"How effectively does the Cotonou Partnership Agreement address the perceived weaknesses of the EU's development policy?"

Julia Mueller PO(566): Europe and the World Jackie Gower "How effectively does the Cotonou Partnership Agreement address the perceived weaknesses of the EU's development policy?" Development and trade. These have been the two focal points of policies towards the African, Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP) as expressed in the four Lome Treaties and subsequently also in the new Cotonou Agreement of 2000. Although all these policies are fundamentally designed to reduce poverty, increase intra regional trade and enable the European Union to gain preferential access into new developing markets, the methods and conditions of achieving these aims have changed significantly over the last fifteen years. In the 1980s and 1990s, political and economic conditionality became an important imperative when negotiating eligibility for any economic or developmental EU aid programmes. Although the emphasis of the Cotonou policy remains the same, one is able to identify various structural modifications made to the paper itself. It is therefore evident that previous weaknesses of developmental policies have been addressed. However, whether or not these modifications have increased the rate of developmental progress in the region can only be discerned by comparing current economic and political actualities in these states with their historical positions under the Lome Treaties. Furthermore,

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"Investment is always likely to be more volatile than other elements of "Investment is always likely

"Investment is always likely to be more volatile than other elements of "Investment is always likely The volatility of the level of investment is one of the most repeatedly observed features of most economies. Although the fluctuations of an economy over time affect all of the variables that are used by economists to show the current state of prosperity (for example national income, production, employment, prices, etc.), the level of investment has been noted for being particularly volatile. In discussing whether this will always be the case, various hypotheses and theorems regarding the behaviour of investment and its relationship to other elements of the economy will have to be considered. The first problem that has to be surmounted is the issue regarding what investment actually is. An economy's resources can either be consumed immediately (consumption), or added to the fixed capital stock in order to use at a later date. This is a basic definition of investment. It is worth noting in passing that both consumption and investment form part of aggregate demand. The level of investment in an economy is usually defined as the expenditure on fixed assets for either replacing old equipment or adding to stock. This is known as "Gross Domestic Fixed Capital Formation" (GDFCF). Unfortunately, the composition of GDFCF is somewhat arbitrary in practice as only investment in the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"IS IT TRUE THAT ANY PARETO EFFICIENT ALLOCATION COULD BE ACHIEVED BY LUMP SUM REDISTRIBUTION OF ENDOWMENT? ELABORATE YOUR ARGUMENT BY USING THE EDGEWORTH BOX."

"IS IT TRUE THAT ANY PARETO EFFICIENT ALLOCATION COULD BE ACHIEVED BY LUMP SUM REDISTRIBUTION OF ENDOWMENT? ELABORATE YOUR ARGUMENT BY USING THE EDGEWORTH BOX." - - - - - - - - - - - CATHERINE ROBINS 03008113 - - - - - - - - - - - DR ERIKA SEKI THURSDAY, 12 - 1pm Pareto optimality is a central concept in economics, especially welfare economics, as a measure of efficiency. The term is named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who used the concept in his studies of economic efficiency and income distribution. An allocation of resources is Pareto optimal if there is no way that one individual could be made better off without making any other individual worse off following a reorganisation of production or distribution1. It is a point where there is no other feasible allocation which either consumer prefers. If not Pareto efficient, we are being wasteful, because someone could be made happier without making someone else less happy. Pareto optimality is, therefore, a situation in which economic welfare is maximised. Welfare economics is concerned with the "social desirability of alternative economic states"2. The Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics link the concepts of competitive equilibrium and Pareto-optimal allocation. From the First Fundamental Theorem of Welfare Economics we know that, in a market economy where producers and consumers are all

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"It was a supply-side shock, not deflationary monetary and fiscal policies, which initiated depression in 1920 and contributed to the subsequent slump". Discuss.

"It was a supply-side shock, not deflationary monetary and fiscal policies, which initiated depression in 1920 and contributed to the subsequent slump". Discuss. Jaede Tan December 2004 During the immediate aftermath of the First World War, Britain experienced an economic boom, during which nominal wages, real G.D.P and industrial output all rose, whilst wholesale prices rocketed to three times their pre-war levels1. The boom effectively lasted just over a year, starting roughly six months after the war ended, and breaking in the second quarter of 1920. Howson estimates that by the end of 1919 both industrial output and real G.D.P had risen to their 1913 pre-war levels, whilst Pigou states that between April 1919 and April 1920, nominal income rose roughly 25-35%.2 Whilst the causes for the boom are generally and widely attributed to demand-side factors, such as increased consumer saving during the later years of WWI and hence a build up of effective consumer demand coming out of the war, the causes of the slump that quickly followed Britain's post-war boom have been more widely contested. Of the many schools of thought on the issue, the two that are most widely documented are the "supply-side shock" argument and the effects of monetary and fiscal policy. During the course of this essay I will examine the effects that both supply and demand side shocks had on the post-war

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"Keynesian policies are incompatible with price stability" "Monetarist's policies are incompatible with full employment". Discuss the validity of these two statements.

"Keynesian policies are incompatible with price stability" "Monetarist's policies are incompatible with full employment". Discuss the validity of these two statements Every school of thought is like a man who has talked to himself for a hundred years and is delighted with his own mind, however stupid it may be. (J.W. Goethe, 1817, Principles of Natural Science) Keynesian policies are incompatible with price stability. How? * Markets need help to clear o The economy can be at equilibrium at many different times, not just at full employment * When inflation increases, tighter monetary policy may be used to cool it off, which will weaken AD? Is this contrary to Keynesian belief? * Keynesian economics is a theory of total spending [AD] in the economy and its effects on output and employment o AD is influenced by public & private economic decisions, which are determined by political outcomes/economic objectives or consumer/producer expectations o Some Keynesians believe in debt neutrality, which contrarily purports that consumers use rational expectations and will assume low taxes as a long-run liability and save accordingly. * Believe AD has its greatest impact in the short run on output and employment, not on prices o Phillips curve * Demand side policies alone cannot succeed completely * There will always be unwanted inflation and unemployment o Inflation

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Process control at Polaroid.

PROCESS CONTROL AT POLAROID (A) SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Project Greenlight: Polaroid's R2 factory at Waltham, Massachusetts manufactures integral film. Project Greenlight, an initiative to make quality control process more effective, has been introduced at the R2 building of Polaroid during the first six months of 1985. The Project aims to reduce quality-monitoring costs while maintaining or even improving upon the present level of product quality. The conceptualizers of the Project, George Murray and Joe O Leary, hoped to devise a method to make quality control process more effective, beyond merely reducing the number of samples taken. Project Greenlight had three key elements. * Statistical process control principles would be adopted: processes in control and capable of producing within specifications would produce more consistent quality. * Production operators would be given the process control tools that the process-engineering technicians had been using and, in conjunction with sampling, would be expected to make disposition decisions themselves. * Quality control auditors would concentrate on training operators and operationalizing specifications on new products. Project Greenlight is an effort to shift the film production plant from a traditional Quality Control inspection mentality to a worker based process control mentality. Responsibility for quality

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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Show what would happen in a market if the government placed a tax on a normal good. Who would bear the burden the tax, and how would the burden reflect supply and demand conditions?

ECONOMICS COURSEWORK Q. Show what would happen in a market if the government placed a tax on a normal good. Who would bear the burden the tax, and how would the burden reflect supply and demand conditions? Explain why there is a tendency for taxes to have social costs, and why, even so, they may still be justifiable. Tax revenue is the biggest source of income for any government. Higher the tax revenue for the government, more funds available for it to spend on public and to regulate income in the country. Hence the implications and the consequences of tax are a major issue in microeconomics. Individuals and the businesses are the general source of tax revenues for the government in an economy. There are two types of taxation, which the government can use: Direct and Indirect Taxation. Direct tax is that tax which is levied on income, either of individuals as income-tax or on businesses such as corporation tax. On the other hand, Indirect tax is one in which the government levies the tax on goods and services such as VAT in UK. The implication of government levying the tax on a normal good is a case of an indirect tax. Normal good is a good for which, when income rises the demand for product also rises (positive income elasticity). In order to examine the burden of a tax placed by the government on a normal good, we have to look at several demand/supply situations. When a

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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The main points of difference between the UK mixed economy system and the economic conditions that existed in the former eastern bloc communist states.

The main points of difference between the UK mixed economy system and the economic conditions that existed in the former eastern bloc communist states. There can be many points of difference between the UK mixed economy and what existed previously. 'In the nineteenth century the UK government played only a small part in control of the economy. Today, the proper role of the government is open to debate. But most people can accept that it should at least try to influence economic activity'. In a small number of towns in the 1920s, more than half the potential working class were unemployed. A sustainable number of people thought that something should be done, and the only people to do this were the government. (The government had to sustain the level of employment). Furthermore, the'1970s was a period of rapid increase in prices'. The people thought that they had to raise their own incomes to cope with price rises. The general price increase is due to the working price system. 'Trading ideally needs to take place in settled conditions'. if people hesitate to trade , then fewer goods will be produced for sale. Therefore, if fewer products are manufactured the less people are employed in production. 'Price disturbances can therefore, cause the whole economy to stagnate'. When Margaret Thatcher was elected in 197 9 not only did the economy change but also the economic

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"...every trade, manufacture, adventure, or concern in the nature of a trade..."[1]

"...every trade, manufacture, adventure, or concern in the nature of a trade..."1 This is what ICTA 1988 defines trade as. By its very nature this is a vague description and its leaves it open for the courts and commissioners to decide on the merits of each case whether a certain income can taken to be a trade. The case law only heightens this and in my opinion is highly unsatisfactory and there should be more clarity on what constitutes a trade. Whilst I accept that there must be some lee-way given in respect to the individual facts of a case, the badges of trade and definition of a trade must be made clear for there to be any legal certainty a principle of utmost importance in large scale business transaction. Thankfully the courts and commissioners appear to be consistent in their judgments in their approach to the badges. In respect to the case of Marson v Marton it was held that there was no trade as it was outside the taxpayers typical transactions.(in this case a one off purchase and sale of land) I accept this as it follows the badges of trade to the letter and takes into account all aspects of the case. It's clear that the transaction was merely an investment and thus would not be taxable as a trade under ITTOIA (schedule D). Later cases present more of a problem. In regards to Ensign Tankers Ltd v Stokes, it was held by the commissioners that there was not a

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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"A crucial element for the stability of the EMS is the perception on the part of the financial markets that the authorities are strongly committed to defending their exchange rates" Discuss.

"A crucial element for the stability of the EMS is the perception on the part of the financial markets that the authorities are strongly committed to defending their exchange rates". Discuss this statement with reference to the roles that speculators and German reunification had in the EMS crisis of 1992/93. How did the crisis influence the future path of monetary integration? A fixed exchange rate regime operated in Europe in the post war period until the early 1970s. The European Monetary System replaced Bretton Woods; it begun in 1979 and ended on 31 December 1998, with the launch of the Euro. The EMS was an example of an 'incomplete' monetary union, and it had two principal components - the Ecu, and the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). The ERM was a predecessor to the Euro, but the first direction towards a common currency in Europe was the 1957 Treaty of Rome. Although its aim was a common market - not a monetary union - the Treaty did aspire towards the liberalisation of capital flows (which is a feature of a complete monetary union). But the defining event was the Werner Report of 1970, delivered by the Luxembourg Prime Minister. This Report was the first attempt to talk about monetary union, and concluded that it could be a reality by 1980. Although this date was missed by almost 20 years, the Report had no rigid timetable. The 3 stages set out were I) the voluntary

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Business and Administrative studies
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