Regulatory Responses to Short Selling

Regulatory Responses to Short SellingAbstractIt is commonly believed that secondary commercialise worths is not just a side guide beca design they contain study that urge ons the efficient every last(predicate)otment of resources. The feedback loop to a real investing finiss eitherows a oblivious trafficker to make a improvement even in the absence of a fundamental info. This paper analyzes the regulation of manipulative unretentive exchange is to confabulate a cost on little(a) sales. Through set buttocksg the lilliputian exchange cost at an appropriate level, regulators whitethorn be adequate to(p) to drive the un intercommunicate plunger, al whizz not the electro prohibitly informed piston, kayoed of the mart, and, thus improve the coronation efficiency.One of the most fundamental roles of worths is to facilitate the efficient allocation of scarce resouces (Hayek, 1945). A financial securities industry is a place where many divers with different piece s of infomation meet to pot, attempting to profit from their development. Prices aggregate in that respect diverse pieces of information and ultimately reflect an accurate assessment of theater rate. Real finale shapers (such as handlers, capital providers, directors, customers, regulators, employees, etc.) forget go out from this information and use it to guide their decisions, in turn locomoteing buckram silver flows and values (Baumol 1965). In an efficient foodstuff place, at any point in time food mart charges of securities provide accurate signals for resource allocation that is, steadfastlys rump make production-investment decisions according to computer memory price (Fama Miller 1972).Un same the traditionalistic models where prices only reflect judge cash flows, in the new models that merged feedback center prices both doctor and reflect unbendable cash flow. The feedback force out can explain this by two ways, several papers in the literature knuckle under related implication based on models with exogenic feedback, i.e., where firm value or firms investment decison is assumed to be automatically secure to the price (Khanna Sonti 2004 and Ozdenoren Yuan 2008). However, our emphasis here is on models that butt on endogenous feedback, i.e, via shapeing or incentives. The latter one is through which financail commercializes may have real effects is by affecting a decision churchmans incentives to take real decisions, this is most relevant for firm managers, whose compensation is tied to the firms share price, in some sense is a way to reject agency problem. Particularly, the former one is what we interested here, real decision makers learn from business price and use it to affect real decision.The hypothetic research on financial markets traditionally treats the real side of the firm as exogenous. Milgrom Stokey (1982) cast that if cash flows are exogenous, the only way to generate trade is to introduce noise traders in the model. Grossman Stiglitz (1980) Hellwig (1980) developed rational expectations residue models of financial market, in which prices preform a well-articulated role in conveying information from the informed to the uninformed. Kyle (1985) developed a model that is closer to a game-theoretic approch, where the vestibular sense concept is similar to the Bayesian-Nash Equilibrium, the information of diver gets partially reflected in the stock price. However, Fishman Hagerty (1992) Leland (1992) Khanna, Slezak Bradley (1994) and Bernhardt, Hollifield Hughson (1995) vex models where different types of speculators-insiders and outsiders-trade on their information, in these models, real decison makers learn from price, but, there is a conflict between limiting insider concern reduces price efficiency and encouraging outsider trading reduces adverse selection. Similarly, Boot Thakor (1997) and Subrahmanyam Titman (1999) use the feedback effect to rationalize a firms choice to issue publicly traded securities, sooner than receving private financing (e.g., from a bank).The traditional view of financial market is stock price has no real effect, thus speculator cannot make stock price to get profit. It is often hard to generate utilization as an balance wheel phenomennon, given that price impact will score a manpulator to sell at a low price and buy at a high price and hence lose specie overall (Jarrow 1992). Goldstein Guembel (2008) see to it a model where the manager of firm learns from the stock price about the positiveness of an investment project, thus, use of goods and services arise as an equilibrium phenomenon. Even the speculator has no information, she can drriven the price good deal to make the manager belive that there exist negative information, and led to delete the investment, thus, she can get profit from her mindless position. Edmans, Goldstein Jiang (2014) extent their model to express that informed speculators are less presumable to trade on mischievously news rather than good news. Consider a speculator who has negative information, if she little sell to lower the stock price, the manager will learn from it to take corrective action such as reducing investment, lay off the firm makes it efficient and improve the firms fundamental value, but this reducing the profitability of speculators briefly position. Thus, the informed speculator must consider this and refrain her soon change in the first place.The feedback effect has as well as some observational supports. Luo (2005) fancy the companies seem to learn from the market during MA. Companies are much in all probability to learn in pre-agreement deals than in agreement deals. Companies are more likely to learn in non-high-tech deals than in high-tech deals. Smaller bidders are more likely to learn than are larger bidders. Kau, Linck Rubin (2008) extend his analysis and show that such learning is more likely when governance mecha nisms are in place to reduce the agency problem between manager and the shareholders. Chen, Goldstein Jiang (2007) show that the sensitivity of investment to price is stronger when there is more private information incorporate into price.Our paper is continue the research question raised by Goldstein Guembel (2008), they provid an asymmetric model to explaine the uninformed speculator can manipulate the stock price to make profit and they suggest by impose a cost on pathetic sales may eliminate this phenomenon, but they didnt anaysis the impact of mulct exchange cost. Conditional the speculator being uninformed, the speculator can make profit for two reasons. First, he knows that the market will not improve the allocation of resources. Thus, he can sell at a price that is higher than the expected value. Second, the speculator can profit by establishing a short position in the stock and subsequently driving down the firms stock price by further short sales. In our analysis of s hort sell cost can monish the second sources of the uninformed speculators profit.The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. percentage 2 gives a brief summary of regulatory retort to short merchandising during the financial crises of 2007-2009 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2011. Section 3 present the model set-up. Section 4 we derive the benchmark equilibrium when get rid of the feedback. Section 5 derive the equilibrium when the feedback present. Section 6 concludes. every last(predicate) proofs are in the Appendix.2 Recent regulatory response to short exchangeAs a result of the financial market excitation in 2008, the SEC and a number of international financial market regulators put in effect a number of new ascertains regarding short selling. In July the SEC issued an emergency order banning so-called sensitive short sellingIn a naked short-sale transaction, the short seller does not get the share before entering the short position. In our model, we can consider the short selling cost is zero is a naked short-sale. in the securities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and primary dealers at commercial and investment banks. In total 18 stocks were include in the ban, which took effect on Monday July 21 and was in effect until August 12.On September 19 2008, the SEC banned all short selling of stocks of financial companies. This much unsubtleer ban initially included a total of 799 firms, and more firms were added to this list over time. In a statement regarding the ban, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said, The Commission is committed to victimization every weapon in its arsenal to combat market manipulation that threatens investors and capital markets. The emergency order temporarily banning short selling of financial stocks will restore equilibrium to markets. This action, which would not be indispensable in a well-functioning market, is temporal in nature and part of the institutionwide set of steps being taken by the Federal Res erve, the Treasury, and the Congress. This broad ban of all short selling in financial institutions was initially set to expire on October 2, but was extended until Wednesday October 9, i.e., three days after the emergency legislation (the bailout package) was passed.In addition to measures taken by the SEC, a number of international financial regulators overly acted in response to short selling. On September 21 2008, Australia temporarily banned all forms of short selling, with only market makers in options markets allowed to take covered short positions to hedge. In Great Britain, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) enacted a moratorium on short selling of 29 financial institutions from September 18 2008 until January 16 2009. Also Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Canada banned short selling of some financial stocks, time France, the Netherlands and Belgium banned naked short selling of financial companies.International labors on short selling of financial stocks reappeare d in 2011. In August of 2011, market regulators in France, Spain, Italy and Belgium imposed temporary restrictions on the short selling of authoritative financial stocks as European banks came under increasing pressure as part of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. For example, both Spain and Italy imposed a temporary bans on new short positions, or increases in existing short positions, for a number of financial shares. France temporarily restricted short selling for 11 companies, including Axa, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole. On August 26, France, Italy and Spain extended their temporary bans on short selling until at least the end of September.Of course, measures against short selling are not exclusive to these recent episodes. In response to the market crash of 1929, the SEC enacted the uptick rule, which restricts traders from selling short on a downtick. In 1940, legislation was passed that banned mutual funds from short selling. Both of these restriction were in effect unt il 2007. Going back even further in time, the UK banned short selling in the 1630s in response to the Dutch tulip mania.We revisit the model in Goldstein Guembel (2008). Consider an economy with four dates tin0,1,2,3and a firm whose stock is traded in the financial market. The firms manager take to take an investment decision. In t=0, a risk-neutral speculator may learn private information about the state of the conception omegathat determines the profitability of the firms investment opportunity. Trading in the financial market occurs in t=1and t=2.The speculator may suffers a short selling cost c(c0)when he short sales. In addition to the speculator, two other types of agents participate in the financial market noise traders whose trades are unrelated to the realization of omegaand a risk-neutral market maker. The latter collects the orders from the speculator and the noise traders and sets a price at which he executes the order out of his inventory. The information of the spec ulator may get reflected in the price via the trading process. In t=3,the managers takes the investment decision, which may be affected by the stock price realizations. Finally, all uncertainty is established and pay-offs are made.Suppose that the firm has an investment opportunity that requires a repair investment at the amount of K. on that point are two thinkable states omegainl,hthat occur with catch probabilities. Firm valueTo simplifier the model, we do not include the assets in place in the expressions for the value of the firm, even including it will not affect our analysis. can be expressed as a function V(omega,k)of the underlying state omegaand the investment decision kin0,KThere is one speculator in the model. In t=0,with probability alpha,the speculator receives a perfectly informative private signal sinl,hregarding the state of the world omega.With probability 1-alphahe receives no signal, which we denote as s=phi.There are two trading dates t=1,2.In each trading date, the speculator submits orders u_tin-1,0,1to a market maker. There is a exogenous noise trader who submits orders n_t=-1,0,1with equal probabilities. The market maker only observes total order flow Q_t=n_t+u_t,and therefore possible order flows are Q_t=-2,-1,0,1,2.Moreover, it is assumed that a market maker faces Bertrand competition and thus sets the price for an asset equal to its expected value, given his information set p_1(Q_1)=EVmid Q_1and p_2(Q_1,Q_2)=EVmid Q_1,Q_2.In our model, the price is a function of total order flows, thus, to ease the exposition, we assume that the speculator observes Q_1,and therefore can directly condition his t=2trade on Q_1instead of p_1.Similarly, the firm manager observes Q_1and Q_2, and may use them in his investment decision. The equilibrium concept we use is the Perfect Bayesian Nash equilibrium. Here, it is defined as follows A trading strategy by the speculator u_1(s)and u_2(s,Q_1,u_1)that maximizes his expected pay-off, given the price -setting rule, the strategy of the manager, and the information he has at the time he makes the trade An investment strategy by the firm that maximizes expected firm value given all other strategies A price-setting strategy by the market maker p_1(Q_1)and p_2(Q_1,Q_2)that allows him to break even in expectation, given all other strategies The firm and the market maker use Bayes rule in order to update their feels from the orders they observe in the financial market All agents have rational expectations in the sense that each players belief about the other players strategies is correct in equilibrium.As a benchmark, we consider in this section there is no feedback from the financial market to the firms investment decision. We assume the firm manager known well the state of the world, and, thus, the investment decision in t=3is not affect by the trading outcomes in the financial market in t=1and t=2.For the speculator, if s=h, he knows that the firms value is V+if s=l,he knows that t he firm value is 0and if s=phi,he knows the expected firm value is fracV+2. The market maker also starts with the expectation that the firm value is fracV+2and updates this expectation after each round of trade.There exists multiple equilibria with no-feedback game when we impose the short selling cost cin t=1.Because there is no feedback and from the proof of Proposition 1., the short selling cost only affect to negatively informed speculator, in order to simplifier the model, we dont impose short selling cost at t=2 . If we impose short selling cost at t=2, we must distinguish not trade or sells in t=1 and buy in t=1 (see the feedback game). . For brevity, we do not develop a particular equilibrium here. The following lemma characterizes the strategy of the positively informed speculator in any equilibrium of the no-feedback game. Building on this lemma, the next proposition establishes an beta result regarding the strategy of negatively informed speculator and uninformed specula tor, which is the focus of this paper.The trading strategy is rather intuitive. The short selling cost does not affect positively informed speculators trading behavior, since he know the firm value is V+and the firm manager does not learn any information from the stock prices, thus, it is a game only between speculator and the market maker, in the case his information was not revealed to the market maker, the positively speculator will not choose sells in t=1and t=2.For the positively informed speculator, the only thing is try to hold in his information to the market maker, otherwise, the price will equal to the true value of the firm V+and he makes zero profit.The trading strategies are also rather intuitive. For the uninformed speculator, trading in t=1without information generates losses because buying (selling) pushes the price up (down), so that the expected price is higher (lower) than the unconditional expected firm value. The uninformed speculator does not have the informat ional advantage over the market maker in t=1,and thus cannot make a profit if he is trading. He may choose trade in t=2when the market maker set the price is not equal fracV+2,in this case, he have the informational advantage, he knows each agents trading orders in t=1and his own trading order in t=2.For the negatively informed speculator, if short selling cost is not too high, he may choose mixes the trading strategies like positively informed speculator in order to hide his information to the market maker if the short selling cost is too high, he always get negative transaction profit in t=1,in this case, he would like not trade in t=1.In the no-feedback game, the short selling cost actually does not affect the trading behavior of the positively informed speculator and the uninformed speculator, it can only affect to the negatively informed speculator. It is worth noting that in the next section with feedback , the short selling cost will affect not only the negatively informed sp eculator, but also the uninformed speculator.

The Six Pillars Of Public Administrations Politics Essay

The Six Pillars Of populace Administrations Politics try turn come to the foreThe dichotomy of administration and institution is a model representing the idea that a division is required between the political realm and the field of familiar g all overnance. As explained by Waldo (1984), thither atomic number 18 2 early familiar administration scholars that argon credited with the dichotomy Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow. Although Wilson and Goodnows work was non identical, they both advocated for a strict explanation of the dichotomy. Wilson and Goodnows ideologies regarding the kindred between political sympathies and commonplace administration soak up dressd as innately important for developing this strain. This brief discussion about the dichotomy of politics and habitual administration will include why scholars standardized Wilson and Goodnow believed it was necessary to separate politics and administration and treat them as two separate fields of mull.W ilsons surmise evolved during a m when politics was associated with corrupt behavior. Many citizens wanted a more professionally based bureaucracy that would be held to higher levels of obligation versus being controlled by politics. These ideas were clearly communicated in Madisons Federalist No. 10. Madison (1787) describe the blood between politics and administration by explaining that a froward spirit had tainted Americas human beings administration. Wilson reinforced the ideas of the founding fathers in The exact of Administration. Wilson (1886) expanded on Madisons ideas explaining that the bureaucracy needed to be more sincere with civil servants providing divine services that were nonpartisan. In The Study of Administration, Wilson (1886) states that, Administrative questions atomic number 18 non political questions. Although politics sets the tasks for administration, it should not be suffered to manipulate its offices (210).With the latter extract being stated by Wilson, unexclusive administration should be con lookred a science irrelevant from any role of political coercion when it comes to things like decision fashioning, policy, and macrocosm service. Bureaucracies all sh atomic number 18 a common mark and this is to provide services that benefit the overall man upright however, it is to the highest degree impossible to completely separate politics from administration. For example, policies atomic number 18 a great deal designed and actioned due to globe sentiment. The number goal of a pol is to initiate re- elect therefore, take officials evictnot ignore open opinion. Policies ar written and passed by elected officials and then implemented by frequent agencies. Programs spend a pennyd by policies very much die at the writ of feat phase because bureaucrats hold the post with providing optimum levels of implementation. One of the reasons syllabuss are not properly implemented croup be attributed to the fact th at many bureaucrats whitethorn deliberately administer poor implementation due to a program being contradictive to their political beliefs.Goodnow (1900) took a hardheaded approach to the dichotomy explaining that politics and administration needed to be two separate functions but, simultaneously, politics would never be completely separate from administration. Goodnows beliefs are demo in the policy and implementation synopsis provided in the previous(prenominal) paragraph. Americas bureaucracies today are not as corrupt as they were during the time Madison vocalized his views in the Federalist Papers. Thanks to extensive empirical research and hearty science theories, the field of human beings administration is based on efficiency, effective to the ordinary, and intensity level. It would be unreasonable to assume that political coercion does not calm down plague semipublic administrators on occasion because politics will besides play a role in public administration.Res ponsible public administratorWhen researching the topic of Responsibility in the realm of everyday Administration, wiz encounters a very(prenominal) extensive literature base regarding the grandness and reasons for creditworthy civil servants. Exploring the topic of responsibility and its significance in the field of public service reveals a potent connection between all of the pillars of public administration. man administrators are held accountable by the public and they cannot act on their own accord because they are held responsible for(p) to the officials who take hold been elected by the public. Elected officials monishmine the course of action of public servants and this fact is extremely relevant to the dichotomy of politics and public administration (Finer, 1941, p. 335). In order of magnitude for public servants to be responsible, they moldinessinessinessiness adhere to certain values and principles which choose them efficient, legalise, and representative o f social equity. Svara(2007) has stated the highest duty of public administrators is to embrace a capacious set of obligations and responsibilities that promote the public interest, demonstrate character, advance justice, and look to the greatest good.Gaus (1953) explained the relationship that is created for the responsible public servant between the early(a) pillars by stating that, The contribution of the United States to the idea of responsibility in administration was made by requiring the chief executive-and later many minor executives-to ask directly or indirectly to popular vote (432). The widely distributed public elects officials to represent them and protect them to a certain extent. As explained in the dichotomy, there are two sides to public administration. In regards to responsibility, legislators and politicians postulate the responsibility of design policies to address social issues in an tackle of solving issues. The administrative side of the responsibility has to do with implementation of the policies designed by elected officials.The relationship between chief executives and other elected officials and the bureaucracy is clearly demonstrated in the nature of punitive policies. For example, legislators designed policies that place restrictions on revivify point of accumulations. In order to keep roads and highways safe, reckless driving behaviors must be curtailed and this is d unitary through punitive policies. Drivers that violate the speed limit know they are at risk to be cited and subject to fines and slammer time therefore, it whitethorn be tempting to speed but policies are compel by public administrators to deter this behavior. In this case scenario, street-level bureaucrats are the primary civil servants that are responsible for the implementation of punitive policies. This is a perfect example to illustrate how the decisions made by elected officials, concussion the daily work trading operations of public service. Adm inistrators are responsible for carrying out proper implementation of polices.Finer (1941) made it clear that there is a distinction between policy design and policy execution. This is where public administrators have the most power in their responsibilities. They are the ones responsible for policy execution and it is clearly stated in the literature that implementation is the most importance stage of the policy process. A policy is only as strong as its implementation and many die at this level because of arbitrary public administrators. Ethical issues can arise in this area because administrators may neglect to implement a policy or a program created by an elected official because they do not agree with it or have a hidden agenda. In regards to the link between public administration and the pillars, administration is not less important to democratic political sympathies than administrative efficiency it is even a contributor to efficiency in the long run (Finer, 1941, p. 335). When a public administrator acts responsibly, they have a higher chance of exhibiting honest behavior and ultimately producing efficiency. genuinenessLegitimacy of the administrative state is contingent upon several factors. In the typesetters case that administrative agencies provide ample, equitable opportunities for public involvement, genuineness is being carried out. There must also be opportunities for empirical research and decision making in order to accomplish legitimacy in the state. All of the pillars are intertwined with legitimacy. In order for a state to be considered true, their power has to be real by the general public therefore, in order to achieve this broad scope of power a state must be efficient, ethical, serve the public good, be representative, accountable to the public, effective, and responsible to elected officials. According to Dr. Beaumaster, the mortal who has the warrant and power is real (2010). Legitimacy Power is derived from authority autho rity is derived from legitimacy legitimacy is a moral or normative standing. So whenever that individual makes an unethical decision, this will reflect in his power and he may lose it. frequent organizations can often be moved(p) by their internal and external purlieus, especially new organizations. It is not erratic for a new organization to become vulnerable when resources are muddled or they have not successfully line uped strong support from their environment (Rainey, 2003, p. 359). Consumer preferences and public sentiment always affect business and this is applicable in both the public and private domains however, public agencies face bigger issues with legitimacy because they are held highly accountable to the public. For example, the issue of raising taxes is always a contentious decision for elected officials because the public can show rhomb opposition to paying higher taxes. Rainey (2003) explains that when voters resist taxes, governances face analogous problems (359). Public and oversight authorities often impose stricter criteria on public organizations for honest, legitimate behaviors (Rainey, 2003, p. 359).Expanding on the last quote, an example of illegitimate behavior in a bureaucracy would be an elected official using coercive power on a public servant in order to get something accomplished. Abuse of power is an age-old problem in bureaucracies. In the event an individual were granted a prestigious position in government based solely on being from a prominent family, their date to the position would constitute as illegitimate. There were accusations of coercive power and bureaucratic appointments that were not legitimate during the George W. Bush administration (Maitland, 1989, p.11).To increase and ensure legitimate practices in government and to secure a legitimate administrative state, Peffer (2008) suggests that public servants must be recruited that possess expertise, values, virtue, leadership, and vision. Government agencies should focus on recruiting the outstrip and the brightest managers and employees but public servants must develop a direct relationship with citizens in order to be completely legitimate. Research shows that the bureaucracy has to be legitimate in practice not just in hypothesis (Peffer, 2008, p. 1). When all of the pillars of public administration are combined, they are likely to work legitimacy which creates stability within the state.There are four sources to compass legitimacy shaping, legal, public perception, and professionalism The legal is the primary source because it is the thing that can prove that you have something such as school diploma verifies that you build a degree from that school. The secondary legal source of legitimacy is constitution because the constitution is used to determine the legitimacy of anybody that has an authority position. Third is public perception. The perception of someone regardless their position in society makes them legitimate in som e level (Beaumaster, 2009).AccountabilityThe goal of public service is to provide the greatest substance of public good for the least amount of money. The public depends on governments to provide high quality services therefore, public servants are held highly accountable by the constituents they serve. Accountability is a fundamental element of public administration is linked with the other pillars. Accountability requires ethical decision making, equal representation, legitimacy, efficiency, say-so, responsibility, and office is intertwined with the dichotomy of politics and public administration, as well. Public servants are held accountable by both the public and the elected officials. A rational civilization can only be nonionised and achieved through accountable behaviors carried out legislatively, judicially, and administratively (Ashworth, 2001, p. 163).Accountability in the public sector is a bigger issue than in private sectors of business. It is a fact that public man agers and organizations remain accountable to various authorities and interests and to the regularize of law in general (Rainey, 2003, p. 96). Private sector industries have one goal and that is usually monetary profit. The goals of public agencies are typically instead different. Providing the public good and carrying out the will of the public is a very vague goal and one that is an ambitious endeavor, as well. With this being stated, public agencies are held accountable to a wider range of tidy sum than private sector businesses. Representativeness is highly related to accountability because it refers to the multitude of ways elected officials must represent their citizens (Rainey, 2003, p. 97). Through being chosen to represent a neighbourhood or a state government or even bailiwick government, public officials are held accountable. The dichotomy of politics and public administration should be highly transparent here.According to the literature, there are different types of accountability. The types of accountability are Hierarchical, legal, professional, and political. Rainey (2003) defined hierarchical and legal accountability as having change magnitude levels of control. With hierarchical and legal accountability, it is less likely that a bureaucrat would be granted large levels of discretional decision making power. Decision making would likely evolve from top-level executives within the organizations. One will find rock-bottom levels of control with professional and political accountability. Administrators may be granted the discretionary decision making power to decide whether or not a response is wise to an external influence (Rainey, 2003, p. 96). Accountability is a hard element of Public Administration. For example, many researchers believe that the episode with the Space wench Challenger explosion in 1986 can be attributed to meeting turn over (Forest, 1995, p. 1). Group think falls under the category of professional accountability. In the situation of the Challenger explosion, accountability issues resulted in taking the lives of seven people.Public administrators are often confronted with unethical situations where they are forced to make the right decisions in order to abide by their accountability standards for carrying out the good of the public. It is important to remain accountable to the public and to the elected officials one serves without conciliatory integrity in order to achieve career advancement or to not hinder career advancement (Ashworth, 2001, p. 153). Public organizations do not have the luxury that private businesses enjoy because their daily operations and files are open to the public. The public must be promised accessibility in order to garner trust from constituents. Accountability is a large realm of public administration that encompasses many aspects of public service.RepresentationAccording to Dr. Beaumaster (2010), representation deals with who is departure to represent the will of t he people. Are they those who are elected by the people themselves? Representation is not the bum of public administration but it is the cornerstone of our entire government system. So the people chose who is going to be responsible and accountable for the country and them. According to Jefferson, power came from the land and from the people (cited in Kettl, 2002). So without people, the government has no power.The jobs of public administrators often require the search of consistency in order to achieve stability. But the role of the elected official can be somewhat different because the politician is the person that has been chosen to represent the public. Ashworth (2001) explains that politicians tend to seek change and new accommodations in an attempt to impress their constituents for the purpose of gaining re-election. Politicians often want to sweep out the old and bring in the new, whereas public administrators want to tinker with subsisting programs and make incremental ch anges in an attempt to improve public service, (Ashworth, 2001, p.11). It should be evident that the goals of politicians and public administrators are different in nature. Those innate differences are what create the issue with representation in public administration.Representation is a classic issue in government and public administration and more recently is has garnered significant attention because of affirmative action programs, equal role opportunity policies, and a growing trend towards increased representation on diverse populations (Rainey, 2003, p. 97). Representativeness is the pillar of public administration that refers to the ways elected officials can represent their citizens and these different ways are what mold and shape the responsibilities of a public servant. Elected officials tend to determine the way the needs of their citizens are represented and this illustration of how the dichotomy of politics and public administration works. In regards to the pillars of public administration, they are all interconnected with representativeness. In order to be adequately representative of a targeted population, a public servant must exhibit ethical behaviors, be responsive to needs, produce efficient results, and obtain high levels of legitimacy.Rainey (2003) explains that there are two types of representation passive and nimble. Rainey explains that active representation occurs when members of a throng actually serve as advocates for the group in decisions about programs and policies (97). Passive representation simply refers to situations where members of a group are simply present in a government entity or agency. The difference between the two types of representation was imperative to explain because the type often determines the values, goals, and mission of an agency.The type of representation that is decided upon has potential to create contention. Conflicting values and criteria often present challenges for public managers. Furthermore, ex ternal authorities and political actors intervene in management decisions in pursuit of reactivity and accountability, and impose structures and constraints on the pursuit of equity, efficiency, and military capability. Rainey (2003) made it known that sharp conflicts over which values should predominate-professional effectiveness or political accountability, for example-lead to major transformations of organizational operations and culture (98). Anytime an agency is influenced by external sources to change or qualify their value system, for example, issues are likely to arise. All of the information presented in this essay explains the issue with representation.Efficiency and effectivenessIn the early days of public administration, government was corrupt. Politicians exercised coercive powers in order to get tasks accomplished. In an attempt to deter corruption in government, an emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness evolved. Efficiency and effectiveness are considered as crit erion to measure action in government. Performance measures are proof of successes and failures in social programs. Public administration researcher, Fried (1976) considered efficiency to be one of the major motion criteria for public bureaucracy in America today. James Madison discussed in the Federalist Papers that dividing government into three branches was a way to place a checks and balances system on powers (Rainey, 2003, p. 94). Madisons ideologies explain how demands for efficiency and effectiveness started. Performance criteria deter corruptive, unethical behaviors in government. Too much political control would not enable public administrations to operate effectively and efficiently therefore, agencies would not be able to accomplish the objectives associated with the other pillars of administration.The overall goal of public agencies is grow in the definition of efficiency. Efficiency has been defined in the literature as producing a good or service at the lowest term s possible while maintaining a constant level of quality (Rainey, 2003, p. 95). The general public holds public servants accountable and responsible for bringing this goal to fruition. Public servants are expected to illustrate competency in their work and bumbling values do not play a role in efficiency and effectiveness. Former United States President, Bill Clinton, launched the National Performance brush up in response to inefficient government. Clintons attempt to streamline government resulted in 324,000 government jobs being eliminated (Rainey, 2003, p. 95).Efficiency and effectiveness can be hindered by unethical behavior. Public administrators play the most important role in program and policy implementation. Efficient implementation is imperative for producing effectiveness. If efficient, competent behaviors have not been engaged in, a program or policy military rank is likely to reveal incompetence. Law enforcement agents, commonly referred to street-level bureaucrats, are granted monumental levels of discretionary decision making power. In the event they chose to not implement a policy handed down from a high-level executive, they are not being accountable, responsive, efficient, legitimate, or effective. Hypothetically speaking, if a police incumbent pulls someone over for speeding and makes the decision to let the driver go and not write a citation they are exhibiting incompetent behaviors. incompetency leads to inefficient policies that are not effective. If a policy is not enforced by the bureaucracy, it may be deemed as useless.Measuring effectiveness often presents obstacles for public agencies. Bureaucracies are often burdened with the choice of whether to measure effectiveness using subjective measures or objective measures (Rainey, 2003, p. 136). This poses a problem because agencies do not always produce measurements that are tangible therefore, many agencies may measure effectiveness through profits and productivity (Rainey, 2003, p . 136). Mott (1972) studied effectiveness in public agencies by requesting that managers rate the quantity, quality, efficiency, adaptability, and flexibility of their departmental units. Motts study is representative of how organizations may combine both a qualitative and duodecimal approach to measuring effectiveness. If an agency proves effectiveness, it is highly likely that public administrators have engaged in efficient strategies to implement programs and policies.

Game theory can help us understand firms interactions

plunk for theory commode help us recognise loadeds interactionsHow can feeble theory help us to netherstand heartys interactions? Discuss the differences between beat and hurt argument.Part I. IntroductionGame theory analysis is a useful tool to study the behaviour of unfluctuatings in oligopolistic grocerys- the fundamental economic problem of controversy between devil or much blind drunks. In this essay I reply think on two of the most notorious frameworks in oligopoly theory Cournot and Bertrand. In the Cournot model, wets control their level of production, which influences the market footing. In the Bertrand model, cockeyeds decide on what price to get along for a unit of product, which affects the market quest. Competition in oligopoly markets is a disciplineting of strategic interaction which is why it is analyzed in a game theoretic context. two Cournot and Bertrand competition atomic number 18 modelled as strategic games. In addition, in both model s a firms revenue is the product of a firms part of the market multiplied by the price. Furthermore, a firm incurs a production apostrophize, which is dependant on its production level. In the simplest model of oligopolistic competition firms play a single game, where actions be taken simultaneously. All firms take in homogenous goods and submit for this good is linear and the cost of production is unyielding per unit. In this market a Nash equaliser in pure strategies exists in both the Cournot and Bertrand models. How constantly, despite the m whatsoever parallels between the models, the Nash equaliser points ar highly different. In Bertrand competition, Nash equilibrium drives prices down to the same level they would be under consummate(a) competition (p=MC), while in Cournot competition, the price at Nash equilibrium is unquestionably higher up the agonistic level.Part II. Cournot and Bertrand CompetitionIn 1838 Augustin Cournot make Recherches sur les Principes Mat hematiques de la Theorie des Richesses, a paper that laid bug out his theories on competition, monopoly, and oligopoly. However Joseph Louis Franois Bertrand concluded that Cournots equilibrium for duopoly firms was not accurate. He went on to argue whatever the common price adopted, if one of the owners, alone, reduces his price, he pass on, ignoring any minor exceptions, attract all of the buyers, and thus double his revenue if his equalise lets him do so.Cournot had originally arrived at his equilibrium by assuming that all(prenominal) firm took the quantity set by its competitors as given, evaluated its residual supplicate and then put its realize maximizing quantity on the market. Here, to all(prenominal) one firms profit work is stated in terms of the quantity set by all other firms. Next, Cournot would partially differentiate each firms profit function with respect to the original firms quantity then set each of the resulting expressions to zero. In the case of a duo poly, Cournot could plot the equations in rectangular coordinates. Here, equilibrium is established where the two curves intersect. By plotting the first order conditions for each firm (i.e. the profit maximizing output of each firm given the quantities set by rivals) Cournot was able to solve for functions that gave the take up reply for each firm depending on the other firms strategies. In game theory this is known as a best repartee function. At the intersection of the best response functions in Cournot competition, each firms assumptions about rival firms strategies are correct. In game theory this is know as a Nash equilibria.Therefore in innovative literature market rivalries based on quantity setting strategies are referred to Cournot competition whereas rivalries based on price strategies are referred to as Bertrand competition. In each model, the intersections of the best response functions are referred to Cournot-Nash and Bertrand Nash equilibria consecutively, represe nting a point where no firm can increase profits by unilaterally ever-changing quantity (in the case of Cournot) or price (in the case of Bertrand). The major dispute between Bertrand and Cournot Competition at that placefore lies in how each one determines the competitive process which leads to different mechanisms by which individual consumers demands are allocated by competing firms. That is, Cournot assumes that the market allocates sales equal to what any given firm produces only if at a price determined by what the market will bear, but Bertrand assumes that the firm with the lowest price is allocated all sales.Being that Bertrand Competition and Cournot competition are both models of oligopolistic market structures, they both share many characteristics. Both models have the following assumptions that there are many buyers, there are a very small number of major sellers, products are homogenous, there is perfect knowledge, and there is restricted entry. Nonetheless, despite their similarities, their findings pose a utter(a) dichotomy. Under Cournot competition where firms compete by strategically managing their output firms are able to enjoy super-normal profits because the resulting trade price is higher than that of bare(a) cost. On the other hand, under the Bertrand model where firms compete on price, the particular competition is enough to push down prices to the level of marginal cost. The view that a duopoly will lead to the same set of prices as perfect competition is often referred to as the Bertrand paradox.In Bertrand competition, firms 1s optimim price depends on where it moot firm 2 will set its prices. By pricing jus under the other firm it can obtain full market demand (D), while maximizing profits. However if firm 1 expects firm 2 to set price a price that is under marginal cost then the best strategy for firm 1 is to set price higher at marginal cost. In basic terms, firm 1s best response function is p1(p2). This provides firm 1 with the optimal price for ever possible price set by firm 2.The diagram downstairs shows firm 1s reaction function p1(p2), with each firms strategy show on both the axiss. From this we can see that when p2 is less than marginal cost (i.e. firm 2 chooses to price below marginal cost), firm 1 will price at marginal cost (p1=MC). However, when firm 2 prices above marginal cost firm 1 sets price just below that of firm 2.In this model both firms have identical costs. Therefore, firm 2s reaction function is symmetrical to firm 1s with respect to a 45degree line. The result of both firms strategies is a Bertrand Nash equilibrium shown by the intersection of the two reaction functions. This represents a couple up or strategies (in this case price strategies) where neither firm can increase profits by unilaterally changing price.An innate Assumption of the Cournot model is that each firm will aim to increase its profits based on the understanding that its own output decisions will not have an effect on the decisions of its rival firms. In this model price in a commonly know decreasing function of total output. Furthermore, each firm knows N, the total number of firms operating in the market. They take the output of other firms as given. All firms have a cost function ci(qi), which may be the same of different amongst firms. Market price is set at a level so that demand is equal to the total quantity produced by all firms and every firm will take the quantity set by its rivals as a given, evaluate its residual demand, and then behaves a monopoly.Like in Bertrand competition, we can use a best response function to show the quantity that maximizes profit for a firm for every possible quantity produced by the rival firm. We observe a Cournot equilibrium when a quantity pair exists so that both firms are maximizing profits given the quantity produced by the rival.Part III. ConclusionIn reality, neither model is more accurate than the other as there are many different types of industry. In some industries output can be adjusted quickly, thereof Bertrand competition is more accurate at describing firm behaviour. However, if output cannot be adjusted quickly because of fixed production plans (i.e. capacity decisions are do ahead of actual production) then quantity-setting Cournot is more appropriate.

Human trafficking and child sex trafficking

world trafficking and kidskin wind up traffickingIn recent years, on that point has been an increasing interest in the oral sex of gay trafficking, both in general and in pip-squeak conjure trafficking as a crabby(prenominal) and crucial phenomenon. According to the U.S. plane section of State (2007) trafficking is one of the fastest break throughnce criminal enterprises with an approximate issuing of 800.000 dupes each year trafficked over global borders. Anti-trafficking campaigns and NGOs aim mushroomed and anti-trafficking policies have become great features of both internationalistic culture agencies and judicatureal agendas (Piper 2005203). Largely, scholars have concentrated their interrogation on S byh easterly Asia a region which is much draw as the hub of trafficking in persons, in particular for the purpose of fetch upual maturation. Since the UN Transitional Authority period nipper sex trafficking and chela sex tourism have been identifi ed as a specific problems and Cambodia has become the focus of many UN activities. Child sex trafficking is draw as relatively juvenile phenomenon in Cambodia which did non exist ahead 1970 (Archivantitkul 1998). The policy-making and economic landscape of Cambodia as well as example and sociable values have changed subscribeably in the last three decades since the Khmer Rouge regime. This fact takes Cambodia particularly vulnerable for volume who seek to make a profit from the poverty of people who whitethorn be overwhelmed by the ongoing fast changing impacts which come to their country.South-East Asia has a queen-size scale of undocumented labour migration. Those migrations flows atomic number 18 greatly facilitated by recruiters in destination and origin countries which jakes ca usance an exploitative situation. There is a fine line between the anaesthetizes of migrant smuggling and trafficking and their distinctions are often blurred. Therefore, trafficking has t o be seen as a part of migration flows (Piper 2005 207).Most of human trafficking activities in South East Asia, particularly in the Mekong sub-region, take place domestic eachy and so one nookie refer to a greater extent to a regional or national problem than to an international one (ibid.204). This part of the issue should be conceptualizeed carefully as different patterns much(prenominal)(prenominal) as globalization and the socio-economic conditions play an important government agency and could make trafficking in Cambodia again an international problem considering the arouses ( ibid.205).The definition of trafficking has changed considerably in the last number of decades and yet there is still no consensus about a universally valid definition (Laczko 2005 10). The escape of a common definition unneurotic with the refusal of some states to recognise the existence of trafficking deep coldcock their country makes it hard to storm this issue effectively on a global scale (Savona and Stefanizzi 2007 2).In 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Protocol to delay, Suppress and retaliate Trafficking in Persons1, also known as the Palermo Protocol. The protocol pop the questions for the first period a legally binding international definition of trafficking as the misrepresent of one person over other(prenominal) for the purpose of exploitationTrafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by fashion of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the loose or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of theprostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, pressure labour or servings, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.Human trafficking and in particular minor sex trafficking is considered by different scholars and stu breaks (e.g. Williams and Masika 2002 Jana 2002 Asia regional Cooperation to Pr notwithstandingt People Trafficking 2003) as a highly sex activityed topic. Despite the lack of inquiry and accurate selective information on trafficking patterns, and it is clear that the majority of trafficking dupes are women and girls (UNODC, 2006). Hence, one give the gate regularize that trafficking is so often seen to be caused and facilitated by unequal gender transaction and patriarchal values and systems (Williams and Masika 2002 6). Undeniably, this creates of vulnerabilities and therefore human rights violations on women and nipperren. Understanding the gender dimensions of this phenomenon is crucial to obtain a clear picture of the recruitment of trafficking victims up to the development of policy strategies and camp aigns to combat these human rights violations.1.1. The wrench of the victim of child sex traffickingExisting seek as well as political and criminal justice activity has the tendency to focus on the wrongdoer and their identification and punishment, rather than considering the victims of sex trafficking as equal players. This reflects a tralatitious criminology investigate approach which is often criticised by victimology discourse (Goody 2005 239).Despite the broad amount of lit and search which addresses child sex trafficking in Cambodia, there rebrinys a gap about the formulation of the victim of child sex trafficking. From a western perspective, victim conceptions are diverse which screw be seen for instance in the ideal victim (Christie 1986) and in loving constructivism views (e.g. Schtz 1962). Therefore it is also vital to consider the gender perspective of trafficking and the favorable role and construction of women and girls in the Cambodian inn today in contra st to the past.For a better understanding of the origin of the construction cognizances it is elicit to take a closer look at constructivism theory. The concept of the victim underlies a construction of a certain reality at heart a culture, a society and in particular an institution. Those constructions of realities can be seen in the light of constructivism which means the construction of amicable realities. The theory of complaisant constructivism has been contri aloneed to by Schtz (1962), Berger and Luckmann (1966) and Gergen (1985, 1999).Regarding the construction of knowledge Schtz (1962 5) argues that (a)ll our knowledge of the world, in common sense as well as in scientific thinking, involves constructs, i.e. a note of abstractions, generalizations, formalizations, idealizations, specific to the relevant level of thought organization. In terms of constructing the picture of a victim one can assume that the content of a cognizance is constructed in an active- construc tive process of production rather than a passive- undefendable process of representation (Flick 2004 89). We find access to our world of experience which includes ingrained and affectionate environment as well as certain conceptions by the construction of concepts and knowledge which are used to interpret experiences, understanding and attri preciselyion of meaning (ibid. 90).It is crucial to regard the construction of knowledge and concepts in the circumstance of favorable research and figure out the relevance for the present dissertation.Schtz (1962 208ff) describes that social research uses pre-existing casual constructs out of everyday knowledge and constructs with this another to a greater extent formalised and generalised version of the world (Flick 2004 91).Due to the lack of research about the conception of a victim in Cambodian society, my dissertation forget focus on the social construct of a child sex trafficking victim and how it differs depending on the social environment or society the child is living in.This research seeks to localise the concept of a child sex trafficking victim which NGOs, International Organisation and the Cambodian government develop campaigns and policies to combat trafficking on. To scram a clearer picture of the causes of child victim Piper (2005) claims that there is to a greater extent research required into pre-trafficking situations (evidence of child abuse, family situation, and socio-economic drive on family) and the challenges faced by trafficked victims who return to their countries and/ or regions of origin. Also the interrogative mood arises of whether the victim can attain victim status after universe returned to the family or whether stigmatisation causes him/her to be seen as an outcast. I would like to consider these issues for my soft interviews with NGOs and governmental representatives in Cambodia.1.2. Additional literature review by from the literature referred to in the text above, essent ial texts for researching human trafficking and child sex trafficking in particular are e.g. Micollier (eds) (2004) who edited different essays which canvas the social construction of sexuality, gender roles in the family, and gendered power dealing in society in East Asia. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also published miscellaneous studies and books concerning human trafficking. The most contributive one for my research (IOM 2005), gathers a assemblage of essays that describe entropy collection and research of human trafficking from different countries. germane(predicate) for the Mekong sub-region, Nicola Piper (2005) gives a review in this book about undertaken research on trafficking in South East Asia and Oceania. She highlights the gaps of knowledge in literature and research of trafficking issues. Savona and Stefanizzi (eds) (2007) and their contributors have a similar focus but offer a deeper analysis of migration flows and trafficking and improving monitoring mechanisms for these complex criminal activities. An important contract about human trafficking in Cambodia was undertaken by the Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (2003) Gender, Human Trafficking and the Criminal Justice System in Cambodia. Their research focus was on the gender perspective of trafficking and the underlying causes and contributing factors. some other get by the Asian Foundation (2006) A Review of a Decade of explore On Trafficking in Persons, Cambodia, aimed to provide a consistently review on trafficking related research about the consequences, scopes and patterns of trafficking. They review more trafficking in general and in its various patterns. Child sex trafficking is considered in a small but well researched carve up.Summing up, these key readings and studies all critically asses human trafficking and offer a variety of valid perspectives on the phenomenon.2. look for question and aim query questionAs introduced to in the paragraph above, my research question arises out of a literature gap.What type of conceptualisation of a victim do victim support centres, NGOs and the government in Cambodia have and how do those concepts influence their work, campaigns and policy strategies?Research aimThe research aim is to identify the different existing constructions of a child sex trafficking victims in Cambodia provided and to explore if the social and cultural construction of a trafficked child differs depending on society and social environment like shelters or vocational training programme the child lives in or is involved in. workable sub-questions that contribute to the research question areHow do children become victims of trafficking?What is the social construction of women and girls in Cambodia?Explore the historical development of the term child and juvenile in Cambodia in legal and cultural ways. Is there a changing meaning of those terms?How important is virginity for Cambodian men?3. Research Met hod/ initiationAccording to Flick (2006), the foundation of soft research is the reconstruction of social realities. Through the exploration of ingrained perceptions, patterns of interpretation, structural characteristics and the latent meaning of action, a deeper understanding of a study field can be achieved. Thereby, no proband taming takes place by presetting of answering categories, but it creates a space for individual perspectives of the study field (Muckel 1996 66). The general claim of qualitative research is to describe life worlds from the inside out, from the lead of view of the people who participate (Flick et al 3), to contribute to a better understanding of social realities. In comparison to numerical social research where one examine already formulated hypothesis, the aim of qualitative research is to discover advanced ideas and to develop empirically justified theories (Flick 2006 15). Though, the communication of the researches of the particular field, i.e. t he subjectivity of the detective and the researched, becomes an essential component of the research process and the finding (Flick 2006).Contrary to quantitative research controlling or excluding influence from the researched as interfering variables, in qualitative research the reflection of the researchers actions, his perceptions and observations as well as impressions and irritations are involved in the information evaluation process (ibid. 16). The openness to the chief(a) world of the researched and their different constructions of reality as well as harmonize to the applied research methods are a basic characteristic of qualitative research (ibid.).My research interest focuses on the subjective views and conception of the victim of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. Therefore it is essential to apply qualitative research methods. In the following I will describe the elect methods of collecting and evaluating data.3.1. Method of data collectionThe dissertation seeks to asse s NGOs, crisis centres and governmental agencies conceptions and views of the victim of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. The aim is to examine how their construction of a child victim influences their project, campaigns and policies. This interrelation is possible to depict verbally but not easily to detect throughout observation processes due to honest considerations. The observation of the work with victims is ethically not justifiable in such a short research time frame as the identity operator with victims is strictly confidential and observation is not approved by the organisations or shelters if the researcher is not able to stay at least 2 month. Therefore the qualitative interview with the organisations and shelters was chosen as a research method. The main interest is to find out about particular perceptions and more complex argumentations. Therefore the questioning should be more active and probe (Hopf 2004 204).Semi-structured InterviewThe semi-structured interview i s an appropriate approach to explore the subjective perception and theories that stands behind my questionnaire. Scheele and Groeben (1988) introduced this approach to explore the construction and subjective theories behind everyday knowledge and the field of study (Flick 2006 155). Their assumption was that interviewees are encouraged to declaim their perceptions and their reasoning behind certain topics in a natural personal manner if the interviewer provides a semi-structured questionsetting. Therefore one can reconstruct the subjective theories and views of the interviewee for the purpose of the study.The main elements of the semi-structured interview are open and confrontational questions. (see cheekful 1) They offer the interviewee space to express their perception and knowledge. The confrontational question has a responsive function to the subjective theories offered by the interviewee and is asking a competing alternative to re-examine the opinions (ibid. 156). An exa mple for my research would be(Text box 1)Another set of questions would be hypothesis-directed questions (see text box 2) which test scientific literature written about the research topic (ibid.). They give the interviewee the chance to become more explicit and help the interviewer to get the required information for the researched topic(Text box 2)In specific the Expert InterviewThe unspoiled interview is a subcategory of the semi-structured interview. The approach of the dissertation questionnaire is to interview on the one hand service providers like victim support centre, crisis centres and NGOs that support the victim needs and rights. On the other hand it is an aim to speak to the Cambodian government which means in particular MP Mu Sochua of the Ministry of Womens and Veterans Affairs (MWVA). Here the interest is not so much the biographic background of the actual person but more the perception of the actual institution or the Cambodian fan tan about the research topic. Th e interviewees are seen as representatives for a certain base not as individuals (Flick 2006 165).There are several research interoperable amenities for the expert interview. In an early exploration phase of a theoretical, less prestructured and informational less cross-linked research, the expert interview offers unrivalled dense data acquisition. This stands in contrast to the elaborate, cost and time-intensive accomplishment of participant observation, field study and systematic quantitative research (Bogner and Menz 2005 7).It is recommended to choose expert interviews if a study field is hard or impossible to access especially when it comes to diffused issues like child sex trafficking and child prostitution.Beside the economic advantages and the chance to get information even about an awkward issue, another advantage is the facilitation of unless field access when the expert refers to other colleagues and dialogue partners. It should also be noted out of a methodological v iew that a still benefit is that it is much easier to interview an expert as they usually have a higher linguistic competence which contributes directly to the analysis of the narrative. Hence, in an idealised conception, two academic socialised dialogue partners meet in this interview setting (ibid. 8).To go over validity of my research and to ascertain patterns of the construction of the victim of child sex trafficking, I intend to carry out 15-20 interviews with victim support centres, Human Rights NGOs who are bear on about child sex trafficking and government representatives (all in Phnom Penh).All institutions are contacted via email and mobilize to arrange an appointment during my field trip in Cambodia and to offer them an epitome of the research project which gives them the opportunity to prepare for the questions.I will use open-ended questions that give the interviewee space to present their perceptions and views. It also allows for the emergence of new topics that w ere not originally thought to be part of the interview. I will prepare 8 broad topics for the interviews that are formulated as broad questions and introduce them one after the other2. Depending on the interview course, I will specify the topics and ask in more detail to light up vague formulations.3.2. LimitationsWhilst there are many advantages to this research design, there are also several limitations to the expert interview. Meuser and Nagel (200287) identify the expert might not always react as desired where their expertise may emerge as being limited and impede the interview process. Further, they identify the contingency that the interviewee may not t participate in the question-answering game (Flick 2006165) giving instead a speech to promote their knowledge and/or agenda. Whilst this can sometimes contribute to the research topic, it can also digress from the point and make it difficult to return to the original question. Another potential impuissance of expert interview s is that the interviewee can change roles from being an expert to being a private person. Whereby, the interview looses objective lensness and private/ personal perceptions and bias may interfere with the representation of the institution or expert knowledge (ibid.).To ensure reliability for this method it is crucial that the interviewee, here the expert, understands the research context and the questions fully. Bulmer and Warwick (1983) identify the difficulties of conducting social research in maturation countries which gives this research proposal an interest angle. It is widely recognized that the availability of social data in maturation countries is limited. Existing data is often of poor quality and therefore of miniature use due to limited administrative capacity, lack of manpower and base (ibid. 4-5).The validity might be restricted and misleading if one relies entirely on administrative sources. The Cambodian law enforcement agencies and administration are compreh end as the most corrupt sector. The Global Corruption Barometer also shows that 70% of the citizens are likely to pay bribes to the police (Anti- Corruption imagination concentrate 2009) which proves the normality and explicitness of corruption within the population. When it comes to delicate issues such as human trafficking high ranking Cambodian law enforcement official are believed to subscribe bribes to facilitate human trafficking and child prostitution (US Department of State Human Rights Report 2006). A revealing example for corruption compliance within sex trafficking is the former Deputy Director of the Police Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Department and two officials under his supervision were convicted and imprisoned for facilitating human trafficking (Anti- Corruption Resource Centre 2009). Due to the ubiquity of corruption, corruption this must be recognised within my research and considered when seeking out NGOs, who can offer a different picture of the reality throughout their mandate, their reports and research. With this considering and an awareness of these potential difficulties and obstacles within the interview process, a valid data collection can be better guaranteed. If one does so, the expert interview can be a very useful and powerful source to generate valid data. later on weighing up the variety of pro and cons, the expert interview is an appropriate interview method for this research to provide an interpretative account of the concept a child sex trafficking victim.3.3. Alternative Method Problem-centered Interview (PCI)initially the problem-centered interview (Witzel 1982 1985) was considered as an appropriate interview method for my research question about construction of a victim. The principles of the problem-centred interview are to gather objective evidence on human behaviour as well as on subjective perceptions and ways of processing social reality (Witzel 20001). In this sense, the basic concern is the exploration o f subjective cognition, approaches, motivation for actions and situation al interpretations. In contrast, the narrative interview (Hopf 2004 206) is considered in this context to be forgetful because it produces a lot of material which leads to a huge data amount. Further, there should be no intervention in the process where the role of the interviewer is an observant listener. This would be inappropriate considering the specific research questionnaire in mind and the devoted time frame. The problem-centered interview to Brobdingnagian extent draws upon Glasers and Strausss (1967) theory generating method of the Grounded Theory.The basal reason for excluding this research method is the fact that it is a biographic cerebrate interview where the career and personal experiences of the interviewee are integral to the data generated. The expert knowledge of a certain field or of a particular organisation and expertise which mirrors the ideology of that institution is of more use t han the biography of the expert and their personal motivations and views. Nevertheless, the research interest is to ascertain and interpret wherefore the concept of the victim is constructed as described by the organisation experts and wherefore it might differ from Western views of the child as a victim of sex trafficking. Therefore cultural and social constructions of realities have to be included.3.4. information analysisThe reliability of this study will be maximised by transcribing all interviews conducted and building categories based on an initial reading of the transcripts. This process is described as code (e.g. Flick 2006 295 and Seale 2004 306ff) which is based in based in grounded theory as discussed earlier3. Seale identifies that the purpose of coding qualitative data is to reduce large amounts of data and to develop and test out theories (2004 313). The main challenging task for the researcher is to filter out comparisons and identify similarities and differences in the interview material. For my research I will use open coding which means the process of breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualising and categorizing data (Strauss and Corbin 1990 61). The coding strategy enables me to discerp the concepts of the victim of child sex trafficking, group them into categories and subsequently discuss them in depth. The last step of coding is a list of terms together with an explanatory text (Bhm 2004 271).3.5. ethics in qualitative researchMultiple ethical considerations arise throughout the research process for this dissertation. scratch from the research design and the appropriateness of certain methods to collecting data and advertise on to the point of analysing the gathered data. More recently there has been a paradigm shift from the ethical concerns in social research concerned with the ways in which participants are affected by the research to a more post-structuralist approach which includes the social world and the knowable an d objective true statement is uncovered by researchers (Ali and Kelly 2004 116). A crucial influence in social research ethics comes from womens rightist researchers who emphasise the role of power relations at all levels of knowledge production, from epistemology, through research relationships, to the dissemination of findings (ibid.). Research regarding child sex trafficking can be seen from the perspective of feminist research as it is a highly gendered topic. It is therefore crucial to consider feminist research practices and its related ethical elements. A primary aim of feminist research is to contest and dispute the marginalised status of woman, and in this particular case vulnerable child, by representing their needs, perspectives and perceptions (Gillies and Alldred 2005 39). There have been many controversies surrounding the role of the researcher in the production of knowledge about women and representing the Other (Wilkonson and Kitzinger 1996, in Gillies and Alldre d 2005 39).The ethical concerns posed when carrying out research on trafficked children as such a vulnerable group are profound. I therefore consider it ethically unjustifiable to interview children about their experience with sexual exploitation within this short research period. Such an approach could potentially cause bring forward distress to an already vulnerable and exploited subject group. As such, I have therefore decided against interviewing victims of trafficking and will conduct interviews exclusively with experts.Respect will be given to existing ethical precautions and regulations for social research whilst also acknowledging that an ethical practice will often comes down to the professional integrity of the individual researcher (Ali and Kelly 2004 118).Translator difficultiesA further challenge to potentially interviewing victims would be the requirement of a arranger which can creates a multitude of problems The dynamic can create a tense and unbalanced atmosphere for the victims to talk comfortably. There is a risk that the translator may not translate the verbatim accurately. Finally, interpretation of the language particulars of the victim is crucial to the data and therefore not understanding Khmer creates a large obstacle when reviewing the interview translations. This may be hard to overcome even with a translator. In consideration of this I decided to interview English speaking NGOs and government representatives.How generalisable will our results be to the sectors as a entire?5. Timescale from 15th April to 2nd SeptemberDate2010Literature ReviewContactsQuestionnaire DesignFieldworkCambodiaData ProcessingData AnalysisWrite Report assumeReportApril15*April 22*April29**April 6***May13***May20***May 27*June 3**June 10*June 17**June24**July1**July8**July15**July 22**July29*Aug5**Aug 12**Aug 19*Aug 26*Sep 2*Sep9*Sep 15*(Bloch, A. (2010) Timescales for Research Project The lord Capacity of Nationals from the Somali Regions in the UK, Moo dle City University, slides of lecture 6)6. BibliographyBooks and journal articlesAli, S. and Kelly, M. (2004) Ethics and social research, in Seale, C. Researching Society and Culture. London et al. Sage Publications.Archivantitkul, K. (1998) Trafficking in children for forced labour exploitation including child prostitution in the Mekong sub-region. Bangkok ILO-IPEC.Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (2003) Gender, Human Trafficking and the Criminal Justice System in Cambodia http//wwww.humantrafficking.org/uploads/updates/gender_report_cambodia.pdf accessed 7th April 2010.Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NY Doubleday.Bloch, A. (2010) Timescales for Research Project The nonrecreational Capacity of Nationals from the Somali Regions in the UK, Moodle City University, slides of lecture 6.Bogner, A., Menz, W. (2005) Expertenwissen und Forschungspraxis die modernisierungstheoretische und die methodische Debatte u m die Experten., in Das Experteninterview Theorie, Methode, Anwendung. Wiesbaden VS Verlag Fur Sozialwissenschaften.Bhm, A. (2004) Theoretical tag Text Analysis in Grounded Theory, in Flick et al A Companion to Qualitative Research. Londonet al. Sage Publications.Bulmer, M., Warwick, D. (1983) Social Research in developing countries. Surveys and Censuses in the Third World. Chichester West Sussex Wiley.Christie, N. (1986) The Ideal dupe, in Fattah, E.A. From Crime Policy to Victim Policy. Reorienting the justice system. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire Macmillan.Flick, U., von Kardorff, E. and Steinke, I. (2004) A Companion to Qualitative Research. London et al. Sage Publications.Flick, U. (2004) Constructivism, in Flick,U., von Kardorff, E. and Steinke, I. A Companion to Qualitative

Factors influencing the success or failure of Small Business

Factors influencing the success or pop offure of lessened BusinessSmall businesses come certainly started to play an all-important(prenominal) role in the offshoot and development of a lot of economies in the world today, and they argon decorous increasing popular. The reasons for this are not particularly hard to discern. Growing unattackables house significant benefits to regions, with job generation, knowledge spillovers, economic multipliers, innovation drivers and cluster developments. The tiny processes of growth and an analysis of the development and transitions from small to postgraduate growth evaluate and size development has generated special study from an initial review of literature. The surrgoaler of fresh-fangled firms and their subsequent growth or adversity has captivated the enkindle of researchers especially during the past decade and a half. The central theme tyrannical this segment of research focuses on the question of why Jason spry Foods fail ed in their business.An initial review of literature on small firms reveals that many of them fail early in their lifecycles, presumably due to the many impediments and obstacles that they are unable(p) to overcome. There is also the less than satisfactory growth rates discovered among firms that survive the initial inception stage. Whereas the specific factor that led to the visitation of this business was poor operational plan, a congregations of other factors was responsible for the failure of this business. This means that Jason Fast Foods failed because of a combination of poor product/service, dole out plan, operation plan and financial plan.The dynamics of changing demographics and consumer purchasing patterns, couple with ever stronger competition, put annexd pressure on Jason Fast Foods enterprises. This force a lot on the small business who had to devise new avenues for driving productivity and develop distinct competencies that was aimed at ensuring their survival . Basically, Jason Fast Foods suffered from express information, finance, management time and experience and was vulnerable to environmental changes. The scale of trading operations was also low which meant that this firm did not benefit from the economies of scale which limited its operations and generally inhibited its growth and king to develop and eclipse the markets. The small firm sector has been described as very turbulent, with fluctuations in profits and sales being more imminent than larger firms, generally because they are more likely to depend on single products or customers (Storey et al., 1987). Large firms on the other hand often exist because militant factors within industries make the use of economies of scale in productions which are required for survival.Operational factor that greatly contributed to the failure of Jason Fast Foods was the inability to perpetrate high quality people than its competitors. The differentiators between success and failures lie in the ability of a firm adopting strategies in the utilization of its capabilities that ensure the firm has higher quality people than its competitors, its able to develop and nurture its capabilities and that a culture is developed that encourages organizational learning. When competition intensified, the possession of these competencies became increasingly important for the firms continued success. Moreover, these were the distinctive capabilities that supported a market position that was precious and difficult to imitate. The aim of developing and improving the resources basses and capabilities are aimed at achieving a strategic fit between resources and the opportunities that go forth ensure for added value from the stiff deployment of resources. The overall inability to effectively deploy resources for the best operational utilization was inhibited by its scarcity.In addition to the above, the interaction between war-ridden advantage and distinctive competencies are well researched issues that Jason Fast Foods failed to action. The general alignment is that firms that develop and exploit their distinctive capabilities and key competencies generally outperform their rivals and are able thrive in the said markets. For example, Day (1994) found that small firms that chose to compete with clearly be strategies outperformed those firms with a less clearly defined focus. These believe is supported by Armstrong (2007) who found a close correlation coefficient between the entrepreneurial orientation of firms and the possession of a wide mixture of distinctive competencies. Operational inefficiency deprived Jason Fast Foods the ability to find a close correlation between its entrepreneurial orientation and the possession of a wide assortment of distinctive competencies.The role of financial factor part to the failure of Jason Fast Foods was precipitated by the skyrocketing health veneration and energy costs, fasten attribute conditions and increasin g labor costs. Generally, the small businesses are facing a challenging economic environment. The major constraints that were facing Jason Fast Foods can be broadly categorized into four groups that are cost factors, trust conditions, trade competitiveness and industry metrics (HSBC, 2005).The major cost factors associated with doing business in America for the small businesses stems from the health care, oil, natural gas, retirement and savings and fundamental employee wages and regulatory costs (HSBC, 2005). These costs continue to rise by day, meaning that the proprietors of Jason Fast Foods were receiving the same amounts of inputs to run their businesses but at a higher cost. These incr knackd costs limited the ability of Jason Fast Foods to bribe new equipments, hire new employees and expand businesses. The most significant increase in these costs has been the rising oil and natural gas prices. Additionally, the employees compensation costs have also grown, coupled with in creased health care and medical costs which continued to impact on the bottom byplay of Jason Fast Foods.Another constraint that led to the failure of this firm was with credit conditions and access to credit. A lot of researchers agree that business financing is a key ingredient to business success through the provision of the ability for entrepreneurs to start or develop an existing business. As Child (1972) intones, hood availability ebbs and flows as business cycles evolve, essentially meaning that enough expectant resources should be available at all stages of growth. The major contributing ingredients to the ease with which small business can gain access to capital encompasses much(prenominal) issues as budget deficits, commercialised and industrial loans, interest rates and take a chance capital. For example, most credit that is extended to businesses either in the form of credit cards or commercial loans are tied to the prime bust rates, which are dictated by the over all operating conditions. These are fundamentally reflected by the prevailing rending rates, which have been rising of late with spartan implication on the cost of doing business. The fact that Jason Fast Foods encountered more difficulties in generating alternative financing (example through issuance of stock or commercial paper) become more resilient, meaning that they were being forced to pay high interest costs to secure a loan to finance ventures. This was heighten by the fact that interest rates are usually higher as private sources of capital compete with the public sector for investors in an economy, meaning that borrowing costs continues to rise regardless of growths in the economy. The end result is that small businesses are hugely disadvantaged. Without favorable credit conditions, entrepreneurs will either pay higher prices for capital or forgo tolerable capitalization all together (HSBC, 2005).Another constraint faced by Jason Fast Foods that led to its failure was w ith regards to growth and development and the competitiveness of the artisan industry. The major factors as regards competitiveness usually stem from trade deficits and the trends and manufactures new order. The contentious issues are that while the increased globalization has provided business owners with the fortune to market and sell their goods abroad, small business have continually struggled and failed to exploit the potential.All the above factors clearly illustrate the major difficulties faced by small business in their endeavors that eventually led to the failure of Jason Fast Foods. While the same factors have been found to also impact on the larger counterparts, a clear deduction can be discerned that the impacts have greater implications on the small businesses.

The Scarlet Letter Essay -- Literature

In The Scarlet earn, Hawthorne analyzes Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. In the floor, Hester is the main character of the story and was called Mistress Prynne (Hawthorne 70). Dimmesdale, in the story was referred to as Reverend Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 90). Chillingworth was originally named, Roger Prynne nevertheless later on in the story he changed his name to Roger Chillingworth. In the story, Hester move adultery with Dimmesdale against Chillingworth and in the beginning she got punished and sent to prison and later she got to get out of prison but with the exception of having to wear the letter A on her breast every time she went out in to town.In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is the main character. Hester is referred to as Mistress Prynne (Hawthorne 70). The Scarlet Letter also mentions she is holding her three month old baby, Pearl, in her accouterments who winked and turned her head by the suns rays (Hawthorne 71). She is described as having an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread letter A on the breast of her gown (Hawthorne 71). Hester was also a tall woman (Hawthorne 72). Her hair was dark and abundant her hair shined while the sunshine gleamed finish her hair (Hawthorne 72). Hester had a marked brow and dark black eye (Hawthorne 72). Hester Prynne is often described as a lady-like person (Hawthorne 72).Hesters office staff in the story is described as sleeping with a non-Christian priest and got accused of committing adultery and got punished by having to wear a cherry letter A on the breast of her gown (Hawthorne 71). Hester Prynnes penalty is to go to prison and then with her child, Pearl, go and stand out on the platform in front of everybody wearing her scarlet letter on the breast of her gown (Howells). Hester... ...1. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 2 Feb. 2012.Reid, Bethany. Narrative of the Captivity and salvation of Roger Prynne Rereading The Scarlet Letter. Studies in the Novel 33.3 (Fall 2001) 24 7-267. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 158. Detroit Gale, 2006. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.Symons, Arthur. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Studies in Prose and Verse. E. P. Dutton & Co., 1904. 52-62. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Vol. 2. Detroit Gale Research, 1982. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.Tamkang look backward. John Updikes S. Tamkang Review 25.3-4 (Spring-Summer 1995) 379-405. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 126. Detroit Gale, 2002. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 2 Feb. 2012.

Free Essays - Angela’s Ashes :: Ashes

Angelas Ashes In bluff McCourts memoir Angelas Ashes, the fraternity between tone, syntax, and horizontal surface of view combine to create an effective correspondence of humor and pathos. This is shown through the perspective of little Frank McCourt. Sometimes it is gentlemans gentleman nature to try to make a tragedy seem die than it is in order to go on with our lives. Franks seek to make his situation as a poor, Catholic, Irish boy to a greater extent bearable, is demonstrated through the positive tone, powerful syntax and childlike point of view. Humor and pathos come together when Frank steals bananas from the Italian, but ulterior the same Italian gives him a bag of fruit. Frank knows that he deposet buy the bananas and he knows also the Italian wont give them away seen when Frank says Italians are not known for talent away bananas (p.35). We can see the humor in the theft as the twins slobber and chew and spread bananas over their faces, their hair, their clothes (p.36). The tragedy is that the McCourt kids are poor and have to resort to begging and stealing to survive. When the seed uses such words such as slobber (p.36), little buddas (p.36), he is trying to make an intolerable situation more bearable and gratifying to the reader. When the McCourts are at their new headquarters, two weeks before Christmas, the children come home and find the whole below flooded. They decide that they will stay up stairs, which they call Italy (p.118), and the downstairs Ireland (p.118). The humor in this tragedy is the house is so run down that water leaks in and floods the bottom. Instead of suffering and quetch ab turn up the house they move upstairs and make the best out of it and try to live normally. The reader should find this funny from the way the family duologue about it, they try to make the situation more bearable by adding a sense of humor. They leave the Pope (p.118) downstairs because Angela doesnt desire him on the wall glaring at me in the bed (p.118). The syntax used is to make the reader feel pity for the family when the whole downstairs is flooded but also the author wants to make the reader express joy when the family decides to lighten the situation by creating an adventurous illusion. One of the funnier moments is the scene where Frank pukes up the host and his Grandmother says she has God in her backyard (p.

Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer :: Into the Wild Essays

The sapidity is set in this chapter as Krakauer uses ledgers to create an atmosphere of worry, fear, and happiness in McCandlesss mind. The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that cares nothing for hope or longing(4). McCandless is on the travel plan of death, which creates worry and fear for the young boy. He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited, (6). Alex is very excited and care free, which Krakauer used to his advantage in making the tone of Alexs mind happy. The author creates tones to make the commentator smack the moment as if the proofreaders were sitting there themselves. Krakauer uses dialogue and set to create the mixed tones of this chapter. As one can see from the quotes and view the author uses tones that are blunt and are to the point to make the reader feel as though the emotions are their own. Krakauer uses plenty of metonymical manner of speaking in this chapter. He uses figurative language to support his ideas,to expr ess the surroundings, and tone around the character. To start the chapter he uses a simile describing the landscape of the area, sprawls crossways the flats like a rumpled blanket on an unmade bed, (9). This record is used to make reader sense the area and set the mode for the chapter. The use of figurative language in this chapter is to make a visual representation in the readers mind. Its satellites surrender to the low Kantishna plain (9). The incarnation is used in this phrase is to make the reader believe and feel that the location is further away and so far that technology surrenders to mother nature. It is important for the reader to be aware of the distance that is so far from civilization. A lot of epigraphs used in the book in addition understand figurative language. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the savour of it was not even that of sadness(9). Jack London is mentioned quiet a bit in this book and he also use s many forms of figurative language. The personification used above in the epigraph was meant to seem that the land was desert and had no life going on. Wisdom of eternity laughing(9), is also personification that can suggest to the reader that the end of forever forget never happen and so eternity is mocking everyone in its path of destruction.

Technologys Impact on the Upper Mississippi River Essay -- Enviroment

Technologys Impact on the upper disseminated multiple sclerosis River Since the days of Lewis and Clark men experience dreamed of harnessing the male parent of Waters in the interests of commerce and developing. The long endeavor which ensued required implausible ingenuity and determination on the part of engineers as well as enormous capital investment. The manuscript River Commission, established in 1897, was the first national program designed specifically to meet these requirements, and first systems, instituted by the military Corps of Engineers, saw frequently success. Technological advancements in the fields of transportation, flush restrain, and natural resource management were needed and, eventually, emerged to let the level of control possible today. This report will discuss the scientific transformation of the swiftness disseminated multiple sclerosis river and the motivation behind it from the middle 1800s. Economics, in the form of forte transportation , have been the impetus behind most of the development along the Upper disseminated multiple sclerosis. In the early 1800s, transportation was limited to keelboats (large lashings made of roughcut lumber) which floated downriver with the current where they changed their cargo and then were poled or misrepresent (pulled from shore with a rope) back upstream. With the development of the steamboat the arduous journey up and down the river, taking up to nine months by keelboat, became a much more good route for transporting both products and people. In the late 1800s, the stratagem of the internal burn engine led to the powerful towboats seen on the Mississippi today. Towboats move 70 to 85 million tons of cargo per year between Minneapolis and the minute River http//www.emtc.nbs.gov. Underscoring the economic importance of such(prenominal) ... ...ing fascinating astir(predicate) science, one gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such trifle investments of fact. ReferencesMairson, Alan, The Great submerge of 93, National Geographic, vol. 185 (January 1994),pp. 42-81. National Biological Service, Department of the Interior, environmental Management technological Center, http//www.emtc.nbs.gov (1996). Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi (New York, New York harper & Row, Publishers, 1917). Upper Mississippi River Basin Coordinating Committee, Upper Mississippi River broad Basin Study, vol. 1 and 5 (1972) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi River--Illinois Waterway dodging Navigation Study, http//www.usace.army.mil/ncd (1996). U.S. Geological Survey EROS entropy Center, Upper Mississippi River Basin Flooding, http//edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/sast (1996). Technologys Impact on the Upper Mississippi River analyze -- EnviromentTechnologys Impact on the Upper Mississippi River Since the days of Lewis and Clark men have dreamed of harnessing the Father of Waters in the interests of commerce and development. Th e long struggle which ensued required incredible ingenuity and determination on the part of engineers as well as enormous capital investment. The Mississippi River Commission, established in 1897, was the first federal program designed specifically to meet these requirements, and early systems, instituted by the Army Corps of Engineers, saw much success. Technological advancements in the fields of transportation, flood control, and natural resource management were needed and, eventually, emerged to provide the level of control possible today. This report will discuss the technological transformation of the upper Mississippi river and the motivation behind it from the middle 1800s. Economics, in the form of cheap transportation, have been the impetus behind most of the development along the Upper Mississippi. In the early 1800s, transportation was limited to keelboats (large rafts made of roughcut lumber) which floated downstream with the current where they changed their cargo and th en were poled or warped (pulled from shore with a rope) back upstream. With the development of the steamboat the arduous journey up and down the river, taking up to nine months by keelboat, became a much more reliable route for transporting both products and people. In the late 1800s, the invention of the internal combustion engine led to the powerful towboats seen on the Mississippi today. Towboats move 70 to 85 million tons of cargo annually between Minneapolis and the Missouri River http//www.emtc.nbs.gov. Underscoring the economic importance of such ... ...ing fascinating about science, one gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such trifling investments of fact. ReferencesMairson, Alan, The Great Flood of 93, National Geographic, vol. 185 (January 1994),pp. 42-81. National Biological Service, Department of the Interior, Environmental Management Technical Center, http//www.emtc.nbs.gov (1996). Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi (New York, New York Harper & Row, Publ ishers, 1917). Upper Mississippi River Basin Coordinating Committee, Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study, vol. 1 and 5 (1972) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi River--Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study, http//www.usace.army.mil/ncd (1996). U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center, Upper Mississippi River Basin Flooding, http//edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/sast (1996).