What Does it Mean to be Competent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

What Does it Mean to be Competent - Essay Example The undertakings are enormous and the intensity to excel is at its best (Kincheloe 1999). This is an element of discerning success which the vocational education seekers have envisaged for their own selves with regards to their very future domains. What is even better is the fact that they know that short term educational drives would turn them into instantly successful business personnel, which would ultimately help their own cause in the long run. Vocational education is an interesting mode of learning and one that aims to build new frontiers, explore new basics and learn a thing or two about the different realms that the vocational education seekers have their hands firmly grasped upon. It was until the 20th century that formal provision of vocational education remained confined to some specific trade areas. Among these, the automobile vendors like a mechanic and a welder remained supreme. They received vocational education in order to become successful at their trade first hand. It gave them the much-needed niche as well as a point of advantage when they were compared with the educated fraternity who also knew much the same trade. The builders, joiners, mechanics and welders were specialized in their trade and hence given the respect that they deserved (Jennings 1995). This was transferred to other areas of business with the passage of time. However, one aspect that remained ingrained with these welders and mechanics was that they were from the lower socio-economic classes and hence not paid according to their labour and hard work that was put in, day in day out. There was a sense of  stigmatization within the society when it came down to these professionals, wh o attained vocational education with regards to their respective work domains. In the olden times, vocational education was directly linked with apprenticeship and hence there is reason enough to believe that the two were used in an interchangeable fashion.

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) - Term Paper Example Mostly, Electromagnetic Radiation is in the forms of waves. These waves include: Radio Waves, Microwaves, Infrared, X- rays and Gamma-rays (Mattson). The magnetic and electric fields resulting in the electromagnetic waves interact by coming together at right angles to each other and these combined waves move perpendicular to both electric and magnetic oscillating fields and as a result, the disturbance is caused (Nikita , Kevin and Mateo). The resulting electron radiation is released in bundles of light energy which travel at a speed of 299 792 458 m / s, equivalent to the speed of light, as quantized harmonic waves. This electromagnetic waves are grouped according to their wavelength and the this results in the electromagnetic spectrum. The resultant magnetic and electric waves move perpendicularly to each other having certain characteristics which are Amplitude, frequency and wavelength. Features of Electromagnetic Radiation Wavelength The movement of the electromagnetic waves is in form of patterns. The distance that exists between two peaks is the wavelength of the wave. The wavelength of a waveform is measured in meters. This is illustrated in the figure below. Frequency Frequency can be defined as the number of oscillations of the wave per unit time. The frequency of waves is not constant, it varies and the variation greatly depends on the type and nature of the electromagnetic radiation. The frequency of a wave is measured in Hertz. The wave can have high frequency or low frequency as indicated in the diagram below. The frequency is related to the wavelength by the dispersion relation is given by: Where  the wavelength and c is the propagation speed Amplitude Amplitude refers to the characteristic height of the wave. Amplitude is a measure of the intensity of the wave and is measured in meters. The amplitude of an electromagnetic radiation is given by Where  Refers to the electrical amplitude,  is the wavelength and c is the propagation speed. Characteristics of electromagnetic Radiation Interference This is the process in which two waves superposes to form one resultant wave. For interferenc e to occur, the source of the waves must be coherent. If two electromagnetic waves having the same frequency get together i.e. they superpose, it results into a wave which has the resultant magnetic and electric field strength equal to the sum of fields of the two waves. When two strong waves moving that have their fields moving in one direction, i.e. same direction in time and space, the resulting waveform is twice that of each individual waveform (Encyclop?dia Britannica Online). This results in constructive interference. However, the superposition of a wave having an electric field in one direction in space and with another electromagnetic radiation wave which has the same frequency but with an electric field in the opposite direction in space and time results in cancellation and a result, there is no formation of a waveform (Encyclop?dia Britannica Online). This implies that the two waves are not in phase. The resultant effect is termed as destructive interference. In summary, s uperposition of waves results in destructive, constructive or partial interference considering the magnitude of the waves being superposed. If two monochromatic waves described by And Then The value is responsible for the interference process. If then the resultant interference is constructive If Then  If Then the interference is a destructive interference. Diffraction When electromagnetic waves come onto obstacles, they are diffracted. Diffraction is the process by which the waves bend around obstacles. This can be illustrated as in the diagram be

Planning function of management for Boeing Essay Example for Free

Planning function of management for Boeing Essay The purpose of this paper is to explain the planning functions of management for the organization known as Boeing. Boeing is an aerospace company; they build passenger airplanes, military aircraft, satellites, and missiles. Boeings planning functions of management is influenced by internal and external factors. These factors such as the economy and competition directly influence the strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Boeing is the largest manufacturer of satellites, commercial jetliners, and military aircraft in the world. The company is also a global market leader in missile defense, human space flight, and launch services. Chicago-based Boeing has an extensive global reach with customers in 145 countries. Boeing operates under the strictest principles of corporate governance. With 152,091 employees, Boeing posted 2004 revenues of $52.45 Billion.(FCSR, 2008)The state of the economy is a huge external factor of how the Boeing organization operates both, strategically and tactically. In 2001, the economy was hit hard and along with many other companys Boeing was suffering financially. Boeing was saved when they were offered a contract with U.S. Air force worth $49.2 billion (Advantage Business Media, 2007). Boeing also teamed up with Saudi Arabia Airlines in 1995 (Boeing, 2001). Boeings competition is another external factor that influences the organization both tactically and strategically. The company known as Airbus is Boeings biggest competition. Airbus is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets (Yahoo, 2008). Recently Boeing has been having internal issues affecting their assembly line and has cause a shortage in production which in turn has been affecting deadlines. With Boeing experiencing problems clients have been turning to Airbus to fulfill their needs. Lockheed Martin is Boeings biggest competition in defense systems (Yahoo, 2008).Currently; Boeing and Lockheed Martin are working together on some projects to help meet the high demand. The government is another factor that influences how the organization operates. Regulations affect the amount of output that Boeing can manufacture. When Boeing designs a new plane, before Boeing can test fly them they must first obtain a certificate issued by the U.S. Government; The  U.S. Government has designed this system of requirements to insure that each new plane is safe before the plane is flown. There are many safety requirements that must be met before the plane is approved to be flown; these requirements are enforced by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. These requirements affect the production of Boeings airplanes by causing a delay before the aircraft can be cleared for use. The planning function of management is affected by several legal issues. In 2005, a lawsuit was filed against Boeing. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Kansas, alleges that Ducommuns Gardena plant made more than 1,900 defective parts used on at least 32 of Boeings airplanes, including 737s, 747s, 757s and 767s. The planes were delivered to the U.S. Air Force and Navy, as well as foreign military forces in Japan and Italy between March 1998 and November 2004. (Pae, 2005)The three employees who filed the lawsuit, were members of a Boeing audit team, contend that the parts did not conform to Federal Aviation Administration requirements. Boeing was aware of the problem but continued to sell the airplanes, falsely claiming that they were FAA approved, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges that Ducommun kept two sets of books for manufacturing parts fake books for Boeing and the FAA and real books for itself. (Pae, 2005) Boeing is a company that is respected for cooperate social responsibility. Boeing has joined the Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility, and is now entitled to display The Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibilitys Gold Seal of Approval as a Socially Responsible Company. (FCSR, 2008) The Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility encourages corporations to be Socially Responsible, and to assist them in achieving commercial success in ways that respect ethical values, people in need, their communities and the environment. (FCSR, 2008)Boeing has a very strict code of ethics policy that is in place to protect both the corporations interest and the interest of its employees. Boeing employees are required to obey all aspects of the code of ethics set forth by the company. The code of ethics adopted complies with the standards set forth in the New York Stock Exchanges corporate governance rules. The Boeing Company will administer ethics and compliance programs to promote i ts commitment to integrity and values as set forth in the Boeing values and Code of Conduct and to ensure compliance with laws,  rules, and regulations. These programs will inform employees of company policies and procedures regarding ethical business conduct and help them to resolve questions and to report suspected violations. Managers are responsible for supporting implementation of ethics and business conduct programs, and monitoring compliance to the companys values and ethical business conduct guidelines through such programs. Managers are responsible for creating an open and honest environment in which employees feel comfortable in bringing issues forward. Retaliation against employees who raise genuine concerns will not be tolerated. (Boeing, 2008)All employees must sign and abide by the Boeing Code of Conduct, which requires that they understand the code, and ask questions, seek guidance, report suspected violations, and express concerns regarding compliance with this policy and the related procedures. (Boeing, 2008) To support the requirement for complete and accurate financial records and reporting, all employees of the Finance organization have an additional Code of Conduct for Finance. (Boeing, 2008)In Conclusion, There are several issues that can impact outcomes for management planning for the Boeing Company such as legal issues, ethical issues, and social responsibility, Along with factors can influence the companies planning operations both strategically, and tactically. The examples of these factors given in this paper are the economy, the government, and Boeings competitors such as Airbus. Even though Boeing has had its ups and downs from production problems to several legal issues Boeing has remained a globally known leader in their industry, respected for their cooperate social responsibility and known for their strong code of ethics. References Boeing. (2008). Ethics. Retrieved September 14, 2008, from http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/ethics/Boeing. (2008, February). Retrieved September 14, 2008, from Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility: http://www.fcsr.plPae, p. (May, 2005). Boeing sued by three workers. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 14, 2008, from http://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/28/business/fi-ducommun28Vandore, E. (2008, January 17). Airbus, Boeing Swamped by Orders. Retrieved September 14, 2008, from San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.comYahoo. (2008, March). The Boeing Company Profile. Retrieved September 14, 2008, from Yahoo: http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/10/10221.html

Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets

Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets What are financial markets? Financial markets are an open and regulated system where companies can raise large amounts of capital through bonds and stock markets, or offset their risk by investing in commodities, foreign exchange futures contracts or other derivatives. Due to the size of financial markets, they are highly liquid, meaning businesses can easily and quickly generate cash by selling their assets. Since financial markets are public and work under a lot of regulations, there is a lot of information transparency and prices of everything traded reflects this. (Source: â€Å"Six Basic Functions of Financial Markets†, Iowa State University, March 5, 2012.)   What is the European Union and what is Brexit? The European Union, like the name suggests is a political and economic union of 28 countries within Europe. The UK became part of the EU in 1973 and had to pay a membership fee every year The creation of the European union was to firstly bring countries together after the 2nd world war had left many economically and politically disabled or struggling. This economic cooperation would become the world’s biggest single market and it still is today. (European Union European Commission, 2017) Even though the UK has benefited a lot from being in a single market, there were many who thought that Britain would be better off on its own; and for this reason the government decided to have a referendum after which on the 23 of June 2016, Britain exited the Single market, giving back it’s seat in the European Parliament and all the benefits that came with it. How can financial markets affect economic performance? Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Levine in their 2001 book, ‘Financial Structure and Economic Growth’ said there is a strong connection between financial markets development and economic growth. The way in which this happens is that a well-functioning financial market will efficiently direct the flow of savings and investments in an economy as such to enable businesses to accumulate capital and goods and services to be produced. A well-established financial market alongside a wide range of financial products will benefit borrowers and lenders and therefore the economy as a whole. Another benefit of an efficient financial market is that by providing a range of financial options at varying risk levels and pricing structures, borrowers and lenders can be closely matched for their individual needs. This allows investors to determine and calculate their cost of financing by looking at their returns on their investments and then choosing the best financing and investment choice for their requirements. The European Union created a single banking market with a single currency and therefore created Europe-wide financial markets which made investing and borrowing euro-denominated stocks, bonds and derivatives easy for all EU countries that are part of the Euro by eliminating exchange rate risks. By doing so, products and services that were previously only available on a country by country basis were now available to a wider market, creating better competition which in turn makes markets more efficient and prices lower for individuals.   This is called the ‘Single-Passport’ system, whereby any business set up in one-member state may provide its services to the rest without further authorisation requirements (European Commission 2016) Not only does euro-based financial markets benefit the Eurozone, it also attracts international investors to invest here and benefit from the competitive market, (Mishkin, 2012) and by being part of the ‘single-passport, Non-European companies can set up their head office in London, and have access to all the benefits of the Single Market. UK financial market relationship with the EU Professor Nick Bloom of Stanford University said: â€Å"The single European market increased competition and forced British firms to increase the level of innovation.† London is one of the biggest financial hubs of the world and hosts the largest number of banks and commercial insurance companies. According to (Belke A. et all) around 6 trillion euros, which is equivalent to 37% of Europe’s financial assets are managed in London, which is twice the amount of the nearest rival Paris. London also dominates Europe’s 5.2 trillion-euro investment banking industry. What this means is that major investments happing in some of Europe’s biggest cities are financed by companies operating within London. This is why, (Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England), said: â€Å"Europe relies heavily on London’s debt and equity markets.† When it comes to foreign exchange markets, the UK is way ahead of its European counterparts with an impressive almost 40% share of the worlds foreign exchange and derivatives handling. According to the (City of London Corporation) each year, $869 trillion worth of Euro, Yen and Dollars are traded from London. This is higher than all the Euro-Zone countries combined. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/ London currently accounts for 70% of the Euro Sovereign debt trades, meaning that the EU countries cannot shut outlondons capital markets as this would be suicide. (Rueters) According to Reuters (Kai Pfaffenbach) Frankfurt is desperately trying win over businesses to relocate to their city from London. To help in this, the European Central Bank started the â€Å"Capital Markets Union† project in 2015, where they want Euro-zone financial markets to provide improved fund raising for companies by replicating Britain’s financial services and become more efficient in the stocks, bonds and other securities markets. How Brexit is affecting Financial Markets: https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7The question of how Brexit will affect the UK economy is very uncertain. The sterling fell to a 31 year low, stock markets fell and foreign direct investment has frozen. All these things point towards the short-term impact of Brexit to be very serious. The real question is, what will the long term effects be, and how will markets react to cope with such uncertainty about the future. The institutional framework of the EU and the euro has created dependencies amongst countries. For this reason, Brexit will have affects in not just UK financial markets, but financial markets across the globe. According to (Gordon and Shapiro 1956) the dividend discount model, expectations about future effects on financial markets will have an effect on stocks and other financial variables now. From the graph above, we can see that when the news of Brexit was announced and the UK markets became uncertain about the UK’s future in the single market, the pound fell to its lowest price in 31 years. Because of Brexit and Policy uncertainty, markets adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude towards investment decisions.   If London is no longer part of the single market, it loses its attractiveness as a foreign direct investment hub and a gateway to the European financial markets. According to the financial times, almost half of the FDI coming to the UK comes from the EU and after Brexit, this investment will significantly decrease due to increased trade costs and tariffs. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) tells us that FDI has been about 5% of UK GDP between 1999 and 2015. The analysis from the financial times estimates the decrease in FDI would be 22%. The impact of Brexit on the UK financial sector can be broken down in to 3 things: What agreement can the UK make with the EU in its post-Brexit negotiations. The extent to which financial sector businesses move their operations from the UK to a Eurozone country before any negotiation agreements are made.How well the UK financial sector can survive based on its global position and relationship. Until a deal is made with the EU, we cannot predict how the market will end up like, but we can hypothesise certain outcomes like the following: Currently, the UK is still part of the EU, and hence has passporting rights. Once these rights are gone, UK firms will have to have state level authorisations from EU countries to perform activities. This will depend upon whether the regulators in those countries will allow UK financial markets to sill operate within their borders. The best outcome would be if the UK retains their passporting rights through either a negotiation or remaining a part of the EEA. Johnathon ford writes in the financial times that another option that UK based companies may have is to open up subsidiaries in different EU countries, that way giving them access to customers within those markets. This is however costly and inefficient. Alternatively, UK firms could take advantage of Third Country Regime (TCR) access provisions. What this means is that companies that were incorporated outside the EU can still do business on a cross-border basis if they wish to do so without having an establishment within that EU country, however EU law will require that the regulations and legal structure they follow complies with EU. Reuters business news tells us that Standard Chartered (Stan.L) and JPMorgan (JPM.N) were the latest global banks that have outlined plans for European operations after Brexit. Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein said that â€Å"London’s growth as a financial centre could stall as a result of upheaval caused by Brexit.† So, because of Brexit and the uncertainty of what the future holds for UK’s financial markets; UK based financial firms especially those in London are looking to move their operations into the EU market to benefit from the single market. Another financial market area that will be affected by Brexit is that of selling of derivatives for companies to buy protection or lower their risk portfolio against changes the US dollar and or spikes in the price of oil. As a result of tighter financial regulations on banks, some will opt out of providing this service and those who do will offer a smaller variety of products at a higher price. Ultimately, this is bad for markets as they are not getting the best deal they can. London also dominates the euro derivatives market. EU policymakers have not liked this for a while and want to shift this to a Eurozone country after Brexit. This will in turn increase the price of trading for corporations that deal in multiple currencies as they will have to go through several clearing houses. Bankers are unsure how much extra it will cost a European company to borrow without direct access to London, however, the association for financial markets said customers are being overly optimistic if they think that lending agents will bear the burden or grunt of this. They will push the increased cost of borrowing onto the consumer, which will ultimately make them less competitive in the market. Ernst and Young say in their research paper that they surveyed major corporates including Airbus and Volkswagen and found that these companies were really worried about rising costs of funding as a result of Brexit. London has dominated the financial centre for decades and has built its reputation on the service it provides. It would be very difficult to replicate this market. This has been due to its vast talent pool, widespread use of the English language and the UK legal system and the vast amount of money going through the UK through these financial markets. Another great strength of the UK is its over-the-counter derivatives market. Corporations often use swaps to protect themselves against adverse interest rates and currency moves. Over-the-counter derivatives have to go through clearing houses who are sort of the middle man who make sure neither party defaults on their payments. Even though the UK is not part of the Euro single currency, it still manages  ¾ of all euro-denominated swaps. As the UK decides to leave the EU, this creates a problem, because now most of these swaps won’t be clearing through the bloc. Germany and France have already said that they want the euro-denominated derivatives to be cleat=red through the EU; however LSE has argued that doing so would cost London thousands of jobs. According to a private report by EY, this estimate loss of jobs could be around 83,000 by 2024. The EU needs London’s money, says Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. He calls Britain â€Å"Europe’s investment banker† and says half of all the debt and equity issued by the EU involves financial institutions in Britain. What impact would Brexit have on the way in which banks are regulated in the UK? There are three pillars in the UK banking regulations: The capital requirements directive IV and the capital requirements regulation.The banking act of 2009 Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive (BRRD) Since the BRRD and CRD IV were EU legislations, the UK has to decide after Brexit how much they want to keep. CRD IV implements the requirements of Basel III, which the UK would still be committed to after Brexit. Brexit will likely have an effect on the legislation application of the EEA branches and subsidiaries. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK insurance industry? The London market currently has access to over 500 million customers through the EU and a substantial amount of insurance and reinsurance is distributed into and out of the UK. For the UK to continue to have access to these customers, they have to negotiate bilateral treaties to ensure member states allow them passport into the EU. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) has been very involved in negotiating the solvency II directive which was based on the risk-based regime of the UK. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK funds industry? Currently most UK based fund managers already use Irish or Luxembourg UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIF) platforms for Pan-European distribution of funds therefore Brexit will likely not have much effect on this sector of the financial market. The problem the UK asset management industry will face is the risk of changes to rules enabling MIFID investment firms, AIFMS and UCITS management firms to choose UK based investment managers. Currently, the administration is deemed sufficient for EU firms to contract asset management jobs to the UK managers. Another drawback may be that EU member states may put obstacles in front in the form of tax regimes that make it less attractive for EU firms to hire UK investment managers. Corporate tax: The EU previously set the legal requirements for corporate tax in the UK. Since we will no longer be a part of the EU, these regulations will be revised by HMRC and new draft regulations will be put in place. Currently businesses that have offices within and outside the UK enjoy a 0% rate of withholding tax. This may no longer be the case and companies will look for ways to save themselves from varying taxations in different countries, or changing their place of business to protect themselves from higher or double taxation. VAT VAT was a European Union Concept and now that the UK government is responsible for this, they may decide to change the rates at which this is charged or what products VAT will be charged on. Accounting law At the moment, there is a significant EU accounting and company law legislations that may come under review after Brexit. These include, directive 2013/34/EU about annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and reports. Directive 2009/101/EC about the disclosure of company documents and company obligations. Directive 2012/30/EU on the formation of public limited companies. Directive 89/666/EEC on disclosure requirements for foreign branches of companies. Global Impact of Brexit There is no roadmap to follow or analogy to invoke as a guide or pattern for how the Brexit vote will reverberate in the months and years to come. However, a few immediate consequences seem highly likely: †¢Ã‚  The flight to safety away from the epicenter of this British-EU divorce will push capital away from the region and toward key safe-haven markets including the U.S.—especially Treasuries—and to Japan. This will further lower market interest rates and raise relative currency values. †¢Ã‚  A higher U.S. dollar and Japanese yen are negative to both economies’ export sectors. In the case of Japan, this is particularly unhelpful to its efforts to reinflate and reinvigorate the economy after decades of deflation. †¢Ã‚  The higher U.S. dollar also triggers additional pressure on China to float the yuan lower, as it is caught in the divergence between its two largest export markets—the EU and the U.S.. †¢Ã‚  For the U.S., the negative impact on exports is relatively small compared with trends in domestic demand, but the deflationary pressure on tradable goods will widen the divergence between reasonably strong inflation in the services sector vs. reasonably strong deflation in the goods sector. †¢Ã‚  The European Central Bank will be compelled to raise its level of intervention yet again, as risk premiums across the region rise. Among the larger Eurozone members, Italy is in a particularly vulnerable position—now made more vulnerable. Each blow to members of the Eurozone periphery also further make Germany’s outperformance in the Eurozone even more unsustainable. The nature of the UK’s eventual exit agreement with the EU is crucial, and hangs over a multitude of markets. CEP BREXIT ANALYSIS Life after Brexit: What are the UK’s options outside the European Union? It is highly uncertain what the UK’s future would look like outside the European Union (EU), which makes ‘Brexit’ a leap into the unknown. This report reviews the advantages and drawbacks of the most likely options. After Brexit, the EU would continue to be the world’s largest market and the UK’s biggest trading partner. A key question is what would happen to the three million EU citizens living in the UK and the two million UK citizens living in the EU? There are economic benefits from European integration, but obtaining these benefits comes at the political cost of giving up some sovereignty. Inside or outside the EU, this trade-off is inescapable. One option is ‘doing a Norway’ and joining the European Economic Area. This would minimise the trade costs of Brexit, but it would mean paying about 83% as much into the EU budget as the UK currently does. It would also require keeping current EU regulations (without having a seat at the tab le when the rules are decided). Another option is ‘doing a Switzerland’ and negotiating bilateral deals with the EU. Switzerland still faces regulation without representation and pays about 40% as much as the UK to be part of the single market in goods. But the Swiss have no agreement with the EU on free trade in services, an area where the UK is a major exporter. A further option is going it alone as a member of the World Trade Organization. This would give the UK more sovereignty at the price of less trade and a bigger fall in income, even if the UK were to abolish tariffs completely. Brexit would allow the UK to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. But as a small country, the UK would have less bargaining power than the EU. Canada’s trade deals with the United States show that losing this bargaining power could be costly for the UK. To make an informed decision on the merits of leaving the EU, voters need to know more about what the UK governme nt would do following Brexit. This is the first in a series of briefings analysing the economic costs and benefits of Brexit for the UK. Economists for Brexit: A Critique Professor Patrick Minford, one of the ‘Economists for Brexit’, argues that leaving the European Union (EU) will raise the UK’s welfare by 4% as a result of increased trade. His policy recommendation is that following a vote for Brexit, the UK should strike no new trade deals but instead unilaterally abolish all its import tariffs. Under this policy (‘Britain Alone’), he describes his model as predicting the ‘elimination’ of UK manufacturing and a big increase in wage inequality. These outcomes may be hard to sell to UK citizens as a desirable political option. Our analysis of the ‘Britain Alone’ policy predicts a 2.3% loss of welfare compared with staying in the EU. This is only 0.3 percentage points better than Brexit without unilaterally abolishing tariffs which would result in a 2.6% welfare loss. Minford’s results stem from assuming that small changes in trade costs have tremendously large effects on trade volumes: according to his model, the falls in tariffs become enormously magnified because each country purchases only from the lowest cost supplier. In reality, everyone does not simply buy from the cheapest supplier. Products are different when made by different countries and trade is affected by the distance between countries, their size, history and wealth (the ‘gravity relationship’). Trade costs are not just government-created trade barriers. Product differentiation and gravity is incorporated into modern trade models – these predict that after Brexit the UK will continue to trade more with the EU than other countries as it remains our geographically closest neighbour. Consequently, we will be worse off because we will face higher trade costs with the EU. Minford’s assumption that goods prices would fall by 10% comes from attributing all producer price differences between the EU and low-cost countries to EU trade barriers, ignoring differences in quality. Sin gle Market rules (for example, over product safety) facilitate trade between EU members as it creates a level playing field. Minford’s assumption that the Single Market merely diverts trade from non-EU countries is contradicted by the empirical evidence. Minford also overlooks the loss in services trade that would result from leaving the Single Market, such as ‘passporting’ privileges in financial services. Minford’s approach of ignoring empirical analysis of trade data seems predicated on the view that because statistical analysis is imperfect, it should all be completely ignored. But such statistical biases may reinforce rather than weaken the case for remaining in the EU. Theories need grounding in facts, not ideology. Bibliography https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7https://www.ft.com/content/61221dd4-d8c4-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e?mhq5j=e5http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/115128/mifid-ii-mifir-serieshttp://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-banks/banks-planning-to-move-9000-jobs-from-britain-because-of-brexit-idUKKBN184132http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty/$File/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty.pdfhttps://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/geoff-collings/the-effect-of-brexit-on-uk-accountinghttps://www.accountancyage.com/2016/07/21/what-brexit-means-for-accounting-employment-and-taxation-law/ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/587384/IPOL_BRI(2016)587384_EN.pdfhttps://www.ceps.eu/system/files/WD% 20429%20AB%20et%20al%20Brexit%20Applied%20Economics.pdfhttp://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2005/january/financial-markets-economic-performance/https://www.ft.com/content/74708d46-c6ca-11e6-8f29-9445cac8966f Mishkin, F. (2012).  Introduction to Financial Markets. [online] Www2.econ.iastate.edu. Available at: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/finintro.htm#FMI [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017]. Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets Effect of Brexit on the Financial Markets What are financial markets? Financial markets are an open and regulated system where companies can raise large amounts of capital through bonds and stock markets, or offset their risk by investing in commodities, foreign exchange futures contracts or other derivatives. Due to the size of financial markets, they are highly liquid, meaning businesses can easily and quickly generate cash by selling their assets. Since financial markets are public and work under a lot of regulations, there is a lot of information transparency and prices of everything traded reflects this. (Source: â€Å"Six Basic Functions of Financial Markets†, Iowa State University, March 5, 2012.)   What is the European Union and what is Brexit? The European Union, like the name suggests is a political and economic union of 28 countries within Europe. The UK became part of the EU in 1973 and had to pay a membership fee every year The creation of the European union was to firstly bring countries together after the 2nd world war had left many economically and politically disabled or struggling. This economic cooperation would become the world’s biggest single market and it still is today. (European Union European Commission, 2017) Even though the UK has benefited a lot from being in a single market, there were many who thought that Britain would be better off on its own; and for this reason the government decided to have a referendum after which on the 23 of June 2016, Britain exited the Single market, giving back it’s seat in the European Parliament and all the benefits that came with it. How can financial markets affect economic performance? Demirgà ¼Ãƒ §-Kunt and Levine in their 2001 book, ‘Financial Structure and Economic Growth’ said there is a strong connection between financial markets development and economic growth. The way in which this happens is that a well-functioning financial market will efficiently direct the flow of savings and investments in an economy as such to enable businesses to accumulate capital and goods and services to be produced. A well-established financial market alongside a wide range of financial products will benefit borrowers and lenders and therefore the economy as a whole. Another benefit of an efficient financial market is that by providing a range of financial options at varying risk levels and pricing structures, borrowers and lenders can be closely matched for their individual needs. This allows investors to determine and calculate their cost of financing by looking at their returns on their investments and then choosing the best financing and investment choice for their requirements. The European Union created a single banking market with a single currency and therefore created Europe-wide financial markets which made investing and borrowing euro-denominated stocks, bonds and derivatives easy for all EU countries that are part of the Euro by eliminating exchange rate risks. By doing so, products and services that were previously only available on a country by country basis were now available to a wider market, creating better competition which in turn makes markets more efficient and prices lower for individuals.   This is called the ‘Single-Passport’ system, whereby any business set up in one-member state may provide its services to the rest without further authorisation requirements (European Commission 2016) Not only does euro-based financial markets benefit the Eurozone, it also attracts international investors to invest here and benefit from the competitive market, (Mishkin, 2012) and by being part of the ‘single-passport, Non-European companies can set up their head office in London, and have access to all the benefits of the Single Market. UK financial market relationship with the EU Professor Nick Bloom of Stanford University said: â€Å"The single European market increased competition and forced British firms to increase the level of innovation.† London is one of the biggest financial hubs of the world and hosts the largest number of banks and commercial insurance companies. According to (Belke A. et all) around 6 trillion euros, which is equivalent to 37% of Europe’s financial assets are managed in London, which is twice the amount of the nearest rival Paris. London also dominates Europe’s 5.2 trillion-euro investment banking industry. What this means is that major investments happing in some of Europe’s biggest cities are financed by companies operating within London. This is why, (Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England), said: â€Å"Europe relies heavily on London’s debt and equity markets.† When it comes to foreign exchange markets, the UK is way ahead of its European counterparts with an impressive almost 40% share of the worlds foreign exchange and derivatives handling. According to the (City of London Corporation) each year, $869 trillion worth of Euro, Yen and Dollars are traded from London. This is higher than all the Euro-Zone countries combined. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/ London currently accounts for 70% of the Euro Sovereign debt trades, meaning that the EU countries cannot shut outlondons capital markets as this would be suicide. (Rueters) According to Reuters (Kai Pfaffenbach) Frankfurt is desperately trying win over businesses to relocate to their city from London. To help in this, the European Central Bank started the â€Å"Capital Markets Union† project in 2015, where they want Euro-zone financial markets to provide improved fund raising for companies by replicating Britain’s financial services and become more efficient in the stocks, bonds and other securities markets. How Brexit is affecting Financial Markets: https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7The question of how Brexit will affect the UK economy is very uncertain. The sterling fell to a 31 year low, stock markets fell and foreign direct investment has frozen. All these things point towards the short-term impact of Brexit to be very serious. The real question is, what will the long term effects be, and how will markets react to cope with such uncertainty about the future. The institutional framework of the EU and the euro has created dependencies amongst countries. For this reason, Brexit will have affects in not just UK financial markets, but financial markets across the globe. According to (Gordon and Shapiro 1956) the dividend discount model, expectations about future effects on financial markets will have an effect on stocks and other financial variables now. From the graph above, we can see that when the news of Brexit was announced and the UK markets became uncertain about the UK’s future in the single market, the pound fell to its lowest price in 31 years. Because of Brexit and Policy uncertainty, markets adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude towards investment decisions.   If London is no longer part of the single market, it loses its attractiveness as a foreign direct investment hub and a gateway to the European financial markets. According to the financial times, almost half of the FDI coming to the UK comes from the EU and after Brexit, this investment will significantly decrease due to increased trade costs and tariffs. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) tells us that FDI has been about 5% of UK GDP between 1999 and 2015. The analysis from the financial times estimates the decrease in FDI would be 22%. The impact of Brexit on the UK financial sector can be broken down in to 3 things: What agreement can the UK make with the EU in its post-Brexit negotiations. The extent to which financial sector businesses move their operations from the UK to a Eurozone country before any negotiation agreements are made.How well the UK financial sector can survive based on its global position and relationship. Until a deal is made with the EU, we cannot predict how the market will end up like, but we can hypothesise certain outcomes like the following: Currently, the UK is still part of the EU, and hence has passporting rights. Once these rights are gone, UK firms will have to have state level authorisations from EU countries to perform activities. This will depend upon whether the regulators in those countries will allow UK financial markets to sill operate within their borders. The best outcome would be if the UK retains their passporting rights through either a negotiation or remaining a part of the EEA. Johnathon ford writes in the financial times that another option that UK based companies may have is to open up subsidiaries in different EU countries, that way giving them access to customers within those markets. This is however costly and inefficient. Alternatively, UK firms could take advantage of Third Country Regime (TCR) access provisions. What this means is that companies that were incorporated outside the EU can still do business on a cross-border basis if they wish to do so without having an establishment within that EU country, however EU law will require that the regulations and legal structure they follow complies with EU. Reuters business news tells us that Standard Chartered (Stan.L) and JPMorgan (JPM.N) were the latest global banks that have outlined plans for European operations after Brexit. Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein said that â€Å"London’s growth as a financial centre could stall as a result of upheaval caused by Brexit.† So, because of Brexit and the uncertainty of what the future holds for UK’s financial markets; UK based financial firms especially those in London are looking to move their operations into the EU market to benefit from the single market. Another financial market area that will be affected by Brexit is that of selling of derivatives for companies to buy protection or lower their risk portfolio against changes the US dollar and or spikes in the price of oil. As a result of tighter financial regulations on banks, some will opt out of providing this service and those who do will offer a smaller variety of products at a higher price. Ultimately, this is bad for markets as they are not getting the best deal they can. London also dominates the euro derivatives market. EU policymakers have not liked this for a while and want to shift this to a Eurozone country after Brexit. This will in turn increase the price of trading for corporations that deal in multiple currencies as they will have to go through several clearing houses. Bankers are unsure how much extra it will cost a European company to borrow without direct access to London, however, the association for financial markets said customers are being overly optimistic if they think that lending agents will bear the burden or grunt of this. They will push the increased cost of borrowing onto the consumer, which will ultimately make them less competitive in the market. Ernst and Young say in their research paper that they surveyed major corporates including Airbus and Volkswagen and found that these companies were really worried about rising costs of funding as a result of Brexit. London has dominated the financial centre for decades and has built its reputation on the service it provides. It would be very difficult to replicate this market. This has been due to its vast talent pool, widespread use of the English language and the UK legal system and the vast amount of money going through the UK through these financial markets. Another great strength of the UK is its over-the-counter derivatives market. Corporations often use swaps to protect themselves against adverse interest rates and currency moves. Over-the-counter derivatives have to go through clearing houses who are sort of the middle man who make sure neither party defaults on their payments. Even though the UK is not part of the Euro single currency, it still manages  ¾ of all euro-denominated swaps. As the UK decides to leave the EU, this creates a problem, because now most of these swaps won’t be clearing through the bloc. Germany and France have already said that they want the euro-denominated derivatives to be cleat=red through the EU; however LSE has argued that doing so would cost London thousands of jobs. According to a private report by EY, this estimate loss of jobs could be around 83,000 by 2024. The EU needs London’s money, says Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. He calls Britain â€Å"Europe’s investment banker† and says half of all the debt and equity issued by the EU involves financial institutions in Britain. What impact would Brexit have on the way in which banks are regulated in the UK? There are three pillars in the UK banking regulations: The capital requirements directive IV and the capital requirements regulation.The banking act of 2009 Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive (BRRD) Since the BRRD and CRD IV were EU legislations, the UK has to decide after Brexit how much they want to keep. CRD IV implements the requirements of Basel III, which the UK would still be committed to after Brexit. Brexit will likely have an effect on the legislation application of the EEA branches and subsidiaries. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK insurance industry? The London market currently has access to over 500 million customers through the EU and a substantial amount of insurance and reinsurance is distributed into and out of the UK. For the UK to continue to have access to these customers, they have to negotiate bilateral treaties to ensure member states allow them passport into the EU. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) has been very involved in negotiating the solvency II directive which was based on the risk-based regime of the UK. What  Ã‚  impact would Brexit have on the UK funds industry? Currently most UK based fund managers already use Irish or Luxembourg UCITS and alternative investment funds (AIF) platforms for Pan-European distribution of funds therefore Brexit will likely not have much effect on this sector of the financial market. The problem the UK asset management industry will face is the risk of changes to rules enabling MIFID investment firms, AIFMS and UCITS management firms to choose UK based investment managers. Currently, the administration is deemed sufficient for EU firms to contract asset management jobs to the UK managers. Another drawback may be that EU member states may put obstacles in front in the form of tax regimes that make it less attractive for EU firms to hire UK investment managers. Corporate tax: The EU previously set the legal requirements for corporate tax in the UK. Since we will no longer be a part of the EU, these regulations will be revised by HMRC and new draft regulations will be put in place. Currently businesses that have offices within and outside the UK enjoy a 0% rate of withholding tax. This may no longer be the case and companies will look for ways to save themselves from varying taxations in different countries, or changing their place of business to protect themselves from higher or double taxation. VAT VAT was a European Union Concept and now that the UK government is responsible for this, they may decide to change the rates at which this is charged or what products VAT will be charged on. Accounting law At the moment, there is a significant EU accounting and company law legislations that may come under review after Brexit. These include, directive 2013/34/EU about annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and reports. Directive 2009/101/EC about the disclosure of company documents and company obligations. Directive 2012/30/EU on the formation of public limited companies. Directive 89/666/EEC on disclosure requirements for foreign branches of companies. Global Impact of Brexit There is no roadmap to follow or analogy to invoke as a guide or pattern for how the Brexit vote will reverberate in the months and years to come. However, a few immediate consequences seem highly likely: †¢Ã‚  The flight to safety away from the epicenter of this British-EU divorce will push capital away from the region and toward key safe-haven markets including the U.S.—especially Treasuries—and to Japan. This will further lower market interest rates and raise relative currency values. †¢Ã‚  A higher U.S. dollar and Japanese yen are negative to both economies’ export sectors. In the case of Japan, this is particularly unhelpful to its efforts to reinflate and reinvigorate the economy after decades of deflation. †¢Ã‚  The higher U.S. dollar also triggers additional pressure on China to float the yuan lower, as it is caught in the divergence between its two largest export markets—the EU and the U.S.. †¢Ã‚  For the U.S., the negative impact on exports is relatively small compared with trends in domestic demand, but the deflationary pressure on tradable goods will widen the divergence between reasonably strong inflation in the services sector vs. reasonably strong deflation in the goods sector. †¢Ã‚  The European Central Bank will be compelled to raise its level of intervention yet again, as risk premiums across the region rise. Among the larger Eurozone members, Italy is in a particularly vulnerable position—now made more vulnerable. Each blow to members of the Eurozone periphery also further make Germany’s outperformance in the Eurozone even more unsustainable. The nature of the UK’s eventual exit agreement with the EU is crucial, and hangs over a multitude of markets. CEP BREXIT ANALYSIS Life after Brexit: What are the UK’s options outside the European Union? It is highly uncertain what the UK’s future would look like outside the European Union (EU), which makes ‘Brexit’ a leap into the unknown. This report reviews the advantages and drawbacks of the most likely options. After Brexit, the EU would continue to be the world’s largest market and the UK’s biggest trading partner. A key question is what would happen to the three million EU citizens living in the UK and the two million UK citizens living in the EU? There are economic benefits from European integration, but obtaining these benefits comes at the political cost of giving up some sovereignty. Inside or outside the EU, this trade-off is inescapable. One option is ‘doing a Norway’ and joining the European Economic Area. This would minimise the trade costs of Brexit, but it would mean paying about 83% as much into the EU budget as the UK currently does. It would also require keeping current EU regulations (without having a seat at the tab le when the rules are decided). Another option is ‘doing a Switzerland’ and negotiating bilateral deals with the EU. Switzerland still faces regulation without representation and pays about 40% as much as the UK to be part of the single market in goods. But the Swiss have no agreement with the EU on free trade in services, an area where the UK is a major exporter. A further option is going it alone as a member of the World Trade Organization. This would give the UK more sovereignty at the price of less trade and a bigger fall in income, even if the UK were to abolish tariffs completely. Brexit would allow the UK to negotiate its own trade deals with non-EU countries. But as a small country, the UK would have less bargaining power than the EU. Canada’s trade deals with the United States show that losing this bargaining power could be costly for the UK. To make an informed decision on the merits of leaving the EU, voters need to know more about what the UK governme nt would do following Brexit. This is the first in a series of briefings analysing the economic costs and benefits of Brexit for the UK. Economists for Brexit: A Critique Professor Patrick Minford, one of the ‘Economists for Brexit’, argues that leaving the European Union (EU) will raise the UK’s welfare by 4% as a result of increased trade. His policy recommendation is that following a vote for Brexit, the UK should strike no new trade deals but instead unilaterally abolish all its import tariffs. Under this policy (‘Britain Alone’), he describes his model as predicting the ‘elimination’ of UK manufacturing and a big increase in wage inequality. These outcomes may be hard to sell to UK citizens as a desirable political option. Our analysis of the ‘Britain Alone’ policy predicts a 2.3% loss of welfare compared with staying in the EU. This is only 0.3 percentage points better than Brexit without unilaterally abolishing tariffs which would result in a 2.6% welfare loss. Minford’s results stem from assuming that small changes in trade costs have tremendously large effects on trade volumes: according to his model, the falls in tariffs become enormously magnified because each country purchases only from the lowest cost supplier. In reality, everyone does not simply buy from the cheapest supplier. Products are different when made by different countries and trade is affected by the distance between countries, their size, history and wealth (the ‘gravity relationship’). Trade costs are not just government-created trade barriers. Product differentiation and gravity is incorporated into modern trade models – these predict that after Brexit the UK will continue to trade more with the EU than other countries as it remains our geographically closest neighbour. Consequently, we will be worse off because we will face higher trade costs with the EU. Minford’s assumption that goods prices would fall by 10% comes from attributing all producer price differences between the EU and low-cost countries to EU trade barriers, ignoring differences in quality. Sin gle Market rules (for example, over product safety) facilitate trade between EU members as it creates a level playing field. Minford’s assumption that the Single Market merely diverts trade from non-EU countries is contradicted by the empirical evidence. Minford also overlooks the loss in services trade that would result from leaving the Single Market, such as ‘passporting’ privileges in financial services. Minford’s approach of ignoring empirical analysis of trade data seems predicated on the view that because statistical analysis is imperfect, it should all be completely ignored. But such statistical biases may reinforce rather than weaken the case for remaining in the EU. Theories need grounding in facts, not ideology. Bibliography https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.ft.com/content/0260242c-370b-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7https://www.ft.com/content/61221dd4-d8c4-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e?mhq5j=e5http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/115128/mifid-ii-mifir-serieshttp://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-banks/banks-planning-to-move-9000-jobs-from-britain-because-of-brexit-idUKKBN184132http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty/$File/ey-uk-eu-planning-for-uncertainty.pdfhttps://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-europe-cost/https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/geoff-collings/the-effect-of-brexit-on-uk-accountinghttps://www.accountancyage.com/2016/07/21/what-brexit-means-for-accounting-employment-and-taxation-law/ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/587384/IPOL_BRI(2016)587384_EN.pdfhttps://www.ceps.eu/system/files/WD% 20429%20AB%20et%20al%20Brexit%20Applied%20Economics.pdfhttp://www.frbsf.org/education/publications/doctor-econ/2005/january/financial-markets-economic-performance/https://www.ft.com/content/74708d46-c6ca-11e6-8f29-9445cac8966f Mishkin, F. (2012).  Introduction to Financial Markets. [online] Www2.econ.iastate.edu. Available at: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/finintro.htm#FMI [Accessed 10 Sep. 2017].

Basics Of Mutual Funds :: essays research papers

In this report I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to get information on how best to invest money for my daughter’s college fund. The choices are between Mutual funds or an IRA. Thanks to the research I did for this I have made up my mind how best to invest my money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My main research I did on the IRA is on the Internet through AOL. Through them I found out in a Traditional IRA’s you can contribute up to $2,000 per person per year tax free. In other words the $2,000 invested is deducted off your total income for that year. Yet when you retire and receive the money it is then taxed. Also in a Traditional IRA you cannot remove the money prior to retirement without being heavily penalized. In a Roth IRA you pay taxes on it the year that you invest the money. Though the Roth IRA does bring some benefits such as you can retrieve your money without being penalized as long as you opened your account over five years prior to withdrawal and your are at least 59.5 years old at time of withdrawal. Some exceptions are death, disability or first time purchase of a home. There is also an Educational IRA which you can contribute a maximum of $500 per year per child. This obviously is only good enough for a college education if you plan to invest in other places. On the AOL site I used it had a page where you enter in your date of birth and how much money you wish to contribute. I entered in both DOB-7/9/79 (approximately 46 years until retirement) and that I wish to contribute $2,000 a year. It then stated that with a Roth IRA I would have $1,058,685 and with a Traditional IRA I would have $1,036,239 (which I would have to still pay taxes on). Out of the two the obvious choice is the Roth IRA you pay taxes when you are working and have the extra money and it also has a higher turn over rate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I then researched mutual funds. Mutual funds are a group of stocks together. It tends to be more stable then stocks since there is only one stock if it falls you’re out money, with a Mutual fund if one drops then the others generally tend to balance the loss out so you still tend to make money.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas :: Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Essays

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas "Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all." This is an open invitation for you, the reader, in the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Ursula K. Le Guin is simply inviting you to become her main character. How might you accept or deny this malicious request? It is quite simple, really. To accept it is to read on, and to deny it is to disembark in the endeavor. The city of joy, your own Omelas, is developing continuously in your head. How sweet it is. The image of the bay surrounded by the mountains with Ursula's white-gold fire enchanting the air. Oh, and one cannot forget the tantalizing orgy custom fit to your most personal delights. Can you even begin to imagine the mere possibility of an association between religion and sexual pleasure without the possible deviance of human authority? It all seems nearly ovenvhelming. The fascination continues with every mom ent of lustful anticipation. One cannot deny their own perversion long enough to stop engaging in a plot that might encourage it. But there is a catch of course, for there is always a catch. This particular one is quite deviant really, for this city is a complete deception. It is a place of lamentation and punishment. It is a prison that simply provokes the archaic smiles described within the sentences. How best can one describe the goal of such a story? I believe I shall attempt to do so by describing the main character, you of course! You are presented with three stages and then you are given three questions. In the end, it will be your duty to determine the final event. Create-a-meal, no my friend, instead you are given the tools to create-a-setting. You are presented with brilliant horses and jubilant music, bright colors and beautiful scenery, a blissful introduction, indeed. Shockingly enough, in the second paragraph it is quickly taken away from you. A dagger penetrates your balloon image. You are told that the smiles and happiness of the city are not genuine. Ursula K.

Ocean to the Rivers of Story by Somadeva Essay

â€Å"Ocean to the Rivers of Story† by Somadeva The Kathasaritsagara (â€Å"Ocean to the Rivers of Story†) is a famous compendium of Indian legends fairy tales and folk stories compiled by Somadeva. Somadeva lived in the 11th century. He was a court poet to King Ananta of Kashmir. Most likely he was asked to compose a cycle of stories for the Queen Suryamati to keep her mind away from the political crisis in the country. The poet knew a lot of ancient tales that contained many ancient Indian beliefs. As a basis for his book he took a much older Indian tale collection Brhat-katha (â€Å"The Great Romance†) by Gunadhya, the  original version of which had been lost. The structure of Kathasaritsagara is a collection of tales inside one main framing tale about the life and adventures of the son of the legendary King Udayana. It also includes the story about how â€Å"The Great Romance† was written and what happened to this book afterwards. As the title implies -â€Å"Ocean to the Rivers of Story†, Somadeva’s work united all the stories that were known at that time, just like an ocean unites all the rivers. Every story, big or small, written or told found its reflection in Somadeva’s collection. Thus, no wonder that the characters of this collection both, humans and all different creatures that humans believed in. Some stories reflected the life of Indian society, and their characters are desperate lovers, powerful kings, greedy bankers, smart merchants, shrewd and clever women, brave warriors and many others. Other stories reflect strange fantastic myths and the characters of them are goblins, vampires, witches, devils and all other imaginary creatures that were created by Indian folklore during the past centuries. This book is  sometimes called â€Å"the mirror of Indian imagination†. The story â€Å"The Red Lotus of Chastity† tell us about a live of a merchant’s family. The only son of a merchant got married to a smart and beautiful girl named Devasmita. The young man inherited his father’s business and had to take care of his family’s prosperity. One day he decided to go to the island of Cathay to sell his goods. His wife was afraid that he would fall in love with another woman while being away. She went to the temple and asked God Siva for a piece of advise. God Siva gave a red lotuse to her  and her husband, saying that it any of them would be unfaithful, the lotus of the spouse would fade. On the trip the fellow merchants of the young man found out about this and decided to seduce the young merchant’s wife and humiliate Guhasena. However, all their attempts were in vain, as Devasmita understood their plan and could play a trick on all of them. At the end Devasmita travels to the island of Cathay to tell the story to her husband and to not be separated from him anymore. The three men who tried to seduce Devasmita admitted their plans and were turned into her slaves. This story’s characters are regular people: a young merchant, who loves his wife and wants to give the best he can get to her; a young wife, who loves her husband and remains faithful to him all the time, three men- seducers, who represent the â€Å"evil side†; a witch- an old woman who help to make the plan of seduction. But at the end we see that the good characters celebrate the victory as it should always be. This story reminds me of the stories and tales of European troubadours who lived during the Medieval Ages. In contrast to the official sacred art, their tales and songs were  about real human lives, about human good and bad traits of character. The character of this story can be easily compared to the characters of Moliere’s plays and Shakespeare’s comedies. There have been many discussions about how Indian stories traveled around the world. According to some scientists Indian story-telling made the Persians learn the art of storytelling and pass it on to the Arabians. Then ancient Indian tales traveled from the Middle East to Constantinople and Venice. Later they were reflected in the works of the early representatives of the Renaissance Era. Some scientists believe that Western tales borrowed a lot from Indian ones. The discussion is still open nowadays. The researches could not prove anything yet. However, even on the example of this story we could see the similarity of character types and story development. But it would be not surprising that this type of a connection would be established as it is very likely that educated European people knew Indian tales and were fascinated by them. Obviously, they could have borrowed some motives and characters for their later works.