale funding markets. Such episodes have happened before and the examples are abundant (e. g.Japan and the Nordic countries in the early 1990s, the Asian crisis in the late-1990s). But the key difference between these earlier episodes and the current crisis is its global dimension. When the crisis broke in the late summer of 2007, uncertainty among banks about the creditworthiness of their counterparts evaporated as they had heavily invested in often very complex and opaque and overpriced financial products. As a result, the interbank market virtually closed and risk premiums on interbank loans soared. Banks faced a serious liquidity problem, as they experienced major difficulties to rollover their short-term debt. At that stage, policymakers still perceived the c risis primarily as a liquidity problem.Concerns over the solvency of individual financial institutions also emerged, but systemic collapse was deemed unlikely. It was also widely believed that the European economy, unlike the US economy, would be largely immune to the financial turbulence. This belief was fed by perceptions that the real economy, though slowing, was thriving on strong fundamentals such as rapid export growth and sound financial positions of households and businesses. These perceptions dramatically changed in September 2008, associated with the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and fears of the insurance giant AIG (which was eventually bailed out) taking down major US and EU financial institutions in its wake.Panic broke in stock markets, market valuations of financial institutions evaporated, investors rushed for the few safe havens that were seen to be left (e. g. sovereign bonds), and complete meltdown of the financial system b ecame a genuine threat. The crisis thus began to feed onto itself, with banks forced to restrain credit, economic activity plummeting, loan books deteriorating, banks cutting down credit further, and so on. The downturn in asset markets snowballed rapidly across the world. As trade credit became scarce and expensive, world trade plummeted and industrial firms saw their sales drop and inventories pile up. Confidence of both consumers and businesses fell to unprecedented lows. Graph I. 1. : Projected GDP growth for 2009 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 Nov-07 CF-NMS EC-NMS Jan-08 May-08 Mar-08 CF-UK EC-UK Jul-08 Sep-08 CF-EA EC-EA Nov-08 Jun-09 Aug-09 Aug-10 % -4. 0 -4. 3 Oct-09 Oct-10 -6 Feb-09 Sources: European Commission, Consensus Forecasts Graph I. 1. 2: Projected GDP growth for 2010 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 Nov-08 CF-NMS EC-NMS Jan-09 May-09 Mar-09 CF-UK EC-UK Jul-09 Sep-09 CF-EA EC-EA Dec-09 Feb-10 Jun-10 Apr-10 % -6 Sources: European Commission, Consensus Forecasts This set chain of events set the scene fo r the deepest recession in Europe since the 1930s. Projections for economic growth were revised downward at a record pace (Graphs I. 1. 1 and I. 1. 2).Although the contraction now seems to have bottomed, GDP is projected to fall in 2009 by the order of 4% in the euro area and the European Union as whole – with a modest pick up in activity expected in 2010. 8 Apr-09 Part I Anatomy of the crisis The situation would undoubtedly have been much more serious, had central banks, governments and supra-national authorities, in Europe and elsewhere, not responded forcefully (see Part III of this report). Policy interest rates have been cut sharply, banks have almost unlimited access to lender-oflast-resort facilities with their central banks, whose balance sheets expanded massively, and have been granted new capital or guarantees from their governments.Guarantees for savings deposits have been introduced or raised, and governments provided substantial fiscal stimulus. These actions giv e, however, rise to new challenges, notably the need to orchestrate a coordinated exit from the policy stimulus in the years ahead, along with the need to establish new EU and global frameworks for the prevention and resolution of financial crises and the management of systemic risk (see Part III). that point most observers were not yet alerted that systemic crisis would be a threat, but this began to change in the spring of 2008 with the failures of Bear Stearns in the United States and the European banks Northern Rock and Landesbank Sachsen.About half a year later, the list of (almost) failed banks had grown long enough to ring the alarm bells that systemic meltdown was around the corner: Lehman Brothers, Fannie May and Freddie Mac, AIG, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, Fortis, the banks of Iceland, Bradford & Bingley, Dexia, ABN-AMRO and Hypo Real Estate. The damage would have been devastating had it not been for the numerous rescue operations of governments. When in September 2008 L ehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy the TED spreads jumped to an unprecedented high. This made investors even more wary about the risk in bank portfolios, and it became more difficult for banks to raise capital via deposits and shares. Institutions seen at risk could no longer finance themselves and had to sell assets at ‘fire sale prices' and restrict their lending.The prices of similar assets fell and this reduced capital and lending further, and so on. An adverse ‘feedback loop' set in, whereby the economic downturn increased the credit risk, thus eroding bank capital further. The main response of the major central banks – in the United States as well as in Europe (see Chapter III. 1 for further detail) – has been to cut official attributed to a common systemic factor (see for evidence Eichengreen et al. 2009). 1. 2. A CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAIN EVENTS The heavy exposure of a number of EU countries to the US subprime problem was clearly revealed in the s ummer of 2007 when BNP Paribas froze redemptions for three investment funds, citing its inability to value structured products. 1 ) As a result, counterparty risk between banks increased dramatically, as reflected in soaring rates charged by banks to each other for short-term loans (as indicated by the spreads — see Graph I. 1. 3). ( 2 ) At (1) See Brunnermeier (2009). (2) Credit default swaps, the insurance premium on banks' portfolios, soared in concert. The bulk of this rise can be Bps 500 400 300 200 100 0 Jan-00 Graph I. 1. 3: 3-month interbank spreads vs T-bills or OIS Default of Lehman Brothers BNP Paribas suspends the valuation of two mutual funds Jan-01 Jan-02 EUR Jan-03 Jan-04 USD Jan-05 Jan-06 JPY Jan-07 Jan-08 GBP Jan-09 Sources: Reuters EcoWin. 9 European Commission Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses interest rates to historical lows so as to contain funding cost of banks.They also provided additional liquidity against collateral in ord er to ensure that financial institutions do not need to resort to fire sales. These measures, which have resulted in a massive expansion of central banks' balance sheets, have been largely successful as three-months interbank spreads came down from their highs in the autumn of 2008. However, bank lending to the non-financial corporate sector continued to taper off (Graph I. 1. 4). Credit stocks have, so far, not contracted, but this may merely reflect that corporate borrowers have been forced to maximise the use of existing bank credit lines as their access to capital markets was virtually cut off (risk spreads on corporate bonds have soared, see Graph I. 1. 5). Graph I. 1. : Bank lending to private economy in the euro area, 2000-09 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: European Central Bank institutions incentives to sell to the government while giving taxpayers a reasonable expectation that they will benefit in the long run. Financial inst itutions which at the (new) market prices of toxic assets would be insolvent were recapitalised by the government. All these measures were aiming at keeping financial institutions afloat and providing them with the necessary breathing space to prevent a disorderly deleveraging. The verdict as to whether these programmes are sufficient is mixed (Chapter III. 1), but the order of asset relief provided seem to be roughly in line with banks' needs (see again Box I. 1. ). Graph I. 1. 5: Corporate 10 year-spreads vs. Government in the euro area, 2000-09 450 350 basis points 250 150 50 -50 Corp AAA rated Corp A rated Corp composite yield Corp AA rated Corp BBB rated y-o-y percentage change house purchases households Non-financial corporations -150 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: European Central Bank. 1. 3. GLOBAL FORCES BEHIND THE CRISIS Governments soon discovered that the provision of liquidity, while essential, was not sufficient to restore a normal functionin g of the banking system since there was also a deeper problem of (potential) insolvency associated with undercapitalisation.The write-downs of banks are estimated to be over 300 billion US dollars in the United Kingdom (over 10% of GDP) and in the range of over EUR 500 to 800 billion (up to 10% of GDP) in the euro area (see Box I. 1. 1). In October 2008, in Washington and Paris, major countries agreed to put in place financial programmes to ensure capital losses of banks would be counteracted. Governments initially proceeded to provide new capital or guarantees on toxic assets. Subsequently the focus shifted to asset relief, with toxic assets exchanged for cash or safe assets such as government bonds. The price of the toxic assets was generally fixed between the fire sales price and the price at maturity to giveThe proximate cause of the financial crisis is the bursting of the property bubble in the United States and the ensuing contamination of balance sheets of financial instituti ons around the world. But this observation does not explain why a property bubble developed in the first place and why its bursting has had such a devastating impact also in Europe. One needs to consider the factors that resulted in excessive leveraged positions, both in the United States and in Europe. These comprise both macroeconomic and developments in the functioning of financial markets. ( 3 ) (3) See for instance Blanchard (2009), Bosworth and Flaaen (2009), Furceri and Mourougane (2009), Gaspar and Schinasi (2009) and Haugh et al. (2009). 10 Part I Anatomy of the crisis Box I. 1. 1: Estimates of financial market losses Estimates of financial sector osses are essential to inform policymakers about the severity of financial sector distress and the possible costs of rescue packages. There are several estimates quantifying the impact of the crisis on the financial sector, most recently those by the Federal Reserve in the framework of its Supervisory Capital Assessment Program, w idely referred to as the â€Å"stress test†. Using different methodologies, these estimates generally cover write-downs on loans and debt securities and are usually referred to as estimates of losses. The estimated losses during the past one and a half years or so have shown a steep increase, reflecting the uncertainty regarding the nature and the extent of the crisis.IMF (2008a) and Hatzius (2008) estimated the losses to US banks to about USD 945 in April 2008 and up to USD 868 million in September 2008, respectively. This is at the lower end of predictions by RGE monitor in February the same year which saw losses in the rage of USD 1 to 2 billion. The April 2009 IMF Global Financial Stability Report (IMF 2009a) puts loan and securities losses originated in Europe (euro area and UK) at USD 1193 billion and those originated in the United States at USD 2712 billion. However, the incidence of these losses by region is more relevant in order to judge the necessity and the extent of policy intervention. The IMF estimates write-downs of USD 316 billion for banks in the United Kingdom and USD 1109 billion (EUR 834 billion) for the euro area.The ECB's loss estimate for the euro area at EUR 488 billion is substantially lower than this IMF estimate, with the discrepancy largely due to the different assumptions about banks' losses on debt securities. Bank level estimates can be used in stress tests to evaluate capital adequacy of individual institutions and the banking sector at large. For example the Fed's Supervisory Capital Assessment Program found that 10 of the 19 banks examined needed to raise capital of USD 75 billion. Loss estimates can also inform policymakers about the effects of losses on bank lending and the magnitude of intervention needed to pre-empt this. Such calculations require additional assumptions about the capital banks can raise or generate through their profits as well as the amount of deleveraging needed.As an illustration the table below presents four scenarios that differ in their hypothetical recapitalisation rate and their deleveraging effects The IMF and ECB estimates of total write-downs for euro area banks are taken as starting points. Net write-downs are calculated, which reflect losses that are not likely to be covered either by raising capital or by tax deductions. Depending on the scenario net losses range between 219 and 406 billion EUR using the IMF estimate, and roughly half of that based on the ECB estimate. Such magnitudes would imply balance sheets decreases amounting to 7. 3% in the mildest scenario and 30. 8% in the worst case scenario (period between August 2007 and end of 2010). Capital recovery rates and deleveraging play a crucial role in determining the magnitude of the balance sheet effect.Governments' capital injections in the euro area have been broadly in line with the magnitude of these illustrative balance sheet effects, committing 226 billion EUR, half of which has been spent (see Chap ter III. 1). Table 1: Balance-sheet effects of write-downs in the euro area* Scenario (1) (2) (3) Capital 1760 1760 1760 Assets 31538 31538 31538 Estimated write-downs IMF 834 834 834 ECB 488 488 488 Recapitalisation rate 65% 65% 50% Net write-downs IMF 219 219 313 ECB 128 128 183 Decrease in balance sheet (leverage constant) IMF -12. 4% -12. 4% -17. 8% ECB -7. 3% -7. 3% -10. 4% Change in leverage ratio 0% -5% -5% Decrease in balance sheet (with delevraging) IMF -12. 4% -16. 8% -21. % ECB -7. 3% -11. 9% -14. 9% * Billion EUR, EUR/USD exchange rate 1. 33. Source : European Commission (4) 1760 31538 834 488 35% 407 238 -23. 1% -13. 5% -10% -30. 8% -22. 2% 11 European Commission Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses As noted, most major financial crises in the past were preceded by a sustained period of buoyant credit growth and low risk premiums, and this time is no exception. Rampant optimism was fuelled by a belief that macroeconomic instability was eradicate d. The ‘Great Moderation', with low and stable inflation and sustained growth, was conducive to a perception of low risk and high return on capital.In part these developments were underpinned by genuine structural changes in the economic environment, including growing opportunities for international risk sharing, greater stability in policy making and a greater share of (less cyclical) services in economic activity. Persistent global imbalances also played an important role. The net saving surpluses of China, Japan and the oil producing economies kept bond yields low in the United States, whose deep and liquid capital market attracted the associated capital flows. And notwithstanding rising commodity prices, inflation was muted by favourable supply conditions associated with a strong expansion in labour transferred into the export sector out of rural employment in the emerging market economies (notably China).This enabled US monetary policy to be accommodative amid economic bo om conditions. In addition, it may have been kept too loose too long in the wake of the dotcom slump, with the federal funds rate persistently below the ‘Taylor rate', i. e. the level consistent with a neutral monetary policy stance (Taylor 2009). Monetary policy in Japan was also accommodative as it struggled with the aftermath of its late-1980s ‘bubble economy', which entailed so-called ‘carry trades' (loans in Japan invested in financial products abroad). This contributed to rapid increases in asset prices, notably of stocks and real estate – not only in the United States but also in Europe (Graphs I. 1. 6 and I. 1. 7).A priori it may not be obvious that excess global liquidity would lead to rapid increases in asset prices also in Europe, but in a world with open capital accounts this is unavoidable. To sum up, there are three main transmission channels. First, upward pressure on European exchange rates vis-a-vis the US dollar and currencies with de facto pegs to the US dollar (which includes inter alia the Chinese currency and up to 2004 also the Japanese currency), reduced imported inflation and allowed an easier stance of monetary policy. Second, so-called â€Å"carry trades† whereby investors borrow in currencies with low interest rates and invest in higher yielding currencies while mostly disregarding exchange rate risk, implied the spillover of global liquidity in European financial markets. 4 ) Third, and perhaps most importantly, large capital flows made possible by the integration of financial markets were diverted towards real estate markets in several countries, notably those that saw rapid increases in per capita income from comparatively low initial levels. So it is not surprising that money stocks and real estate prices soared in tandem also in Europe, without entailing any upward tendency in inflation of consumer prices to speak of. ( 5 ) Graph I. 1. 6: Real house prices, 2000-09 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Index, 2000 = 100 United States United Kingdom Source: OECD euro area euro area excl. Germany 500 400 300 200 100 0 03. 01. 00 12. 10. 00 Graph I. 1. 7: Stock markets, 2000-09 300 200 100 0 27. 07. 01 14. 05. 02 25. 02. 03 05. 12. 03 22. 09. 04 05. 07. 05 12. 04. 06 25. 1. 07 07. 11. 07 22. 08. 08 DJ EURO STOXX (lhs) Source: www. stoxx. com DJ Emerging Europe STOXX (rhs) Aside from the issue whether US monetary policy in the run up to the crisis was too loose relative to the buoyancy of economic activity, there is a broader issue as to whether monetary policy should lean against asset price growth so as to prevent bubble formation. Monetary policy could be blamed – at both sides of the Atlantic – for (4) See for empirical evidence confirming these two channels Berger and Hajes (2009). (5) See for empirical evidence Boone and Van den Noord (2008) and Dreger and Wolters (2009). 12 Part I Anatomy of the crisis cting too narrowly and not reacting sufficiently strongly to indications of growing financial vulnerability. The same holds true for fiscal policy, which may be too narrowly focused on the regular business cycle as opposed to the asset cycle (see Chapter III. 1). Stronger emphasis of macroeconomic policy making on macro-financial risk could thus provide stabilisation benefits. This might require explicit concerns for macro-financial stability to be included in central banks' mandates. Macro-prudential tools could potentially help tackle problems in financial markets and might help limit the need for very aggressive monetary policy reactions. 6 ) Buoyant financial conditions also had microeconomic roots and the list of contributing factors is long. The ‘originate and distribute' model, whereby loans were extended and subsequently packaged (‘securitised') and sold in the market, meant that the creditworthiness of the borrower was no longer assessed by the originator of the loan. Moreover, technological change allowed the development of new complex financial products backed by mortgage securities, and credit rating agencies often misjudged the risk associated with these new instruments and attributed unduly triple-A ratings. As a result, risk inherent to these products was underestimated which made them look more attractive for investors than warranted.Credit rating agencies were also susceptible to conflicts of interests as they help developi