Income Inequality and Economic Growth

Income Inequality and Economic Growth Chapter 1: Introduction Economic growth is the result of abstention from current consumption. An economy produces a variety of commodities, and then income is generated through sales of products. The very same income is used to buy other products which generate income for other producers. The very same income is used to buy a variety of commodities. The producers decide what to produce depending on their individual preferences and the distribution of income, initial endowments. In general, commodity production creates income, which creates the demand for those very same commodities. The cycle of production, consumption, saving, and investment that constantly regenerates itself is as old as human civilisation. In some cases, savers and investors are exactly the same individuals, using their own funds; in other cases, they are not. (51, Ray) The income inequality occurs because people in an economy differ from each other in many ways that are relevant to their incomes. These differences can be in forms of hum an capital (education and health), in where people live, in their ownership of physical capital, in the particular skills they have, and even in their luck. As explained above, economic growth and income inequality have a huge influence on each other. That is why there have been extensive studies in income distribution and its effect on other economic variables. Income distribution has always been considered to be an important topic because it tells us how incomes are distributed among the members of a population and allows the government to determine tax policies for redistribution to decrease inequality, or to implement social policies to reduce poverty. However, there are many debates about how reliable data is because they mainly are collected through surveys and the sources of errors are numerous. Furthermore, the income distribution measure, income gini-coefficient, does have its disadvantage because the best fit line method is used when representing the Lorenz curve which is used to calculate gini-coefficient. As outliers are ignored when a best-fit line is illustrated, the population in extreme poverty will not be accounted in income inequality measure. Thus, the measure of inequality may not be as accurate as it is believed to be. Because of these data features, it is important to complement classical statistical procedures with robust ones. (Maria-pia, Victoria-Feser, 2000) No concrete theory yet exists to explain the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. Most empirical research on income inequality and economic growth tends to focus on imperfect market, the politics of redistribution, the size of the market. Benabou (1996) and others argued that imperfect capital markets can slow the economic growth by increasing the level of inequality. The main input of economic growth is investment generated by savings or borrowing credits. A result of imperfect capital markets is that the poor credit applicants with high expected rate of return projects have limited access to credit compared with rich applicants with the lower profitable projects. Therefore, the imperfect capital markets create a higher level of inequality and limit both quantity and quality of investments, thereby lowering economic growth. As capital markets are more likely to be imperfect in developing countries, this theory implies that developing countries economic growth is affected greater by income inequality than developed countries. Deininger and Squire find that land inequality reduces growth more in low income countries. However, the effects of income inequality on growth do not differ across high and low income countries. Moreover, contrary to the theory, Perotti (1996) finds that income inequality affects school enrolment more in rich countries than in poor countries. 143-144 I am particularly interested in how East Asian countries managed to develop so rapidly while maintaining low income inequality during late industrialisation. This is because compared with many orthodox economic theories and research based on many European and North American states during their industrialisation, what East Asian countries achieved is unprecedented. Furthermore, I believe that there are much more complicated reasons behind this unique achievement unlike the suggestions by 1993 World Bank Report, East Asian Miracle. In this report, the neoclassical economi sts in the World Bank gave much credit to the new developing theories and state-intervened economies on the surface, but they managed to transform and relate the state-intervention and policies in East Asia to the orthodox economic theory, and concluded that the rapid economic growth in East Asia is the result of market friendly economies and well-operated macroeconomic policies. They are not completely wrong but I have found that the explanations are very vague and inaccurate. There is no consistency in their arguments because they are trying to explain state-oriented capitalism in terms of market-led capitalism. In addition, there is an obvious cultural factor. Johnson and few other economists and historians argue that cultural difference between in the East and in the West might play a crucial role in explaining the East Asian Miracle. They argue that Confucianism confers certain advantages over other traditions in the quest for economic development. Because Confucian beliefs pla ce a high value on hard work, loyalty, respect for authority, and punctuality, these characteristics are thought to have facilitated the national consensus around high-speed economic growth in East Asian countries since the 1950s and 1960s. (Johnson, 1983:6-10; and the chapters by Lucien Pye, Gordon Redding, and Siu-lun Wong in Berger and Hsiao, 1988) I believe that an argument stated above can be a more influential factor of East Asian Miracle than arguments based on the orthodox economic theory. Thus, in this paper, I aim to investigate not only orthodox economic theories behind the East Asian development but also focus more on political economic perspective during the late industrialisation periods in East Asian countries, especially in Republic of Korea (Korea hereafter) and Singapore. The political economic view of East Asian countries were taken rather lightly compared with theoretical economic analysis because there have been only few social-politic studies in East Asia and t he presence of military regimes in many East Asian countries made it difficult for researchers to gather accurate information. The reason that I have chosen Korea and Singapore is that they both are in OECD countries, which makes it easier to collect more accurate and more quantity of data. Most of all, Korea and Singapore maintain the lowest income inequality level during the late industrialisation, but the income inequality level in two countries took a complete different direction after the Asian financial crisis in 1997/8. Singapores income inequality did get worsened but it still stayed at reasonably low level, whereas Koreas income inequality level shoot up and still remains quite high at this point. This paper will contain five sections. They are; introduction; orthodox economic theory behind income inequality and economic growth; political economic section which will illustrate the policies employed in Korea and Singapore to develop rapidly while maintaining the income inequ ality level low with empirical evidences; the effect that Asian financial crisis had on Korea and Singapore, especially on two countries income inequality level; conclusion. Chapter 2: Orthodox Economic theory In this section, I shall discuss the orthodox economic growth theories and whether or not South Korea and Singapore followed neo-classical theory guidelines. To begin with, I will explain what causes income inequality and the consequence of it. I will especially focus on the spill-over effects of income inequality on economic growth. The level of income inequality is one of the main economic concerns for economists as it is directly related to poverty and also has significant effect on economic growth: Assuming that the average level of income per capita maintains constant in a country, a higher degree of income inequality will mean that poor people are worse off. According to this observation with implication of Kuznets curve -the level of inequality rises until income per capita has surpassed a critical point- then in theory; economic growth can be bad for the population placed at the low end of income spectrum. Specifically, growths effect of raising the average level of income may be counteracted by a widening of inequality as the poorest people fall farther below the average. (Weil, Economic Growth) The empirical study carried out by David Dollar and Aart Kraay shows how average GDP and the degree of inequality work together to determine the income of the poor. Mexico in 1989 and South Korea in 1988 had almo st the same level of GDP per capita ($8,883 and $8,948) but because South Koreas income distribution is so much more equal than Mexicos, the average income of the poorest quintile in South Korea was twice as high as that in Mexico ($3,812 and $ 1,923). A similar effect is observed when comparing Taiwan and Mexico. This study illustrates that a countrys average level of GDP is the most influential factor of the incomes of the poor population. Thus, the empirical evidence suggests that poor people in a wealthy but unequal country are better off than poor people in a poor and egalitarian country. Dollar and Kraay assessed whether specific policies had different effects on the income of the poor versus overall income. Their key finding was that policies that affect growth for good or ill generally do not significantly affect the distribution of income. For example, rule of law and openness to trade raise overall income in a country and have positive but very minor effects on the share o f income going to the lowest quintile. Similarly, a high rate of inflation and a high level of government consumption are bad for overall income and reduce the share of income going to the poor.372 The orthodox economic theory on income inequality and economic growth is that highly unequal distributions are necessary condition for generating rapid growth. In fact, in the 1960s and then again to a more limited extent in the 1980s and early 1990s with the dominance of free-market economic theory and policy, the explicit and implicit acceptance of this proposition by economists from both developed and underdeveloped countries tended to turn their collective and individual attentions away from problems of poverty and income distribution. If wide inequalities are a necessary condition of maximum growth and if, in the long run, maximum growth is a necessary condition of rising standards of living for all, through the natural passed-down processes of competition and mixed economic systems, it follows that direct concern with the alleviation of poverty would be self-defeating. Needless to say, such a viewpoint, correct or not, provided a psychological, if not conscious, rationalisation for the accumulation of wealth by powerful elite groups. The basic economic argument to justify large income inequalities was that high personal and corporate incomes were necessary conditions of saving, which made possible investment and economic growth through mechanism such as the Harrod-Domar model. If the rich save and invest significant proportions of their incomes, while poor spend all their income on consumption goods, and if GNP growth rates are directly related to the proportion of national income saved, then apparently an economy characterised by highly unequal distributions of income would save more and grow faster than one with a more equitable distribution of income. 182 Simon Kuznets hypothesis also states that in the early phase of economic growth, especially that are growing at an abnormal rate, growth is generally associated with high levels of inequality. First, to generate the high savings rate that is a prerequisite of rapid growth, income, it is assumed, must be concentrated in the hands of relatively rich, whose marginal propensity to save is relatively high. Second, Simon Kuznets has suggested that as the labour force shifts from low-productivity sectors to high-productivity sectors, aggregate inequality initially increases substantially, decreasing only later. Contrary to this conventional wisdom, in East Asia rapid economic growth has been associated with relatively low and declining levels of income inequality. Improved equity is not unique to East Asia. What is unique is the combination of rapid growth with modest (and, in a few high performers, dramatic) improvements in equity and reduction in absolute poverty. Analysis of the high performing Asian economies has focused on their rapid growth over the past decades. Isolated studies on the distributive qualities of growth in a few of these countries exist, but not of the growth-equity nexus for the group as a whole. (Adelman and Robinson, 1978) The indicators show that the Asian hig h performers have been unusually successful in distributing the benefits of growth widely. (The key to the Asian Miracle, Making Shared Growth Credible, Jose Edgardo Capos, Hilton L. Root, 1996) The orthodox economic theory suggests that tax policies which directly affect saving rates will determine the economic growth rate depending on changes in the ratio of capital to labour. According to this theory, peoples incentives to save their income or wealth are influenced by the rate of returns to savings which effectively determines the income distribution. This theory would also imply that richer people are more encouraged to save their income or wealth in an economy with a regressive income tax. As a result of this, faster economic growth is achieved due to higher saving rates and thus higher level of investment driven by richer people. The rate of savings affects the long-run level of per capita income and, in many cases, the rate of growth of the economy. Thus the relationship between inequality and savings creates an additional channel through which inequality interacts with income and growth in income. The political force of the arguments presented here are also not to be taken lightly. The view that moderate or high inequalities in income distribution concentrate money in hands of those who are willing to save, accumulate, and invest, thereby boosting growth rate, has been used more than once to justify a hands-off approach by government in matters pertaining to redistributive taxation. However, there are opposing views as well, arguing that a certain degree of redistribution can actually enhance savings and push up growth rates. The effect of a reduction in income inequality on the rate of savings, and therefore in the rate of growth, is likely to be complex. High economic inequality might retard economic growth by setting up political demands for redistribution. Now redistributing might take one of two broad forms. First, a policy might aim to redistribute existing wealth among the broader population. A good example of this is land reform. If land is held very unequally, the government may have the option to simply confiscate land from large landowners and redistribute the confiscated land among smaller peasants or landless labourers. Likewise, it is possible to have confiscatory taxes that transfer large quantities of nonland wealth to the government, which are then redistributed to the poor. It goes without saying that the creation and implementation of such policies require extraordinary political will, as well as the availability of data on which to base such policies. Elected government officials with large land holdings are not uncommon, and even if they were uncommon, large landowners often act as vote banks, which swing the votes of an entire village or even a group of villages. In such situations, the enactment of a comprehensive land reform that would alleviate inequality becomes a very difficult proposition indeed. Even if the political will did exist, there are the almost insuperable difficulties of implementation. To redistribute large quantities of wealth, for instance, it is necessary to know who has the wealth. There exist enormous quantities of wealth that are not even subject to taxes, simply because the information base required to implement such taxes is nonexistent. Even when wealth takes the form of land, which is arguably highly observable, it is difficult to implement ownership ceilings. As a large and powerful landowner, I could parcel out my holdings in the names of various members of my family, so that each parcel fell below the legally imposed ceiling. Faced with these difficulties, most governments resort to redistributive policies that take an entirely different route: they tax increments to the shock of wealth, rather than the existing wealth base. Thus marginal rates of tax on high income purchase of various products, and business profits are taxed as well. These taxes, imposed as they are on the margin, tend to bring down the rate of investment and therefore the rate of economic growth. Chapter 3: Political economic theory In this section, I shall concentrate on three policies which were probably the main driving force behind rapid economic growth while maintaining low level of income inequality. They are Land Reform and Agricultural policy, Public-Housing policy and Education. These three political acts shaped up the main foundation in the early stage of economic development and because of this solid foundation; Korea and Singapore were able to achieve their current economic status in the international arena. Many people, in general, believe that industry, not agriculture, can only facilitate the economic growth and agriculture constrains the economic growth to some extent. I will attempt to argue that agriculture and industry are equally able to constrain or facilitate economic development, but that agriculture is perhaps more important in the earlier stages of development, while industry is possibly more important in the latter. In doing so, I attempt to emphasise the importance of land reform in th e earlier phase of development and how South Korea and Singapore achieved it. Public-housing policy is rather more relevant to Singapores case than of South Korea. Today, over 85% of Singapore population resides in housing provided by the government since its public housing policy began in 1930s. The initial quality of housing was poor, but the continuous revolutionary programme since 1960s dramatically improved living conditions. The success of public housing policy, thus the positive spill-over effect of the programme on income inequality and economic growth will be discussed more in detail later on. High level of education, thus high quality of human capital in East Asia has always been on top of the list whenever the driving force of East Asian Miracle was discussed. Thus, I will further investigate why the education is considered to be so much more important in East Asia compared to other developing countries and the effect education on income inequality and economic growth. Ho wever, most of all, the authoritarian political background of Korea and Singapore government must be stressed before the three policies are discussed. This is because without the complete control that President Park, Jung-Hee had in Korea and Peoples Action Party had in Singapore, these policies would not have had its full effect. Government intervention can determine four general areas of distribution of income. They are as follows; Functional distribution – the returns to labour, land, and capital as determined by factor prices, utilisation levels, and the consequent shares of national income that accrue to the owners of each factor. Size distribution- the functional income distribution of an economy translated into a size distribution by knowledge of how ownership and control over productive assets and labour skills are concentrated and distributed throughout the population. The distribution of these asset holdings and skill endowments ultimately determines the distribution of personal income. Moderating (reducing) the size distribution at the upper levels through progressive taxation of personal income and wealth. Such taxation increases government revenues and converts a market-and asset- determined level of personal income into a fiscally corrected disposal personal income. An individual or familys disposable income is the actual amount available for expenditure on goods and services and for saving. Moderating (increasing) the size distribution at the lower levels through public expenditures of tax revenues to raise the incomes of the poor either directly (e.g. by outright money transfer) or indirectly, through public employment creation or the provision of free or subsidised primary education and health care for both men and women. Such public policies raise the real income levels of the poor above their market-determined personal income levels. 189 A contribution which agriculture makes to economic development is known as factor contribution which is related to functional distribution. This can be divided into a further two contributions labour contribution and capital contribution. Labour contribution is defined as the phenomenon when agricultural productivity improves and surplus labour form the agricultural sector is released in to the industrial sector. Yao (2006) noted that in pre-reform China this was not so as labour could not be immediately transferred from one sector to another. In Chinas case this resulted in depressed agricultural labour productivity and large underutilised human capital. In terms of capital contribution Thirlwall (2006) explains that capital contribution can be via voluntary investment in machinery or via involuntary contributions in the form of taxes. One way in which agriculture may constrain economic development is through the product contribution of forward linkage effect, wherein the agriculture sector is responsible for providing raw material, capital and labour for the rest of the economy (Todaro, 2006, 819). Economic development is characterised by a substantial increase in demand for agricultural products, and if the expansion in food supplies (Johnston, 1961, 567) cannot meet demand, then economic growth will be stunted: there will be a significant rise in food prices, leading to pressure on wage rates, which could adversely affect industrial profits, investment and hence economic growth; it could also cause political discontent (Johnston, 1961, 573). This pressure on wage rates can have extremely adverse effects in undeveloped countries where food has a dominant position as a wage good. Structuralists would argue this was at least in part due to a growing population putting pressure on food supplies, coupled with supply inelasticities (Thirwall, 2006, 452). A reliance on exports may also develop. Growth of demand for food is particularly significant as high rates of population growth (1.5%-3%) characterise most of the worlds developing countries, as the decline in death rates, due to increased medical knowledge and application, is frequently much sharper than the fall in birth rates (Johnston, 1980, 572). However, it is worth considering Engelss law at this point, which states that the income elasticity for primary commodities is in elastic; the implication being that as individuals, and a countrys income rise, they will spend proportionally less on these commodities (Thirwall, 2006, 550) and agriculture will become a less important component of economic development. Furthermore, the share of agriculture is GDP falls as per capita income increases; labour share also declines. Nevertheless, income elasticity for food tends to be considerably less elastic for developing countries in comparison with developed ones- 0.6 versus 0.2 or 0.2 Western Europe, the U.S and Canada (Johnston, 1961, 572), suggesting that at least in the short-run, or in the early stages of development, a lack of ability to provide product contribution could mean that agriculture is a main constraint to economic growth. Engels law also has implications for the foreign exchange contribution argument: which states that a country which primarily exports primary commodities will automatically suffer a balance of payments deterioration if there is a growth in world income, vis-Ã  -vis the balance of payments of a developed country largely exporting industrial goods (Thirwall, 2006, 550), as purported by the Singer-Prebisch thesis, whose import substitution industrialisation hypothesis advocates that developing countries replace imported industrial goods with their own domestically-produced versions. Furthermore, countries will have a heavy reliance on agricultural exports, particularly those which have a heavy reliance on one particular export, such as coffee, tea or fruits, are at the mercy of environmental factors within their own countries, as well as trade barriers and changes in taste, internationally. However, a long-run goal of diversifying from a reliance on one or two export crops can lessen th is vulnerability (Johnston, 1961, 575). In addition, primary commodities typically are the greatest source of foreign exchange and foreign exchange is needed to fund development projects (Todaro, 2006, 69). It is also worth noting that some countries have a marked comparative advantage in agriculture and that in these, a reliance on agricultural exports does not necessarily constraining at all. In some ways, agriculture is in fact an enabler of economic development as it can provide inter-sectoral transfers to faster growing industrial sectors, vis-Ã  -vis labour or capital transfers. As non-industrial sectors grow, they will need an increased quantity of labour, and whilst the assumption of the Lewis two-sector model that labour supply is perfectly elastic can never be entirely true (due to, lack of transferable skills, or cultural factors, such as an unwillingness on the part of women to move away from their families), it is likely that during the earlier stages of development at least, labour will be drawn from the agricultural sector, as there will be fewer other sources (Johnston, 1961, 576). This loss of labour might in turn provide incentives for agricultural sectors to become more productive, though investment from some source will obviously be necessarily to enable this. However, empirical evidence would appear to suggest that capital, rather than labour is the ma in limiting factor to industrial growth, at least in the case of Japan, where taxes levied on the agricultural sector constituted 80% of the tax burden and were used to subsidise the creation of a merchant and shipbuilding industry, as well as investments in railways and education. (Johnston, 1961, 578) This evidentially, presents an example of agriculture enabling, not constraining economic development. However, using agriculture in this way to provide capital for industrialisation inhibits the farming sector from aiding economic development in another way; namely through market contribution, otherwise known as the backward linkage effect, where the agricultural sector generates a demand for industrial products, such as fertilisers, insecticides, machinery, transportation and so on, positively impacting on the economy as a whole. In fact, in the early stages of development, the agricultural sector is likely to provide the largest market for industrial goods. Hence, if a countrys agricultural sector is very largely subsistence, as it is in many developing countries, with farmers able to afford very few of such capital inputs, then agriculture may indeed be the main constraint to economic development. (Thirwall, 2006) Thirwall in fact goes as far to say that, a precondition for rapid industrial growth is a rapidly expanding agricultural sector (2006) Some economists, such as Hirschman, have argued that there are in fact higher linkage effects in the industrial, rather than the agricultural sector and in particular, that in many less developed countries, linkages are to be found within manufacturing industries, but not between industry and agriculture. According to Hirschman idea of Unbalanced Growth, the key to economic development is investment in a leading sector, an industrial sector with high linkages, rather than in agriculture. A problem with this however, is the previously-mentioned inflation, due to lack of coordination between supply and demand. Propagating a single industry might indeed lead to the similar problems with lack of trade diversification that occur when primary commodities are the sole export. As a consequence of land reform, Korea has enjoyed a reputation among countries as one with a relatively equitable income distribution (World Bank, 1983). In1945, when Korea was liberated from Japan and soon afterwards partitioned into South and North, about 80 per cent of the labour force in South Korea was engaged in agricultural and less than 3 per cent in the mining, manufacturing and construction sector. Under these circumstances, two land reforms in 1947 and 1949 meant the collapse of a traditional social order based on land, especially a rice-cultivating society, and the start of a new social order. Furthermore, the Korean War (1950-1953) had a profound impact on South Korean society, destroying existing capital stocks and levelling out the distribution of non-agricultural assets, and leaving the majority of Koreans in destitution. (Pg9 Korea housing) In a rather elaborate simulation-planning exercise, Irma Adelman and Sherman Robinson have investigated the interactive effects of various rural development programmes on income distribution and poverty South Korea. Land reform is one component. (Adelman and Robinson, 1978) Their objective was to determine what types of programmes would yield the largest impact over the medium term. They constructed a basic model of the Korean economy, taking great pains to calibrate it so that its predictions came close to actual outcomes over a predetermined period. In essence, the basic model was made to mimic the development of the Korean economy over a nine-year period, 1964 to 1972. The result is significant. First, among the individual programmes, land reform has the most favourable impact on income distribution. Second, land reform and the public works and small-scale industry programmes are much more effective in reducing poverty than are the other programmes. Third, promoting rural development, that is, implementing all the simulated programmes, leads to greater reductions in the incidence of poverty and income di sparities than either of the two programmes taken individually or jointly. And fourth, without land reform, rural development programmes would be less successful at addressing both poverty and income inequality. (The key to the Asian Miracle, 55) Therefore, the inequality in landholdings is resulting in inequality in all spheres of economic activity, social and political life. The inequality in landownership is leading to inequality of other productive assets also. The inequality is further resulting in un-equal access to the much needed agricultural inputs like credit etc. (Krishna Rao, Growth and Inequality in Agriculture, 1991, 55) Nevertheless, Alice Amsden argues that the reputation of Korea as a country with low income inequality might be due to false information for three reasons: (1) The value of real estate and other assets, which lends to appreciate with inflation, rose more rapidly in the 1970s than wages. Because this value is excluded from income and these assets tend to be owned by higher income earners, the treatment of such assets is likely to result in the understatement of inequality. (2) The equivalent of the United States Internal Revenue Service in Korea sometimes includes and sometimes excludes from the calculation of personal income, capital gains, rent, and interest payments. Such income is also taxed differently from wage income. (3) It was possible until 1988 to open bank accounts in Korea under an assumed name. Nevertheless, land reform did respond to the ancient cry for ega

Citizens from France and The Netherlands rejected the Constitutional Tr

There have always been controversies surrounding the treaties in the post-Maastricht era. Such practices did not pass by the Constitutional and Lisbon treaties. The rejection of these two treaties had a major political impact on Europe as a whole. 29th of May 2005, was a memorable day in the history of the European Union. That particular date is connected with the referendum in France, regarding the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and most importantly with the ‘non’ votes that were louder than the ‘oui’ votes. The citizen’s voice clearly stated that further integration amongst member states shall not be perceived through the Constitutional Treaty. Furthermore, just two days later Dutch referendum also stated the same as French. These ‘non’(s) and ‘nee’(s) threw Europe into a constitutional crisis. Three years later, the Lisbon Treaty was about to change everything, a step closer to an ever-close union. The treaty wa s already ratified in number of countries. It was Ireland’s citizens turn to decide on that matter with a referendum. 12th of June 2008, was the very date that Irishmen said ‘no’ to the treaty. Both of those failures of the treaties sent shockwaves all over Europe. Number of articles and official barometer polls looked after the referendum to try to project the main reasons behind the rejections. Certain aspects of the implication that drove the French and Irish public to halt further integration between states, are more or the less the same. For example, aspects of lack of knowledge and understandment of the treaties due to their complexity, common nationalistic and political views, just to name a few, are fundamental ideas behind the ‘noes’. However, there are also significant differences in the implications... ...) of the voters highlighted the insufficient knowledge they had on the treaty. Furthermore, a survey carried out by Irish Times/TNS mrbi (cited in O’Brien & Oakley, 2008) showed that 30% of ‘no’ voters did not understand the treaty. Nationalist feelings were also amongst the most notable reasons for rejecting the treaty, 12% of the ‘against’ voters felt that this would keep the distinctiveness of Irish national identity (The Gallup Organization, 2008, p. 13). Irish rejection of the referendum also had its specific demographics, according to Smith(2008) the The Gallup Organization survey had shown that the urban working class, rural dwellers and the catholic right have formed an unusual alliance that led to the victory of the Euroskeptics. Year later in (DATE), 2009 after several amendments of the Lisbon treaty, on a second referendum, Ireland ratified the treaty. Citizens from France and The Netherlands rejected the Constitutional Tr There have always been controversies surrounding the treaties in the post-Maastricht era. Such practices did not pass by the Constitutional and Lisbon treaties. The rejection of these two treaties had a major political impact on Europe as a whole. 29th of May 2005, was a memorable day in the history of the European Union. That particular date is connected with the referendum in France, regarding the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and most importantly with the ‘non’ votes that were louder than the ‘oui’ votes. The citizen’s voice clearly stated that further integration amongst member states shall not be perceived through the Constitutional Treaty. Furthermore, just two days later Dutch referendum also stated the same as French. These ‘non’(s) and ‘nee’(s) threw Europe into a constitutional crisis. Three years later, the Lisbon Treaty was about to change everything, a step closer to an ever-close union. The treaty wa s already ratified in number of countries. It was Ireland’s citizens turn to decide on that matter with a referendum. 12th of June 2008, was the very date that Irishmen said ‘no’ to the treaty. Both of those failures of the treaties sent shockwaves all over Europe. Number of articles and official barometer polls looked after the referendum to try to project the main reasons behind the rejections. Certain aspects of the implication that drove the French and Irish public to halt further integration between states, are more or the less the same. For example, aspects of lack of knowledge and understandment of the treaties due to their complexity, common nationalistic and political views, just to name a few, are fundamental ideas behind the ‘noes’. However, there are also significant differences in the implications... ...) of the voters highlighted the insufficient knowledge they had on the treaty. Furthermore, a survey carried out by Irish Times/TNS mrbi (cited in O’Brien & Oakley, 2008) showed that 30% of ‘no’ voters did not understand the treaty. Nationalist feelings were also amongst the most notable reasons for rejecting the treaty, 12% of the ‘against’ voters felt that this would keep the distinctiveness of Irish national identity (The Gallup Organization, 2008, p. 13). Irish rejection of the referendum also had its specific demographics, according to Smith(2008) the The Gallup Organization survey had shown that the urban working class, rural dwellers and the catholic right have formed an unusual alliance that led to the victory of the Euroskeptics. Year later in (DATE), 2009 after several amendments of the Lisbon treaty, on a second referendum, Ireland ratified the treaty. Citizens from France and The Netherlands rejected the Constitutional Tr There have always been controversies surrounding the treaties in the post-Maastricht era. Such practices did not pass by the Constitutional and Lisbon treaties. The rejection of these two treaties had a major political impact on Europe as a whole. 29th of May 2005, was a memorable day in the history of the European Union. That particular date is connected with the referendum in France, regarding the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and most importantly with the ‘non’ votes that were louder than the ‘oui’ votes. The citizen’s voice clearly stated that further integration amongst member states shall not be perceived through the Constitutional Treaty. Furthermore, just two days later Dutch referendum also stated the same as French. These ‘non’(s) and ‘nee’(s) threw Europe into a constitutional crisis. Three years later, the Lisbon Treaty was about to change everything, a step closer to an ever-close union. The treaty wa s already ratified in number of countries. It was Ireland’s citizens turn to decide on that matter with a referendum. 12th of June 2008, was the very date that Irishmen said ‘no’ to the treaty. Both of those failures of the treaties sent shockwaves all over Europe. Number of articles and official barometer polls looked after the referendum to try to project the main reasons behind the rejections. Certain aspects of the implication that drove the French and Irish public to halt further integration between states, are more or the less the same. For example, aspects of lack of knowledge and understandment of the treaties due to their complexity, common nationalistic and political views, just to name a few, are fundamental ideas behind the ‘noes’. However, there are also significant differences in the implications... ...) of the voters highlighted the insufficient knowledge they had on the treaty. Furthermore, a survey carried out by Irish Times/TNS mrbi (cited in O’Brien & Oakley, 2008) showed that 30% of ‘no’ voters did not understand the treaty. Nationalist feelings were also amongst the most notable reasons for rejecting the treaty, 12% of the ‘against’ voters felt that this would keep the distinctiveness of Irish national identity (The Gallup Organization, 2008, p. 13). Irish rejection of the referendum also had its specific demographics, according to Smith(2008) the The Gallup Organization survey had shown that the urban working class, rural dwellers and the catholic right have formed an unusual alliance that led to the victory of the Euroskeptics. Year later in (DATE), 2009 after several amendments of the Lisbon treaty, on a second referendum, Ireland ratified the treaty.

My 1000000 Purchase :: essays papers

My 1000000 Purchase I have given some thought to a big purchase after I get out of college. It will probably be a new car. I have always loved Volkswagens , and I think I would like to purchase a New Beetle. I own a 1961 VW Beetle, also known as a type 1. It is Cherry Red, and that is why I picked a New Beetle the same color. Through a lot of looking I have found a Cherry Red, 1998 VW New Beetle. It has 3,923 miles, power windows, locks, brakes, and tilt steering wheel. It also includes a sports pack. Which is alloy rims, rapped in 15 inch Michelins and a chrome dress up kit for the engine and exterior along with wood dress for the interior. You gain some speed with some help from a racing series transmission, from Empi motor sports. The price is $18,495, plus 6% sales tax. Taking the car to a total of $19,604. But, remember that in the state of PA it is illegal to drive without insurance on you automobile. So, I have added another $1,200 for a year of insurance. This car is rated as THE safest compact car on the road today. Provided by dual side airbags and passenger/drivers side airbags too. And with every car is a factory installed security system. With the price of insurance, sales tax, plus the purchase price, the total is a whopping $20,804. How may he buy that you say? Well, my great grandmother (god rest her soul) has left me $25,000 to do what I may with. I will only be spending a fraction of the money so, I have thought about installing a decal kit on the body along with a ground effects kit. This will take a little money. It racks up to $2,370. I have even thought about sticking a nice stereo system in it so I can rock and drive. It will probably be a Rockford system with enough speakers and amps to lift me off the ground.

A Comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and

A Comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child Development in art often follows two tracks: development over a period of time and also differences in regional development. Both changes are seen in the comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child. Originating in Italy, the Renaissance began in the mid to late 13th century. Barna da Siena was one of the early Renaissance artists influenced by Duccio di Buoninsegna and Simone Martini. Barna di Siena’s painting is dated around 1340 and Rogier van der Weyden’s painting was painted nearly a century later around 1435. Rogier van der Weyden had the advantage of development in perspective and modeling that developed over time, but was also from the Flemish school of art, a style totally different from that of the early Italian Renaissance artists. What lends these paintings so readily to comparison is the fact that the general symmetrical composition of two main figures and the sizes of the two are approximately the same. However, it is clear that a century and a different region has created stylized differences that are very clear. Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine exhibits a highly dramatic style that was not seen in his mentor nor in his fellow student Lippo Memmi’s work. The symmetric composition consists of two main figures, Saint Catherine and the adult Jesus. In the painting, Jesus is seen placing a ring on Saint Catherine’s finger and taking her as his spiritual bride. Both figures appear to be very light and frail and the draperies they wear do not show the human f... ...rlapping figures, relative positioning from the ground line and also the illusion of making parallel lines join somewhere far away in the distance. These two paintings represent typical examples from 14th century Italian artist, Barna da Siena, and 15th century Flemish artist, Rogier van der Weyden. Both images depict two main characters in a rather symmetrical composition and are of large size. However, it is clear that over a century and different region the stylized differences are very clear. Realism, the style of Flemish artists at the time, with all of its detail, is quite different from the large, flat shapes of color in Barna da Siena’s painting. Just by looking at the two, it is evident that the second painting is more advanced and developed. Art continues developing along different tracks today and who knows what art will develop into in the future.

Online Requisition Essay

Introduction In the world of business, Information system is such where data are collected, classified and put into process interpreting the result thereon in order to provide an integrated series of information for further communicating and analyzing. In a progressively more spirited worldwide atmosphere, Information System plays the role as enabler and facilitator, which endows with tactical values to the officialdom and considerable step up to the excellence of administration. An Information System is a particular type of work system that uses information technology to detain, put on the air, store, retrieve, manipulate or display information. Information system enables companies to react, respond, cater, store, retrieve, disseminate, and control their new valuable asset that is information. In the years to come, a good information system within a company will be no longer an option; it will become a compulsory in determining success. Upgrading the computer information system is not an option in this technology-driven era; it is a requirement. Companies that use an up-to-date information system to gather, assimilate, and evaluate internal as well as external information are gaining competitive advantage over other firms. Management is quicker to cater to customer’s needs and complaints. With the growth of communication networks, there are almost no barriers between the firm’s management, employees, customers and suppliers. Networked computing systems have made new modes of work possible. Conceptual Framework of the Study Products and information Xammp MySQL The customers will input their information and serarch for products Xammp is the software used in this study. MySQL is the database used in this study. Online requisition material for gilmore computer solutions cabanatuan campus INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT Figure 1.1 shows the customers will be able to search for products and services faster and easier. Figure 1.1 the Proposed Systemfor the Company Verification Statement of the Problem The proponents aim to present the general problem and specific problems 1. What are the advantages of the website in a business? 2. Does the website give accurate information about the company? 3. What are the possible problems that the website will encounter in the future in terms of: 4.1 record duplication 4.2 accessibility of the information 4.3 transaction Objective of the Study The reasons for this company to have a website are pretty obvious. Whether they sell products that appeal to a large audience or products that are hard to find, if those products can be delivered quickly to homes or other businesses, online availability is a great way to increase sales. These websites may either maintain their own shopping cart software or use a third party e-commerce service. If a business provides a service or products confined to a small, local market, they can advertise on the web very economically. At the same time, they can offer a great deal of helpful information about their company, products, services that might not be possible with more conventional types of advertising due to higher costs. Significance of the Study To the Customers: it will give the customers an idea where to buy computer parts and where to repair their computer. To the researchers: it will benefit us through applying what we have learned in this project. To the company: it will benefit the company in the way that the company will e introduced to other places, be more popular and it will ring them more customers. Scope and Delimitation The study focuses on the advantage of using Operational information system in a company. The study will be conducted in Gilmore Computer solutions, Cabanatuan City * Survey on the customers * Interviews on the employee and the manager Definition of Terms Information System – Information System is a combination of people, hardware, software, communication devices, network and data resources that processes (can be storing, retrieving, transforming information) data and information for a specific purpose. System – A system is a procedure, process, method or course of action designed to achieve a specific result. Data – Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions. Officialdom – one who holds an office or position or an administrator, especially one who acts in a subordinate capacity for an institution such as a business. Retrieve – The act of bringing back a data. Disseminate – â€Å"scatter† or to â€Å"spread.† Its main usage is probably â€Å"to disseminate information.† Website – A set of interconnected webpage, usually including a homepage, generally located on the same server, and prepared and maintained as a collection of information by a person, group, or organization. Internet – a vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide Workforce multiplier – make the work faster and more efficient. Shopping cart software – Typically, a shopping cart is the interface between a company’s web site and its deeper infrastructure, allowing consumers to select merchandise, review what they have selected; make necessary modifications or additions; and purchase the merchandise. Maintain – To keep the system working properly. Advertising – is the nonperson communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, devices or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. The Proposal Gilmore computer solutions Cabanatuan City offers different kinds of services on computers. The store also sells high quality computers and parts of computers. Making a website for the store will make it more popular in many different areas. A website where customers can look and order for the store’s available products that they need for their computer.

Is the Internet Bad for Us?

ENG 120 I03FY February 23, 2010 Is the internet bad for us ? In the old days, a paper research used to take up to several days, when only libraries and encyclopedias had the right and trustful information. A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art involved finding the address first, and that took as well quite some time. In our days all this information is just a click away. The Internet, with the help of web pages, such as Google Search and Google Maps, are the solution to every question one may ask. The long days of search have ended, but it doesn’t mean it is a favorable or beneficial thing for each person. Scientists and professors of well known universities have discovered that this trouble free, straightforward and rapid method has determined not only the brains to delay the thinking process, but also changed people’s behavior in their lives in a negative way. One neuroscientist, Dr. Gary Small conducted a study where he examined the impact of the Internet on a young persons brain. This study consisted of reading a MRI while the person was surfing on the Internet, and another one while it was reading a book. Then, the results where very surprising: the MRI showed more brain activity in the frontal part, the decision part of the brain, when the person was surfing the Internet. The study reached lots of newspapers, and every person believed that Google is making them smarter. However, after a short period of time, Dr. Small reviewed the results and stated: â€Å"On a brain scan big doesn’t mean it is better†¦It’s exactly as in a golf game, you want to keep your score lower†. One can easily see that this brain activity is without doubt detrimental to all of us and surfing the Internet only decreases our process of thinking, instead of increasing it. Surfing on the Internet has become a daily routine, by checking the e-mail, researching on some interesting subjects and that takes probably an hour per day, which is ordinary in our days. Still, there are millions of young students that stay an average of fifty hours a week on the Internet and that just doesn’t seem something normal. All this time spent on the Internet has affected their thinking development. A pathologist of the University of Michigan Medical School states that: â€Å" I can’t read â€Å"War and Peace â€Å" anymore, I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post on more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it. This is actually a frightening reality that applies to myself as well. Not only I can’t focus on my daily readings for my biology class, but also if I start reading a book, after only twenty minutes I loose my concentration. This inability to make â€Å"rich mental connections† and just to thin k, has transformed our real intelligence into an artificial intelligence, thus the Internet has a direct participation towards our brain development. One can say that the Internet has changed our lives for the better, since World Wide Web possesses information about almost everything. However, not all the information on the Internet is accurate. There are several web sites where the information is not meticulously verified, therefore one can obtain data and facts that are untrue, even misleading. The best example is Wikipedia, a website where anyone can put any information on this page without any previous examination. Countless students use this web site to research for projects, without knowing the danger of misleading information. Communication in our lives is a tremendous vital thing. Indeed, human beings are born to communicate with each other no matter what kind of lives they decide to live. Communicating with other people allows us to learn about ourselves as human creatures. It helps us to understand our way of behaving, of thinking in different situations/places. However, the Internet has a considerable effect on our daily communication with out friends, family and even loved ones. The casual coffee in a modern cafe is replaced by staying on Yahoo Messenger talking for hours in front of the computer, and a discussion face to face has become a thing of the past, â€Å"thanks† to Second Life, a program where you could meet virtually at a restaurant, cafe or even in a park. The increased access and heavy reliance onto computer games and the Internet for many people today have led to many social problems. Obsessive computer use leads to addiction, which can lead to financial problems, broken relationships, physical and emotional problems. An example of such addiction affected a Korean family. Their son was sent in a camp for he was playing all the time computer games. This camp helped him to stay away from a computer for two weeks, so that he could concentrate on regular activities. The Internet has extended its power at the point that Google and Microsoft are in the process of creating an online international library, extinguishing books. This idea would only cause the lost of our culture and history, because books are an important factor in the achievement of today’s knowledge. The vinegar that was used in the old days to sanitize the scrolls from the deadly diseases, was a crucial tool towards finding the location from where they were sent. Studying their chemical components scientists discovered even details of their way of living. In conclusion, technology in all of its forms – social networks, the Web, online gaming – is a net loss for today's young people. As Grafton states: The narrow path still leads, as it must, to crowded public rooms where the sunlight gleams on varnished tables, and knowledge is embodied in millions of dusty, crumbling, smelly, irreplaceable documents and books. † Scientists proofed that the Internet is a direct cause of our mental regress, consequently each one of us must take this seriously, before we turn up into a chaotic, unwise and mentally challenged world . Works Cited â€Å"Digital Nation. † Frontline. PBS. WNET, New York. 2 Feb. 2010. Television. Grafton, Anthony. â€Å"Future Reading: Digitization and Its Discontents. † Fields of Reading. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010

Four Traditions of Geography Essay

Four Tradition of Geography The Four Traditions of Geography has many different assumptions and aspects of geography; aspects ranging from basic mapping and geometry, to the impact on nature of humans and the processes of the earth itself. Geographers can study and explain their research by selecting a certain tradition that leads to many different fields of geography. â€Å"There are four traditions whose identification provides an alternative to the competing monistic definitions that have been a geographer’s lot† (Pattison 1964). The following discussion treats the traditions in this order: (1) a spatial tradition, (2) an area studies tradition, (3) a man-land tradition and (4) an earth science tradition† (Pattison 1964). Pattison is exploring all the categories of geography and he is explaining how these different traditions can uncover the meanings of different studies of geography. â€Å"Going further one can uncover the meanings of â€Å"systematic geogra phy,† â€Å"regional geography,† â€Å"urban geography,† â€Å"industrial geography,† etc. † (Pattison 1964). Spatial tradition is an area of concentration that relies on geometry and movement. It also is the study of mapping as seen in the ancient Greece recordings of such, and it also deals with the GIS system. GIS is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to a location. It explores the central place theory and how it is used in geography. Central place theory is the geography theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. Area Studies, just like the spatial tradition it has roots from many, many years ago. The Greek philosopher, Strabo, wrote an encyclopedia about geographical knowledge. â€Å"He is Strabo, celebrated for his Geography which is a massive production addressed to the statesmen of Augustan Rome and intended to sum up and regularize knowledge not of the location of places and associated cartographic facts, as in the somewhat later case of Ptolemy, but of the nature of places, their character and their differentiation† (Pattison 1964). The area-studies tradition was tended to be excluded from early American professional geography. Today, it is beset by certain champions of the spatial tradition who would have one believe that somehow the area studies way of organizing knowledge is only a subdepartment of spatialism† (Pattison 1964). It concentrates on the descriptions of regions in order to differentiate them from other regions and areas. Being able to understand geography in these terms can reveal the deepest knowledge of the world’s environment. The Man-Land tradition describes the human impact in nature and also the impact of nature on humans, and it also defines the nature disasters our world takes on. Social Darwinism simply grabbed a theory from the biosciences and applied it to social happenings without the lengthy process of trial and error for social data which led to environmentalism. Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the environment. Man-Land gives us the basic perception on the environment and what is happening to it. The earth science tradition, embraces the study of the earth, the waters of the earth, and the atmosphere surrounding the earth and the association between the earth and the sun† (Pattison 1964). On two different hands of the topic, it is being used and then it is not being used. â€Å"On one hand, it is not always elected as the best tradition as it has been decreasing in use from past decades, while on the other one knows that college departments rely substantially, for justification of their role in general education, upon curricular content springing directly from this tradition† (Pattison 1964). It also acknowledges the human impact on the planet but mainly focuses on the planet itself and its physical processes. Geology, mineralogy, paleontology, glaciology, and meteorology all have rooted out of these studies. From reading â€Å"Four Traditions of Geography† and â€Å"In Search of Synthesis,† Area Studies tradition is my personal preference on this matter. Gober talks about the many different specialties that lie in between human and physical geography, and I grasped that I am more of a physical, on-hands doing person. With human geography you study societies as a whole and I am more interested in urbanization of the earth and how we can use the land we have in a fashion that is basically perfect. I am interested in the different regions because I am really fascinated in real estate and I figure I would learn a whole lot about the physical aspect of geography. I feel that I could really excel in real estate with this kind of learning. The Four Traditions of Geography has different definitions and aspects of geography. With the information given, people are given the opportunity to understand what geography is all about and be able to break geography down and select a certain practice from the very selective topic. â€Å"It is hoped that through a widened willingness to conceive of and discuss the field in terms of these traditions, geography will be better able to secure the inner unity and outer intelligibility† (Pattison 1964). William D. Pattison, The Four Traditions of Geography, (1964).