Wednesday, October 16, 2019
JOHN AUGUSTUS AND EARLY PROBATION Research Paper
JOHN AUGUSTUS AND EARLY PROBATION - Research Paper Example It is the term that could be applied to the action of John Augustus when, in 1852, he bailed out an offender who was convicted for a conduct of misdemeanor. Howard Abadinsky (2009) narrated that he successfully proved before the Court that an offender has a chance to be rehabilitated and to become a good member of the society once again. In his first experience, Augustus saw in the offender the promise of behavior change. He also introduced investigation, which he carried out before he handled a case. Some features of his investigation process remained to be a part of the modern probation process. Augustus investigated the character, the age and influence of people he helped because he will be their guardian during the probation period. He also kept records of each offender which he surrendered to the court when probation period was over. This helped the judge to pass on a final decision. Maurice Vanstone (2009) discussed in his book that John Augustus was the first man to volunteer to become a probation officer, although at that time, probation was not yet established. His humanitarian motives could not be doubted because he worked for free. Although friends assisted him and donations poured in, his business as a shoemaker was eventually affected. He was not a lawyer, but he believed on the purpose of the law, that is for him is to ââ¬Å"reform criminals, and to prevent crime, and not to punish maliciously, or from spirit of revengeâ⬠. His first focus was on drunkards but later on moved to other cases. He handled 2,000 cases of men, women, young and adult alike, with only 10 persons who jumped out of probation in all of his life. His crusade was not completely hassle-free because prosecutors, clerks of courts and policemen did not agree with him, since these men received a fee for cases disposed of by the Court. Thus, we see here professional jealousy, or corruption,
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Execitove Summary for Riordan Manufacturing Essay
Execitove Summary for Riordan Manufacturing - Essay Example uch as Operations, Finance and Legal Counsel, with Vice Presidents of various departments such as Transportation, Sales and Marketing, Human resources, Finance, Product Support and Information Services. Each operating entity of Riordan Manufacturing has its own Finance and Accounting System, however compliance with new Government reporting systems has proved to be a costly, labor intensive process. Another problem faced by the Company is in terms of the F&A systems compatibility among the various entities, so that part of the data generated is relegated into hard copies involving labor intensive, costly work. These are two of the most significant problems the Company faces, for which effective solutions must be developed. Riordan has 15 to 20 major, regular customers for its products, of which the U.S. Government is one, with several additional minor customers. Sales and customer data is available to every member of the Sales and Marketing team and the Company also maintains profit and loss statements of all the items that are sold. Sales initiatives include discounts for key customers, sales promotions, public relations, tradeshows and sponsorships, among others. The Company invests annually in marketing research by conducting research in brand development, opportunity studies and by using customer focus groups. The current projected annual earnings of the Company are $46 million, however the Marketing Department has set a target of $50 million in revenues to be achieved in the next two years. The new Sales Promotional approach focus on two major aspects (a) increased sales to existing customers and (b) expanding the sales outreach to new customers. Old customers are to be subdivided on the basis of the size of the accounts, customer needs for the large accounts will be thoroughly assessed, and they will be provided with RFP updates such that these can be developed around Riordan products. Riordan employees will develop sales growth plans for individual
Clayton College Of Natural Health Essay Example for Free
Clayton College Of Natural Health Essay This thesis is an exploratory study which investigates the phenomena of holistic healing through a phenomenological approach and the potential of this process to reveal the importance of relying on the client as the most important information resource. Using qualitative design, this research chronicles the experiences of people for their impressions regarding their healing experiences and their search for wellness through traditional medical and complementary therapies. Objective data will be collected to validate the nature of this research through the completion of self-assessment forms, in addition to a subjective inquiry into the energetic process of each client through the art and narratives of this researcher. The discoveries that will be produced during the course of this research is expected to reflect the numerous implications of the holistic healing process. 3. Statement of Purpose and Background Holistic healing is on the edge of mainstream scientific thought. It is contrary to the accepted view that we will always be able to find a specific cause for any given disease. Holistic healing was described by Pelletier (1997). For him, all states of health were psychosomatic, each person representing a unique interaction of body, mind, and spirit. Illness was a disturbance in the dynamic balance of these relationships. The client and the practitioner shared the responsibility for the healing and both creatively learned about themselves during the healing process. This study seeks to add valuable information about the growing phenomena of holistic health. It strives to explore the process of holistic healing. In the process of investigating the studies hypotheses, this study hopes to discover novel, unanticipated themes that help further our understanding of holistic healing. In spite of its importance as a central phenomenon in medicine, the word holistic healing is rarely used in nursing or medical literature unless the authors are describing some form of indigenous healing ritual or in the context of purely physiological healing. A holistic healing perspective would imply that healing is much more than physiological change. In spite of a thorough search of the literature, no studies have been found that relate directly to the focus to this study, the experience of holistic healing. The literature review is not the theoretical foundation on which the study is based, but it is represented in order to illustrate the current state of the relevant literature. The initial review established the appropriateness of this study. The majority of the review will be accomplished after the data will be analyzed and will be guided by the findings. Literature from both the initial review and the later review will be combined and the connections between the literature and the results of this study will be explored in the later chapters. Topics will also be discussed that might relate to the experience of healing, such as health status, recovery, and survival. In this related literature the independent variables such as social support, optimism, and hardiness are often well defined with reliable and valid measures. The dependent variables such as ââ¬Å"being healthy, having minor health problems, suffering from chronic disease, being disabled, and being dead are treated as equally-spaced points on a continuumâ⬠(Hobroyd Coyne, 1987, p. 364), and are not often well-defined or measured. Other measures sometimes defined as ââ¬Å"healthyâ⬠are help seeking behaviours and compliance with medical recommendations. This research investigates these questions: 1. What does it mean to be holistically healthy? 2. What is the mechanism of the health creation process? Hence, this study hypothesized that: 1. Personal experiences will be a key contributing factor to participants` developing a holistic healing approach. 2. Participants will report healing experience with holistic health as key to developing their interests. This study assumes that holistic healing have an integrative theory that guides its process. Additionally, it assumes that holistic healing adhere to a theoretical orientation that promotes universal spiritual ideals as opposed to specific religious ones. The researcher believes that human existence is multidimensional. In addition, this study assumes that illness, whether physical, psychological or spiritual effect our all the levels of existence, body, mind, and spirit. Furthermore, the researcher believes those treatment regimens, regardless of the discipline of origin, increase their efficacy by addressing more of the levels-of-being thorough utilizing a holistic approach. Hence, involving human subjects in this research will be justified. 4. Subjects a. Subject Characteristics In this study a target number of ten participants will be chosen. Their ages range from 28-65. The participants are expected to come from a variety of occupations. Moreover, these participants are expected to demonstrate unique behaviors prior to surgery that appeared as if they might add important insight to the study. The researcher would like to have equal number of male and female participants (5 males and 5 females) to have an equal perspective from both genders. Further, in phenomenology it is important to choose participants who are able to speak with ease, express their feelings, and describe physical experiences (van Kaam, 1966). All the participants are expected to be verbal and expressive and should have little trouble discussing their healing experiences. b. Selection Criteria Participants to be chosen are those who: 1. had had recent surgery (first interviews will be conducted one week after hospital discharge); 2. were expected to return to their presurgical level of functioning. To insure that the participants would have a significant enough surgery to focus their attention on healing, they: 1. were in the hospital for at least three days; 2. were not expected to return to presurgical functioning for at least three weeks. Certain situations related to the surgery could have distracted the participants from focusing on healing. It was not assumed that these situations could not be healing experiences, but individuals with the following characteristics were not included: 1. external disfigurement from the surgery, beyond the incision; 2. an illness that was expected to be fatal. c. Special Populations No special group will be used in this study. d. Recruitment Source There are three surgeons known to the researcher that are the sources and they will be contacted by telephone and then by letter (see Appendix A). Nurses in surgical practice will also be contacted for help. Through the researcherââ¬â¢s own private practice she had many contacts with lawyers, personnel departments and other referring sources. The need for participants was expressed to many of them. Participants referred by professional friends are also good recruitment source. e. Recruitment Method All the participants will be given the researcherââ¬â¢s telephone number and a brief description of the study (see Appendix B). It will be up to the potential participants whether they would make the first contact. Their participation in the study will not be discussed with referring person. The researcher will assume that access to participants would be much easier this way. The resources who were able to provide participants all knew and trusted the researcher. This knowledge could have made it easier to believe that patients would not be harmed by participation in the study. More personal contact beyond telephone and written contact may help to build the necessary trust with potential providers of participants who have never met the researcher. f. Informed Consent Process Because of concern for protection of human subjects, potential participants will be the one responsible for contacting the researcher, not visa versa. This may add to the difficulty of finding participants. Perhaps more potential participants could have been contacted sooner to insure a less prolonged interview schedule. Phenomenological research is a relatively unknown methodology in the medical community and potential providers of participants may have been concerned about the validity of the research. After the potential participants called the researcher, a short interview will be conducted on the telephone to ascertain whether they met the requirements for the study. They will be told what would be expected of them and asked whether they will be willing to participate. Participants will be informed about the nature of the study verbally and through a written consent form (see Appendix C). The nature of the study will also be discussed over the telephone and at the start of the first interview. Questions about the study will be answered at this time, as well as later. As stated in the consent form interviews will be tape-recorded. The tapes will be transcribed by the typist. Pseudonyms will be substituted whenever the participantââ¬â¢s name is used on the tape. The tapes, transcriptions of the tapes, information sheets, and any other materials written by or about the participantsââ¬â¢ actual names will not appear in any written reports, nor will they be used in any other way. A list of participants wishing information about the results will be kept separate and will be in no way connected with the data. Participants will be assured that they could withdraw from the study at any time, and that this would not affect their treatment in any way. g. Study Location Attempt will be made to interview all participants in their homes as it will be likely the place where they will feel comfortable and will be sufficiently relax to be able to talk about their experiences. The home is a more appropriate setting than the hospital. Although healing probably will not occur in the hospital, many factors are present which may influence the ability to focus on the process. Pain, recovery from anesthesia, lack of privacy, and immersion in the patient role are notable destructors which are expected to be less pronounces at home. Most of the interviews will be conducted in the home but if the participant will find it more convenient to be interviewed in their office or in other comfortable place (i. e. restaurant) then that will be granted. h. Potential Problems It is anticipated that some questions may cause emotional trauma, thus the participantsââ¬â¢ emotional state will be assessed throughout the interview and time will be allotted to discuss any difficulty they will have. 5. Research Design and Methods a. Research Design A suitable design for exploring holistic healing from the perspective of the person in the mechanism of the health creation process is phenomenology. In phenomenology, the essence of human experience (Solomon, 1980) will be studied. It is based on careful consideration of rich complex data, using logic and insight (Cohen, 2001). Then careful interpretation will clarify this reality of human experiences. In the process of interpretation, data will not created, but they will be analysed with an attempt to discover their essence. So, in order to address the research questions posed in this study, select individuals will be asked to discuss their experience of holistic healing and the mechanism of their health creation process. Asking people directly seemed an effective way to study meaning, experience, beliefs, expectations, and perceptions of holistic healing. Benner (2002) pointed out that physiological aspects of healing can be studied readily with traditional quantitative research. Much of the research available on psychological, interpersonal, and personality dimensions of health has also been done using quantitative methods. But there is now a current interest in exploring holistic healing using qualitative means, but no qualitative studies have explored healing. As healing is a lived experience it seems appropriate to use a qualitative method to ask individuals who are in the process of healing to attempt to articulate what they believe is happening. The following is a list of the steps proposed by Colaizzi (1998) that will be followed in this study: 1. carefully interrogate presuppositions; 2. conduct pilot interviews; 3. integrate personal presuppositions and the thoughts about the pilot data, to generated a series of interview questions; 4. gather the data; 5. read all the transcriptions of the data and acquire a feeling for the whole; 6. underlie significant statements in the data; 7. try to formulate the meaning of the combined significant statements. Creative insights can be used to go from what the subjects say to what the researcher believes they might have meant; 8. organize formulated meanings from all the interviews into groups of themes. Validate these themes by asking whether there is anything in the original data that is not included in the themes, or whether the themes imply anything not in the original data; 9. write an exhaustive description of the results so far, including any discrepancies or themes that do not fit into a cohesive framework; 10. reduce the description to the fundamental structure of the phenomenon; 11. validate findings with selected participants. In a phenomenological study, oral interview is indispensable. The purpose of the interview is to elicit information about the participantsââ¬â¢ experience in their own words, order of priority, and depth of emphasis. Hence, interviews will usually lasts from 60 to 90 minutes or even longer. Then, it is expected that there will be two interviews (first and a follow-up). The first interview is intended to be conducted approximately one week after hospital discharge. After the first interview with each participant, the data will be analyzed to discover whether any of this information needed clarification or expansion or whether any of these data pointed to the need for another area of questioning. A list of specific questions will be drawn from each participant to explore during the second interview. The second interview for each participant is planned to occur three weeks after the first interview to allow enough time to pass to have some additional thoughts on healing, yet to be early enough in the process that the participant will still focused on healing. The second will start with general questions before the more specific questions will be asked. Again, he purpose was to elicit the participantsââ¬â¢ experience in the most uncontaminated way possible. The participantsââ¬â¢ thoughts about the healing is expected to be stimulated during the first interview so that they will add new ideas to express during the second interviews and it will be validated as the emerging themes and interpretations of the researcher.
Monday, October 14, 2019
The Motivation To Choose Entrepreneurship Role Business Essay
The Motivation To Choose Entrepreneurship Role Business Essay There are varying definitions of entrepreneurship (e.g., Kirzner, 1973; Schumpter, 1934; Stevenson et al., 1989; Vesper, 1996) which portray the common feature of entrepreneurship as the act of creating a new venture (Gartner, 1985). Entrepreneurship can be regarded as the process of creating value by integrating the resources for exploiting an available opportunity. From this, it can be derived that an entrepreneur is someone who perceives an opportunity and creates an organization to pursue it (Bygrave Hofer, 1991, p 14). Timmons, (1994) has identified three crucial driving forces of entrepreneurship, which include (i) the entrepreneur or founder, (ii) the recognition of opportunity and (iii) the resources needed to found the firm. The process of entrepreneurship is complicated with the existence of various other factors such as risk, chaos, information asymmetries, resource scarcity, uncertainties, paradoxes and confusion. Successful entrepreneurship can be developed only when al l the three components are arranged in a proper fit. An entrepreneur has to face the challenge of manipulating and influencing the factors affecting the process of entrepreneurship so that he can improve the chances of success of the venture. Since opportunities seldom wait, right timing of the recognition of the opportunity becomes critically important for any entrepreneur. Literature has identified a number of factors influencing the process of entrepreneurship, which include creativity, optimism, information search, alertness, social networking and prior knowledge. Based upon the presence of some of these personal traits and by adapting to the circumstances, entrepreneurs are able to work their ways to recognizing profitable ventures and convert them into operable business ventures. However, the question remains as to which are the ones out of these factors motivate people to become entrepreneurs. The objective of the study was to examine the relative impact different motivational factors acting upon people in different age groups to take up entrepreneurial activity. 1.1 Motivation and Entrepreneurship The topic of motivation in the entrepreneurship can be addressed from an organizational psychological perspective. Campbell et al have developed a framework, which has identified the theories of motivation to progress from static, content-oriented theories to dynamic process-oriented ones. Content theories describe specific traits within individuals that initiate, direct, sustain and stop entrepreneurial behavior. Process theories on the other hand explain the ways in which behavior is initiated, directed, sustained and stopped. There are other situational and environmental factors, which influence any entrepreneurial activity. Previous research have attempted to identify these situational and environmental factors such as job displacement, previous work experience, availability of various resources, and governmental influences acting on the entrepreneurial activities of individuals. However, empirical studies on contextual factors were unable to find greater nexus between explanatory power and predictive ability (Kruegar, Reily, Carsrud, 2000). Many of the recent entrepreneurship models are process-oriented cognitive models. They mainly focus on attitudes and beliefs of individuals and the ways in which they can act on predicting intentions and behaviors. Cognitive processes often lead to all human endeavors, especially complex ones such as new venture initiation. Humans are characterized to categorize the possible future outcomes to decide on most desirable ones. They further analyze whether it is feasible to pursue attaining these desired outcomes. It is not reasonable to expect people to pursue those outcomes, which they perceive to be undesirable or unfeasible. Therefore, the perceptions of the people become an important motivational factor with respect to their entrepreneurial choices. It is found that many cognitive models explaining the motivation to choose a new entrepreneurial activity is based on Vrooms, (1964) expectancy framework. These models use different terminologies and they are built on different theoretical bases. However, the commonality among these models can be identified with Vrooms expectancy model. The Vroom model postulates that an individual can be expected to choose among alternative behaviors by considering the one, which will lead to the most desirable outcome for him. Motivation is conceptualized as the product of expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Vrooms (1964) expectancy model forms the common base for a number of process-oriented explanations connected with entrepreneurial motivation. Current process models are grounded on the basic conception that an individuals entrepreneurial intentions to choose a particular activity are predicted by the questions (i) is entrepreneurship is desirable to him to lead to provide the desired outc omes and (ii) is entrepreneurship is feasible for him to decide whether he possesses the required qualities to become a successful entrepreneur. 1.2 Current Process Models of Entrepreneurial Motivation Baumol, (1990) suggested the role of reward structure in motivating entrepreneurial activity. Reward structure as an economic perspective for the initiation of a new venture is based on the usefulness, utility or desirability of an entrepreneurial career. Campbells (1992) decision model makes a comparison of the expected net present benefits of entrepreneurship and the expected gains from a possible employment opportunity. On the same lines, Praag Cramer, (2001) advocated that people choose entrepreneurship if they expect the rewards of such entrepreneurship would surpass the wages earned by them out of employment. Levesque, Shephard, Douglas, (2002) examined the selection of the course of action between employment and entrepreneurship in the form of self-employment in the context of a utility-maximizing model, which tends to change based on the age of the individual denoting the stage of life. The common thread among these economic models is the explicit consideration of the role of risk in choosing to become an entrepreneur. Other recent research is based on an organizational psychological framework conducted by Bird, (1988). This work suggests the importance of entrepreneurial intentions as a precursor to new venture creation stressing the need to develop a behavioral, process-oriented model of entrepreneurship. 1.3 Purpose of the Study Problem Statement There are a number of motivational factors, which influence the entrepreneurial intentions of the individuals. Extensive attitudinal research has investigated the topic of the role of different attitudinal factors because these factors have been considered as the better explanatory factors for choosing entrepreneurial activities than demographic and personality variations. Most of these studies base their findings on attitudinal factors which have an influence on confidence, enthusiasm, inclination and aspiration towards choosing entrepreneurship (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, 2005; Beugelsdijk Noorderhaven, 2004; Henderson Robertson, 2000). Some studies have examined the influence of attitude towards entrepreneurial aspiration (Krueger et al 2000). There is a void to be filled in the demographic area of research for example, the influence of age and educational qualifications on the choice of entrepreneurship has not been studied extensively. In this context, the current study will at tempt to examine the relative influence of age factor on individuals choosing to become entrepreneur. With the average age expectancy going up and the availability of resources in the hands of baby boomers, the chances of individuals becoming entrepreneurs at their middle ages cannot be ruled out. Therefore, a study of the influence of age factor on entrepreneurial decisions become important and they cannot be considered out of place. The findings of the research is expected to reveal the attitudinal and other motivational factors influencing the entrepreneurial decisions among individuals in different age groups, which can be used as a guiding factor in addressing different issues in becoming an entrepreneur in the middle age. By engaging the quantitative research method of survey through a well-constructed questionnaire, the study has focused on the examination of the entrepreneurial choice among aspiring individuals in two different age groups. The study will also present an analytical review of the available literature on the topic. For a comprehensive presentation, the paper is structured to have different chapters. The introductory chapter gives an insight into the topic under study. Chapter 2 will present a review of the relevant literature to extend the knowledge of the readers on the subject of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition process. Chapter 3 deals with the aims and objectives of the study followed by chapter 4 detailing the research methodology. Chapter 5 includes the findings of the research and a detailed discussion on the findings and some concluding remarks are presented in chapter 6.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Smelling: Its More Than Meets the Olfactory Epithelium :: Biology Essays Research Papers
Smelling: It's More Than Meets the Olfactory Epithelium The ability to take a chemical sample of the environment and interpret that sample has long been a skill of earth dwelling life forms. We don't tend to think of the sense of smell as a mechanism that analyzes physical specimens. It is sort of a repulsive notion, considering some of the undesirable substances we are forced to smell every day. But, just as we cannot feel a book without touching it, we cannot smell an orange without guiding some orange molecules up our noses. The capacity that humans divide into smell and taste has a single evolutionary precursor. This was a common chemical sense that enabled single-celled organisms to identify food and alert themselves to the presence of harmful substances. While it is among the oldest and most universal senses employed by living creatures, science has been slow to understand it. One roadblock to knowledge progression has been the inherent difficulty in experimenting with the chemical senses. Delivering precisely timed and quantitative ly accurate amounts of chemical stimuli to receptors is a technological challenge, but often necessary in the study of olfaction (1). While in many animals, the chemical senses play the most important role in perception and survival, in humans they are less involved in behavior than sight or hearing. This relative insignificance is another reason why olfaction has received scientific short shrift. It has been comparatively neglected by our culture as well--the English language does not include a sufficient vocabulary for describing odors. It is very difficult to verbally depict an odor to an individual who has never encountered it. Our understanding of smell is ever increasing, and while some big questions remain, others are continually being answered. The olfactory epithelium of each of the two nasal passages in humans is a 2.5 square centimeter patch containing about 50 million sensory receptor cells (3). The reception of the odorant and the beginning of sensory signal transduction occurs in the olfactory cilia, which are hair-like extensions of the receptor neurons (10-20 cilia per neuron). The neurons have a turn-over rate of about 40 days (3). On the opposite side of the cilia, within the epithelium, the neurons form axons which penetrate the cribiform bone in bundles and synapse with neurons in the olfactory bulb (2). Via the olfactory tract, (cranial nerve I), olfactory information travels to the primary olfactory cortex without first passing through the thalamus.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
The Importance of Being Earnest :: Comedy Irony Papers
The Importance of Being Earnest ALGERNON. You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that your name isn't Ernest. It's on your cards. Here is one of them. [Taking it from case.] 'Mr. Ernest Worthing, B. 4, The Albany.' I'll keep this as a proof that your name is Ernest if ever you attempt to deny it to me, or to Gwendolen, or to any one else. [Puts the card in his pocket.] JACK. Well, my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and the cigarette case was given to me in the country. ALGERNON. Yes, but that does not account for the fact that your small Aunt Cecily, who lives at Tunbridge Wells, calls you her dear uncle. Come, old boy, you had much better have the thing out at once. JACK. My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn't a dentist. It produces a false impression. ALGERNON. Well, that is exactly what dentists always do. Now, go on! Tell me the whole thing. I may mention that I have always suspected you of being a confirmed and secret Bunburyist; and I am quite sure of it now. JACK. Bunburyist? What on earth do you mean by a Bunburyist? ALGERNON. I'll reveal to you the meaning of that incomparable expression as soon as you are kind enough to inform me why you are Ernest in town and Jack in the country. JACK. Well, produce my cigarette case first. ALGERNON. Here it is. [Hands cigarette case.] Now produce your explanation, and pray make it improbable. [Sits on sofa.] JACK. My dear fellow, there is nothing improbable about my explanation at all. In fact it's perfectly ordinary. Old Mr. Thomas Cardew, who adopted me when I was a little boy, made me in his will guardian to his grand-daughter, Miss Cecily Cardew. Cecily, who addresses me as her uncle from motives of respect that you could not possibly appreciate, lives at my place in the country under the charge of her admirable governess, Miss Prism. ALGERNON. Where in that place in the country, by the way? JACK. That is nothing to you, dear boy.
Friday, October 11, 2019
International Monetary System
International monetary systems are sets of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions that facilitate international trade, cross border investment and generally the reallocation of capital between nation states. They provide means of payment acceptable between buyers and sellers of different nationality, including deferred payment. To operate successfully, they need to inspire confidence, to provide sufficient liquidity for fluctuating levels of trade and to provide means by which global imbalances can be corrected. The systems can grow organically as the collective result of numerous individual agreements between international economic actors spread over several decades. Alternatively, they can arise from a single architectural vision as happened at Bretton Woods in 1944. Historical overview Throughout history, precious metals such as gold and silver have been used for trade, termed bullion, and since early history the coins of various issuers ââ¬â generally kingdoms and empires ââ¬â have been traded. The earliest known records of pre ââ¬â coinage use of bullion for monetary exchange are from Mesopotamia and Egypt, dating from the third millennium BC. 1] Its believed that at this time money played a relatively minor role in the ordering of economic life for these regions, compared to barter and centralised redistribution ââ¬â a process where the population surrendered their produce to ruling authorities who then redistrubted it as they saw fit. Coinage is believed to have first developed in China in the late 7th century, and independently at around the same time in Lydia, Asia minor, from where its use spread to near by Greek cities and later to the rest of the world. 1] Sometimes formal monetary systems have been imposed by regional rules. For example scholars have tentatively suggested that the ruler Servius Tullius created a primitive monetary system in the archaic period of what was to become the Roman Republic. Tullius reigned in the sixth century BC ââ¬â several centuries before Rome is believed to have developed a formal coinage system. [2] As with bullion, early use of coinage is believed to have been generally the preserve of the elite. But by about the 4th century they were widely used in Greek cities. Coins were generally supported by the city state authorities, who endeavoured to ensure they retained their values regardless of fluctuations in the availability of whatever base precious metals they were made from. [1] From Greece the use of coins spread slowly westwards throughout Europe, and eastwards to India. Coins were in use in India from about 400BC, initially they played a greater role in religion than trade, but by the 2nd century had become central to commercial transactions. Monetary systems developed in India were so successful they continued to spread through parts of Asia well into the Middle Ages. [1] As multiple coins became common within a region, they have been exchanged by moneychangers, which are the predecessors of today's foreign exchange market. These are famously discussed in the Biblical story of Jesus and the money changers. In Venice and the Italian city states of the early Middle Ages, money changes would often have to struggle to perform calculations involving six or more currencies. This partly let to Fibonacci writing his Liber Abaci where he popularised the use of Arabic numerals which displaced the more difficult roman numerals then in use by western merchants. [3] Historic international currencies. From top left: crystalline gold, a 5th century BCE Persian daric, an 8th century English mancus, and an 18th century Spanish real. When a given nation or empire has achieved regional hegemony, its currency has been a basis for international trade, and hence for a de facto monetary system. In the West ââ¬â Europe and the Middle East ââ¬â an early such coin was the Persian daric, of the Persian empire. This was succeeded by Roman currency of the Roman empire, such as the denarius, then the Gold Dinar of the Muslim empire, and later ââ¬â from the 16th to 20th centuries, during the Age of Imperialism ââ¬â by the currency of European colonial powers: the Spanish dollar, the Dutch Gilder, the French Franc and the British Pound Sterling; at times one currency has been pre-eminent, at times no one dominated. With the growth of American power, the US Dollar became the basis for the international monetary system, formalized in the Bretton Woods agreement that established the post-World War II monetary order, with fixed exchange rates of currencies to the dollar, and convertibility of the dollar into gold. Since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, culminating in the Nixon shock of 1971, ending convertibility, the US dollar has remained the de facto basis of the world monetary system, though no longer de jure, with various European currencies and the Japanese Yen being used. Since the formation of the Euro, the Euro has gained use as a reserve currency and a unit of transactions, though the dollar has remained the primary currency. A dominant currency may be used directly or indirectly by other nations ââ¬â for example, English kings minted gold mancus, presumably to function as dinars to exchange with Islamic Spain, and more recently, a number of nations have used the US dollar as their local currency, a custom called dollarization. Until the 19th century, the global monetary system was loosely linked at best, with Europe, the Americas, India and China (among others) having largely separate economies, and hence monetary systems were regional. European colonization of the Americas, starting with the Spanish empire, led to the integration of American and European economies and monetary systems, and European colonization of Asia led to the dominance of European currencies, notably the British pound sterling in the 19th century, succeeded by the US dollar in the 20th century. Some, such as Michael Hudson, foresee the decline of a single basis for the global monetary system, and instead the emergence of regional trade blocs, citing the emergence of the Euro as an example of this phenomenon. See also Global financial systems , world-systems approach and polarity in international relations. It was in the later half of the 19th century that a monetary system with close to universal global participation emerged, based on the gold standard. History of modern global monetary orders The pre WWI financial order: 1870ââ¬â1914à From the 1870s to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the world benefited from a well integrated financial order, sometimes known as the First age of Globalisation. [4] [5] Money unions were operating which effectively allowed members to accept each others currency as legal tender including the Latin Monetary Union (Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, France) and Scandinavian monetary union (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). In the absence of shared membership of a union, transactions were facilitated by widespread participation in the gold standard, by both independent nations and their colonies. Great Britain was at the time the world's pre-eminent financial, imperial, and industrial power, ruling more of the world and exporting more capital as a percentage of her national income than any other creditor nation has since. [6] While capital controls comparable to the Bretton Woods System were not in place, damaging capital flows were far less common than they were to be in the post 1971 era. In fact Great Britain's capital exports helped to correct global imbalances as they tended to be counter cyclical, rising when Britain's economy went into recession, thus compensating other states for income lost from export of goods. Accordingly, this era saw mostly steady growth and a relatively low level of financial crises. In contrast to the Bretton Woods system, the pre-World War I financial order was not created at a single high level conference; rather it evolved organically in a series of discrete steps. The Gilded Age, a time of especially rapid development in North America, falls into this period. Between the World Wars: 1919ââ¬â1939 The years between the world wars have been described as a period of de-globalisation, as both international trade and capital flows shrank compared to the period before World War I. During World War I countries had abandoned the gold standard and, except for the United States, returned to it only briefly. By the early 30's the prevailing order was essentially a fragmented system of floating exchange rates . [8] In this era, the experience of Great Britain and others was that the gold standard ran counter to the need to retain domestic policy autonomy. To protect their reserves of gold countries would sometimes need to raise interest rates and generally follow a deflationary policy. The greatest need for this could arise in a downturn, just when leaders would have preferred to lower rates to encourage growth. Economist Nicholas Davenport [9] had even argued that the wish to return Britain to the gold standard, ââ¬Å"sprang from a sadistic desire by the Bankers to inflict pain on the British working class. â⬠By the end of World War I, Great Britain was heavily indebted to the United States, allowing the USA to largely displace her as the worlds number one financial power. The United States however was reluctant to assume Great Britain's leadership role, partly due to isolationist influences and a focus on domestic concerns. In contrast to Great Britain in the previous era, capital exports from the US were not counter cyclical. They expanded rapidly with the United States's economic growth in the twenties up to 1928, but then almost completely halted as the US economy began slowing in that year. As the Great Depression intensified in 1930, financial institutions were hit hard along with trade; in 1930 alone 1345 US banks collapsed. During the 1930s the United States raised trade barriers, refused to act as an international lender of last resort, and refused calls to cancel war debts, all of which further aggravated economic hardship for other countries. According to economist John Maynard Keynes another factor contributing to the turbulent economic performance of this era was the insistence of French premier Clemenceau that Germany pay war reparations at too high a level, which Keynes described in his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. The Bretton Woods Era: 1945ââ¬â1971 British and American policy makers began to plan the post war international monetary system in the early 1940s. The objective was to create an order that combined the benefits of an integrated and relatively liberal international system with the freedom for governments to pursue domestic policies aimed at promoting full employment and social wellbeing . 11] The principal architects of the new system, John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, created a plan which was endorsed by the 42 countries attending the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. The plan involved nations agreeing to a system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates where the currencies were pegged against the dollar, with the dollar itself convertible into gold. So in effect this was a gold ââ¬â dollar exchange standard. There were a number of improvements on the old gold standard. Two international institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank were created; A key part of their function was to replace private finance as more reliable source of lending for investment projects in developing states. At the time the soon to be defeated powers of Germany and Japan were envisaged as states soon to be in need of such development, and there was a desire from both the US and Britain not to see the defeated powers saddled with punitive sanctions that would inflict lasting pain on future generations. The new exchange rate system allowed countries facing economic hardship to devalue their currencies by up to 10% against the dollar (more if approved by the IMF) ââ¬â thus they would not be forced to undergo deflation to stay in the gold standard. A system of capital controls was introduced to protect countries from the damaging effects of capital flight and to allow countries to pursue independent macro economic policies [12] while still welcoming flows intended for productive investment. Keynes had argued against the dollar having such a central role in the monetary system, and suggested an international currency called Bancor be used instead, but he was overruled by the Americans. Towards the end of the Bretton Woods era, the central role of the dollar became a problem as international demand eventually forced the US to run a persistent trade deficit, which undermined confidence in the dollar. This, together with the emergence of a parallel market for gold where the price soared above the official US mandated price, led to speculators running down the US gold reserves. Even when convertibility was restricted to nations only, some, notably France,[13] continued building up hoards of gold at the expense of the US. Eventually these pressures caused President Nixon to end all convertibility into gold on 15 August 1971. This event marked the effective end of the Bretton Woods systems; attempts were made to find other mechanisms to preserve the fixed exchange rates over the next few years, but they were not successful, resulting in a system of floating exchange rates. 13] The post Bretton Woods system: 1971 ââ¬â present An alternative name for the post Bretton Woods system is the Washington Consensus. While the name was coined in 1989, the associated economic system came into effect years earlier: according to economic historian Lord Skidelsky the Washington Consensus is generally seen as spanning 1980ââ¬â2009 (the latter half of the 1970s being a transitional period). [14] The transition away from Bretton Woods was marked by a switch from a state led to a market led system. 4] The Bretton Wood system is considered by economic historians to have broken down in the 1970s:[14] crucial events being Nixon suspending the dollar's convertibility into gold in 1971, the United states abandonment of Capital Controls in 1974, and Great Britain's ending of capital controls in 1979 which was swiftly copied by most other major economies. In some parts of the developing world, liberalisation brought significant benefits for large sections of the population ââ¬â most prominently with Deng Xiaoping's reforms in China since 1978 and the liberalisation of India after her 1991 crisis. Generally the industrial nations experienced much slower growth and higher unemployment than in the previous era, and according to Professor Gordon Fletcher in retrospect the 1950s and 60s when the Bretton Woods system was operating came to be seen as a golden age. [15] Financial crises have been more intense and have increased in frequency by about 300% ââ¬â with the damaging effects prior to 2008 being chiefly felt in the emerging economies. On the positive side, at least until 2008 investors have frequently achieved very high rates of return, with salaries and bonuses in the financial sector reaching record levels. The ââ¬Å"Revived Bretton Woods systemâ⬠identified in 2003 From 2003, economists such as Michael P. Dooley, Peter M. Garber, and David Folkerts-Landau began writing papers[16] describing the emergence of a new international system involving an interdependency between states with generally high savings in Asia lending and exporting to western states with generally high spending. Similar to the original Bretton Woods, this included Asian currencies being pegged to the dollar, though this time by the unilateral intervention of Asian governments in the currency market to stop their currencies appreciating. The developing world as a whole stopped running current account deficits in 1999 [17] ââ¬â widely seen as a response to unsympathetic treatment following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. The most striking example of east-west interdependency is the relationship between China and America, which Niall Ferguson calls Chimerica. From 2004, Dooley et al. began using the term Bretton Woods II to describe this de facto state of affairs, and continue to do so as late as 2009. Others have described this supposed ââ¬Å"Bretton Woods IIâ⬠, sometimes called ââ¬Å"New Bretton Woodsâ⬠,[19] as a ââ¬Å"fictionâ⬠, and called for the elimination of the structural imbalances that underlie it, viz, the chronic US current account deficit. [20] However since at least 2007 those authors have also used the term ââ¬Å"Bretton Woods IIâ⬠to call for a new de jure system: for key international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to be revamped to meet the demands of the current age,[21] and between 2008 to mid 2009 the terms Bretton Woods II and New Bretton Woods was increasingly used in the latter sense. By late 2009, with less emphases on structural reform to the international monetary system and more attention being paid to issues such as re-balancing the world economy, Bretton Woods II is again frequently used to refer to the practice some countries have of unilaterally pegging their currencies to the dollar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)