Learning the Ropes free essay sample

â€Å"I’ll do it† are three words I do not regret saying. I was offered the chance to be a coach for my schools select baseball team. This was an opportunity to do something that I enjoy, and also teach a group of talented kids teamwork, sportsmanship, and focus. On a cold January evening, I met my team, and I knew the season would be interesting—we had exactly enough players to form a team. The practice went on and I determined the positions each player wanted to play. With nine players, I knew that everybody would play in an unfamiliar position. When outdoor practice commenced, some of the players needed help learning their new positions. In an attempt to avoid repeating drills, I developed essentials of the positions. The outfield training consisted of random tosses with a warning of â€Å"Hey, catch!† in an effort to instill alertness. Infield training involved the players mirroring my movements to keep them light on their feet. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning the Ropes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The unpredictability required the players to remain attentive and focused, while learning them the fundamentals. As the season progressed, I found that there was another problem. No matter how hard I tried, the kids couldn’t hit. Instead of going into specifics, I simply told each kid to keep their eyes on the ball. And it worked—the kids who once struck out now crushed the ball into the outfield. Regardless of the aspect of the game, my intent was to coach in a manner that the players would respond to, and more importantly, enjoy. I was someone who the players could relate to, and I live my life like I coach my team. Most people don’t realize this, but I am dedicated and work through challenges to achieve success. Through my coaching, my team learned teamwork, sportsmanship, and focus—while also having a winning season.

Eurocentric Biases Within East Asian History essays

Eurocentric Biases Within East Asian History essays Before discussing Fukuzawa Yukichis's intellectual biases, several definitions must be made. For the purposes of this paper 'eurocentrism' is defined as the beliefs and methods of thought predominantly followed by european thinkers. This would include static notions of Orient and Occident where Oriental nations are naturally less developed than Occidental nations, notions of progress as being both linear and materialistic and; most importantly, the presence of empirical* systems of thought underlying philosophy and science. Any group of beliefs that does not include all of these characteristics falls outside the definition of eurocentric. There are two clauses in addition to the definition. Firstly, the assumption that an idea 'belongs' to one group or another is preposterous, the equation (A=B, B=C thus A=C) does not belong to Aristotle or Hellenistic culture even though he is its first known proponent. However a belief may be unique to, or have originated in one culture, like the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to the Chinese. The second clause within our definition adresses the subtle biase it assumes: if the notions of 'Orient' and 'Occident' are a uniquly western construct then by defining something as 'western' or 'european' we are tacitly agreeing that there are such distinctions. Since some frame of reference must be taken for the purposes of argument, the idea that Orient and Occident do exist, that uniquely western imperical science and notions of progress exist; and that the combination of these two beliefs constitutes a eurocentric bias is assumed. In light of this, Fukazawa Yukichi clearly falls within the definition of eurocentric with one catch: he does not view the Japanese people as being inferior to Europeans, he thinks they Much of Yukichi's thought can be deduced from the tone of the article in addition to his actual syntax. In his work "Japanese Enligh...

Closed Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Closed Economy - Essay Example The question here is that why it is not concerned with the threats of United States. Let us not answer this question now and move a little further before answering this question. Official Statistics show that North Korea had an average annual growth rate of around 1.6 percent for the period of 2002-2007 (Walters, pp. 55-57, 2008). However, it shocked the world when it posted a growth rate of more than 3.7 percent in the year 2008 (Library of Congress, pp. 15-19, 2009). Not only had this shock came because this growth is the highest for North Korea for at least the past two decades but also because many neighboring countries of North Korea and even many other countries had either showed negative growth rates for the year 2008 due to the global financial recession. The second question is that what magic lamp North Korea had to show this comparatively unusual and high growth rate during the period of global financial recession and why there was no effect of the recession on its growth. The answers to both these questions lie in the economic structure of North Korea. North Korea is the country, which is the nearest of being called as a closed economy or autarky. It is one of the five remaining socialist states of the world with an entire government planned, state-owned and commands economy where the government intervenes largely. Interestingly, North Korea is a completely nationalized state and the state owns all the assets of the country. Moreover, the citizens do not have to pay any taxes.

Free trade agreements' negative effects on U.S economic Assignment - 1

Free trade agreements' negative effects on U.S economic - Assignment Example This forms the need to write this report. NAFTA is an example of trading bloc in USA, which came into effect in January 1 1994. It is the largest trading bloc in the world and for this reason; we have used it as a basis of our argument. We have also used other trade deficits to back up our arguments. A free trade area is a form of integration in the countries represented. The countries enter to either a bilateral trade agreement or multilateral trade agreement. We shall define the meaning of the two different types of trade and give an example on each. USA has entered into a number of agreements with different countries for reasons such as: boosting trade, gaining a wider market for its finished and unfinished products among others. Trade barriers such as customs duty and tariffs have been removed facilitating free movement of goods and services in the countries (Davidson 1990). Agreements such as NAFTA agreement that was precendented by United States – Canada trade agreement has had both positive and negative effects in the growth of economy of the country. In the next pages we shall look both at the positive impacts of trade agreements made by USA and dwell more on the negative impacts of the trade. We shall use the NAFTA agreement as the basis of our arguments and othe r trade deficits to backup these arguments. Also illustrations will be used to show the situation in the ground. Business free trade agreements are treaties made between two people or countries to remove barriers of trade between them. These barriers may include tariffs and taxes. These free trade agreements between countries also allow people to move freely with minimum or no restrictions in member countries. The business free trade agreements help in liberalization of international movement of goods and services across countries. Countries that have business free trade agreements sign a

Impact of the Internet on Developing Countries

Impact of the Internet on Developing Countries Abstract The Internet has completely changed the information management scene in developed countries. It has improved the communication systems and has developed user-friendly environments for information sharing and exchange. The benefits of the Internet in developed countries have inspired the developing countries to develop the Internet and use it to their benefit. The Internet is now changing the information practices in various sectors in developing countries. The impact of the Internet has caused developing countries to modify traditional methods of conducting information business by setting up new sources of information and new methods of communication on a global basis. The Internet has helped the developing countries to take advantage of access to global sources of information in order to improve their economic markets. In this paper we will discuss the evolution of the Internet along with the atmosphere, which initiated the growth of the Internet in developing countries. We will touch upon the constraints involved in promoting Internet growth, the models used to enhance Internet growth, the areas benefited by the Internet and the future of Internet in developing countries. We have focused our discussion on the impact of the Internet on the two most populous developing countries, India and China. Introduction In todays world where globalization is inevitable if you want to succeed, the Internet is your only respite. The Internet has revolutionized information technology and made information access across boundaries very easy. It has spread in all spheres of life and you cannot think of life without the Internet. Come to think of it, how did the Internet evolve and how did it become such an essential part of our lives? The Internet has created competition by bringing many international and indigenous information technology vendors on to the same platform and has raised the standards of quality of services. Even though the Internet has its advantages, the developing countries are facing a lot of issues in using it to achieve maximum benefits. Some concerns are related to the infrastructure costs, language and cultural barriers, political barriers and economic costs. If the issues related to the growth of the Internet can be tackled, there would be phenomenal growth in the economy of the developing countries due to the benefits of the Internet. Statement of Purpose The three major aspects involved in the overall development of a country are economic, political and social. As it is evident from the success of the Internet in developed countries, and will be clear from the examples stated in the paper, we can see that the Internet plays a very important role in all these aspects. It is evident from the extent of usage of the Internet in our daily lives that it has and will continue to change the way we live. How it has changed, and how it will continue to change our lives, is the reason for discussion on the topic of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Impact of the Internet in Developing Countriesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . We are discussing the impact of the Internet specifically on developing countries because the awareness and number of users of the Internet is still growing. As compared to the number of users of the Internet, the effect of the benefits of the Internet has been phenomenal. Evolution of the Internet The idea of the Internet originated about 25 years ago at the US Defense Department Advanced research Projects Agency (ARPA), to keep track of data through computer hardware and software. The Internet is now a complex web of networks connected with high-speed links cutting across countries. There are no set boundaries for the Internet in cyberspace. Recent statistics show 50,000 networks in more than 100 countries with more than 50 million users (MIDS press release). It is estimated that the rate of growth in Internet use is around 20 per cent a month. Currently the Internet is not proprietary and is available to anyone with computer access connected to the external world. Since the USA launched the information superhighway in 1994, the Internet has come to play an ever-increasing role in the vast information market in many countries. Malaysias Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed, once said: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It can be no accident that there is today no wealthy developed country that is information poor, and no information rich country that is poor and underdevelopedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  This statement emphasizes the importance of the Internet for developing countries. From an international perspective access to and use of the Internet is unbalanced; there are obvious gaps between developed and developing countries in terms of the numbers of nets, hosts and users. Information Environment in Developing Countries China and India have the highest population among the developing countries. With the vast population, the market for the Internet in these countries is huge. Both India and China are information-rich countries with a long tradition of learning and applying their knowledge. Both countries have had phenomenal growth economically and are utilizing information technology and information management for the same. The reduction in the price of personal computers and the multimedia influx only accelerated the growth in Internet usage. For countries with vast information centers, the Internet proves to be the most valuable resource. Chinese general information systems are divided into six categories: (1) Information centers affiliated with the National Scientific and Technical Commission (2) Information centers belonging to central government ministries (3) Information centers of a provincial nature (4) Information centers of a specialized nature affiliated to regional governments (5) Information centers affiliated with state enterprises, universities and other research institutions (6) Information centers of non-governmental, regional, professional and similar bodies In India, at the national level the main sources of information include: (1) Various line ministries; (2) The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) (3) The National Sample Survey Organization (4) The Registrar-General of India (RGI) (5) The National Information Center (NIC) (6) The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) (7) The Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) (8) Tata Energy Research Institution (9) The Center for Science and Environment Given such huge information centers in both countries, the public need for the Internet and its potential are vast. Areas of concern in Developing Countries Three major areas of concern about the Internet in developing countries are: (1) National information policy (2) Regulatory framework and information infrastructure (3) Proper education and training National information policy Awareness of various information sources in developing countries is limited to oral form. Awareness in print is negligible. The national information policies in developing countries concentrate on trade, international relations, national security and technology, but they barely concentrate on electronic access of information through the Internet to achieve maximum benefits. For rapid economic growth, official documents of developing countries should include high priority plans to implement electronic information delivery systems. National policy documents, like five-year plans, should contain policy statements and should be implemented on time. Sufficient funding should be available during planning and implementation phases of electronic information access models. Regulatory framework and information infrastructure Developing countries have a regulatory framework in place, which makes protection of investment, intellectual property and individual privacy compulsory in the information market. Developing countries have legal frameworks in place, which deals with private sector involvement, skilled human resources, standards and implementation. Regulatory frameworks for information do not exist. Even though information technology and telecommunications have made a way into all the markets in a developed country, in developing countries, information technology is still seen only as a means to support information management systems, finance and accounting facilities and data processing. As compared to the population numbers, the per capita penetration of computers in both India and China in the area of small office/home office (SOHO) is very insignificant. Telecommunications has also not yet picked up in India and China. If the information infrastructure were to cover the wide Indian and Chinese markets, and if technology was used for global access to information through the Internet, there would be a phenomenal economic growth in these countries. Both the countries need to urgently address the awareness of the Internet and its importance for policy makers at the political level. Proper education and training As in developed countries, workforces in developing countries are also adopting knowledge-based methodologies rather than labor intensive ones. Surveys have shown that Internet use is associated with higher education in developed countries. The same applies to developing countries. Literacy rates in developing countries needs to be improved to a great extent. The governments, central, state and local and learning institutions and civic associations should take responsibility and should work together to raise the literacy levels in developing countries. Information professionals should be trained on priority. Trained information professionals can make better use of the Internet and will be more efficient in acquiring, organizing and propagating information. Developing countries are often concerned about preserving language and culture heritage and supporting political systems. They are weary of foreign economic formats. Thus, proper trainings and seminars for information professionals is a must. These trained professionals can help educate the masses and can take advantage of the benefits of the Internet. This would help in sharing of knowledge through cyberspace and would help in increasing the value of the global information sector. The Internet will support development in the following ways: * Assess the information capacity of the country and determine the needs of users, organize and synthesize information and provide access to internal and external information * Disseminate information to meet the public needs and private sectors and the daily information needs of the general public The governments role in utilizing the Internet is very critical. It influences the appropriate use of the Internet for social and economic change in the shift from labor-intensive production to knowledge based information industries. Also, it reveals the market to a strong private information sector by defining public and private sector relationships. In order to destroy monopolies and encourage competition among international and indigenous vendors, it redefines telecommunication policies. Internet Growth in India Internet service in India started in 1994 with government being the monopoly provider. Service was costly and unreliable and by 1996 there were only 4,000 subscribers nationwide. In 1998, the ISP market was deregulated. By 2000, there were 225 ISPs (India Infoline 2001) and prices had dropped 60%. PC prices also dropped significantly owing to lowering of import duties. The subscriber base then grew rapidly, reaching 1.8 million in January 2001. E-mail and chat are the most popular applications (Natarajan 1999). E-commerce is yet to find wide acceptance but is expected to touch $2.3 billion by 2002 (Pai 2000a). PC penetration in urban middle class households has increased in recent times (Dataquest 2000; Pai 2000b), and has led to an increase in the Internet subscribers. The popularity of the Internet has also had a feedback effect on PC sales (Dataquest 2000). The demand for bandwidth outstrips supply thirty-fold (Desai 2001). As of December 2000, there were only 28 million telephone lines equal to a tele-density of 3.5/100 persons. Alternatives to analog modems, such as ISDN lines or cable modems, are limited. Regulations have also stifled Internet growth. The ban on Internet telephony and the requirement to obtain security clearance before setting up an international gateway are two examples. In short, Internet diffusion in India started very recently and is characterized by high telephone charges, limited customer acceptance of E-commerce applications, limited telecommunications infrastructure, and restrictive regulations. These characteristics are prevalent in many other developing countries as well. The VSNL, is still by far the dominant player in the ISP market, and maintains the backbones that most private firms will have to use to provide access to consumers. There is currently one Level 1 gateway owned by VNSL, as well as a Level 2, through which most private companies will have to connect. 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002 States Popn CAGR (81-91) Estd Popn CAGR of Lines Actual Lines à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"000 Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines AP 2.19 696.98 20.44 797 1.35 959 1.59 1155 1.87 1391 2.20 1675 2.60 2017 2.58 2044 Assam 1.20 227.37 21.59 107 0.56 130 0.68 158 0.81 192 0.98 233 1.17 283 1.16 284 Bihar 2.14 903.30 19.97 280 0.36 335 0.43 401 0.50 481 0.59 577 0.69 692 0.68 694 Gujarat 1.94 428.65 16.52 916 2.44 1067 2.79 1243 3.19 1448 3.64 1687 4.16 1965 4.18 2012 Haryana 2.45 174.52 21.31 295 2.00 357 2.36 433 2.80 525 3.31 636 3.91 771 3.90 786 Himachal 1.91 53.60 28.27 110 2.58 141 3.23 180 4.06 230 5.10 295 6.42 378 6.45 387 JK 2.57 82.29 13.61 53 0.71 60 0.79 68 0.87 77 0.96 87 1.05 98 1.02 98 Karnataka 1.93 466.52 20.32 784 1.98 943 2.34 1134 2.76 1364 3.26 1641 3.85 1974 3.85 2013 Kerala 1.35 307.74 22.24 681 2.67 832 3.22 1017 3.88 1243 4.68 1519 5.64 1856 5.71 1905 MP 2.41 700.25 22.47 623 1.06 762 1.27 933 1.52 1142 1.82 1398 2.17 1712 2.14 1730 Maharashtra 2.32 831.86 18.70 2425 3.38 2878 3.92 3416 4.55 4054 5.28 4812 6.12 5711 6.19 5904 Orissa 1.85 327.44 19.68 166 0.59 198 0.69 236 0.82 282 0.96 337 1.12 403 1.11 405 Punjab 1.91 210.22 25.23 571 3.34 715 4.1 895 5.03 1120 6.18 1402 7.60 1755 7.70 1813 Rajasthan 2.53 468.70 28.14 494 1.32 633 1.65 811 2.06 1039 2.57 1331 3.21 1705 3.17 1727 TN 1.44 570.17 22.01 1014 2.14 1237 2.57 1509 3.09 1841 3.72 2246 4.47 2740 4.50 2798 UP 2.30 1464.71 25.53 810 0.68 1016 0.83 1275 1.02 1600 1.25 2008 1.54 2520 1.51 2537 WB 2.23 714.44 15.56 610 0.96 704 1.09 813 1.23 939 1.39 1085 1.57 1253 1.55 1265 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The above table represents an extrapolation based on the s available at the end of the 1995-96 fiscal year. The s show that the penetration of phone lines is in fact growing faster than the population. In addition, the s represent only the penetration of public services, whereas the latest telecom policy calls for added investment in the private sector. Nevertheless, it is clear that the current trends in growth will not result in the planned telephony penetration into India (7% by 2005 and 15% by 2010). In addition, in many cases the s are skewed towards the urban regions within the states, and mask a poorly developed rural sector. Thus, the general indication at this juncture is that there is a clear need for dedicated infrastructure developed throughout india. The Impact of the internet in developing countries http://cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/projects-00-01/third-world/india-overview.html Modeling Internet Growth To get a thorough understanding of the technicalities of Internet diffusion in developing countries, we will discuss a model, which combines contagion effects and their interaction with external factors. There are a variety of methodologies available in the market to represent dynamic processes. We will be discussing the SD (Sterman 2000) model. Some of the reasons for choosing this model are listed below: * The feedback loop, which is the main structural element in an SD model, makes the model well suited for capturing the interaction among different drivers of diffusion over time * The SD model not only represents quantifiable variables, but also soft variables, which help in understanding because the diffusion context has both social as well as technical aspects * System behavior in SD models results from interaction among its feedback loops When you build an SD model, you start with the development of a causal loop graph that consists of a collection of causal links. Each of these causal links has a certain polarity. A positive (negative) link is associated with a reinforcing (balancing) relation. A positive (negative) change in the cause in this scenario leads to a positive (negative) change in the effect. Small lines intersecting causal links represent the delays in an effect. A causal loop is the result of a closed sequence of causal links and the loop polarity can be easily understood from the individual link polarities. The causal loop graph results in a mathematical model in which relationships are illustrated by means of time varying difference equations. A what-if analysis is conducted by simulating the mathematical model under different parametric and structural alternatives. The given above depicts the causal loop diagram for our diffusion model. The first of validation is the verification of each of the structural components involved. We will be discussing the foundation for the core component, followed by the selected components that capture external factors that are typical of developing countries. At the heart of the diagram lies the contagion based Internet Adoption, which helps PC owners become Internet subscribers. Innovation Coefficient and Imitation Coefficient drive Contagion in the same manner as in Bass 1969. The causal loop structure consisting of the above five variables would result in the familiar S-shaped diffusion curve, if it did not have any other structural components. The basic contagion mechanism is augmented by external factors typical of developing countries. In the above , this is accomplished by driving the contagion parameters by external factors like PC price, tele-density and the level of competition allowed by regulation. Model validation Replicating observed behavior Replicating the observed behavior is the second stage involved in validating an SD model. The given above was transformed into the corresponding difference equations and was then implemented using the iThink package. The s given below provide a comparison of the simulated and observed behavior of subscriber base and growth rates respectively, using quarterly data for India from 1996 to January 2001 (Dutta. A, Roy. R, 2001) (Dutta. A, Roy. R, 2001) Conclusions from this model The validated model offers a synthetic environment that helps us in analyzing the effect of different external factors. Loop dominance analysis (LDA) was used in SD parlance in order to analyze the external factors. A dominant loop is one, which is mainly responsible for model behavior over a particular time interval. The relevance of LDA is that it helps in identifying which loops need to be strengthened and/or weakened, through policy actions, so that we can achieve maximum desirable behavior. Two conclusions analyzed from our model, using LDA, are listed below: * Low infrastructure facility, high hourly usage costs and low geographic dispersion are dominant in the diffusion process. Regulatory policies would help in weakening these variables and therefore would dominate the future diffusion processes. * Besides the industrial countries, security concerns have not spread intensely in developing countries. One explanation for this could be that e-commerce has not yet got a hold in developing countries. Political barriers hindering the growth of the Internet The political atmosphere in India is to blame for the slow growth of both, the Internet access and the telecom infrastructure. In spite of the liberalization of Indian economy in 1991, the telecommunication sector remained in tight control of the government. This resulted in a number of problems for both, private firms as well as consumers. Even though the government has increased its interest in promoting the growth of the Internet throughout India, there is still a need for the review and/or removal of regulations still in place if we want the telecom industry to flourish. The government should rethink its current policies on telecommunications, take into account the global changes brought the about by the advent of new technology, and work to create a market environment that is favorable for investment by both local and international IT firms. Impact of the Internet on various sectors in developing countries The Internet has considerable potential in various sectors in developing countries: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Education à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Banking and Finance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Government à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telecommunications à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Travel and Tourism We will discuss the impact of Internet on some sectors in detail. a) Impact on Education The world of education is undergoing some major changes, the most important of which is the use of the Internet in teaching and learning. Before the advent of the Internet the main sources of information for students were the teachers and the books available in the libraries. Now, thanks to the Internet, teachers are just one of the sources of information. Global access to information has widened their horizons to gain maximum knowledge. In this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Information ageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , the Internet has helped involve students in active learning. They are more interested in hands-on learning, which presents them with practical, real-life experience. Studies have revealed that this style of learning results in better retention and understanding of topics. Also, learning is now not confined to the walls of the institutions. The easy and quick access to infinite resources of information has encouraged out of the box thinking. Besides these benefits, the Internet has helped in personal development of students. Social interaction over the Internet has helped students who are shy to interact and improve their communication skills. With the advent of the Internet, the concept of online exams has also evolved. It has become easier to appear for exams like GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, technical certification like SCJP etc. These exams are now conducted online, which has helped people in developing countries to enhance their knowledge. It has reduced the overheads and hassles involved in personally going to exam centers. One of the best examples would be CISCO human network which has promoted education in remote areas of almost all developing countries like India, Africa etc. by using the Internet for teaching through virtual classrooms which use video conferencing. b) Impact on Banking and Finance Around the clock banking is one of the biggest advantages of Internet use in banking. With the help of the Internet, we have remote access to the banks, which helps in transfer of money overseas with concepts like RTGS from RBI, India. It has reduced daily visits to the banks because we can get regular updates about our bank details online. Expenditure on administration services, paper, stationery etc. has been reduced which has helped in increasing the profit margins of banks besides being environment friendly. Internet has eliminated the tedious paperwork involved in banks, and has provided easy and fast access, making life much easier for bankers as well as customers. The concept of digital signatures has also picked up and it will only enhance the benefits of Internet banking. Tedious and monotonous process of dealing with brokers has been eliminated with the help of Online Trading. Demat accounts have eliminated the concept of physical shares. c) Impact on Business The Internet has provided a global source of information, which helps in developing new strategies and methodologies to enhance businesses. Even for the smallest of traders, constant updates of the prices of commodities are available online. Some companies use the Internet to build direct associations with their customers. Others are using the Internet to bring together buyers and sellers in the new tremendously efficient marketplaces. The Internet has taken the concept of e-Commerce to e-Business. The growth of the Internet has promoted inter-company trade of goods over the Internet. The best examples would be of online websites like e-Bay and other companies promoting online gifting systems. Airline industries have also benefited a lot from the Internet. Tickets can be booked online at any time of the day. d) Impact on Advertising The companies attract customers by building brand awareness and by providing market information over the Internet. This can be seen in the recent IPO (Initial Public Offerings) releases like those of Reliance Petronet. In e-business, the profits are generated not only by speeding up and automating the companys own internal processes but also by recognizing its ability to spread the efficiency benefits to the business systems of its suppliers and customers. The capability to team up with others may be just as much of a competitive advantage as the ability to deploy the technology. e) Impact on e-Governance With the growth of the Internet, people have realized that the use of information and communication technology to provide and improve the government services can be highly beneficial. Using the Internet for e-Governance is a convenient and cost effective method to provide people access to current information. Internet can promote greater citizen participation in the nations capital. It will encourage people all over the country to interact with politicians to make their voices heard so that the political situation can improve and the countries can progress. E-Governance would make the political system more efficient, provide improved services, better accessibility of public services and would make the processes more transparent and accountable. Nowadays, online counseling for entrance exams has reduced the overhead for the government institutions. Developing countries are now using the Internet to manage the biggest networks like railways. All travelling transactions can now be done online on websites like www.irctc.co.in (India). f) Impact on Telecommunications Internet has helped the developing countries in reducing the national as well as international call rates. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations have all taken up the concept of VOIP (Voi

The Benefits and Costs of Two or More Countries Sharing a Common Currency

Examine the benefits and costs of two or more countries sharing a common currency, and comment on the impact of the ‘one size fits all’ monetary policy of the Eurozone. Normally, the accumulation of a set of countries accepting a specific common currency is known as a monetary union. This involves the countries becoming part of the same trading bloc and accepting free trade policies between the member countries. Since the focus of the question is centrally revolved around the monetary union, the other aspects of the union will not be considered in detail. Naturally, the prime example to use when discussing the use of a common currency is the European Monetary Union. Launched on January 1st 1999, the union boasts a 16 country agreement to use the same currency- the euro. For countries to merge by a single currency requires the merging countries to meet certain criteria. This obviously brings both benefits and costs to the table. Benefits are associated with higher stability of the union as only those countries that meet the minimum requirements can join. This allows the union to ensure that the countries that join add something to the union and add value to the currency. For example, conditions in the European Monetary Union state entrant countries must have interest rates within 2% of the 3 lowest interest rate countries in the EMU and also have inflation within 1. 5%. This is important because if we take a scenario where the inflation rate is excessively high in a country, then this will affect the value of the currency by devaluing it. This devaluation has clear knock on effects as the devaluation will cause the cost of imports to rise. Domestic consumers will also shy away from domestic consumption as they see the high prices and so they will shift their consumption on consumer durables from other countries. Exports would be heavily affected by this scenario as the foreign countries would see the high prices associated with the importing of the goods and shift their interest into consumption from countries with lower relative price levels. Not only does the high inflation associated with the currency affect consumption but also investment. The unstable level of inflation will deter foreign direct investment and also reduce the net domestic investment as the returns to the investment would have a high risk associated. So obviously having specific criteria that member countries must meet help to ensure stability in the union. The negative associated with having these criteria is the one size fits all policy which will be discussed later. There are many costs and benefits associated with having the same currency. There is a key advantage to consumers and residents in the country of having the same currency. The transaction costs associated with exchanging the currencies is eliminated. This means that if domestic consumers were to travel abroad to countries within the monetary union, the identical currency would enable them to spend abroad without the need to swap currencies. This advantage is more of a social benefit as this would reduce stress to the consumer. This is because the consumer would not be worrying about if their money would arrive on time. Also the excess commission associated with changing the currencies is eliminated. Although again this commission only represents a small amount of GDP the advantage is again a social benefit as the consumer escapes the hassle associated with the exchange of the currency- often quite a stressful factor when planning to travel. There is also a benefit associated with price transparency where if the same good is sold in many of the countries in the monetary union, then it is easy for the consumer to compare prices. This should reduce price discrimination and increase competition. This is a healthy scenario for the consumer as they would benefit from price competition- often the price of the good or service falls. Despite this potential benefit there is evidence that this is not the case and that price differentiation exists- an example being price differences within member countries in the EU. The same currency and stability associated with the monetary union encourages transnational companies to invest. This is because there would multiple countries across the zone to invest in and get returns from as they all follow the same currency and would all be under the same central control. This may help the multi-national countries achieve greater economies of scale as there would be easier trading and investment capabilities across the zone. This would lower average costs for firms and increase the relative GDP in the zone. This would increase economic growth. Therefore having the same currency enables economic growth in a country through increased business confidence as there is increased stability. The drawbacks of using the same currency are also quite evident. The main and key drawback is the ‘one size fits all’ policy. Here the monetary policy is controlled by the central bank. Countries have no ability to set the interest rates in the country. This can be disastrous in a country with low consumption or investment levels. This is because if the central bank placed high interest rates on countries within the union, consumption would be further detracted, leading to a drop in economic growth. Therefore the loss of individual control is a major factor that needs to be considered before becoming part of the same currency. There can also be a case where the central bank will set interest rates that accommodate the larger, higher productive countries in the union. This will mean the smaller countries will grow at a slower rate and potentially lead to greater inequality. The one size fits all policy may mean that the union becomes less flexible and therefore the policies can place constraints on economic growth for countries. This can cause inefficiency as the production will not be at optimum potential and will limit countries. Another huge drawback is the effective exchange rate differences would be eliminated. For example, during the economic boom of the early 2000’s, England had a very strong exchange rate compared to the other European countries. This enabled cheap imports for the country, increasing domestic consumer welfare. By switching to the euro, the imports would not have been cheaper and would have left consumers with a drop in welfare as they would not have been gaining through a stronger exchange rate. Overall the costs of switching to the same currency have its drawbacks outweighing its benefits. This is especially the case for the one size fits all policy as this is the policy that loses the country its individuality and means the country loses control of its monetary policy.

Home School Essay

It has come to the attention of many that the debate over home schooling has been getting more brutal each and every day. Below is reassurance on why the board should offer this marvelous opportunity to these students. Every student is different, each has its own learning curves; some more then others. I am for home school because students can be overwhelmed by the large amount of work, students can get off task easily in traditional school, and if a student is home schooled, the student is the center of attention. When students go to traditional school, there are a lot of other students. Being with so many other students can be overwhelming for some, not all. For the students that it is too overwhelming for, why shouldn’t those students get an equal opportunity to do there best in school? If it is school were talking, then throw in the conversation of life as well. Without good schooling, students will be unable to get into a good college, without college, well it is kind of sad for the rest of their lives. As the Board of Education you want students to succeed in school, and in life, well then tell people to stop trying to slow down there education and the process in which students and parents educate. A positive in being home schooled is not getting off task. If the students do not have a large amount of distraction, then the want for distraction will be eliminated. Students get off task very easily (Trust me). An example of an off task student is a student talking to another student, thus far not hearing the teachers instructions. By keeping them on task then that is a great way to destroy a learning curve or learning curves. Another positive in home school is, the student is the center of attention! In any traditional school, there is a lot of students that do not understand or get the concept of a focus of study. Teachers have many students and may not always be available to make the focus of study more clear to the student. Home school guarantees the idea of a student never being left behind. What is the point of putting a student through school and the student only grasps bits and pieces, when the student could understand it all and probably even learn more then the average student in traditional school. To conclude this essay, please remember that home schooling is a great opportunity. Students are different and need special attention. I am for home school because students can be overwhelmed by the large amount of work, students can get off task easily in traditional school, and if a student is home schooled, the student is the center of attention. If the student can afford and have the means to do so, let home schooling happen!