Stories of Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Accounts of Change - Research Paper Example Explanations behind authoritative change may remember changes for circumstances, changes in innovation; client needs changes, change because of globalization and budgetary riches. Associations need to have a capacity of adjusting adequately and quickly to the change procedure for them to stay serious in today’s rapidlyâ changingâ world. In this manner, hierarchical administrators need to decide methods of sustaining the change procedure required just as decide the various methodologies required to roll out the improvement procedure successful to guarantee authoritative plausibility (Gupta, 2011). It is fundamental for any association to acknowledge change process emphatically in the event that it needs to remain suitable in the serious market. Anyway change process isn't a simple procedure, and there are such a significant number of focuses that can go improper. Among them is restriction and opposition from representatives in regards to the change procedure. Hence, it is basic to deal with the procedure with an exertion of decreasing the opportunity of such showdown (Hayes and Richardson, 2008). As per the tales of progress, there are 3 noteworthy mistakes introduced in the McDonald, Hewlett-Packard, and Kodak associations. For Hewlett-Packard association, Carly in 1999 turned into the company’s new CEO at a period when the organization was confronted with numerous business issues and did not have a legitimate course. The fundamental point of Carly was to modify the association to have a decent compelling progression of thoughts. During the year 2002, the organization converged with Compaq Computer Corp (CCP) that was an exceptionally major however an edgy change process. It is fundamental for an association to foresee a change procedure for them to respond genius effectively instead of responsively for it to be compelling (Gupta, 2011). For Kodak change story, the association greatest suggestion was conveying all the more adequately with laborers on the ideal change process. One of the enormous difficulties that association face is on the most proficient method to

The prices of basic and manufactured products Essay Example

The costs of fundamental and fabricated items Essay Fundamental items are normally important for everybody; in spite of the fact that the cost changes individuals need to get them. It is entirely expected to see particular offers and advancements inside fundamental marked items like rice and milk, yet they follow a general cost. The costs additionally rely upon the conditions like climate and transport. This is the motivation behind why they are continually fluctuating. Made items have increasingly stable costs since they are not devoured as often as possible and in light of the fact that the interest relies upon the cost. In any case, there are additionally different motivations to comprehend the security of these merchandise. Most importantly, essential wares are the crude items, which can be handled; they contrast from assembling industry because of organic character of its type of creation. Value changes appear as genuinely normal cycles extra time. Made items utilize essential products as a component of their data sources. A contrast between them is that for the yield of an essential ware there is a period slack before a proposed development underway really is accessible or deal in the market. Made item enterprisers have the opportunity and probability of changing the item in view of an adjustment in the interest. When there is overproduction of merchandise that can be spoiled, costs decline, some of the time the enterprisers want to cover up or consume the products to keep up the balance. It is simpler to control the creation of made merchandise making their value progressively steady. We will compose a custom paper test on The costs of essential and fabricated items explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom exposition test on The costs of fundamental and made items explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom exposition test on The costs of fundamental and made items explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer Awful climate here and there stops a few items to be shared, creating shortage, so costs increment. For instance huaycos in Per㠯⠿â ½ stop the trucks that bring lemon or vegetables, so markets increment the cost in light of the fact that these are essential items so individuals would by in any case. For a fundamental decent, the interest of marked item like Coste㠯⠿â ½o rice shifts a great deal contingent upon the value given. For instance, on the off chance that somebody is utilized to purchase 1 kg of rice for seven days of a determinate brand at a given cost, if an ability brand diminishes value, this individual might be happy to purchase this other brand in light of the fact that the rice is the equivalent. Be that as it may, he would keep purchasing rice. In the event that this individual doesnt care about rice and he found that cost of rise is exceptionally high, he would likely favor purchasing potatoes rather than rice. Essential products are frequently purchased, so individuals thinks parcel about the costs yet this doesnt mean an extraordinary change sought after. The variety of the amount requested is not exactly the variety of costs of an item, so essential products are inelastic. This implies the costs can be changed and individuals would not quit getting them. The costs are not steady. For instance, gas for vehicles is inelastic, in such a case that cost expands as indicated by the worldwide market, individuals would keep getting it, maybe less amount yet the change is least. Salt for instance, has no substitutes, so it is inelastic, the brands are increasingly flexible, however salt as item is less versatile. So individuals get them in spite of the fact that the value changes. For fabricated items is unique. Individuals decide to purchase as indicated by their chance, cost and similarity. Made items like pasta, cleanser and vehicles have various brands. The variety of the amount requested is more than the variety of the costs of an item; so fabricated items will in general be flexible. This implies if costs changes individuals purchase different things, this make the cost of this sort of items increasingly steady. There are special cases additionally: in the event that somebody can purchase a Mercedes Benz Car, he wont purchase a Toyota since it is less expensive, he would purchase the Mercedes Benz on the grounds that he like it. Be that as it may, if another better brand shows up maybe the interest for Mercedes Benz would incline toward the new, increasingly costly and better vehicle. There is consistently an adjustment in the interest, more than the variety of costs. As made items are seldom purchased, the interest and costs rely upon the substitutes and skill. Advancements likewise increment the interest for items, if a few brands promote an essential ware item individuals purchase a greater amount of them and maybe leave aside different items and brands. So individuals can pick making made items costs stable. In a short run it is difficult to increment or diminishing creation of an essential ware since it requires some investment to get them from nature, so items are less versatile. A superior clarification for this is there is a period slack previously and proposed development underway really is accessible or deal in the market. The choice by makers to change their yield relies upon the premise of the present market cost. In this way, supplies in year 2 are subject to costs really got in year 1, as opposed to what is relied upon to be gotten in year 2. Makers are numerous and they each take choices to modify their size of creation as indicated by their own accommodation. So these conditions make that if supplies happen to be rare in one timespan, the significant level of the market-clearing cost will urge makers to start a significant extension underway. This ascent underway will at the appointed time discourage showcase costs, which invigorates a significant constriction in the size of creation. Indicating the reasons of vacillation of essential products gracefully and costs. A case of a move in flexibly was the overabundance of potatoes in 1992 in Britain prompted producers getting exceptionally low costs. A case of a leftward move in the gracefully bend would be the effect of ice harm on espresso in Brazil in June 1994. In September 1994 a typhoon going through the Caribbean stripped the banana crop in the Windward Islands, bringing about lost fare profit of a large number of dollars for Dominica, Grenada, Sta Lucia and St Vicent For essential items the distinction in amount provided is not exactly the distinction in costs, making it generally inelastic. For these items, when cost increments in spite of the fact that makers need to build creation, they cant as a result of need time. For made items, the limit of expanding yield can be overseen as indicated by the innovation. So flexibly is progressively versatile. The salary flexibility for fundamental wares is exceptionally low, since rich individuals, as their pay builds they don't accepting increasingly essential items, however they increment their fabricated items. So extravagance items have higher salary versatility, for them. This additionally makes the fundamental items less steady as rich individuals dont care about the cost, and make lavish and fabricated item steady, as individuals care about the cost. Needy individuals just figure out how to purchase fundamental need items, so as there is progressively needy individuals the interest for these items is more noteworthy making the bends increasingly delicate. Some essential wares costs likewise rely upon global understandings, for instance copper, gold, espresso, cocoa and oil. Espresso costs are among the most unpredictable in universal item showcases. Variances sought after and gracefully conditions can cause huge swings in showcase costs for makers. One key factor is the power over market gracefully designed by the Association of espresso Producing nations like Brazil and Colombia, by looking for a harmony between world flexibly and request the ACPC means to settle espresso costs at levels that are reasonable and gainful to makers but then reliable with expanding utilization. Anyway it was consented to have a cost fluctuating between 95 pennies for each pound as the floor and 105 pennies as the roof. The developing worldwide interest for chocolate has helped push the cost of cocoa up to half inside 2 months and prompted fears of deficiency to come. The worldwide yield has dropped as a result of climate issues in the principle world maker nation: Ivory Coast So this factor shows the shakiness of essential products as cocoa. The worldwide network no longer keeps up enormous supplies of products as it is utilized to, with an end goal to balance out the earnings got by item makers. Ranchers and providers of different wares are currently significantly more helpless against the swings in universal market costs. Item costs are especially delicate to general variances in the economies of nations that expend them. The universal oil showcase is put under day by day investigation since oil is maybe the most significant globally exchanged ware. World costs vacillate as a result of changes sought after and flexibly. Oil is a fundamental contribution to the creation procedures of numerous enterprises. The interest for oil additionally originates from family unit shoppers to meet their vitality necessities. Furthermore, raw petroleum is refined into oil based goods for transport. This makes the oil request continually develop. The OPEC had accomplished considerable cuts in absolute creation in 1999, in the wake of the breakdown of oil costs in 1997 due to the Asian monetary emergency. There was pressure on the OPEC cartel to cut yield and raise cost so as to support income from oil fares to modify their own residential economies. An internal move in oil flexibly coordinated with an expansion sought after causes an increment popular causes an expansion in balance cost. Oil gracefully from non-OPEC nations was influenced by reductions in capital venture spending when oil costs dropped in the late 1990s. So once more, an essential ware endures of fluctuating interest and costs, making them not steady. For made items, the endeavors are accountable for estimating they benefits and figure appropriate cost for their items, associations cannot examine the costs. So if different nations need our made items, they need to dad

Tonti, Henri de

Tonti, Henri de Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNre ´ d? tôNte ´ [key], c.1650â€"1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the appliance with which the hand was replaced was later to lead Native Americans to believe him possessed of special powers. In 1678, Tonti accompanied the explorer La Salle to Canada as his lieutenant and was dispatched to Niagara where, among hostile Native Americans, he constructed the Griffon, the first sailboat to ply the Great Lakes W of Ontario. Tonti preceded La Salle westward to Detroit and penetrated into the country of the Illinois, whom he won over to the French interest. In 1680, left by La Salle at Starved Rock to construct a fort, he was faced by desertion of his men and the hostility of the Native Americans and was forced to winter in Wisconsin. Meeting La Salle at Mackinac the following year, he traveled with him down the Mississippi to its mouth; they proclaimed the entir e Mississippi watershed the domain of France. Tonti returned alone to the Illinois River, where he was rejoined by La Salle, and together they completed (1682â€"83) Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock. When La Salle returned to France, Tonti was left in charge of the fort. La Salle did not return, for he failed in his attempt to find the mouth of the Mississippi by sea. Having no word, Tonti in 1686 descended the river in a hopeless search for La Salle. The following year he took part with a band of Illinois in the raid by the marquis de Denonville against the Iroquois. Tonti remained at Fort St. Louis, developing the new empire, until 1700, when he joined Iberville's colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. Pierre Margry included Tonti's account in Mémoires et documents pour servir à l'histoire des origines francaises des pays d'outre-mer (6 vol., 1879â€"1888; tr. Relation of Henri de Tonty, 1898). See J. C. Parish, The Man with the Iron Hand (1913); C. B. Reed, Masters of t he Wilderness (1914); E. R. Murphy, Henry de Tonty, Fur Trader of the Mississippi (1941). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies

The Concept Of Labeling Of Juvenile Delinquents By Members...

Unit 5 DB 1 The Interactionist Approach We are beginning to see more than often, labeling of juvenile delinquents by members of their society. The term labeling theory explains how labeling tends to applied members of society, whether it is formally or informally, and the type of effect these labeling can have on juveniles and deterrence. Akers Sellers, (2009), Bernard, Snipes, Gerould, (2010), states that the labeling theorists assert that society creates deviance by creating laws, and they tend to agree that the original action of deviance displayed by an offender is not as important as the continuation and escalation of deviance. Labeling theory has more experiential support than deterrence theory. The Labeling theory acknowledges the role that is played by formal/informal social control. Labeling theory is â€Å"also recognizes that criminal behavior is not an illness or something that can be treated as â€Å"curable† and this theory distinguishes between primary deviance and secondary deviance and acknowled ges that these be treated differently† (Baldwin, 2014). Deterrence, on the other hand, suggests that the embarrassment and shame of being caught in a felonious act and then being called a criminal is enough to prevent future criminal acts. When examining â€Å"labeling theory it is more accurate when researching adolescences from disorganized neighborhoods or criminal families† (Baldwin, 2014), and deterrence might be more precise â€Å"in cohesive neighborhoods than inShow MoreRelatedThe Labeling Theory For Juvenile Delinquency1577 Words   |  7 PagesThe Labeling Theory The labeling theory addresses deviants and puts concern on behaviors that other theories do not. Most theories are primarily concerned with why individuals commit more crime. Rather than analyzing the occurrence of crimes among social groups, the labeling theory challenge us to truly understand deviants and what it means to be categorized as a deviant individual. Unlike the control theories that assumes all of us must be held in check or â€Å"controlled† if we are to resist the temptationRead MoreAbstract . The Labeling Theory Proposes That Once A Juvenile1582 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract The labeling theory proposes that once a juvenile has been labeled a deviant or delinquent they become stigmatized as a criminal, and begin to believe the label or accept it in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because of these labels, many juveniles continue with their deviant acts because they feel obligated to act out in a negative manner. Sociologists Tannenbaum, Becker, Lement are more interested in the reaction to the crime, not the cause of the crime, and have theorized that once anRead MoreJuvenile Delinquency A Sociological Approach1408 Words   |  6 PagesA juvenile delinquent is an individual under the age of eighteen years old who fails to abide by the law. When identifying the causes of juvenile delinquency society can slow down or prevent the behavior by using strategies. The quality of peers, family, parenting, community and school area can all be predictors of juvenile delinquency. Theories help us explain why juveniles are engaging in delinquent behavior and it is impo rtant to understand why because it helps us explain the motives for theirRead MoreWhy People Commit The Crime Essay1538 Words   |  7 PagesCriminological theory is the explanation of criminal behavior, as well as the behavior of juveniles, attorneys, prosecutors, judges, correctional personnel, victims, and other actors in the criminal justice process. Criminological theory is important because most of what is done in criminal justice is based on criminological theory, whether we or the people who propose and implement policies based on the theory know it or not. In criminology, examining why people commit the crime is very importantRead MoreThe Saints And The Roughnecks By William Chambliss1512 Words   |  7 PagesBecker’s labeling theory, views deviance as not an innate act, but rather, elects to target society impulse to engage in stigmatization (Cartwright, 2011). In this paper, I will discuss the implications of labeling specifically in the articles â€Å"The Saint s and the Roughnecks† by William Chambliss and â€Å"On Being Sane In Insane Places† by David Rosenhan. Additionally, I will be discussing the far-reaching effects of negative labeling an individual, with respect to concepts such as labeling theory, theRead MorePolicing The Lives Of Black And Latino Boys1348 Words   |  6 Pagesstories and experiences of criminalization as targeted minority groups. Rios had grown up in the ghetto of Oakland, was a former gang affiliated member, had been in and out of the juvenile systems, and was labeled a delinquent by many of his peers growing up. Unlike many, Rios overcame the criminalization, victimization, brutality, and negativity that society uses to control and beat down men and women of minority races. After being accepted into college, Rios became interested in sociology and howRead MoreLabelling Perspectives Within The 1960 s And 1970 S1626 Words   |  7 Pagesreaction became a popular means to label ‘defiantâ€⠄¢ and ‘deviant’ behaviour in society (White, Haines Asquith, 2012, p. 97; Martin, 2012, p. 134). Juveniles who have been labelled due to social reaction are likely to commit themselves to the new label, resulting in a change of identity in order to fit the label, which often generates negative consequences (White et al., 2012, p. 99). However, it is not only juveniles who experience labelling, ex-offenders exiting prison encounter the stigma andRead MoreEffect of Broken Homes on the in Society6232 Words   |  25 PagesEFFECT OF BROKEN HOMES ON THE SOCIETY A CASE STUDY OF AMUKOKO COMMUNITY IN AJEROMI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE ABSTRACT This paper is a report of the study that examined the effect of broken homes on the society. The sample for the study consisted of inhabitants of the randomly selected families in the neighbourhoods’ of Amukoko community. The adapted form of Guidance and Counselling Achievement Grade Form was used for data collection and the data collected were subjectedRead MoreLabeling Theory3304 Words   |  14 PagesLABELING THEORY Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2008 Labeling theory arose from the study of deviance in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was a rejection of consensus theory or structural functionalism. Tannenbaum was among the early labeling theorists. His main concept was the dramatization of evil. He argued that the process of tagging, defining, identifying, segregating, describing, and emphasizing any individual out for special treatment becomes a way of stimulating, suggesting, andRead MoreStatus Offenders, Dependent and Neglected Youths, and Juvenile Victimizations1872 Words   |  7 Pagesand Neglected Youths, and Juvenile Victimizations: As they come into contact with the juvenile justice system different, delinquent youths are treated differently in this system. Notably, the jurisdiction of this system and its courts also extends to non-delinquent youths like dependent and neglected youths, and status offenders. However, non-delinquents are not only viewed differently but they are also treated separately from delinquents. In most cases, non-delinquents are regarded as children

Analysis Of Sylvia s The Old Place - 1230 Words

Sylvia isolates herself in nature, the setting, and identifies herself as a person who prefers to be alone. While wandering and playing around with her cow, she â€Å"would look upon the cow’s pranks as an intelligent attempt to play hide and seek, as [she] had no playmates† (Jewett 196). Sylvia does not experience human interaction, besides her grandmother, due to being isolated in the countryside. However, she interacts with her best friend, Mistress Moolly the cow, as a way to fill in the need of communicating with others. Mrs. Tilley, Sylvia’s grandmother, notices how her granddaughter spends more time in nature. She states, â€Å"Afraid of folks, they said! I guess [Sylvia] won’t be troubled no great with them up to the old place† (Jewett 196). The â€Å"old place† indicates Sylvia’s house in the city. Generally, a city is crowded and there is not enough space for her to freely wander unlike the countryside. Mrs. Tilley suggests that her granddaughter is more comfortable in the countryside, where it is open and peaceful, rather than the congested city. There is a slight hint of transcendentalism in Sylvia. Due to her familiarity with nature, she realizes how much she prefers being alone in the woods. Additionally, the isolation that Sylvia experiences allow her to retain her innocence, a part of her identity, until she meets the hunter. Sylvia experiences a coming-of-age process as she meets the hunter in the woods and becomes influenced by human interaction. While wandering inShow MoreRelatedThe Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath1211 Words   |  5 PagesSylvia Plath Research Paper Title The Bell Jar place[s] [the] turbulent months[of an adolescent’s life] in[to] mature perspective (Hall, 30). In The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath uses parallelism, stream of consciousness, the motif of renewal and rebirth, symbolism of the boundary-driven entrapped mentally ill, and auto-biographical details to epitomize the mental downfall of protagonist, Esther Greenwood. Plath also explores the idea of how grave these timeless and poignant issues can affect a fragileRead MoreAnalysis Of Message From Mirror, Courage, Explore, Douglas1234 Words   |  5 PagesAn analysis of 1 message from Mirror, Courage, Explore, Douglas â€Å"Live life to the fullest because you only get to live once.† Life is full of ups and downs and it will not always be perfect but if you live life great and look at it optimistically then it will be great. Life goes fast and is some moments of it you blink and the memory is gone. We need to look at life like it is great and easy. Take high school for example as you live in it, it is horrible and sucks but if you ask other people theyRead MoreShould Shopping Be A Fabulous Family? Essay1484 Words   |  6 Pagesto socialize with other children thus improving their ability to interact with one another. Product/Service Description Sylvia Playhouse is an indoor play centre sectioned into different zones, according to age and setup. Toddlers up to the age of 4 can walk or crawl on a safe-padded surface, and enjoy playing with a mini slider and small ball pool. Children from 4years old and above can have fun with trampoline or with a large slider that can accommodate adults and children at the same time. ARead MoreThe Bell Jar : Literary Analysis2261 Words   |  10 PagesEnglish III 9 November 2014 The Bell Jar: Literary Analysis With Author Biography Sylvia Plath is a renowned poet and author. She fantasied the world with her powerful writings. Beloved to the world, she truly changed women s status. She wrote distinctively from her own life experiences. This is cleared showed in her book, The Bell Jar. This book offers a theme of rebirth and a theme of feminism. The 27th of October in 1932, Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her fatherRead More Precursors to Suicide in Life and Works of Sylvia Plath and Sarah Kane2581 Words   |  11 PagesPrecursors to Suicide in Life and Works of Sylvia Plath and Sarah Kane Introduction We are going to describe factors associated with the suicidal process in lives of Sarah Kane and Sylvia Plath as reflected in the late works of these two female authors who committed suicide when they were 27 and 30 years old. Antoon Leenaars and Susanne Wenckstern (1998) have written: ?Suicide notes are probably the ultrapersonal documents. They are the unsolicited productions of the suicidal person, usuallyRead MorePoem Analysis of Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath3011 Words   |  13 PagesPoem Analysis: Lady Lazarus In American culture, suicide is considered to be one of the darkest taboos. It has the particular quality of being equally gripping and repulsive. Although suicide is seen as overtly morbid, gruesome and disturbing, it has made many people famous. Sylvia Plath, the illustrious 20th century poetess, is one of them. Sylvia Plath was born on October 27th, 1932 of two parents in a middleclass household in Boston. At a very young age, she demonstrated great literary talentRead MoreThe World Is Blue Reflection Essay1790 Words   |  8 Pages â€Å"The World is Blue† Sylvia Earle Review and analysis by: Kylee Luckett â€Å"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.† -Albus Dumbledore They say only a few will ever speak loud enough to be heard over the other seven billion voices on the planet. Today someone is shouting. 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He could not have imagined the psychiatric term for men the â€Å"Peter Pan Syndrome† being a phenomenon. Barrie simply told a story by using characters and life events and creating a children’s story of fantasy. Peter Pan was not traditional in the sense that it tapped into the child at the heart of every human young and old. Barrie was a visionary as well as a writerRead MoreThe Cultural Identity Of The African American Community1653 Words   |  7 PagesCultural Identity and Diaspora focuses on the current issues of identity, cultural practices and cultural representations. He analyses the visual representations of Afro-Caribbean’s and challenges the notions of identity from African and European places. Hall then goes on to explain how Caribbean cinema has chosen to both, refute and embrace European influence. He presents two different forms of thinking about cultural identity. In the first position, Hall defines ‘cultural identity’ in terms of

Cost Theory Free Essays

Cost Theory in Economics A central economic concept is that getting something requires giving up something else. For example, earning more money may require working more hours, which costs more leisure time. Economists use cost theory to provide a framework for understanding how individuals and firms allocate resources in such a way that keeps costs low and benefits high. We will write a custom essay sample on Cost Theory or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1. Function * Economists view costs as what an individual or firm must give up to get something else. Opening a manufacturing plant to produce goods requires an outlay of money. Once a plant owner spends money to manufacture goods, that money is no longer available for something else. Production facilities, machinery used in the production process and plant workers are all examples of costs. Cost theory offers an approach to understanding the costs of production that allows firms to determine the level of output that reaps the greatest level of profit at the least cost. 2. Features * Cost theory contains various measures of costs. These include a firm’s fixed costs and variable costs. The former do not vary with the quantity of goods produced. Rent on a facility is an example of a fixed cost. Variable costs change with the quantity produced. If increased production requires more workers, for example, those workers’ wages are variable costs. The sum of fixed and variable costs is a firm’s total costs. * Additional Measures * Cost theory derives two additional cost measures. Average total cost is the total cost divided by the number of goods produced. Marginal cost is the increase in total cost that results from increasing production by one unit of output. Marginals–including marginal costs and marginal revenue–are key concepts in mainstream economic thought. Falling and Rising Costs * Economists often use graphs, similar to supply-and-demand charts, to illustrate cost theory and firms’ decisions about production. An average total cost curve is a U-shaped curve on an economic diagram. This shape illustrates how average total costs decline as output rises and then rise as marginal costs increase. Average total costs decline at first because as production rises, average costs are distributed over a larger number of units of output. Eventually, marginal costs of increasing output rise, which increases average total costs. Maximizing Profits * Economic theory holds that the goal of a firm is to maximize profit, which equals total revenue minus total cost. Determining a level of production that generates the greatest level of profit is an important consideration, one that means paying attention to marginal costs, as well as marginal revenue (the increase in revenue arising from an increase in output). Under cost theory, as long as marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost, increasing production will raise profit. Types of Cost Economics Economists factor costs in many different ways. Though you may read the cost of a soup can at $1 as it’s listed on the grocery store shelf, economists view the cost of the soup can in very different ways. For example, an economist asks what you are giving up to buy that can of soup over another item. They measure the firm’s cost of producing that soup can as it relates to their output and factors of production. Thus, the different types of economic costs are varied. 1. Sunk Cost * A sunk cost is an expense that cannot be recouped. Mark Hirschy, author of the book, â€Å"Fundamentals of Managerial Economics,† explains that sunk costs should not factor into a decision when deciding between alternatives. For example, say a person spent $50,000 on a degree in education and earns $60,000 as a teacher. She is later offered a job in marketing that pays her $80,000. Though she may be tempted to factor in her education degree as reason to stay in her current teaching job, her $50,000 degree is regarded as a sunk cost. She already spent this money, and it cannot be recouped. In this case, she should only compare the respective salaries of the positions. If all else is held equal, she should pursue the marketing job. Opportunity Cost * An opportunity cost is the value of an alternative choice. Though the word â€Å"cost† usually equates to a numerical value, like a dollar figure, this is not always the case. William Baumol and Alan Blinder, authors of the book, â€Å"Economics: Principles and Policy,† state that an opportunity cost calculates intangible things like time, location and job satisfaction. They explain opportunity costs are what you give up to follow one course of action. For example, a college graduate is deciding between a job as a tech consultant in Seattle or an investment broker in New York City. If the grad pursues the investment broker position, the opportunity costs of foregoing the job in Seattle could be a slower pace of life, $10,000 higher salary and lower costs of living like rent and food. * Marginal Cost * A marginal cost is the amount it takes to produce one more item. Under this view of costs, they vary along the production line and in most cases the cost to produce a good reduces over time. Intuitively, this makes sense: the more proficient you become at producing a good, the faster you can do it and less waste is produced. The savings in labor and material as you achieve â€Å"economies of scale† means the cost of production usually decreases. The way economists find the marginal cost is by taking the derivative of the total costs as it relates to the total output. How to Find Marginal Cost in Economics Deciding whether to produce more units is often based on marginal cost. The economic concept of marginal cost is the cost associated with producing one additional unit. This information is important to businesses because it allows the company to decide if the additional unit is worth producing from a financial standpoint. When a company produces a small amount of product, the cost of additional units often decrease. However, marginal costs increase when additional units are added once the production level reaches a minimum. This is based on the law of diminishing marginal returns. Instructions 1. * 1 Calculate the change in total variable cost. This is the amount that the costs increased by after additional units are produced. For example, if you’d like to produce more T-shirts and the increase in output would change the costs by $100, then the total variable cost is $100. * 2 Find the change in quantity produced. This represents how many additional units you would like to produce in the given scenario. For example, the change in quantity would be 50 if you’d like to produce 300 T-shirts instead of 250. * 3 Divide the change in total variable costs from Step 1 by the change in quantity from Step 2. This will give you the marginal cost (marginal cost = the change in total variable cost/the change in quantity). For this example, $100 (the change in total variable cost) / 50 (the change in quantity) = $2 in marginal costs, which is the cost of producing each additional T-shirt. What Is the Relationship Between Production ; Cost? Production costs are linked to the cost of materials and labor. The relationship between production and cost in any manufacturing process varies based on volume produced and whether any part of the manufacturing process is outsourced or performed by subcontractors. Additionally, production and cost ratios vary based on the amount of automation involved in production and the amount of human oversight and involvement required. 1. Factors of Production * The main factors of production are labor, capital and supply costs. Capital is defined as equipment, cash reserves, and physical location or production facility. Labor is defined as the amount of and cost of manpower required to bring a product to market. This includes not only the physical labor and oversight related to product production, but also the associated costs of salaries of positions such as managers, delivery drivers, warehouse supervisors, marketing directors and even administrative assistance. Supply costs are any fee associated with securing necessary materials for production. Subcontractor or outsourced work is considered a supply cost as well, as the manufacturer is essentially purchasing a product or service for use in the production process. In this example, work such as offsite creation of product packaging or assembly of minor components of a finished product are considered supply costs in the same way the purchase of raw materials are considered supply costs. Volume of Production * Volume of production figures signify the amount of products being produced. Typically, the greater the volume the lower the cost per unit as raw material suppliers often offer discounts on mass or bulk orders. Volume of production is based on a company’s anticipated product needs, past sales records and placed orders. * Volume of Business * The relationship between production and cost is frequently determined by the volume of business a company is doing. An example that illustrates this point is a multinational vitamin supplement company that produces vitamins in bulk compared to a small health food chain that produces its own vitamin line in small quantities. The cost of the product produced by the small company will typically be greater than the cost of the product offered by the bulk manufacturer because the smaller company produces its product in smaller volumes. Price Points The more it costs a company to produce a product, the greater price the company will have to charge consumers. A company’s production costs include the price of materials, the cost of manpower, the production and packaging process, advertising, and distribution. Mass producers may be able to offer more competitive pricing to end users because they have the luxury of working on a thin margin due to the large volume of production. In microeconomics, the long run is the conceptual time period in which there are no fixed factors of production as to changing the output level by changing the capital stock or by entering or leaving an industry. The long run contrasts with the short run, in which some factors are variable and others are fixed, constraining entry or exit from an industry. In macroeconomics, the long run is the period when the general price level, contractual wage rates, and expectations adjust fully to the state of the economy, in contrast to the short run when these variables may not fully adjust. [1] In the long run, firms change production levels in response to (expected) economic profits or losses, and the land, labor, capital goods and entrepreneurship vary to reach associated long-run average cost. In the simplified case of plant capacity as the only fixed factor, a generic firm can make these changes in the long run: * enter an industry in response to (expected) profits * leave an industry in response to losses * increase its plant in response to profits * decrease its plant in response to losses. Long-run average-cost curve with economies of scale to Q2 and diseconomies of scale thereafter. The long run is associated with the long-run average cost (LRAC) curve in microeconomic models along which a firm would minimize its average cost (cost per unit) for each respective long-run quantity of output. Long-run marginal cost (LRMC) is the added cost of providing an additional unit of service or commodity from changing capacity level to reach the lowest cost associated with that extra output. LRMC equalling price is efficient as to resource allocation in the long run. The concept of long-run cost is also used in determining whether the long-run expected to induce the firm to remain in the industry or shut down production there. In long-run equilibrium of an industry in which perfect competition prevails, the LRMC = Long run average LRAC at the minimum LRAC and associated output. The shape of the long-run marginal and average costs curves is determined by economies of scale. The long run is a planning and implementation stage. [2][3] Here a firm may decide that it needs to produce on a larger scale by building a new plant or adding a production line. The firm may decide that new technology should be incorporated into its production process. The firm thus considers all its long-run production options and selects the optimal combination of inputs and technology for its long-run urposes. [4] The optimal combination of inputs is the least-cost combination of inputs for desired level of output when all inputs are variable. [3] Once the decisions are made and implemented and production begins, the firm is operating in the short run with fixed and variable inputs. [3][5] Short run All production in real time occurs in the short run. The short run is the conceptual time period in which at least one factor of production is fixed in amount and others are variable in am ount. Costs that are fixed, say from existing plant size, have no impact on a firm’s short-run decisions, since only variable costs and revenues affect short-run profits. Such fixed costs raise the associated short-run average cost of an output long-run average cost if the amount of the fixed factor is better suited for a different output level. In the short run, a firm can raise output by increasing the amount of the variable factor(s), say labor through overtime. A generic firm already producing in an industry can make three changes in the short run as a response to reach a posited equilibrium: * increase production decrease production * shut down. In the short run, a profit-maximizing firm will: * increase production if marginal cost is less than marginal revenue (added revenue per additional unit of output); * decrease production if marginal cost is greater than marginal revenue; * continue producing if average variable cost is less than price per unit, even if average total cos t is greater than price; * shut down if average variable cost is greater than price at each level of output. Transition from short run to long run The transition from the short run to the long run may be done by considering some short-run equilibrium that is also a long-run equilibrium as to supply and demand, then comparing that state against a new short-run and long-run equilibrium state from a change that disturbs equilibrium, say in the sales-tax rate, tracing out the short-run adjustment first, then the long-run adjustment. Each is an example of comparative statics. Alfred Marshall (1890) pioneered in comparative-static period analysis. [6] He istinguished between the temporary or market period (with output fixed), the short period, and the long period. â€Å"Classic† contemporary graphical and formal treatments include those of Jacob Viner (1931),[7] John Hicks (1939),[8] and Paul Samuelson (1947). [9] The law of diminishing marginal returns The law of diminishing marginal returns to a variable factor applies to the short run. [10] It posits an effect of decreased added or marginal product of from variable factors, which increases the supply price of added output. [11] The law is related to a positive slope of the short-run marginal-cost curve. 12] Macroeconomic usages The usage of ‘long run’ and ‘short run’ in macroeconomics differs somewhat from the above microeconomic usage. J. M. Keynes (1936) emphasized fundamental factors of a market economy that might result in prolonged periods away from full-employment. [13] In later macro usage, the long run is the period in which the price level for the economy is completely flexible as to shifts in aggregate demand and aggregate supply. In addition there is full mobility of labor and capital between sectors of the economy and full capital mobility between nations. In the short run none of these conditions need fully hold. The price is sticky or fixed as to changes in aggregate demand or supply, capital is not fully mobile between sectors, and capital is not fully mobile to interest rate differences among countries fixed exchange rates. [14] A famous critique of neglecting short-run analysis was by John Maynard Keynes, who wrote that â€Å"In the long run, we are all dead,† referring to the long-run proposition of the quantity theory of, for example, a doubling of the money supply doubling the price level. 15] Marginal  Analysis Thinking at the  Margin From Mike Moffatt, former About. com Guide From an economist’s perspective, making choices involves making decisions ‘at the margin’ – that is, making decisions based on small changes in resources: * How should I spend the next hour? * How should I spend the next dollar? On the surface, this seems like a strange way of considering the choices made by people and firms. It is rare that someone would consciously ask themselves – ‘How will I spend dollar number 24,387? ‘, ‘How will I spend dollar number 24,388? . Treating the problem in this matter does have some distinct advantages: * Doing so leads to the optimal decisions being made, subject to preferences, resources and informational constraints. * It makes the problem less messy from an analytic point of view, as we are not trying to analyze a million decisions at once. * While this does not exactly mimic conscious decision making processes, it does provide results similar to the decisions people actually make. That is, people may not think using this method, but the decisions they make are as if they do. Marginal Analysis – An Example Consider the decision on how many hours to work, as given by the following chart: Hour – Hourly Wage – Value of Time Hour 1 – $10 – $2 Hour 2 – $10 – $2 Hour 3 – $10 – $3 Hour 4 – $10 – $3 Hour 5 – $10 – $4 Hour 6 – $10 – $5 Hour 7 – $10 – $6 Hour 8 – $10 – $8 Hour 9 – $15 – $9 Hour 10 – $15 – $12 Hour 11 – $15 – $18 Hour 12 – $15 – $20 The hourly wage represents what I earn for working an extra hour – it is the marginal gain or the marginal benefit. The value of time is essentially an opportunity cost – it is how much I value having that hour off. In this example it represents a marginal cost – what it costs me by working an additional hour. The increase in marginal costs is a common phenomenon; I do not mind working a few hours since there are 24 hours in a day. I still have plenty of time to do other things. However, as I start to work more hours it reduces the number of hours I have for other activities. I have to start giving up more and more valuable opportunities to work those extra hours. It is clear that I should work the first hour, as I gain $10 in marginal benefits and lose only $2 in marginal costs, for a net gain of $8. By the same logic I should work the second and third hours as well. I will want to work until which time the marginal cost exceeds the marginal benefit. I will want to work the 10th hour as I receive a net benefit of #3 (marginal benefit of $15, marginal cost of $12). However, I will not want to work the 11th hour, as the marginal cost ($18) exceeds the marginal benefit ($15) by three dollars. Thus marginal analysis suggests that rational maximizing behavior is to work for 10 hours. Next Lesson: Market Distortions: Altering the Supply and Demand Equilibrium. Marginal Analysis * Marginal Revenue – Glossary – Dictionary Definition of Marginal Revenue * Marginal Significance Value – Glossary – Dictionary Definition of Marginal Si†¦ * Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost Practice Question Related Articles * Running a Private Practice – Working with Animals * Work Stress – Long Work Hours Are Not the Culprit * Open for Business: Scheduling Your Week – Being a Personal Trainer * Three Union Work Rules That Increase the Cost of Operating Transit * Hold On to Your Sanity – Start Your Own Business AN INTRODUCTION TO COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS| * Background * Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) estimates and totals up the equivalent money value of the benefits and costs to the community of projects to establish whether they are worthwhile. These projects may be dams and highways or can be training programs and health care systems. * The idea of this economic accounting originated with Jules Dupuit, a French engineer whose 1848 article is still worth reading. The British economist, Alfred Marshall, formulated some of the formal concepts that are at the foundation of CBA. But the practical development of CBA came as a result of the impetus provided by the Federal Navigation Act of 1936. This act required that the U. S. Corps of Engineers carry out projects for the improvement of the waterway system when the total benefits of a project to whomsoever they accrue exceed the costs of that project. Thus, the Corps of Engineers had created systematic methods for measuring such benefits and costs. The engineers of the Corps did this without much, if any, assistance from the economics profession. It wasn’t until about twenty years later in the 1950’s that economists tried to provide a rigorous, consistent set of methods for measuring benefits and costs and deciding whether a project is worthwhile. Some technical issues of CBA have not been wholly resolved even now but the fundamental presented in the following are well established. * Principles of Cost Benefit Analysis * One of the problems of CBA is that the computation of many components of benefits and costs is intuitively obvious but that there are others for which intuition fails to suggest methods of measurement. Therefore some basic principles are needed as a guide. There Must Be a Common Unit of Measurement * In order to reach a conclusion as to the desirability of a project all aspects of the project, positive and negative, must be expressed in terms of a common unit; i. e. , there must be a â€Å"bottom line. † The most convenient common unit is money. This means that all benefits and costs of a project should be measured in terms of their equivalent money value. A program may provide benefits which are not directly expressed in terms of dollars but there is some amount of money the recipients of the benefits would consider just as good as the project’s benefits. For example, a project may provide for the elderly in an area a free monthly visit to a doctor. The value of that benefit to an elderly recipient is the minimum amount of money that that recipient would take instead of the medical care. This could be less than the market value of the medical care provided. It is assumed that more esoteric benefits such as from preserving open space or historic sites have a finite equivalent money value to the public. * Not only do the benefits and costs of a project have to be expressed in terms of equivalent money value, but they have to be expressed in terms of dollars of a particular time. This is not just due to the differences in the value of dollars at different times because of inflation. A dollar available five years from now is not as good as a dollar available now. This is because a dollar available now can be invested and earn interest for five years and would be worth more than a dollar in five years. If the interest rate is r then a dollar invested for t years will grow to be (1+r)t. Therefore the amount of money that would have to be deposited now so that it would grow to be one dollar t years in the future is (1+r)-t. This called the discounted value or present value of a dollar available t years in the future. * When the dollar value of benefits at some time in the future is multiplied by the discounted value of one dollar at that time in the future the result is discounted present value of that benefit of the project. The same thing applies to costs. The net benefit of the projects is just the sum of the present value of the benefits less the present value of the costs. * The choice of the appropriate interest rate to use for the discounting is a separate issue that will be treated later in this paper. CBA Valuations Should Represent Consumers or Producers Valuations As Revealed by Their Actual Behavior * The valuation of benefits and costs should reflect preferences revealed by choices which have been made. For example, improvements in transportation frequently involve saving time. The question is how to measure the money value of that time saved. The value should not be merely what transportat ion planners think time should be worth or even what people say their time is worth. The value of time should be that which the public reveals their time is worth through choices involving tradeoffs between time and money. If people have a choice of parking close to their destination for a fee of 50 cents or parking farther away and spending 5 minutes more walking and they always choose to spend the money and save the time and effort then they have revealed that their time is more valuable to them than 10 cents per minute. If they were indifferent between the two choices they would have revealed that the value of their time to them was exactly 10 cents per minute. * The most challenging part of CBA is finding past choices which reveal the tradeoffs and equivalencies in preferences. For example, the valuation of the benefit of cleaner air could be established by finding how much less people paid for housing in more polluted areas which otherwise was identical in characteristics and location to housing in less polluted areas. Generally the value of cleaner air to people as revealed by the hard market choices seems to be less than their rhetorical valuation of clean air. * Benefits Are Usually Measured by Market Choices * When consumers make purchases at market prices they reveal that the things they buy are at least as beneficial to them as the money they relinquish. Consumers will increase their consumption of any commodity up to the point where the benefit of an additional unit (marginal benefit) is equal to the marginal cost to them of that unit, the market price. Therefore for any consumer buying some of a commodity, the marginal benefit is equal to the market price. The marginal benefit will decline with the amount consumed just as the market price has to decline to get consumers to consume a greater quantity of the commodity. The relationship between the market price and the quantity consumed is called the demand schedule. Thus the demand schedule provides the information about marginal benefit that is needed to place a money value on an increase in consumption. * Gross Benefits of an Increase in Consumption is an Area Under the Demand Curve * The increase in benefits resulting from an increase in consumption is the sum of the marginal benefit times each incremental increase in consumption. As the incremental increases considered are taken as smaller and smaller the sum goes to the area under the marginal benefit curve. But the marginal benefit curve is the same as the demand curve so the increase in benefits is the area under the demand curve. As shown in Figure 1 the area is over the range from the lower limit of consumption before the increase to consumption after the increase. * Figure 1 * When the increase in consumption is small compared to the total consumption the gross benefit is adequately approximated, as is shown in a welfare analysis, by the market value of the increased consumption; i. e. , market price times the increase in consumption. * Some Measurements of Benefits Require the Valuation of Human Life * It is sometimes necessary in CBA to evaluate the benefit of saving human lives. There is considerable antipathy in the general public to the idea of placing a dollar value on human life. Economists recognize that it is impossible to fund every project which promises to save a human life and that some rational basis is needed to select which projects are approved and which are turned down. The controversy is defused when it is recognized that the benefit of such projects is in reducing the risk of death. There are many cases in which people voluntarily accept increased risks in return for higher pay, such as in the oil fields or mining, or for time savings in higher speed in automobile travel. These choices can be used to estimate the personal cost people place on increased risk and thus the value to them of reduced risk. This computation is equivalent to placing an economic value on the expected number of lives saved. * The Analysis of a Project Should Involve a With Versus Without Comparison * The impact of a project is the difference between what the situation in the study area would be with and without the project. This that when a project is being evaluated the analysis must estimate not only what the situation would be with the project but also what it would be without the project. For example, in determining the impact of a fixed guideway rapid transit system such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the San Francisco Bay Area the number of rides that would have been taken on an expansion of the bus system should be deducted from the rides provided by BART and likewise the additional costs of such an expanded bus system would be deducted from the costs of BART. In other words, the alternative to the project must be explicitly specified and considered in the evaluation of the project. Note that the with-and-without comparison is not the same as a before-and-after comparison. Another example shows the importance of considering the impacts of a project and a with-and-without comparison. Suppose an irrigation project proposes to increase cotton production in Arizona. If the United States Department of Agriculture limits the cotton production in the U. S. by a system of quotas then expanded cotton production in Arizona might be offset by a reduction in the cotto n production quota for Mississippi. Thus the impact of the project on cotton production in the U. S. might be zero rather than being the amount of cotton produced by the project. * Cost Benefit Analysis Involves a Particular Study Area The impacts of a project are defined for a particular study area, be it a city, region, state, nation or the world. In the above example concerning cotton the impact of the project might be zero for the nation but still be a positive amount for Arizona. * The nature of the study area is usually specified by the organization sponsoring the analysis. Many effects of a project may â€Å"net out† over one study area but not over a smaller one. The specification of the study area may be arbitrary but it may significantly affect the conclusions of the analysis. * Double Counting of Benefits or Costs Must be Avoided Sometimes an impact of a project can be measured in two or more ways. For example, when an improved highway reduces travel time and the r isk of injury the value of property in areas served by the highway will be enhanced. The increase in property values due to the project is a very good way, at least in principle, to measure the benefits of a project. But if the increased property values are included then it is unnecessary to include the value of the time and lives saved by the improvement in the highway. The property value went up because of the benefits of the time saving and the reduced risks. To include both the increase in property values and the time saving and risk reduction would involve double counting. * Decision Criteria for Projects * If the discounted present value of the benefits exceeds the discounted present value of the costs then the project is worthwhile. This is equivalent to the condition that the net benefit must be positive. Another equivalent condition is that the ratio of the present value of the benefits to the present value of the costs must be greater than one. * If there are more than one mutually exclusive project that have positive net present value then there has to be further analysis. From the set of mutually exclusive projects the one that should be selected is the one with the highest net present value. * If the funds required for carrying out all of the projects with positive net present value are less than the funds available this means the discount rate used in computing the present values is too low and does not reflect the true cost of capital. The present values must be recomputed using a higher discount rate. It may take some trial and error to find a discount rate such that the funds required for the projects with a positive net present value is no more than the funds available. Sometimes as an alternative to this procedure people try to select the best projects on the basis of some measure of goodness such as the internal rate of return or the benefit/cost ratio. This is not valid for several reasons. * The magnitude of the ratio of benefits to costs is to a degree arbitrary because some costs such as operating costs may be deducted from benefits and thus not be included in the cost figure. This is called netting out of operating costs. This netting out may be done for some projects and not for others. This manipulation of the benefits and costs will not affect the net benefits but it may change the benefit/cost ratio. However it will not raise the benefit cost ratio which is less than one to above one. For more on this topic see Benefit/ cost Ratio Magnitude. * An Example * To illustrate how CBA might be applied to a project, let us consider a highway improvement such as the extension of Highway 101 into San Jose. The local four-lane highway which carried the freeway and commuter traffic into San Jose did not have a median divider and its inordinate number of fatal head-on collisions led to the name â€Å"Blood Alley. The improvement of the highway would lead to more capacity which produces time saving and lowers the risk. But inevitably there will be more traffic than was carried by the old highway. * The following is a highly abbreviated analysis using hypothetical data. TRIP DATA| No Extension, â€Å"Blood Alley† Only| 101 Extension and â€Å"Blood Alley†| Rush H ours|   |   | Passenger Trips (per hour)| 3,000| 4,000| Trip Time (minutes)| 50| 30| Value of Time ($/minute)| $0. 10| $0. 10| Nonrush Hours|   |   | Passenger Trips (per hour)| 500| 555. 55| Trip Time (minutes)| 35| 25| Value of Time ($/minute)| $0. 08| $0. 08| Traffic Fatalities per year)| 12| 6| * The data indicates that for rush-hour trips the time cost of a trip is $5 without the project and $3 with it. It is assumed that the operating cost for a vehicle is unaffected by the project and is $4. * The project lowers the cost of a trip and the public responds by increasing the number of trips taken. There is an increase in consumer surplus both for the trips which would have been taken without the project and for the trips which are stimulated by the project. * For trips which would have been taken anyway the benefit of the project equals the value of the time saved times the number of trips. For the rush-hour trip the project saves $2 and for the nonrush-hour trip it saves $0. 80. For the trips generated by the project the benefit is equal to one half of the value of the time saved times the increase in the number of trips. * The benefits per hour are: TYPE| Trips Which Would Be Taken Anyway| Trips Generated By the Project| Total| Rush Hour| 6,000. 00| 1,000. 00| 7,000. 00| Nonrush Hour| 400. 00| 22. 22| 422. 22| * To convert the benefits to an annual basis one multiplies the hourly benefits of each type of trip times the number of hours per year for that type of trip. There are 260 week days per year and at six rush hours per weekday there are 1560 rush hours per year. This leaves 7200 nonrush hours per year. With these figures the annual benefits are: TYPE| Trips Which Would Be Taken Anyway| Trips Generated By the Project| Total| Rush Hour| $9,360,000| $1,560,000| $10,020,000| Nonrush Hour| $2,880,000| $160,000| $3,040,000| Total| $12,240,000| $1,720,000| $13,960,000| * The value of the reduced fatalities may be computed in terms of the equivalent economic value people place upon their lives when making choices concerning risk and money. If the labor market has wages for occupations of different risks such that people accept an increase in the risk of death of 1/1,000 per year in return for an increase in income of $400 per year then a project that reduces the risk of death in a year by 1/1000 gives a benefit to each person affected by it of $400 per year. The implicit valuation of a life in this case is $400,000. Thus benefit of the reduced risk project is the expected number of lives saved times the implicit value of a life. For the highway project this is 6x$400,000= $2,400,000 annually. * The annual benefits of the project are thus: TYPE OF BENEFIT| VALUE OF BENEFITS PER YEAR| Time Saving| $13,960,000| Reduced Risk| $2,400,000| * Let us assume that this level of benefits continues at a constant rate over a thirty-year lifetime of the project. * The cost of the highway consists of the costs for its right-of-way, its construction and its maintenance. The cost of the right-of-way is the cost of the land and any structures upon it which must be purchased before the construction of the highway can begin. For purposes of this example the cost of right-of-way is taken to be $100 million and it must be paid before any construction can begin. At least part of the right-of- way cost for a highway can be recovered at the end of the lifetime of the highway if it is not rebuilt. For the example it is assumed that all of the right-of-way cost is recoverable at the end of the thirty-year lifetime of the project. The construction cost is $200 million spread evenly over a four-year period. Maintenance cost is $1 million per year once the highway is completed. * The schedule of benefits and costs for the project are as follows: TIME (year)| BENEFITS ($millions)| RIGHT-OF -WAY ($millions)| CONSTRUCTION COSTS $millions)| MAINTENANCE ($millions)| 0| 0| 100| 0| 0| 1-4| 0| 0| 50| 0| 5-29| 16. 36| 0| 0| 1| 30| 16. 36| -100| 0| 1| * The benefits and costs are in constant value dollars; i. e. , there was no price increase included in the analysis. Therefore the discount rate used must be the real interest rate. If the interest rate on long term bonds is 8 percent and the rate of inflation is 6 percent then the real rate of interest is 2 p ercent. Present value of the streams of benefits and costs discounted at a 2 percent back to time zero are as follows:   | PRESENT VALUE $ millions)| Benefits| 304. 11| Costs|   | Right-of-Way| 44. 79| Construction| 190. 39| Maintenance| 18. 59| Total Costs| 253. 77| |   | | Net Benefits| 50. 35| | *independent rounding| * The positive net present value of $50. 35 million and benefit/cost ratio of 1. 2 indicate that the project is worthwhile if the cost of capital is 2 percent. When a discount rate of 3 percent is the benefit/cost ratio is slightly under 1. 0. This means that the internal rate of return is just under 3 percent. When the cost of capital is 3 percent the project is not worthwhile. It should be noted that the market value of the right-of-way understates the opportunity cost of having the land devoted to the highway. The land has a value of $100 million because of its income after property taxes. The economy is paying more for its alternate use but some of the pay ment is diverted for taxes. The discounted presented value of the payments for the alternate use might be more like $150 million instead of $100 million. Another way of making this point is that one of the costs of the highway is that the local governments lose the property tax on the land used. * Summary By reducing the positive and negative impacts of a project to their equivalent money value Cost-Benefit Analysis determines whether on balance the project is worthwhile. The equivalent money value are based upon information derived from consumer and producer market choices; i. e. , the demand and supply schedules for the goods and services affected by the project. Care must be taken to properly allow for such things as inflation. When all this has been considered a worthwhile project is one for which the discounted value of the benefits exceeds the discounted value of the costs; i. . , the net benefits are positive. This is equivalent to the benefit/cost ratio being greater than on e and the internal rate of return being greater than the cost of capital. * History of Cost-Benefit Analysis * CBA has its origins in the water development projects of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers had its origins in the French engineers hired by George Washington in the American Revolution. For years the only school of engineering in the United States was the Military Academy at West Point, New York. In 1879, Congress created the Mississippi River Commission to â€Å"prevent destructive floods. † The Commission included civilians but the president had to be an Army engineer and the Corps of Engineers always had veto power over any decision by the Commission. * In 1936 Congress passed the Flood Control Act which contained the wording, â€Å"the Federal Government should improve or participate in the improvement of navigable waters or their tributaries, including watersheds thereof, for flood-control purposes if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs. The phrase if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs established cost-benefit analysis. Initially the Corps of Engineers developed ad hoc methods for estimating benefits and costs. It wasn’t until the 1950s that academic economists discovered that the Corps had developed a system for the economic analysis of public investments. Economists have influenced and improved the Corps’ methods since then and cost-benefit analysis has been adapted to most areas of public decision-making. How to cite Cost Theory, Papers

Evolution of African American Music Essay Example For Students

Evolution of African American Music Essay Throughout the struggles of slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation, African Americans were able to remain identifiable as a race by preserving certain valuable cultural elements within their music. The purpose of this research paper will examine and reveal examples of the continuous influence of African culture on the evolution of African American music. Systematically, with each era of societal oppression, each generation of African American musicians, birthed a new genre of musical genius. The correlation between the musical roots and the African heritage of African Americans, defined the artistic foundation of each musical style. So much of the music’s lyrical content embraced change but also expressed the realities of the African American’s life experiences. The research in this paper will highlight examples of how the unique choral techniques within Spirituals and Worksongs, the call-and-response verses of the Blues and the improvised melodies and harmonies of Jazz are all distinct characteristics of traditional African music. From Whence We Came Shackled and chained together and corralled on a ship, native Africans watched as the shore of their homeland disappeared into the horizon with each wave of the ocean. Forced to leave behind family and material possessions, they bought with them the one thing that white Americans could not destroy: the sounds of home. They still held onto the sound of an approaching animal’s footsteps, the timing of the wind blowing through the trees but more importantly the sound of the tribal drums. Slave owners removed the drum from the daily lives of these first generation African slaves once â€Å"the connection between drumming, communication and resistance was made. The subsequent ban on African drums and drumming contributed to the slaves’ cultural disorientation by weakening ties to the music that had filled their African existence. † The plantations of the South were far from the physical homeland of Africa where drums communicated messages like Morse code. Now, the sounds and rhythms of the drums would have to come from within and begin to communicate a whole new language on this new continent. The ear would become trained to feel as well as hear. It proved more trustworthy than the eye, as the slaves would soon learn and use to their advantage. Spirituals and Worksongs â€Å"Because of the team-type plantation work of the south, African Americans created many worksongs. Worksongs of the new world preserved many Africanisms. † Some slave worksongs had harmonies almost identical to Congolese and Yoruba traditional music. Lawrence-McIntyre concluded the superb musical quality of the African American slave’s worksong reflected the Mississippi style and true African traits, particularly the rough voice timbre and the overlapping leader and chorus. John Henry was another popular worksong that used a â€Å"hollar† back response. Hollar back worksongs were created for the specific purpose of guiding and instructing a group of slaves to work together, almost in unison, to follow the rhythm of the leader’s hollar and to time the swing of their hammers back and forth. The slaves responded with a grunt as the hammer struck the wood or spike. A version of this song has survived to become the poetic lyrics of an American folk ballad and is often taught as a period piece to many grade school children in music class. A spiritual work-song was sung by everyone in the field like a choir singing a chorus. To the unsuspecting slave masters, slaves working in the fields singing Steal Away held a biblical sentiment but to the slave toiling in the field, the song communicated there would be a planned escape happening that night. In the old Negro spiritual, Go Down Moses, the slaves sang their â€Å"African allegories that identified Egypt-land with the South, Pharaoh with the masters, and the Israelites with themselves and Moses with their leader, Harriet Tubman. † Most of the African American spirituals were less about religion and more about freedom, the physical freedom from life as a slave. Using biblical and religious undertones, slaves used the language of spirituals to rebuke the conditions of slavery and in doing this â€Å"pass on their beliefs in the ancestral Gods† to their children. The Influence of music on worker productivity EssayDecades of evolution within the Jazz genre would transform and solidify the way music was created, how it was played, what demographic listened to it as well as the measures to which one supported it. â€Å"The Negro had created a music that offered such a profound reflection of America that it could attract white Americans to want to listen to it for exactly that reason. † The evolution created: a. New Orleans Jazz – Louis Armstrong b. Stride Piano Jazz – James Johnson c. Big Bands Jazz– Jelly Roll Morton d. Swing Bands Jazz –Duke Ellington Billie Holliday e. Bebop Jazz – Dizzy Gillespie f. Hard Bop Jazz– Art Blake g. Cool Jazz – Miles Davis The Great Migration of African Americans from the oppressive south to the Northern New York Jazz scene, later known as The Harlem Renaissance, or Midwest to Chicago, propelled the new African American musicians into the mainstream. This generation of African American musicians were renaissance men who did it all: They were intellectual enough to compose and produce original compositions, schooled and technically trained enough to play several instruments and poised and talented enough to direct and lead an orchestra. There would be no â€Å"fight or flight† or â€Å"survival of the fittest† within this genre. The different musical styles co-existed, blended, and intermingled with each other; at times offering a bar here or a stanza there to create yet another complex riff or unique sound. Alan Locke, a Howard University professor, believed that the improvised interval break of the Blues represented the cradle from which Jazz originated. He further claimed, it â€Å"reflected a fluctuation of speed within musical phrase against a steady rhythmic beat that is a peculiar characteristic of African American music, a secret they kept for years. † Jazz artist Ornette Coleman’s first album, Free Jazz, boasted such an innovative, unrestrictive musical delivery that allowed each player to ad lib while still playing together as a band, gave this style of Jazz its name-Free Jazz. Because of the many eclectic forms of Jazz, it is the best known and one of the most appreciated styles of African American music. In conclusion, African American’s â€Å"improvisational tradition combined with a propensity towards innovation† (Sullivan, 2001) created a musical culture that would influence and give rise to some of the world’s greatest music. According to James L. Conyers Jr. , culture is the totality of values and behavioral preferences that make up a people’s lifestyle and approach to the activities of everyday life. â€Å"One’s culture and the influences upon one’s culture are extremely important because culture determines the destiny of a people. Images in American history are frozen in time and even remembered by the genre of music reflective of those events. On this evolutionary journey, one form of African American music seemingly never completely abandoned the previous form while undergoing subtle metamorphoses. The Spirituals, Worksongs and the Blues were like the African tribal music. The music became a representation of the formation of the N ew African American race. The similarities to African culture remained evident with each new musical emergence. Bibliography: Brown, S. (1953). Latin American Studies. Negro Expressions: Spiritual, Secular, Ballads and Worksongs in Phylon., Vol 13. Conyers, J. J. (2001). African American Jazz and Rap: Social and Philosphical Examinations of Black Expressive Behavior. Jefferson: McFarland Company, Inc. Hester, K. (2000). From Africa to Afocentric: Innovations Some Call Jazz. In K. Hester, From Africa to Afocentric: Innovations Some Call Jazz (pp. 2-3). Ithaca: Herteric Records and Publisher. Lawrence-McIntyre, p. J. (2011). African American Contributions . Portland: PPS Geocultural Baseline Essay Series. Lowance, H. (2008). The Great Depression. Retrieved from History Magazine: https://sites.google.com/site/thegreatdepressionblues/ McNally, D. (2014). On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom. Berkley: Counterpoint. Sullivan, m. (2001, March). African American Music as Rebellion: From Slavesong to Hip hop. The Knight Institute at Cornell University. Walsh, M. (2010, June). A Year of Hope for Joplin and Johnson. Smithsonian Magazine.