Outline the main elements of Malthus's theory of population. Why was the theory unsuccessful in accounting for economic and population growth in Britain over the last 200 years?
Outline the main elements of Malthus's theory of population. Why was the theory unsuccessful in accounting for economic and population growth in Britain over the last 200 years? Do you think the Malthusian approach has any relevance to world problems of population and resources? "I say that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man". (Malthus, cited in Sloman, J. Essentials of Economics. 2nd Ed. Harvester Wheatsheaf 2001) This is a particularly interesting quote from Thomas Robert Malthus, an English political economist, born in Surrey. Malthus is most famous for his published pamphlet known as the "Essay on Population" (1978), which he decided to write in order to dispute notions of perfectibility which were still present as a result of the French revolution. His inspiration came from intellectual debates with his father on the perfectibility of society which prompted him to collate and write down his own ideas. In his famous essay, Malthus presented his hypothesis that population growth always has a tendency to push above the food supply. "If the population of the world grows rapidly, then food output may not keep pace with it. There will be diminishing returns to labour as more and more people crowd onto the limited amount of land available". (Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 2nd Ed, Harvester
Interest Rate report
RUNNING HEADER: Interest Rate Report Interest Rate report Victoria Peskett University of Phoenix Economics ECO 531 Fred Bell December 7, 2008 Interest Rate Paper Decisions Interest rates can be used to determine the amount of money demanded. The more money demanded for transactions contributing to the nominal GDP the larger the money value. Higher interest rates can be associated with lower volumes of money demanded for transactional use, as the cost of obtaining said cash becomes more expensive. Big Drive Auto may determine that interest rates are too high to borrow, and put off transactions requiring borrowing such as expansion. If interest rates are lower, they may have an increased demand for borrowing activities. In general, the lower the interest rate the more money will be demanded at that rate. Cost of Operations Interest rates paid and earned affect the cost of operating expenses. In a business the goal is to keep operating costs low to increase the revenues and profits generated from the sale of vehicles or products sold. The higher the interest rate paid on a loan, the higher the operating costs will prove to be. If costs are declining having liquid cash available may help the business to purchase products and materials at a lower cost. If interest rates are high then having too much liquid cash available could be costly and the business will likely
Fordism as a labour process and as a social model.
Fordism This article looks at Fordism and the underlying themes of Fordism as a labour process and as a social model. It analyses Fordism by presenting Terry Wallace's opinions whilst drawing on a variety of sources. In the paper's first section it begins with a review of the evolution of the Fordist factory production system and moves on to discuss the application of Frederick Taylor's ideas to manufacturing; Fordism as a labour process. Wallace encapsulates Fordism as a labour process in three statements; "standardised production and interchangeable parts; the use of dedicated single purpose machine tools and mechanised flow line mass production [which incorporates the deskilling of workers]." Each of these statements is discussed in turn with great depth. The article next examines how Ford and Taylor sought to bring order onto the hectic and rapidly growing early twentieth-century factory floor. Fordism concentrated on routinizing the flow of production and Taylorism on the control of production through the use of administrative and bureaucratic structures. As Wallace states " Ford incorporated aspects of Taylorism such as the disaggregation of planning from the execution of work, task fragmentation and the timing of specific operations and enhance them through the introduction of the flow-line principle in the form of the moving assembly line and new forms of
Overview: Kuwait's Economy
Stretching over some 6,000 square miles of the hard, gravelly and waterless northeast corner of the Persian Gulf, Kuwait has been thrust from oblivion into sudden prominence by her hidden wealth and the creative genius of Western enterprise and technology. In less than two decades, since the first shipment of oil left her shores, material riches have changed the face of her barren territory, and Kuwait is now experiencing a host of complex social, political and economic problems which are shaking her essentially tribal and primitive structure. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the nature of the challenge presented by this transitional phase and to examine Kuwait's response to it. But in order to appreciate the magnitude of the task that confronts this city-state, the reader must first know something of the static society that used to exist and of the main events that have so radically transformed it into what it is now. Present-day Kuwait was reportedly founded in the early eighteenth century by tribesmen driven from their home in inner Arabia by warring kinsmen. The tiny fishing village they founded offered few and meagre resources; but its very austerity was perhaps its main asset. For the rigorous physical environment rendered the individual tough, imaginative, enterprising and excellent in team-work. These qualities have, for over two centuries, distinguished the
McDonald's organizational systems and sub systems. How has McDonalds transformed the consumer's dining experience
. Describe McDonald's organizational systems and sub systems. How has McDonalds transformed the consumer's dining experience? A system is asset of objects that interrelate with each other to form a whole. It composed of objects called subsystems. System theorists adopt a perspective when they focus on the entire system all the while understanding that the organization is composed of subsystems that are connected together in various ways. Subsystems are useful components for isolating and evaluating functional and dysfunctional characteristics of a system. Production or technical subsystems. Production is concerned with transforming resources into a "product" or output. It is possible to categorize organizations by what they produce. McDonald's, Wendy's, Hardee's, and Sonic produce hamburgers. So, every organization has a production or a technical subsystem that is responsible for the organization's product or output. Supportive subsystem. The supportive subsystem provides a boundary-spanning function for the organization; it is a link with external environments. Supportive subsystems are responsible for the acquisition and disposal of resources and products. A restaurant is a good example of the importance of maintenance subsystems. The whole dining experience is heavily influenced by the servers that come into direct contact with customers. A restaurant can serve
Transactional Cost Economics
In developing his Transactional Cost Economics framework, what has Oliver Williamson added to Coase's original work on the nature of the firm? What limitations do you associate with Williamson's framework. In order to reflect upon Oliver Williamson's framework of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), it is important, if not essential, to consider Ronald Coase's contribution to it. Coase argued that given absence of transaction costs, efficiency could be achieved under any number of 'institutional arrangements.' He says that the choice between each alternative institutional arrangement, including one between market and firm organization, gave birth to comparison of costs of transacting. This essay identifies the limitations of Coase's framework, and illustrates Williamson's construction of it as a somewhat more predictive extension, highlighting its limitations. Coase's claim that given markets, firms should not exist in the absence of inherent market failures related to transaction costs is highly acclaimed but widely criticized. These criticisms range from his failure to identify the precise factors determining institutional change to his treatment of different types of co-ordinations as a narrow economic problem, including his assumption that a competitive economy will incur the optimal mix of firm and market type coordination. We concern ourselves largely with his failure to
To what extent has Britain suffered from an overvalued exchange rate over the last two decades?
To what extent has Britain suffered from an overvalued exchange rate over the last two decades? Contents Introduction - Pg. 3 Exchange Rate - Pg. 4 Balance of Trade - Pg. 6 Inflation & Interest Rate - Pg. 8 Unemployment - Pg. 10 Economic Growth - Pg. 11 Evaluation & Conclusion - Pg. 14 Bibliography - Pg. 16 Introduction During the course of my investigation I will be doing a research on whether Britain has suffered from an overvalued exchange rate of pound sterling over the last twenty years. Firstly, I will be looking at the determinants of exchange rate in order to find out the factors affecting the exchange rate of a currency such as pound sterling against another. In this way, I will be able to figure out if UK's currency, pound sterling, is overvalued or not. Secondly, the history of both British exchange rate and economy will be analysed and looked at to see whether Britain has actually suffered from the overvalued exchange rate for the last two decades. I am planning to begin this coursework by defining exchange rate and explaining its effect on the economy. This includes the impact of the exchange rate on balance of payment, interest rate and economic growth, as well as other economic variables and vice versa. Moreover, the reasons for the fluctuations on the pound exchange rate against other currency will be verified and discussed as an example to see the
Economics of Death penalty
COST OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT PAROLE VERSUS DEATH PENALTY (CAPITAL PUNISHMENT) INTRODUCTION o Capital Punishment A lot of controversies over the years have been going on for and against the topic of capital punishment. The history of the putting people to death more commonly known as capital punishment is as old as the country itself or probably more older. In the old days, people were executed through stoning, crucifixion, burning at stake (which was common for the people who were declared witches) and so on. But what kinds of capital punishment or death sentences are given in this modern era? Is it the same as the old ones? The answer is no. In today's time capital punishments include injection or lethal gas, hanging, electrocution or shooting. In the modern times, the world is divided in half as to countries that use capital punishment and countries that do not. Many nations including some of the developing nations have abolished the system of death penalty by any means or methods described above. One country where it would be greatly expected that this system does not operate is the United States of America (USA). Unlike other industrialized nations, some states of the US have capital punishment or death sentence system still intact. The above graph shows the increase and decrease in the execution during periods of 1930 to 2004. If the western part of the globe is
Fordist society
Our society has been changing all the time, bases on the fundamental innovations occurred at workplaces. Since 1970s, the UK society has been undergoing significant changes in many aspects, moving forward from a traditional industrialized society. As an important part of this process, methods of organizing production are also changing considerably. From a Fordist society to a post-Fordist society, our society has operated towards more scientific and flexible production regimes. This essay is hearted on assessing both types of production regimes and compares their differences. Fordist society started in early 20th century. Fordism is named after its pioneer, the car maker Henry Ford. It is an "industrial system involved the mass production of standardized goods by huge, integrated companies. Each company was composed of many different, specialized departments each producing components and parts that were eventually channelled towards the moving line for final assembly." (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000, p62) The term Fordism, is coined by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist, writing in his prison notebooks on Americanism and Fordism in the early 1930s. (Kirby, 1997, p340) There are inseparable linkages between Fordism and scientific management, or so-called Taylorism. Fordism is considered as an extension of Frederick Taylor's scientific management. In 18th century, Adam Smith, one of
Fordism and Post-Fordism.
NAME: JIAO XUE SY1910 WORK, ORGANIZATION & SOCIETY ESSAY QUESTION 5 It has been argued that the way in which work is structured and organised has changed over the last several decades. Hence, the type of labour process and mode of economic growth varied in accordance with this argument. As some sociologists and economists observe, the so-called Fordist way of organising work, whose principles tend to apply most extensively to conditions such as mass production and mass consumptions, has declined its effectiveness in terms of economic growth. The characteristics of modern industrial society and organizations, according to some neo-Fordists view, are shifting towards to a new pattern that is clearly differentiated from the classic Fordist industrial structure: the post-Fordism. The term post-Fordism can be defined as: "A pattern of industrial organisation and employment policy in which skilled and trusted labour is used continuously to develop and customise products for small markets" (Watson, 1995, 343). Under this assumption, a irreversible tendency of market fragmentation emerges in the major capitalist economy; the consequences of this have been: flexible production process based on flexible machines or systems has replaced mass production process based on assembly-line techniques; the use of a large number of semi-skilled or deskilled workers has been