A Marxist Analysis of the Accra Mall

3rd December, 2012. Marxist analysis of the Accra Mall Marxist describes the power struggle between different social classes in society. Marxism is further explained by certain concepts, such as ideology and hegemony, base and superstructure and reification. Ideology is a set of ideas or viewpoints that one social class has of another which influences the way they behave towards each other while hegemony refers to the way people act based on the ideas or ideologies that they hold and act out regarding other classes.Base and superstructure refers to the system whereby the working class, which represents the majority of the people, is ruled by the few, the owners of the sources of production. Marxism in essence can be seen in all walks of life and in various parts of our society. The Accra mall in Greater Accra is one such place. The Accra Mall is more than just an avenue to shop. The Accra Mall is the place to see and be seen. It is strategically located at the very tip of the Spintex Road, at the Tetteh Quashie Roundabout, in close proximity to a number of hotels, high end residential apartments and corporate buildings.In essence the mall caters to a certain class of people; the affluent in the Ghanaian society. It contains about twenty or so shops with mostly overpriced goods. There is a food court located right in the middle of the shopping mall with a playground for children. The mall’s general ambience, of money, expensive food, high end clothing and a large parking lot, usually overcrowded with flashy and expensive cars gives one a good idea of what to expect in the mall.The air of spending is further heightened by the presence of the numerous automated teller machines (ATM) placed at one part the mall. The neighborhood and the mall in general gives a clear cut distinction of who they serve and who serves them- it caters for the rich and wealthy that are served by the working class or the poor. The large parking lot mentioned earlier, constantly has a greater ratio of flashy cars to a very small number of not so nice cars. Without a doubt, it is evident that the mall is frequented by the upper classmen, or those who can afford to drive them.The price tags does not encourage the lower class to frequent the place because the products or items sold at the mall are above the financial means of a person for instance, the price of a bottle of soda at Rhapsody’s, one of the restaurants is ludicrously expensive and hence caters to the high class or the middle class that can spend extravagantly. On the other hand a restaurant like Pizza Inn prices the goods somewhat moderately to cater to all the classes. Another case is of two supermarkets, Game and Shoprite. It is common to see people coming out Game with few items.In contrast, Shoprite prices their goods that most people could at least buy a cookie from their bakery or a little toy for their children or a plate of nicely decorated and somewhat tasty meals. The people in the m all fall into two categories, as society dictates; the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat is made up of the janitors, the shop attendants, security guards and basically people who are not likely to spend in the mall. The other group, mainly made up of the business men and women, doctors and lawyers are mainly the customers; the proletariat.The shop attendants, the janitors and security guards depend on the purchasing and patronized services of the customers, in this case the bourgeoisie, to spend at the mall, so that they can earn money. The bourgeoisie are catered to by the proletariat at the mall. They serve them at the mall and are the people who work â€Å"behind the scenes† to make things the way they are for the bourgeoisie to enjoy. The proletariats on the other hand are employed by the bourgeoisie and depend on them for their livelihood. At the Accra Mall, there is a general reaction by the shop owners and the other people, based on the way people look.P eople are profiled into either whether they are of high class or a low class, in other words, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The society has a way of classifying people by the way they dress. If your clothes appear trendy or fashionable enough then you must be in the upper class. The proletariats on the other hand are looked down upon immediately because they are judged to be the lower class based on their dressing and are hence treated as potential shoplifters or people up to no good. Marxism permeates all areas of our society; healthcare, in education and in a number of other aspects of life. The Accra Mall is one such place.People of all sorts can be identified here, and there in lie the groups of the bourgeoisie and proletariat. There is a constant, somewhat passive struggle for power. While the bourgeoisie (the rich, upper class, wealthy customers) continue to revel in their spending and high end lifestyle, the proletariat (the janitors, the security guards and staff in g eneral) work long hours to try to attain a respectful position in life, to become like the bourgeoisie. As long as the society continues to go on in this manner, Marxist theory of power struggle will continue to be relevant in explaining such conflict.

Community Colleges which deliver Essay

Module description: This module covers the importance of volunteerism in contributing to an improvement in the quality of life in communities around UTech and Community Colleges which deliver its programmes as well as the wider society. It further unites classroom instructions with real societal needs and explores the relationship between General Education modules and CSP 1001. MODULE OBJECTIVES: At the end of the module, you should be able to: 1. understand the nature of volunteerism 2. recognize the role of individuals in providing voluntary service 3. appreciate the value of a service ethic in the development of a society. REQUIRED READINGS †¢ Robotham, D. (1998). Vision and Volunteerism. Grace Kennedy Foundation Lecture. †¢ Vision 2030 Jamaica: National Development Plan. National Planning Institute of Jamaica. 2009 ASSESSMENT 1. You will be required to complete four reflective pieces. Each reflection must be type written, Times New Roman, 12pt, double –spaced and no less than one page or more than three pages. You will not be allowed to submit all four pieces at the end of the semester. You must complete each one and submit it on the due date. You will prepare two copies of each assignment. Submit one copy to your lecturer. Have your lecturer sign and date the other copy to acknowledge receipt of your work. Keep all signed copies of your assignments in a safe place. You may need to provide these as evidence of submission of your work. 2. NB: My copy of each reflection is to be e-mailed to mmarch@utech.edu.jm. I do not require a hardcopy of reflections 1 – 3. 3. A hardcopy of your final reflection (REFLECTION # 4) must be submitted to the agency before you leave at the end of the semester. This signed copy of the reflection must be submitted along with the completed timecard. You must present all your work in a folder with the following information on the cover page: NAME: ACADEMIC YEAR: SCHOOL: LECTURER: NAME OF AGENCY/ PROJECT: ID#: SEMESTER: TUTORIAL DAY/TIME: AGENCY SUPERVISOR: 4. At the end of each reflection, you must type this information: Lecturer’s signature: Submission Date: 2 CONTENT Session 1 Week beginning Aug 26 Content Introduction to CSP 1001 †¢ Structure of the module †¢ Assignment to groups and agency †¢ Readings and assignments Activities Assign reading for next class Explain guidelines for reflections ASSIGNMENTS Reflection # 1 2 pages Vision 2030 and community service: a. What does community service/ volunteerism mean to you? b. Which 2 of the 4 goals of Vision 2030 do you think is most closely linked to community service/ volunteerism? Why? c. Select 1 of the 2 goals discussed in (b) and suggest ways you can contribute to achieving this goal through your community service. d. Read Vision and Volunteerism: Reviving Voluntarism in Jamaica, by Don Robotham 2 Week beginning Sept 9 Relating the philosophy and practice of community service / volunteerism to Vision 2030 †¢ What is vision 2030 †¢ Goals of Vision 2030 †¢ Meaning of community service/ volunteerism Reflection # 1 due Discussion of reflection Discuss Vision and Volunteerism. Is volunteerism dead? Can we have a Fifth Peak of volunteerism in Jamaica? Reflection #2 2 pages Identifying your community service project objectives a. Identify your agency and briefly discuss the history, goals and objectives of the agency. b. Bearing the Vision 2030 goal you selected in reflection 1 in mind, identify a set of objectives you aim to fulfill in your assignment at your agency. c. Discuss the specific steps you will take to accomplish those objectives. Reflection # 3 2 pages a. Identify some of the problems/ issues you experienced or witnessed during your placement. b. To what extent did problems you encountered/ witnessed in your placement reflect problems prevalent in the wider Jamaican society? c. What impact do you think these problems will have on our ability to achieve the goals laid out in Vision 2030? d. If the problem was something you encountered, what solution(s) did you employ to address the problem? If the problem was something you witnessed, what possible solutions would you suggest could be used to address the problem? Assignment # 4 3 pages a. Bri efly summarize your impressions of your time spent in your agency. What do you think was the best part of your service? What was the worst part? b. Review the objectives you set for yourself and discuss to what extent were these objectives achieved? c. Discuss in what ways did the community in which you worked benefit from your project. 3 Week beginning Sept 30 Community Service as a change agent †¢ How has community service contributed to our nation’s development historically. †¢ What role can community service play in achieving the goals of Vision 2030. †¢ Reflection # 2 due Discussion of reflection #2 4 Week beginning Oct 28 Community Service for development †¢ Nation †¢ Community †¢ Globally †¢ Role of UTech/ Community Colleges Evaluation of experiences †¢ Challenges †¢ Solutions Reflection # 3 due Discussion of reflection #3 Distribution of evaluation forms. 3 d. State whether the organization would benefit from having more CSP projects completed. Suggest the kind of service which would assist the organization/ community in which you worked, based on your experience there. e. In what ways do you think could CSP 1001 be improved? f. Give reflections on your reading of Vision 2030 and Vision and Volunteerism You will make a copy of this assignment which you will submit to your agency BEFORE YOU LEAVE at the end of the semester. 5 Week beginning Nov 18 Evaluation of experiences †¢ Objectives †¢ Benefits †¢ Challenges †¢ Solutions Reflection # 4 due (Final Assignment)

Aquinas vs. Augustine on Their Varying Views of Women

St Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine of Hippo are considered to be two of the greatest Christian theologians in the history of Christianity. Both of these men are apart of the same organization, the Church. Just by this fact it would be easy to assume that they agree on all major issues of the day but this is not the case. They have completely differing views with respect to women in secular and religious life corresponding with the idea of original sin, human sexuality, and social roles. Even in the modern Catholic Church they are still regarded as two of the most important doctors of the church despite their different teachings on key important aspects of leading a Christian life. This shows the variability within the institution of the Catholic Church and some degrees of disagreement within a major faith organization. St Augustine of Hippo termed the idea of original sin. Nowhere in the history of the church had any such concept been taught. He was a man who lived a life of sin and promiscuity until he had an extreme conversion. After this conversion he needed a way to justify all his bad decisions. He did so by terming original sin as the first sin made by Eve that doomed all of mankind for the rest of days. Augustine blames Eve for all the bad experiences in his life, even for all the bad decisions that he has made. He uses original sin and reveals the idea in such a way that no one has to take responsibility for his or her actions because it is innate in us to be bad. Original sin gives people an ‘easy out’ to excuse all previous bad behavior. Never before had the term ‘original sin’ been placed on the sin’s of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Augustine’s example of an ideal woman, his mother, is even faulted by this original sin caused by Eve. â€Å"†¦the torments which she suffered were proof that she had inherited the legacy of Eve, seeking in sorrow what with sorrow she had brought into the world† (Confessions, 101). It is as if woman cannot help but be lesser than man. Even his mother, who he has a high regard for, is as good as she can be—for a woman, â€Å"It is not of her gifts that I shall speak, but of the gifts you gave to her† (Confessions, 192). Original sin is possessed by all humankind and cannot be avoided, this makes it easy for people to remain blameless for sins they have committed. St Thomas Aquinas did not believe in the idea of original sin. He believed that you make choices in life and that original sin was a way to get out of taking responsibility for all the actions that you make, â€Å"†¦so original sin is not the sin of this person except insofar as this person receives his nature from his first parent† (The Summa, 44). He notices that in Genesis that man and woman are created by God before sin and by this interpretation it would be impossible for original sin to exist if it is inherent in mankind. â€Å"What is natural to man was neither taken away nor added to him by sin† (The Summa, 40). Inadvertently by stating this, he is not blaming women for the fall of man. He didn’t believe that woman should be blamed for every evil thing in the world. In fact, he agues that woman was made to perfect man and that without her he would not be whole and able to procreate. †¦it was necessary for woman to be made as a ‘helpmate’ to man† (The Summa, 37). Woman is not condemned to be below man. Aquinas does not explicitly state this however; he does omit mentioning woman as separate from man in his section of the order among man and other things. He states, â€Å"Those of superior intellect are the natural rulers while those who are less intelligent but have stronger bodies s eem to be made by nature to serve†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Summa, 11). He is not gender specific. In fact, one could read into this that most men are to be the servants because they have a stronger physique for working. Aquinas is much more for the idea of actual sin where †¦Ã¢â‚¬ the sin that is the result of [the action of] the soul upon the parts of the body†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Summa, 44). This means that each person’s sin is based upon the choices that they make in their life, not from something that is passed down from the original man. In a different aspect, Augustine believes that human sexuality is dirty. His writing is in favor of rejecting his own sexual nature to live a life away from woman altogether. In his writing he always uses negative language to talk about sexuality. He writes about a dream. He sees Continence and she says to him a quote from the Psalms â€Å"Close your ears to the unclean whispers of your body, so that it may be mortified. It tells you of things that delight you, but not such things as the law of the Lord your God has to tell† (Confessions, 176). These sexual temptations are impure, and disordered. He has to turn away from all things sexual. Through all his giving in to temptation in life he pulls a 180-degree turn once he converts and believes that he should never be with another woman again. He runs away from the general population and hides away in a monastery for the rest of his life. He changes from not being able to wait two years for a wife to have sex, to giving up sex forever. He feels like he had been greedy in the first part of his life and that the latter part should be given up to God. â€Å"†¦no bodily pleasure, however great it might be and whatever earthly light might shed luster upon it, was worthy of comparison†¦beside the happiness of the life of the saints† (Confessions, 197). Aquinas believes that human sexuality is innocent. He argues against the popular belief that woman is a ‘ misbegotten man’ by stating that â€Å"†¦woman is not something misbegotten but intended by nature to be directed to the work of procreation† (The Summa, 38). He goes on to say in that paragraph that because God is the creator of all things, and he created male and female, it is obvious that God intended for man and woman to exist with each other equally in nature. Human sexuality is necessary for procreation. Sin does not define whether or not human nature would procreate. â€Å"What is natural to man was neither taken away nor added to him by sin† (The Summa, 40). Sex is not a dirty act, quite the contrary; it is a perfection of God’s creation. â€Å"†¦by nature there is a union of the male and female for the purpose of procreation† (The Summa, 40). If the human race had never sinned and the world was in complete innocence we would still have the need to procreate and sex would be the necessary means to such. â€Å"In the state of innocence, however, reproduction would have taken place without lust† (The Summa, 40). Augustine had ideas for woman’s social roles as well. He had his mother as an example of an ideal woman and described how the ideal woman would be. Woman should behave a certain way. There is no circumstance where a woman would be over a man in any situation. He uses the example of his mother who he praises as possessing â€Å"†¦modesty and temperance†¦obey[ing] her parents†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Confessions, 194) as well as serving her husband as her lord (Confessions, 194). With her husband she â€Å"†¦knew better than to say or do anything to resist him when he was angry (Confessions, 195) and encouraged other women to â€Å"†¦not defy their masters† (Confessions, 195), in speaking about spousal relationships. In other words, woman should know their place and serve their husband without regard for self. He believed that the man was always to be placed first in every situation and that all women should be like his mother. Service should be a woman’s strong suit and it seems that Augustine believed that in this woman would be fulfilled. Aquinas believed that woman had worth and uses reason to prove this. Throughout his writings he uses non-gendered terms to describe most things, which is a sign to the reader that he believes in equality amongst men and women. He does say that woman was not made to be subjective to man in that she is a slave to him. He points out the two different meanings of subjection. The one kind is a product of the result of sin. The other kind is â€Å"†¦that of the household or the citizen in which the superior makes us of his subjects for their benefit or good† (The Summa, 38). He further specifies this to women when he says â€Å"woman is naturally subject to man in this kind of subjection because by nature man possesses more discernment of the reason† (The Summa, 38). In this, he is stating that there is a natural order to things. Not that woman is below the man in equality, but that there is simply a difference. This introduces the idea, separate but equal in a way. Man and woman are different, but also man and man are different. There are many cases in existence where a leader is needed to take charge. This is not because the one man is highly superior to all other men or that all other men should be slaves to the one, but that someone is needed to be a leader; â€Å"†¦someone can have dominion over another person as a free man, when he directs him to his own good or to the good of the community† (The Summa, 39). He also introduces an idea that if a woman is raped, she has committed no sin. Previously, when a woman was raped she was unworthy of marriage and was termed ‘dirty’. Aquinas finds worth in woman, and introduces the voice of reason in non-gendered terms in order to have his philosophies available to both man and woman. In their writings, St. Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine of Hippo have presented significantly differing views on women and the roles that they should have in the world. These three areas are some of the most important aspects of leading a good Christian life. Even today, these two men are regarded as doctors of the church and their ideals and philosophies are taught, with little regard for the fact that some of the things they teach are completely opposite of each other. Through these varying ideas about original sin, human sexuality, and social roles of man and woman they have set the stage for diversity within the Catholic Church.

Miranda Rights & the U.S. Terrorism Policy Research Paper

Miranda Rights & the U.S. Terrorism Policy - Research Paper Example If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense†1. While the above statements are primarily read out to American criminal suspects before their arrest in order to preserve the quality of their statements, the government has radicalized the use of the statement in order to expedite terrorist investigations and trials of both American and non-American suspects. After the events of September 11th 2001, the American government heightened its security and investigative tactics with the CIA and FBI enjoying more powers in tracking and apprehending suspects. Among the successful terrorist cases against American property, include the Benghazi attack of the US embassy. Additionally, the law enforcers have successfully intercepted a number of planed attacks owing to the increased powers and equipment such law enforcers as the FBI and the CIA enjoy2. The creation of new legislations including the USA PATRIOT Act resulted in the development of effective and efficient tools that would unite and strength America by giving the law enforcers more authority over terrorists3. Coupled with the creation of the department of Homeland security, a unit dedicated to the surveillance and interception of suspected terrorists, the government has successfully improved the security of the country ensuring that every American is currently safer they than they were before the 9/11. However, the increased power the law enforcers enjoy in the line of their duty of monitoring and interjecting possible threats have resulted in possible abuse of human rights. The fact that the law enforcers can follow an individual and carry out investigation without alerting them results in suspects incriminating themselves, a primary abuse of legal rights a feature that requires the review of the use of the Miranda laws on the fight against terrorism. When the law enforcers arrested the Boston marathon bomber, the government issued a notice informing the

Career Profile - Computer Programmer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career Profile - Computer Programmer - Essay Example When I thought of who I would interview about computer programming, Matt came to mind. He is a senior system operation manager at Dixie Electric Company. He has been a computer programmer for 25 years since his graduation from the Massachusetts University of Technology. He stood five feet tall, charming and very jovial. I initially met him during graduation party of one of my friends, where he was the main speaker. He gave a keynote address that forever ringed in me. How could I forget him? On this particular day, I meet him in his office. ‘Hello, Shen! It’s been a while. How are you fairing on?† He said as he welcomed me into his spacious office. It looked quite expensive.Gold linings donned the walls, with hanging frames of awards of his exemplary performance. â€Å"He must be living well,† I said to myself. After exchanging pleasantries, we delved into the subject matter. He acknowledged that his interest in computers began way back during his days in hig h school. During his senior year in high school, he decided to pursue computer programming as a career. He notes that most employers look for programmers who have had at least four-year training in programming. He reaches out to two files of applicants that sought an opportunity at the firm. â€Å"These are potential candidates who may have their application considered, â€Å"he interjects as he hands me the files to have a quick look. Matt is a strict person and a perfectionist. He always means what he says. What was his motivation in computers?

Property Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Property Management - Research Paper Example Property Management is a hot topic among modern real estate managers who are entrusted with the profitable care of any residential, commercial or industrial real estate in most modern cities and states around the world. Since the 1800's, effective and professional Property Management has been in demand, with the arrival of steel-frame buildings and elevators, the proliferation of the suburbs and the explosion of large real estate property-investment institutions that specifically aim to build more urban dwellings and infrastructure for the purpose of generating profits from real estate as an enterprise (Kyle et al, 3). With the advent of large urban commercial and industrial complexes, Corporate Property Management took its imposing place in the real property management scene while big government similarly responded with equally imposing bureaus intended to regulate the residential settlements and commercial complexes, with their sophisticated modeling schemes for simulating the growth, and implementing land audits that help dictate the land values of zoned areas in vast metropolises while placing various zonal restrictions aimed at efficiently harmonizing the explosion of mega-cities and the suburban sprawl. Sophisticated corporate... Sophisticated corporate strategies, financial instruments and computer based management information systems and property management-outsourcing which underlay the development of modern property management have been around for quite some time already, with much of their contribution to the practice of real estate property development, still evident in today's real estate property values that have been arrived at through the methods and practices advanced by modern-day property managers. However sophisticated this industry may now seem, Property Management began as the very basic practice of ensuring a property's maximum value (in terms of financial worth or appraisal) while expending the least amount of resources (financial or otherwise) for its upkeep and development. It involves the simple concepts of ensuring the maximum "value for money" on the part of the occupier and maximum profit on the part of the owner. It has been the property manager's job to make sure that the owner's best interests are sufficiently advanced while satisfying the requirements of the tenants. Property Management, as practiced by the State, by private corporations or by common individuals have remained fundamentally unchanged over the 19th century, that is to say that its objectives of profitability and operational efficiency remained the same, until the late 20th century wherein the real property market environment had undergone sweeping changes such that the management of a certain property, be it residential, commercial, industrial, mixed-use or special-purpose, has become a major discipline requiring an interdisciplinary approach that involves an intricate network of whole government bureaucracies and corporate divisions that

Does Blowing the Whistle Violate Company Loyalty Essay

Does Blowing the Whistle Violate Company Loyalty - Essay Example Ideas of the two authors Philosopher Sissela Bok does not supports the act of whistle blowing within the organization. The author says that whistle blowing leads to some moral conflicts of whether to speak about the abuses and the neglects. Firstly the choice of whether the protesting against the wrong doing is in the public interest or not. In this case the whistle blower have to decide who is the abuse, the amount of threat it carries and will the protest lead to any change. Secondly the whistle blower has to compare the responsibility to serve public against to the loyalty he owes to his colleagues and the firm. . And thirdly the whistle blower may fear that his act of protest may lead to some problem to his career, his ability to support his family and himself. This conflict may override the above two other conflicts. The author also discusses about the nature of whistle blowing. By the act of whistle blowing, the whistle blower may lead to breach of loyalty, bitterness, dissent and accusation. The whistle blower makes a public disagreement with the authority or a majority view. The more repressive the authority becomes by the challenge, the more risky it becomes in speaking out. The whistle blower hopes to stop the game but his act of blowing whistle on his own team, in turn is seen as a breach to loyalty towards his own team mates. In holding the position he is meant to bind by certain obligations to his colleague and clients. But the loyalty to his clients and colleagues seems to fall weak in front of the loyalty towards the public interest. Blowing of whistle not only violets loyalty towards his colleagues but also toward the hierarchy since he may be the subordinate too. Often this alarming is joined by leaving the job. The opposing is sometimes joined by the protest which leads to public attention towards the wrong doing issue. But to be on safer side those who want to avoid retaliation may leave the organization quietly, secure his position and then blow the whistle. In this way the whistle blower will have a position to speak with the authority without being involved to any vulnerability. The whistle blowers may be effective when it gets the support of the audience. When the whistle blowers are greeted with lack of concern, the message they share drives away. When they are greeted with disbelief, they attract no response at all. And when the audience does not receive or act on the information, the message bounces back to the whistle blower and injures him. Because of all these possible harmful affects the whistle blower must first check and recheck the authenticity and accuracy of the facts and reports, before going to speak out. The whistle blower must try through the regular channels first. Therefore the author feels that the blowing of whistle is violation of loyalty (Bok, 1980, pp. 176-182). The second Author Robert A. Larmer supports the act of whistle blowing since the author thinks that this act shows the loyalty of the employee towards his organization. For the author loyalty means action involving good reasons into the interest of a person. But the question remains that what is the good reason that makes to think that it is in the interest of that person. Firstly if an action is immoral then it is not at all justified that the action is in the best interest of the agent. Indeed the author argues that an employee who blows the whistle

How do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex Essay

How do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behavior of a group - Essay Example In this view, the author introduces the concept of ‘Swarm Intelligence’ which is based on self-organization and decentralized control. With reference to colonies of termites and ants, flocks of birds, schools of fish, various land animal herds including elephants, and swarms of bees, it is evident that these swarms utilize collective intelligence to coordinate the various activities conducted by various subgroups to ensure the key objectives of the swarms such as collecting of food, protecting the habitat, and finding shorter paths to food sources are performed (Miller). This can be employed in the organizational setting with inclusion of mechanisms that would allow self-sufficiency of each of the members towards a collaborate approach towards the goals of the organization. For instance, a company referred to as American Air Liquede based in Houston employed the behavior of foraging Argentine ants in establishing a pheromone trail through which successive ants can follow in going to get more food for the colony. In this case, Air Liquede merged the ants’ approach with techniques of artificial intelligence to regard all permutation of weather, plant scheduling, and truck routing decisions. The model allows for inclusion of daily forecasts of manufacturing costs and customer demand (Miller). An important lesson that I learnt from the ants is decentralized control, through which my assignment group members can be allowed to make independent decisions without reliance on any form of supervision from a group leader, towards meeting the predetermined objectives of the

Underground Railroad - a historical event from slavery Essay

Underground Railroad - a historical event from slavery - Essay Example Petry argues that slavery began in 1619 when a Dutch trader exchanged African under his custody for food (45). The ownership of African as servants became legal, just as it was for the poor white men who offered labor for their passage to America. In 1680s, the popular racial -based slave system developed. All the slaves wanted freedom, but the problem was how to attain it. Women were in the forefront to liberate the other slaves. Their courage and dedication could not let even their beloved husbands discourage them. Women such as Harriet Tubman, the leader of the Underground Railroad believed that â€Å"freedom was not an option but the only option.† She would always talk about it with her husband until he could get mad and tell her to shut up. Petry reveals the conversation between Harriet and her husband, he says â€Å"You take off and I will tell the Master. I will tell the Master right quick. She stared at him, shocked thinking, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t†¦you don’t mean that, she said slowly.† (85). She wanted freedom and then decided to leave for Philadelphia without the husband. She was ready to pay that price, but that was not enough, she was to come back to free others. In Philadelphia, other women of courage included Henrietta Bowers Duterte. She was an African American; the first black woman to serve as an undertaker in the city. To help save the runaways from the slave catchers, she could hide them inside a basket. This was despite the draconian laws that existed at the time. A good example was the law enacted by the Virginia colony in 1642 to stop those who harbor or assist the runaway slaves. The penalty was 20 pounds of tobacco for sheltering a runaway slave at night. In addition, the slaves were branded after the second attempt of escape (Petry 63). According to Petry, Virginia Assembly passed a law in 1669 which allowed the killing of ‘negros’

Assignment5 economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment5 economics - Essay Example The third step is to cut back the business hours. The business ethics component of this move is that if one is in the business of pharmaceuticals and health care, one risks the chance of causing damage to patients who will need your services by cutting back on the business hours. The fourth step is to close one's business for a week or two to actually take a vacation. The business ethics aspect of this decision is that if one has a pharmaceutical or health care business, one risks the possibility of causing inconvenience to one's clients. The fifth step is to bring in a family member to split the current "job load. The ethical consideration of this move is that one has to ensure that his/her relatives or siblings must do business observing fairness, honesty, transparency and accountability to government laws. Zambia is landlocked and has a low population composed of 70 ethnic groups, many of them Bantu-speaking. The country boasts of spectacular scenery spanning the Victoria Falls along the Zambezi river, the Bangweulu Swamps and the Luangwa river valley. Millions of Zambians live below the World Bank poverty threshold of $1 a day. Zambia currently receives and provides shelter for tens of thousands of refugees who have fled fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (World Factbook 2008). The World Bank Poverty Assessment Report (2007) has identified these areas of economic concern afflicting Zambia consisting of the high level of international debt, deterioration in the international price of copper, macro instability, the collapse of major manufacturing industries, the scourge of HIVIAIDS, and acute governance and policy failures.Zambia has been one of most heavily indebted developing countries. However, the government has done serious efforts to pare down its international debt st ock. Zambia obtained a total of 6.6 billion dollars of debt relief in 2005. (Scotland Aid Agency, 2008). If the Debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is 133%, this means that Zambia is paying millions on debt interest only. This is money that could be used to fund social programs or provide employment programs. Therefore, the unemployment rate is also adversely affected because the government doesn't have sufficient funds to begin or maintain such social programs. The unemployment and underemployment levels are very high. This means that many head of the families are out of work. Many families are hungry and in deep need of aid in social services such as health and education.The country has to contend with an expensive disease which has no long term cure. The high rate of HIV/AIDs incidence also means that the country will need international assistance from the World Health Organization to combat this scourge. In 20013, HIVIAIDS prevalence was estimated at 18 percent for women and 13 percent for men, and Zambia was entering its third decade of double-digit HIVIAIDS prevalence. The country does not have the financial resources to finance health services and medicines to combat HIV/AIDS. The low growth of the GDP is the result of weak government policies, poor business environment, lower foreign and local investments resulting in fewer businesses and fewer jobs available in the market. The literacy rate of Zambia is relatively low (65%)

Violence on Television Essay Example for Free

Violence on Television Essay Used mostly in promotional purposes, television shows that contain violence to any degree have become so rampant. Though there are some provisions that somehow restrict or limit the air time when they are shown and also the extent to which violent acts are shown. I think, still, there must be one good move to be taken into consideration. I think this movement should abide by this statement: The amount of violence on television must be reduced and the airing time of the TV shows that contain violence must only be during the time when children are in bed, or they can even be banned when the violence is too offensive. As I said, violence acts are mostly for promotions. Since viewers were stimulated as their adrenalin rushed when suspense happen during shooting of guns or murder cases, this is also the time when promotions pops out, thus enabling viewers to see the promotion (www. ridgenet. org/ 20href=). If this is the case, why can they search for another opportunity when they can advertise their business? Other genre of shows like comedy that contains no act of violence also excites viewers, thus these kinds can serve as an opportunity. Promotions are not that big as the next problem I will present regarding the showing of TV shows with violent acts. Adults have greater experience, obviously, that’s why they can understand that violent acts on TV are just for the sake of entertainment. For them, it is just another thing in TV that can somehow entertain and in some case educate them; but children are not like them. According to psychologists, children in toddler stage are instinctively wants to imitate adult human behavior and that they are not geared up with the knowledge of choosing which should be imitated or not. Thus exposing them to these acts may cause them to imitate violent acts which are obviously not proper. In a survey made in America by a group of psychologists, children of ages 2 to 5 are watching television for an average of almost 30 hours. Also, based on studies, children up to four years of age cannot recognize which is factual from fantasy without adult intervention. This may cause them to believe that what they see is true (Centerwall). Aside from imitation, there are many other psychological effects for children of seeing violence on television. Children who watch violence are most likely to be aggressive and behave the same way as what he saw. That is, he will become more and more violent if he sees more and more violence. Also, their views about the world may change. They may think that the world we’re living is dangerous and that to survive, they are meant to be aggressive. They may also become insensitive to other for they saw that it is so natural for some person to be hit or killed or be hurt by others. They are also the type that would react slowly during emergency. What’s so alarming is that these behaviors can be carried through teenage years and even in adulthood. According to Dr. Leonard Eron of the University of Illinois, children exposed to violence become aggressive when they are teenagers and be more likely to be arrested when they become adult (Centerwall). These made me come up with the conclusion of limiting the airing time to the time when children are in bed, which is about before 5am to after 10 pm. What is missing about my argument is the role of parents about this matter. Truly, it is their responsibility to guide their children while watching; but we cannot always count on them for they have also their own responsibilities. They are busy with home chores or they go to work that they had no enough time to ensure that their children are watching what should be watched. Let us not deny the fact that most children can freely open the television and watch even if their parents are not there and sometimes parents use television as baby sitters. Let us also take not that even funny cartoons contain violence so let us also be aware of them. According to one survey made by a TV station on parents, almost 70% parents believe that there is too much amount of violent acts that are shown in TV. Forty percent of the total respondents believe that these acts are not good for their children (Blue Oceans Psychology). That’s why, the amount of the violence in TV shows must be reduced. To take a big step about this problem, it is better to define the responsibilities of the bodies that are concern with the matter. Let’s look at the TV manufacturers. The law now makes a move of pushing manufacturers to enable a blocking system in every unit. This will prevent children from free access of shows unless their parents will allow them; but this will need some increase of awareness since parents are not that expert in which to watch or not. This will lead us to the TV ratings board which judge TV shows whether they are suitable to an age bracket or not. I also just like them to have the authority of banning programs where violence shown is too offensive. And lastly, the parents, themselves, are one of the key role players in this matter. Their guidance still is the best factor in shaping the character of their children. Today, there are still debates on between TV operators and those that push against violence on TV. Though research results are presented, we cannot easily say that TV is doing wrong since its business for them. Right now, all of us must be aware and be observant so that every detail of this problem must be taken into account.

Colonization of Latin America and North America Essay Example for Free

Colonization of Latin America and North America Essay When Christopher Columbus led a Spanish expedition in 1492 to India, he came across a land that would change the world forever. This region was called the Americas, a land the Spanish, Portuguese, French and English saw as their own to change and rule. However, the two regions, Latin America and North America saw two vastly different yet similar colonization processes from the Europeans in their social, political and economic systems. North America and Latin America both developed a form of ethnic mixing and a caste system for social structure and stability. However, Latin America’s caste system was more based on skin color while North America’s social structure wasn’t defined by ethnic groups. The two of these regions were both colonized by Europeans but had different ways of being colonized. A similarity in these two regions would be the development of European migrants, leading to the emergence of two societies. Latin America and North America’s political processes were also a huge part of colonization. While in North America the decisions of who would rule and control the lands was in the hands of private groups in Latin America, however, the choice of who would take control was in the hands of viceroys or governors. Both of these regions were ran by Europeans who would make the decisions. Latin America was ran by European peninsulas and North America governed by higher class merchants, deciding for themselves who they wanted to be controlled by. Latin America and North America shared the similarity in political colonization of both wanting to have some sort of control in their lands creating a stronger society and community to live in. The importance of future rulers would also have a major influence in the economic process and future economies in both areas. The economic process during colonization in both regions led to better social ways and interaction with lands having an influence on the colonization process greatly. In both Latin America and North America both had produced cash crops. While Latin America developed maize, a sugar production, and rice, North America planted tobacco creating a need for coerced labor. However, the difference in the coerced labor needed for the new production of these items was varied. In North America, slavery was a much needed acquirement to keep the production of these items needed while in Latin America indentured slaves and slavery was their way of production used by the Europeans in these regions. In Latin and North America, the Europeans didn’t go there to look for raw materials such as gold and silver like the other explorers who thought the Natives had it everywhere and weren’t completely using it to their own advantage. The Natives living there, however, were more amazed at what the Europeans had and vice versa. In conclusion, I have stated the different and similar colonization processes of North America and Latin America. The political, social, and economic processes were all similar and different in the mixing of ethnic groups, the need for control of their lands, and the regions using coerced and indentured labor to stabilize their lands.

The Corruption In Turkey Politics Essay

The Corruption In Turkey Politics Essay In this report you can read about the corruption in Turkey. The purpose of this report is to show you where corruption in Turkey is taking place and how the Turkish government is fighting it. In chapter two youll find general information about Turkey. The corruption in Turkey, entitled Ergenekon, is described in chapter three. In chapter four the corruption in Turkey is being linked with one of the four syndromes described by Michael Johnston. The conclusion of this report can be found in chapter five. Turkey, as a successor of the Ottoman Empire, is a republican parliamentary democracy established in 29th October 1923 by Mustafa Kemal. Mustafa Kemal was honoured in 1934 by the Turkish citizens with the title of Ataturk, the Father of the Turks. Although Istanbul is the biggest and wealthiest city in Turkey, Ankara was chosen as the capital city of Turkey by Ataturk. Furthermore, Turkey has eighty-one provinces. In 28th August 2007 Abdullah Gul was elected president of Turkey by the National Assembly. A day later he appointed Recep Tayip Erdogan as the Prime Minister of Turkey. Just after two months, 21th October 2007, they successfully set with Turkey the next step towards democracy. In the future the president is going to be elected directly and not by the National Assembly. Going back in time, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community in 1964. In 2005, with Abdullah Gul and Recep Tayip Erdogan, Turkey began accession membership talks with the European Union. Tu rkey is a member of the UN since 1945 and also a member of the NATO since 1952.  [1]   2.1 Population In July 2009 the population of Turkey was estimated 76,8 million. Two-third of the population was estimated between the age of fifteen and sixty-five. More than twenty-seven percent of the population was estimated below the age of fifteen and more than six percent was estimated above the age of sixty-five. In 2008 the urban population of Turkey was estimated around seventy percent of the population. The majority of the Turkish population is Turkish, estimated around seventy-five percent in 2008. Eight-teen percent of the population was estimated Kurdish. With a minority figure the Arabs, Turkmen, Circassians and Greeks are also present in Turkey.  [2]  The EU issued in 2005 that Turkey didnt sufficiently guarantee the freedom of expression in line with the European Convention of Human Rights towards the minorities. According to article 301 of the Turkish Constitution, an insult to Turkish people is no longer used systematically to restrict freedom of expression. It is that articl e which the EU found not sufficient enough. The EU are of the opinion that Turkey must take more measures in line with the European Convention of Human Rights towards the minorities.  [3]  Next to that, most of the people in Turkey are Sunni Muslim. 2.2 Economy In Turkey the state is a major participant in basic industry, banking, transport and communication sector. Textile and clothing are the largest industrial sectors in Turkey. Today thirty percent of the eligible population is employed in the traditional agriculture. At the moment, the most notable progress in the Turkish economy is the rising of the automotive and electronic industries. That is a sign that the Turkish economy is modernizing. The GPD of Turkey grew between 2002 and 2007 with an average of six percent. Despite the strong economy, the GDP in 2008 grew with zero point nine percent and it was decreased in 2009 with five point nine percent, a thirty-four year record low. Explanation for that is the high account deficit en high external debts. The government of Turkey expects with further economic and judicial reforms and prospective EU membership to boost their economy with foreign investors. However, the global financial crisis in 2009 didnt affect the Turkish financial ma rkets. In their history, Turkey experienced in 2001 a financial crises. In that year Turkey implemented reforms in the banking sector which protected them from the global financial crisis in 2009. At the moment Turkeys future doesnt look so bright. The economical experts are expecting a decline in the export sector and because of the current political crisis, al lot of foreign and intern companies are afraid to invest in the Turkish economy. With an estimated GDP worth of 861,6 billion Euros in 2009, Turkey is ranked eighteenth compared to the other countries.  [4]  The top three of that same list is, respectively, dominated by the EU, the United States and China. 2.3 Military In October 2005 a National Security Policy Document was adopted by the Turkish government. That document increased the role of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) concerning the internal security of the state. Today the TSK leadership plays a key role in politics and considers itself the guardian of Turkeys secular state. They demonstrated their power sever times after the adoption of the National Security Policy Document. For example, in April 2007 they warned the ruling party about any pro-Islamic appointments. They are also responsible for limiting the progress of establishing a civilian supremacy over the military, which started in October 2005 after the Turkish government started to negotiate with the EU. The EU is of the opinion that the military power of Turkey must first decrease if Turkey wants to join the EU. The TSK has also been taken an international peacekeeping responsibilities and they took charge of a NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command in Afghanis tan in April 2007. Furthermore, the Turkish military forces adopted an Aerospace and Missile Defence Concept in 2002 which set new priorities. The priorities included attaining a modern deployable, survivable, and sustainable force structure and establishing a sustainable command and control system. The affects of the Aerospace and Missile Defence Concept looked promising in 2008.  [5]   2.4 Corruption In December 2007 Turkey started, with the help of the European Union and the Council of Europe, the project on Ethics for the Prevention of Corruption in Turkey (TYEC) for a term of two years.  [6]  This project is funded by the European Union and by the Council of Europe. It is implemented by the Council of Europes Directorate of Co-operation. The projects main counterpart institution is the Council of Ethics for Public Service at the Prime Ministry of Turkey. In recent years the Turkish Government has taken a number of important steps in combating corruption. The country ratified the Council of Europes Civil and Criminal Law Conventions against Corruption in 2003 and 2004 respectively and joined the Councils Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) in January 2004. Moreover, in June 2004 the Council of Ethics for the Public Service was established and in 2005 the Regulation on the Principles of Ethical Behaviour for Public Officials, the Code of Ethics, was adopted. Despite t hese steps, corruption remains a serious concern for the people of Turkey. The Turkish authorities acknowledge that corruption is a priority issue requiring comprehensive and serious counter-measures.  [7]  The project will assist Turkey with their efforts in preventing corruption by supporting the implementation of specific measures, and provide support to other related reforms. The TYEC project has four main aims: Support the implementation of the Code of Ethics across the public administration in line with GRECO recommendations; Develop codes of ethics for other categories of officials or holders of public office; Develop systems of monitoring the effectiveness of prevention and other anti-corruption measures; Ensure and enhance coordination of anti-corruption measures. The corruption in Turkey is the continuing interference of judicial and military power in Turkish executive and legislative powers. This is problematic if viewed with historical hindsight. The weakness of the boundaries that divide Turkish powers seems to be confirmed by the Ergenekon trial, which saw more than three-hundred personalities involved in conspiracies aimed at weakening the government and possibly leading to a coup detat. 3. Ergenekon The state is not necessarily innocent, and the people convicted of crimes with political repercussions in the past may well be victims of a deep state operation. That is the main lesson Turkey has learned from the current Ergenekon investigation. The investigation itself is already related to several murders and terrorist attacks of the recent past. Analysts claim that the state and the relationship of the state organs with the society, terrorist organizations and the mafia will create a valuable opportunity to mobilize the public.  [8]  It will also create a political will and determination to reopen old dossiers filled with unsolved crimes and presumably victimized convicts. Allegations that the Ergenekon terrorist organization was behind two attacks, the Council of State attack in 2006 and bombs thrown at the headquarters of the Cumhuriyet Daily in the same year, ascribed to a certain segment of society, have changed the entire view to analyze politically influential crimes. I n this chapter I try to show you the link between Ergenekon and the corruption they caused on the fields of politics, economics and military. First I start with the describing a few cases. 3.1 Crime dossiers The Turkish history is full of crime dossiers, either left open or whose closure was disputed.  [9]  Starting from the infamous Sheikh Said Revolt of 1925, passing through to the Dersim Massacres of 1937-1938, the Taksim Square killings of May, 1977, the serial murders of secular-minded intellectuals in 1990 and more resentful and sophisticated attacks on symbolic names and institutions, question marks were left in the consciousnesses of the people. One reason was the inconceivability of state involvement in these crimes. The army, which still places first in public surveys of the most respected institutions, was not only beyond reproach, it was also unthinkable, unperceivable and unpronounceable to claim that army officers were committing crimes, not for the sake of the country, but for their own and evil interests. Now that the Ergenekon investigation has proven that Turkish officers are not sanctified angels and that they are judicable, detainable, liable to interrogation and arrest, that perplexed public consciousness is asking whether those old dossiers can be reopened and reinvestigated with this new framework in mind. The Istanbul chief prosecutor already announced that Ergenekon suspects would be trailed for their involvement in the Council of State attack of May, 2006, an attack which left a judge dead, and in the throwing of hand grenades at the headquarters of Cumhuriyet Daily. It is suggested that the indictment and subsequent court decision will influence the open cases and may also induce a reopening of closed ones. On top of the list of reopening closed cases are the murder of Necip HablemitoÄÅ ¸lu, the Gazi neighborhood events, the murder of ÃÆ'-zdemir SabancÄ ±, the murder of General EÃ…Å ¸ref Bitlis, the murder of UÄÅ ¸ur Mumcu and the murders that took place in the AdapazarÄ ±-Ä °zmit-Sapanca triangle. The Ergenekon decision will also influence the Ä °brahim Çiftà §i case, already waiting for th e Ergenekon trial to be finalized. Çiftà §i was killed in 2006 in a bombing soon after he confessed to a prosecutor that he killed HablemitoÄÅ ¸lu. The influence of the Ergenekon investigation wont wait for the prosecutors to open some of the older dossiers on their own. Already there are several criminal complaints about detainees of the Ergenekon terrorist organization from the relatives of lost and murdered people. Families of Serdar TanÄ ±Ãƒâ€¦Ã… ¸, a Peoples Democratic Party Silopi district deputy and Ebubekir Deniz already filed a complaint about Brigadier General Levent Ersà ¶z, who is still being sought and is said to have left for Russia before the last round of Ergenekon related detentions. The two were detained by the TSK seven years ago and were never heard from again. Relatives of the people killed during the Gazi incidents of 1995 also filed a complaint recently about Osman Gà ¼rbà ¼z, who was arrested during the Ergenekon investigation. The Peoples Democratic Party was banned from the society and therefore doesnt exists anymore. 3.2 Politics Avni ÃÆ'-zgà ¼rel, a columnist writing on Turkeys recent history is not optimistic. He thinks no one would be happier if real the perpetrators of certain political crimes were revealed.  [10]  Look at the Ä °pekà §i murder. There is already an understanding that this was the job of nationalists. If this explanation proves incorrect, we will lose the entire paradigm. The society may be ready for this, but the state is not, he told Sundays Zaman. According to ÃÆ'-zgà ¼rel, the state is happy with the current state of what is known. Further investigation would not be well received within the state. The state would be ready to claim some of the murders if they were really committed for the sake of the state or the country; But what if an investigation reveals that the real reason was of a financial nature? What if notions like state and nation were used as a disguise for personal interests? he asked. ÃÆ'-zgà ¼rel is not hopeful for the results of the Ergenekon investigat ion and hence does not want to attach additional hopes to it. There is a political will in Turkey, but politics is a politics of bargaining. The AK Party is dealing with a closure case and no one knows what will happen with the Ergenekon investigation if the AK Party is closed. Look at the constitutional amendments on the headscarf issue. There was a political will there, but it didnt help. We should wait and see whether this investigation will reach a meaningful end, he explained. Mithat Sancar, a professor of law at Ankara University, agrees that the Ergenekon investigation is an opportunity to confront the dark past.  [11]  However, he thinks that neither the government nor the courts can do this. The political government will understandably deal with what it sees necessary for its own political interests. Prosecutors and judges are in no position to start an investigation into the events of the past on their own. Such an investigation necessitates a mobilization of democrati c circles, especially the democratic left wing which has traditionally fought with militarism and the deep state, he told Sundays Zaman. According to Sancar, public control over the legal and political processes is also important to guarantee that the political government does not enter into the mistake of bargaining. 3.3 The influence of the military Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya ÃÆ'-z is claimed to have came upon significant information about the murder of assistant professor HablemitoÄÅ ¸lu in 2002. ÃÆ'-z is claimed to have received strong evidence that Brigadier Geneneral Veli Kà ¼Ãƒ §Ãƒ ¼k, the prime suspect of the Ergenekon investigation, was involved in the abduction and killing of several Kurdish businessmen in the AdapazarÄ ±-Izmit-Sapanca area within the first six months of 1994.  [12]  The influence of the Ergenekon investigation on a confrontation with historical crimes was not always direct and organic.  [13]  The fact that the KahramanmaraÃ…Å ¸ Massacre, in which over 100 Alevis were killed by alleged nationalists in December 1978, the murder of journalist Abdi Ipekà §i on February 1979, the murder of frontrunner nationalist Gà ¼n Sazak in May 1980 and the Çorum Massacre of twenty-six, unofficially fifty-six, Alevis paved the way for the military coup of 1980 is showing signs towards t hat direction. The link between these events and the Ergenekon terrorist organization doesnt have to be organic. The fact that the existence of a terrorist organization that penetrated into state organs, including the army, and conspired to stage violent coups gives enough material to rethink the KahramanmaraÃ…Å ¸, Ipekà §i, Sazak and Çorum incidents.  [14]  It has to be kept in mind that the prime suspects of the Ergenekon organization were already colonels in the army in the run-up to the 1980 coup and that their involvement in these events may have been more than learning a lesson. In Turkey it is already felt that the plans of the Ergenekon terrorist organization is pushing the country into a period of unrest in order to legitimize a military intervention. Next to that, former military judge ÃÅ"mit KardaÃ…Å ¸ thinks that the political will that would confront the dark events of the past should have been powerful enough to confront Turkeys recent problems, such as the Kurdish issue.  [15]  The prosecution needs to have special support from not only the government but also from the media and the society, he told Sundays Zaman. According to him, the AK Party was and still is strong enough to give that support but, considering previous opportunities lost, there is not enough evidence to be hopeful of its support. It has lost a major opportunity in Ã…Å ¾emdinli. We also dont know whether the AK Party will be closed or not nor what will happen to the Ergenekon investigation if the party is closed. The investigation in itself is an opportunity, but there are reasons to be pessimistic that this opportunity will also be lost, he explained. 3.4 Finances Former mayor of Istanbuls Esenyurt district Gà ¼rbà ¼z Çapan, who is also currently under arrest on charges of being a financer of Ergenekon, was once offered immunity from arrest in Turkey by Ergenekon suspect retired General Veli Kà ¼Ãƒ §Ãƒ ¼k, according to claims of Bertan Zà ¼laoÄÅ ¸lu and Ã…Å ¾erafettin Dà ¼z, who served as the former deputy mayor and an aide to Çapan, respectively, during his term as head of the Esenler municipality.  [16]  Ãƒâ€¡apan was being sought as a suspect in a major corruption operation carried out by the TSK into various municipalities, including Esenler, when he was abroad in Germany. He also owns ten percent of the shares of Cumhuriyet Daily and is currently being charged with financing Ergenekon. Çapan was established as a suspect in the Ergenekon investigations when it became clear that he had meetings with Ergenekon suspects DoÄÅ ¸u Perinà §ek, leader of the neo-nationalist Workers Party and Kemal ÃÆ'-zden, hea d of the Nationalist Industrialists and Businessmens Association. Furthermore, prosecutor Zekeriya ÃÆ'-z, who is the chief prosecutor on the Ergenekon case, has frequently been target of various smear campaigns directed from different segments of society. AydÄ ±nlÄ ±k, Cumhuriyet and Sà ¶zcà ¼ newspapers claimed that in 1998, when ÃÆ'-z served in the Çine district of AydÄ ±n, he tried to extort money from businessman Mehmet Ocak. Metin Uyar, the former head of the Çine Industrial Zone and Ahmet KeleÃ…Å ¸, president of the Çine Drivers and Motorists Chamber, denied any truth to those allegations. The future will hopefully tell us more about the link between Ergenekon and the corruption they caused on the field of economy. Popular history writer AyÃ…Å ¸e Hà ¼r thinks the Ergenekon gang has a distinctive ideological position.  [17]  The ideological tools of the organization are yet to be revealed. So far this has been an operation against a criminal gang, she told Sundays Zaman. According to her, as long as the ideological tools have not been revealed, it is almost impossible to disclose the link between criminal actions of the Ergenekon organization and the earlier political crimes. For that we need a stronger will. Political will is not enough, she said. According to her, the society is not ready for a full-fledged cleansing and there is no real consensus on the nature of the threat. The opposition of the AK Party is undervaluing the operation, whereas we should have dealt with the facts and not with who said what, she explained. 4. The four syndromes According to Michael Johnston, established democracies tend to have mature market economies in which liberalization is largely considered. He also states that there are also reforming democratic societies in which political competition is still emerging or undergoing significant change. Furthermore, he describes that there are countries who are undergoing major transitions in politics and economics. He noted that Turkey is an example of such country. Last, but not least, Johnston also describes that there are undemocratic regimes who are by definition marked by political opportunities. Johnston links those societies with four syndromes: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans and Official Moguls. Below you can see a table with an overview  [18]  . In the recent years Turkey made a huge progress in reforming its democracy and economy. That is the reason I agree with Johnston that the corruption in Turkey can be described with the Elite Cartels syndrome. The stronger the economical and state institution, the lesser corruption occurs according to Johnston. In the syndrome Influence Markets the corruption will most likely seen in the economical system. Johnston also recognizes that the stronger a constitution is, the bigger the chance will be that such institution will abuse its power by sealing deals with other powerful institutions. In this chapter you can read what the Elite Cartels syndrome is according to Johnston and why Turkey can be linked with this syndrome. I will close this chapter with the Turkish governments point of view about its future. The other two syndromes have similar corruption cases, but it is likely that in undemocratic regimes the corruption is bigger than in transitional regimes. 4.1 Elite Cartels syndrome In the Elite Cartels syndrome, the corruption is of defensive nature, protecting existing economic, political or policy advantages. Corruption is conducted through networks and elite parties, sometimes seeking each other to become allies for a greater purpose. Looking back to chapter three, Ergenekon can be seen as a network who is extremely powerful. They are powerful because they have, as it is determined by the prosecutors, economical, political and policy advantages. While these advantages are decreasing, still no one really knows how big Ergenekon is. Therefore the power of Ergenekon cannot be underestimated. Prove was found, and mentioned in chapter three, that in the past Ergenekon could operate freely and successfully. Many cases were closed without a legitimate reason and political parties were banned from the society. The AK Party was also close to getting banned from the society. The fact that the closure of the AK Party failed determines the moderate power of the state an d its capacity. 4.2 The governments point of view We hope the shroud of mist over the facts will be dissipated with this operation. We want the Ergenekon indictment to be completed as soon as possible, stated ErdoÄÅ ¸an.  [19]  ErdoÄÅ ¸an also said during his parliamentary group meeting that his ruling AK Party is the only address for Turkeys full membership in the European Union. He noted that Ataturks goal of reaching a higher level of civilization equals integration with the modern world. By making that note he wants to drive his country towards mature democratic society.However, some circles cannot stand democracy in Turkey. Whenever Turkey attempts to stand on its own feet, whenever it musters up its strength, these circles put hurdles before it. The basis of Turkish politics lies in a struggle between those in favour of Turkeys development and those who oppose it. While some want Turkey to become a global power, others want the preservation of the status quo in the country, he stated. With that statement, ErdoÃ⠀žÃ… ¸an confirms the fact that corruption in turkey is of defensive nature. ErdoÄÅ ¸an also noted that a movement which isnt in harmony with the fundamental principles of the constitutional order and which doesnt act in harmony with the basic characteristics of the republic will not be successful in Turkey. With that note ErdoÄÅ ¸an points his finger to the economical and political reforms his government made in the recent years and that Ergenekon should be consider as a dark chapter of the Turkish history. 5. Conclusion Turkey, as a successor of the Ottoman Empire, is a republican parliamentary democracy established in 29th October 1923 by Mustafa Kemal. In July 2009 the population of Turkey was estimated 76,8 million. The GPD of Turkey grew between 2002 and 2007 with an average of six percent. Despite the strong economy, the GDP in 2008 grew with zero point nine percent and it was decreased in 2009 with five point nine percent, a thirty-four year record low. The TSK leadership plays a key role in politics and considers itself the guardian of Turkeys secular state. In December 2007 Turkey started, with the help of the European Union and the Council of Europe, the project on Ethics for the Prevention of Corruption in Turkey (TYEC) for a term of two years. The corruption in Turkey is the continuing interference of judicial and military power in Turkish executive and legislative powers. The weakness of the boundaries that divide Turkish powers seems to be confirmed by the Ergenekon trial, which saw mor e than three-hundred personalities involved in conspiracies aimed at weakening the government and possibly leading to a coup detat. The state is not necessarily innocent, and the people convicted of crimes with political repercussions in the past may well be victims of a deep state operation. That is the main lesson Turkey has learned from the current Ergenekon investigation. The Turkish history is full of crime dossiers, either left open or whose closure was disputed. According to Sancar, public control over the legal and political processes is also important to guarantee that the political government does not enter into the mistake of bargaining. It has to be kept in mind that the prime suspects of the Ergenekon organization were already colonels in the army in the run-up to the 1980 coup and that their involvement in these events may have been more than learning a lesson. In Turkey it is already felt that the plans of the Ergenekon terrorist organization is pushing the country in to a period of unrest in order to legitimize a military intervention. The future will hopefully tell us more about the link between Ergenekon and the corruption they caused on the field of economy, in which there is already made important progress. Anyway, Ergenekon can be seen as a network who is extremely powerful. They are powerful because they have, as it is determined by the prosecutors, economical, political and policy advantages. That is why the Elite Cartels syndrome can be linked with Turkey. The fact that the closure of the AK Party failed determines the moderate power of the state and its capacity. However, ErdoÄÅ ¸an points his finger to the economical and political reforms his government made in the recent years and that Ergenekon should be consider as a dark chapter of the Turkish history.

Is Technology Changing Culture? Essay -- Technology

Technology, an extravagant advancement of hominid creations, is revolutionizing cultures by substituting the manifestation of human intellectual achievement with facile objects that make life on earth easier. The fact that technology affects all individuals is inevitable, since everyone is surrounded by it, from large nuclear reactors to small nano chips. Culture is affected greatly from these daily encounters by changing views upon war, religious traditions, and lifestyles. These changes do not only influence on how helpful we think the technology is, but also encourage us to discover more efficient ways of living life. Although the technology is slowly making everyone â€Å"couch potatoes,† it makes us leave a more positive economic and environmental footprint. By purchasing these extraordinary pieces of technology consumers can encourage the industries to create more appealing and efficient products. As we encourage the industries we also set â€Å"guide lines† for t hem to meet. For example if the industry creates a hundred Gigabyte music player, the next release everyone would expect a physically smaller music player capable of having more storage space. Cultures change on the influence technology has on the society. When cultures change, it affects the way we think of life. When humans developed very sophisticated military weapons using new technology, the world’s perspective towards other lives had changed. For example the nuclear bomb was a major leap in weaponry, when it was developed countries started to think it was acceptable to store nuclear rockets that, if executed, could kill all life on earth three times over. As soon as we developed machines to sew clothing in massive quantities companies tried different ways of wearing clo... ...e and Technology." Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 3. " ." Acton Institute. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 4. "UnderstandingSociety." : Technology and Culture. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 5. "Technological Determinism." Technological Determinism. Web. 17 May 2012. . 6. "Talcott Parsons." Talcott Parsons. Web. 17 May 2012. . "Terra Nova." : Culture vs Technology. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. . "Home." Gapingvoid. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. . Is Technology Changing Culture? Essay -- Technology Technology, an extravagant advancement of hominid creations, is revolutionizing cultures by substituting the manifestation of human intellectual achievement with facile objects that make life on earth easier. The fact that technology affects all individuals is inevitable, since everyone is surrounded by it, from large nuclear reactors to small nano chips. Culture is affected greatly from these daily encounters by changing views upon war, religious traditions, and lifestyles. These changes do not only influence on how helpful we think the technology is, but also encourage us to discover more efficient ways of living life. Although the technology is slowly making everyone â€Å"couch potatoes,† it makes us leave a more positive economic and environmental footprint. By purchasing these extraordinary pieces of technology consumers can encourage the industries to create more appealing and efficient products. As we encourage the industries we also set â€Å"guide lines† for t hem to meet. For example if the industry creates a hundred Gigabyte music player, the next release everyone would expect a physically smaller music player capable of having more storage space. Cultures change on the influence technology has on the society. When cultures change, it affects the way we think of life. When humans developed very sophisticated military weapons using new technology, the world’s perspective towards other lives had changed. For example the nuclear bomb was a major leap in weaponry, when it was developed countries started to think it was acceptable to store nuclear rockets that, if executed, could kill all life on earth three times over. As soon as we developed machines to sew clothing in massive quantities companies tried different ways of wearing clo... ...e and Technology." Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 3. " ." Acton Institute. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 4. "UnderstandingSociety." : Technology and Culture. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. . 5. "Technological Determinism." Technological Determinism. Web. 17 May 2012. . 6. "Talcott Parsons." Talcott Parsons. Web. 17 May 2012. . "Terra Nova." : Culture vs Technology. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. . "Home." Gapingvoid. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .

Exploring Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets Essay -- Sonnets 24, 31, 46, 4

In Plato’s Symposium, the discussion on the nature of love between Socrates and his companions in the house of Agathon clearly discerns key ideas that Shakespeare uses in the sonnets. Beauty, youth, and love are all topics of discussion in the conversations, and Plato’s ideas show up again and again when the sonnets are explored. In Symposium, Aristophanes gives a detailed description of a time when humans were not in their present physical form (Plato 353). His tale posits that the original form of humankind differed from the present in that â€Å"sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number,† to which he adds, â€Å"there was man, woman and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature,† which is called androgynous (Plato 353). The physical nature of primeval man is discussed: "[Man] was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking oppo site ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond" (Plato 354). Aristophanes goes on to explain that the gods split these beings in two so that primeval man would not be as powerful as them. Eventually, the halves are filled out to create symmetry. Plato says, â€Å"human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love† (Plato 357). Thus, the explanation of heterosexual and homosexual behavior can be delineated from this myth. The drive for love goes beyond the sexual into the spiritual. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the poet persona battles feelings between a fair youth, who is often characterized as a young male, and the dark lady, who is a sensual female. Throughout th... ... of Plato’s knowledge into one metaphysical string of sonnets dealing with two great organs geared towards the pursuit of beauty and truth, and he has made the arguments therein immortal, timeless, and beautiful, bringing every reader to a better understanding of Platonic love. Works Cited Plato. â€Å"Symposium.† The Works of Plato. Edman, Irwin, ed. New York, NY: Random House. 1956. â€Å"Eye.† Oxford English Dictionary. Second ed. Volume V. 1998. â€Å"Heart.† Oxford English Dictionary. Second ed. Volume VII. 1998. Landry, Hilton. Interpretations in Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.1964. Shakespeare, William. The Complete Sonnets and Poems. Ed. Colin Burrow. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2002. Violi, Unicio J. Shakespeare’s The Sonnets. New York, NY: Monarch Press. 1965.

The Role of Technology in Automobile Safety :: exploratoty essay research paper

Safety in automobiles always seems to be a large concern for both car manufacturers and buyers alike. While airbags and anti-lock breaks have become a common, yet useful commodity, the increasing role that technology is playing in the development of cars truly shows its potential with these in-the-works safety features. Night Vision Night Vision is a system that uses infrared cameras to help drivers see much farther distances at night while driving. Many different companies are each working on different designs of night vision, but they all have similar ideas. There are several mirrors with little cameras in them placed throughout the car. There is a lightsensing element inside the mirror which is also heat sensitive. Warmer objects, such as people or animals, appear white, while cooler objects, like buildings or trees, appear as various shades of gray or black. The mirrors are also programmed to automatically darken to reduce the glare of oncoming cars. On a clear night, some systems have been able to detect objects more than 1500 feet away which is almost four times as far as a driver can normally see. The only problem with the program is that it isn't as reliable during precipitation. The images aren't as detailed as they normally are. Collision Radar Researchers from Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, a partnershipd between the U.S. Department of Transportation and automobile industries are making advances on systems which, if successful, can tell you if you're about to run off the road or hit another car. The system is a pretty complicated construction of lasers which are set all over the vehicle. Since there are always blindspots, the idea is that the lasers compare the path of your car to the paths and speeds of the vehicles around you. If something is your car's path, collision radar systems can warn you and calculate the distance you have to stop. A camera is even programmed to look for painted lines on the road to determind if you are off center or drifting into another lane. Some advanced systems will even be able to detect lines when snow is covering the ground.

Coffee Commodity Chain

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ISSN 1441-5429 DISCUSSION PAPER 06/08 COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN Tine S. Olsen and Brett Inder ¦ ABSTRACT: To explain the value added along the coffee commodity chain we propose and estimate a theoretical model of the coffee commodity chain. The theoretical model consists of four markets and five agents in the coffee commodity chain and predicts that prices in the coffee commodity chain move together but are also influenced by income, technology and production. A vector error correction model is used to test the theoretical predictions.In addition to the theoretical conclusions the empirical model confirms the beneficial role of the International Coffee Agreement and the importance of the level of production in determining coffee prices. Key words: global commodity chain, vector error correction model, coffee, value added JEL classifications: O01, F02, Q110, C320, F230, F14  ¦ Monash University Department of Economics (Olsen), Monash University Department of E conometrics and Business Statistics (Olsen and Inder). Corresponding author Tine S. Olsen, [email  protected] monash. edu.  © 2008 Tine S. Olsen and Brett InderAll rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN 1. Introduction Between being grown and picked by a farmer in a developing country and being consumed, most often in a developed country, coffee passes through many sets of hands. Inspired by the global commodity chain literature we here propose a theoretical and an empirical model of the coffee commodity chain. We want to find out what determines the value added at each stage of the commodity chain.The question touches upon the distribution of income among agents and countries in the commodity chain, the prevailing market structure at each stage of the production process, trade, bargaining power and other factors influencing the commodity chai n. Figure 1 provides a graphical representation of the value chain for coffee in Brazil, Colombia and the US. [Figure 1] Value added at the various stages of the chain is the difference between input and output price. For Brazil and Colombia producer’s share is producer price and processing and transport is export price minus producer price.For Brazil international processing and transport is the difference between import price of Brazilian coffee in US and the export price in Brazil and processing in US is the US retail price minus the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US. For Colombia processing in US and transport is the difference between the US retail price and the Colombian export unit value. Regarding weight-loss due to roasting, green coffee is the commodity at all stages of the chain until it reaches the consumer. We follow one pound of green coffee along the commodity chain and multiply the retail price by 0. since coffee looses 20% of the weight in roasting ( Daviron and Ponte, 2005, p. 242, n. 5). 2 Figure 1 shows that the share of value added acquired by Brazil and Colombia has decreased after 1948. Behind this observation lies that the share to producers has decreased in Colombia but remained roughly constant in Brazil while the shares to domestic processing and transport have decreased in both countries, in particular after 1990. What we attempt to explain by this analysis are the decreasing shares of income to producing countries and the disappearing margins to exporters.The framework of this analysis is global commodity chains, terms of trade literature and price transmission literature. Commodity chains for coffee are described by Talbot (1997; 2002) and Ponte (2002). Commodity chain analysis focuses on the good along the nodes of the chain, and looks at the flow of the good through the commodity chain, the transactions which take place along the chain, the geographical location of the chain, the agents involved in the chain, and the rules governing the chain (Talbot, 2002).North-South trade and growth literature is relevant in the analysis of commodity chains to model the terms of trade between North and South. Darity and Davis (2005) argue that in the study of uneven development the North-South trade and growth literature provides insights which have been neglected by the later literature of new growth theory and new trade theory. This has encouraged us to apply North-South models to the coffee value chain. The theoretical model derived in section 2 builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000) who model primary commodities used as inputs in the production of manufacturing.Where Bloch and Sapsford (2000) take an aggregate view of primary commodities and manufactures, we here focus on coffee and hereby take an approach similar to Boratav (2001) who examines terms of trade for individual commodities. And just like Bloch, Dockery, and Sapsford (2004) we analyse the effect of mark-up on wages and commodity prices on the final consumer prices. Price transmission literature such as Hazell, Jaramillo, and Williamson (1990), Mundlak and Larson (1992), Baffes and Gardner (2003), Krivonos (2004), Morisset (1998) and Weldegebriel (2004) also offer a framework to analyse prices of commodities at different 3 odes of the commodity chain. This part of the literature views producer and retail prices as determined by world prices. In Bloch and Sapsford (2000) the price of manufactures, which is a good higher up in the value chain if it is interpreted as roasted coffee, is a function of the price of primary products because primary products are inputs in the production of manufactures. In the transmission literature it is assumed that the price formation happens in the world market and that market forces allow prices movements to trickle down to producers and consumers.The price trickles down because of trade, price signals and arbitrage. The causality between world prices and producer prices is therefore oppos ite in the terms of trade literature and the price transmission literature. The contradiction is created because the value chain literature focuses on the flow of goods while the transmission literature focuses on the flow of information and market signals. We can look at the problem in multiple time frames. In the long run, prices may be determined by economic fundamentals and can be modelled according to the terms of trade literature.In the short run the price may be a result of the global market situation and the transmission literature is applicable. We here propose a theoretical model which builds on the terms of trade literature but the same time accommodates features from the price transmission literature. The choice of countries in the empirical model poses the main limitation of the empirical analysis. Coffee is consumed in all countries across the world and production statistics are available for 71 countries1. Though an analysis comprising all consuming and producing coun tries is possible, the approach here is to only look at a few countries.The countries for analysis in this study are the largest producer, Brazil, the largest consumer, US, and Colombia as a country which depends heavily on coffee. 2 In the following, the theoretical model is presented in section 2. The empirical model, data and preliminary data analysis are presented in section 3 and section 4 reports the results. The theoretical hypotheses and empirical results are evaluated in section 5, which concludes. 4 2. Theoretical Model The commodity chain, which spans from producers to consumers, is modelled in the form of the prices at each node of the chain.The model builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000), but instead of primary commodities and manufactures, we here follow the same commodity along the chain and the commodity is an input in the production at the next stage of the chain. The producer and intermediary one (often the exporter) meet in market one where the producer price is det ermined. In market two intermediary one sells the commodity to intermediary two (often the importer) for the export price. In market three intermediary two sells the commodity to intermediary three (often the roaster) for the import price.Finally in market four intermediary three sells the commodity to the consumer and receives the retail price. The model has this set of agents to reflect what price data is available at the various stages of the supply chain. Except for intermediary three, each agent takes the price and quantity produced in other markets as given. This assumption makes the markets separable. Intermediary three determines the price in market four by mark-up and we hereby follow Bloch and Sapsford (2000) in the assumption of different market structures in developing and developed countries.The assumption of imperfect competition in market four reflects the high concentration in the coffee roasting sector as described by Talbot (1997). The commodity is produced by the farmer according to the production function G = Ae? 0t L? 1T ? 2 ? G . G (1) Where, in the case of coffee, G is green coffee, LG is the labour input in coffee production, T the number of coffee trees and ? G is a random disturbance term, such as weather. t is time and represents technological progress in the production techniques. ? 0 , ? 1 and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology.The number of trees is assumed to be fixed in the short term and is therefore not a variable input. 5 Exporters constitute the demand side in market one. They have the production function: X = Be ? 0t L? 1 G ? 2 ? X , X (2) where X, in the case of coffee, is green coffee packed, sorted and graded and located in the producing country. LX is the labour input necessary to export the product. It should be noted that green coffee, which is the output produced by the farmer according to the production function (1), is an input in the exporter’s production function.As before, t represents technolo gical progress and ? 0 , ? 1 , and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology. The shocks, ? X , may represent strikes or other random shocks to the production process. The production functions for importers and roasters are defined in a similar manner with coffee from the previous part of the chain as an input. 1 M = De? 0t L? M X ? 2 ? M (3) R = Fe? 0t L? R1 M ? 2 ? R (4) Equation (3) is the production function for importers and equation (4) is the production function for roasters. M is green packed and sorted coffee imported into the consuming country.R is roasted and ground coffee sold in retail. The importer employs labour LM and the roaster employs labour LR . The factor prices are as follows. The price of LG is the wage rate in agriculture, wG ; the price of LX is the wage paid by exporters, wX . The price of LM is wM and the price of LR is wR . Coffee at stage J of processing has price pJ , e. g. G has the price pG . It is assumed that all inputs have positive but diminis hing marginal products in all four production functions: 1 > ? 1 > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 1 > ? 1 > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 1 > ? > 0 , 1 > ? 2 > 0 , 6 1 > ? 1 > 0 and 1 > ? 2 > 0 . It is also assumed that inputs together do not give rise to increasing returns to scale: ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 and ? 1 + ? 2 < 1 . 2. 1 Price Determination in Market One In market one we assume perfect competition and the price paid to farmers, pG , is determined by equilibrium in the market with demand and supply for green coffee. Supply is determined by profit-maximising coffee farmers and demand by profit-maximising exporters. Profit maximisation gives the supply function: pG = wG? 1? 1 ? Ae? 0tTG 2 ? G ? ? ? ?1/? 1 G (1 1 )/? 1 . (5) The optimal amount of coffee demanded by the exporter who profit maximises is: ( ) 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) G = ? p X Be ? 0t ? X pG ? 1 ? 1? 21? ?1 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (6) . The equilibrium price in market one is derived by equating supply given by equation (5) an d demand in equation (6): ln( pG ) = a0 + a1 ln( p X ) + a2 ln( wG ) + a3 ln( wX ) + a4 ln(T ) + a5t + ? G (7) Where ( ( a0 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 1 A? 1/? 1 B? 21? ?1 ? 1? 1 ) (1 1 )/[? 1 (1? ?1 ? ? 2 )] ), a > 0 0 (8) a1 = ? 1 ? ?1 ) , a1 > 0 (9) a2 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a2 > 0 (10) a3 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ) , a3 < 0 (11) a4 = 2 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a4 < 0 (12) a5 = ? ( ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ) ? ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ) (13) & ?G = ? ( (1 ? ?1 ) ln(? X ) ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? G ) ) (14) 7 ? = (1 ? ?1 ? ?1? 2 ) ?1 (15) The coefficients will be interpreted in section 2. 5 below together with the rest of the coefficients of the model. 2. 2 Price Determination in Market Two In market two exporters sell to importers. The price is again determined by equilibrium between demand and supply.Supply is determined by profit maximisation by exporters and demand by profit-maximising importers. Supply in market two by the exporter is calculated from what amount of coffee is demanded in market one: 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) X = ? Be ? 0t p X ? 1 + ? 2 ? X pG ? ? 2 ? 2 ? 2 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (16) The demand function by importers is derived by profit maximisation in a similar manner to the derivation of the demand function for exporters above. Making use of the symmetry of the production functions, the demand function is similar to (6). The price in market two is determined by equating demand and supply: n( p X ) = b0 + b1 ln( pG ) + b2 ln( pM ) + b3 ln( wX ) + b4 ln( wM ) + b5t + ? X (17) where the b’s are: b0 = ? ?( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( B? 2 ? 2 ? 1? 1 ) + ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( ? 2? 1 ? 1? 1 1 D ? 1 ) ? , b0 > 0 ? ? (18) b1 = 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) , b1 > 0 (19) b2 = ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b2 > 0 (20) b3 = 1 (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ) , b3 > 0 (21) b4 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b4 < 0 (22) b5 = ? [ ? 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) + ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ] (23) 8 ? X = ? ( ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln(? X ) + (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? M ) ) (24) ? = (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) > 0 (25) ?1 2. 3 Price Determination in Market ThreeIn mar ket three, intermediary three purchases green coffee from intermediary two, or in the example of Brazil, the roasters purchase the coffee from the importers and produce roasted coffee according to the production function (3). The roasters’ demand and the importers’ supply are again given by profit maximisation. Given the similar production functions for roasters and importers, the derivations of the equilibrium price are as for market two. The equilibrium price is (expected signs in parentheses under the coefficients): ln( pM ) = c0 + c1 ln( p X ) + c2 ln( pR ) + c3 ln( wM ) + c4 ln( wR ) + c5 t + ? M + + + + ? (26) + /?The signs of the coefficients are determined in a similar way as in market two since the market set-ups are identical. 2. 4 Price Determination in Market Four In market four the price is not determined by supply and demand, but rather by a mark-up on the unit cost function because of imperfect competition. This is one of the conclusions by Prebisch (195 0) and Singer (1950) which Bloch and Sapsford (2000) also model. The price is determined by: p M? ?L w pR = m ? R R + M ? R? ?R (27) Where m is the mark-up. To derive pR the cost-minimising demands for labour and green coffee are derived and inserted into (27) which gives the price of oasted coffee: ln( pR ) = d 0 + d1 ln( R) + d 2 ln( pM ) + d3 ln( wR ) + d 4 ln(m) + d5t + ? R (28) where 9 ( ) ( ) d 0 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 1 ln( B) + ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 2? 1? 1 + ? 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 2 ? 1 , d 0 > 0 (29) d1 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) (30) ?1 ?1 ?1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , d1 >0 d 2 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 2 , d 2 > 0 and d3 = ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) , d 3 > 0 (31) d5 = 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ) < 0 , d 5 < 0 (32) ? R = ? (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln(? R ) (33) ?1 ?1 ?1 ?1 2. 5 Hypotheses Before commencing to estimate the system of the four equations, equation (7), (17), (26) and (28), it is necessary to address data limitations.To test the four equations for the coffee market it is necessary to have wages in coffee farming, wages in th e coffee-exporting sector, wages in the coffee-importing sector and wages in the coffee-roasting sector. These wage data are not available and the wages in producing countries, wG and wX , will be approximated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in producing countries, y P . Wages in the importing sector and the roasting sector in the consuming country, wM and wR , are approximated with the GDP per capita for a consuming country, yC .In addition to data on wages, data on coffee trees limit the empirical analysis since data for coffee trees or acreage are not available for the desired timeframe of the analysis. The quantity of coffee trees enters equation (7) and coffee production enters equation (28). Both variables are in the empirical model represented by world coffee production. The alterations to the theoretical model, give the following four equations: ? pG = a0 + a1 p X + a2 y P + a4 q + a5 t + ? G + + + /? ? + /? (34) 10 p X = b0 + b1 pG + b2 pM + b3 y P + b4 yC + b5 t + ? X (35) ? pM = c0 + c1 p X + c2 pR + c3 yC + c5 t + ? M (36) R = d 0 + d1 q + d 2 p M + d 3 yC + d 4 m + d 5 t + ? R (37) + + + + + + + + + ? + + /? + + /? + /? 1 ? The expected signs of the parameters are indicated under the respective parameters; +/– indicate that the sign is uncertain from the adjusted theoretical model. World production is q, and the coefficients on income in market one and three are defined as: ? a2 = a2 + a3 = ? ?1 (? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 ) * c3 = c3 + c4 = [? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ] (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) (38) ?1 (39) The coffee commodity chain model consists of the four simultaneous equations in equation (34) to (37) from which hypotheses can be derived.Firstly, it is apparent that all prices are positively correlated. An increase in the price of coffee in market i–1 (increased input price) shifts the supply curve in market i left since it increases marginal costs and the equilibrium price is higher and the quantity traded lower. An increase in the price of coffee in market i+1 increases the supply in market i+1 and hereby the demand for coffee in market i and increases the price in market i. Secondly, the coefficients on national incomes have mixed signs. They depend on the input elasticities of labour at different nodes of the chain.If the input elasticity of labour in coffee growing (importing) is relatively large compared to the input elasticity of labour in ? ? coffee exporting (roasting) then a2 ( c3 ) will be positive. It may be assumed that production processes are relatively more labour-intensive early in the commodity chain because of less reliance on capital. In market two the coefficient on producer income is positive because it is an input price for exporters. In contrast consumer income is an input price for importers and decreases the export price. The coefficient on income, d 3 , in market four expresses a markup, and is positive.Overall coefficients on national incomes are expected t o pull coffee prices 11 up, only with the exception of the income in the consuming country which is assumed to depress the export price of coffee. Thirdly, coffee production has a positive impact on the retail price, but a negative impact on the producer price. It is expected that the effect of output is largest on the producer price because prices paid to producers are primarily influenced by conditions in the coffee market while the retail prices in consuming countries are outcomes of many factors, such as market structures, wages and technology.In a system with all four equations the coefficient on production is therefore expected to be negative. Fourth, the effects of technological change on the prices in markets one, two and three are uncertain, and negative for the retail price in market four. If it is assumed that production methods become more technologically progressive the higher up they are in the chain, the coefficients on the time trend will be positive in market one, t wo and three. Constants a0 , b0 , c0 and d0 , are positive but do not have any economic interpretation. G , ? X , ? M and ? R are random shocks with expected value zero. ?G , ? X and ? M are linear combinations of shocks to production in two markets. Therefore, the residuals generated by estimation of equations (34), (35), (36) and (37) are not independent of each other. Furthermore, any given price in the commodity chain depends on the prices at the previous and next stage of the chain. The four equations are hence simultaneous, and the econometric model accommodates for this. 3. Econometric Model and Preliminary Data AnalysisAnnual data from 1948 to 2004 are employed to estimate the theoretical model. An empirical analysis of the commodity chain for coffee from a single origin in a time series framework is not possible due to data limitations. Instead eight price series are used. These are producer 12 and export prices in Brazil and Colombia, import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, import unit value of (all) coffee in the US, the world price and the US retail price of coffee. Given the non-stationarity of the time series used to estimate the model, a vector error correction model (VECM) is appropriate.A VECM captures long-run paths of the series in the cointegrating vectors and short-run dynamics in the error correction equations. It is formulated as: ?y t = ?y t + ? 1? y t ? 1 + L + ? p ? 1? y t ? p +1 + ut , (40) where y t = ( ptG , B , ptG ,C , ptX , B , ptX ,C , ptM , B , ptW , ptM ,US , ptR , yt )? , ? is the loading vector of coefficients on error correction terms, ? is the coefficient vector for the cointegrating vector, ? j is the coefficient matrix on lag j and ut is the vector of error terms. ptG , j and ptX , j are respectively the producer and the export price in country j, where B is Brazil and C is Colombia. tM ,US ? B is the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US, ptM ,US is the import price of (all) coffee in the US, ptW is the wor ld price and ptR ,US is the retail price in the US. yt is relative income between consuming and producing countries and is used to avoid that the rank of ? = ? is not higher than the number of truly endogenous variables. According to the theoretical model national incomes have an impact on coffee prices, but coffee prices do not have an impact on national incomes. This is though not true for Brazil and Colombia for parts of the sample.Today Brazil and Colombia no longer rely heavily on export earnings from coffee (ICO, 2003) but historically this is not the case, and this analysis covers 1948-2004. Therefore, yt is treated as an endogenous variable. Sources for prices are as in Figure 1 above. World production of coffee is included as an exogenous variable. Source are Departamento Nacional do Cafe (1938, 1939/40), Deaton and Laroque (2003) and FAOSTAT online (2007). Real GDP are from Maddison (2007) and GGDC (2005) and the US CPI from BLS (2005a) has been used to reach nominal GDP. 13 To determine the stationarity properties of the series, unit root tests are carried out.It is pointed out by Morisset (1998) and Krivonos (2004) that coffee price responses may be asymmetric and we follow Enders and Granger (1998) and conduct unit root tests for variables which possibly adjust asymmetrically. The results are outlined in Table 1. [Table 1] All variables in Table 1 are expressed in natural logarithms. Lag-length is determined by the Akaike Information Criterium (AIC) and inclusion of a trend is decided from visual inspection of the series and the decision noted under â€Å"Trend† where â€Å"y† indicates that a trend is included and â€Å"n† that it is not.The F-statistic for the hypothesis that the series has a unit root shall be held up against the Enders and Granger (1998) critical value of 7. 07 when a trend and a constant are included in the regression and 5. 14 when only a constant is included. The results in Table 1 show that all series but world production have one unit root and hence are non-stationary and integrated of order one. The test statistic for the stationarity of world production is close to the 5% critical value by Enders and Granger (1998), so depending on significance level the series could also have been concluded to be nonstationary.It is not important to correctly identify the stationarity properties of world production, since the series is not an endogenous variable in the VECM and furthermore, it enters the model in first differences. No series adjusts asymmetrically according to this analysis, and asymmetries are disregarded when formulating the empirical model. Due to the possible impact from the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) a dummy variable, which takes the value one in the years the agreement was in place (1962 to 1989), is included. The ICA dummy is included in the short-run regressions because the ICA had an impact only on prices in the short run.In the long run quotas were adjust ed to meet market forces on supply and demand, but in the short run quotas stabilised coffee prices. 14 4. Results Before estimating the VECM in equation (40) the lag-length and the rank of the VECM are determined. Schwartz Information Criteria points at one lag and the AIC and the HannanQuinn Criteria point towards four. In the estimation process the model was first estimated with one lag and tests of the residuals indicated no problems regarding normality. There was no need to expand the number of lags and the model reported here has one lag.With one lag Johansens’s cointegration test gives the following rank of the VECM: [Table 2] Using the trace test, the hypothesis of rank one cannot be rejected, and from the maximum-eigenvalue test the hypothesis of no cointegration cannot be rejected. The test statistics are close to the 5% critical values which makes the decision regarding the rank of the matrix equivocal. The trace statistic for the hypothesis of one or less cointegr ating vectors is close to the critical value, but the test statistic for the hypothesis of rank three or less is clearly rejected.Therefore, according to the trace statistic there are one or two cointegrating vectors. Looking at the maximum-eigenvalue statistic, the test statistics and 5% critical values are relatively close until the hypothesis of three or less cointegrating vectors. Again, rank up to two is acceptable according to the test statistics. A model with two cointegrating vectors is preferred because this indicates seven trends among the nine variables and some variables share trends. 4. 1 Long-Run Equilibrium The preferred model has the following two estimated cointegrating vectors: 15 ptW = 0. 24 ptM ,US ? B + 0. 4 ptX ,C + 0. 15 ptX ,B + 0. 18 ptR ,US (2. 95) (2. 22) (2. 61) (4. 01) ? 0. 05 ptG ,B + 0. 34 ptG ,C ? 0. 28 yt ? 0. 00 t + 0. 43 (3. 58) (6. 35) (2. 86) (3. 76) ptG ,C = ? 0. 23 ptM ,US + 0. 10 ptM ,US ? B + 1. 05 ptX ,C + 0. 91 yt + 0. 01t + 1. 97 (5. 05) ( 0. 70) (5. 71) (5. 09) (41) (4. 51) (42) t-statistics are in parentheses under the parameter estimates. The first cointegrating vector, CIV1, in equation (41) represents the long-run equilibrium in the world market. The second cointegrating vector, CIV2, in equation (42) represents the long-run equilibrium between the two Colombian prices.The two cointegrating vectors are found by commencing with a general model with one cointegrating vector and all nine endogenous variables in this cointegrating vector. Insignificant variables in the cointegrating vector are removed sequentially. It is clear that the US import unit value is not significant in CIV1 and it is moved out to a second cointegrating vector. Other variables were included in CIV2 if they obtain significant coefficients in CIV2 or exhibit significant error correction. According to the first cointegrating vector, CIV1, six prices move together in the long run, and one moves opposite to this group.The world price, the import p rice of Brazilian coffee in the US, the export price in Brazil, the export unit value in Colombia, the US retail price and the Colombian producer price all move together in the long run. Five of the prices have roughly the same influence on the common path, but the world price, to which CIV1 is normalised, dominates through a higher coefficient (one). The Brazilian producer price moves in opposite direction to these six prices, but has a small coefficient in equation (41). The prediction of the theoretical model is that all prices should move together.Therefore, the coefficient on the Brazilian producer price contradicts the model, but the coefficient is small. 16 The second cointegrating vector, CIV2, shows Colombian prices (producer and export price) and the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US move together in the long run. It is clear that the two Colombian prices dominate the movements of the group of prices since the Colombian export price obtains an estimated coefficien t above one and CIV2 is normalised to the Colombian producer price.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US is the least influential in the group since its estimated coefficient is 0. 10 and hence a tenth of the estimated coefficient on the Colombian prices. The import unit value of (all) coffee into the US enters CIV2 with a negative coefficient indicating that the Colombian prices and the import unit value of coffee in the US move in opposite directions to each other in the long run. As the Brazilian producer price in CIV1, this poses a challenge to the theoretical model which predicts that all prices should move together.However, the US import price and the Colombian producer price are far from each other in the coffee commodity chain and the coefficient is less than a quarter of the coefficient on the Colombian export unit value. Therefore, this coefficient, like the Brazilian producer price in CIV1 above, does not mean that the theoretical model is rejected, and prices are found to generally co-move in the long run. The coefficients on relative income are significant in both cointegrating vectors but have different signs. When relative income decreases, the six prices in CIV1 increase. In contrast, the three prices which co-move in CIV2 decrease.The effect of relative income on coffee prices in the long run are hence not clear from looking at the cointegration vectors. Technological progress, here modelled as a time trend, obtains estimated coefficients in the cointegrating vectors of the same sign as relative income. Technological progress hence moves the two groups of prices in different directions. Alternatively, if something else than technological progress is the reason for the coefficients on the time trend, something else makes the two groups of prices diverge over time. Over time the six prices in CIV1, which are 17 lose to the world market, move closer together. Opposite to this, the Colombian producer price moves away from the path of ot her prices in CIV2. 4. 2 Short-Run Dynamics The short-run structures show how the series adjust towards the long-run equilibria, and how the endogenous variables respond to shocks in exogenous variables. Error correction towards the two long-run equilibria happens according to the estimates in Table 3. [Table 3] Whether a variable error corrects and restores the long-run equilibrium between prices in a cointegrating vector is determined by looking at its sign in the cointegrating vector (the sign of ? and its sign in the loading matrix (the sign of ? ). If the combined sign is negative, the variable works towards restoring equilibrium. The two export prices, ptX ,C and ptX , B , and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, ptM ,US ? B , are the only variables which significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1. These three prices work to restore an equilibrium which is dominated by the world price. The world price in contrast moves further away from t he equilibrium when a shock has created disequilibrium.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US and the Colombian export price significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the prices in CIV2. Though the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US was not significant in determining the second long-run equilibrium (CIV2), it significantly works to restore it. The estimated parameters on the error correction term in the equations for the import unit value in the US, the Colombian producer price and relative income are not different from zero. This suggests that these variables do not 18 ork to restore the long-run relationship described by CIV2. The Colombian producer price is an important determinant of the equilibrium described by CIV2, but it does not adjust to restore this equilibrium. It thus influences other prices, but is itself not influenced by other prices. Relative income does not adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1 but its error correction towa rds the equilibrium described by CIV2 is significant on the 10% level. Relative income therefore works in part to restore the equilibrium between (among others) the Colombian prices in CIV2.This could show that any endogeneity of relative income is due to the importance of coffee prices for national income in Colombia. In addition to the error correction terms, the short-run equations include exogeneous variables. The four exogenous variables in the VECM are a constant (c), the dummy for the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) and the current and lagged first difference of world production of coffee, d(qt) and d(qt-1). The estimated coefficients on the exogeneous variables in the short-run regressions are presented in Table 4. [Table 4]None of the estimated constants in the short-run equations for prices are significantly different from zero. This suggests that time trends have been captured in the cointegrating vectors, but it is noticeable that the constant is positive and has hi gh t-statistics in the equations for the price of coffee imported into the US and the retail price in the US. This indicates that the prices, which have increased in an unexplained way, are prices in the US and that value added is largest further up in the coffee commodity chain. The constant is also positive with a high tstatistic in the short-run equation for the Colombian producer price.This could indicate that the attempts by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia3 (FNC) to influence the prices of Colombian coffee have been successful. 19 The estimated coefficient on the ICA dummy is positive in the equation for relative income and in six equations for prices but negative in two equations for prices. However, it is never significant. The ICA increased six of the eight prices and it should be pointed out that the most significant, though not significant even at the 10% level, increases are for export prices and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US.It was not producers which gained from ICA but rather exporters and importers of Brazilian coffee. So, there is weak evidence that while exporters benefited from the agreement the producers did not; the effects of the commodity agreement did not trickle down and reach them. First differences of world production and lagged world production enter with negative and significant signs in all regressions but one. This stresses the importance of production in determining prices in the short run. This is predicted by the theoretical model; increased production lowers price regardless of where in the chain the price is situated. . 3 Weak Exogeneity Tests of weak exogeneity are carried out to further test the driving forces in the system. A weakly exogenous variable has an impact on the long-run path of the variables of the system, but is not itself influenced by the variables in the system. The results from likelihood ratio tests are given in Table 5. [Table 5] In Table 5 the test statistics for the w orld price, the import unit value into the US, the Colombian export unit price, the US retail price and the two producer prices are lower than the 5% critical value, and the null hypothesis can not be rejected for these variables.These six prices are hence weakly exogenous. Agents at the ends of the chain, retailers, importers and producers, are hence not responding to deviations from the long-run equilibrium relationships between prices. As such, they are somewhat isolated from the world market. This is not 20 surprising since the price transmission literature asserts that the price determination happens in the world. Further up and down the chain other factors, such as market set-ups, intervention and incomes determine the prices.The hypothesis of weakly exogenous relative income is clearly rejected, indicating that it is correct to model income as endogenous in the system as discussed above. Also, the likelihood ratio test shows that the causality between prices and relative inco me is uncertain. Coffee prices and national incomes in Brazil and Colombia are interrelated. Coffee prices are important determinants of income in Brazil and Colombia, but national incomes also determine coffee prices. Regarding relative income it is clear that the results are equivocal.The coefficients in the cointegrating vectors obtained different signs and it may or may not be weakly exogenous according to the error correction coefficients and weak exogeneity tests. The final set of results which can shed light on the effect which relative income has on prices, is impulse response functions. They were estimated for the VECM and show that relative income has a negative impact on all eight coffee prices and hence that a decreasing income gap between producing and consuming countries increases coffee prices. 5. DiscussionRegarding the central question of what determines the value added at each stage of the commodity chain, it can be concluded that the prices definitely determine ea ch other, and that from outside the system of prices quantity has a large impact, but only in the short run. In the long run, relative income has an effect on all prices, and a closing income gap between producers and consumers increases prices. In addition, prices move in response to changes in technological progress. In this concluding section four overall conclusions are drawn. The first is of how the prices influence each other.The second is of how relative income impacts prices. The third is 21 of how production influences prices. And last how the time trend, which represents technology, influences prices. It is of utmost importance to determine which prices are detached from the chain. The theoretical model predicts positive correlation between the prices and this is generally found in the empirical model both by long-run co-movements and by adjustments to restore the long-run equilibria in the short run. Both CIV1 and CIV2 show co-movement among prices, but the VECM is estima ted with two cointegrating vectors.This indicates that there may be a break in the coffee commodity chain since one group of prices moves together in one manner while the other group moves in a different manner in the long run. The world market prices in CIV1 move together but the Colombian prices in CIV2 do not follow their movement, and the Colombian prices may be detached from other prices, possibly due to FNC. Since the Brazilian producer price is not significant in CIV2 and moves against the other prices in CIV1 it can be said to also be detached from the value chain.The error correction properties of the system and the weak exogeneity tests show that prices in the middle of the chain work to restore the two long-run equilibria. The prices at the ends of the chain, the producer prices and the retail price, and the dominating world price do not error correct. The lack of error correction by the prices at the ends of the chain indicates that they are not influenced by the long-ru n paths and points at breaks in the coffee commodity chain.The empirical results suggest that the world market is characterized by close linkages between prices but retail price and producer prices are less integrated with other prices. This finding may support the arguments made by the price transmission literature. The limited trickle down of price signals to producer prices confirm the findings of Fitter and Kaplinsky (2001) and Ponte (2002) who argue that surplus created along the chain falls on agents further up the chain, and not on producers. The discussion of intervention and integration in the 22 ransmission literature (Baffes and Gardner, 2003; Hazell et al, 1990; Krivonos, 2004; Mundlak and Larson, 1992) explain why the Colombian producer price and export price, which have experienced considerable intervention by FNC, are detached from other prices. It is not possible to reach an unequivocal conclusion regarding the impact of relative income by looking at the cointegratin g vectors, short-run dynamics or weak exogeneity tests. It is concluded that decreasing income gap increases prices in the world market, whereas it decreases the Colombian producer price.The negative relationship between relative income and all eight prices found by the impulse response functions confirms the expected signs of the coefficients on income in market one and two. The negative relationship between relative income and prices extends to market three. However, since income in consuming countries occurs in the numerator of relative income, relative income should obtain a positive coefficient if the hypothesis of decreasing importance of labour along the coffee commodity chain is confirmed. A negative ? c3 in equation (36) suggests that the roasting sector relies more on labour than the importing ector, in light of the discussion of equation (35) above. Income’s significance in the determination of producer prices, both in the theoretical and the empirical model, offer s support for the terms of trade literature, where prices are determined by underlying macroeconomic factors. Relative income also helps explain divergence of producer and retail prices as these prices reflect relative overall economic performance of producer countries compared to consuming countries. The theoretical model predicts that there is a negative relationship between prices and production. This is fully supported by the empirical model.The negative and significant coefficients on the differences of world production show that it could be the supply curves which shift outwards and create the decreasing prices. 23 According to the theoretical model the sign on the time trend (technological progress) is unknown and depends on whether the supplier or the demander in a given market experiences the most significant technological innovations. The negative sign of the estimated coefficient on the time trend in CIV1 shows that the prices in CIV1 move closer together over time than w hat is explained by relative income.Technological progress can be the explanation for this. A negative sign indicates that the technological progress is largest for the supplying parties in markets one, two and three and/or the negative sign of d 5 is confirmed. The latter case is particularly neat since CIV2, which holds a positive time trend, does not contain the US retail price, and the different signs of the time trend in the cointegrating vectors are not conflicting. They are not conflicting because in CIV1, which describes all four markets, d 5 causes a negative time trend.In CIV2, which describes market one, two and three, a5 , b5 and c5 represent relatively bigger technological progress by demanders which creates a positive time trend. A positive time trend could occur in market one, two and three in the theoretical model if the technological progress is largest for the demanding parties in these three markets. This development is not unlikely in the coffee commodity chain i f agents along the chain become more able to improve their production methods (technological progress) because they become wealthier either through market power and/or the value they add to coffee.This hypothesis can however not be tested with the data used for this analysis, but touches on the discussion in Ponte (2002). Therefore, the positive time trend in CIV2 could be capturing technological progress or some factor not included in the model that coincides with the passing of time. Market power and bargaining power are examples of unmodelled variables in the VECM. The almost significant positive constants in the regressions of US prices show that US import and retail prices tend to increase more than other prices.This could capture the mark24 up, m in (37). The negative constant in the short-run regression for the Brazilian export price could be caused by the coffee commodity chain being a trader-driven commodity chain, as argued by Talbot (2002), where international traders tra de large amounts of coffee with very little margin. Looking at the value chain for Brazil in Figure 1 confirms this, since the value added at the exporting stage, which is denoted processing and transport in Brazil, reduces to almost zero after 1990.It is no coincidence that this is the year after the breakdown of ICA, and it is also argued by Ponte (2002) that this event changed the power relations along the coffee commodity chain. The empirical model gives some insight into issues which are not explicitly modelled in the theoretical model. The theoretical model did not predict which prices would be dominating and which would be adjusting to movements in other prices. However, it is found that the world price is dominating and the export prices are responding.Boratav (2001) found that the ratio between world price and export unit value was stable, and the analysis here can extend the conclusion by suggesting that the export prices follow the world price. If the aim is to create a m ore equal income distribution among agents in the global coffee commodity, this analysis offers some insights of policies to achieve this. Income levels in coffee-producing countries are important determinants of the coffee prices and low national incomes pull coffee prices down even though the retail and import price in consuming countries might increase.Unless the general income level in producing countries increases increased income in consuming countries will not trickle down to the coffee farmers. Alternatively the structure of the chain can be changed and an income distribution more favourable for coffee farmers could be achieved. At the international level the International Coffee Agreement increased coffee prices, but more so export and import prices than producer prices. If the aim is to benefit those in the global coffee commodity chain who has the least – the farmers – an international agreement is 5 hence not the most efficient tool. Improved technology for farmers and increases bargaining power are other factors which would redistribute value within the commodity chain. Producer and retail prices which are detached from the world market, technological progress mainly by demanding parties in the chain and increasing mark-ups (or market or bargaining power) in consuming countries are all findings which support the idea by Darity and Davis (2005) to bring Karl Marx back into the picture.Though international commodity agreements, producer cartels and attempts to change the structures of the centre and periphery are not policies currently in vogue, it may be useful to keep them in mind when engaging in the world coffee market. 26 Value Chain for Brazil 1950 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 20 0 40 20 40 % 60 % 60 80 80 100 100 Value Chain for Colombia 1950 Processing in US International processing and transport Processing and transport in Brazil Brazilian producer's share 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 Processing in US and transportProcessing and transport in Colombia Colombian producer's share Fig. 1. Distribution of the Coffee Dollar along the Commodity Chain. Sources: Brazilian and Colombian producer prices: FAO (various years), FAOSTAT (2006) and ICO (2005). Export and import unit values: FAOSTAT online (2006) and U. S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of the Census (1989). Wholesale prices for Brazil: IFS (various years). US Retail prices: BLS (2005b). 27 Table 1. Asymmetric Unit Root Tests n 1 pW n 1 pM,B-US n 1 pM,US n 1 pR,US y y# 8 4 0 0. 19 0. 33 0 1 3 1 0. 2 0. 48 4 1 3 0. 66 0. 78 2 6 3 0. 65 0. 55 4 6 6 0. 31 0. 99 6 0 5 0 0. 99 0. 99 0 2 5 4 0. 37 0. 07 1 8 n 0. 99 0. 99 3 3 0. 00 0. 97 5 3 0. 98 0. 87 0 3 0. 52 0. 89 4 3 0. 42 0. 69 2 0 0. 22 0. 90 9 1 0. 55 0. 89 5 1 0. 93 0. 92 5 8 0. 75 0. 60 25. 499 1 1 I(1) symm . . . . I(0) symm 1 26. 032 0. 38 0. 00 I(1) symm 0 # Unit Root 5 0 8. 87 q y 4 Bartlett’s White Noise pX,C Asymmetric Adjustment 1 0. 97 Lags Lags n 0. 95 0. 32 pX,B 0. 59 0. 53 1 8 1. 21 n 1 0. 15 pG,C 0 1. 31 1 0. 99 2. 62 n 0. 19 0. 19 Trend 1. 80 pG,B Bartlett’s WhiteNoise s Asymmetric Adjustment Conclusion Unit Root Analysis of Series in Levels Analysis of Series in 1st Differences Series 29. 849 26. 732 28. 028 0 0 0 # 28. 842 32. 509 27. 076 29. 196 I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm 28 5 5 4 ## 1 6 â€Å"Unit Root† contains the F-statistic for the hypothesis that the series has a unit root. â€Å"Asymmetric Adjustment† contains the p-value for the hypothesis of symmetry. â€Å"Bartlett's White Noise† contains the p-value from Bartlett's periodogram-based test for white noise.The null is that the error terms are white noise. # indicates that the lag-length selected by AIC did not result in white noise residuals and increasing the laglength did not amend the problem and the lag-length was hence decreased until the indicated number of lags. ## indicates that residuals from the regressions with the first difference of relative income fail Bartlett's periodogram-based test for white noise regardless of variations of the number of lags and the lag-length is chosen by AIC. Table 2.Rank for VECM(1) with nominal prices and relative income Trace Test Maximum-Eigenvalue Test 5% 5% Test Critical Hypothesized Test Critical No. of CE(s) Statistic Value Prob. * Statistic Value Prob. * None 232. 686 228. 298 0. 031 49. 706 62. 752 0. 486 At most 1 182. 980 187. 470 0. 083 46. 246 56. 705 0. 367 At most 2 136. 734 150. 559 0. 230 36. 528 50. 600 0. 617 At most 3 100. 206 117. 708 0. 372 31. 817 44. 497 0. 570 At most 4 68. 389 88. 804 0. 570 21. 460 38. 331 0. 885 At most 5 46. 929 63. 876 0. 556 19. 020 32. 118 0. 728 At most 6 27. 909 2. 915 0. 628 13. 839 25. 823 0. 736 At most 7 14. 070 25. 872 0. 652 8. 642 19. 387 0. 761 At most 8 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 Trace test indicates 1 cointegrating equation at the 5% level. Max-eigenvalue test indicates no cointegration at the 5% level. * MacKinnon-Haug-Michelis (1999) p-values. 29 30 Table 3. Error Correction Parameters ? pW 2. 04 pM, US 0. 52 pM,US3. 68 pX,C 2. 33 pX,B 4. 20 pR,US 0. 99 pG,B 1. 73 pG,C 0. 96 y -0. 16 CIV1 (1. 64) (0. 44) (2. 92) (2. 09) (3. 04) (1. 59) (0. 94) (1. 11) (0. 97) EC ? N 0. 99 Y 0. 07