Do pure monopolies exist Essay Example for Free

Do pure monopolies exist Essay â€Å"No firm is completely sheltered from rivals; all firms compete for consumer dollars. If that is so, then pure monopoly does not exist. Do you agree? † (Brue, McConnell, Flynn, 2010). I would have to agree with this statement. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a pure monopoly. There are always alternatives or substitutes available when choosing to purchase products or services from firms. Pure monopoly exists when â€Å"a single firm is the sole producer of a product for which there are no close substitutes† (Brue, McConnell, Flynn, 2010). There are less pure forms of monopoly and near-monopolies, but not totally pure monopolies. There are several main characteristics that must be present in order for a pure monopoly to exist. These are: single seller, no close substitutes, price maker, and blocked entry. A pure monopoly is an industry in which a single firm is the sole producer of a specific good or the sole supplier of a service. Their product is unique in that there are no close substitutes, therefore, consumers who decide not to purchase the monopolized product must do without it. Many people will argue that electric companies are pure monopolies. I disagree because there are alternatives available: oil, propane, natural gas, solar, and wood are substitutes that can be used as sources of light and heat. The pure monopolist controls the total quantity supplied and as a result has considerable control over price; it is a price maker. The pure monopolist confronts the usual downward-sloping product demand curve and can change its product price by changing the quantity of the product it produces. A pure monopolist faces no immediate competition because certain barriers keep potential competitors from entering the industry. Those barriers may be economic (economic of scale), technological, legal (patents and licenses), or of some other type. In a pure monopoly entry is totally blocked. All firms compete with rivals for product sales, whether they control the entire market for a product or not. The control over a market and product does not necessarily mean there is not competition. Even if one single firm were to control an entire market and their product, there is always another firm that can produce a product that holds the same qualities and is closely related to the other. The post office is usually our first choice when we want to send a letter or package, but it also has competition from FedEx, UPS, and DHL. If there were a situation where there was a market that did not have to compete with another market over product sales, there would always be competition when it comes to the amount of money they need to bring in. Many characteristics must be present to classify firms as pure monopolies. There may be less pure forms such as: the water company, the cable TV company, and the local telephone company, and near-monopolies such as: Intel, First Data Corporation, and De Beers, however, I do not believe that pure monopoly exists. All firms compete with rivals for product sales, whether they control the entire market for a product or not. When choosing to purchase products or services from firms there are always alternatives or substitutes available even though they may not be our first choice. References Brue, S. L. , McConnell, C. R. , Flynn, S. (2010). Essentials of Economics (Ashford Custom 2nd ed. ). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

The causes and effects of globalization

The causes and effects of globalization Introduction Globalization is the integration of world cultures and economies. Whether aware of it or not people everywhere are witnessing and contributing to the globalization process everywhere. It effects societies, politics and ways of life around the world and is driven by human migration, international trade and integration of financial markets. Although recently on the rise due to tremendous technological advancements there is nothing new about globalization. Even in the Middle Ages explorers such as Ibn-e-batuta and marc-o-polo started it off with epic journeys and returning home with tales of different cultures and places. Trade drives globalization today, modern transportation and telecommunications have made it easier to export and import from faraway places. United in diversity this is the motto of the European Union which began as an agreement between six countries with the goal of creating lasting regional piece. The big star of globalization today is undoubtedly the internet enabling interpersonal communication and business transactions in a matter of seconds; it has revolutionized our world in only a few years. Migration plays a major role in the worlds economy, the World Bank estimates show that migrants in developed countries sent home more than 223 billion dollars to their families in developing countries in 2005. Some traditional descriptions of globalization and economic globalization include: Definitions Globalization: It is the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of political ideas through communication, transportation, and trade. The term is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology, and military presence. However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio cultural, political, and biological factors. The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone through the process can be said to be globalized. Economic Globalization: Economic globalization refers to increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital. It is the process of increasing economic integration between countries, leading to the emergence of a global marketplace or a single world market. Depending on the paradigm, globalization can be viewed as either a positive or a negative phenomenon. Economic globalization comprises the globalization of production, markets, competition, technology, and corporations and industries. Whilst economic globalization has been occurring for the last several hundred years, it has begun to occur at an increased rate over the last 20-30 years. This recent boom has been largely accounted by developed economies integrating with less developed economies, by means of foreign direct investment, the reduction of trade barriers, and the modernization of these developing cultures. Effects of Globalization: Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways Industrial emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign products for consumers and companies, particularly movement of material and goods between and within national boundaries. International trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955. Financial emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for borrowers. By the early part of the 21st century more than $1.5 trillion in national currencies were traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade and investment. As these worldwide structures grew more quickly than any transnational regulatory regime the instability of the global financial infrastructure dramatically increased as evidenced by the financial crisis of 2007-2010. Economic realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and capital. The interconnectedness of these markets, however, meant that an economic collapse in one area could impact other areas. With globalization, companies can produce goods and services in the lowest cost location. This may cause jobs to be moved to locations that have the lowest wages, least worker protection and lowest health benefits. For Industrial activities this may cause production to move to areas with the least pollution regulations or worker safety regulations. Job Market- competition in a global job market. In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies. With the advent of the information age and improvements in communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers compete in a global market, wages are less dependent on the success or failure of individual economies. This has had a major effect on wages and income distribution. Competition Survival in the new global business market calls for improved productivity and increased competition. Due to the market becoming worldwide, companies in various industries have to upgrade their products and use technology skillfully in order to face increased competition. Cultural growth of cross-cultural contacts; advent of new categories of consciousness and identities which embodies cultural diffusion, the desire to increase ones standard of living and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a world culture. Ethical The creation of the international criminal court and international justice movements. Crime importation and raising awareness of global crime-fighting efforts and cooperation. The emergence of Global administrative law. Conclusion Globalization has been happening for centuries and in spite of its dangers it is an immense force for growth and prosperity. We will conclude this discussion by presenting an interesting work by Benjamin R. Barber Jihad vs. McWorld How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World. Jihad vs. McWorld is the title of a 1992 article that was later adapted into a book by political scientist Benjamin R. Barber, in which he puts forth a theory that describes the struggle between McWorld (globalization and the corporate control of the political process) and Jihad (tradition and traditional values, in the form of extreme nationalism or religious orthodoxy and theocracy). As economic liberalism is the force behind globalization, this critique is relevant on a much larger scale. Unregulated market forces encounter parochial (tribal) forces. These tribal forces come in many varieties: religious, cultural, ethnic, regional, local, etc. As globalization imposes a culture of its own on a population, the tribal forces feel threatened and react. More than just economic, the crises that arise from these confrontations often take on a sacred quality to the tribal elements; thus Barbers use of the term Jihad. Barbers prognosis is generally negative he concludes that neither global corporations nor traditional cultures are supportive of democracy. He further posits that McWorld could ultimately win the struggle. He also proposes a model for small, local democratic institutions and civic engagement as a hope for an alternative to these two forces.

If Only They?d Listened To Pig :: essays research papers

If Only They’d Listened to Piggy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the novel Piggy’s character is used to represent the intellectual side of man and act almost like an adult figure to the boys. There are many things that he does and that Golding says to support this. Three things come to mind that represent his place in the novel; he is a clear thinker, his appearance, and his symbolic losses throughout the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Right off the beginning we see evidence of Piggy’s thinking ability. He realizes the boys’ situation and is thinking about how they are going to survive. He says â€Å"We got to find the others, we got to do something.† We then see indication of his intelligence, he says, â€Å"A conch†¦he used to blow it†¦ he kind of spat†¦ you blew from down here.† Only a bright person would know the name of a rare shell and how to blow it to make a noise. Further on at the end of chapter two Piggy compares the fire on the mountain to the fires of hell. It almost like he can â€Å"see† what is going to happen to the kids. Also he says â€Å"acting like a crowd of kids† as if was the adult on the island trying to help the â€Å"kids†. More proof of his clear thinking is the fact that Ralph relies on Piggy’s good advice to succeed. Without Piggy, Ralph would be lost. As the story progresses we see the boys drif t apart however we see Piggy try to retain order as an adult might. When there is going to be a fight he says, â€Å"Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat.† He realizes the intensity of the situation and tries to stop any altercation. The boys continue to drift apart but Ralph and Piggy continue to be friends. In particularly, after the killing of Simon, Piggy tries as best as he can to support Ralph although he realizes they were a party to the violent death. He says, â€Å"You stop it. What good are you doing talking like that.† Although his is wise no one seems to listen to him except for Ralph, those who didn’t respect him may wish they had.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Piggy’s role as a grown-up mainly backed up by what he says and his actions, however his appearance is symbolic of his role in the novel. He is fat, â€Å"bad-looking†; it is this which leads to the boys lack of respect for him.

Emerson, Melville and Whitman :: Free Essay Writer

The way I view the world has been greatly affected by my reading this semester. Thought I had read Emerson and Melville before, I never before was able to sound the depths of their work and fully appreciate it. This semester was my first real exposure to Whitman, as well. The best analogy for my new outlook is an image of the universe as a yin-yang; it is a complete, unbroken whole within which two polar opposites are constantly in conflict. But more significantly I have taken to heart the doctrine of "Self-Reliance," which is one shared by all three authors. Emerson presents a different system of learning than I had ever encountered. Throughout my previous education, I was taught to learn whatever was in the book. The only place original thought was accepted was in occasional creative writing assignments, and even then a stylistic formula was required. The sentence from "Self-Reliance," "A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages." was a completely new idea to me. My mind originally dismissed the concept from his journals that "The dead sleep in their moonless night; my business is with the living. . . ." But on further reflection, it made sense. Self-reliance is an intimidating concept. Students are taught to externally justify any position we take. If we make a thesis statement we must find support for it in the crumbling stacks of the library. Yet in the end I have found that self-reliance is the most satisfying way t o grapple with life. Melville frequently supports these ideas in his writing. When Ishmael encounters the whale skeleton that a tribe of islanders have elevated to the status of a god, he demonstrates the gravity one should grant to others' ideas of religion: "Cutting me a green measuring-rod, I once more dived within the skeleton. From their arrow-slit in the skull, the priests perceived me taking the altitude of the final rib. 'How now!' they shouted; 'Dar'st thou measure this our god! That's for us.' 'Aye, priests—well, how long do ye make him, then?' But hereupon a fierce contest rose among them, concerning feet and inches; they cracked each other's sconces with their yard-sticks—the great skull echoed—and seizing that lucky chance, I quickly concluded my own admeasurements.

A Farewell To Arms By Ernest Hemingway :: Free Essay Writer

In the beginning Frederic Henry, a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in World War I, meets a beautiful English nurse named Catherine Barkley near the front between Italy and Austria-Hungary. At first Henry wants to seduce her, but when he is wounded and sent to the American hospital where Catherine works, he actually begins to love her. After his convalescence in the hospital, Henry returns to the war front. During a retreat, the Italians start to fall apart. Henry shoots an engineer sergeant under his command for dereliction, and later in confusion is arrested by the battle police for the crime of not being Italian. Disgusted with the army and facing death at the hands of the battle police, Henry decides he has had enough of war; he dives into the river to escape. After swimming to safety, Henry boards a train and reunites with Catherine--now pregnant with Henry's child--in Stresa. With the help of an Italian bartender, they escape to Switzerland, and attempt to put the war behind them forever. They spend a happy time together in Switzerland, and plan to marry after the baby is born. When Catherine goes into labor, however, things go terribly wrong. He attempts an unsuccessful Caesarian section, and Catherine dies in childbirth. To Henry, her dead body is like a statue; he walks back to his hotel without finding a way to say good-bye. As the title suggests, A Farewell to Arms is in many ways an anti-war novel, but it is in no way like a call to end all war. Among the books’ morals, violence is not necessarily wrong: Henry does not feel bad for shooting the engineer sergeant, and he tells Catherine he will kill the police if they come to arrest him. Furthermore, the novel glorifies discipline, competence, and masculinity, and shows war as a setting in which those qualities are constantly being shown. A Farewell to Arms is against the extreme violence, the massive destruction, and the sheer senselessness of war; the mental effect it has on people and cities; and the brutal change it makes in the lives of its survivors once victory and defeat become meaningless terms. Unlike other books that glorify courage in battle and make everything come out ok for the brave individual, this book attempts a real portrayal of a different kind war, one fought with machine guns, in trenches, and with lots and lots of casualties.

Police Training Essay

Nowadays professional training is paid more attention as it is one of the best ways to increase job commitment and enhance performance. I think that all police officers should have free access to formal and informal courses, seminars devoted to violent death investigation, interrelations, and criminal laws. The training programs should cover also the principle of supervision and civil liability. Training plays crucial role in today’s police work because training ensures not only organizational efficiency, but also increases effectiveness and productivity of all police departments. It goes without saying that it is hardly possible to except effective work from untrained police officers. Moreover, community doesn’t feel safe if they realize that their police officers aren’t skillful and experienced enough to defend them when necessary. Nevertheless, state funding isn’t enough to solve training dilemma because of lack of money assigned to support training programs. Without money and proper funding it would be difficult to solve the problem. The purpose of training is to promote occupational and professional development of police department through specialized job-related programs. Nevertheless, training differs significantly from education because training is so-called study in the process. Education provides only theoretical background of the particular situations, whereas training develops practical skills and acquirements in real situations. However, I think that training is the second step after education as the officer should firstly realize the aspects of actions and only then should master his skills. Harry More defines training as â€Å"something like an inchoate crime†. He means that training is continuous process and can’t be ever fully accomplished. Training is always a process. Education provides knowledge and training applies it to specific situations. The goals of trainings are: To improve police officer’s performances and job commitment; To develop the sense of responsibility in police officers. It is necessary to underline that training is designed to help individuals to cope better with challenging duties and responsibilities. Simply saying, training helps to perform job better. Training is claimed to be unique because it suggests unity within particular organization. According to More and Miller, modern police training is based on the following philosophical foundations: Positive action is ensured when accompanied by acquired skills and motivation; Learning process depends not only motivation and personal abilities, but also on the instructional methods, behavior of the trainers and the climate within department; Training is considered tripartite responsibility; Training is continuous process requiring constant updating of skills and knowledge. Finally, it is important to document all formal and informal training because it helps to identify what type of training is actually needed. Documenting is defined as task analysis aimed at ensuring the relevance of training. While documenting it becomes possible to identify the tasks performed by the person who holds the position. Also documenting ensures easy assessment of training programs. Tasks analysis helps police officers to determine whether the training program is professional enough to provide skills and knowledge required for particular job. In conclusion it is necessary to note that training develops the following professional skills in police officers: interpersonal communication skills, perception and awareness, decision-making ad critical thinking, adaptability and definitiveness, oral and written communication skills.

Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of Discrimination

Why looks are the last bastion of discrimination In the 19th century, many American cities banned public appearances by â€Å"unsightly† individuals. A Chicago ordinance was typical: â€Å"Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting subject . . . shall not . . . expose himself to public view, under the penalty of a fine of $1 for each offense. † Although the government is no longer in the business of enforcing such discrimination, it still allows businesses, schools and other organizations to indulge their own prejudices.Over the past half-century, the United States has expanded protections against discrimination to include race, religion, sex, age, disability and, in a growing number of jurisdictions, sexual orientation. Yet bias based on appearance remains perfectly permissible in all but one state and six cities and counties. Across the rest of the country, looks are the last bastion of acceptable bigo try. We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume.In Texas in 1994, an obese woman was rejected for a job as a bus driver when a company doctor assumed she was not up to the task after watching her, in his words, â€Å"waddling down the hall. † He did not perform any agility tests to determine whether she was, as the company would later claim, unfit to evacuate the bus in the event of an accident. In New Jersey in 2005, one of the Borgata Hotel Casino's â€Å"Borgata babe† cocktail waitresses went from a Size 4 to a Size 6 because of a thyroid condition.When the waitress, whose contract required her to keep an â€Å"an hourglass figure† that was â€Å"height and weight appropriate,† requested a larger uniform, she was turned down. â€Å"Borgata babes don't go up in size,† she was told. (Unless, the waitress noted, they have breast implants, which the casino happily accommodated with paid medica l leave and a bigger bustier. ) And in California in 2001, Jennifer Portnick, a 240-pound aerobics instructor, was denied a franchise by Jazzercise, a national fitness chain.Jazzercise explained that its image demanded instructors who are â€Å"fit† and â€Å"toned. † But Portnick was both: She worked out six days a week, taught back-to-back classes and had no shortage of willing students. Such cases are common. In a survey by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, 62 percent of its overweight female members and 42 percent of its overweight male members said they had been turned down for a job because of their weight. And it isn't just weight that's at issue; it's appearance overall.According to a national poll by the Employment Law Alliance in 2005, 16 percent of workers reported being victims of appearance discrimination more generally — a figure comparable to the percentage who in other surveys say they have experienced sex or race discrimination . Conventional wisdom holds that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but most beholders tend to agree on what is beautiful. A number of researchers have independently found that, when people are asked to rate an individual's attractiveness, their responses are quite consistent, even across race, sex, age, class and cultural background.Facial symmetry and unblemished skin are universally admired. Men get a bump for height, women are favored if they have hourglass figures, and racial minorities get points for light skin color, European facial characteristics and conventionally â€Å"white† hairstyles. Yale's Kelly Brownell and Rebecca Puhl and Harvard's Nancy Etcoff have each reviewed hundreds of studies on the impact of appearance. Etcoff finds that unattractive people are less likely than their attractive peers to be viewed as intelligent, likable and good.Brownell and Puhl have documented that overweight individuals consistently suffer disadvantages at school, at work and beyond. Among the key findings of a quarter-century's worth of research: Unattractive people are less likely to be hired and promoted, and they earn lower salaries, even in fields in which looks have no obvious relationship to professional duties. (In one study, economists Jeff Biddle and Daniel Hamermesh estimated that for lawyers, such prejudice can translate to a pay cut of as much as 12 percent. When researchers ask people to evaluate written essays, the same material receives lower ratings for ideas, style and creativity when an accompanying photograph shows a less attractive author. Good-looking professors get better course evaluations from students; teachers in turn rate good-looking students as more intelligent. Not even justice is blind. In studies that simulate legal proceedings, unattractive plaintiffs receive lower damage awards. And in a study released this month, Stephen Ceci and Justin Gunnell, two researchers at Cornell University, gave tudents case studies involving real criminal defendants and asked them to come to a verdict and a punishment for each. The students gave unattractive defendants prison sentences that were, on average, 22 months longer than those they gave to attractive defendants. Just like racial or gender discrimination, discrimination based on irrelevant physical characteristics reinforces invidious stereotypes and undermines equal-opportunity principles based on merit and performance.And when grooming choices come into play, such bias can also restrict personal freedom. Consider Nikki Youngblood, a lesbian who in 2001 was denied a photo in her Tampa high school yearbook because she would not pose in a scoop-necked dress. Youngblood was â€Å"not a rebellious kid,† her lawyer explained. â€Å"She simply wanted to appear in her yearbook as herself, not as a fluffed-up stereotype of what school administrators thought she should look like. † Furthermore, many grooming codes sexualize the workplace and jeopardize em ployees' health.The weight restrictions at the Borgata, for example, reportedly contributed to eating disorders among its waitresses. Appearance-related bias also exacerbates disadvantages based on gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation and class. Prevailing beauty standards penalize people who lack the time and money to invest in their appearance. And weight discrimination, in particular, imposes special costs on people who live in communities with shortages of healthy food options and exercise facilities.So why not simply ban discrimination based on appearance? Employers often argue that attractiveness is job-related; their workers' appearance, they say, can affect the company's image and its profitability. In this way, the Borgata blamed its weight limits on market demands. Customers, according to a spokesperson, like being served by an attractive waitress. The same assumption presumably motivated the L'Oreal executive who was sued for sex discrimination in 2003 after a llegedly ordering a store manager to fire a salesperson who was not â€Å"hot† enough.Such practices can violate the law if they disproportionately exclude groups protected by civil rights statutes — hence the sex discrimination suit. Abercrombie & Fitch's notorious efforts to project what it called a â€Å"classic American† look led to a race discrimination settlement on behalf of minority jobseekers who said they were turned down for positions on the sales floor. But unless the victims of appearance bias belong to groups already protected by civil rights laws, they have no legal remedy.As the history of civil rights legislation suggests, customer preferences should not be a defense for prejudice. During the early civil rights era, employers in the South often argued that hiring African Americans would be financially ruinous; white customers, they said, would take their business elsewhere. In rejecting this logic, Congress and the courts recognized that custome r preferences often reflect and reinforce precisely the attitudes that society is seeking to eliminate.Over the decades, we've seen that the most effective way of combating prejudice is to deprive people of the option to indulge it. Similarly, during the 1960s and 1970s, major airlines argued that the male business travelers who dominated their customer ranks preferred attractive female flight attendants. According to the airlines, that made sex a bona fide occupational qualification and exempted them from anti-discrimination requirements. But the courts reasoned that only if sexual allure were the â€Å"essence† of a job should employers be allowed to select workers on that basis.Since airplanes were not flying bordellos, it was time to start hiring men. Opponents of a ban on appearance-based discrimination also warn that it would trivialize other, more serious forms of bias. After all, if the goal is a level playing field, why draw the line at looks? â€Å"By the time you' ve finished preventing discrimination against the ugly, the short, the skinny, the bald, the knobbly-kneed, the flat-chested, and the stupid,† Andrew Sullivan wrote in the London Sunday Times in 1999, â€Å"you're living in a totalitarian state. Yet intelligence and civility are generally related to job performance in a way that appearance isn't. We also have enough experience with prohibitions on appearance discrimination to challenge opponents' arguments. Already, one state (Michigan) and six local jurisdictions (the District of Columbia; Howard County, Md. ; San Francisco; Santa Cruz, Calif. ; Madison, Wis. ; and Urbana, Ill. ) have banned such discrimination. Some of these laws date back to the 1970s and 1980s, while ome are more recent; some cover height and weight only, while others cover looks broadly; but all make exceptions for reasonable business needs. Such bans have not produced a barrage of loony litigation or an erosion of support for civil rights remedies gener ally. These cities and counties each receive between zero and nine complaints a year, while the entire state of Michigan totals about 30, with fewer than one a year ending up in court.Although the laws are unevenly enforced, they have had a positive effect by publicizing and remedying the worst abuses. Because Portnick, the aerobics instructor turned away by Jazzercise, lived in San Francisco, she was able to bring a claim against the company. After a wave of sympathetic media coverage, Jazzercise changed its policy. This is not to overstate the power of legal remedies. Given the stigma attached to unattractiveness, few will want to claim that status in public litigation.And in the vast majority of cases, the cost of filing suit and the difficulty of proving discrimination are likely to be prohibitive. But stricter anti-discrimination laws could play a modest role in advancing healthier and more inclusive ideals of attractiveness. At the very least, such laws could reflect our princ iples of equal opportunity and raise our collective consciousness when we fall short. [email  protected] edu Deborah L. Rhode is a Stanford University law professor and the author of â€Å"The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law. â€Å"