Impact Of Corporate Governance On Firm Performance Among Listed Comanies Of Pakistan - Free Essay Example

In recent past researchers show their interests in the field of corporate governance due to some reasons. It is due to financial recession and eruption of US scandals to protect the stakeholders interests. Such as the interests of investors, shareholders, and management and for the well being and survival of the firm. Good corporate governance leads to protect the interests of the shareholders. Corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled. Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies (Code by SECP, 2002, p.9). Corporate governance normally means that outside rules and regulations and inside structure that are planned to reduce the agency problem and is the system by which companies are directed and controlled (Cadbury Committee, 1992, p. 15). Effective corporate governance ensures that firms try to reduce the losses and costs and maximizes the benefits for the stakeholders. Good quality corporate governance is based on the codes of accountability, transparency, justice and liability in the management of the company (Ehikioya, 2009). Corporate governance problems arise due to the following reasons. Separation of ownership and control leads to agency problems. Separation of ownership and control may lead to conflicts of interests among managers and owners. Managers may run the business to serve their own interests. Shareholders must compensate them financially to save their own interests, and to reduce additional costs incurred to monitor their activities to reduce agency costs. One of the most important factors of corporate governance which received much attention and requires reforms is the board of directors structure. A board of directors is a panel with tasks of leading, controlling and directing the administration of the company, with prime purpose to perform their jobs as the benefit of the firms owners. For effective governance, many researchers recommend the active participation of independent directors. Literature tells us independent board of directors is best to serve the interests of the owners. Leadership factor is also very important in the corporate governance. There are two major types of leadership structure (lee Lam, 2007). Leadership by the top management is very important while by the CEO it is also an effective one. CEOs have varying degrees of influence over the board in different firms structure and corporate environment. There are different types of corporate structures across the world. First CEO is the leader having both positions called CEO duality (duality structure) i.e. CEO as well as chairperson of the board having power to influence the board. CEO duality has been the dominant board leadership structure of US corporations, in which 70 percent-80 percent of them combine the roles of chief executive officer (CEO) and chairperson (Rechner and Dalton; Rhoades et al as cited in lee Lam, 2007). While the non-duality means both positions are held by separate persons. In non-duality leadership structure chairperson is the leader and CEO has no power to influenc e the board. The current study investigates the association among corporate governance characteristics and firm performance in Pakistan; it differs substantially from the other developing countries. Pakistan is a politically worried and unbalanced area of the world, has distinctive environmental characteristics. Additionally, Pakistan is a strict Islamic country. As a result, its societal and trade activities are based on fundamentalist spiritual laws and regulations. Chaudhry and Hoque (2006) argue that most important governance of the Islamic firm is by its direction toward the pattern of behavioral likings basis on the systemically natural sense of union of information by persistent relational association. The corporate governance are beached on such a perception of combining interrelationships involving the Islamic business and its inner and outer environing factors, via the strong set of Shariah mechanism that allow the corresponding relations to be recognized and achieved. The evolution of the Pakistani corporate entities has, historically, closely followed the path taken by English corporate entities. In 1984, the Companies Ordinance 1984 of Pakistan was promulgated, following lengthy debate; Pakistani companies were established and governed in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 1913. (Code by SECP, 2002). Pakistani firms have different structure to the developed countries. About 80% of all scheduled businesses on the Karachi Stock Exchange have relatives participation or ultimately allied to a big business relatives (zaidi aslam, 2006). This paper will follow following sequence (i) related corporate governance literature review (ii) methodology, sample data, models, and variables (iii) analysis (iv) empirical Results and discussion (v)conclusion of the study. Literature review Corporate governance is the course of action and composition through which a firms dealing and affairs are administered by enhancing business wealth and corporate accountability with the final aim of improving shareholders wealth (Mir and Nishat, 2004).A clear implementation of corporate governance assists a firm to magnetize investment, increase funds, and strengthen the base for firm performance (Ehikioya, 2009). Corporate governance major focus is on resolving agency problems. Agency problems are also called principal-agent problems. Shareholders (principal) are looking the ways to make sure the management (agent) grips on their funds in an approach to increase their wealth and firm performance. Corporate governance composition has an influence on firm performance (Ehikioya, 2009; Shaheen nishat, 2005). Research findings tell that the relationship among the different corporate governance factors and firm performance either can be positive, negative or none. Weir and Laing (2001) and Ponnu (2008) found that there is no obvious association among corporate governance and firm performance. Corporations are like republics. The final right rests with voters (shareholders). These voters elect representatives (directors) who assign most decisions to bureaucrats (managers). As in any republic, the actual power-sharing relationship depends upon the specific rules of governance. One extreme, which tilts toward a democracy, reserves little power for management and allows shareholders to quickly and easily replace directors. Corporate governance improvements are continuously happened in the world to improve the firm performance. There were different reforms regarding the different issues of corporate governance such as board composition, board size, CEO duality, ownership concentration, firm size and leverage. For decision making the corporate governance literature recognizes a range of diverse jobs of boards of directors (Zahra and Pearce, 1989; Gopinath et al., 1994; McNulty and Pettigrew, 1996; Hung, 1998; Maassen, 1999 as cited in Kakabadse, Kakabadse and Kouzmin, 2001). Board composition may be lead to recover the principal-agent problem. The involvement of outside independent directors can improve the firm performance itself against the outer pressure and use the firm resources to increase the wealth of the shareholders. It is very interesting that the research evidences are varied about the relationship among the outside independent directors and firm performance. Petra (2005) argues that the variation in results may be the variation of a company culture. There is positive link among outside independent directors and firm performance (Petra, 2005; Perry shivdasani, 2005). Laux (2005; Byrd, Cooperman Wolfe, 2007) argue that outside directors are more important to the owners of the firm. This positive relationship shows that directors are performing their duties honestly to protect the interests of shareholders. Some researches support the negative relationship among outside directors and firm performance (klein, 1998; agrawal knoeber 1996 as cited in Abdullah, 2004; yermack, 1996). Ponnu and KarthigeLam (2010) found that there is no positive clear impact of board independence on firm performance. However, it is clear from empirical evidence that independent directors perform significant role with firm performance, either positive or negative. So on the basis of above discussion we hypothesize that H1: Proportion of independent directors has significant impact on firm performance. Another feature of corporate governance that has got the attention of the researchers is the leadership structure. Discussion revolves around the duality, means that CEO is also holding the additional post of the board chairmanship. There are two theories regarding this issue (1) agency theory (2) stewardship theory (Lam lee, 2007). Agency theorists fight for the separation of the two posts to grant vital monitoring over managements performance. If not, a single person sharing both posts will dictate the board and it is generally the indication of a dominant CEO leadership. On the other hand, stewardship theorists argue that the separation of posts is not vital, because many firms are performing well with combined posts and have powerful boards fully competent of providing sufficient monitoring. Additionally, when the posts are combined, the CEO may be able to form the corporation to attain its affirmed objectives due to less hindrance. Literature does not suggest which leadership structure is best, either duality or unitary (single person holds single post). Research empirical evidences on CEO duality and firm performance are contradictory. Petra (2005) argued that conflicts of interests happened due to the dual leadership structure. CEO is in self evaluating position in dual leadership structure. If firm is adopted dual leadership structure, CEO may serve his own interests on the expense of shareholders and their interests may be compromised (noel, 2009). Petra and Dorata (2008) argued that CEO can make the decisions objectively short term for his own interests by compromising on the long term objectives in dual leadership structure. Alternatively firm performance is negatively affected if CEO duality exists in firm corporate leadership structure. Lam and Lee (2007) examine the relation between CEO duality and firm performance in Hong Kong. They found that neither agency theory nor stewardship alone significantly explain the duality performance relationship. Their empirical evidence tells that CEO duality has negative relationship with performance of the firm but insignificant for the whole data. They also found that CEO duality and accounting performance are negatively related for family controlled firms, while it is positively related for non family controlled firms. There is an inverse impact of CEO duality on firm performance (Ehikioya, 2009; Mir Nishat, 2004). Abdullah (2004) and Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008) found that both board independence and leadership structure do not affect the firm performance separately nor the combined effects of these two factors affect the firm performance. Dual leadership structure places CEO in powerful position of managing the operations of the firm and also overseeing the direction the firm will take into the future (Petra Dorta, 2008). So we can hypothesize that H2: Dual leadership structure has significant impact on firm performance. Another board characteristic is board size. Either large or small number of directors should be in the board. Either board size has significant relationship with firm performance or not. There are different findings of different researchers regarding board size and firm performance. The corporate governance structure such as ownership structure, board composition, board size, and CEO duality has a massive impact on a firms performance (Ehikioya, 2009). The number of directors in the board can be supposed to have a considerable effect on the firms performance because the board is having the huge responsibility for managing the firm and its operations. Some researchers suggest large board size for better corporate governance and firm performance while others suggest small board size. Raheja (2005) suggests that optimal board size and compositions are functions of directors and the firms characteristics. There may be some conflicts in larger board. The monitory expenses and poor communication in a larger board has been seen as a reason for opposing a larger board size (Lipton and Lorsch 1992). Anderson, Mansi and Reeb. (2004) suggests that firms with larger board size have the capability to drive the managers to chase for lower cost of debt and increase the performance. Ehikioya (2009) observes that ownership concentration and board size is positively related to the firms performance in three out of four cases. It means that concentrated ownership combined with finest board size tends to perform better then diffused ownership. Yermack (1996) like most of the other researchers found in his study negative relationship between board size and firm performance. Mashayekhi and Bazaz (2008) found that board size is negatively associated with firm performance. Bhagat and Black (2001) found that board size is not always in relation with the firms performance. Frick and Bermig (2009) after analyzing the effects of supervisory board size and composition on the valuation and firm performance and conclude that there is no constant impact of either board size or board composition on firm valuation and performance. Cheng, Evans and Nagarajan (2007) argue that huge information about firm and managerial performance and the changes in business atmosphere both add to the importance of rapid and effective actions by the board, while the capability of the board to make such decisions decreases with board size. They further argue that different costs like communication, co-ordination, and free riding costs increases as the boar d size increases. The benefits of these incentives are likely to be overcome by the increased costs as the board becomes sufficiently large. H3: Board size has no significant impact on firm performance. Methodology Sample and Variables This study concentrates on the corporate governance and firm performance of publically listed companies in Pakistan. Sample companies are chosen from the KSE 100 index listed during 2007 to 2009. Sample consists of 80 firms. Sample is chosen randomly from the different sectors of Pakistan economy. Non financial firms are included in the sample. Financial firms are excluded from the sample because of different capital structure and cash flows. We also excluded the firms having missing data. 15 companies are deleted from the original sample due to unavailability of the data and special capital structure. Our final sample consists of 65 firms of different sectors. Information related to these variables to measure the relationship among the corporate governance and firm performance is collected from the annual reports of the firms. The reports are collected from the kse-100 index and the respective firms website. Our study includes CEO duality, board independence, and board size as independent variables to measure corporate governance. Return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA) and earnings per share (EPS) are dependent variables in our study to measure firm performance. Leverage (debt/assets) and firm size (natural logarithm of total assets) are used as control variables in our study. Data Analysis We use descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis to analyze the data. The models which are used are given below. EPSi= ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±0+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1 BSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2 RIDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²3 CEDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²4 LEVi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²5 FSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ µi -(1) ROAi= ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±0+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1 BSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2 RIDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²3 CEDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²4 LEVi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²5 FSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ µi -(2) ROEi= ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±0+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1 BSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2 RIDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²3 CEDi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²4 LEVi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²5 FSIZEi+ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ µi -(3) Where EPS in model (1) is calculated as net income divided by total number of ordinary shares of the firm; ROA is calculated as net income divided by the opening balance of the total assets in model (2); ROE in model (3) is calculated as net income divided by the total balance of total equity. BSIZE is the total number of directors on the board; RID is the ratio of independent directors on the board; CED is the CEO duality structure 1 for duality and 0 for otherwise; LEV is the leverage of the firm is the ratio of total debt to total assets; FSIZE is the firm size calculated as the natural log of total assets. Empirical Results and Discussion Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics in table 1 about the variables show that average number of directors in the board is 8.33, about 64% are the independent directors on the board and in 32% cases CEO is also the chairman of the board. Average leverage is 22% which shows that Pakistani firms less rely on debts; average firm size almost 16; ROE 31%; ROA 2% and EPS is Rs.11.45. All variables except Fsize have smaller meadians then their crossponding means. This shows that sample data is slightly skewed. Standard deviation of all variables is large except RID and LEV. Table 2 shows pearson corelation among the variables. RID is significantly corelated with EPS, ROE and ROA. This indicate that higher board independence has significantly positive corelation with firm performance. As the number of independent directors increase in the board the performance of the firm will be better. Our results are similar to other findings Petra (2005), Perry and shivdasani (2005) and Mashayekhi and Bazaz (2008) and inconsistent to Abdullah (2004) and Yermack (1996). This significant positive correlation shows the importance of the independent directors on the board. This indicates that there must be a sufficient proportion of outside independent directors on the board. Sufficient number of directors on the board will protect the interests of the shareholders. It also leads to better transparency in the firm ultimately firm performance will increase. CEO duality has negative and insignificant correlation with EPS, ROE and ROA. This implies that CEO duality has no significant association with firm performance. Our results are consistent with Lam and Lee (2007) and Mashayekhi and Bazaz (2008). This shows that dual leadership structure has neither positive nor negative relationship with firm performance in Pakistani companies. Board size has significantly negative correlation with ROA and insignificant correlation with EPS and ROE. Sometimes large board size negatively related with firm performance and sometime it is insignificantly related with fiem performance. This indicates that board size is not always related with firm performance (Bhagat Black, 2001). Leverage has no significant relationship with EPS, ROE and ROA. This implies that Leverage has no signifacant relationship with firm performance. Firm size has significantly negetive relationship with ROE and ROA. ROE , ROA and EPS have nosignificant relationship with each other except that ROE and ROA are positively corelated. Firm size has significantly positive relationship with ratio of independent directors (RID) and Dual leadership structure but significantly negetive association with board size. Regression Results Table 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3 show the results of regression analysis for each three dependent variables EPS, ROA and ROE separately. EPS, ROA and ROE explain 19%, 12.5% and 11.83% variations respectively. Board size is positive coefficient but insignificant values with firm performance measures (EPS t-stat= 0. 0.5511, ROA t-stat=- 2.21128 ROE t-stat= 0.234378) except ROA. It shows that board size is not always related with firm performance (Bhagat Black, 2001). This is inconsistent to H3: Board size has no significant impact on firm performance; Because ROA is showing significant impact on firm performance. Our findings are also consistent to Frick and Bermig (2009) who found no constant impact of board size on firm performance. Our findings are inconsistent with Yermack (1996) and Mashayekhi and Bazaz (2008) who found that board size is negatively associated with firm performance. Our findings are also inconsistent with Ehikioya (2009) who found that board size is positively associated w ith firm performance. Opposite to H2: Dual leadership structure has significant impact on firm performance. Our regression results do not show any significant relationship among the dual leadership structure and firm performance (EPS t-stat= -0.57958, ROA t-stat= 1.7605, ROE t-stat= 1.241707). it indicates that dual leadership structure neither positively nor negatively impact the firm performance. Our results are consistent with Abdullah (2004) and Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008) who found that leadership structure do not affect the firm performance. Table 3-1 Table 3-2 Table 3-3 There is an inverse impact of CEO duality on firm performance (Ehikioya, 2009; Mir Nishat, 2004; Mashayekhi bazaz, 2008). Our findings contradict them. H1: Proportion of independent directors has significant impact on firm performance. Our regression analysis shows positive coefficient of RID and statistically significant values of t-test for the performance measures (EPS t-stat= 3.18694, ROA t-stat= 2.8463, ROE t-stat= 2.9045). Our findings are similar to Petra (2005), Perry and shivdasani (2005) and Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008) who found positive relationship between proportion of independent directors and firm performance. This shows that outside directors are more important to the better performance of the firm. This positive relationship also shows that directors are performing their duties sincerely to defend the interests of shareholders. This result is also according to the prediction of agency theory that there is a positive relationship between outside independent directors and firm performance in Pakistan. Finally the firm size has negative and significant impact on firm performance in Pakistan. Only EPS value is insignificant. Our results oppose Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008) who found positive impact of firm size on firm performance. Leverage ratio has statistically insignificant effect on firm performance. This is consistent to Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008). Conclusion Our study investigates the impact of corporate governance on firm performance. For corporate governance measurement we use three variables Board size, dual leadership structure and Ratio of independent directors where as for Firm performance measurement Return on equity, Return on assets and Earnings per share are used and two control variables such as Firm size and Leverage are used. Our findings are similar to that of Bhagat and Black (2001) that board size is not always related with firm performance. Our findings are also consistent to Frick and Bermig (2009) who found no constant impact of board size on firm performance. This study also finds that there is a positive relationship between proportion of independent directors and firm performance. Our findings are consistent to Petra (2005), Perry and shivdasani (2005) and Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008). We find no significant relationship between dual leadership structure and firm performance in Pakistan. Our results are consistent with Abdullah (2004) and Mashayekhi and bazaz (2008). There are several limitations in the study such as time and data availability. Economic and political instability may affect the generalizability of the findings. Our results may differ from other studies due to the financial recession of near past. For future study one should use Growth ratios for firm performance and other Board characteristics for corporate governance measurement for more significant and long term results.

One Vote Can Make a Difference

The odds that one vote can make a difference in an election are almost nil, worse than the odds of winning Powerball. But that doesnt mean its impossible that one vote can make a difference. Its actually happened. There have been cases in which one vote decided the election. Odds That One Vote Can Make a Difference Economists Casey B. Mulligan and Charles G. Hunter found in a 2001 study that only one of every 100,000 votes cast in federal elections, and one of every 15,000 votes cast in state legislative elections, â€Å"mattered in the sense that they were cast for a candidate that officially tied or won by one vote.† Their study of 16,577 national elections from 1898 through 1992 found that only one had been decided by a single vote. It was the 1910 election in New York’s 36th Congressional District, won by a Democrat who claimed 20,685 votes to the Republican candidate’s 20,684. Of those elections, the median margin of victory was 22 percentage points and 18,021 actual votes. Mulligan and Hunter also analyzed 40,036 state legislative elections from 1968 through 1989 and found only seven that had been decided by a single vote. Of those elections, the median margin of victory was 25 percentage points and 3,257 actual votes. In other words, the chance that your vote will be the decisive or pivotal one in a national election is almost zilch. The same goes for state legislative elections. Chances That One Vote Can Make a Difference in a Presidential Race   Researchers Andrew Gelman, Gary King, and John Boscardin estimated the chances that a single vote would decide a U.S. presidential election to be 1 in 10 million at best and less than 1 in 100 million at worst. Their work, titled Estimating the Probability of Events That Have Never Occurred: When Is Your Vote Decisive? appeared in 1998 in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Given the size of the electorate, an election where one vote is decisive (equivalent to a tie in your state and in the electoral college) will almost certainly never occur,† Gelman, King and Boscardin wrote. Still, the odds of your one vote deciding a presidential election are still better than your odds of matching all six numbers of Powerball, which are smaller than 1 in 175 million. What Really Happens in Close Elections So what happens if an election really is decided by a single vote, or is at least pretty close? It’s taken out of the electorate’s hands. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, who wrote Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, pointed out in a 2005 column in The New York Times that extremely close elections are often settled not at the ballot box but in courtrooms. Consider President George W. Bush’s narrow victory in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, which ended up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. â€Å"It is true that the outcome of that election came down to a handful of voters; but their names were Kennedy, OConnor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas. And it was only the votes they cast while wearing their robes that mattered, not the ones they may have cast in their home precincts,† Dubner and Levitt wrote. When One Vote Really Did Make a Difference The races won by a single vote, in addition to the new 1910 Congressional election in New York, according to Mulligan and Hunter, were: A 1978 race for Rhode Island state Senate was tied at 4,110 votes and decided by a second runoff election. So was a 1980 race for New Mexico state House, at 2,327 votes for each candidate.A 1982 state House election in Maine in which the victor won 1,387 votes to the loser’s 1,386 votes.A 1982 state Senate race in Massachusetts in which the victor won 5,352 votes to the loser’s 5,351; a subsequent recount late found a wider margin.A 1980 state House race in Utah in which the victor won 1,931 votes to the loser’s 1,930 votes.A 1978 state Senate race in North Dakota in which the victor won 2,459 votes to the loser’s 2,458 votes; a subsequent recount found the margin to be six votes.A 1970 state House race in Rhode Island in which the victor won 1,760 votes to the loser’s 1,759.A 1970 state House race in Missouri in which the victor won 4,819 votes to the loser’s 4,818 votes.And a 1968 state House race in Wisconsin in which the victor won 6,522 votes to the loser’s 6,521 votes; a subsequent recount found the margin to be two votes, not one.

Behaviorism A Psychological Approach - 2941 Words

Behaviorism Behaviorism is a psychological approach that combines the elements of theory, philosophy and methodology. Behaviorism refers to that school of psychology that was founded by Watson. It was basically based on the assumption or belief that it is possible to change, train and measure behaviors (Drisoll, 2000). Behaviorism is a psychological school of thought that was established when Watson published his classic paper Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It (1913). The terms behaviorism is, therefore, that psychological perspective whose its explanations about learning are actually based on the relationship that exists between the events in the environment and behaviors that can be observed rather than on internal processes. It came up in the early 20th century basically as a reaction to the mentalistic psychology, which often was incapable of making predictions that rigorous experimental methods could be a test (Watson, 2008). Behaviorism, also behavioral psychology, is that learning theory based upon the idea and belief that any given or all behaviors and conducts are obtained through conditioning. Conditioning actually occurs through the interaction with the environment. They (behaviorists) assume that our responses shape our behaviors to the environmental stimuli (Drisoll, 2000). This school of thought argues that any person’s conduct can actually be studied in a manner that is observable and systematic without considering their internal mental states. ItShow MoreRelatedPsychological Approaches : Behaviorism, Cognitive And Humanistic Approach1659 Words   |  7 PagesAnalysis of three psychological approaches; behaviourism, cognitive and humanistic. Three psychological approaches will be discussed in this essay, it will analyse the strengths and limitations of each the humanistic, cognitive and the humanistic approach. 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The Marginal Propensity to Consume

Questions: a. Describe what is meant by the marginal propensity to consume (mpc) and give its formula. b. Assume that GDP rises from $550bn to $650bn. Assume that this results in the consumption of goods and services rising from $340bn to $400bn. What is the mpc? c. Assuming that the domestic mpc remains constant, what will the level of consumption be if GDP rises to $700bn? d. If Australian consumption of goods and services is $400bn, investment is $120bn, government expenditure is $150bn, exports of goods and services are $140bn and imports of goods and services are $145bn, what is the level of aggregate expenditure (E)? e. Given your answer to (d), and assuming that GDP is currently $650bn, what will happen to GDP? Answers: (a). The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) refers as division of a total increment in pay that a customer spends on the utilization of products and in addition services, in preference to save it. Moreover, MPC plays a significant role in order to calculate the percentage of extra income that is used on consumption. MPC is an important component of Keynesian macroeconomic theory (Bilbiie Straub, 2006). Along with this, MPC is ascertained separating the adjustment in consumption by the change in income. In addition, the formula is as below: MPC = C / Y In this formula, C indicates the change in consumption, whereas Y points toward change in income (Gnos, Rochon, 2008). Hence, the formula is helpful to calculate MPC in an accurate and an appropriate manner. (b). MPC represents the changes in income because of changes in consumption. In the given question, GDP ascends from $550bn to $650bn. Moreover, the outcomes in the consumption of goods and services are ascending from $340bn to $400bn. The MPC is calculated as below: MPC = Change in Consumption / Change in GDP Change in Consumption = $400bn - $340bn = $60bn Change in GDP = $650bn - $550bn = $100bn MPC = $60bn/$100bn = .6 As a result; by considering all the given data the MPC is .6. (c). If the domestic MPC remains constant .6 and the GDP rise to $700bn then the level of consumption would be: = $700bn/ (1-.6) = $700bn/ (.4) = 1750 (d).Consumption of goods and services = $400bn Investment = $120bn Government expenditure = $150bn Exports of goods and services = $140bn Imports of goods and services = $145bn The level of aggregate expenditure AE = C + I + G + NX (Hubbard, Garnett, Lewis, 2012). = 400 + 120 + 150 + (140-145) = 665 At this point; C = Consumption: The household consumption over a specific time period. I = Investment: The amount of expenditure towards the capital goods. G = Government Expenditure: The amount of spending by governments (federal, state, and local governments). Government expenditure can take in infrastructure or else transfers that may increase the total expenditure in the economy. NX = Net exports: (Total exports- total imports). (e). Given answer to (d), and assuming that GDP is currently $650bn, and then the GDP will rise instead of fall or stay the same. The main reason behind it is that, according to the expenditure approach, aggregate expenditure is considered as a major part of GDP calculation. For that reason, if the aggregate expenditure will increase then it will increase the GDP in an automatic manner (Hubbard, Garnett, Lewis, O'Brien, 2014). Moreover, expenditure method is the most common method that is used in order to calculate GDP in an accurate manner. The formula for its calculation is given as below: GDP = C + G + I + NX On the basis of the above formula, it can be said that, the expenditure method involves aggregate expenditure to calculate the GDP. In this way, in this situation the GDP will rise. References Ashwin, A., Taylor, M., Mankiw, N.G. (2016). Business Economics. Cengage Learning. Aust. Bureau of Statistics (n.d.). Year book, Australia. Aust. Bureau of Statistics. Baumol, W., Blinder, A. (2008). Economics: Principles and Policy (11th ed.). Cengage Learning. Bilbiie, F., Straub, R. (2006). Asset Market Participation, Monetary Policy Rules, and the Great Inflation. International Monetary Fund. Denniss, R. (2001). Measuring Employment in the 21 st Century (No. 36). Australia Institute (n.a.), 1-35. Gnos, C., Rochon, L. (2008). The Keynesian Multiplier. Routledge. Grant, S. (2014). Cambridge IGCSE Economics Student's Book. Cambridge University Press. Harbury, C. (2013). Economic Behaviour (Routledge Revivals): An Introduction. Routledge. Hubbard, G., Garnett, A., Lewis, P. (2012). Essentials of Economics. Pearson Higher Education AU. Hubbard, R.G., Garnett, A.M., Lewis, P., O'Brien, A. P. (2014). Macroeconomics. Pearson Australia. Layton, A., Robinson, T.J.C., Tucker, I.B. (2011). Economics for Today. Cengage Learning. Marthinsen, J.E. (2008). Managing in a Global Economy: Demystifying International Macroeconomics: Demystifying International Macroeconomics. Cengage Learning. Mayo, H.B. (2011). Basic Finance: An Introduction to Financial Institutions, Investments and Management (10th ed.). Cengage Learning. McEachern, W.A. (2008). Macroeconomics: A Contemporary Introduction (8th ed.). Cengage Learning. Mitchell, W., Muysken, J. (2008). Full Employment Abandoned: Shifting Sands and Policy Failures. Edward Elgar Publishing. Mulhearn, C., Vane, H. (2011). Economics for Business. Palgrave Macmillan. Sherman, H., Meeropol, M.A. (2015). Principles of Macroeconomics: Activist Vs Austerity Policies. Routledge. Tragakes, E. (2011). Economics for the IB Diploma with CD-ROM. Cambridge University Press. Weale, M., Blake, A., Christodoulakis, N., Meade, J. E., Vines, D. (2015). Macroeconomic Policy: Inflation, Wealth and the Exchange Rate. Routledge. Welch, P.J., Welch, G.F. (2009). Economics: Theory and Practice (9th ed.). John Wiley Sons.

Religion In Public Schools Essays - Prayer, Spiritual Practice

Religion In Public Schools In the past Religion was confined to the state now with religious freedom everything has changed or at least started to change. In order for religion to be in a private school now it is again trying to be in Public schools. People ask "why can't freedom to acknowledge god be enjoyed again by children in every schoolroom across this land?" In the past, a long time ago children always prayed before class started and before lunch. But things h ave changed, "in 1791 the separation of church and state" started. Although it was made clear about the separation of the two "as late as 1951 some twenty states permitted schools to begin the day by reading aloud a passage of the bible." Bu t that had to stop. People didn't have the same beliefs when it comes to religion, if a family absent even believe in god why should their child be forced to pray? On many different occasions questions similar to this one were brought up and complained about. That is what started it all real big. When complaining, arguing and fighting all started over the silent moment. In 1978 a few lawyers got together and considered a constitutional law. The original law said that public school teachers in gr ades 1-6 "shall announce that a period of silence, not to exceed one minute, shall be observed for meditation." This law did not work for long, because it still allowed oral prayer in public high schools. Later in 1981, the Alabama State Senator D onald G. Holmes successfully passed a bill that included all grades calling it "the moment of silence" this law said that "the teacher (was) to announce that the silent moment may be used for voluntary prayer." Although it would have to be si lent prayer. Even after this new law started the lawyers that were opposed to this were trying to say that students "do not have a right to pray in school" silently or otherwise because of growing impressions that affect their life. The silent mom ent supposedly "(forced) religion on children." I don't agree with that at all, if there has to be a moment of silence then any child can use that moment however he or she wants, it does not necessarily have to be used fro prayer. Usually "the chi ldren who have been brought up with prayer or some type of religion are usually proven to be better" kids. I have friends who go to private schools where praying in class out loud is perfectly O.K. and normal. This praying in the classroom usually would have a pretty good size affect on the rest of a person's life. Although when praying aloud it could force one type of religion on a student rather than having them have more of a choice of what type of religion they want or if they even want to ha ve a religion. When there would be the religion in the classrooms. "School children not participating in the prayers or the bible readings (would be) asked or required to leave the room."0 This has been another big dispute because the bill of rig hts states that there shall be "freedom of religion"1 therefore this means that if a person does not believe in god or what ever the instance might be then they don't have to. This means if you want to have any type of religion you may. The childr en who are forced to leave the classroom to stand in the hall are forced to make a statement that says "we do not believe in te god of te state (or) we do not believe that prayer should be publicly displayed in a public schoolhouse."This was all thought to be by mainly every one all wrong, therefore if a child wished not to participate in the pledge o allegiance or what ever it might be they did not have to leave the classroom, stand silently in the halls, or write a statement in stead they were allowed to just sit quietly in their seats. Religion in public schools would be good for certain students but the silent moment is good enough for now. Since religion has been tried in public schools and hasn't exactly worked, the groups of children who wish to have prayer meetings with other school members are allowed to have meetings, groups, clubs, ect. before, at lunch or after school. "Religion (in the public schools) can change a persons life"3

Steampunk

Steampunk Steampunk Steampunk By Maeve Maddox My introduction to the term steampunk came when I read what I thought was a mystery with a historical setting and came to the part where Queen Victoria was hooked up to a steam-powered life-support machine. You’d better believe that I flipped frantically to the back cover to find a clue to what I was actually reading. There I discovered the word steampunk. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction. The setting is often 19th century England or the American Wild West; there the characters encounter amazing steam-powered machinery. According to Wikipedia, the word steampunk originated in the late 1980s â€Å"as a tongue-in- cheek variant of cyberpunk.† Yes, I had to look up the meaning of cyberpunk: a subgenre of science fiction typified by a bleak, high-tech setting in which a lawless subculture exists within an oppressive society dominated by computer technology. Sci-fi author K.W. Jeter coined the term â€Å"steam-punk† for sci-fi that resembled the speculative fiction written in the 19th century by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. The genre now includes settings beyond recognizable historical periods, but in dialogue and costuming, the feel is still â€Å"Victorian.† On the screen, Wild Wild West, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the two Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies are typical of the steampunk genre. The literary genre has spawned a subculture called â€Å"the steampunk lifestyle† which blends Victorian design and clothing with modern technology. Practitioners shop at second-hand stores, wear suspenders, vests, and corsets (outside their clothing). They carry pocket watches and disguise their cell phones and laptops as Victorian artifacts. The steampunk lifestyle seems to be a kind of genteel back-to-basics hybrid that embraces technology while rejecting consumerism. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them)36 Poetry Terms25 Idioms About Bread and Dessert

E learning usage Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E learning usage - Thesis Example further revealed that administrative, personal, technical and financial aspects mainly prevent e-learning usage in primary public schools within the nation. In this research study, the above four categories of barriers were considered as independent variables and e-learning usage to be the dependant variable. The findings obtained further revealed that the average numerical value in terms of mean of responses of the teachers in technical barriers, was recorded at 4.1996, administrative barriers with 4.2206, financial barriers around 4.2479 and personal barriers with 3.6811. Furthermore, the findings also indicated that administrative barriers have strong effects on the usage of e-learning, as reflected by the value of coefficient. Nevertheless, the findings depicted an important fact that in order to attain greater usage in the context of e-learning approach in Saudi Arabia, the teachers and the students must remain highly concerned about mitigating the above identified barriers in a n effective manner. Based on the research findings, it was further identified that the respective government of Saudi Arabia made deliberate efforts in developing the education system of the nation by sufficing the requirements of the students. Thus, in this regard, the projects of King Abdullah and National Centre for E-Learning and distance learning were deemed to be the prime ones that eventually developed the approach of e-learning of the nation. Correspondingly, when making recommendations, it can be affirmed that for attaining superior level of e-learning usage, specifically in primary schools in Saudi Arabia, the approach of mobile learning must be developed with the establishment of several e-content centres. Besides, the formation of powerful e-learning councils and initiating varied e-learning practices would also support eradicating the barriers that restrict e-learning approach in different primary schools belonging to Saudi Arabia. While discussing about the research