Thursday, October 17, 2019

Thesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Thesis - Essay Example GOD created human being as a reflection of him. There are some scholars according to Toulmin who believe that god created us so that we can rule his creation, therefore human beings should use his creations for livelihood (Mead, 2008).Bottom of Form When god created the universe, he tasked the Christians to care for the environment but some of them still don’t show the care thinking that it is not their responsibility to care for the environment (Nachtigall, 2008). Some believe that when Christ come back he will change the world the way it is so caring is not necessary. Many of them are concerned with the behavior of the environmentalist that places them above that of the creator. Some think that everything in the universe should be explained with respect to God or Christian values. They believe that Christians should only be focused on the things that will guarantee them the kingdom of heaven while paying no attention to earthly things. This people also think that if non Chri stians see them paying attention to earthly things they will think that they have nothing to focus on other than these earthly things. They will think that earthly things are of more importance to then Christians. Though this Christians arguments are prevalent God actually wants us to care of the universe and even the moral grounds dictates so. It is the responsibility for the Christians to take care of the environment (Mead, 2008). In these modern days the environmental challenges are threatening the existence of humanity that firstly supports its existence. Environmental problems are monster facing us and it can’t be wished away. Some of these challenges will have dire consequences if not sorted out early enough. There are many reasons why Christians should restore the environment. First, Christians should support God’s work by protecting gods’ creations (Nachtigall, 2008). God created the earth and human beings and placed them on earth to take care of it. Hen ce, Christians should not neglect the responsibility of working with God to protect and preserve all the creations. This will in turn ensure Christians preserve the environment and restore it. In addition, it will help Christians serve the Lord through the environment by preserving and conserving it. Second, Christians should start programs that focus on conserving the environment (Nachtigall, 2008). In religion, the only basic concept is to serve God and Holy Son; there is no concept of worldly concerns in the religion. This concept is what is driving Christians away from the topic of environmental conservations. All the holy people are always involved in the service of mankind so there is no point in staying away from the world. God has sent us all in this world for a purpose and we have to fulfill it. It is our own mistake if we do not understand it, and harm other people and this world. This is why there is need to understand the basic concept and relation between the nature and Christianity. One of the greatest challenges is the global warming. This is the trap of gases near the earth surface raising the temperatures just like in the green house. This effect is rising at an alarming rate and scientists are developing different models to explain and try to understand it. This increase in temperatures will cause

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Nestle and the Global Issue of Water Supply Case Study

Nestle and the Global Issue of Water Supply - Case Study Example This paper will identify the feasibility of social responsibility programs and the ethical elements to be considered while entering a new market segment. 1. The case study indicates that the Nestle faces a series of challenges associated with corporate responsibility while planning its international business expansion. Nowadays, a number of international organizations are working toward the protection of various human rights and environmental sustainability. As part of their global operational strategies, some organizations strongly argue that access to water is not a matter of choice; on the other hand, it is a basic human right which insists that water should not be bought and sold. Hence, Nestle considers water supply as one of the most serious issues to be resolved in relation to its position in the global bottled market. In order to overcome such issues, the company has recently planned several social responsibility programs in its marketing strategy. By practicing social respon sibility programs as part of marketing strategy, a company can attain a number of potential advantages. Today, a company cannot continue its sustainably profitable operations unless it practices some sorts of corporate responsibility policies. In the opinion of DuBrin (2008), the most potential advantage of social responsibility is that it aids organizations to achieve a good market stature which sets them apart in the competitive business world (pp.100-101). In addition, such strategies may assist companies to comply with government regulations as well as the norms of other non-governmental public welfare organizations. Finally, the concept of corporate social responsibility would be helpful for a company to convince its clients that it has taken all initiatives to protect the environment and thereby to ensure public welfare. 2. Variances in ethical views among people are found to be a potential threat to multinational companies like Nestle as they need to serve a large number of d ifferent customer segments. In the view of Briscoe, Schuler, and Claus (2008), the extent of this ethical variance may be determined by a range of elements including family background, education level, economic status, and other cultural variables (pp.137-138). In countries like China and India, orthodox families would not be willing to change their conventional ideologies and hence they may not easily adapt to a â€Å"disposable culture†. It would be a cumbersome task for the Nestle to attract such customer segments because their consumerist perceptions have evolved over a long period of time. In addition, people’s education level may also be a crucial factor in defining their ethical views. The people who have attained a high level of education would be more concerned about health as well as environmental safety.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

User guide for a system Essay Example for Free

User guide for a system Essay This computer quote model was built to the specific requirements of Drum Gurus. It helps the user make an accurate quote for a customer, taking into account many various functions such as calculating VAT and delivery, discounts and service charges. Once the chosen items and the customers details have been entered the model will automatically generate an accurate invoice within seconds. It also helps the user keep to a set budget. System Requirements: Although this system is very simple and easy to use there are some standard requirements for the model to run efficiently and smoothly. Hardware: Software: Minimum: 40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive A colour printer would be also required to print off the invoices. Colour makes the invoice look a lot more professional and an ink jet printer will be just fine. You do not need to splash out on a fancy photocopying and scanning printer when you do not need it. Software: Microsoft Excel 2000 is required to run this model. Installing and using the program: How to install: The model will come on a CD labelled Drum Gurus Model. Open up your CD Drive and insert the disk. Close the drive and wait for the installing window to appear. If the window does not appear do the following: 1. Click start on the taskbar 2. Click on My computer (If it is not here it is usually found on the desktop) 3. Double click on your usually called D Drive which has an icon of a CD. 4. Once it opens you should see the Drums Guru Model. Once you have the following box appearing on your screen: Now all you have to do is double click on the Drum Gurus Model icon and the program will install itself into a new folder. It will automatically install subfolders for customers, folders for the parts names, prices and pictures. You should keep the CD just in case for backup reasons or you have to reinstall for any reason. To save you having to create all the folders we have already done it for you. During the installation the following folders will be created:   Completed Invoices. Customers   Parts   Completed Quotes   Others To create any more folders simple right click and press Create New Folder. Using the program: Now that the model has been successfully installed, double click on the icon to load the program. This screen should appear now: Once this screen appears you can choose which page you would like to go to. Usually the Interface is the first page you will need to see. To enter the just simply click on the button and it will take you there automatically. 1. Firstly enter the customers details 2. Secondly if applicable enter the customers budget. 3. Then one by one select each part from the separate drop down lists. As you select each item the price and total price will automatically be updated. Just click on any drop down menu and choose the selected kit. 4. Once each component has been selected; it then calculates a sub total. From this subtotal the VAT and Shipping charge are added. 5. Once this has all been calculated the final total highlighted in bold will appear giving you the final price. 6. It also works out if the customer is over or under budget. If the customer is over budget it will be indicated in red and the user can either change the certain items or just leave it if the budget is only over a small amount. Here it indicates that I am over budget by i 452. 03 so I should change a few items. Once the user is happy with the computer, then click the Invoice button as seen at the top right in the above screenshot. This is the invoice sheet and it shows all the items that have been chosen. It gives a subtotal, and then shows how much the Shipping and Handling is and the VAT. It then creates the grand total. The big difference here is that it cannot be changed, none of the items or prices can be changed to create a safer process. 7. Then to save the quote for that customer you click on file and then Save As.. This is what it should look like: Locate the folder called Quotes that was already created. Then type in the name of the customer or the unique code number given to every quote for reference. Or you could name it simple like putting his first and last name, however this may not be a good idea because there could be more than one John Smith. The quote can then be simply printed off by clicking file then print and it should fit all onto one page. Troubleshooting: Whilst you use the quote system, you should hopefully not encounter any problems as it all has been thoroughly tested. However there are some validation messages that could cause some confusion. They are designed to stop the user from making a simple mistake, the validation will do that, but the problem is that the user might not know how to correct the mistake which the validation box keeps indicating. This message will appear when a name is entered which is too long. The solution is simple and easy, all you have to do is press cancel type in a shorter name. This message will appear when a telephone number is entered incorrectly. The solution is quite straight forward, just make sure not to leave gaps and enter 020 849382372 keep it all together and only enter numbers no letters. The number entered for the budget may be a ridiculous amount and so try and keep it between   0 and i 5,000. What this message means is that the user has tried to change a formula or a cell that they are not supposed to. You should not need to change any of the cells when this box appears when I tested so there should be no problems. Just click ok and carry on with the order. Advanced Options: Changing the brochure of parts: The prices of the drum parts and accessories are forever changing. This means that the brochure of parts will need to be changed often. Once the brochure of parts has been changed the drop down menus automatically get updated as well. This is how to add or change an item to the brochure. E. g. Say you wanted to get add an Sabian B8 30 ride and also change the price of the Sabian B8 20 ride. This is how you would do it. 1. First click on Data at the bottom of the model. 2. Then locate the Sabian B8 20 ride under the Cymbals Category 3. Enter the amount you would like to change for the price then press enter 4. Then go the bottom and type in the details for the new cymbals 5. To keep it in descending price order in this case you would highlight all of the cymbals and press on the Za button to sort descending. As you can see I have added the new cymbal however it is not in the right order. Now as you can see I have highlighted and now all I have to do is press the Sort Descending button and it will sort the prices out. However there will not be enough drop down menus. But it is easy to change. All you do is right click on the drop down menu on Cymbals and press format Control ou then change the number of drop down lines from 17 to 18. Now you click on input range, it will take you to the data and you highlight the whole of the Cymbals data and press enter and you are done with entering new items. Changing service, VAT, delivery: VAT: At present the VAT is 17. 5%. This is calculated by multiplying the subtotal but 0. 175. To change the VAT all you have to do is enter into the box the designated sum for the VAT. Where it says 0. 175 you just change it to 0. 20 for 20% or 0. 50 for 50%. Shipping and Handling: To change the service charge (Shipping and Handling) is just as simple. You click on the shipping and Handling and in the formula box at the top just change the ammount from 7. 00 to 8. 00. Like this.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Global Warming Controversy in Political Perspective

Global Warming Controversy in Political Perspective Raihan JamilENGL-1005Alison Grifa Ismaili Former president of the United States, Barack Obama said I am often asked whether I believe in Global Warming. I now just reply with the question: Do you believe in gravity? quoted in Washington Post (Samenow, 2011, p. LZ01). Barack Obama stated Global Warming as an established fact. On the other hand, current president of the United States, Donald Trump expressed the opposite view. He stated, The concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive quoted in New York Times (Edward Wong, 2015, P. wa23). It is clear that the idea global warming has been shifted from obscure scientific fact to public anxiety and international political regulatory interest. The world is facing an unprecedented set of challenges to address global warming. International organizations have tried to set up a reformed policy to cope with the situation but political disagreements, public anxiety and suspicion make it difficult to face the challenges of globa l warming. The purpose of this essay is to clarify the debate of global warming in a scientific view relating to political controversy. According to the French relativist sociologist Cyril Lemieux controversies, which are conflicts, always have a triadic structure. It means that there are always situations where the opposition between two groups is staged in front of a public of peers (Lemieux, 2007, P. 59). From the above point of view, there is a difference between scientific knowledge and other forms, because scientific knowledge must to go through peer review. That does not mean that the scientific knowledge is absolutely true. The more the non-specialists are set to a position of judgement, the more it would like to be a controversy. Political interests brought this in institutional crisis. According to Zajoke (2011) in his article, the scientific point of view has not changed much about the global warming but public understanding has changed. Political perception influenced this change (P. 459). So, the burning question is, why is global warming so connected to global politics? To understand the relationship of global warming to global politics, it is necessary to understand the responsible facts of global warming. In simple way, global warming can be defined as the phenomenon of increasing the earths temperature. This increase happens due to trapping heat in the earths atmosphere coming from the solar system. Heat coming from the solar system has a shorter wavelength but when it returns, the wavelength increases and gets trapped and creates an imbalance of incoming and outgoing heat. This happens because of the presence of greenhouse gasses live in the atmosphere and there is a direct relationship between greenhouse gasses and industrial activity. History says, there was no significant change in the temperature of the Earth up to 1890s, but in the twentieth century, the worlds temperature has increased by and drawn a deserved concern for humankind. This may lead to our plan ets cataclysm. Much of the earth surface might go under sea water. Industrial activity produces more greenhouse gasses which are thought to be responsible for the global temperature rise. Therefore, the industrial activities of the developed countries are more responsible for the rise of global temperature but the developing countries are in the most vulnerable situations. Why should one group of people bear the negative effects of anothers activity? This is the reason that the global politics is closely connected to global warming. The international authorities have tried tried to establish regulations to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses and to compensate the affected countries. Carbon tax is one example of such type of compensation. The industries or countries who are responsible for carbon emission will pay a tax as a penalty for the emission. But, some powerful countries have rejected this regulation and tried to bring this in worlds political platform (Demeritt, 2013, p. 49). Politicians often lie to disprove the fact of global warming and try to create controversial situation. The history of the earths geological activities are complex and there are some scientific findings that the global warming is a cyclic process. Scientists claimed that several hundreds of thousands year ago, the earth has experienced the temperature rise as it is experiencing now. But it is obvious that the global temperature is rising. In the short term, the effect of global warming cant understand easily. But in the long term, it will cause huge damage to the environment as it is a slow process. Politicians often try to take advantage of scientific bias by making people suspicious about the fact. Professor Tol from Sussex University mentioned some short-term benefits of global warming in his book titled How Much Have Global Problems Cost the world? He said that an increment of temperature up to 3 degree Celsius from which 0.80 degree Celsius has occurred already in the last 150 y ears, has some beneficial effects; for instance, more resilient plants, a more diverse food supply, low energy cost, better agricultural effects, richer bio diversity, and lower mortality rate (Demeritt, 2001 p. 307). This is the established fact that the global warming is a slow process and hard to understand its effect. People often get skeptical because of this characteristic. People want to believe eye catching things, and politicians try to take advantage of this. It is so easy to create confusion about global warming whose impacts are barely noticed in broad perspective. Global warming is a gradual process of worlds cataclysm. Its hard to understand its direct impact as it is a slow process. Again, the final impact is surely devastating though there are some apparent advantages within the tolerance limit. World politicians should think about What they want to leave for the next generation?. They might get short term economic benefit from the controversy of global warming, but in the long term, it would be a real disaster. The world should go through the reformistic approach in order to help offset global warming. References dApollonia, LS 2013, Global warming controversy: A trojan horse of modernity, International Journal of Science in Society, 4, 41-50. Retrieved from https://judithcurry.com/2013/10/15/global-warming-a-trojan-horse-of-modernity/ Demeritt, D. (2001). The Construction of global warming and the politics of science. Annals of The Association of American Geographers, 91(2), 307. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.195.6444rep=rep1type=pdf Lemieux, A. (2007). Why is planet Earth so habitable? Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70, 18-22. Retrieved from http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006GeCAS.70Q.323K Samenow, J. (2011, May 24). Global warming in 2015 made weather more extreme and its likely to get worse any ytimes. The Washington Post. Retrieved https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/weather-in-2015-was-warmer-and-more-extreme-than-ever-and-its-likely-getting-worse/2016/01/20/8d. Wang, E. (2016, Nov. 19). Trump has called climate change a chinese Hoax. Beijing Says It Is Anything But. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/asia/china-trump-climate-change.html Zajko, M. (2011). The shifting politics of climate science. Society, 48,457-461. Retrieved from doi:10.1007/s12115-011-9477-9.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Cyberculture and the Future of Print :: Technology Email Computers Papers

I can remember, as a child, looking forward to the mail being delivered. The eagerness I felt as I waited for my mother to sift through it and the joy I felt when, on those rare occasions, I received a letter. It was not the actual words on the page that held the true excitement but rather I was important enough to receive that page of words that came wrapped in an envelope with my name on it! Now, many years later, I watch my ten-year-old daughter eagerly check her e-mail with the same enthusiasm, to see if she has received a special â€Å"letter.† The ordinary mail holds no excitement for her any longer, unless of course it is birthday mail, and writing a letter has lost its flare as well. Instead of asking me to buy her pretty stationery to write upon she insists I teach her how to change the text and background colors for her e-mails. And instead of exchanging home addresses at summer camp she comes home with lists of e-mail addresses. Sven Birkerts informs us, in his essay entitled â€Å"Into the Electronic Millennium,† that a â€Å"shift is happening throughout our culture, away from the patterns and habits of the printed page and toward a new world distinguished by its reliance on electronic communication† (63). Although this technology is relatively new, it has already changed the way we think about writing and has enhanced our communication abilities. Electronic mail, known simply as e-mail, was started in its earliest form around the 1960’s. It was not until the early 1990’s however, that companies such as America Online and Delphi connected their systems to the Internet, which began the large-scale adoption of e-mail as a global standard (Crocker). According to Dave Crocker, an Internet researcher, â€Å"Email is the most widely used Internet application [and] for some people, it is their most frequent form of communication† (Crocker). In our society today it is almost expected that people are connected to the Internet and use e-mail on a regular basis and in fact is often a requirement in many areas of our lives. For myself, as a college student, this is not only a requirement for my English class but is also how many of my professors contact me with pertinent information.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Road Not Taken Vs. Mother To Son Essay -- essays research papers

Paths are Like Stairs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although they portray two very different writing styles, Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and Langston Hughes’s â€Å"Mother to Son† have a few things in common, especially their meanings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Road not Taken† Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both† (1-2). â€Å"Mother to Son† also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: â€Å"Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair† (1-2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Frost describes the appearance of each road, one as being less traveled on than the other by people before him who had to make the same decision: â€Å"And looked down one as far as I could / Then took the other, just as fair / Because it was grassy and wanted wear† (4,6,8). â€Å"Mother to Son† takes it another step as to describe the staircase the mother had to climb. She explains how hard it was but also how she never gave up: â€Å"It’s had tacks in it / And splinters / And boards torn up / But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on† (3-5,8-9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Road Not Taken† ends by giving a moral to us about Frost’s life and the path he did take. Although Frost doesn’t thoroughly explain the path he took, the reader ...

Friday, October 11, 2019

Public Finance and Taxation Essay

There are varying definitions of what public sector economics is and what topics it covers. In a layman’s language Public economics is the application of economics to the activities undertaken by the state. Black et al. defines public sector economics as â€Å"the field of economics which studies the nature, principles, and economic consequences of government expenditure, taxation, financing and the regulatory actions undertaken in the non-profit making government sector†. Thus it looks at the efficiency of various approaches used by government in its day to day operations. For the government uses economic policy instruments which are designed to influence economic behavior in order to achieve certain outcomes. The government has various goals which it pursues they include; i) Macro-economic stability ii) Enhanced economic growth iii) Balance of payment stability iv) Income distribution. The ultimate goal of these policies is to improve people’s welfare. As already mentioned government uses instrument of fiscal and monetary policy to achieve its goal. The use of government expenditure and taxation to influence economic outcome is referred to as fiscal policy. Fiscal policy is often outlined through the annual budget which is presented to parliament every year. The budget outlines its objectives in the budget and how these are going to be achieved. On the other Monetary policy is aimed at influencing the supply of money and consequently economic growth. The central Bank is an independent arm of the state which is mandated with running the monetary policy. In Zambia, monetary policy is the responsibility of the Bank of Zambia. In public sector economics we study the impact of instrument of fiscal policy on economic efficiency. Instruments of fiscal policy include; i) Expenditure ii) Taxation iii) Financing iv) Regulations The first two involves the procurement and spending of the government funds on various programs such as public infrastructure, education, health and public security. Example the government collects revenue using tax and spends the revenue on education, health, roads etc. in economic terms the use of these two constitutes the direct mobilization and allocation of scarce resources. In contrast, regulation entails a law or administratively proclaiming an enforceable instruction that leads to a different allocation of private sector resources than would apply in the absence of government intervention. That is allocation resources are influenced indirectly. Example the government through the Environmental Council of Zambia has put regulations to curb environmental damage; this has lead to increased investment in environmentally friendly technology by private firms. This is something the profit seeking private sector would not have done if there was no government intervention. PUBLIC FINAN CE AND IDEOLOGY Opinions on how government should function in the economic sphere are influenced by the ideological views concerning the relationship between the state and the individual. Political philosophers have distinguished two major approaches. These approaches are the organic view and the mechanistic view of government. Organic View of Government In this view society is considered as a natural organism and the government is the heart of such an organism. Society is an organic whole, just as the human body. Each individual is a constituent part of the organism just like a body part. In this view an individual has significance only as a part of the community and the good of the individual is defined with respect the good of the whole. A person’s action is seen as important if it leads to the improvement of the wellbeing of society. In Plato’s view, ‘an activity of citizen is only desirable if it leads to a just society’. In this view, the goals of society are set by the state which attempts to lead society, toward their realization. The goals of society do differ from one state to another. For example Plato conceived that the goal of government was the achievement of a golden age in which human activities would be guided by rationality. In short society strived to achieve a state in which the decisions of all individuals and the state were rational. So society was support all activities which would lead to the achievement of this goal. In Adolf Hitler’s view, the state’s goal was the achievement of social purity. He envisaged the creation of a supper race. To achieve this goal the state supported all activities which were aimed removing human impurities. They include bizarre actions such as extermination of Jews, physically disabled people and invasion of all countries to ensure that his goals are achieved over the world. The Grand Ayatollah Khomeini argued that the goal of society is to create good believers. Thus all actions of individuals and the state should be aimed at creating a cadre of believers. Closer home, Kaunda envisaged that the goal of society was the attainment of a just society. He coined the concept of human centered development or Humanism. In this ideology he argued all the actions of individuals and government should be aimed achieving a society in which all persons are equal to each other. Proponents of the organic view argue that certain goals are natural for the societal organism such as pursuit of sovereignty over some geographical area. From a policy perspective, the organic view emphasizes combating poverty and equity issues notably redistribution of income as justification for government intervention. In addition, this view tends to support existence of a large government. That is government has a large part to play in of the nation’s activities. Mechanistic View of Government In this view government is not an organistic part of society, but it is a creation of people to better achieve their individual goals. Here government is seen as a reflection of individual preferences or tastes. In short, society is a mirror of individual wants and needs. In this case, government intervention is only justifiable if it leads to individual welfare maximization. An individual will only support a government if it helps him/her to achieve their individual goals. Example government should protect individuals from violence. To do so the individuals gives government coercive power. In Adam Smith view, Government should protect society from violence and invasion from other states. This view advocates for government intervention only to correct market failures and letting the market decide who gets what. In addition, the role of government should be limited to certain public works such as roads, bridges, sewer, and airports. These are infrastructures which make society function. There are several divergent views within the mechanistic view. Some of these are; i) Libertarians View which argue against any further role in the economy beyond providing justice and protecting individual liberty. ii) Social democrats believe that sustained government intervention is need for the good of individuals. These interventions can be as diverse as safety regulations at work place, banning racial discrimination, welfare payments to the poor. In totality, the mechanistic approach focuses relatively more on the efficiency of markets and economic growth. ROLE OF THE STATE 1. Equity and Efficiency Principles Pareto Efficiency-occurs when it is not possible to improve the welfare of some people without making the welfare anyone worse. An economic system that is not Pareto efficient implies that it is possible to change resource allocation without making any one worse off. Example if an economic system is not Pareto Optimal it is possible to increase consumption by one group and reduce for others without making them feel worse off. This is known as Pareto Improvement. Pareto improvement occurs when a change to a different allocation makes at least one individual better off without making any individual worse off. To make us under this lets assume that; i) There are two individuals A and B, ii) There are two goods X and Y, iii) There are two factors of production Labor (L) and Capital (K) iv) We assume that we have a static economy such that XA+XB=X and YA+YB=Y Exchange Efficiency or efficiency in consumption Efficiency in consumption is achieved when the marginal rates of substitution are equal for all persons; MRSXYA=MRSXYB The Marginal Rate of Substitution is simply the slope of indifference curve. ∆∆Y ∆X X MRS=-∆Y∆X If you have a utility function: uX,Y=U0 totally differentiating MUxdX+MUydY=0 MRSxy=-dYdX=MUxMUy In the Edgeworth box efficiency is achieved where the indifference curves are tangent; Lets pick a point such as ‘e’. At point ‘e’ it is possible to make person A better without making person B worse off. This can be done by moving along Indifference Curve no B2 to point d. At point‘d’ the welfare of person A improves because he moves from a lower indifference curve A2 to a higher indifference curve A3. The improvement for person A continues until point ‘c’ where the indifference curves are equal. At point ‘c’ it is not possible to make any Pareto improvement. At point ‘e’ we have MRSXYA>MRSXYB This also true for point ‘d’. This outcome of Pareto efficiency is only possible under perfect competition. This is because in perfect competition all consumers face the same market prices for these goods. That is they equate the marginal rate of substitution to the same price ratio. MRSXYA=MRSXYB=PxPy Each individual maximizes their utility function subject to the budget constraint. That they maximize the following function U0=uX,Y subject to I=XPx+YPy therefore the langrangian L=UX,Y+ÃŽ »(I-XPx-YPy) First order conditions ∂L∂X=MUx-ÃŽ »Px=0 and ∂L∂Y=MUY-ÃŽ »PY=0 MUX=ÃŽ »Px and MUy=ÃŽ »Py solving simultaneously we getMUxMUy=PxPy=-dYdX=MRS Therefore, each person will equate their MRS to the price ratio. Production Efficiency Production efficiency requires that the marginal rates of technical substitution are equal in the production of good X and good Y. That is MRTSLKX=MRTSLKY In the Edgeworth box this requires this occurs where the isoquants are tangent to each other. The marginal rate of technical substitution is simply the slope of the isoquant. K L U0 ∆K Given an isoquant QL,K=Q0 totally differntiating we get MPldL+MPKdK=0 MRTSLK=-dKdL=MPlMPK Lets have a factor Edge worth box to make our illustration easier. Remember from our study of micro-economics we defined an isoquant as a curve that represent the combination of labor and capital which give the same level of output. In the diagram below production of X uses labor from point X to the right and capital from X upwards. For good Y it is the opposite of good X. All points along XPY are Pareto efficient in the sense that it is not possible to improve or increase the output of good X or good Y without reducing either of them. To under this lets pick point ‘a’ which is not along XPY. This point is not Pareto optimal because it is possible to improve the production of X without reducing the output of good Y simply by moving along the isoquant no Y2 output of good X improves/increases to X2 from X1. Pareto efficiency is only possible under a perfectly competitive market system because all produces face the same factor prices (PK and PL). Thus Pareto Optimality condition reduces to: MRTSLKX=MRTSLKY=PKPL Proof: Q0=QL,K subject to C=LPl+YPy therefore the langrangian L=QL,K+ÃŽ »(C-LPl-KPk) First order conditions ∂L∂L=MPl-ÃŽ »Pl=0 and ∂L∂K=MPk-ÃŽ »Pk=0 MPl=ÃŽ »Pl and MPK=ÃŽ »PK solving simultaneously we getMPlMPk=PlPk=-dLdK=MRTS Therefore all firms will be minimizing their costs while facing the same factor prices. OVERALL EFFICIENCY This requires that the production possibility frontier (PPF) and the social welfare function are tangent. That is; MRSXY=MRTXY. X SWF PPF Y The PPF shows the maximum quantity of good X and good Y that can be produced using the existing technology and resources. An increase in the amount of labor and capital available or an increase in the level of technology will make the PPF to move outwards to the right. All points inside the PFF are attainable but not efficient and all points the right of the PPF are not attainable. To achieve, the Marginal Rate of Substitution for society (slope of SWF) must be equal to the PxPy and the marginal rate of transformation (slope of PPF) must be equal to the MCxMCy or resources must be fully utilized. In perfect competition, P=MC. Hence it is possible to achieve the following outcome; MRSXY=PxPy=MRTXY=MCXMCY. Thus a perfectly competitive outcome results into a Pareto optimal allocation of resources. It is important to note that Pareto optimal allocation may not be the best outcome in the sense that it does not consider equity. That is there is no equity consideration. Equity is the fair d istribution of resources in sources. There are two concepts of equity used in economics horizontal and Vertical Equity. Horizontal equity means that people in similar positions/situation must be treated equally. Example if two people have HIV and the same level of CD4 count they should have equal access to ARVs. The only condition is that they are positive and have the same CD4. Vertical equity means that people in different economic situations must be treated differently from a poor person when allocating resources. This is because treating them in the same manner is not equitable. MARKET FAILURE A market failure occurs when the market fails to allocate resources according the Pareto criterion. In other words, a market failure is a situation in which the market fails to allocate resources efficiently according to the Pareto Criterion. Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics Welfare economics is the systematic method of evaluating the economic implications of alternative resource allocation. It answers the following questions; i) Is a given resource allocation efficient? ii) Who wins and looses under various allocations? First Fundamental Theorem of welfare Economics- It states that if there is a perfectly competitive market and consumer tastes are convex then any equilibrium will be a Pareto optimal allocation of resources. In short, the competitive market allocates resources efficiently without any need for government intervention. Further, the theorem states that the price from the perfectly competitive market induces selfish individuals independently maximizing their welfare, to bring the economy to a socially optimal state. That is prices rise in response to excess demand and they fall in response to excess supply. Normatively this theorem says that use free market system to allocate resources. The Second Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics states that â€Å"society can attain any Pareto optimal allocation of resources by making a suitable assignment of initial endowment of resources and then letting the people freely trade with each other as in the Edgeworth box.† To help us underst and this lets relook at the contract curve which gives the Pareto Optimal outcomes.