Changes to the Global Economy

Changes to the Global Economy As an introduction, it is important to remember that the historical background meaning the first and the second World War and the cold war created deep economic problems. The economic global system crossed a lot of significant events, from the great depression to the stagflation. One of the major development in the world economy from 1980 is the massive neo-liberalism wave. We will consider the Washington Consensus as the roots of our analysis. Formulated by John Williamson in 1990, it is a set of economic policies within the international communities working at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is a redirection of public expenditure priorities toward fields offering both economic returns and the potential to improve income distribution to help failing economies in front of their massive debts. Then, the term was linked with neo-liberalism process or even globalization process. The neo-liberalism that the world is handling was spreaded out from the anglo-saxon world to the Occidental world and then to the whole world and based on the privatization, cross-border trade, reduction of the deficit spending But these system has some limits and in 2008, speculation exploded in USA. The 15th of September, a big investment bank called Lehman Broth ers defaulted, spreading a global financial crisis. US, UK and European governments were involved into rescue plan within institutions avoiding a world paralysis of the system. A second major development in the world economy from 1980 is a switch of the balance of powers between countries. The developed countries run over the developing countries. The economic system permits to enrich the richer and impoverish the poorer but not only between countries but as well within countries. The gap became bigger not only between developed and developing countries but also between poor and rich people within developed and developing countries. It is kind of a vicious circle because the economy part it closely linked to the poverty problem. According to Fisher, â€Å"as far as economics is concerned, the big challenge is poverty[1]†. As an evidence of poverty and global inequalities, there are two main available indicators. The first one, given by the World Bank, is the ratio of absolute poverty. It is â€Å" the percentage of the population living on less than $1.25 a day at 2005 international prices[2]†. At the time the text was written, the ratio consi dered people leaving on less $1 a day at 1993 international prices. Even if from 1987 to 1999, the world ratio of absolute poverty decreased from 28,3 % to 23,2 %, the same ratio without China and in term of absolute number increased from 880 millions to 945 millions. Indeed, Chinas population accounted for 38 %[3] of the world population at that time (19 % today) so nuances between countries need to be specified to have a good understanding of the overall world situation. The second one, given by the United Nation Development program, is the Human Indicator Index. It ranks countries according to their level of development. It measures three dimensions, long and healthy life, acquire knowledge and decent standard of leaving, and integrate into one index[4]. Again, if from 1980 to 2000, the global HDI increased, that does not mean that â€Å"everyone in the developing countries is doing better[5]†. So as a conclusion, indicators have to be manipulated really carefully as well as the weight of every countries and their individual situation. The economic situation is more and more complex because there is an increasing number of emerging countries which are redefining the concept of power. Within the developing countries, there is huge development and wealth inequalities. The BRICs appear to be a consensus within this definition. So who are they? It is in 2001 that the notion appears, permitting to describe a temporary and spontaneous world balance. In 2014, the four BRIC countries became the BRICS corresponding to five countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. They represent 25 % of the earths land surface, 42 % of the world population and 15% of the world GDP. Each of these five countries offer comparative advantages. Agricultural products for Brazil, energetic resources for Russia and Africa, manufactured goods for China and tertiary services for India. The last ten years, they underwent an important average annual growth whereas the European union one was only 1,5 and became major actors of the world economy. Despite of disparities, they have a lot of assets to weight against the giants of this world. They are nuclear giant, energetic giant, demographic giant and permanent member of the security council. Their economic development can be explained by different reasons. First of all, there were an opening from these countries where before the economy was controlled like Russia, India or China. Then, they increased the work force available at a global level. Finally, they decreased the cost of manufacturing goods and indeed, favoring the growth of other part of the world. These growth increased the demand of goods, consumption and mineral, involving the growth of some other parts of the world. Commercial trade increased by 4 since 1990. They are also fighting for a more fair position within the international organization like united nation security council, and for rebalanced the voting right within the World Bank and the the International Monetary Fund[6]. In spite of their global influence, they are getting out of breath since couple of months. That is why, some economists, like Laurence Daziano[7], predict the coming of a new group of countries, the BENIVMs: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Vietnam and Mexico These time, Daziano created more clear, coherent, fix and long run criteria. She considers five criteria: economic growth, population of at least 100 millions inhabitants, urbanization (need of infrastructures) and political stability. But it is a realist critic against the BRICS? During the last decades the world has witnessed a worldwide trend away from rather closed economic systems (Import-Substitution Industrialization, Socialist Planned Economies) towards more open and more market-based systems. Why this has happened and what did it bring? To explain this phenomenon, I will support the modernization theory who explains the development notion through an historical origin. Different criteria can explain this evolution: the rise of the US as a superpower after the Second World War and as a model to follow; the birth to many new nation-states in the Third World which were in search of development model, the US identified the threat of communism in post-war Europe and in the Third World believing that economic recovery and modernization and moved them along the path of the US, and thus they would move away from communism; the economic recovery of Western Europe strengthened the ideology. Development is a universal, spontaneous, irreversible process inherent in every single society rather than a concrete historical process taking place in specific societies during specific periods. Development is regarded as an evolutionary perspective. Modernization policies are not only seen as elements of a development strategy, but as un iversal historical forces. It bears a strong resemblance to the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western economic history. Development implies structural differentiation and functional specialization. The process of development can be divided into distinct stages showing the level of development achieved by each society. There were five stages through which all developing societies had to pass: the traditional society (limited production, absence of modern science and technology, agricultural based, clan-based polity, and fatalistic mentality); the pre-take-off society (many traditional characteristics removed, agricultural productivity increased, effective infrastructure created, new mentality and new class appeared); take-off (most crucial, economic development obstacles removed, national income raised, certain sectors developed faster); the road to maturity (modern technology disseminated from the leading sector, the whole economy moves to mass consumption) and the mass consumption society (today in the West) According to Kornai, this switch from socialism to capitalism brought two obvious positive changes. The first one is that capitalism means democracy. It is historically proved than a democratic model is not possible in an another system than capitalism. Ones of the mains features of a capitalist society is the individual property and market forces. Kornai assesses that â€Å"there has been no country with a democratic political sphere, past or present, whose economy has not been dominated by private ownership and market coordination[8]†. But as a critic, he admits that this condition is not enough by itself in the long run. The second positive contribution of a capitalist system is the mechanic improvement. The dynamic of a capitalist system leads to a wish of increasing the profit and by doing so an improvement of innovation which is bringing  improvement of telecommunitions: facilitate trades, mobile phone, way sheaper and accessible in all aprt of the world. There is a raise of internet, all over and all aprts became possible and more easily accessible. References Janos Kornai. â€Å"What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean†, Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 12, no 1 (2000): 36 [1]  Stanley Fisher. â€Å"Globalization and its challenges†. AEA Papers and Proceedings Volume 93, no 2 (2003):2 [2]  The World Bank Group. â€Å"Poverty† in Data by Topic, (2014) http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty> [10 April 2014] [3]  Fisher, Ibid., 6-10 [4]  United Nations Development Programme. â€Å"Human Development Index† in Human Devlopment Reports (2014) http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi> [10 April 2014] [5]  Fisher. Ibid. 9 [6]  Les dessous des cartes. â€Å"Le basculement de la richesse† (2011) http://ddc.arte.tv/nos-cartes/le-basculement-de-la-richesse> [10 April 2014] [7]  Laurence Daziano. â€Å"Emergents : aprà ¨s les BRICS, les BENIVMs ?† (2014) http://www.franceculture.fr/player/reecouter?play=4813724> [10 April 2014] [8]  Janos Kornai. â€Å"What the Change of System From Socialism to Capitalism Does and Does Not Mean†, Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 12, no 1 (2000): 36

A Realistic View Of Life Essay

People say it is important to have a realistic view of life. For 99% of people this is true. For most people, to not have a realistic view of life is to risk failure to achieve one ¡Ã‚ ¦s goals and dreams. Such people usually become lonely and bitter. Every so often, however, one person refuse to accept what others call a  ¡Ã‚ §realistic view ¡Ã‚ ¨ of life and insist on changing the world around then to fit the vision they have in their head. Such people has the power to change the world for the better or worse, for good or evil. Bin Laden is such a man. Unfortunately, he has chosen an evil path using violence and pain to try to force his view on others, not to convince then by superior thoughts. If people do not achieve their goals and dreams, they would probably become dissatisfied with their lives. For example, if a boy dreams his whole life of becoming a doctor, but never gets into medical school, he would probably end up feeling disappointed. The same thing is true for any goals a person has in their life. For this reason, it is important that people choose goals that are realistic and that can be achieved. Therefore, someone should not plan on becoming the richest in the world and marry the most beautiful person in the world because the chances are it will not happen. Some people, however, refuse to accept the idea that they cannot achieve any dreams they have. A person like this may decide to become a doctor even when his teachers say he will not be able to pass the test. A person like this will study so hard and work so hard that he is willing to take the test as many tests as he has to in order to pass. People who are like this are sometimes the people who change the world around them. Instead of letting the world tell them what they can and cannot do, this people pursue their dreams and try to make the world fit their dreams. People who refuse to accept a limit to their dreams can have the power to change the world. Many famous inventors in history did not listen to people around them who said  ¡Ã‚ §Give up, it won ¡Ã‚ ¦t work ¡Ã‚ ¨. The famous Wright Brothers were the first to invent airplanes. Many people told them  ¡Ã‚ §it won ¡Ã‚ ¦t work ¡Ã‚ ¨. The Wright Brothers, however, refuses to listen to these people and follow their dreams. As a result, they helped change the world and now many  people fly around the world because of them. Not all people who refuse to listen to others and follow their dreams are good. Of course the Wright Brothers and famous scientists like Einstein can be seen as good because they made inventions in order to help the world. Someone like Bin Laden, however, is persuing his great dreams in order to hurt the world. Bin Laden has probably been told by many people that he will not be able to beat the United States and change the world. He has refused to listen to these people and has gone on to fight a war. In contrast, both Bin Laden and Einstein have unrealistic view of life and both have dreams that they want to pursue. The only difference is Bin Laden pursues his dreams with power for evil purpose. In conclusion, for most people it is important to have a realistic view of life since they risk unhappiness if they do not have one. There are a few people for whom a realistic view of life is not needed since they will change the world through their actions. Hopefully, such people will change the world for the better and not the worse.

Violence at Work: Westside Health Sytems

Violence At Work: Westside Health Systems Located in Chicago, Illinois is a private nonprofit health care system called â€Å"Westside Health Systems†. The company consisted of a hospital, a nursing home and 5 minor emergency clinics. Maryanne Walker is the Director of Pharmacy Services, and oversees the main pharmacy located in the hospital, a pharmacy in the nursing home and four satellite pharmacies. She directly reports to her supervisor Nancy Smith. Maryanne is one of 5 total supervisors in Pharmacy Services.Rhonda Carter the inventory supervisor , is the direct supervisor of both employees involved in the allegation : Susan Miller and Brenda Lawson, both pharmacy technicians in the receiving area. The episode claimed that Susan had allegedly assaulted Brenda in the hospital pharmacy, with no witnesses. She had â€Å"grabbed her by the shoulders, shoved her against a partition, and perhaps drew her fist back as if to hit her. † When both Susan and Brenda were inter viewed in relation to the incident their stories differed in levels of just how severe the fight and physical aggravations were. (More thoroughly explained in the case study. If you were Maryanne what actions would you take and why? As Maryanne, I would conduct another round of interviews for both parties involved (Susan and Brenda) as well as a with Rhonda to highlight the main causes of such a situation and give us further explanations. The interviews would be recorded, with the consent of the interviewee. Then, I would end with a fourth interview with Susan, Brenda and Rhonda and ask them to clarify any misunderstandings, as well as give them a talk on how their actions were completely unacceptable and would not be tolerated in the future. A written write up would be in need for Brenda.Rhonda would be put into a â€Å"Special Review† period, due to her failure to report back to her supervisors or even deal with arising problems with her employees. In this case, the trouble some employee was Susan, who seemed to get away with leaving early, coming into work on off days, breaking the computerized inventory system with no reprimand, as well as an overall unfriendliness towards other employees. A discussion with Rhonda is necessary to find out exactly the reason why she felt that many of Susan’s past issues were never reported to upper management when her mental health were clearly a risk at he workplace. In fact, Rhonda may be up for termination for a lack of proper supervision and disciplinary action on Susan. In fact, Susan had two events in which she injured herself, which in turn could have been a liability to Westside Health Systems. All of these incidents which come to light much later than they should have are enough to terminate Rhonda for her unsatisfactory job performance. Keeping in mind that this is a private organization and the company is at right for termination without notice.As for Susan, given that she has clinical depression and is prescribed Prozac, her time around those substances at work may become a hazard for her stability and overall work performance. Therefore, we suggest a â€Å"Wellness Program† including psychotherapy and counseling as well as education on overall wellness (eating habits, exercising, healthy living). I would then provide the company’s employees a special training on workplace violence. The goal of this course would be to give employees awareness of violence in the workplace, how to recognize the warning signs, and what actions to take to prevent or minimize violence in the future.It is also important to define workplace violence in accordance with the pharmaceutical company’s policies: List the types of workplace violence. Identify warning sign levels related to potential workplace violence. List the action steps taken in response to workplace violence. Identify ways to prevent workplace violence. Ways to encourage employees to report incidents in which they feel threatened for any reason by anyone inside or outside the organization. Skills in behaving compassionately and supportive towards employees who report incidents.Skills in taking disciplinary actions. Basic skills in handling crisis situations. Basic emergency procedures, including who to call and what support resources and services are available. Appropriate screening of pre-employment references. Basic skills in conflict resolution. 2. In light of this incident, should West-side change any of its â€Å"standards of behavior policies† or † Corrective action policies†? Explain. The only changes that I would suggest to West-Side regarding their standards of behavior policies would include:In any verbal counseling, both the employees direct supervisors should be present along with a member of upper management. This would ensure that no favoritism is being placed in one employee over another. Further, I would ensure that employees sign a statement acknowledging t he fact that verbal counseling was undertaken. In written counseling, I again would require that each employee sign a statement that they received said written counseling. I am not sure how well written counseling would be as it does not require personal interaction between the employer and employee.Include a statement that indicates all parties involved will be required to meet management to discuss the matter. Failure to do so may require said employee to be reprimanded for simply refusing said meeting. The system of correction that West-side has is not a progressive one. I would suggest that it is progressive. If an employee is continuously getting into altercations or causing problems, big or little, each should be taken into account. Question 3: How can westside prevent future incidents of workplace violence?WestSide can prevent future incidents of workplace violence by sending out a clear statement to each employee on violence at work ( as previously mentioned in question 1) y et also enforce that violence at work is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. In order to maintain a violence-free environment the first step against it in the workplace would be to install video surveillance using an I. P. System. An I. P. Video Surveillance system has several benefits which could be used in the advantage of companies (like a pharmaceutical one).It prevents theft, allows for all personnel to be monitored in work areas, and allows the company to clearly record the face of every customer entering the premises. Video recording would be used as proof if the situation required one. It is clear that management at Westside does not have the knowledge to handle workplace violence issues. It would be important for Westside to ensure that management has the tools necessary to handle such situations. Management is essential in any workplace. They provide the standards for employees and are the individuals responsible for ensuring that the workplace is a safe one .If management is not prepared, it is possible that a workplace altercation can be taken out of context and can cause the workplace to be even more unsafe. To avoid this situation the company could implement a new way to work, using PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT to better increase communication between employees. Moreover workshops could also be use as a way to improve relations and communication. An other important fact to review would be the hiring process. Next time they hire an employee, even a relative of another employee, they will need to perform a thorough background checks.Incidents like Susan may have been avoided by doing so. A Psychologist could also be helpful during the hiring process or even after if needed, who may conduct psychological tests as a screening process. Westside has a stressful environment due to its link with the health care system and its distribution of drugs. Therefore mistakes should be diminished to a strict minimum. A Psychologist would be able to determ ine if the workplace is not harmful for the candidate and if working with addictive and mind-altering substances (even though prescribed) such as prozac will or will not be a concern.Last but not least the jobs and tasks that are assigned to them should be clearly defined to avoid mistakes. As written in the case study Susan is performing her supervisor's job ( filling a patient’s prescription) which should normally by law be conducted by the licensed pharmacist. Clear rules should be re defined to prevent any situation that could lead to an argument and troublesome outcomes for employees and the company. With all of these proposed solutions, a positive outcome is possible. Both to resolve the issue of violence and to improve the overall image and structure of Westside Health Systems.

Going to College, Living at Home Tips to Make It Work

Everyone associates the college experience with dorm life but the fact is, not every young adult lives on campus. If your child is going to a community college or a commuter university close to home, chances are hes going to be rooming with Mom and Dad—and theres going to be an adjustment period for both of you. There are other options, of course, but the majority of community college kids live at home or in an apartment. Starting college is a major rite of passage, one that is both exciting and anxiety-producing. So on the upside, your child gets to go through that process from the comfort of home, where the food is vastly better than the dining commons, and the bathroom is shared by just a few people, not 50. There are definite benefits for parents too. Your food bill may stay high, but youll still save $10,000 or more a year on room and board bills. Youll have the company of a bright, interesting student living in your home. And you wont have to worry about the empty nest blues yet. Tips For Living At Home While In College It can be difficult for commuter students to make new friends and settle into college life without a dormitorys sense of instant community and the ice-breaking help of an R.A. So here are  tips to help smooth that transition for both of you: College students enjoy considerably more freedom than high schoolers when they live in the dorms, but when college kids live at home, friction can arise over young adults living their own lives. Parents need to have open and honest communication with their now-college age children who both deserve and require more independence.Its tough to feel grown-up in a bedroom with childish  decor. Encourage your college student to redecorate his room (or at least replace the posters) or set aside a lounge area so he has somewhere to hang with new friends. If you have a basement or other separate living space, you might want to consider turning it over to your young adult—or young adults. A microwave, a coffee maker, and a water filter are good enough to get started on creating a separate kitchen, and if theres a separate entrance to the space, even better.That said, your young adults  bedroom may be a quiet place, but encourage him to study on-campus, at the library, in the quad or campus coffeehouse or wherever other students congregate. Meeting up with classmates in study groups is a terrific way to meet new people and establish new relationships post-high school. Its easy to socialize with old friends, but its important to make new friends, too.If your young adult wants to invite friends to your home, be sure to stay out of their way. Unlike high school when there was a natural connection between you and your kids friends due to familiarity, proximity, and years of friendship, new friends are adults and should be respected and treated as such. Dont linger when you say hello, just let them have their time.Urge your child to attend his colleges orientation session. If there is a parent session, plan to go. Your presence sends your child a critical message: that his college education is important to you. Community college may not be what everyone imagines when they think of getting their college education, but its an excellent and important start to higher lea rning and can offer many options after the two years have been completed.Encourage him to get involved in extra-curricular activities on campus by joining clubs or intramural sports teams. Its impossible to meet new people without taking a risk and putting yourself out there, and your young adult may not feel comfortable doing that at first—but encourage him to keep trying. The friends he makes in college could be with him for the rest of his life. Academics are the priority, but by feeling involved and part of the school, your young adult will be more committed to going to class and finishing his education.