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KAUST startup helps maximize crop yield while optimizing resource efficiency.
|· 90% of the country’s limited water resources from non-renewable aquifers used for irrigation each year
· Soil salinity buildup from over-irrigation, requiring additional water to flush the salt out
· Limited use of remote sensing to maximize crop yield and conserve resources
|· High-definition satellite-based field analytics including crop yield modeling, hydrological modeling, and evapotranspiration estimations||· Up to 50% water savings
· Up to 100% increased crop yield
· Up to 30% reduction in fertilizer usage
· Reduced soil salinity buildup
· Accessible via mobile devices
The Challenge: Maximizing Food Production in a Water-Stressed Country
“In a country with limited arable land and water resources,” explained Matteo Ziliani, Co-Founder and CEO of OrbitCrops, “it’s critical that we find a way to optimize today’s harvest while ensuring sufficient resources for future generations.”
Ziliani and fellow co-founder of OrbitCrops, Bruno Aragón, are both Ph.D. students majoring in Environmental Sciences and Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Interested in crop yield modeling, hydrological modeling, and evapotranspiration estimation leveraging remote sensing using drones, they wanted to use their knowledge to help the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
During agricultural field trips across Saudi Arabia, Ziliani and Aragón noticed that—despite being a country challenged by water scarcity—there was limited use of remote sensing technologies to maximize crop yield while conserving resources. With experts estimating four-fifths of the Kingdom’s aquifer-based “fossil” water already depleted, leveraging technology to address inefficiencies presents a massive opportunity for the country.
The Startup: OrbitCrops
“Ninety percent of the total amount of water extracted from non-renewable aquifers each year is used for irrigation,” says Aragón, “with 60% of that being lost to evaporation. Since the only alternative water source is desalination and the cost is prohibitive, it’s critical for farmers to break with traditional agricultural methods and find ways to optimize their water usage.”
OrbitCrops, a TAQADAM Startup Accelerator 2019 graduate, offers farmers a new way to monitor their fields. Combining high-definition satellite imagery with data analytics, OrbitCrops software analyzes crop health against several parameters, including initial status, weather patterns, soil conditions, irrigation, and fertilizer usage. The software provides detailed visual information that would previously have been inaccessible based on the size of the fields and the limitations of ground-based observation.
The software identifies sectors of fields where crops are being either over- or under-irrigated or fertilized. Reports also include plant health and stress detection. Accessed via a flexible, subscription-based pricing model and using visual representations of their fields displayed on mobile devices, farmers can pinpoint areas and make the necessary adjustments to water and fertilizer application.
The Results: Increased Crop Yield, Resource Conservation and Recognition
Based on extensive tests over 5 years and involving over 2,500 acres of arable land, OrbitCrops offers a practical, cost-effective way to address the challenges arising from water stress. Each farmer’s fields are divided into zones, with data-driven water and fertilizer recommendations made at a granular level with corresponding results. The increased efficiencies show improvements in crop yield of up to 100%, water savings of up to 50%, and a reduction in fertilizer usage of up to 30%, providing farmers with significant cost savings while increasing profitability.
Also, careful water management reduces soil salinity, eliminating the need for additional irrigation to flush the salt out. Reduced water usage translates to less evaporation and wastage, and keeps the water in the underground aquifers for the posterity of future generations. Taking into consideration real-time and predictive weather, yield, and soil moisture forecasting, OrbitCrops’ advanced algorithms enable farmers to plan ahead based on reliable models, maximizing the efficiency of their fields while decreasing the use of scarce resources.
While similar solutions exist on the market, most of them are tailored to North American conditions and analyze limited data inputs. With their knowledge and expertise of agriculture in harsh, arid climates, OrbitCrops has a significant advantage in Saudi Arabia and other countries with similar climates and soil conditions.
The outcome of OrbitCrops innovation and impressive results was 2nd place at Startup Istanbul 2019. From over 100,000 applicants, 100 startups were chosen to present in front of the audience and judges. “We were very pleased to win 2nd prize,” says Ziliani, “since the other competitors’ ideas were very interesting.”
The Driving Force: KAUST’s TAQADAM Startup Accelerator
“OrbitCrops probably wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for the TAQADAM Startup Accelerator program,” states Ziliani. “And we certainly wouldn’t have won 2nd place at Startup Istanbul. The coaches, mentors, and seminars provided us with the encouragement and motivation to pursue our dream despite our heavy academic schedule.”
Having learned about the program from previous graduates who had launched startups—with excellent results—while at KAUST, Aragón and Ziliani decided to apply. After putting together a basic business plan based on their vision, ability to execute, knowledge of the competition, understanding of the target market, and attainable goals, OrbitCrops became a reality.
“The mentor assigned to us helped us to set and reach our goals, expand our business knowledge, and perform sanity checks to make sure we weren’t straying too far from our original objectives,” adds Aragón. “He was also invaluable when it came to providing contacts and opening doors. It enabled us to establish critical relationships with technology companies, government ministries, and the farmers who participated in the trials.”
“Although we’ll need to expand to other markets to create a sustainable business model based on the volume of arable land, our short-term goal is to use what we’ve developed to help the Kingdom,” says Ziliani in conclusion. “Farmers can, at times, be hesitant when it comes to trying new things. We believe that, if we can gain mindshare based on our successes, things will change over time.”
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So you need help paying for college loans student . What now?
University loans student are the most common type of financial aid. Unfortunately, loans are debt and, unlike scholarships and grants, require repayment at cumulative interest. Repaying (or defaulting) loans student can affect an individual’s credit rating, so it is important to be informed about the different types of loans and repayment options before borrowing a college loan.
The first step in obtaining university financial assistance is to complete a free application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA) through the US Department of Education (U.S.D.E.). According to U.S.D.E., “Federal student assistance plays a central and indispensable role in supporting postsecondary education by providing money to eligible college students and families.” Completing the FAFSA is the first step in helping to fund post-secondary education.
Granted and non-granted
To determine interest repayments, loans student fall into one of two categories. Granted loans are loaned to students based on significant financial needs. Therefore, the federal government pays a cumulative loan of interest while the student is still at school or repayment has been postponed for good reason. However, the student is responsible for paying the cumulative interest on the unfunded loan.
Direct vs. FFEL
Two different programs within the US Department of Education are responsible for paying loans to students. Direct loans are part of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and are issued directly from the United States. Students repay these loans to the United States, while FFEL loans (Federal Family Education Loan Program) are guaranteed by the federal government but are paid by private lenders. Students will repay these loans student to private lenders.
College student loan repayments vary widely depending on factors such as the total amount borrowed by the student, the length of the student’s enrollment in school, and the student’s income level after graduation. As a general rule, students have a grace period of 6-9 months after graduation and fall short of part-time enrollment before beginning to repay the loan.
Types of federal loans for college students
Perkins Loans: These loans student represent a significant financial need for students. Federal Perkins Loans are distributed through schools and must be repaid to schools within 10 years.
Stafford Loans: These loans are awarded based on financial needs and are paid with or without subsidies. Direct Stafford loans are paid to students by the US government. FFEL Stafford loans were paid by private lenders such as banks. The loan is repaid to each lender.
PLUS Loans: These are loans borrowed by the student’s parent or legal guardian. PLUS loans can be borrowed to cover the remaining tuition not covered by other loans. All PLUS loans are unsubsidized and the borrower is responsible for paying all interest. The fixed-rate for Direct PLUS loans is 8.5% and for FFEL PLUS loans is 7.9%.
If the student’s federal financial assistance award is not enough to cover the costs of college tuition and other expenses, loans are available through various private lenders as well. Private loans often have high-interest rates and low flexibility in terms of repayment, so it is important to research your options before borrowing a college loan.
Alli writes about online education at University-bound.com. This is a resource site for those interested in earning a degree online.
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How is a bank or credit union branch like a supermarket? Both branches and grocery stores nurture a geographic area, each in their own way.
United States government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control define “food deserts” as low-income urban neighborhoods that lack supermarkets or other venues providing convenient access to affordable, healthy foods. The agencies specifically study such areas because residents there often lack accessible healthy food options. As a result they become more vulnerable to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and an array of related maladies.
If the lack of nutritious grocery offerings in food deserts can threaten physical health, then it is plausible to presume a lack of convenient banking offerings may threaten families’ financial health. Further, if those conditions prevail more in low-income neighborhoods, the lack of access is likely harming those most in need of financial counsel.
My firm has studied “banking deserts,” low-income urban neighborhoods with limited access to banks or credit unions, and the findings can help as the industry weighs the future role, and existence, of branches.
Studying Banking Deserts in the Asphalt Jungle
The study examined branch distribution in four major metropolitan areas in different regions: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. All four rank among the 20-largest metros in the U.S., with all but Minneapolis ranking in the top 10. The study set out to determine whether residents of low-income neighborhoods in those markets found fewer financial services alternatives than residents of more affluent communities.
Our hypothesis going into the research can be summarized as: “All neighborhoods, irrespective of income profile, enjoy similar access to bank and credit union branches.” To investigate that hypothesis, the study examined the presence of convenient branch access in each census block group within the four markets. There were two exceptions. First, the analysis omitted block groups where the trade-area population density was less than 2,000 residents per square mile, to eliminate rural areas on the fringe of metros. Second, the analysis omitted block groups where the trade area showed an employment-to-household ratio of greater than three-to-one. This served to eliminate downtown and similar districts.
An eye on convenience. The study defined convenience in terms of a specific trade-area radius around the center of each block group, with the extent of that radius being an inverse function of the surrounding population density.
In summary, empirical data show branches in areas of greater population density display tighter drawing areas, because consumers define convenience not by distance but by time; and transit times in high-density areas with numerous traffic lights, etc., tend to take longer. The study then tallied the number of branches (bank and credit union) within each block group’s relevant radius, and compared those counts against the median-income level within that same radius.
Lack of Branches Definitely Affects Local Markets
Three of the four markets show strong evidence that less affluent neighborhoods suffer from lesser access to convenient branches.
For example, in Philadelphia, residents of block groups with median income of less than $50,000 find (on average) half as many convenient branches as residents of more affluent block groups. Atlanta and Los Angeles show similar trends, though with slightly less disparities across the tiers. Notably, branch levels in Minneapolis remain similar irrespective of income profile.
Average number of branches in trade area
|Median Household Income||Philadelphia||Atlanta||Minneapolis||Los Angeles|
|$35,000 – $50,000||2.2||2.5||2.8||2.6|
|$50,000 – $75,000||3.9||2.7||3.0||3.8|
|$75,000 – $100,000||4.8||3.8||2.9||4.9|
More alarming than the average counts is the proportion of block groups that lack any convenient branches nearby. In each of the markets except for Minneapolis, 30%-40% of the block groups with median income of less than $35,000 lack any convenient nearby financial services provider. (Keep in mind, this says more than that the block group itself lacks a branch. Rather, the count of branches is defined within a trade area around the center of the block group. Thus, in almost all cases, it spans into additional nearby block groups.
In Philadelphia and Atlanta, a similar proportion of block groups in the $35,000-$50,000 income tier lack any convenient branch.
|% of Median Income Households
With No Convenient Branches
|$35,000 – $50,000||32%||33%||16%||17%|
|$50,000 – $75,000||17%||31%||19%||11%|
|$75,000 – $100,000||7%||24%||17%||5%|
|Total block groups||3,422||1,536||1,720||6,170|
Further, in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Los Angeles, another 15%-25% of block groups in the two lowest-income tiers have convenient access to only a single branch in their primary trade areas. And while one branch option remains superior to none, that still leaves the consumers in those single-branch trade areas lacking any significant leverage in choosing providers. Beyond that, the operator of that single branch, as a sole provider, doesn’t face competitive pressure to accommodate special customer needs or deliver differentiated service.
Here’s a wrinkle regarding credit unions: They remain slightly more prevalent in low-competition markets studied. For example, in Philadelphia, 27% of the branches in single-branch trade areas belong to credit unions, compared to 23% of branches in two-branch trade areas and only 16% in trade areas with three or more total branches. Los Angeles and Minneapolis show a similar trend of greater credit union prevalence in single-branch trade areas. (The Atlanta market presents no discernible similar pattern.)
- Massive Forces Impacting the Future of Bank & Credit Union Branches
- Transforming Branches into Advice Centers: The Long Road Ahead
- Branches Should Be Advice Centers, But Are Banks Ready?
- Without Branches, Banks and Credit Unions Say They Can’t Survive
‘Banking Deserts’ Genuinely Exist, and Matter
In the Philadelphia metro area, 100,000 households live in block groups with no convenient branches within their primary trade areas, and another 70,000 households live in block groups with only one nearby convenient branch. Combined, these banking deserts impound about 10% of the household base of the metro overall, excluding the rural and employment-center block groups described in the methodology summary. In Atlanta, 115,000 households live in banking deserts, as do 285,000 households in Los Angeles. In Minneapolis, only 30,000 households live in banking-desert environments.
Even in an era of online and mobile banking channels, the lack of financial services options in many low-income neighborhoods likely creates adverse impacts in terms of forcing consumers into harmful offerings such as payday lenders, check-cashing services and pawn shops; reducing pricing and service leverage with bank and credit union providers; and limiting opportunities for consumers to gain financial literacy and/or initial introductions to the mainstream banking system.
Further, while electronic channels can provide an alternative to branch-based delivery for some financial transactions, keep in mind that many lower-income households suffer from a lack of online access, too.
And the physical branch remains uniquely positioned to advance financial literacy, foster community engagement and philanthropy, and support the formation and maintenance of local small businesses.
Here’s an interesting detail: Although the data illustrate a stark disparity in banking availability in three of the four markets, the Minneapolis statistics suggest it is possible for institutions to provide consistent branch options across an entire metro area.
This may be a legacy of the three large banks with headquarters ties to the market (Wells Fargo via the former Norwest, US Bank and TCF), it may be a function of the Minneapolis metro’s more compact urban geography, or it may reflect a more affluent overall market, as evidenced by the highest median income among the four markets studied. Still, the sizable count of households in banking deserts in the other three metros dictates a need for banks and credit unions in those markets to reevaluate their Community Reinvestment Act and service-mission efforts (respectively) to ensure they address their entire markets.
In doing so, not only can financial institutions improve the financial health of low-income households today, but they can also help build stronger and more resilient neighborhoods for the future.
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This story originally ran in The Province on Aug. 14, 2013.
The price of a litre of bottled water in B.C. is often higher than a litre of gasoline. However, the price paid by the world's largest bottled water company for taking 265 million litres of fresh water every year from a well in the Fraser Valley - not a cent.
Because of B.C.'s lack of groundwater regulation, Nestlé Waters Canada - a division of the multi-billion dollar Switzerland-based Nestlé Group, the world's largest food company - is not required to measure, report or pay a penny for the millions of gallons of water it draws from Hope and then sells across Western Canada.
According to the provincial Ministry of Environment, "B.C. is the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn't regulate groundwater use."
"The province does not license groundwater, charge a rental for groundwater withdrawals or track how much bottled water companies are taking from wells," a ministry spokesman said in an email to The Province.
This isn't new. Critics have been calling for change for years, saying the lack of groundwater regulation is just one outdated example from the century-old Water Act.
The Ministry of Environment has said it plans - in the 2014 legislature sitting - to introduce groundwater regulation with the proposed Water Sustainability Act, which would update and replace the existing Water Act, established in 1909. But experts note that while successive governments have been talking about modernizing water regulations for decades, the issue keeps falling off the agenda. This time, many hope it will be different.
"It's really the Wild West out here in terms of groundwater," said Linda Nowlan, conservation director from World Wildlife Fund Canada.
"And it's been going on for over 20 years, that the Ministry of Environment, the provincial government has been saying that they're going to make these changes, and it just hasn't gone through yet."
In the District of Hope, Nestlé's well draws from an aquifer relied upon by about 6,000 nearby residents, and some of them are concerned.
"We have water that's so clean and so pure, it's amazing. And then they take it and sell it back to us in plastic bottles," said Hope resident Sharlene Harrison-Hinds.
Sheila Muxlow lives in Chilliwack, down the Fraser River from Hope. As campaign director for the Water-Wealth Project, she often hears from Hope residents who worry about the lack of government oversight on Nestlé's operations there.
"It's unsettling," Muxlow said.
"What's going to happen in the long term, if Nestlé keeps taking and taking and taking?" While Nestlé is the largest bottled water seller in B.C., others, including Whistler Water and Mountain Spring Water, also draw groundwater from B.C. When asked by The Province, those companies declined to release the volume of their withdrawals.
Though Nestlé is not required to measure and report its water withdrawals to the government, the company voluntarily reports to the District of Hope, said a Nestlé Waters Canada executive, reached in Guelph, Ont. last week.
"What we do in Hope exceeds what is proposed by the province of British Columbia," said John Challinor, Nestlé Waters Canada's director of corporate affairs.
Challinor said Nestlé keeps records of water quality and the company's mapping of the underground water resources in the area exceeds what government scientists have done.
"We do these annual reports ... We're doing it voluntarily with (the local government). If we are asked to provide it as a condition of a new permit, that's easy to do, because we're already doing it," Challinor said.
But the fact Nestlé's reports are internal and voluntary is the very issue of concern, said Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
If it's voluntary, Parfitt said, "there's nothing to stop a company or major water user from choosing not to report. That is absolutely critical. You can't run a system like this on a voluntary basis."
Since groundwater remains unregulated in B.C., Nestlé does not require a permit for the water it withdraws.
"No permit, no reporting, no tracking, no nothing," said David Slade, co-owner of Drillwell Enterprises, a Vancouver Island well-drilling company. "So you could drill a well on your property, and drill it right next to your neighbour's well, and you could pump that well at 100 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and waste all the water, pour it on the ground if you wanted to ... As far as depleting the resource, or abusing the resource, there is no regulation. So it is the Wild, Wild West." Nestlé is far from the only large company withdrawing B.C.'s groundwater for free, and Challinor said Nestlé is "largely supportive of what the government is trying to do" with modernizing the Water Act. He said he plans to sit down with B.C.'s new environment minister, Mary Polak, in the fall to discuss these issues. As for the government charging for groundwater, Challinor said: "We have no problem with paying for water, as long as the price is based on the actual cost of regulating the program."
If you walk into Cooper's Foods in downtown Hope - less than five kilometres from Nestlé's bottling plant - and buy a 1.5 litre bottle of Nestlé Pure Life water, it will set you back $1.19. That's $1.19 more than Nestlé paid the government last year for withdrawing 265 million litres of fresh water from Hope's well.
Nestlé's other water bottling plant in Canada is in Wellington County, Ont., where the province requires them to buy a licence and pay for the water they extract. Some critics, including Parfitt, feel Ontario's charge of $3.71 per million litres is still too paltry. But still, they say, it's more fair than B.C. charging nothing.
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Earlier on Wednesday, we reported on some clinical trial data that offered good, if ambiguous, news about treating COVID-19. In the study, participants treated with a drug called remdesivir recovered on average 30 percent quicker than those receiving a placebo. But who owns the drug, how much of it can be made, and what does it cost?
To answer the first question, remdesivir is owned by Gilead Sciences, a US biotechnology company. Gilead got its first patent for the drug in 2017 when the company was originally targeting it as a possible treatment for the Ebola virus. That didn't pan out, but as our earlier article explains, biochemical similarities in how the Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 viruses function led Gilead to see if remdesivir could be repurposed for treating COVID-19. Gilead's patents mean that it has a monopoly on the drug in the United States, so barring government intervention or Gilead licensing the patent to others, it's the only company that can manufacture it until 2037, at which point a generic version could be possible.To answer the second question, Gilead announced in April that it had ramped up production of remdesivir at its factory in La Verne, California, in January, and by the beginning of April, it had already stockpiled enough to treat 140,000 patients, each over the course of 10 days. The company also said that it plans to produce enough remdesivir to treat 500,000 patients by October and a million patients by the end of 2020. (This explains why there was some outcry in March when it was revealed that Gilead had applied for something called "orphan drug status" for remdesivir, which is supposed to be reserved for rare diseases. Gilead withdrew that application.)
Finally, there's the question of how much that will cost. As of today, we don't know how much Gilead intends to charge for remdesivir in the US or elsewhere. In CEO Daniel O'Day's April letter that revealed the existing stockpile, he wrote that the company "is providing the entirety of this existing supply at no cost, to treat patients with the most severe symptoms of COVID-19. The 1.5 million individual doses are available for compassionate use, expanded access, and clinical trials and will be donated for broader distribution following any potential future regulatory authorizations."
A recent study published in the Journal of Virus Eradication attempts to analyze the cost of manufacturing remdesivir. The authors looked at the chemical synthesis of the drug and concluded that a 10-day course for one person would cost $9, allowing for 20 percent losses during formulation, plus the cost of the vials, a profit margin, and tax. However, whether it costs Gilead that to actually produce the drug is unknown, and one needn't be a scholar of the US healthcare system to be skeptical that a novel treatment would end up being quite so cheap.
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MANILA — Within the past 15 years, almost every sector imaginable has been reconceived within the context of sustainable development with the notable exception of one: finance. For years, there has been a debate over how to finance sustainable development, and how to do so in a manner that reflects the principles of sustainable development. Last year, that discussion took a major step forward when China embraced the concept of “green finance” and championed it both domestically and internationally during its presidency of the G-20.
There is no universally accepted definition of green financial activities, mainly because different countries have different priorities in their environmental policy and approaches to implementation. On a conceptual level, it can be thought of as financing environmentally sustainable growth. And China is leading the push for “green finance” to be at the heart of economic development strategies.
The world is taking notice. Germany under its current presidency of the G-20 is building upon what China started last year. Several developing countries are looking at China for lessons on how to develop their own green finance systems. And many of the world’s leading financial centers, including London, New York and Singapore, have also started developing green finance initiatives and plans partly inspired by the market that China offers.
As China continues to grow as a global power, so too does its footprint on the development sector. Its rise comes at a moment when the status quo is shifting in the aid industry. Traditional standard bearers such as the U.S. and EU may still drive the majority of funds and set the agenda, but protectionist policies and changing domestic priorities are setting in motion significant changes.
In this six-week special series, Devex examines China's expanding role in aid and development across the globe. From tensions in Ghana to projects in Pakistan, from climate financing to donor partnerships, from individual philanthropy to state-financed investment, this series traces the past, present and future of Chinese aid and development.
And yet that leadership appears somewhat serendipitous. “China doesn’t mean to be a green finance leader. But our government authorities have the awareness that we should have green finance,” said Wang Yao, director general of the International Institute of Green Finance at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.
How China came to embrace green finance
So why did one of the dirtiest countries in the world choose to embrace a development model that emphasizes environmental sustainability, runs counter to traditional economic thought and up until recently was confined to a fringe of academics and policymakers?
After almost 40 years of astonishing growth built on the backbone of exploiting its natural resources and cheap labor, the world’s second largest economy reached a turning point and had to design a new development pathway forward. Beset with domestic pushback on its rampant pollution and aware of the economic benefits of clean energy, China started working on green finance in 2006. But, for many years, such financing was purely conceptual and lacked actionable plans.
Then in 2014, roughly 40 local and international banking, finance and development experts joined the Green Finance Task Force to come up with policy recommendations to the Chinese government on “greening” the country’s financial system. The task force published a more comprehensive reform plan the following year. In 2016, the highest levels of the Chinese government formally recognized the importance of green finance in the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan and seven government ministries jointly released “Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System,” laying out action points on how China can green its financial system. This involves not just spurring more private sector investment in green industries, but also entails more effectively controlling investments in polluting projects.
“China's green finance reform plan seeks to mobilize green investment flows through changing the rules of the financial system itself, the underlying regulatory and market incentives that shape flows of finance across the whole economy,” said Shantanu Mitra, a senior climate and environment adviser for the U.K.’s Department of International Development. “Whilst ambitious, such an approach clearly has high transformational potential in terms of the sheer volume of financial flows affected.”
China estimates that it needs an additional $600 billion each year for what it defines as green finance, which among many things includes renewable energy and sustainable construction. At least 85 percent of that amount will have to come directly from the private sector due to fiscal constraints. One of the most oft-cited examples of how China plans to mobilize the capital is through issuing green bonds, which tie the proceeds of bond issues to environmentally friendly investments. The speed at which China has embraced green bonds is staggering. At the end of 2015, China had no footprint on the global market. One year later, it commanded nearly 40 percent.
“What was understood by key actors in China was that the country needed a financial system that would be part of the solution in addressing environmental and climate challenges, and one that could appreciate and so resource the next generation of global industries that would be green” said Simon Zadek, co-director of the United Nations Environment Program Inquiry into Design Options for a Sustainable Financial System and one of the leading experts on green finance. “Uniquely at the time, China’s insight translated into a systematic treatment of how its financial system needed to evolve, a lesson that is now increasingly appreciated by the very people and institutions around the world whose earlier view was that shaping an inclusive, sustainable global economy is not the business of finance.”
“China's green finance reform plan seeks to mobilize green investment flows through changing the rules of the financial system itself, the underlying regulatory and market incentives that shape flows of finance across the whole economy,”— Shantanu Mitra, senior climate and environment adviser at DFID
Traditionally, economists viewed the environment as a “luxury” that countries can only afford to consider once they have developed. Income and employment were prioritized over Mother Nature. But the international development community has increasingly come to understand that natural assets are not some theoretical construct. The environment provides jobs and enhances prosperity. Heavy pollution, natural resource depletion and the realities of climate change, meanwhile, bring with them hefty economic burdens.
As climate science, modeling and epidemiology become more precise, the measurements bear that out. For instance, due to human pressure on the Earth’s resources, natural capital has declined in 116 out of 140 countries around the world. That includes the deterioration of natural resources, such as freshwater and arable land, according to the 2014 Inclusive Wealth Report. Over 7 million deaths are now attributable to ambient and household air pollution, says the World Health Organization. And 750 of the world’s top economists agree that a catastrophe caused by climate change is the single biggest potential threat to the global economy, according to a 2016 World Economic Forum survey. Last year marked the first time in over a decade of Global Risks reports that the environment ranked first — above the spread of weapons of mass destruction and mass involuntary migration. Green finance is one way to reduce all of these threats and in the process support the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Paris climate accord.
It is worth noting, however, that not all countries have the same standards for what constitutes climate and environmentally friendly investments. China, for example, considers clean coal projects that reduce emissions relative to existing generation methods to be green. But clean coal is not in line with international green definitions, such as the Climate Bonds Taxonomy. That’s mainly because rather than moving away from coal dependency, clean coal technology could increase the life cycle of existing retrofitted plants or the construction of new plants. Moreover, even if the most advanced technologies are used, coal fired power plants still emit about twice the amount of carbon dioxide compared to gas-fired power and 15 times that of renewable energy over the full lifecycle.
But, while countries have differing approaches, China has to date gone further than any other nation in terms of identifying what needs to be implemented or changed to green a financial system. That includes defining policies, regulations, standards and market practices in finance. UNEP’s Zadek said that there are two reasons why China has been able to move in a way that other countries can’t.
First, the highest levels of the Chinese State Council are prioritizing green finance and China’s economy responds strongly to policy signals. Second, the fact that China’s markets are underdeveloped means that in some ways, it has less incumbent interests, which makes it easier to push forward new concepts. “It’s incredibly hard to make change in the United States’ financial system because it’s very developed with corporate and other interests not wanting change,” said Zadek. “In China and other developing countries, financial markets are far less developed and that allows for some leapfrogging.”
Given its stated commitment to the environment, China is also incorporating green finance into its foreign policy. “Green finance is one of the main topics of One Belt, One Road,” said Wang, referring to China’s goal of creating a modern version of the Silk Road, a network of trading routes linking China to Africa and Europe. “The initiative will mean more investment, and that investment should be green investment that takes into account environmental risks.”
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Some developing countries are eager to gain insight from the pioneer. Wang recently attended a high-level summit on green bonds where an official from the Moroccan central bank told her that the African country is “very interested” in China’s policy framework. Indonesia is also keeping an eye on China. “We are learning from China because they are more advanced than any other country in green finance,” Edi Setijawan, sustainable finance director of Indonesia’s financial services authority, the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, told Devex.
OJK was the first financial regulator to establish what is a roadmap for sustainable finance. But, moving forward, Setijawan said that his country is looking to China for lessons on how financial authorities such as the People’s Bank of China are involved in green finance.
“Our situation is similar to China’s; we are also doing a top-down approach to green finance. While we cannot adopt exactly what they have done, we are adapting some lessons from them, particularly their green credit guidelines and green bonds.” To ensure relevance and compatibility within and outside the national context, China based its guidelines on international good practice, but also tailored it to the national context. This is an important lesson for other developing countries.
Global lessons and implications
Learning is not a one-way street. Developing countries are also innovating at home, and influencing China. For instance, Brazil’s central bank has developed unusually comprehensive and advanced environmental regulations, independent of the country’s Environment Ministry. And Bangladesh’s central bank offers refinancing lines to commercial banks at reduced interest rates for loans given to priority areas of the economy, such as agriculture. When Bangladesh started doing that in 2009, it hadn’t been done before. Now China wants to do the same thing.
In 2012, regulators, including central banks and banking associations from China, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh and a handful of other countries came together to form the Sustainable Banking Network. Facilitated by the International Financial Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, the SBN was created to advance sustainable finance practices in emerging markets. It now has 32 member countries and covers over 85 percent of the total $50 trillion banking assets in emerging markets. The platform has played a key role in advancing green finance through sharing best practices and creating capacity building opportunities for financial regulators.
Green finance should be viewed as a core business, not as a corporate social responsibility.— Marcos Brujis, global director of the IFC’s Financial Institutions Group
Marcos Brujis, global director of the IFC’s Financial Institutions Group, told Devex that some valuable lessons from China’s experience are being utilized to support other SBN member countries on their green finance journey. For one, China has highlighted the business case and opportunities in green lending by actively encouraging banks to move away from polluting businesses and toward lending to the green economy. “Green finance should be viewed as a core business, not as a corporate social responsibility or CSR,” said Brujis.
China has also increased awareness about the risks to banks’ portfolios if they don’t manage environmental and social risks. The China Banking Regulatory Commission has integrated sustainability risk considerations into the regular bank supervision process. Lastly, a crucial success factor is measuring adoption and impact. China has done this through a comprehensive measurement framework and key performance indicators that track how well banks are responding. This requires implementing effective systems and measuring the actual benefit that sustainable finance is having on the environment, for instance through improved air and water quality.
“We see significant innovations coming from developing countries, partly inspired by China, but also partly as proof of the innovative nature of developing countries in what people have historically assumed they are really weak, which is finance,” said Zadek.
Central banks have never been thought of as agents of change. And yet, China’s central bank, the PBOC, and the CBRC have shown that central banks and regulators can be engaged in these broader policy objectives, albeit within their mandate of financial market development. Unsurprisingly the PBOC and the Bank of England co-chaired the Green Finance Study Group, which was created last year under the G-20. The group’s objective is to identify institutional and market barriers to green finance. Based on country experiences and best practices, they analyze options on how to enhance the ability of the financial system to mobilize green private investment. If successful, this could facilitate the green transformation of the global economy. The GFSG outlined their findings in the G-20 Green Finance Synthesis Report released last year.
“GFSG’s synthesis report lays down the common understanding among G-20 countries on the need for scaling up green finance,” said a spokesperson for the German ministry. “The German government decided to continue the work of the GFSG during its G-20 presidency in 2017, putting particular emphasis on the application of environmental risk analysis in the financial industry and on the use of publicly available environmental data for financial risk analysis and informing decision-making.”
The German Corporation for International Cooperation or GIZ, acting on behalf of the country’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development or BMZ, and the U.K.’s DfID are at the forefront of a small group of development agencies that provide support for the way in which various countries in the global south develop their domestic financial market. This goes beyond greening development aid, which has been going on for a long time, to supporting the greening of financial markets in certain developing countries.
DfID, and the U.K. government more broadly, support work on green finance in developing countries through a range of initiatives, particularly through its 5.8 billion pound International Climate Fund. Some of their approaches use public resources to leverage private finance for green investment, for instance through risk sharing. Others focus on mobilizing public finance, for example through integrating climate or environmental policy considerations into public expenditure planning and execution.
Meanwhile, GIZ has a fairly sophisticated technical cooperation program that supports developing countries in their financial market development and is increasingly linking it to environmental issues. In 2016, the German federal government dedicated 4.8 billion euros in financial sector development to climate and environment projects through both GIZ and its KfW development bank. To help implement these projects, KfW has provided a wide range of instruments, such as credit lines, funds and insurance.
“The German government will continue to exchange and collaborate with China and other international partners in order to disseminate international good practices and advance the development of green financial markets globally,” said a spokesperson for the German ministry.
The transition to a green economy in any country will be difficult, but in a country as large and complex as China it is bound to be painful. Moving forward, China’s main challenge is effectively implementing its green finance plan and in particular, trying to internalize externalities. For example, factoring into the price of a solar power system, its contribution to clean air. Or factoring into the price of a chemical plant, the damage it causes to the environment. The key challenge with attracting private investments toward green sectors and away from polluting industries is distorted price signals.
China will also have to contend with a number of other issues. Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, global director of the Sustainable Finance Center at the World Resources Institute, said that the country will have to increase the number of bankable projects available, which is a constraint in almost every country, including China. And it has to deal with the questionable risk appetite of local financial institutions. “Many of the banks are still quite conservative and often not comfortable operating with new technologies or sectors that they may not have operated in before,” said Martinez-Diaz. “That may be slowing down, to some extent, their willingness to put money on the table.”
Over time, the banks will ideally get more comfortable and hopefully more willing to take risks in green sectors. They have no choice. The Chinese government is determined to drive the environment into the very fabric of the way the global financial system works. And if any country can do it, the world’s second largest economy is in the best position to.
In this six-week special series, Devex examines China's expanding role in aid and development across the globe. From tensions in Ghana to projects in Pakistan, from climate financing to donor partnerships, from individual philanthropy to state-financed investment, this series traces the past, present and future of Chinese aid and development. Join the conversation on our Facebook discussion forum.
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The financial markets have rewarded long-term investors. People expect a positive return on the capital they supply, and historically, the equity and bond markets have provided growth of wealth that has more than offset inflation.
Most people look to the financial markets as their main investment avenue—and the good news is that the capital markets have rewarded long-term investors. The markets represent capitalism at work in the economy—and historically, free markets have provided a long-term return that has offset inflation.
This is documented in the growth of wealth graph above, which shows monthly performance of various indices and inflation since 1926. These indices represent different areas of the US financial markets, such as stocks and bonds. The data illustrates the beneficial role of stocks in creating real wealth over time. T-bills have barely covered inflation, while longer-term bonds have provided higher returns over inflation. US stock returns have far exceeded inflation and significantly outperformed bonds.
Another key point is that not all stocks or bonds are the same. For example, consider the performance of US small cap stocks vs. US large cap stocks over this time period. A dollar invested in small cap stocks in 1926 would be worth considerably more today than a dollar invested in large cap stocks.
Keep in mind that there is risk and uncertainty in the markets. Historical results may not be repeated in the future. Nevertheless, the market is constantly pricing securities to reflect a positive expected return going forward. Otherwise, people would not invest their capital.
Confidence that liquid markets price securities fairly has important implications for investors. If current market prices offer the best estimate of real value, investors should regard stock mispricing as a rare and temporary condition. Equally essential, they should avoid spending time and effort trying to identify and exploit mispricing that might occur as prices seek equilibrium.
If professionals with vast resources cannot apply research and analysis to pick winning stocks, it is even less likely that individuals can outperform the market. The futility of speculation is good news for the investor. It means that prices for public securities are fair and that differences in expected returns are explained by differences in expected risk. It is certainly possible to outperform markets, but not without accepting increased risk.
Investors who believe that markets are fair choose a different path to building wealth. Rather than trying to outguess the capital markets, they let the markets work for them by continuously and efficiently targeting the dimensions of higher expected returns.
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Between 1998 and 2002, Argentina experienced a massive economic depression. The depression was a result of the Russian and Brazilian financial crises. Unemployment, inflation and debt rates in Argentina skyrocketed. This caused Argentina to default of its sovereign debts, leaving a legacy of poor fiscal discipline in an atmosphere of high borrowing fees that has been fueled by political rhetoric. Argentina has continued to struggle with inflation, with the inflation rate in Argentina in 2018 estimated to exceed 31 percent. Reliable figures for the years 2014 through 2016 are not available. The high inflation and fear of another economic depression have opened up a large black market for foreign currency, especially in the metropolis of Buenos Aires.
Since 2009, gross domestic product in Argentina has fluctuated significantly. In addition, it is estimated that GDP per capita in Argentina has been similarly volatile. Argentina has been able to strengthen its economy somewhat since the depression ended in 2002, which was aided by a consistent positive trade balance. In 2009, the country reported a record-high 16.9 billion U.S. dollars trade surplus. Surprising given the currency crisis, Argentina had a trade deficit in 2017, suggesting economic headwinds. Still, some signs point to an economic upswing, but dark clouds are also gathering. National debt in relation to gross domestic product and the country's budget deficit are likely to increase for most of the foreseeable future.
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Washington, DC – A measure authored by Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) was included in the Climate Action Now Act (H.R. 9), a bill that ensures the United States honors our commitments in the Paris Climate Agreement and lays the groundwork for further climate action. Congressman DeSaulnier’s amendment requires the Administration to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to produce a report on the impacts of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement on U.S. workers and U.S. global economic competitiveness. The amendment was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Climate change and how we choose to address it will impact us in many different ways, including our health, national security, and our economic wellbeing. It is important to have a comprehensive, scientific perspective on what withdrawing from the Paris Agreement would mean for the U.S. economy and U.S. workers,” said DeSaulnier.
Existing data shows the Paris Climate Agreement has stimulated investment opportunities worldwide — $23 trillion in opportunities between now and 2030. Nearly 3.3 million Americans now work in clean energy jobs, with some of the biggest growth in energy storage and the manufacturing of clean vehicles. In California, energy efficiency supports 2.3 million jobs and the state is ranked first in energy efficiency jobs at 318,000.
“Since California stepped up and set ambitious emissions targets, its economy has done nothing but grow – topping out as the current fifth largest economy in the world. We need to understand the dangers of inaction and the impact of the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on a national scale. This study will provide a factual analysis of its true impact,” concluded DeSaulnier.
DeSaulnier was appointed by both Republican and Democratic Governors to serve on the California Air Resources Board (CARB). When CARB’s landmark bill on climate change was passed in 2006 and signed by a Republican governor, the Board aimed to get to 1990 emissions levels by 2020, which California is on track to do.
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Business ethics are implemented in order to ensure that a certain required level of trust exists between consumers and various forms of market participants with businesses. For example, a portfolio manager must give the same consideration to the portfolios of family members and small individual investors. Such practices ensure that the public is treated fairly.
Investment dictionary. Academic. 2012.
Look at other dictionaries:
business ethics — ➔ ethics * * * business ethics UK US noun SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ► [plural] rules, principles, and standards for deciding what is morally right or wrong when doing business: »The article explores the business ethics of subprime lending. »The… … Financial and business terms
business ethics — Gen Mgt a system of moral principles applied in the commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for acceptable behavior by organizations in both their strategy formulation and day to day operations. An ethical approach is becoming… … The ultimate business dictionary
Business ethics — For the episode from the American television series The Office, see Business Ethics (The Office). Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical… … Wikipedia
Business ethics — Das sich in den USA seit den 1970er Jahren stark ausbreitende Feld der Business ethics umfasst den gesamten Bereich der Wirtschaftsethik, wird aber im Vergleich zum deutschsprachigen Raum stärker aus der Perspektive des Einzelunternehmens… … Deutsch Wikipedia
BUSINESS ETHICS — The Role of Wealth Any discussion of business ethics, within any cultural or religious framework, requires at the very outset a definition of the role of material wealth, financial assets, and other forms of economic possessions. Furthermore,… … Encyclopedia of Judaism
business ethics — noun The branch of ethics that examines questions of moral right and wrong arising in the context of business practice or theory … Wiktionary
business ethics — The branch of ethics that analyses problems and dilemmas created by business practices: for example, the social responsibilities of the firm, the proper limits of acceptable competition, the weighing of conflicting obligations to stockholders and … Philosophy dictionary
Business Ethics — ⇡ Unternehmensethik … Lexikon der Economics
business ethics — standards governing commercial relationships … English contemporary dictionary
Business Ethics (The Office) — Infobox Television episode Title =Business Ethics Series =The Office Caption = Season =5 Episode =2 Airdate =October 9, 2008 Production = Writer =Ryan Koh Director =Jeffrey Blitz Guests = Episode list =List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes … Wikipedia
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What is money? Dollars, Euros, Pesos; they are all forms of value. Money in its most simple state is just a means of transferring value from one individual to another.
For money to be money it needs to be:
- A unit of account
- A store of value
- A medium of exchange
We like our money to be relatively stable so that we can transfer value in a stable manner.
People think that money is what makes you rich, but this is not true. What makes you rich is owning wealth. Wealth is any asset of value that either: produces positive cash flows (dividends, rent, interest) or has opportunity to appreciate. We simply use money to transfer wealth. We use money to purchase real estate, equity, or invest in ventures.
The average person has a completely different view of money compared to the wealthy individual. The average person thinks of money in terms of consumption; what it can buy. The wealthy individual thinks of money as potential opportunity.
I think these are the fundamental ways you can use money:
- Time: you can use money to afford yourself time (paying your living costs/burn)
- Investment: you can use money to invest in assets, projects and businesses which you expect will produce some return over time
- Consumption: you can use money to consume goods and services which you don’t need, but make you feel happy
The average person prioritizes these uses differently than the wealthy individual. Covering expenses is first for everyone, but the degree to which expenses are minimized differs. After the cost of living is paid excess dollars can be invested or consumed. My belief is that the average individual will not prioritize investment over consumption, or they will not prioritize investment to the degree of the wealthy individual. I believe that consumption should be seen as the lowest tier use of money, for the person who is still reliant on the time-for-money trade.
My guess as to why people tend to consume more than invest is due to their view of money itself. When money is seen as a means of consumption (how its mostly used), investment takes the back seat. I believe that money should be seen in regard to how its acquired as well as the financial position of the individual. Most acquire it through the time-for-money trade; so it should be seen as a function of your time (not your consumption ability).
The number one thing you should prioritize is owning your time. Money can also been seen as a way of transferring time. People work for people, and they trade money. Time-for-money is a horrible trade, but the one most people make. Your time on this planet is limited and precisely scarce. Money however is printed and is both fungible and NOT scarce. You need to move away from a scarcity mindset and toward an abundance mindset when it comes to money and wealth.
What we seek is Financial Independence: the ability to pay your living expense and still own your time. This basically means finding a way to produce enough cash flow to cover your living expenses so that you can decide what you want to spend your time on.
Nobody will value your time to what it is truly worth. Nobody will give you the wage you are deserve. Only you can value your time effectively. But the catch is, if you are not capable of figuring out how to best use your time; someone else will. And I guarantee that they will not be able to use your time to what its worth (principal-agent problem).
So, if you are not yet financially independent then you must focus on prioritizing money as a function of time. You will need to make the time-for-money trade to build up reserve (savings), but when you have accumulated some savings you must think of those savings in terms of time.
Those savings can cover your living expense for x weeks, months, years. And that is time you can then utilize to focus on the problem of becoming financially independent, how to produce positive cash flows while not making the time-for-money trade.
Secondly, and this ties into the first priority, you need to think of money in terms of what it can do for you. You need to think of money as opportunity to invest. Money spent on investing is money that will ultimately make you more money and as a result afford you more time (financial freedom).
Owning your time is not enough if you don’t also know how to invest your time/money into positive cash flow opportunities.
You can invest in many different ways. Some people like to own Stocks, some like to own Real Estate and some like to own Small Businesses (entrepreneurship). There are many other ways of securing a return on your money: multiplying your time.
Finally, after you have secured financial freedom and created wealth, comes the use of Consumption. Consumption is the use of money which makes you feel good, it makes you feel rich; but doesn’t make you rich. The average person sees a wealthy individual (presumably) driving down the street in an expensive sports car and thinks to himself that that is what being rich is about. He subconsciously enforces the idea that to be wealthy is to consume, and while wealthy individuals do consume more than the average, this is not their view of money.
A consumption expenditure on a sports car or a watch or clothing is a liability NOT an asset. These expenditures should be seen as money that will never be returned, they may make you feel rich but they will make you actually poor (if you don’t balance the first two).
So back to the mindset: the average individual sees being rich in terms of how much you can consume, he sees money as the medium for consumption. The wealthy individual sees being rich in terms of being able to own his time and to invest, he sees money as the medium for time and investment.
If you want to move from an average individual to someone who owns their time and can utilize themselves to the best of their ability: you must re-structure your priorities for money.
Stop viewing money through the lens of consumption and instead through the lens of time.
Disclaimer: I’m 22 and not financial free (yet)
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Peru President Ollanta Humala has introduced a rural electrification program in his country that embraces renewable energy sources, namely solar power. In Peru’s Cajamarca state, 3,900 homes have been given solar panels, which have drastically bettered these Peruvians’ day-to-day lives. President Humala’s goal is to grant panels to two million people across the Andean highlands and Amazon rain forest by 2018. Additionally, using renewables, like solar power, will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
But the program is a bold effort; Peru’s landscape can be quite challenging. The rain forest, for instance, has high humidity and heat, which would effect the panels’ performance. Overall, many of the places will be difficult to get to, due to thick jungle and mountainous terrain.
The panels consist of 100-watt systems, an amount that only powers a few lights, a cellphone charger, radio, and TV. That might not be enough for the rural families, who each pay $3.40 a month for the system. Another issue is distrust — many remote communities are suspicious of both foreigners and new technology.
The US might also have a stake in President Humala’s program: if the program is successful, there could be room for US renewable energy companies to invest in Peru. Peru is a great contender for the technology, due to the enormous amount of sunshine it receives and its open-minded government. According to the US Commerce Department, Peru’s renewable energy market could grow to $13 billion by 2020, which encompasses $1.6 billion in solar power.
Developed and Written by Dr. Subodh Das and Tara Mahadevan
January 17, 2015
Copyright 2014. All rights Reserved by Phinix, LLC.
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Ask any politician if governments should run surpluses and the answer is likely to be a resounding yes, with the rationale being that governments should “live within their means”.
Precisely this reason was given by the Australian National Commission of Audit, which has been charged by the Abbott government with the task of suggesting ways to rein in government spending. Its first report gave as the very first of its “Principles of good government” the mantra that governments should:
Live within your means. All government spending should be assessed on the basis of its long-term cost and effectiveness and the sustainability of the nation’s long-term finances (Executive Summary, National Commission of Audit).
The analogy behind this principle is that governments are like companies, and should therefore have strong balance sheets:
For governments, as with companies, a strong balance sheet is important (What should governments do?, National Commission of Audit).
To achieve this strong balance sheet, the Australian government’s goal is to achieve a surplus equivalent to 1 per cent of GDP within a decade and presumably to maintain it from then on…
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From the point of view of academic disciplines, Social Capital-te is the theoretical bridges between a purely economic approach and a social and cultural develop-ment of society. In short, the more social capital, more long-term economic growth, less crime, more health, more democratic governance. The notion is not intended to supplant the weight in the development of macro-economic factors, but it draws attention to be joining them this size. The simple economic reductionism is a narrow and leads to inefficient policies. When we talk of development, points Sustainable Human Development: A key word that should be carefully defined for the RSU. We divide the definition in three adjectives "human", "fair", "sustainable." Human development means the "process of expanding the capabilities of people expand their options and opportunities" (UNDP).
But not limited to access to employment and education and health services, but includes such other fundamental dimensions of humanity such as "the enjoyment of civil and political freedoms and participation of people in the various aspects that affect their lives . The human development concept includes therefore the problem of democratic governance, participation and citizen oversight and generating social capital. It must be noted that the concept of "Development" is different from that of "Assistance", which refers to humanitarian aid to people or populations in emergency or extreme vulnerability. As such, the assistance should be conceived as specific and limited in time, because it does not in itself the possibility of expanding capacity, and may degenerate into "welfarism" which is a process of "anti-development." Equitable development underscores not only the need for all persons, without distinction or exclusion of any kind, can obtain these capabilities for human development, but also the fact (well known today) that economic growth does not necessarily mean improvement for all , ie a "development" which widens the social gap is not a "development." Instead, recent decades have shown us in Latin America as "bue" us "could mean impoverishment macroeconomic performance, exclusion and increased inequality. .
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In India, the oil and gas industry dates back to 1889. when the first oil deposits in the country were found near the town of Digboi in the state of Assam. The natural gas industry in India started in the 1960s with the finding of gas fields in Assam and Gujarat.
As on 31 March 2015, India had projected crude oil reserves of 763.48 million tonnes and natural gas reserves of 1488.49 billion cubic meters. India imports 82 per cent of its oil needs and purposes to bring that down to 67% by 2022 by swapping it with local exploration, renewable energy and original ethanol fuel (c. Jan 2018). India was the 4th top net crude oil (including crude oil products) importer of 163 Mt in 2015. The first oil deposits in India were found in 1889 near the town of Digboi in the state of Assam.
The natural gas industry in India started in 1889 with the finding of gas fields in Assam and Gujarat. Natural gas increased further significance after the finding of large reserves in the South Basin fields by ONGC in the 1970s.
India had projected crude oil reserves of 621.10 million tonnes, falling by 2.28% from the previous year. The major reserves are found in the Western Offshore (39.79%), and Assam (25.89%). The estimated reserves of natural gas in India as on 31 March 2016 was 1227.23 billion cubic meters, falling by 1.97% from the previous year. The largest reserves of natural gas are situated in the Eastern Offshore (36.79%) and the Western Offshore (23.95%)
India formed 36.95 MTs of crude petroleum in 2015-16. Manufacture of crude petroleum in India had a CAGR of 0.84% between 2006-07 and 2015-16. The CAGR for natural gas production during the same period was 0.16 per cent. India formed 231.92 MTs of petroleum products in 2015-16, recording a growth of 4.88 per cent over the previous year. Among petroleum products, high-speed diesel oil accounted for 42.51 per cent, followed by Motor Gasoline (15.23 per cent).
India formed 25.46 billion cubic meters of natural gas, a decline of 5.41% from the earlier fiscal. High-speed diesel oil accounted for 46.42% of total consumption of all forms of petroleum products of natural gas as a domestic fuel accounted for 11.42 per cent of total consumption. Gas is a significant source for electricity generation in India.
As on 23 October 2015, the connected capacity of gas-based power plants in India was 25,057.13 MW, accounting for 7.9 per cent of the total installed capacity. Diesel is an insignificant source for electricity generation in India. The total connected capacity of diesel-based power plants in India is 927.89 MW accounting for a mere 0.3per cent of total installed capacity.
India’s electricity sector about consumed 20.97% of the natural gas produced in the country. India is expected to be unique of the largest contributors to non-OECD petroleum consumption development globally. In October 2017 Oil imports rose sharply year-on-year by 27.89 % to US$ 9.29 billion. India’s oil consumption grew 8.3% year-on-year to 212.7 million tonnes in 2016, as against the global growth of 1.5 %, thus making it the third-largest oil consuming nation in the world.
India is the 4th largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) importer after South Korea, Japan and China and accounts for 5.8% of the total global trade. Domestic LNG demand is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.89% to 306.54 MMSCMD by 2021 from 64 MMSCMD in 2015.
India’s oil request is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6 per cent to 458 Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MTOE) by 2040, while demand for energy will more than dual by 2040 as economy will grow to more than five times its current size, Gas production will be expected touch 90 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM) by 2040, the Refining Capacity of India is likely to reach 256.55 MMTPA by 2019-20.
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Payroll, or employee wages and benefits, usually represents a large portion of a company’s expenses. Small businesses can apply for grants to help cover the cost of paying employees. Other types of payroll grants include payroll education grants that help human resource department members and company accounts learn about payroll administration. Payroll grants may also refer to grants created by employee charity donations given through voluntary payroll deduction programs.
Small Business Grants
The government sometimes provides grants to aid small businesses in payroll and other business expenses. Other types of payroll grants may be available through nonprofit organizations and other charitable groups. Grants from local or state government may be targeted to specific industries of regional interest. For example, local government may offer grants to pay employees of green industry companies or tourism marketers. Often, organizations offering payroll grants require that the recipient match the funds with a loan.
Payroll Education Grants
Accounting for payroll is a complex process involving input from both the human resources and accounting departments. Elements of the payroll include employee wages, hours worked, tax withholding, garnishments, benefits and union dues. The government requires most companies to maintain accurate payroll records and produce payroll reports. Payroll education helps employees learn how to set up and sustain payroll records. Several workforce education organizations offer grants to help small businesses train employees in payroll practices.
Some companies give their employees the option to have wages deducted and donated directly to a grant-giving charity. The charitable donations are deducted from the total gross wages, just like taxes and garnishments. Individual employees, groups of employees or the entire organization may give these donations. Typical charity deductions include grants for community organizations, urban renewal, hospitals and small businesses.
Setting Up Payroll
The Small Business Administration recommends that small businesses create a payroll system to streamline and verify complicated payroll processes. Both payroll education and payroll payment grants can aid in starting and sustaining payroll systems. To set up payroll, businesses first need to obtain an Employer Identification Number, or EIN, from the IRS. Employers must ensure that each employee fills out a federal income tax withholding form, also known as W-4 forms. W-4 forms let employers know how much taxes to deduct from each employee's paycheck.
- American Payroll Association: Payroll Education Grants
- Financial Accounting, Sixth Edition; Jerry J. Weygandt, et al.
- SBA.gov: Facts About Government Grants
- Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
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Become smarter about the way you spend your money. Keep in mind that the key to financial success is being aware of how you’re spending your money.
There’s a difference between being cheap and having spending savvy. There’s nothing wrong with living within your means, rather than beyond.
Stretch your dollar further with the following money-saving tips:
1. Buy or rent used textbooks and sell last semester’s books back. Also consider checking books out from the library, if available, instead.
2. Don’t make impulse purchases.
3. Never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.
4. Limit the number of times you eat out monthly.
5. Cut out vices – smoking is terrible for you and expensive.
6. Always pay bills on time to avoid late fees.
7. If you have a credit card, pay it off as quickly as possible. (It’s good to establish credit, but a bad credit score follows you everywhere.)
8. Walk, use public transportation or ride a bike instead of having a car.
9. Live with others so you can split rent and utilities.
10. Cut out expensive cable packages you don’t need.
11. Consider more basic phone packages and plans or plans that include unlimited texting with free incoming calls.
12. Shop where they offer student discounts. There are so many places that offer discounts to students with a school ID.
13. When planning meals, make dinner with friends and split the cost of groceries. Often times, you’ll be cooking too much for one person anyway!
15. Don’t buy unnecessary school supplies.
16. Skip expensive Spring Break trips – look into alternatives, like volunteering, instead.
17. Wait to get a pet until after college – a pet can become very expensive. Not only do you have another mouth to feed, but veterinary bills are costly. If you love animals, there are plenty of shelters that need volunteers.
18. Go to class. You’re paying for it and skipping is like throwing money out the window!
19. Drink water. It’s free and better for you, anyway.
20. Make your own coffee. While coffee shops are convenient, they charge hefty prices that really add up over time.
21. Open a savings account that earns interest. Credit unions have fewer fees and are great for students.
23. Never take out a loan for anything that’s unrelated to your education.
25. If you can fit it into your busy class schedule, a part-time job is a great way to bring in some extra income and give you some more flexibility with your spending
Hoyt, Elizabeth. "30 Money Saving Tips for Students." Fastweb.com. Fastweb, LLC, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
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In 1997, PepsiCo sold PFS. In addition, that year, PepsiCo spun off its restaurant chains to form a new company. The move enabled PepsiCo to focus on its beverages and snack foods. In 2001, PepsiCo acquired The Quaker Oats Company, a food and Beverage Company. iii. Competition
Since this research is about PepsiCo soft drinks, i.e. beverages industry in Egypt the main competitors operate in a very competitive environment such as Coca- Cola Company, Schweppes and Dr Pepper. There is also significant competition from private label competitors. In 1994, Coca-Cola beverages held 25% of the soft drink market share. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were determined to regain their market share and were partaking in price wars. They reduced their price as much as 25%, which put coca cola in a difficult position. It is also harmful for Coca-Cola to partake in such activities because they could potentially decrease their total sales revenue. It is very important for Coca-Cola to maintain a healthy market share because of the flat nature of the soft drink market. Growth in this industry comes from increasing your market share. Coca-Cola was first sold at the soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. During the first year, sales of Coca-Cola averaged nine drinks a day, adding up to total sales for that year of $50. Today, products of The Coca-Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day in over 200 countries.
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What Does Procyclic Mean?
Procyclic describes a state where behavior and actions of a measurable product or service move in tandem with the cyclical condition of the economy.
- Procyclic refers to a condition of a positive correlation between the value of a good, a service, or an economic indicator and the overall state of the economy.
- Some examples of procyclic economic indicators are gross domestic product (GDP), labor, and marginal cost.
- Policies and fiscal behavior typically fall into procyclic patterns in periods of boom and bust.
Economic indicators can have one of three different relationships to the economy: procyclic, countercyclic (indicator and economy move in opposite directions), or acyclic (indicator has no relevance to the health of the economy).
Procyclic refers to a condition of a positive correlation between the value of a good, a service, or an economic indicator and the overall state of the economy. In other words, the value of the good, service, or indicator tends to move in the same direction as the economy, growing when the economy grows and declining when the economy declines.
Some examples of procyclic economic indicators are gross domestic product (GDP), labor, and marginal cost. Most consumer goods are also considered procyclic because consumers tend to buy more discretionary goods when the economy is in good shape.
Example of Procyclical Behavior
Policies and fiscal behavior typically fall into procyclic patterns in periods of boom and bust. When there is economic prosperity, many members of the population will engage in behavior that not only falls in line with that growth but serves to extend the period. For example, in the lead up to the housing and financial crisis, there was a collective expectation for ongoing financial gain. Consumers engaged in more spending, borrowers sought mortgages for homes that might have been outside of their means to repay, financial institutions encouraged such behavior, and government policies did little to deter such trends. As long as the market collectively supported the “boom” nature and fed the economy, this continued until the bad debt and other issues became too great to ignore, and the markets collapsed.
The economic climate changed when the “bust” part of the cycle hit. Consumer spending dropped, banks and loan companies clamped down on their lending practices, foreclosures spread across the market on homes with lapsed mortgages, and federal legislation was quickly drafted to prevent it all from happening again. These were all procyclic responses to the action at hand.
The further the economy moves away from that crisis period, spending increases, and certain legislation that was deemed onerous by financial institutions might be questioned. Such behavior is procyclic because, unless there is some motivation to act differently, there is a desire to remove what would be seen as constraints on choice when the market seems prosperous.
The trouble with strictly procyclic reactions to the economy is they do not allow for forward-thinking behavior that would prepare the market for the declines that will eventually return. If preventative legislation is only supported during times of crisis, in all likelihood, the behavior that contributed to the collapse of the market will be repeated.
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Double-Declining-Balance Depreciation Method (DDB)
It is a depreciation method in which the depreciation rate is applied double to that in straight line method. The depreciation in this method is charged on the complete purchase price of asset rather than the net of salvage value price in straight line method. In other words we can say that double declining depreciation method uses double the rate of straight line method.
It is a common form of accelerated depreciation also known as 200 times declining balance method. Accelerated means that the depreciation amount in the beginning will be greater than the rate taken out with straight line method. The main purpose is to charge greater depreciation in the beginning useful life years but gradually the depreciation amount decreases. It does not mean that since the amount is greater in the beginning years the depreciation charged through out the useful life will be greater than the straight line method.
For example an asset is purchased at a cost of $100,000 having no salvage values and a useful life of ten years. The depreciation lets suppose is 10% for straight line method so, with the double declining method the rate will become 20%. Since there is no depreciation in the first year the depreciation will be calculated as $100000*10%=$20,000. The book value now becomes $100,000-$20000= $80000 so for the 2nd year depreciation by double declining method will become $80000*20%=$16000.
The process carries on till the end of useful life. The accumulated depreciation for the two years will become $20,000+$16000 and the book value will be the accumulated depreciation minus the book value for one year. The main idea is to depreciate the asset value steeply through the early years of useful life due to which the depreciation expenses become large in the early years and small in the remaining years.
As it is clear that the depreciation amount is decreased in the 2nd year which is going to decrease further through out the life. Few people during useful life of the asset switches to straight line method, others stick to the original method depending on the case.
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This article is part of a series about stock investing aimed at helping individual investors outperform the market.
There is good reason for investors to be extremely careful of anything that seems “too good to be true” in the investing world. That reason takes shape in the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH).
The Efficient Market Hypothesis, formally developed in the 1960s at the University of Chicago, has different forms but generally asserts that stock prices already incorporate all known information. A corollary is that an individual investor only can outperform the overall stock market as a result of getting lucky, taking on more risk or possessing inside information.
It is fiercely debatable whether EMH actually holds, but even its most ardent opponent should understand its underlying logic before trying to pick any individual stocks. The logic of EMH basically comes down to the fact that risk-free profits should not exist.
To see why, imagine that there are two different assets that are expected to produce similar cash flows for investors in the future. If one asset is trading at $98 a share while the other is at $100 a share, it would make sense to buy the one at $98 and sell the one at $100. But if enough people started doing this, the prices would quickly converge because everyone would want to sell the overpriced asset and buy the underpriced asset. The “supply” of sellers of the first asset at $98 a share would disappear, as would the supply of buyers of the second asset at $100.
In the stock market today, most trades take place between professional investors such as hedge fund managers, mutual fund managers and professional traders. These investors are highly motivated to do thorough research and analysis on the companies they are buying.
Thus, there is no reason to think that obvious pricing discrepancies like the one above ever would exist. This is known as the “no arbitrage” condition. In its extreme case, it means that all stocks are “rationally” priced and that there is no way to make excess profits in the stock market.
Under the EMH, what drives market volatility — movement in share prices — is news. Any time new information is released to the market, the information results in a nearly instantaneous adjustment of share prices, per the theory of intrinsic value. But with EMH, mispricing (divergence between intrinsic value and market price) is fleeting.
Supporting Evidence from Mutual Fund Returns
One prediction of EMH is that it would be nearly impossible to earn returns above the market average without taking on increased risk, compared to the market risk.
Extensive research on mutual fund returns has confirmed that professional investors generally fail to beat a passive index of all stocks over time:
- In the five-year period ending on December 31, 2012, Standard and Poor’s estimates that 62% of all U.S. large cap equity funds were outperformed by the passive S&P 500 benchmark.
- Academic surveys during the past twenty years have shown that actively managed funds as a whole underperform the stock market by a level equal to their fees, indicating that the average investor would have been much better off with a low-cost index fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
However, this does not necessarily imply an efficient market. In fact, in a world where all equity trades take place between professional investors, it would be nearly impossible for active investors as a whole to “beat” passive investors, since active investors determine stock prices.
A better measure of market efficiency might be whether “smart” investors can reliably beat the market — something that EMH would prevent if it holds true. This is distinct from investors beating the market due to luck, since there always will be some investors who outperform the market due to random chance.
Most studies indicate that past results are poor measures of future long-term performance. In other words, buying the funds that have performed the best in the past would not be a profitable long-term strategy. This seems to indicate that funds’ past performance was a result of luck rather than “skill” in identifying mispriced stocks.
Of course, there is strong anecdotal evidence that some investors do manage to perform better than the market averages. Famous investors such as Warren Buffett, George Soros and other top hedge-fund managers have seemed to beat the odds, with levels of past success that would be very unlikely to occur in a purely random world. Indeed, some studies by famous financial economists have lent weight to these anecdotal observations by indicating that the top 2% of managers do seem to be capable of consistently producing alpha. However, in many cases, the strategies these managers run are off limits to the individual investor, and fees still may capture most of the outperformance.
In another article, Efficient Market Hypothesis anomalies will be explored to help investors to reap above-average returns.
Billy Williams is a 25-year veteran trader and author. For a free strategy guide, “Fundamentals for the Aspiring Trader”, and to learn more about profitable trading, go to www.stockoptionsystem.com.
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It is often stated by senior management figures within large enterprises, that innovation is a key area of focus for them. Despite this focus, the past 50 or 60 years has witnessed a distinct lack of breakthrough innovations. Indeed, there has been an innovation ‘drought’.
Innovations made between the late nineteenth century and about 1950 are the ones that are having the most profound impact on our lives today. To be specific, I am referring to innovations and discoveries such as the internal combustion engine, the jet engine, the electric light bulb, the television, the telephone, the radio, modern computing and antibiotics. For a London, Paris or New York City resident who travelled in time from 1910 to 1960, the future would be completely unrecognisable. For a resident of one of these cities who travelled in time from 1960 to 2010, there would be few surprises. In fact, the 1960 time traveller may be disappointed that people were not flying to work, using their own personal jet packs.
Since the 1960s, we have seen some major innovations and discoveries but less than in earlier years. Why has innovation slowed down? Well, there are many views on this matter. Some say that it because of too much regulation. Others say the opposite. My view is that there are several key reasons for this change.
Firstly, as wages increased in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was greater focus on finding innovations that could replace labour. This wage growth, in developed economies, slowed dramatically in the 1970s. In mature economies, real wages have not grown significantly since the 1970s. Firms have focussed, to a greater extent, on increasing shareholder value by controlling real wages as opposed to engendering innovation.
A second reason is that firms are also focussing on extracting the largest possible amount of value from existing assets. Since the 1970s, a popular way of doing this is by entering new markets around the globe. So, innovations made in Western countries and deployed in the 1950s and 1960s have been sold into emerging economies in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, greatly enriching large multinational organizations, but shifting emphasis away from innovation.
Another key point is that new innovations may impede the ability of large enterprises to maximize the value they get from existing assets. For example, is it in the interests of pharmaceutical firms to develop more effective treatments for cancer, which may affect their ability to fully profit from existing treatments? Is it in the interests of a plastics manufacturer to support research into 3D printing?
Today, breakthroughs in IT are creating enormous opportunities for innovation. We have seen rapid incremental innovation in the IT industry itself. But, new technology has yet to be deployed in a manner that fosters significant innovation across different industries. This is set to change. In any industry, from the automotive industry to, discrete manufacturing to healthcare, the combination of high speed networks, cloud computing and mobile technologies are driving change and, yes, innovation.
I’d love to write about the impact of these technologies on all industries. To make my point, I will focus on examples in the automotive industry, discrete manufacturing and healthcare.
In the automotive industry, GM and others spent years trying to develop autonomous (self driving) cars. By taking advantage of recent IT developments, Google demonstrated how the convergence of IT and the automotive industry leads to innovation. In August 2012, Google announced that a fleet of autonomous vehicles had completed half a million kilometres of accident free test runs. Autonomous cars are expected to become common over the next 10 years. Further innovation around transportation is inevitable and IT is enabling this.
In the manufacturing sector, 3D printing allows designs and techniques to be sourced from the cloud by any device, in any location. This could potentially drive a new industrial revolution and move the world away from mass manufacturing towards the customization of products in locations that are close to the source of demand. Will people make their own goods, to their own specifications, from home? The potential is enormous.
In the healthcare sector, high speed networks and cloud computing can potentially enable care to be delivered to patients in any location. We can expect care to increasingly be given in the patient’s location. At the same time, a decreasing proportion of care will be given in hospitals. Technology can totally change the dynamics of healthcare provision. As these dynamics change, the opportunities for radical new innovation will be immense.
In summary, the last 50 years have witnessed a slowdown in innovation. However, as IT becomes embedded into industries and high speed networks and cloud computing become commonplace, we can expect to enjoy a sustained period of rapid change and innovation.
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In this article you will find out how important it is to think long-term when making an investment. One of the most important concepts that characterize an investment, capitalization means multiplying the amount invested by a certain percentage after each period you take into account.
You are probably already familiar with bank deposits with interest capitalization. At such a deposit, after each period, usually annually, the bank offers you interest at the full amount of the deposit, not only at the initial amount.
Take a hypothetical example of a deposit of 10,000 $ , with an annual interest rate of 10%. After the first year, you will receive 1000 $ interest and the deposit amount will go up to 11,000 $ . Well, because the interest rate is capitalized, after the second year you will receive 1100 $ interest, and the value of your deposit will go up to 12,100 $ . Continuing with the third year, you will receive 10% of 12,100 $ , ie 1210 $ , and your deposit will contain 13,310 $ .
At first glance, capitalization doesn’t seem to bring you much benefit. Even in the example above, after 3 years you only get 3310 $ out of 10,000. But over many years, the results change:
An amount invested in the amount of 10,000 $ with an annual yield of 15%, will be transformed after 10 years into an amount of about 40,450 $ . After 20 years, that investment will be worth 163,650 $ . An amount of 16 times higher than the initial one, and this in the conditions of an annual increase of only 15%.
But if we take an optimistic scenario, in which we make an investment with an annual yield of 20%? 10,000 $ will thus become 61,900 after 10 years, and after 20 years will be worth 383,300 $ . As you can see, even with a low annual yield, an investment makes very large long-term gains.
Why did we only consider relatively small annual returns? Because, as a rule, an investment promises higher returns, the more risky it is.
As you can see in the picture below, the returns obtained on the NY Stock Exchange since its establishment were quite volatile. They ranged from 106% in 2004 to -66% in 2008 (note, all yields are adjusted for inflation).
The importance of limiting losses
Although taking a higher risk may seem an attractive option when it comes to higher returns, this is not always the case. A negative yield will have to be offset by a higher positive yield. Let’s show you a conservative example first.
Suppose you invested those initial $ 10,000 in a few shares on the stock exchange, and in the first year you had a yield of -10%. Basically, at the end of the first year, your investment will be worth only $ 9,000. Well, in year 2, to get back to the initial amount of $ 10,000, you will have to have a yield not of 10%, but of 11.11%. Basically, the value of the investment will have to increase by $ 1000, which is 11.11% from $ 9,000.
The higher the one-year loss, the more you will have to earn more (percentage) next year to reach the original amount. Let’s take the most pessimistic scenario in the picture above, and think that we invested $ 10,000 on the stock exchange at the end of 2007, when the market was at its peak.
If we look at the picture, we see that during 2008 we would have lost 66% of the value of the investment, and we would have been left with an amount worth $ 3400. To turn those $ 3400 back into 10,000, we would need to get $ 6600, which means a 194% return. Basically, in 2009 the value of the investment should triple, just to reach the original amount.
To the end
A useful tool for calculating the value of an investment according to a certain yield after a certain number of years can be found HERE.
After all, when you build an investment portfolio, you mirror your attitude to risk. Some investors specialize in real estate investments, others on stock exchanges, and others diversify their investments with very low risk deposits and bonds.
In the next article I will present the main types of investments you can make in America, from speculative ones to low risk ones. Until then, I invite you to tell me your opinion about this article, along with any suggestions and additions.
Please SHARE what article you enjoyed and LIKE them, so I can prepare more interesting articles for you!
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Retirement: Good News and Bad News
A recent article by Ted Rechtshafen in the Globe online edition encourages us to think about our retirement prospects, and plan for them.
The author notes that in 1921, the average life expectancy for a Canadian male was 58.8 years, while the mandatory retirement age was usually 65. At that time, financial planning for retirement was not an issue for most.
Good news: life expectancies have gone way up. Bad news: we now need to plan for a (hopefully) much longer retirement. Most Canadians should plan for, conservatively, a 30-year retirement!
Planning for retirement means considering the following basic questions:
-Do I need to think about ways to work beyond age 60-65?
-Am I saving enough for retirement?
-What is my world going to look like in 25 years?
The article contains links to tools such as a detailed “How long will I live” calculator. The calculator is eye-opening and instructive, and worth a visit. Other links include a “How much money will I have at the end” calculator, which estimates the value of your estate, assuming you live to a full life expectancy. Again, eye-opening.
Thanks for reading.
Paul E. Trudelle – Click here for more information on Paul Trudelle.
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Higher returns on education can’t explain growing wage inequality
Steep and rising wage inequality is too often blamed on growing demand for workers with higher levels of educational attainment—the more schooling you have, the more you’ll be paid. But our research shows the rising gulf in pay has little to do with rising returns to education.
A prevalent story explains wage inequality as a simple consequence of growing employer demand for skills and education—often thought to be driven by advances in technology. According to this explanation, because there is a shortage of college-educated workers, the wage gap between those with and without college degrees is widening. The expected boost to workers’ pay from a four-year college degree is known as the “college premium.”
Despite its great popularity and intuitive appeal, this story about recent wage trends driven more and more by a race between education and technology does not fit the facts well, especially since the mid-1990s. The growing inequality of note is that between the top (or very top) and everyone else. The pulling away of the very top cannot be explained by education differences, but rather the escalation of executive and financial sector pay.
Even when looking at the relative changes in the 95th percentile of wage earners compared to the 50th percentile of wage earners, and comparing that gap with the college wage premium from 2000 to 2018, it is clear that gains in the college wage premium have been very modest and far less than the continued steady growth of the 95/50 wage gap. Therefore, it is highly implausible that the growth of unmet employer needs for college graduates has driven wage inequality.
The evidence suggests the demand for college graduates has grown far less in the period since the mid-1990s than it did before then. This is difficult to square with contentions that automation or changes in the types of skills employers require have been more rapid in the 2000s than in earlier decades. Rather, automation has been slower in the recent period than in earlier decades as seen in the pace of productivity, capital, information equipment, and software investment—and in the speed of changes in occupational employment patterns.
The first figure below compares the change in the college wage premium over 1979–2000 and 2000–2018 with the change in the log 95/50 wage gap. The college wage premium is the percent by which average hourly wages of four-year college graduates exceed those of otherwise equivalent high school graduates, controlling for gender, race and ethnicity, age, and geographic division. The 95/50 wage ratio is a representation of the level of inequality within the hourly wage distribution, comparing how much more the 95th percentile worker is paid relative to the 50th percentile worker. Both wage gaps are measured in log changes and shown as annual changes.
The college wage premium cannot explain growing wage inequality since 2000: Average annual percentage-point changes in wage gaps, 1979–2000 and 2000–2018
|Log 95/50 ratio||College wage premium|
Notes: Sample based on all workers ages 16 and older. The college wage premium is the percent by which hourly wages of four-year college graduates exceed those of otherwise equivalent high school graduates. The regression-based gap is based on average wages and controls for gender, race and ethnicity, education, age, and geographic division. The log of the hourly wage is the dependent variable. The 95/50 wage ratio is a representation of the level of inequality within the hourly wage distribution. It is logged for comparability with the college wage premium.
Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata
The figure shows that the regression-adjusted college wage premium grew rather quickly between 1979 and 2000 then rose at a much slower rate in the 2000s, about as tenth as much. It had already slowed considerably by the mid-1990s, as noted above. In contrast, the 95/50 wage gap grew somewhat faster in the more recent period. When we compare the relative size of the changes in each gap from 2000 to 2018, it is clear the very modest gains in the college wage premium in recent years have not been large enough to plausibly drive the continued steady growth of the 95/50 wage gap. In fact, the log 95/50 wage gap grew 10 times faster than the college premium over this period.
Between 1979 and 2000, the log 95/50 wage ratio and the regression adjusted college wage premium grew at roughly the same pace. Increased employer demand for education as a prime driver of inequality appeared to be a more plausible story then. As we see in the latter period, the growth in the college wage premium cannot explain the growth in inequality and therefore the correspondence in the earlier period also shouldn’t be over-interpreted as education driving the 95/50 wage gap. The truth is there were other factors in the economy driving both slower median wage growth as well as the college premium such as the decline in unionization, allowing for excessive unemployment, globalization, and the fact that the overtime threshold was allowed to wither.
The more salient story between 2000 and 2018 is not one of a growing differential of wages between college and high school graduates, but one of growing wage inequality between the top (and the tippy top) relative to the vast majority of workers. Wage inequality is driven by changes within education groups (among people with the same education) and not between education groups. From 2000 to 2018, the overall 95th-percentile wage grew over three times faster than wages at the median (25.1 percent versus 7.0 percent). Among college graduates, there has been a significant pulling away at the very top of the wage distribution. The figure below shows the change in college wages from 2000 to 2018 for various deciles of the college wage distribution.
Wages of the bottom 60 percent of college graduates are lower today than in 2000: Cumulative percent change in real hourly wages of workers with a college degree, by wage percentile, 2000–2018
Note: Sample based on all workers ages 16 and older. Education groups are mutually exclusive, so "college" here refers to those with only a four-year college degree.
Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau
As shown, the bottom 60 percent of those with a college degree still have lower wages than they did in 2000. The 50th-percentile wage among those with bachelor’s degrees was 2.4 percent lower in 2018 than it was in 2000, while the 90th-percentile wage of those with bachelor’s degrees was 9.8 percent higher. (The 95th wage percentile for college graduates is fraught with “top-coding” issues making it difficult to obtain reliable measures of high-end wages and wage growth, as discussed in The State of Working America Wages). What’s clear from the data is that less than 40 percent of college-graduate wages have experienced any growth since 2000.
Between 2000 and 2018, the median high school wage also fell (-1.5 percent), while the 95th percentile high school wage grew 7.1 percent. If we compare (raw) high school and college wages at the middle of each distribution, we see that median college wages are no higher than high school wages in 2018 than they were in 2000. If anything, the gap actually narrowed ever so slightly between 2000 and 2018.
Increases in inequality over the last 18 years clearly cannot be explained away by claims that employers face a growing shortage of college graduates and that, correspondingly, wage inequality is some unfortunate side effect of the positive gains from automation that we neither can nor would want to alter. There are plenty of good reasons to provide widespread access to college educations and skill development, but expanding college enrollment and graduation is not an answer to escalating wage inequality.
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Cryptocurrency is an encrypted, decentralized digital currency that is transferred from one person to another confirmed in a public ledger in a process called mining. No government issued money backs the numbers in the ledger – instead, Bitcoins, the most common type of cryptocurrency is traded. Transactions take place without the need for an intermediary.
What are the benefits of using Bitcoin?
Bitcoin can be purchased for dollars, Euros, etc., making it easy to use from anywhere in the world. Your Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet, and you’re able to purchase anything from anywhere at any time.
Other benefits of using Bitcoin include:
- Fees are lower than traditional banking institutions.
- Your account can’t be frozen.
- There are no prerequisites or limits.
Who maintains the Bitcoin ledger?
No single company or government entity controls the Bitcoin ledger. Maintainers, or people around the world who maintain the ledger, are sent a message each time a Bitcoin transaction is made. They each have a copy of the ledger and update it when they receive a transaction, but sometimes the ledgers show different balances. When this happens, a vote occurs by having each Maintainer solve a mathematical puzzle. The first group to finish this “mathematical race” determine how the Bitcoin ledger should read.
How is theft prevented with Bitcoin?
A signature is required with every Bitcoin transaction to confirm that the transaction is legitimate. This serves the same purpose as signing a check, but uses cryptography to prove ownership.
How is money created?
When ledgers are balanced through solving math problems, money is credited to their account. This acts as an incentive to having more Maintainers present. Every time someone wins the lottery to choose the next transaction in the chain, new Bitcoins are created out of thin air and added to that person’s account. Money is randomly distributed to the users who solve the problems.
Is Bitcoin money unlimited?
No. As of 2041, Bitcoins will stop being produced in this way, and Miners will only make money on the fees associated with transactions.
How is transaction order determined?
Unlike cashing traditional checks, determining the order in which Bitcoins were exchanged can be difficult to determine. Network delays can cause transactions to display differently all over the world. To keep everything fair, new transactions are entered into a pool of pending transactions. From there, a mathematical lottery is held that determines the order in which they enter the queue, creating a Transaction Train. A Cryptographic Hash is used to produce problems that need to be solved that connect transactions in a train, determining which is to come next.
To learn more about how Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrency can benefit your business, contact the experts at PCS.
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Did you know 70% of nurses graduate with debt? It’s very common, so if you’re struggling with debt, know that you’re not alone.
Not all debt is equal, and there are steps you can take to get out of debt faster and improve your credit as you go.
What Is Debt?
Debt is when you owe money to a lender or creditor. That might be a company, an institution, the government, or even a friend or family member. There’s typically a cost associated with debt. This cost is financial, obviously, but the time it takes to pay off debt and the emotions we experience in that process are also costs associated with debt.
Debt can be helpful in allowing us to do things that have a big upfront cost, like buying a car or home. For nurses, debt can make it possible to pay for school. But taking on debt can be a slippery slope, especially when lenders offer low introductory rates that give way to fees down the line. The goal with managing debt is to find a balanced approach where we can leverage debt to open doors without getting carried away.
Three Things to Know About Debt
#1 Not all debt is equal
There are two types of loans, secured and unsecured. Secured loans include things like home loans, auto loans, or any loans that can be secured with collateral. Collateral are items the lender can claim if you fail to make good on your loan. Because these loans are less risky in the eyes of the lender, they’re generally cheaper to open.
Unsecured loans are more prevalent in the marketplace. They include personal loans, credit cards, and payday loans. These types of loans are based solely on your credit history. Because these loans are considered riskier in the eyes of creditors, they’re more expensive. However, they are typically easier to access.
#2 Your credit score and report influence the rates you’ll get
Your credit score is more or less a summary statistic about how well you have handled your credit in the past, or how “thick” your credit report history is. As you progress through your working life and pay back credit, your credit score rises. Your score is not the same as your report, but reflects the information inside the report. The most common score used is called a FICO score. It’s based on these factors:
Payment History (35%) – Are you paying back at least your minimum balance every month? If defaulting, or not paying becomes a consistent pattern, your credit score will fall.
Credit Utilization (30%) – How much of your credit are you using? Lenders want to see this on the low side. So if you can borrow $30,000 but you’ve only borrowed $2,000, this will raise your score. Spending up to your limit each month will lower your score.
Credit History (15%) – How have you handled credit in the past? Past records of defaults can raise your rates.
New Credit (10%) – Are you opening a new line? You get rewarded for opening a new line of credit with a small bump in your credit score. However, the bump is minimal and you should avoid opening new lines of credit just for this purpose.
Credit Mix (10%) – Can you handle multiple types of credit? Managing a variety of lines of credit, like a student loan and a credit card, can raise your score.
#3 Know where lenders make money, and that will save you money
Paying attention to where lenders make money can help you avoid fees, and find the best rate for you. Interest rates are the most standard way lenders make money. It’s a good idea to shop around for the best rates, but be careful. Some lenders offer low rates only to have hidden fees elsewhere. Look out for balloon rates, where your rate can increase based on certain conditions like making a late payment.
Annual fees are another common way lenders make money. Rewards cards, for example, often carry high annual fees that can outweigh the actual rewards. Creditors also make money by charging an interest on your balance. Most experts suggest paying your entire balance whenever possible, rather than carrying over credit card debt.
Now that you understand more about debt, you can start making a plan to pay off your debt and build better credit. Still have questions? Watch the full webinar for more details, and a Q&A with Catherine New.
Want more tips on how to build a life and career you love? Subscribe to our weekly nurse newsletter The Vitals for personal finance webinars, and more!
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Benefits of Six Sigma in Finance & Accounting
The international financial environment is more interconnected than ever, with the effects of unstable or inconsistent monetary policies being felt far beyond a single organization. In today’s globalized economy, policy and operational problems in one country’s financial organizations can have severe economic consequences across the world.
As these ripple effects become more and more noticeable, the ability to critically analyze and improve processes across an organization is an increasingly valuable career skill. While management techniques like Lean Six Sigma (LSS) have roots in manufacturing, there are numerous applications for LSS in finance and accounting that can help to correct operational inefficiencies and minimize risk across an organization.
Related content: What is Six Sigma?
Benefits of Six Sigma in Finance and Accounting
Applying the principles of Lean Six Sigma in finance and accounting can create competitive advantages for organizations in nearly every industry.
The case studies highlighted below offer a detailed look into how these methodologies and tools can be used to do more than streamline operations—they can also improve organization-wide culture.
Examples of Six Sigma in Finance and Accounting
Lean Six Sigma allows for more focused and efficient operations in departments that are not entirely focused on manufacturing. One particular case study that focused on billing reconciliation found that billing errors resulted in customer accounts being charged less than the amount due approximately 60% of the time. After implementing LSS, however, the organization nearly eliminated this issue completely.
One of the strengths of LSS is that it uses quantitative methods to identify key points of impact (KPI). Once efficiency issues within these KPIs have been identified, LSS can be used to discreetly and specifically tackle those problems.
One of the essential tools in LSS for identifying KPIs and any associated issues is the process map. By defining the boundaries and needs of the current process, professionals can identify issues with existing procedures and use these findings to improve them or remove processes that aren’t generating value.
This is a key element of LSS and is referred to as the “DMAIC” or Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control methodology. Pairing DMAIC with these LSS strategies offers a powerful way to objectively analyze and improve operations within an organization.
When applying Lean Six Sigma in accounting, for example, the Accounts Payable department is a key area of opportunity. Imagine a company needs to process a higher volume of invoices. They can use LSS to define the guidelines for successfully processing a completed invoice, measure the current success rate based on those guidelines and analyze the data gathered to identify where and how waste is occuring. The results may show that while the invoices are completed in a timely manner, the wait time for managers to approve payments is too long. Once a bottleneck has been identified, the approval process can be improved to control the future success of the process.
For a similar application of Lean Six Sigma in finance, the processes associated with loans are key opportunities. For example, a bank that wants to streamline its credit processing operations can start by tracking every loan it processes for three months. The important factors to consider for this exercise are the time and effort required to fully process credit.
High variance in the amount of time it takes to complete these tasks is a sign that efficiency improvements can be made. From there, LSS can be used to build a process map that identifies all the steps, as well as the relationships between them. Common areas for improvement related to loan processing include reducing the amount of manually processed data and standardizing how loan applicant data is collected and stored.
Lean Six Sigma is designed to be a continuous improvement system, so training in LSS continues to be useful well past its initial introduction. By implementing the DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) process, organizations are able to apply it to the creation of new workflows and processes in addition to improving existing ones.
While the initial application of the methodology often focuses directly on specific product and process improvements, companies such as Capital One have found that applying lean six sigma in banking yields results that go far beyond their day-to-day work.
Studies that have looked at the long-term effects of applying Lean Six Sigma in large companies have found improvements across many areas of business. For example, throughout Capital One’s restructuring, one study identified the following LSS-driven benefits:
- Reduction in the rate of keying-in errors
- Increase in customer satisfaction
- Greater employee buy-in for LSS tools such as DMAIC
The Key to Successfully Using Lean Six Sigma in Finance
While Lean Six Sigma offers a powerful framework for improvement, effectively leveraging tools like process mapping often requires a culture shift in the organizations that adopt them. One of the key traits of successfully leveraging Lean Six Sigma in finance and accounting is the ability to step back and look at existing processes objectively to recognize that, even if a process has existed for decades, it may not be the most efficient way of doing things.
Another key element to success is recognizing how internal department processes may impact other stakeholders throughout and outside of an organization. For example, inefficiencies in processing invoices could make it more difficult for other departments to work with external vendors.
For processes with far-reaching ripple effects, like those in finance and accounting, it is helpful to have a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt professional to lead the project. This can ensure that key stakeholders are aligned toward a common goal and that teams can effectively manage the complexity of large-scale or company-wide process change.
Related Content: Six Sigma Belt Level Rankings
Career Benefits of Learning Lean Six Sigma
As research has shown, the application of six sigma in finance provides benefits when managing existing processes as well as when pursuing innovation. The methodology has expanded far outside of the manufacturing sector and is now used across virtually every industry.
Developing expertise in six sigma for both finance and accounting environments can help aspiring or current managers take their careers to the next level. PayScale shows the average salary for a Continuous Improvement Manager with a Black Belt Lean Six Sigma Certification is more than $93,000, compared to a salary of less than $83,000 for that role overall.
About Purdue’s Online Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Certificate Program
Purdue University offers comprehensive online Lean Six Sigma (LSS) certificate programs designed for working professionals with varying levels of Lean Six Sigma experience. The online Lean Six Sigma certificate courses prepare professionals to satisfy the immense demand for Lean expertise, skills and certification.
Purdue offers the following courses 100% online:
To learn more about Purdue University’s online Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification program and download a free brochure, fill out the fields below. You can also call (888) 390-0499 to speak to one of our Program Advisors.
Purdue University respects your right to privacy. By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails and calls from a representative of Purdue University, which may include the use of automated technology. Consent is needed to contact you, but is not a requirement to register or enroll.
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Going to college is a big step in a person’s life. For many, it is the first time away from home. And that means learning to do a lot of things that were not previously required.
Included in the list of new responsibilities one has when they go away to school is managing one’s finances. For parents, it is critical to discuss key financial matters with your children before they leave the nest.
Start with basic budgeting. The most common mistake that college students make when they are managing their money for the first time is overspending. Teaching them how to create and stick to a simple weekly or monthly budget will go a long way toward controlling their initial spending impulses.
Click here to read about a few other financial matters they should know.
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Spending locally helps to recycle dollars in a city’s or region’s local economy. The benefits include stabilization for locally owned businesses, continuity in employment, more jobs, community pride and a sense of unity. We should do everything in our power to keep our money local.
A Local Works! study in West Michigan showed that shifting ten percent to local spending created a huge impact to an area. Additionally, it showed that when we spend $100 locally, $73 stays in the community as opposed to only $43 when we spend with non-local businesses. (see pie chart below) See the executive summary or complete study by Civic Economics.
The study also revealed millions of dollars in local activity, 1,600 new jobs, and millions in new wages. These numbers are tough to argue with. However, many are against establishing local first programs because they believe it will disenfranchise vendors and prevent competition in business. Michael H. Shuman, author of Going Local, refutes those claims best:
“Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs.”
Any local city’s government has a responsibility to its constituents first, the residents and the business community within its boundaries. Initiating a Local First – Pompano First – campaign will help our local economy, support our locally owned businesses, sustain and grow local employment resources and help our community. In order for it to work, we will need participation from our residents, local businesses, and our local city government and its procurement department.
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The development of renewable energy is the key to the development of any nation. Since energy has been regarded by many economist and many researchers as the engine that drive the economy of a nation, investment in renewable energy is therefore paramount for any nation to develop.
What is renewable energy? Renewable energy are those sources of energy that can be renewed in themselves. These energy that are rechargeable by natural procedures and their supply is unlimited. It is derived from biomass (waste), sea tides, wind, sea waves, sun, waterways, geothermal among others.
State of Nigeria Power Supply: An overview
The power supply in Nigeria is characterized by chronic power supply outage as a result of the supply of energy failure to match the demand for energy in Nigeria. The Poor state of Nigeria power supply has affected the household and industries in varying degrees. To the household, poor power supply has resulted into:
- Damages of varying degrees of electronics equipment’s and others appliances used in the household. Nigeria is the only oil producing country among the top 10 most power supply failure in the world.
- Experience of several days of dark night without light. In most developing countries like Ghana, South Africa, before power outage the citizens are pre-informed, yet in Nigeria people celebrate when power is supplied.
- Raising cost of living. Most Nigerians would ordinarily afford to buy product (perishable) and keep in their refrigerator but would not because of power supply failure creating additional burden on them.
Poor power failure will affect the firms and industries in the following ways:
- It raises overhead cost. The firms and industries spend a lot of income on fuel to power their plants and offices thereby increasing their cost over time.
- It has crumbled so many small and medium scale enterprises. Due to the high overhead cost most firms and industries which have elastic demand could not survive due to increase in cost of production.
- Due to high overhead cost in the firms and industries most businesses collapse and wind-up causing mass unemployment in the country.
- The poor state of power supply also has contributed to fall in foreign direct investment in Nigeria. The high tariff and the epileptic nature of power supply discourages both local and foreign investors in the country.
The poor energy supply to meet the domestic demand has led most policy makers to suggest that government should look beyond the conventional energy supply that is depletable to renewable energy.
Before you continue have you read my article on causes and solution to economic recession in Nigeria
The question now is why renewable energy instead of the conventional energy sources? Renewable energy important advantages over conventional energy includes:
- Renewable energy can be cheaply and continuously harvested making it a sustainable sources of energy.
- They are clean energy and as such has little or no environmental consequences like other sources of energy.
- There rate of usage does not affect their availability in future, thus they are inexhaustible.
- The resources are generally well distributed all over the world, even though wide spatial and temporal variations occur. Thus all regions of the world have reasonable access to one or more forms of renewable energy supply.
- It is generally cost efficient because of its availability and sustainability in nature and environmental friendly.
- Since renewable energies are always being recharged from natural sources, they have security of supply, not at all like fossil energizes, which are arranged on the global market and subject to universal rivalry.
- Renewable energy can be set up in small units and is therefore suitable for community management and ownership. In Nigeria, this has particular relevance since the electricity grid does not extend to many rural areas and in some cases it is prohibitively expensive to extend the grid to remote areas.
- This presents a unique opportunity to construct power plants closer to where they are actually needed. In this way, much needed income, skill transfer and manufacturing opportunities for small businesses would be injected into rural communities.
- More jobs can be created with renewable energy than with conventional fossil fuel or nuclear industries. With proper integration of renewable energy into Nigeria national development plans, it will reduce green gas emission and increase employment in the country.
- Renewable energy also has the ability to increase energy security by reducing reliance on oil – promoting energy sovereignty.
Having enumerated the key advantages of government investing in renewable energy, let us quickly review some of the types of renewable energy available to us:
Types of Renewable Energy
Wind Energy: This form of energy are clean energy that is usually generated from the winds as it blow on the environment. Such energy can be converted into mechanical energy for performing various works such as generating electricity, pumping water, grinding grain, etc. Wind energy is often generated with turbines.
Turbines are being used to generate electricity in countries such as Germany, Denmark, India, China, and the United States to supplement more conventional sources of electric power.
Design improvements such as more efficient rotor blades combined with an increase in the numbers of wind turbines installed, have helped increase the world’s wind energy generating capacity by nearly 150 percent.
Given the diversities of Nigeria, the country possess enormous potential to develop energy from the wind for electricity generation. It is suitable for power generation in remote places where energy is needed but costly to connect to a central source especially in the rural areas.
Solar Energy: It is clean energy derived directly from the sun. Solar energy can be collected using artificial devices called solar collectors. The energy collected can be used either in a thermal process or a photoelectric (photovoltaic) process. When used in a thermal process, solar energy is used to heat a gas or liquid.
In the photovoltaic process, solar energy is converted directly to electrical energy without intermediate mechanical devices. Nigeria is blessed with enormous solar radiation that can be harnessed.
Geothermal Energy: Geothermal energy is the energy gotten from the heat that originates from the earth crust. Report shows that in 2004, over 9,000 mega watts of electricity were produced from 250 geothermal power plants in 22 countries around the world.
There are two major geothermal energy resource sites presently known in Nigeria. They are Ikogosi Warm Spring in Ondo State and the Wikki Warm Spring in Bauchi State. Nigeria has huge potentials to develop renewable energy from thermal sources.
Biomass Energy: This energy gotten from the organic waste in the country. There is a very huge potential for renewable energy for Nigeria in this regards. Every part of the country has high degree of organic waste that could be properly harnessed to produce healthy and clean environment.
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Imitation of an older convention
It's clear that the designers of more recent currency symbols have their own rationale for including the slashes or 'strikeouts' in the symbol. It's also clear that these elements naturally evolved in older currency symbols through the use of abbreviation and shorthand.
It's more than likely that modern currency symbols are using this older convention, that originally evolved naturally, that slashes through a symbol indicate currency. This makes it much easier to distinguish from regular characters. As you said in your question, the practice has arguably become a pseudo-standard.
The Euro is a relatively new currency and the symbol was designed and presented in 1996. The explanation of the design given by the European Commission (emphasis mine):
Inspiration for the € symbol itself came from the Greek epsilon (Є) – a reference to the cradle of European civilisation – and the first letter of the word Europe, crossed by two parallel lines to ‘certify’ the stability of the euro.
A number of explanations for the crossbars are given in Udaya Kumar's design proposal for the Indian rupee sign:
The use of Shiro Rekha (the horizontal top line) in Devanagari script is unique to India. Devanagari script is the only script where letters hang from the top line and does not sit on a baseline. The symbol preserves this unique and essential feature of our Indian script which is not seen in any other scripts in the world.
The two horizontal lines with an equal negative white space (imaginary space) between them create a foreground and background effect of three strips (tricolor). The strips subtly represent the tricolor of our Indian national flag flying at the top.
The horizontal lines also denote the arithmetic sign ‘equal to’. [...] The arithmetic sign denotes that relationship of comparison of currency values. The equality sign also signifies a balanced economy, our economy should be secured and stable forever.
The origins of the Dollar symbol are somewhat more debated than more recent symbols. It originated when English Americans were trading with Spanish Americans in the 1770s.
The most credible theory is that it is derives from the abbreviation 'ps' for the Peso. Another theory is that the symbol originated as an '8' with a slash through it—denoting Pieces of eight or the Spanish dollar.
Theories for the origins of the dollar using two vertical lines include the idea that it originated as the abbreviation 'US' or as a representation of the Spanish coat of arms, which showed the Pillars of Hercules with a banner curling between them.
In The American accomptant, published in 1979 (a great find by @Yorik!), you can clearly see the notation used for 'Federal Money'. 1 Cent is expressed as
//. 1 Dime overlays an
S over the
// and 1 Dollar overlays a double stroked
//. This calls in to question the other theories of the Dollar symbols origin. The document doesn't however give any explanation for the notation (As far as I can tell—I haven't read all 320 pages!)
The Pound symbol is more obviously derived from a cursive majuscule 'L', which represented 'libra', the basic unit of weight in the Roman Empire.
The slash[es] through the Pound come from scribal abbreviations which were in common use in the Roman Empire and using shorthand became common around this time.
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A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office predicts an alarming $54 billion in hurricane and flood damage over the next few years — much of which can be avoided by spending money upfront to protect and prevent against losses.
The frequency of what are called “billion-dollar storms” appear to be increasing. In 2018, there were 39 “billion-dollar” disasters around the world — 16 of which were in the U.S. Already in the first four months of 2019, the U.S. has endured winter storms Quiana and Ulmer, and each one caused more than a billion dollars in damage to infrastructure and homes.
The new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) focuses on hurricanes, which are the mostly costly natural disasters according to NOAA. Since 1980, tropical cyclones have caused a combined $927.5 billion in damages and are also the most expensive individual storm events in both financial cost and lives lost.
Of the annual losses predicted by the CBO, $34 billion is estimated in damage to homes, plus $12 billion for the public sector and $9 billion for private businesses. The direct cost to taxpayers is estimated at approximately $17 billion per year.
However, the CBO report also underscores several preventive actions that could significantly reduce these costs. By some analyses, mitigation measures (such as flood prevention or watershed protection) could save Americans $6 dollars in losses for every $1 spent in preparation.
Solutions to mitigate hurricane damage
The following suggestions from the report include environmental and policy-level recommendations to reduce loss in infrastructure and lives from tropical storms and hurricanes.
Reduce carbon emissions
Hurricanes, and their rising frequency and intensity, are intricately tied to climate change. Increasing temperatures melt glaciers and cause sea level rise, which leads to higher storm surge levels and more destructive flooding. The rising temperatures have also been linked to increased rainfall. Climate change is a result of greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, reducing emissions would slow and prevent some of the future damage caused by intense storms and extreme flooding.
One primary way to reduce emissions, according to the CBO, is by expanding cap-and-trade programs. These programs incentivize companies to keep emissions below designated thresholds and allow the purchasing of emission credits between companies that pollute less and companies that pollute more. However, the CBO also acknowledges that limiting emissions may negatively impact the economy by increasing the cost of goods and services and reducing jobs. Likewise, the CBO argues that such strategies must be enforced at a global scale, otherwise corporations will relocate to countries that allow unfettered pollution.
Increase funding for flood mapping
The weather is changing, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is struggling to keep up. Rapid urban development in wetlands and flood zones, combined with sea level rise and erosion, are changing the landscape of flood risk. The scale of this need is overwhelming — in 2018, FEMA spent $452 million on flood mapping and data collection, but it was nowhere near enough.
Expand flood insurance coverage
Flood insurance agencies need accurate spatial data and maps in order to adequately provide coverage, charge appropriate rates and adequately inform the public about their specific risks. Most people simply do not buy flood insurance and of those that do, 25 percent drop their plan within the first year. More accurate data and delineated risk zones can help inform residents of their direct risks and incentivize homeowners to implement mitigation measure, such as relocating heating and cooling equipment above of the predicted flood level.
Accurate risk data will also help justify changes for long-standing insurance policy holders who have been “grandfathered” into plans that grossly underestimated their vulnerability before climate science and spatial mapping were widely available. An estimated 20 percent of insurance policy holders are paying rates lower than their appropriate risk level, which is good news for the policy holder up until a storm hits and they are in need of benefits that correspond to the damage they endured.
Encourage local and state governments to share recovery costs
When the president declares a disaster emergency, municipalities receive federal dollars to provide basic needs and support recovery efforts. Though the federal government plans to ramp up funding for preventive measures, such as sea walls, the CBO believes that if local and state governments had to foot more of the bill, they would be more inclined to enforce important mitigation policy. For example, if local and state governments expected to have to pay for damage to infrastructure, they would be more strict about limiting new development in flood zones — something they have more power to control from a local level.
The message is clear — mitigation efforts are worth every penny. The National Weather Service already predicted more severe flooding this hurricane season than previous years. As evidence piles up in favor of mitigation, the only question remaining is ‘where do we start?’
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Optimised Battery Production and Nanoscale Testing: Launch of EU Research Project NanoBat
New nanotechnology solution to increase competitiveness of the e-mobility battery sector in Europe
The EU research project NanoBat aims to develop a novel nanotechnology toolbox for quality testing of Li-ion and beyond Lithium batteries with the potential to redefine battery production in Europe and worldwide. The targeted radio frequency (RF)-nanoscale techniques will be faster and more accurately calibrated than existing methods. The project will significantly reduce the costs of battery production thus greatly benefiting the evolving clean energy and e-mobility transition in Europe. The consortium comprises twelve academic and industrial partners and will receive EUR 5 million EU funding over the next three years.
Sustainable storage of electrical energy is among this century’s main challenges, and – as stated by the European Commission – battery production is one of the future key industries with an estimated market potential of EUR 250 billion by 2025. About one third of the production costs is related to the formation phase of the electrode SEI (solid electrolyte interphase) – an electrically insulated layer preventing ongoing electrolyte decomposition. In order to create a competitive manufacturing value chain for sustainable battery cells in Europe, reliable methods for measuring the quality and performance of batteries are of pivotal importance.
With the aim of surpassing currently available non-destructive quality testing techniques, the new European research project NanoBat has set out to develop an RF-nanotechnology toolbox to test Li-ion and beyond Lithium batteries. With a particular focus on the nanoscale structure of the SEI layer, this toolbox will contain novel high-frequency GHz methods to test and quantify the electrical processes at the SEI which are responsible for battery performance and safety, but difficult to characterise and optimise.
“Covering the EU demand alone requires at least 20 large-scale battery production facilities”, says Project Coordinator Dr Ferry Kienberger from Austria-based industry partner Keysight Technologies. “We are confident that the NanoBat technologies could effectively support European manufacturers and SMEs to exploit this enormous market potential and keep up with global competition.”
Besides fostering the EU’s industrial competitiveness and innovation capacity, the NanoBat developments will have a positive impact on the circular economy and the environmental footprint of battery production, as more precise testing methods will result in a decrease of energy and raw material use and waste.
In order to achieve their ambitious project goals, the consortium will follow four methodological steps:
- Development of four new scientific multi-scale RF-instrumentations for off-line, in-line and real-time measurements
- Establishment of modelling and predictive analytics tools for the SEI layer including physics-based GHz models
- Studies of advanced cell materials and first demonstrator tests in the smaller pilot lines
- Scale-up considering specifications and targets from the industry
In the course of the 3-year project, the new methods will be tested first in pilot-lines focusing on batteries for e-cars and special applications in aerospace. After project conclusion, the green production methods can be scaled up through the involvement of global players in the automotive industry and spread to additional markets, such as speciality batteries for satellites, green buildings, GHz-materials or modelling software.
The NanoBat consortium comprises twelve academic and industry partners with complementary expertise who will be supported by an Advisory Board of end users, science communities, EU policy makers and standardisation authorities. Additionally, the project will foster technological cooperation by establishing a stakeholder group including key industry players within and beyond the EU.
Project Key Facts
NanoBat – GHz nanoscale electrical and dielectric measurements of the solid-electrolyte interphase and applications in the battery manufacturing line
1 April 2020
Keysight Technologies GmbH, Austria
- Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Austria
- Centro Ricerche Fiat, Italy
- EURICE – European Research and Project Office GmbH, Germany
- Federal Institute of Metrology METAS, Switzerland
- IMDEA Energy Institute, Spain
- Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
- Keysight Technologies GmbH, Austria
- Kreisel Electric GmbH & Co KG, Austria
- Pleione Energy S. A., Greece
- QWED, Poland
- Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
- Project Coordination
Keysight Technologies GmbH
Dr Ferry Kienberger
Phone: +43 732 2468 7651
- Project Management
Phone: +49 6894 388 1331
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Definition - What does Ratchet mean?
A ratchet is an anti-dilution protection mechanism whereby management's equity stake may be altered on the happening of various future events. Ratchet is provided as an incentive to management, as they are given the opportunity to achieve additional economic compensation. It is provided in the form of additional economic rights attached to the managers' preferred shares.
Divestopedia explains Ratchet
When a firm raises new equity capital, the existing managers/investors have the option of retaining the original proportionate ownership in the firm. This is achieved by means of an anti-dilution clause, which protects the investor from a reduction in percentage ownership in a firm due to future issuance of additional stock to other entities by the firm. A ratchet requires clear determination of the triggering event and the date and form of payment. When a ratchet is created, it is essential to limit the maximum entitlement of the managers by linking the amount payable to a maximum participation percentage. Usually, as a result of the implementation of a ratchet, those who own a fixed number of common shares suffer significant dilution.
For example, if a manager/investor had previously paid $10 per share for a 20% stake in the firm, he would then get more shares to maintain his percentage ownership in the firm if it were to issue new shares at the rate of $8 per share. He would have the right to convert his existing shares to $8 per share, thereby increasing his number of shares by 25% and maintaining 20% ownership.
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'Asset Classes' is explained in detail and with examples in the Investments edition of the Herold Financial Dictionary, which you can get from Amazon in Ebook or Paperback edition.
Asset classes are different groups of securities which demonstrate characteristics in common, are governed by similar regulations and laws, and behave similarly in the markets. There are five principle classes which include equities (stocks), fixed income (bonds), money market instruments (cash equivalent), commodities (like gold and oil), and real estate (including land, houses, and commercial buildings), as well as some other less common alternative classes of assets.
Many times these different classes of assets are intermingled by financial advisors and analysts. They like these different types of investment vehicles to diversify portfolios more effectively and efficiently. Every asset class is anticipated to provide differing levels and types of risks versus returns among its investment characteristics. They also are supposed to perform differently in any given investment climate. Those investors who seek out the highest possible returns typically do this by lowering their overall portfolio risk by performing diversification of asset classes.
Financial professionals typically focus their clients on the different asset classes as a means of steering them into proper and effective diversification of their investment or retirement portfolios. The various classes of assets possess differing amounts and types of risk as well as varying cash flows. By purchasing into several of the competing asset classes, investors make certain they obtain a proper level of diversification in their investment choices. The importance of diversification can not be overstated. This is because all financial professionals in the know understand that it lowers risk while maximizing the opportunities to earn the highest possible return.
There are a variety of different types of investment strategies available to investors today. They might be associated with value, growth, income, or a combination of some or all of these factors. Each of them works to categorize and label the various investment options per a particular grouping of investment criteria.
There are many analysts who prefer to tie traditional valuation metrics like price to earnings ratios (PE ratios) or growth in earnings per share (EPS) to the investment selection criteria. Still different analysts feel like performance is less of a priority while asset type and allocation are more critical. They know that investments which are in the identical class of assets will possess similar cash flows, returns, and risks.
The most liquid of these various asset classes prove to be equities, fixed income securities, cash- like instruments, and commodities. This also makes them the most frequently quoted, traded, and recommended classes of assets available today. Other asset classes are considered to be more alternative such as real estate, stamps, coins, and artwork, all of which are tradable forms of collectibles. There are also investment choices such as venture capital funds, crowd sourcing, hedge funds, and bitcoin, which are considered to be even more alternative and mostly for sophisticated investors. In general, the rule is that the more alternative the investment turns out to be, the less liquidity it actually possesses.
Some of these investments, such as hedge funds, venture capital funds, and crowd sourcing can take years to exit from, if investors are able to withdraw from the investment at all. Lower liquidity does not necessarily correlate to lower return potential though. It only means that it may be a while before holders are able to find a willing buyer to sell the investments to so they can cash out of the investment.
Many of the most alternative types of investments have boasted among the highest returns over the decades, sometimes significantly better returns than the most popular two asset classes of stocks and bonds. In order to get around this lack of liquidity and often enormous investment capital requirement, many investors choose to utilize REITS. Real Estate Investment Trusts provide greater liquidity while still participating in price appreciation of the real estate asset class.
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Puerto Rico’s Economy and Stock Market
Puerto Rico has a diverse economy that is sustained mainly through the industrial sector. Up until the 1940's it was sugarcane production and later it was the agricultural sector that dominated Puerto Rico's economy. The agricultural sector focuses mainly on livestock like pigs, cattle and poultry.
The island on a whole does not have a lot of natural resources to tap in to and, as mentioned before, Puerto Rico relies on the industrial sector, tax incentives and Federal Aid given by the U.S. Government. Pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, textiles, electronics, clothing and processed food are just some of the examples of the industries Puerto Rico has.
Between 1987 and 1997 Puerto Rico’s exports and imports doubled due to many U.S. firms investing in the country and because of the tax incentives and duty free access into the United States.
One cannot underestimate the impact tourism has on the country. With as many as 3.9 million visitors in 1993 and over 60,000 people employed by the tourism industry, the numbers have continued to grow exponentially.
The island of Puerto Rico is not an independent country, but rather is part of the United States and therefore uses the same currency. This is the U.S. dollar or ‘peso’ as it is referred to by Puerto Ricans. The top five companies on the Puerto Rico Stock Exchange include Oriental Financial group, Eurobancshares Inc, R&G Financial Corp- Cl B, Santander Bancorp and Dora Financial corp.
The Gross National Product for 2003 was $47.4 billion, $12,239 per capita and a purchasing power parity of $72.37 billion and 18,500 per capita in 2005. The Gross Domestic Product is made up of nine sectors:manufacturing sector, trade, finance, insurance and real estate, services, government, agriculture, transport and other public utilities, mining and construction.
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Creative services continued to grow even during the recent global financial and economic crisis, and could grow significantly more as technology advances and incomes increase in emerging economies. Creative services are important as they generate financial returns with minimal production and distribution costs, help people escape poverty, and bolster cross-cultural exchange and understanding. How can we best ensure they serve these functions?
Creative services are an underappreciated bright spot of the global economy. There is no commonly accepted definition of creative services or the creative economy, terms often used interchangeably; however, according to the definition adopted by the United Nations – which understands it to include arts and crafts, books, graphic and interior design works, fashion, films, music, new media, printed media, visual and audiovisuals – world trade in creative services more than doubled in a decade to reach a record total of $624 billion in 2011.i
Their growth is fastest in developing countries. In the decade to 2011, exports of creative services grew by an average of 12.1% in emerging economies, compared with a global average of 8.8%.ii Creative services appear to be decoupled from the rest of the economy, in that they grew strongly during the global financial and economic crisis of 2008 when many other sectors contracted: in that period, international trade contracted by 12%, while creative services trade continued to grow at an average rate of 14% per annum worldwide.iii This strong performance resulted from: (a) rapid income growth in developing countries; (b) the transition of emerging economies into a services-sector phase; and (c) the rise of ICT.
Current and future demand for creative services can be explained by the growth in internet usage and the increase in disposable income. There is room for further growth as hundreds of millions more people start using the internet. According to the World Bank,iv in low-income and middle-income countries – where the bulk of humanity resides – only 30% of people use the internet, compared with 81% in high-income countries. From 2012 to 2013 alone, an additional 176 million people in low-income and middle-income countries started using the internet for the first time – a 12% increase on the previous year.
As more people come online, they also have more to spend online. In 1960, the average global income was $455 per person per year in current dollars. In 2012, it was $10,206 per person. Forecasts suggest it could reach $44,000 by 2060, with the same purchasing power as today’s dollar.v
The growth of the internet as a distribution channel and a tool for collaboration also explains the increasing supply of creative services. Digital technology allows a creative product to be reproduced and delivered to a customer at zero marginal cost. As technology improves, so too does our ability to design, produce and distribute creative services tailored to meet individual preferences en masse. Future developments in communications technology – from telepresence systems to virtual reality, voice recognition and artificial intelligence – are likely to further expand the creative economy by enabling the evolution of entirely new kinds of creative services.
The development of the creative services market could assist in the alleviation of some major global challenges, such as youth unemployment and poverty reduction. Virtual goods can be produced and distributed at a low cost compared with other industries – often all that is required to successfully become part of the global economy is an internet connection and a good idea. 3D printers will increasingly lower production and distribution costs of physical as well as virtual goods by allowing an object of just about any shape to be constructed quickly and cheaply on demand. It will no longer be necessary to own a factory, a wholesale warehouse or distribution mechanisms to capture value in manufacturing – anyone with creative design abilities will be able to do so, further lowering the barriers to entry into the global economy.
Creative services could also play a bridging role across societies and humankind in a world which looks increasingly fragmented. Creative services could be an engine of understanding, cooperation and trust between cultures. Exchanges enabled by tourism and trade have historically improved cross-cultural relations. Can we find ways to increase the likelihood that virtual as well as physical cross-cultural exchanges and trade in creative goods and services will have the same effect?
The creative economy could have a transformative and positive effect on social cohesion and economic growth – if we can find ways to catalyse it. So how can we foster the full potential of its growth? From regulatory environments to awareness creation and investment in education and infrastructure, what are the most effective ways in which governments, companies and communities can create a platform for the creative economy to grow?
i Creative Economy Report − Widening Local Development Pathways. 2013. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
iii Creative Economy Report – Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option. 2010. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
iv World Development Indicators Database. 2014. Washington DC: The World Bank.
v Economic Outlook No 93 − June 2013 − Long-term baseline projections. 2013. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
This piece is one of a number of individual perspectives from the Global Strategic Foresight Community of the World Economic Forum for the Annual Meeting 2015. To read more access the full collection.
Author: Dr Stefan Hajkowicz is a principal scientist working in the field of strategic foresight at Australia’s national science agency – CSIRO.
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The way we spend money is changing. Once upon a time, if you wanted something, you would purchase it with gold and silver coins. The modern version of this is coins and dollar bills. However, even this is becoming antiquated. The concept of dollar bills has even been improved upon into plastics such as credit cards.
Even cryptocurrencies are carving their own path in how we exchange currency. As such, we can only expect changes to the financial market.
What Is a Blockchain?
Blockchain was born under the pen name Satoshi Nakamoto which no one knows who they are in reality.
To understand how blockchain works, you first need to understand how a standard, traditional transaction works over the internet. The key phrase there is “over the internet” because the whole idea of blockchain exists online.
In a traditional transaction online, one party sends money to another party but the exchange isn’t direct. Rather, there is a middle party who completes the transaction. This requires a lot of trust in that middle party to correctly handle the transaction.
Blockchain is reconsidering that concept. Instead of a transaction going from point A to a middleman to point B, blockchain exists as an open decentralized database that works for every transaction that involves something of value – currency.
This cuts out the middleman but for many, it becomes a mystery of how these transactions move on from there. So, let’s take a look at what happens when you make a payment of cryptocurrency.
The first step is familiar – one party requests a payment from the second party. This request is then broadcasted to a network of computers known as nodes. This network is a P2P network.
This network of notes is then used to validate both the transaction and the user’s status. This is determined using a series of known algorithms. Once a transaction is done being verified, it is combined with other transactions to create one block of data that makes up a section of the total blockchain. This is permanent and cannot be altered. Finally, the transaction is completed.
The idea of blockchain was born to work with another of Satoshi Nakamoto’s brain children – bitcoin. It is important to understand that bitcoin and pretty much all cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value unlike a valued currency such as the $20 bill in your pocket or gold. Cryptocurrency also has no physical form and the supply of it is decentralized meaning that the supply of cryptocurrency is available is not determined by a central bank.
How Does This Change Banks?
As we noted earlier, cryptocurrencies are decentralized. In other words, they aren’t controlled by a bank. So, what does that mean for banks?
There are things that blockchain has done for the banking system. For one, blockchain companies such as Ripple have worked on practices such as ones to help banks handle financial settlements by lowering the cost of settlements. This is done by allowing banks to make transactions directly with another – once again, blockchain takes out the middleman during transactions.
Banks are also working to catch up with the development of cryptocurrency. Many banks are trying to join the trend by designing their own brand of blockchain-based online currency. This is the best move that the banks could take as their traditional presence isn’t needed for transactions of cryptocurrency to be made.
How Does This Change Financial Markets?
All in all, financial markets will change in two ways. In a smaller way, financial markets will be changed in the sense that they will find more cryptocurrency and blockchain exchanges in their working.
The larger idea is that financial markets will need to adapt to this and predict future moves. For a financial market to work, those within it must anticipate and prepare for future changes. First, this means preparing for the participation in and use of cryptocurrency. However, this also means that financial markets will have to consider the potential future of the rapidly changing landscape of cryptocurrency.
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It’s often said that there’s nothing more certain in life than death and taxes.
How about if we add the ongoing power of the sun to our list of certainties?
After all, if the sun burns out, we won’t be here to worry about anything else anyway!
Given the constancy of that blazing star in the sky and the fact that it is an ongoing source of pure energy, it only makes sense to try and utilize that steady stream of free energy to meet our daily needs for power.
Solar power is the process of capturing the energy produced by the sun and converting it into electricity.
This is being accomplished both on a large commercial basis (where assemblies of solar collectors are capturing and selling power) and on an individual basis (where homeowners are installing units on their roofs to meet their own energy needs and to sell the additional electricity.)
The solar cells, or photovoltaic (PV) cells, are appearing more frequently on rooftops throughout the world as more homeowners are realizing the economic and environmental gains incurred from the installation of such units.
Private companies are now in existence that will design and install your solar electric system in conjunction with your home’s existing electrical utility system.
This allows for accurate monitoring of your own electrical consumption as well as accounting for your excess power production that is being sold for your profit.
Your home needs an open roof space with a southern orientation so as to adequately capture the direct rays of the sun.
The larger the usable roof space, the more panels can be installed and the more electricity that can be produced. Each kilowatt of solar system installed requires approximately 100 square feet of roof space.
Financial incentives are available for the installation of solar panels with the federal government currently allowing a 30% tax credit to private homeowners and even bigger incentives to commercial solar developers.
As with most newer technologies, the cost of designing, building, and installing solar power systems continues to come down even as the efficiency and wider spread use of such systems increases.
Solar energy is completely non-polluting and is therefore much better and safer for the environment than the Earth-invasive mining of coal and its resulting atmosphere-polluting consumption that is involved in other energy producing situations.
Solar power is the ultimate in clean renewable energy. Consider having solar panels installed on your home for the sake of the environment and as a wise financial investment.
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1. How is the financial plan and budget related to a company’s strategic plan?
2. How do the various functional departments of an organization use financial planning (i.e. marketing, operations, sales, executive management, finance, etc.)?
3. There are two developmental views of delinquency. The first view is the Life Course Theory, while the second view is the Latent Trait Theory. Which one offers a more valid rationale for why juveniles will persist in criminal behavior beyond the age of 25?
Critique an article in a scholarly journal (written paper) that discusses a particular study conducted in the area of juvenile delinquency. Examples of peer-reviewed journals are Criminology, The Prison Journal, Journal of Drug Use and Abuse, etc. If you are not sure if an article is a journal article, please ask me.
The paper should be 3-4 pages in length (please, no more than 4 pages…if you have more than 4 pages written, edit your paper). Do not use extra spaces, bold print, large indents before new paragraphs, more than one space in between paragraphs, or large font, to make the paper look as if it is 3-4 pages long. If you do this, you will lose points automatically! Papers should be in 12’ font and double-spaced – no more, no less.
a. Give a summary of the article (i.e., what was the study about, who were they studying, how did they do the study, etc.) (1 page)
b. Discuss the author’s conclusions (1/2 pages)
c. Critique the author’s work – list strengths and weaknesses of the argument and his/her method of studying the problem (1 page)
d. Give your opinion on the findings (did you like the study, did it produce beneficial findings, was it worthless, etc.) (1/2 page)Grading: This paper is worth 20% of your grade. Papers handed in after this time will lose one letter grade for each day that it is late. For example, if the paper is due Saturday by midnight and you submit it on Monday, and you would have received an A, you will only receive a B+. If the paper is handed-in on Tuesday, your grade will be lowered to a B and so forth. THIS PAPER IS NOT OPTIONAL!!!
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Written by Ery Papalambrou
ONE’s newest publication, An EU Budget that Invests in Potential, which charts the potential results that EU aid could deliver, comes at a time when more than half of the world’s population living in extreme poverty reside in sub-Saharan Africa. The next EU budget is crucial to put Europe on track to help end extreme poverty by 2030.
The 2018 Eurobarometer survey on development shows that 9 out of 10 EU citizens believe that the EU should support people in developing countries. The next long-term budget will define the EU’s position as a global leader. As the world’s current largest aid donor, tackling extreme poverty — especially in the world’s poorest countries — by supporting the right investments must remain a core priority for the EU and its member states.
The next multiannual financial framework (MFF) will take us to 2027 — just three years shy of the 2030 deadline to end extreme poverty, the first of the Sustainable Development Goals. If the EU and its Member States are committed to making serious progress towards meeting the 0.7% aid target, they need to lead the way with a bold and far-sighted long-term budget that commits €140 billion to aid.
ONE is calling for 50% of the suggested €140 billion budget to be allocated towards least developed countries (LDCs) and fragile states in Africa. Currently, the EU spends only 25% of its aid in these countries, although these are the regions that are most in need of assistance.
ONE’s analysis shows that if EU’s aid budget reached €140 billion, it could provide, per year, 32.5 million children with a school education, 43.5 million with basic health care and nutrition, and 50.3 million people with a minimum social safety net in Africa’s fragile states and LDCs.
These results would not only empower populations living in the world’s poorest countries but would be an essential element of a new partnership between Europe and Africa.
Africa’s population is set to more than double by 2050, with half of the population younger than 25. Investing in the future of Africa’s youth today will enable this dynamic population to drive growth and innovation that will shape the future of both Africa and Europe. The next MFF is a unique opportunity to set us on a path to harnessing this potential.
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Preparing for Electric Vehicles
By the end of March 2018, there were around 1,700 electric passenger cars registered with the Finnish Transport Safety Agency to drive on the streets of Finland.
So why don’t we see them? For electric cars to gain a foothold within the Finnish market, or any other, there must be a reciprocal improvement in the infrastructure used by electric cars. In this article, we will look at the challenges and see how we can best overcome them.
The key driver in helping electric cars gain a foothold is price, but it may take as long as ten years for prices to fall. In the meantime, Finland’s electric car purchase subsidy, which came into effect at the beginning of 2018, will make it easier for people to buy electric vehicles. The subsidy allows the purchaser to either purchase an electric car or receive one on a long lease (until November 2021).
While there are incentives to buy electric cars, these will, however, only succeed if they are matched by changes to the infrastructure that keeps our cars on the road. Currently, that rate of change is slow because local infrastructure is built around the combustion engine. Electric cars require a very different approach because they function on battery power. The battery generates power for acceleration, as well as the vehicle’s electric devices, and therefore the power must be sufficient to allow the car to travel for a specified number of kilometers. Re-fueling an electric car is very different to a traditional car.
The batteries in an electric vehicle are significantly larger than those in a traditional car because they need to carry more energy. SGS’s Tillman Heinisch, the man responsible for environmental simulation tests in Munich, explains: “One charge needs to cover a journey that is 80% of the specified maximum mileage. The amount of remaining power depends on a number of factors, including driving manner, climate, and use of air conditioning and other driving comfort features.”
The number of charging points for electric vehicles are increasing in the developed world and they can now be found in a number of service stations and shopping malls. In addition, people are reaping the rewards of installing charging points at home, allowing them to take advantage of cheaper night-time electricity. Overnight charging also ensures the car receives a full charge.
The scarcity of electric cars, however, means it is currently uneconomic and difficult to install charging points at housing complexes and this is creating a disincentive to buying an electric car. To answer this, housing complexes are looking at ways to introduce communal charging points that will result in people only paying for the electricity they use.
It should also be acknowledged that, as infrastructures changes and electric cars become more common, new safety risks will appear. As more energy is stored in batteries, the more risks there will be related to their use and charging. It is therefore important that stakeholders understand the safety requirements and industry standards that relate to each market as quickly as possible.
Standardizing and testing are used to ascertain that products entering the market remain safe, even during accidents. Tillman Heinisch explains: “For example, type approval for car batteries requires testing and approval for use in all temperatures and vibration environments. At our Munich facility, we test batteries to make sure that they don’t over-charge, overheat while being charged, or cause short-circuits.”
Battery testing is started at the product development stage so that safety issues can be identified before the final product is assembled. The cells inside the battery should be appropriate for the performance required for the specific application. They must also be able to endure the irregularity of operating cycles, as well as mechanical maltreatment and misuse relating to environmental conditions. In addition, there are specific standards for ensuring logistical safety during the transportation of batteries.
To test electric vehicle charging stations, SGS uses its Lauttasaari facility in Helsinki. Energy transmission and control products project manager Sami Hakonen explains the testing process: “Electrical safety is tested with voltage, impact and heat tests, as well as, among others, enclosure class and contact protection tests. They are used to ascertain a number of factors, including how watertight a charge station is and the impact resistance of the station against mechanical stress and even vandalism.”
Charging stations should also be tested for electromagnetic emissions, as they must not interfere with other near-by electric devices, such as pacemakers. Charging sockets must also be tested to ensure they communicate correctly with the car’s batteries, otherwise there is a risk of the battery’s cells not charging up in the correct way and this could cause an accident.
It should also be remembered that different countries will need different installation requirements. For example, a battery in Finland will need better cold resistance than a car battery in Brazil. Additional features also need to be tested. Sami Hakonen explains: “Product standards cover the minimum requirements for the operation of electric devices but, in addition, the manufacturers may want to build in additional features to their products. For example, additional sealing or impact resistance.”
The electric car battery sector is one of constant innovation. Battery energy density and efficiency are improving all the time, and this creates the need for further tests to reduce risk and enhance safety. The world is getting ready for electric cars, but the process is far from over – it has only just begun.
SGS offers a comprehensive range of solutions to help manufacturers understand their electric car components. By testing components, SGS assists clients in the selection of parts for their own products, resale and/or importation. Our experts understand the standards applicable to each product and can perform pre-testing, type testing and auditing, as well as help obtain authorization for products from target markets. We have the expertise required to help you at every stage of a components development – from the drawing board to certification.
For more information, please contact:
t: +358 9 6963236
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Understanding the partnership structure (part 2): the limited partnership.
In this issue, we look at a special type of partnership arrangement known as a limited partnership. A limited partnership is special because, unlike a general partnership, a limited partnership grants limited liability to a certain class of partners. Those partners are called the limited partners. Together with the general partner (or general partners), they comprise the two classes of partners in a limited partnership.
In a limited partnership, only the general partner does not have limited liability. That means that a general partner is not only personally responsible for the debts and obligations of the limited partnership, but that recourse can be had to the general partner's personal assets for purposes of satisfying those debts and obligations.
At the same time, however, only the general partner is legally allowed to conduct the business of the limited partnership or contribute services to it. A limited partner cannot do either of these things. If a limited partner does become involved in the operation of the business or contributes his or her services to it, he or she loses the limited liability status under the law.
As you might expect, setting up a limited partnership is not as easy as setting up a general partnership.
To begin, a limited partnership -- unlike a general partnership -- does not simply arise when two or more persons carry on business with a view to profit. To set up a limited partnership, you must comply with the relevant legislation. Among other things, that means you must file the appropriate documentation with the appropriate governmental authority.
You should also enter into a written partnership agreement to provide for the rights and obligations of the various parties, especially regarding matters such as the division of the partnership profits. In the absence of an agreement, the partners' relation will be governed by legislation and the common law.
As noted, every limited partnership is made up of some combination of general and limited partners. Those partners can be individuals or corporations. A typical limited partnership arrangement involves a general partner, usually a corporation, which carries on the business of the partnership, and several limited partners all of whom, generally speaking, function as little more than passive investors.
The general partner is usually a corporation because the limited liability associated with incorporation can be used to offset the unlimited liability of a general partner.
Remember: the general partner conducts the business of the limited partnership. Thus, where the general partner is a corporation, it means that the directors of the general partner are ultimately responsible for the conduct of that business. Of course, the directors can be made up of the same people (or some of them) who are limited partners, thereby placing some control over the limited partnership business back into the hands of the limited partners; but, as you can see, things begin to get complicated, especially where issues of limited liability arise.
The advantages of a limited partnership include the following:
* The limited liability associated with being a limited partner. As a limited partner, your liability is limited to the extent of your contribution to the partnership; and
* As a limited partner, you can be involved in a business enterprise as a passive investor. The actual operation of the partnership business is left to someone else.
The disadvantages of a limited partnership include these:
* Setting up and maintaining a limited partnership can be an expensive and time consuming process; and
* To retain your limited liability status you cannot take a role in the operation of the business of the limited partnership.
Thus, a limited partnership is the ideal form of business association for a passive investor in a business enterprise who is willing to relinquish control over the business in exchange for the right to invest in that business on a limited liability basis. This can occur, for example, where three individuals, two of whom have money available for investment purposes, and a third who is skilled in the art of theatre production, wish to produce a musical.
Nishan Swais is a lawyer with the firm of Miller Thomson in Toronto, Ontario.
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|Date:||Jun 1, 1999|
|Previous Article:||Looking after oneself when looking after others.|
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Where should the majority of tax be collected from? Countries have, by and large, come to the same kinds of conclusions. We expect to make some contribution to the state purse from our earnings and income. We are also used to having VAT on services and goods that we use. Road tax, council tax, tax on inheritance and capital gains all contribute to the maintenance of our towns, cities and countries.
There might be some general consensus on the types of tax that are reasonable to inflict on the population, but there are significant differences in the ways in which countries decide to spread the burden. ‘Taxation Trends in the European Union’ is probably not something you would want to read in its entirety. However, we’ve pulled out one or two thought-provoking statistics from this report on tax in the 27 EU countries.
The report identifies the different ways in which countries in Europe spread the tax burden on its citizens. The information is given as a percentage of GDP and relates to 2011. Tax is divided into:
- Labour – taxes paid on employed labour income
- Consumption – taxes charged on goods and services
- Capital – taxes paid on income earned from savings and investments
The statistics show a vast difference between countries. Denmark has the highest overall tax revenue at 47.7% followed by Sweden (44.3%) and Belgium (44.1%). The lowest was in Lithuania (26%) and Bulgaria (27.2%). The UK burden in 2011 was 36.1% with Spain coming in lower still at 31.4% of tax to GDP.
Consumption and labour tax
Spain has the lowest consumption tax revenue (14%) of all the EU27 countries. In comparison, Sweden is almost double this at 27.3% and the UK comes in at 19.5%.
When it comes to tax on labour, the position is reversed. The UK has the fourth lowest tax rate at 26% and Spain’s rate is 33.2% – still well below Belgium’s top rate of 42.8%
Tax on personal income
The tax on personal income is quite interesting too. The report compares the highest personal income tax rate between countries across the three years of 2000, 2012 and 2013.
Top of the tax table in 2013:
- Sweden 56.6%
- Denmark 55.6%
- Belgium 53.7%
- Portugal 53%
- Spain 52%
The cheapest place to live if you are a big earner is Bulgaria with a highest income tax of 10%. The UK has a top rate of tax of 45% reduced from 50% in 2012. Whilst the overall average amongst the EU27 is 38.7%.
We should always be cautious in drawing conclusions when using statistics. However, what this data does show is that countries across Europe vary enormously on how much the state decides to take from its citizens and where it takes it from. But perhaps the issue we should be most interested in is not how much is taken but how much better the country is as a result.
To help navigate the bureaucracy of the Spanish tax system, our dedicated advisers are on hand to help at every step of the way. Contact us and we will offer you a free consultation without obligation.
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We have learned that moving averages can be used to visually detect changes in trends. Often more reliable than powerful trendlines (remember that one should work with both indicators). But we can remain cautious about this story angle between different MM (moving averages), and start learning about the MACD.
So you need a tool that helps visualize this crossover and even tries to detect a change even earlier than the other indicators. You need to be ready!This trading indicator is called MACD, an abbreviation for Moving Average Convergence Divergence by Gerald Appel, publisher of "Systems and Forecasts". Let's go to the IBM title of which you know the detection tips by trendlines and moving averages. Let's talk about it now in terms of "MACD". This indicator gives you the best from both, “trend following” (exactly like the moving averages) and “momentum” (strength in which that trend is working at). The MACD revolves around the value zero. And Traders interpret different signals as soon as the MACD crosses the signal line (an EMA based on 9 days). When that happens, the trend is due a change in direction and you can prepare your fingertips to place a trade.
CalculationThe MACD is simply the difference between two Exponential Moving Averages of different periods. The periods of 12 and 26 days are commonly used for these MMEs (E for Exponential). In the figure, the MACD is placed under the graph. It is drawn in purple and thus reflects the difference of an Exponential Mobile Average over 12 days with another of 26days. Long-term averages can also be useful depending on your trading strategy. There is also a second curve (in orange), which is the MACD signal which is simply an exponential 9-period moving average of the MACD. We will use the Signal Line as a baseline to identify movements. Under the MACD indicator, we added a histogram of it to have another vision. This histogram that displays the difference between the MACD and its signal curve allows two things. On the one hand, it materializes the amplitude of the gap between the two curves. On the other hand, it clearly materializes the crossings. When the histogram is creating bars above zero, the MACD is above its signal and when the bars are below it, it is the opposite. Why do we use Moving Averages that are Exponential instead of Simple? To give more importance to recent prices in the curve, so that it gives us a more responsive dynamism to changes. If you have no idea what I am talking about and you do not remember the difference between Simple and Exponential moving averages, please click here).
How do we use the MACD?The goal that investors have in mind when they set up the MACD is the following. The inventor wants to visualize the points where the MACD cuts its signal line, the MME9. When it goes above the signal line, we have a buy trade signal. In the example, point 1 shows you this crossing of the purple line (MACD) with the orange (MME9). If you use the indicator only in its traditional use, you should buy the value at that time. The same way it works in the opposite direction. It shows a point of sale. The chart also shows breakthroughs of the MME9 by the MACD, which indicates selling the value. In this case, IBM tends to fall in a so-called consolidation phase.
Here's what makes the MACD so successful.The signal arrives even earlier than the crossover detection of the MMA20 and MMA50 (moving averages) from the last lesson. But this also makes it dangerous, because remember that the earlier an indicator indicates when to buy or sell, the more likely it is to error. It is, therefore, necessary to work with other tools to confirm its validity. We also note that the further the MACD moves away from its signal line, the stronger the current trend. Which means that if you are up on the value since crossing at point 1, you can let it run, even if a hesitation momentarily forms in the trend. We will use the complete opposite to discern a new change in Trend. The closer together the lines come, the more likely it is to change. That is to say that when the MACD will get closer to its signal line, it is that there is a tilt preparing.
Change on trend.On November 6th and 20th, the reconciliation of the MACD with its signal line (the lines getting closer together) warns us that there might be a next change of trend. In our case, the change is exactly at the beginning of December, at point 2. The MACD has changed direction more clearly, gets closer to its signal line during several sessions and ultimately cuts off its signal line. Better to get out of the trade quickly before burning the profit gained. Analysts have added a small rule for the crossing to be 100% valid. When the MACD crosses its signal line, it will return only if the MACD and the signal have been on the same side for a minimum of 14 sessions that are counted on the day of the crossing. This minimum makes it possible to ensure that one is in a sufficiently stable situation so that the crossing of the MACD with its signal line makes sense and will last. Our case only counts 8 bars going up from point 1 to the left. It is not valid in principle! However, the bullish rally was still spectacular.
Other indicators must confirm the MACD.If we refer to Lesson 1 on trendlines, the break in the resistance shown in the figure is a good indicator. It is though, too late as to be an indicator for the continuation of the rise. The crossing of moving averages (Lesson 2) comes earlier and confirms the probability of a rise. We should always look for at least 3 indicators coming together.
- Resistance Break (main trendlines). A bit too late to ride the whole uptrend.
- If we were looking at the moving Averages, we would also see them crossing, on a Golden Cross. But again, just as the trend was taking form.
- Due to the MACD we can see that this trend (proven right by the two indicators above) is forming.
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Every year, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) releases a list of the top 23 most energy-efficient countries. Rankings are based on energy-efficiency for buildings, industry, transportation, and national efforts to reduce energy usage. Each country earns their spot according to accumulated efforts over the previous year.
The United Kingdom was ranked at number five. Here’s a look at a few highlights.
The UK government plans to connect energy-efficient knowledge and technologies to finance, making strong returns on power savings. With those savings, the government intends to promote and fund efficiency innovation. The UK feels that it’s important for households and businesses to save money on fuel bills and create a more sustainable and secure energy system.
Energy and Climate Secretary, Amber Rudd, has spoken out and revealed her policy priorities to come in 2017. She explained that the UK has already implemented an electricity system where no form of power generation, even gas-fired power stations, can be built without government intervention. For 2017, she intends to reduce the use of fossil fuels and replace coal-fired power stations with gas.
However, Some Things Could Be Improved…
The United Kingdom fell behind countries like Germany, Italy, Japan, and France because the government cut off certain funds. According to this report, the UK government cut funds to various policies. There was a 33 percent cut to the Energy Efficiency Obligations target in 2014, a 20 percent cut to future Energy Efficiency Obligations spending in 2015, and a complete cancellation and pull of government backing from the Green Deal. The report explains that while the UK has some good policies in place, they were much stronger in the past.
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Bonds are a form of debt. Bonds are loans and the bond buyer serves as the bank. You can loan your money to a company, a church, a hospital, a city and to the federal government. They promise to pay you regular interest payments and promise to pay back the full loan or bond amount at maturity. A city may sell bonds to raise money to build a library or a school. The federal government issues bonds to finance its spiraling debts.
You can buy individual bonds, including municipal bonds or corporate bonds or other government bonds. You can also take the easier road and buy bonds using a mutual fund or ETF.
MUTUAL FUNDS – Bonds You can buy a mutual fund that focuses on bonds. For example, FAGIX (Fidelity® Capital & Income Fund) is a mutual fund with stocks, cash and bonds (67% bonds.) One of the reasons I dislike “target date funds” is that they grow your bond allocation as you get closer to the “target” date.
ETFs – Bonds An example of an ETF that focuses on bonds is HYG. HYG is iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF and it has 99% of the fund’s assets in corporate bonds.
Are Bonds Safe?
Many think so. Bonds, however, are generally less volatile and that seems to make them safe. Bonds can become worthless or next to worthless if the issuer is unable to make payments or return your original investment. This is true of corporate bonds (think General Motors) and government bonds (think Detroit). Bonds also are not as likely to grow in value and you won’t receive increased interest during the bond’s term. For that reason I prefer stocks with growing dividends.
The following AAII article might help explain the risks in more detail.
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The Role of a Fiduciary
Fiduciaries are essential people in the business world. However, often, the first question asked in my line of work is “What exactly is a fiduciary? “simply put, a fiduciary is a person that acts on behalf of another person or persons to manage assets. However, the role of a fiduciary is much more than that.
A fiduciary’s responsibility are both legal and ethical. A fiduciary might be responsible for general well-being, but often the task involves finances- managing the assets of another person. CFP’s and Registered Investment Advisors all have fiduciary responsibility. These professionals are required to be loyal, honest and trustworthy because they have control over money, property, or person for someone else.
What are the Specific Duties of a Fiduciary?
The fiduciary is in a position to control the money of the beneficiary, either as an advisor (an investment advisor, for example) or someone who has direct control, as in the executor named in someone’s will. When working with a fiduciary, they owe what is called a “duty of care.” This duty ensures that they are doing their absolute best possible on behalf of the beneficiary. A fiduciary may use his or her own expertise or hire experts for their advice on behalf of the beneficiary.
What a Fiduciary Cannot Do
In short, a fiduciary can not do anything that is perceived as breaking the trust of the beneficiary. A fiduciary cannot make decisions that benefit the fiduciary at the expense of the beneficiary, this would be considered a conflict of interest. A fiduciary is also not allowed to hire incompetent individuals on behalf of the beneficiary. The duty of care extends to those individuals to make sure that the hires are competent.
Contact the Trustworthy Fiduciaries and Fiduciam Today!
Fiduciam Wealth planning is an independent, fee-only, Registered Investment Adviser providing families, individual investors, and business owners with the services they need too successfully achieve or maintain wealth. Contact one of our Certified Financial Planners for a consultation today.
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"Nobody knows or can know how much oil exists under the earth's surface or how much it will be possible to produce in the future."
That's how BP starts its website page defining oil reserves, and it's why we should take statistics like "53.3 years of oil reserves" with a pinch of salt.
But currently, that number is BP's informed estimate of how much oil we have left, given known global reserves and estimated production rates.
Illustrating just how malleable such figures are, that's actually a 1.1 percent improvement over last year's estimate.
Numbers fluctuate with time, as scientists and oil companies find new reserves, and new, more cost-efficient ways of extracting oil from known reserves. Reserve estimates have been rising for several years now, and are likely to do so for some time.
It's those new methods of extraction that pose a much greater problem than the half-century of remaining reserves.
As Autoblog notes, shale extraction is one such method, one becoming popular in the U.S. as huge reserves like those in the Permian Basin of west Texas are discovered.
Environmental concerns for shale oil extraction include increased erosion, introduction of harmful metals into surface and groundwater, and large volumes of waste material--before the high energy input of extraction is even considered.
Such methods are currently popular as they reduce the need to search for oil from--or buy it in from--overseas.
To illustrate, reserves like those under Texas could add an additional 75 billion barrels to the United States' existing 44.2 billion barrels estimates. Globally, the total reached 1,687.9 billion barrels at the end of 2013, from when BP's statistics are drawn.
Whether that will be enough to satiate increasingly industrial countries like China is another matter--BP's figures reveal Asia-Pacific reserves sit at just 14 years at current production rates.
That means buying it in from elsewhere to meet demand--or increasingly damaging methods used to extract oil from ever-more-difficult sources.
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Categorization of COVID-19 state health impact in this report
This report uses a measure of state-level impact of COVID-19. States and the District of Columbia are categorized as having experienced a high, medium or low impact based on a combination of the total number and the per-capita number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (as of March 22).
States were classified as “high” if they had either 1,000 or more total cases or they had more than 100 cases per million residents as of March 22. “Low” states had both fewer than 60 cases per million residents and less than 300 cases overall. The remaining states were classified as “medium” impact.
Data for positive cases of COVID-19 by state were taken from The COVID Tracking Project (downloaded on March 23).
Defining income tiers
To create upper-, middle- and lower-income tiers, respondents’ 2018 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household size. “Middle-income” adults live in families with annual incomes that are two-thirds to double the median family income in our sample (after incomes have been adjusted for the local cost of living and for household size). The middle-income range for this analysis is about $40,100 to $120,400 annually for a three-person household. Lower-income families have incomes less than roughly $40,100, and upper-income families have incomes greater than roughly $120,400.
Based on these adjustments, among respondents who provided their income, 33% are lower income, 45% are middle income and 22% fall into the upper-income tier.
For more information about how the income tiers were determined, please see here.
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At the dawn of 1760, an 80-year revolution was beginning. Economists regard the Industrial Revolution as one of the most important events in history, as the UK waved goodbye to the agricultural age and the new generation of machinery created more output and wealth than ever before.
Steam ahead to the 1980s, the exponential increase in computer use and the collapse of world markets. History is allowed to repeat itself again in 2007, but the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics begins to spark the imagination as the next stage of societal development. Looking at the impact these technologies have had on the world of work and you’ll agree that automation is revolutionary.
AI and machine learning have become 21st century buzzwords and are developing a reputation for a reason. Businesses are using robotics to drive increasingly impactful efficiencies while machine learning is employed to optimise processes and gather data. But it’s also, arguably, the next logical step in our evolution. Throughout our history, humans have always sought out tools to make life easier and enable us to achieve more. This profound change is reminiscent of 1800.
How technology shapes our working lives
New technology shapes our working practices, often in unexpected or unforeseen ways. The scaremongering and fear that robots would put everyone out of work was rife in the early stages of AI’s integration into our working lives. Now this technology has become more commonplace, we have seen that large-scale job losses are not in our futures as a result of AI implementation.
Instead, we have seen the new technology increase efficiencies by automating previously labour-intensive tasks such as basic administration and data handling. In the financial services industry, an analyst can spend up to 90% of their time performing such tasks rather than using their specific skill set. This means only a very small sample of cases can be reviewed in a fixed period, so for activities such as first line checking, this leaves firms open to greater risk of mis-selling or poor customer outcomes.
But with the smart application of AI and robotics, firms can now take away much of this administrative burden, enabling skilled staff to deploy their expertise more effectively to reduce review times. The hours returned to the business as a result can be used to check a greater volume of cases to improve oversight and conduct risk management.
There has also been a recent shift in the way businesses judge the prestige of a team or organisation. Previously, size mattered but this has now shifted to a greater appreciation of the efficiency of each team member. Our experience shows that automation and AI can help your teams achieve greater efficiency and put their valuable skillset to good use.
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Money Flow (MF) can be assessed and technically analyzed using various component indicators. These indicators are vital to an investor when deciding when to make entries and exits into a specific trading program. Money Flow, as an indicator, is synonymously used to refer to the Money Flow Index (MFI). It was Marc Chaikin who developed the money flow theorem, using both the price and the volume as a calculating principle of the price action in any trading issue. When the results of a particular trading day or period have been calculated, the numbers are compared with those of previous day or period to establish whether the MF gained or lost for that particular day or period.
The flow can also be calculated using the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which only differs from the MFI in that MFI accounts for both price and volume, whereas RSI only factors price as the variable.
To calculate Money Flow, an investor uses an average price, which increases after every subsequent bar. He then determines the average price by reducing the average price of each successive bar. The same is repeated for the average volume. These two ranges of values are then systematically indexed so as to calculate the Money Flow and ultimately plot it on a line graph. The calculations should use both the price and the volume so as to provide the different perspectives as opposed to using either volume or price alone. At the very basic level in most flow graphs, the indicator usually shows several dramatic oscillations, which are useful in determining the value of overbought and or oversold conditions.
If the foregoing definition is far too technical for non-economists, there is a way to explain it in layman’s language, using accumulation and distribution, which actually is used as the momentum indicator in determining Money Flow. Chaikin’s theory was based on the understanding that when a stock closes above its midpoint for a particular trading session, that stock always exhibits an accumulation for that trading. On the other hand, if the distribution for a trading session results when a stock closes at below the midpoint. In this argument, mid point accrues after adding both the day’s lowest and the highest trade and then dividing the sum by two. To finish the calculation, Chaikin then used both price and volume to calculate the graph ranges. So if you want to asses a typical 42-day or 14-day trading period, you will have to add the accumulation or distribution for those 42 days and then divide that sum by the total volume of that period.
In practice, when stocks are purchased at a price higher than on the former trading session, this results to a positive Money Flow as opposed to when the same stock is traded at a lower price during the next trading session and the result is a negative Money Flow. This is further factored on the variable of volumes traded during that same trading period, such that, when more shares are bought during the positive MF than the negative MF, the net money flow becomes positive since it’s indicative that more and more investors were at that time willing to pay the counter premium for that stock. Similarly, a stock is in trouble, big trouble, when the MF is negative and yet the stock’s price and trading volume are on the rise.
This therefore necessitates the consideration of the Money Flow Index, whenever an investor is considering the sale (exit) or purchase (entry) of a share. MFI is therefore a basic momentum indicator valuable to investors while determining current trends of a share during the trading decisions of a particular session. In other words, by analyzing both the price and the volume of that stock, MFI acts like a measure of the amount, strength and dependability of the money going into and out of a particular security. Shrewd investors can use MFI to skillfully predict an emerging trend or the reversal of an ongoing trend days before it happens. That is why you will see some investors rush to the counter with the stocks in a particular holding, and a few days later, the same stock collapses or goes into a downward spiral. Others will order all stocks available on the counter for a particular holding and then a few days later the same stock will explode in prices.
[ad#downcont]Today, many types of software have been designed, and are readily available in the market, to help determine the Money Flow Indicator, such as Tradestation 7. It is also advisable to use other indicators in determining entry and exit points besides Chaikin’s model, especially when the midpoint is not distinct or when there are gaps in prices, otherwise the money flow figures will be skewed.
Money Flow Index has a range of between 0 and 100 and as already established above, the calculating formula can be summarized as:
Typical Price = (High trade point+ Low trade point + Close trade point) divided by 3
Money Flow Index = The share price multiplied by the traded volume
Money Ratio = Positive Money Flow (MF> former MF) or Negative Money Flow (MF<former MF)
Money Flow Index = 100 – (100 / (1 + Money Ratio))
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Part I of a two-part series on the development of electric energy storage, starting with the storage we need and continuing Part II on Aug. 31 with a look at the technologies and the political challenges they face.
Unlike our information system with its local hard drives and remote data centers, our electric grid has virtually no storage.
At our peak energy-using hours, or when the weather calls for indoor warming or cooling, the grid must generate more power in order to meet more demand. It does this by turning on more capacity — "peaker plants," which cost significantly more to run than bulk power plants.
Similarly, about 15% of the energy in the grid is always kept in reserve to ensure power performance when a grid flow needs balancing. The reserve is very rarely used and so, as it can't be stored, it is usually wasted. Yet its business and its emissions costs must be paid.
This huge waste has always been accepted by utilities. Running peaker plants or just excess of bulk power has been arguably cheaper and certainly less risky than investments in experimental storage — or in other kinds of efficiency.
With little policy constraint on energy production or use, there's been little incentive for reform. But this is beginning to change, driven by forecasts of rising demand, by pressures (CO2-based and otherwise) on supply, and by the first shifts of a centrally-organized and hierarchical system toward a more distributed model.
The 2005-2009 Bush DOE budgets allocated about $11 million to electric energy storage research, development and deployment (EES RD&D); versus $2.5 billion for fossil fuels RD&D. The Obama stimulus package put real money on the table, allocating $210 million in matching grants to utility EES RD&D. It allocates $1.5 billion in matching grants to building battery manufacturing capacity, associated with the development of electric vehicles.
An EES story is unfolding amid the contexts of a scrambling-to-change centralized grid and an emerging model of distributed energy. And against it being anyone's guess whether centralized and distributed systems will ultimately compete or be complementary.
Storage is needed to reduce significantly the financial and emissions costs of keeping everyday grid performance reliable, and to enable renewable power resources to be integrated into the electric system on a massive scale. It is needed to enable power generation, transmission, and distribution, the components of the centralized grid. It is also a critical enabler of decentralized energy models — that is, of energy systems at the edges of or even off the grid.
"Energy storage is an essential enabling technology for a low‐carbon power system." — Nicholas Institute For Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Today's centralized U.S. electric grid (under a limited central control yet comprised of 3,200 utilities, several regional transmission service areas, and many independent power providers) has two essential uses for storage. It is used to maintain power performance, locally and regionally, amid the ebbs and flows of what is both a physical system and a marketplace. It is also used to reduce the grid's operational costs.
Yet its role is minimal in both areas, accounting for only 3% of electric power production capacity. A third essential use comes on line with the integration of renewables, intermittent resources (needing the sun to shine or the wind to blow) that cannot deliver continuous high-performance power. A fourth comes on line with the electrification of vehicles and a vehicle-to-grid infrastructure.
In the way the grid has developed over 125 years, generation refers to the points at which electricity is made from feedstock, such as coal, natural gas and hydro power. Transmission refers to the movement of electricity via wires from generation points to areas of usage—to the substations around metropolitan Pittsburgh, for example. Distribution refers to movements of electricity from substations to places where electricity is used.
Each of these system sectors has technology, business, regulatory, and interconnection infrastructures.
Supporting Performance: Local performance or power quality is affected by occurrences as diverse as supply and demand variations in the electricity market, and partial or full system failures that originate at points of generation, transmission, or distribution. We all know that even bad weather can be a culprit. We watch the power flicker or go out.
It happens rarely in the U.S., though, because grid managers use expensive means, which move small amounts of electricity very fast, to maintain reliability. These crisis situations have high dollar and CO2 costs, because managers turn to spinning reserves, wasteful as they increase by 15% to 20% the amount of generation that must always be available, or to expensive spot markets. Often they also confront clogged transmission lines.
Energy stored across the generation, transmission and distribution grid, thus closer to problems wherever they surface, and designed for rapid movement, would give managers a lower cost, far cleaner alternative for use in performance support.
Supporting Efficiencies: Utilities hedge the costs to make, transport, and distribute electricity with a set of strategies. The lower their costs, the lower the costs to consumers. Keeping system costs relatively low will become even more important as the social costs of carbon are added to the total price.
Being regulated, utilities must deliver power everywhere, even to low-population areas, and they must deliver highest quality power at all times. At peak usage times or when the temperature makes people ratchet up air conditioners or heaters, the grid must still perform perfectly. It does this by accessing "peaker" capacity — energy plants that generate lots of power but run infrequently, and therefore, because of start up costs, expensively.
Peaker power is called "dispatchable," differentiated from bulk power. Some peaker facilities operate less than 10 hours per year. This gross inefficiency is being addressed by efforts to lower demand in peak usage hours, through the use of "demand response" information technology tools that use various methods to dynamically lower system usage as needed.
By becoming a demand response tool, storage will provide cleaner and cheaper alternatives to fossil-fuel peaker plants, and will reduce the need for the transmission and distribution build outs that follow population shifts. When supply is stretched, the grid manager will be able to flow stored energy into the system.
Supporting Renewables: While the early penetration of renewable energy feedstocks, primarily onshore wind, into the U.S. electrical grid have not suffered from their single major weakness, the penetration at scale of renewables won't be accomplished without effective workarounds. The weakness is the variability of wind and solar: Where the wind is not blow or the sun is not shining, the grid fails at these points of generation.
This represents a major potential degradation of the grid, where both bulk and dispatchable power sources, however high their CO2 content, have been reliable. Coal and natural gas plants simply turn on and work. Wind and solar have both regular (for solar, night) and and irregular (for solar, rainy days) periods of failure. The first generations of wind power systems have been able to depend on existing peaker capacity to even out their variability, but this is neither a scalable economic solution nor a CO2 solution.
Energy storage, however, can be a major contributor to the necessary workaround. At the points of renewable generation, solar or wind farms whatever their sizes, storage can provide reliability without additional transmission costs. There will be generation, transmission, and distribution applications for different storage technologies, to support the integration of renewables for both grid performance and grid efficiency.
"Electric energy storage technology has the potential to facilitate the large-scale deployment of variable renewable electricity generation, such as wind and solar power, which is an important option for reducing GHG emissions from the electric power sector." —Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Much like the telecommunications industry of the 1980s, today's utility industry maintains a ubiquitous, largely static infrastructure. A few years ago, its R&D budget was less relative to its revenues than the pet food industry's, and it had changed little in eight decades.
Reluctance to change, perceived or real, has led to a movement that seeks to modernize electrical usage at the edges of the system, in buildings and neighborhoods that would be partly or wholly independent of the grid. These places would need local, distributed storage. Conversely, early stage efforts to electrify vehicles has led some industry participants to experiment with aggregating distributed local storage to support grid performance and efficiencies.
The linchpin on all this is that for distributed, local storage to scale it will have to be inexpensive and safe.
Supporting Electrified Transportation: Driven by oil security and climate change concerns, the U.S. has made transportation electrification a priority. Evidence for this is the $1.5 billion in stimulus matching grants allocated to build domestic vehicle battery and component manufacturing capacity.
U.S. consumer electricity consumption would increase 50% if everyone owned and nightly recharged a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The utility business would grow by 50%. In addition, the new load, distributed nationally across neighborhood garages and charging stations, would potentially be available to the electric power grid as local storage. Utilities could aggregate it locally to use as a demand response resource, thereby improving the utility's performance and efficiency.
At present, however, the main thing working against this vision is the lack of scalable storage technology.
"The transportation energy storage market will grow from $12.9 billion in 2008 to $19.9 billion in 2012 ... principally driven by light electric vehicle shipments rising from about 500,000 to nearly three million as new plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles emerge." —Lux Research
Supporting Community Energy: The model of affordable portable storage, with development funding from transportation stakeholders, has great additional appeal for the less-leveraged distributed energy movement. Very simply, a PHEV not in use could feed its stored energy into the local system or building instead of into the utility distribution network.
Likewise, this hypothetical portable, inexpensive storage could be used directly for community energy; an apartment building could have a dozen PHEV storage units in its parking garage and stand-alone units in its basement. A CO2-free community energy system might only use solar energy and storage.
A microgrid—microgrids being large integrated systems, like the facilities of a university, that minimized or eliminated grid connections—might rely on hundreds or thousands of storage units. One utility, AEP, is testing community storage, putting a few secure, now expensive units in to support the houses on a street.
EES is essential to a clean energy ecosystem, but it faces business, technological, and political challenges. In Part II of this series, we will look at the technologies and political changes needed to meet our future storage demands.
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The National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro) recently opened a public consultation proposing a change in the standard of sale of Vehicular Natural Gas (CNG). In this way, the measurement of the volume from cubic meter (m³) to kilogram (kg). According to Inmetro, the change will allow measurements with greater reliability and fewer supply errors to the consumer.
Currently, CNG is marketed at high pressures, being measured en masse by a pump. To get to the fuel tank, the gas passes through a conversion to be presented in volume. This factor, called density, is natural and found in the various types of gas marketed in the Brazil. Density values are provided by distributors of fuel already with a month’s lag and, in addition, are manually inserted in pumps – two steps that favor measurement errors.
The proposal is an advantage for the consumer, as it eliminates errors and removes the possibilities of fraud. In addition, it is also important to for the productive sector, as it promotes fair competition between establishments and favours entrepreneurs who act correctly in the sale of the Cng.ACESSE AS REDES DA PANORAMA OFFSHORE:
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Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risk management’s objective is to assure uncertainty does not deflect the endeavor from the business goals.
Risks can come from various sources: e.g., uncertainty in financial markets, threats from project failures (at any phase in design, development, production, or sustainment life-cycles), legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attack from an adversary, or events of uncertain or unpredictable root-cause. There are two types of events i.e. negative events can be classified as risks while positive events are classified as opportunities. Several risk management standards have been developed including the Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards. Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to whether the risk management method is in the context of project management, security, engineering, industrial processes, financial portfolios, actuarial assessments, or public health and safety.
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by Gavin Stamp
BBC News business reporter
With 50,000 people estimated to earn some form of living from poultry farming in England it is clear bird flu poses a potentially significant economic threat.
Business are spread across England
Data about the industry is fragmented, something which has frustrated experts and policymakers as they prepare for a potential outbreak and gauge its likely effects.
All farmers with more than 50 birds must disclose stock levels for a national register by Wednesday, a move widely applauded by farmers.
Available statistics show the industry is a major one in European terms.
UK farmers produced 1.6 million tonnes of poultry meat in 2004, second only to France in the European Union.
Exports were worth £247m in 2004, according to the British Poultry Council.
In many regions
The industry is an important source of employment across much of England, while farms play a vital role in supporting suppliers and other businesses across rural communities.
Although there is no regional centre for poultry farming, there are major clusters in the south-west of England, East Anglia and in the border counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
There are a smaller number of farms in Wales and Scotland.
"The industry is not really concentrated in any particular area," explains Peter Bradnock, chief executive of the British Poultry Council.
He says farms are often located close to slaughterhouses which, in turn, tend to be on the periphery of urban areas for easy access to markets.
"For biosecurity reasons, you don't want a lot of farms cheek by jowl," he says. "It would represent a risk for a variety of reasons."
According to figures from the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), there are about 10,000 farms in the UK breeding poultry for commercial purposes.
About 1,500 farms specialise in breeding broilers, while 27,650 farms have egg-laying hens.
Great and small
The industry is a rather lopsided one. While the majority of farms are small to medium-sized businesses, the larger concerns are responsible for the overwhelming bulk of poultry production.
For instance, 85% of UK breeding farms own fewer than 25 animals, but 200 farms account for about 95% of total production.
Bernard Matthews, the country's best known poultry business, has an annual turnover of more than £400m and more than 4,000 UK staff.
There are concerns that small-scale operators could be wiped out in the event of a bird flu outbreak in domestic fowl.
Experts says hygiene standards across the industry are high
"It could seriously destroy your business and I don't know how many people would survive it," one Salisbury egg farmer - a strong advocate of vaccinating animals - told the BBC.
"There is a problem about awareness of the size of the industry and how many people are employed. If you end up knocking the industry about, you have lost quite a big asset."
On the other hand, some farmers believe the make-up of the industry - with production concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of large farms - would limit the economic damage.
"The way the industry is structured means that it is less likely to have a starburst effect like foot-and-mouth," says Mr Bradnock.
He points to the stringent biosecurity measures which poultry farmers have had in place for years to deal with infections such as salmonella.
What's more, he says, poultry farms are totally different businesses from beef farms, with far less movement of animals in and out of premises and more uniformity in terms of age and disease profile.
"Each farm is really a biosecure unit which exists in its own right," he says. "Part of the chain could be shut down very quickly without it having much of an effect on the rest of the sector.
"I don't believe this particular situation cannot be dealt with as effectively as the previous experiences of the past 25 years. We are prepared for it and we are on the lookout."
Most farmers are refusing to push the panic button, pointing out that 95% of poultry is "indoor-reared", reducing its likely exposure to the virus while free-range birds can be brought inside very quickly.
However, there is obvious concern about the costs of containing a potential outbreak, the level of compensation available in the event of widespread culling and the cost of cleaning and disinfecting farms.
British consumers are standing by poultry but for how much longer?
Inevitably, the issue of vaccination has aroused the strongest feelings.
The government says vaccination cannot provide a comprehensive solution because it would not prevent birds from getting infected.
One farmer says that although vaccination would be expensive for many farmers, it could keep them in business.
"Desperate days call for desperate measures," he says. "Most people, given the option between the loss that might occur if they get the disease or the chance of an expensive vaccine, are going to go for the latter.
"It might ruin your profitability for 12 months, but that would be nothing compared to the damage that it could do."
Tom Vesey, a Gwent farmer and chairman of the British Free Range Eggs Producers Association, says he is "open-minded" about vaccination.
"Obviously it is a concern, but we have to be positive," he says.
"Obviously if my flock got the disease, it would be catastrophic, but it can be contained and destroyed and we hope we can do it here."
The biggest long-term economic threat to the industry may turn out to be consumer nervousness about eating chicken and other poultry.
There has been no sign of a shopper backlash so far, unlike some other EU countries, and farmers are encouraged by that.
"The industry has invested a lot in its own biosecurity and retailers have spread the message that poultry is safe," says Peter Bradnock.
"Retailers have very strong brands and people trust them."
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How the blockchain secures data?
The technology works literally like their name; the data/transaction is stored in a chain of “blocks”. Each set of information or the block is linked to the block before it or after it. As a result, the data is difficult to tamper with because the hacker needs to alter information not only in the particular block but also in the other blocks linked to that particular block to avoid suspicion. Now, this aspect alone might not offer a high level of security, but some other inherent characteristics of this distributed ledger technology offers additional means of security.
The data/transactions on the blockchain are secured through cryptography. The participants of the network are allotted their own private keys that get assigned to the transactions they do. These private keys also work as their own personal digital signature also. In case a data or transaction is altered, then the signature also becomes invalid and the participants of the network will know that the data has been tampered with.
So, unfortunately for the hackers, it becomes difficult to tamper with the ledgers as they are decentralized and distributed across large networks which are not only continuously updated but also kept in sync. The other characteristics that makes blockchain secure is that the data/transactions are not contained at a central location, as a result, blockchain don’t have a single point of failure. The hacker needs to have access to gigantic amount of computing power in order to change data at every instance (or at least at 51% of the network location) of the given blockchain to alter information.
So, why are the crypto exchanges getting robbed of millions of cryptocurrencies?
Yes, we have all read about the rampant cyber theft in the cryptocurrency world. According to news, the cryptocurrency theft this year has been $4 billion so far. Now, the answer to your question. Yes, cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain however, their theft from the exchanges or the personal wallets have no direct relation with the security of the blockchain.
Development of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ripple and ethereum are taken as a parallel economy being developed by the cyber world. However, when it comes to securing these cryptocurrencies, the responsibility is completely owned by the exchanges or the wallet owners of these cryptocurrencies. In case one is not properly educated on the subject, it is very easy to lose these cryptocurrencies. Also as these cryptocurrencies don’t have a legislative record, it is impossible to mitigate the loss incurred.
1. Crypto wallets
One of the major steps to keep the cryptocurrency safe is to know the correct wallet where you can store them. There are two major categories of crypto wallets available:
• Hot wallets: Digital cryptocurrency wallets connected to the internet
• Cold wallets: Digital cryptocurrency wallets not connected to the internet
A common example of the hot wallets is the wallets that people have at crypto exchanges. These wallets are all the time connected to the internet to offers ceaseless trading to the users across the world. As, these wallets hold making them susceptible to frauds and thefts.
Exchange wallets are not just the only type of hot wallets, desktop wallets like Exodus are also exposed to hackers as malware can be sent to the computer connected with the internet.
2. Phishing Attacks and Scams
Here the hackers or cyber thieves disguise malicious websites as a known, legitimate exchange or crypto wallet website in order to steal the passwords and private key of the user. There are many ways and means to carry out the phising attacks and hackers are creating new ways and means every day to hijack data.
In order to avoid falling prey to these scams, it is suggested to double check the URLs of the exchange websites before entering sensitive information. One can also type the website address manually to ensure that they end up opening the correct website. All the exchanges these days have started the 2-factor authentication which adds another layer of security to safeguard data.
3. Consensus Frauds
One of the unique kind of blockchain frauds that started happening this year is the 51% consensus attacks. These attacks have been made possible due to the existence of smaller blockchain networks. The participants in such networks like Verge are limited and therefore, the validation responsibility goes to a single participant. In case they hold enough mining power to compete with the rest of the network, they can reach the 51% consensus, and the data can be altered to the way they choose. Hackers are using this way to change the history of the transactions and re-routing millions of dollars’ worth cryptos to their own accounts.
As an emerging technology, blockchain became popular because it helped people, particularly those who didn’t trust each another to share important data in a secure and unchangeable way. How? Blockchain as a distributed ledger technology stores data using advanced math and software rules which makes it difficult for the attackers to hack the ledger. The reason why hackers have been able to rob exchanges with millions of dollars is only because of external technology being prone to hacks and human error.
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Every year devices are becoming increasingly more complex and expensive. Manufacturers have established a system where practically the only means to repair a device, or obtain repair parts, would be through one of their authorized vendors, raising issues around the consumer’s right to repair their goods.
Many companies claim to have adopted this approach to protect their intellectual property, in addition to a Planned Obsolescence strategy that consist in designing products with a limited useful life shortening the replacement cycle.
Defining the right to repair
The right to repair electronics refers to government legislation that is intended to allow consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer electronic devices, enabling them to choose a supplier based on whatever criteria is more important to them: price, for example. This matter covers both individual and commercial rights.
How does Right to Repair work?
In the US at least 18 states are introducing “Right to Repair Bills” requiring electronics manufacturers to make repair information and parts available to product owners and to third-party repair shops, giving the consumer the ability to choose where to get their devices fixed without voiding their guarantee.
European environment ministers have a series of proposals to force manufacturers to build products that last longer and are easier to repair, combatting what’s known as planned obsolescence. This initiative covers everything from mobile devices to large home appliances.
Why is repair important?
According to the study Global E-Waste Monitor 2017 done by the United Nations University (UNU) in 2016 alone there was a combined E-waste of 44.7 million metric tonnes worldwide, and the projection is to increase to 52.2 million metric tonnes by 2021.
As stated in a Eurobarometer survey, 77% of EU consumers would rather repair their devices than buy new ones, but they are discouraged by the cost of repairs and the level of service provided.
Reverse Logistics, the Circular Economy and the right to repair
Las Vegas, February 5-7
The Reverse Logistics Association will be hosting their annual North American Conference, which brings industry leaders in the reverse market together to exchange ideas and improve processes.
RLA is a global trade association for the returns and reverse industry, offering information, solutions and services for manufacturers and retail companies from third party providers.
The Circular Economy, Data Security and Environmental Responsibility, Equity Investments in the Secondary Market and Global Dynamics in Mobile Returns are some of topics during the RLA Conference 2019 edition. For more details about the conference agenda visit http://rltshows.com/vegas.php
Asset Science’s Philip Dalton will be attending, February 5-7 (Las Vegas), to network and share his views about the importance of the Diagnostics in the reverse logistic process and the second hand and repair market.
If you’d like to meet with Phillip during the conference, you can arrange to do so here.
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In the last year, you must have heard of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that over the last years increased in value and earned investors unimaginable amounts of money. This might have led you to wonder, what exactly is a cryptocurrency? Well, it is not that complicated. A cryptocurrency is simply a digital coin that does not involve any middleman like a bank or other financial institutions. This is achieved through a revolutionary technology known as the blockchain technology.
Blockchain allows for cryptocurrency transactions to be verified by any individual with a computer anywhere across the world, unlike in the current system where such transactions are verified through centralized databases, such as those owned by banks and other financial institutions. It is this decentralized nature of the blockchain technology that have given cryptocurrencies the impetus to rise. That’s because, many people still remember what happened in 2008/9 when the banking sector nearly collapsed, and people lost lots of money. With cryptocurrencies, people feel like they are now more in control of their money, and cannot lose it in case the financial system goes haywire again.
The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies has attracted mixed reactions from governments. There are governments that have openly adopted cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Japan is a good example of such a country. On the other hand, there are those that have taken a different approach and decided to create their own cryptocurrencies.
Russia and the UAE are leading the way on this, by planning to issue state-backed cryptocurrencies. Then there are those like China that have out rightly banned cryptocurrencies, but have been unsuccessful in these endeavors.
That’s because the decentralized and anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies make them impossible to get rid of. In fact, despite its best efforts to control, China is still the leader in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining businesses, due to its low electricity costs.Speaking of mining, what exactly is cryptocurrency mining?
If you are familiar with how fiat money works, then you know that it is the government through central banks that prints it. For cryptocurrencies, the process is a little bit different, and new coins are created through a process known as mining. Cryptocurrency mining entails the use of computer hardware to solve complex mathematical problems so as to generate a new cryptocurrency. The more difficult the computations are, the more expensive the hardware required. That is why bitcoin, which is generated by extremely complex computations, requires high capacity computer hardware that is very power-intensive. In fact, if you live in a high-energy cost country, you would not successfully mine bitcoin. The power costs you incur would be way higher than the money you generate from your mining activities. It is this costly nature of mining that has led some cryptocurrency developers to think of new and more innovative ways of generating cryptocurrencies. To give you better insight into cryptocurrency mining, let’s look at its different variations.
Cryptocurrency mining simply works by allowing an individual or a corporation with the right equipment to solve mathematical problems, and generate a new cryptocoin. There are 2 ways in which to do this. The first one is buy the hardware and set it up yourself. To do this successfully, you have to ensure that power costs in your country are cheap enough to accommodate cryptocurrency mining electricity expenses.
The second way to do it is through cloud mining. Cloud mining entails joining hands with other investors, and buying a stake in an established mining rig in a low cost country. You are then rewarded with a part of the cryptocurrency that you collectively mine, depending on how much you have invested.Cloud mining is emerging as the best way for small investors to mine cryptocurrency. That’s because, it doesn’t require any hardware investment, and the investor does not have to deal with high power bills that may pour cold water on their cryptocurrency investments.
However, even when making an investment in a cloud mining pool, it is important to determine beforehand, whether the expected reward is financially worth it. That’s because, due to rising mining costs, cloud mining too is pricing out small time investors.
Overall, it is safe to conclude that there is no future in cryptocurrency mining for small investors. A small investor looking to make money in cryptocurrency will have to settle for trading.
The first step to start trading in cryptocurrencies is to open an account with a good cryptocurrency exchange. To determine, whether an exchange is good or not, there are a number of factors you should consider. Some of these are as below:
Cryptocurrency exchanges are loved by hackers. They are constantly under Denial of service attacks from hackers as they try to gain access and steal your crypto coins. That’s why before you register with an exchange, research its history, especially how it deals with hacking attacks.
Trading fees are another important factor to consider when looking to trade cryptocurrencies through an exchange. For best trading results, it would be best to go for an exchange with the lowest trading fees. This is information that you can easily access online.
When looking to trade in cryptocurrencies, you want to do so through an exchange that is highly liquid, so as to quickly take advantage of emerging trading opportunities. A low liquidity exchange would deny you such an opportunity, significantly reducing your trading profits.
Now that you know how to choose a good exchange to trade your cryptocurrencies, the next step is the actual trading. When trading cryptocurrencies, you may adapt a number of strategies. The first one is to buy and hold. Under this strategy, you look for a high potential cryptocurrency and buy it for the long run. For instance, if someone had adapted this strategy towards bitcoin at the beginning of the year and bought it at $1000, they would now have made a tidy profit by now that it is trading at close to $20,000.
The other strategy that you may adapt when trading cryptocurrencies is to day trade. This entails buying and selling cryptocurrencies on a daily basis by taking advantage of price inefficiencies as they arise. While trading is a great approach to making money with cryptocurrencies, there is a challenge when determining which ones to get into, and which ones to sell at any given time. To help you out with this, let’s look at how you can get into cryptocurrencies and do so profitably.
As a beginner you may not know this but there are more than 100 cryptocurrencies out there. However, not every cryptocurrency has a potential for profitability. To make the best out of the cryptocurrency markets, it is imperative to understand what makes a cryptocurrency tick.
Since this may not be easy for a beginner, the best approach for you is to buy one of the top ten cryptocurrencies in the market. While the rest too may have a potential for growth, they might need specialized knowledge and experience to find the opportunity, knowledge that you may not have at the moment. That’s why when looking to invest in cryptocurrencies as a newbie, it’s safer to put your money in any of the following:
These are some of the best known cryptocurrencies in the markets today, and each of them as a viable functionality. That’s why making any one of them your starting point in cryptocurrencies would be a sure path to your success in this field. Later along once you are comfortable with the markets, you can try out lower ranking coins.
The greatest risk when it comes to the relatively unknown coins is pump-and-dump schemes. A pump-and-dump scheme is a scenario where unscrupulous businessmen push a low quality coin into the markets through exchanges, hype it up, sell, and then let it collapse. As an investor, buying into such a crypto-coin would end up holding a worthless coin that has zero intrinsic value.
Now that you understand exchanges, the different trading strategies you can adopt, as well as the best coins to trade in, the question arises, how do I get to purchase them in the first place?
Well, this is a simple procedure. There are exchanges out there that allow you to deposit fiat currency directly and start trading. However, the vast majority of them require that you first purchase bitcoin. Depending on the exchange, the first step is to buy bitcoin either in dollars or in your local currency.
Once you have access to your bitcoin, then you can trade them for any other cryptocurrency of your choice. For instance, if you want to purchase Monero in an exchange, the first step would be to convert your fiat currency into bitcoin then use it to buy Monero.
Lately, some exchanges also allow you to purchase cryptocoins using a US dollar backed token known as Tether. To use tether in buying cryptos, you still need to first deposit money into your account using bitcoin, if the exchange does not allow for fiat deposits.
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Investments in charging infrastructure may encourage electric vehicle adoption even more than vehicle standards.
Electric vehicles have taken off in the US. In 2017, electric vehicle sales surged by 25%. In contrast, overall vehicle sales dropped by nearly 2%. But now the Trump Administration has formally proposed several actions that would slow down electric vehicle adoption. Fortunately states have tools to fight back.
How Federal Policies Could Harm Electric Vehicles
Federal fuel economy standards — established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — have saved money and reduced harmful pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, over the last 40 years. The current standards, adopted by the Obama Administration in 2012, require that automakers cut cars’ gasoline use per mile by 25% by 2020. Prior to leaving office, President Obama had started the process to cut gasoline use by an additional 12% by 2025.
Electric vehicles are favored by the rules. For example, the rules assume that electric vehicles generate no upstream greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, the emissions from the coal and natural gas power plants that more-often-than-not produce the electricity are not counted. Also, automakers get to count electric vehicles more than once, thanks to a multiplier in the rules. The multiplier is intended to encourage sales of advanced technologies in the early years of the program. It phases out over time.
The new NHTSA/EPA proposal would freeze the vehicle standards in 2020, cancelling the additional tightening proposed under President Obama. So, after 2020, automakers would have no further incentive to increase the share of electric vehicle sales.
The Trump Administration also wants to kill California’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The ZEV rules require that any automaker that sells gasoline-powered vehicles in California must also sell a growing share of zero-emissions vehicles, such as electric vehicles, in the state. Automakers can also choose to buy ZEV credits from other electric vehicle producers or pay a penalty. Nine other states have adopted the ZEV mandate.
NHTSA/EPA have proposed to revoke the federal waiver that allows California and the nine other states to adopt ZEV mandates. In California, the emissions standards and ZEV mandate have contributed to electric vehicles reaching 5% of vehicle sales in 2017, over seven times the share in the other 49 states.
The proposed rule changes will likely be challenged in the courts. However, if legal challenges fail, electric vehicle sales could lose momentum. Even the legal uncertainty harms the market.
But there is something states can do to keep the electric vehicle revolution rolling.
Electric Vehicles Need Charging Stations and Vice Versa
The cost of a vehicle is not the only consideration before a driver gets behind the wheel of an electric vehicle. Convenience matters, too. At the end of 2017 there were fewer than 50,000 public charging stations in the US. In contrast, there are over 150,000 retail gasoline fueling sites. Assuming that each site has eight pumps, there are over one million gasoline pumps.
But comparing the number of fueling locations under-states the gap. An electric 2018 Chevrolet Bolt connected to a typical, Level 2 public charger will spend an hour to get enough energy to travel 25 miles. A driver of a 2018 Chevrolet Sonic, the gasoline-powered equivalent of the Bolt with a fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon, pumping gas at 10 gallons per minute will receive 25 miles worth of fuel in just 5 seconds! This means we need far more electric charging stations than gas pumps to deliver the same amount of energy. In other words, gasoline vehicle owners don’t need to worry about the availability of fueling infrastructure, but electric vehicle owners do.
Home charging can help bridge the gap, but as Lucas Davis highlights in a recent blog and working paper, many drivers, especially those in rental housing, lack the ability to charge at home, which encourages them to hold on to gasoline vehicles.
The interdependency between electric vehicles and charging infrastructure presents a challenge for policymakers. Should policy focus on promoting vehicles or infrastructure? If both, then what’s the right balance?
Research by Shanjun Li et al. published in 2017 describes how a larger charging network increases the value of adopting electric vehicles. Similarly, when there are more electric vehicles in circulation, the value of investments in charging infrastructure increases. It sounds like a virtuous cycle. The two sides of the market– the cars and the chargers — spur each other’s growth. However, that’s not what happens. Individual automakers don’t want to invest in a more robust charging network because their competitors would also benefit from the chargers, so they underinvest. Without government intervention to support the market there’s a risk that the market collapses.
An exception has been the interstate network of fast charging stations. A 2017 working paper by Jing Li describes how automakers such as Tesla have used incompatible standards to lock their car buyers into proprietary high speed charging networks. She finds that this lock-in has led automakers to invest more in their proprietary charging infrastructure. However, she concludes that consumers don’t benefit from this approach, and it’s unclear how long this situation will last.
The Li et al. paper meanwhile tries to quantify the two parts to the potentially virtuous cycle. How much does the expansion of charging infrastructure increase demand for electric vehicles and how much can increased adoption of electric vehicles increase infrastructure investments? They estimate that a 10% increase in the number of public charging stations would increase electric vehicle sales by 8%. A 10% increase in the number of electric vehicles would lead to a 6% increase in charging stations.
They also look at the effectiveness of public subsidies and conclude that public spending on charging infrastructure could be twice as effective at encouraging electric vehicle adoption as subsidies on the vehicles themselves. In part, that’s because infrastructure availability has strong effects on electric vehicle adoption. But it’s also because the number of drivers who will adopt electric vehicles early is not very responsive to the price, so large car subsidies are necessary to have much impact.
Building Out Charging Infrastructure to Keep Electric Vehicle Adoption in Drive
The new Trump administration proposals are focused on motor vehicle emissions because that’s an area where the federal government has authority under the Clean Air Act. The proposals wouldn’t affect a state’s ability to promote charging infrastructure. This can come directly through tax incentives and subsidies to households, businesses and charging network companies. It can also occur through investments by electric utilities that the state regulators and local governing boards allow to be passed onto electricity consumers through rate increases.
California is already well down this road with $2.5 billion in announced spending on charging infrastructure. Other states that want to keep the electric vehicle momentum going might want to take a similar course.
Andrew Campbell is the Executive Director of the Energy Institute at Haas. Andy has worked in the energy industry for his entire professional career. Prior to coming to the University of California, Andy worked for energy efficiency and demand response company, Tendril, and grid management technology provider, Sentient Energy. He helped both companies navigate the complex energy regulatory environment and tailor their sales and marketing approaches to meet the utility industry’s needs. Previously, he was Senior Energy Advisor to Commissioner Rachelle Chong and Commissioner Nancy Ryan at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). While at the CPUC Andy was the lead advisor in areas including demand response, rate design, grid modernization, and electric vehicles. Andy led successful efforts to develop and adopt policies on Smart Grid investment and data access, regulatory authority over electric vehicle charging, demand response, dynamic pricing for utilities and natural gas quality standards for liquefied natural gas. Andy has also worked in Citigroup’s Global Energy Group and as a reservoir engineer with ExxonMobil. Andy earned a Master in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and bachelors degrees in chemical engineering and economics from Rice University.
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A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found that renewable energy could increase in capacity by up to 50% in the next five years.
The IEA says that the world’s renewable capacity will grow at this rate mainly due to the increase in installations of rooftop solar systems, as well as PV set-ups on commercial and industrial buildings. This will change the way electricity is generated and used.
This latest IEA forecast predicts that the world’s total renewable electricity capacity will grow by 50% between now and 2024, helped along by falling manufacturing costs and by the policies of forward-thinking governments.
Solar is leading the way
The IEA also said that distributed PV will make up almost half of the solar market’s overall growth in the years leading up to 2025, with commercial and industrial installations making up around 75% of new systems over the next five years.
Rooftop solar systems will double in number to around 100 million by 2024 and IEA executive director Dr Fatih Birol believes this pace needs to quicken even more if the world is to reach its long-term air quality, climate and energy goals.
Caution is advised
The report does have a few words of caution for us, however. The growth of PV must be well-monitored and controlled, including policy and tariff reforms being implemented. Unmanaged growth could cause more problems in the electricity market than it solves by disrupting grid integration of renewables and upsetting network operator revenues. If established network providers and generators start to push back against renewables, it could impede the necessary progress.
The IEA, says Dr Birol, can advise global governments on the best ways to introduce more renewables so that networks, providers and end-users are all happy. Everyone must recognise that renewables are an emerging technology and that the transition is a smooth and orderly process for all parties involved.
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At the Delft University of Technology, a new model has been developed to describe the sustainability of products, the 'EVR model'. This model comprises two concepts: - the 'virtual eco-costs' as a LCA-based single indicator for environmental impact - the EVR (Eco-costs/Value Ratio) as an indicator for eco-efficiency In this publication, an experiment is described to test whether the EVR model leads to a good understanding of the eco-efficiency, of a product–service combination. In this experiment three separate groups of 8-11 people were asked to rank four alternative solutions of a product–service system (the after sales service and the maintenance service of an induction plate cooker) both in terms of sustainability and of general preference. The three respective groups were: - customers (among whom representatives of consumer organizations) - business representatives from the manufacturing company of the induction plate cookers - governmental representatives (employees of the Dutch ministries of environmental affairs and economic affairs, and of the Dutch provinces as well as consultants involved in governmental policies), all experts in the field of sustainability The basic idea was to ask each group to rank the four alternatives after three levels of information input: Level 1: basic explanation of the four alternatives. Some major features and characteristics such as price were given, but no environmental data. Level 2: on explanation of an LCA of the four alternatives, given in nine impact classes and the Eco-indicator 95. Level 3: an explanation of the EVR model and the EVR data of the four alternatives. Each time the group was asked to rank the proposed alternatives in terms of expected environmental performance and of 'best choice in general' ('Which system would you have bought in a real life situation?'). From the experiments it can be concluded that: - The concept of eco-costs was accepted by the majority of the non-experts: they based their ranking on it. and they preferred it rather than direct LCA output or the damage based eco-indicator 95 data. - The environmental experts in the governmental group did not directly accept the concept of eco-costs model (they wanted in depth information first); they tended to stick to their existing knowledge of LCA data and the Eco-indicator 95. - 'Overall' preferences of the customers and business representatives were primarily ranked on the 'perceived value'/costs ratio of the product–service combination; the sustainability of the product–service combination played a secondary role.
Communicating the Eco-Efficiency of Products and Services by Means of the Eco-Costs/Value Model
by Arianne Bijma; Han C Brezet; Joost G VogtländerFeb 1, 2002
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The World Bank released a report yesterday [pdf] on poverty levels in the developing world, and found that between 1981 and 2008, the percentage of the world living on below $1.25 per day in 2005 terms has declined to 22%, from approximately 43% in 1990 and from 52% in 1981.
The most insane stat: The percentage of East Asian residents living below $1.25 fell to 14% in 2008 from 77% in 1981
Indeed, while the trend decline in the $1.25 a day poverty rate was 1.05% points per year, it's much lower—0.54% per year—if you exclude China.
This chart illustrates just how great an impact China's growth has had on these measures:
Still, poverty did decline in all other regions. South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South America also saw substantial improvement. Sub-Saharan Africa still lags, but by 2008 it had broken the 50% barrier for those living below $1.25.
The rest of the data are not entirely rosy.
Most of those who made it out of poverty have failed to eclipse the $2-a-day mark.
While the number of people living between $1.25 and $2 has nearly doubled to 1.18 billion in 2008 from 648 million in 1981, those living on more than $2 declined only slightly, to 2.47 billion from 2.59 billion over the same period.
While some of these figures will likely be revised upward in the coming years as a result of the financial crisis, any changes shouldn't be too dramatic given the crisis was felt hardest in the developed world.
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Learn more about doing successful business in Scotland. This page has information about Scotland’s economy, history and even some useful Gaelic phrases. Expand your international business expertise with Lingo24’s International Business Knowledge Base.
From Orkney’s stone circles to the recently-constructed parliament building in Edinburgh, Scotland’s dramatic history spans 8,000 years, years marked by invasions and independence, wars and religious upheavals, intrigues and subjugation. Yet it also saw the flowering of an imagination and inventiveness across many different fields of human endeavour and resulted in Scotland occupying a pivotal position, not only in a British context but in a European and worldwide one. Such a history has left its mark on the nation’s psyche – as well as the landscape – and has contributed in no small way to the fierce pride with which the Scots view themselves and their country today.
Perched on the outer rim of Europe, Scotland forms the northern part of Great Britain and is about two-thirds the size of England and Wales, which occupy the remaining portion. It is surrounded by sea on three sides: to the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the North Sea. Its only land border, that with England, stretches approximately 96 km along the line of the Cheviot Hills.
Scotland has a population of 5.062 million people (2001 census figure). Edinburgh, Scotland’s jewel in the crown, often referred to as the ‘Athens of the north’, is the capital city with 500,000 residents but the largest city is Glasgow, the ‘second city of the British Empire’, with a population of 1.1 million (including its surrounding areas). The third city, Aberdeen, a seaport in the north-east of the country, houses just over 200,000 people.
The unit of currency is the pound sterling (£, GBP), as in the rest of Great Britain. Scotland’s three banks issue their own banknotes – they are an authorised currency and enjoy a status comparable to that of Bank of England notes. Scottish banknotes feature Scottish historical figures such as Robert the Bruce, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Adam Smith.
As things currently stand, Scotland is one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Constitutionally speaking, the United Kingdom is a unitary state with one sovereign parliament and government. As stipulated by the Treaty of Union with England in 1707, Scotland retains its own legal system, its own education system and its own religious institutions.
Under a system of devolution adopted after Scottish and Welsh referendums on devolution proposals in 1997, all of the constituent countries within the United Kingdom except England were given self-governing powers, with certain limitations.
Under devolution executive and legislative powers in certain areas have been constitutionally delegated to the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. The United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster retains active power over Scotland’s taxes, social security system, the military and international relations. The programmes of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament have seen a divergence in the provision of public services compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. For instance, university education and care services for the elderly are free in Scotland, while fees are paid in the rest of the UK. Scotland is the first country in the UK to ban smoking in public places.
The Scottish Parliament is a unicameral legislature made up of 129 Members. The current First Minister (the leader of Scotland’s government) is Jack McConnell MSP.
No political discussion in Scotland is complete without fervent dissection of the constitution – it was the biggest Scottish political issue in the latter half of the 20th century, and devolution does not appear to have dampened the enthusiasm for change. The debate continues over whether the Scottish Parliament should accrue additional powers or seek to obtain full independence with full sovereign powers. It remains to be seen whether the current system satisfies Scottish demands for self-government or will increase calls for full-blown independence.
The Scottish economy is essentially a market economy. After the Industrial Revolution, the Scottish economy concentrated on heavy industry, dominated by the ship-building, coal-mining and steel industries. Scotland was an integral component of the British Empire, which allowed the Scottish economy to export its output throughout the world.
The decline of heavy industry led to a seismic shift in Scotland towards a technology-based and service sector-based economy. The 1980s saw an economic boom in the Silicon Glen corridor between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with many large technology firms relocating to Scotland. The discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s also helped to transform the Scottish economy.
Edinburgh is the financial services centre of Scotland and is now the sixth largest financial centre in Europe. Many large financial firms count Edinburgh as their base, including The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life. Glasgow is Scotland’s leading seaport and is the fourth largest manufacturing centre in the UK, accounting for well over 60% of Scotland’s manufactured exports. Ship-building still forms a large part of the city’s manufacturing base. Aberdeen is the centre of the North Sea oil industry – its platforms tap into the largest oil reserves in the European Union.
Other important Scottish industries include textile production, chemicals, distilling, brewing, fishing and tourism.
Only about one-quarter of the land is under cultivation, and most land is concentrated in relatively few hands. As a result, in 2003, the Scottish Parliament passed a Land Reform Act that empowered tenant farmers and local communities to purchase land even if the landlord did not want to sell.
The largest export products for Scotland are niche products such as whisky, electronics and financial services. The largest markets were the United States, Germany, and The Netherlands. In 2002, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Scotland was just over £74 billion.
ince before the Industrial Revolution, Scots have been at the forefront of innovation and discovery across a wide range of spheres: the steam engine, the bicycle, tarmacadam roads, the telephone, television, the transistor, the motion picture, penicillin, electromagnetics, radar, insulin and calculus are only a few of the most significant products of Scottish ingenuity. In this new century, the technologies may have changed but the creative spark still burns brightly, seen most prominently perhaps in the creation of Dolly the sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal.
It’s difficult to point to any single factor in making Scotland such a hotbed of creativity, although the Scots have always placed a high value on education. A prodigious work ethic, a self-confidence and vision, and perhaps even the weather, may also have played a role. Yet even when they left their native country, Scots took that creative impetus with them and continued to distinguish themselves in their adopted countries. Amazingly, for a country whose population has never been much in excess of 5 million, native Scots or those descended directly from them have been the recipients of some 11% of all the Nobel Prizes that have been awarded.
Language and useful phrases
There are three distinct, recognised languages in Scotland – Scottish English, Scots and Gaelic.
Scottish English is the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, with some unique characteristics, mainly in the phonological and phonetic systems, many of which originate in the country’s two indigenous languages, Gaelic and Scots. Scottish English contains a sprinkling of Scots terms (‘wee’, ‘muckle’, ‘bairn’, ‘braw’, ‘sleekit’ etc.), and there are also a few syntactical differences from English spoken in England.
Scots, like English, is descended from a form of Old English, brought to the southeast of what is now Scotland around the seventh century by the Angles, a Germanic-speaking people who arrived in the British Isles in the fifth century. The language developed with further influence from French – ‘ashet’ (serving plate) and ‘douce’ (quiet), for example – Latin, Dutch and Gaelic (e.g. ‘glen’ and ‘whisky’). Before the sixteenth century, it was usually called ‘inglis’ (i.e. English; ‘scottis’ referred to Gaelic). From the 1500s it came to be known as ‘scottis’ and in this, the Stewart period, it began to develop a written standard. Between this time and the Union of the Parliaments (1707), English gradually became the language of most formal speech and writing and Scots came to be regarded as a ‘group of dialects’ rather than a ‘language’. It continued, however, to be the everyday medium of communication for Lowland Scots, and was used creatively in poetry, song and story. Scots reached its pinnacle of literary achievement in this period in the work of Robert Burns. Scots is now primarily a spoken language, with a number of regional varieties. After centuries of neglect and political opposition, Scots is now more widely appreciated as an important part of Scottish culture. It has been recognised as a language under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and there is an increasing awareness of its cultural and social value. In recent years, there has been an explosion of writing in Scots and the Internet has provided opportunities for Scots speakers to express themselves in their own language. However, more still needs to be done and the development by the Scottish government of specific policies to support Scots would represent a great leap forward.
Gaelic is the longest-standing language used in Scotland and can boast one of the richest song and oral traditions in Europe. Spoken by around 60,000 people in Scotland, it is part of a family of Celtic languages which today are spoken in six separate areas of Europe: Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall in England and Brittany in France.
Helpful Gaelic phrases
|Good morning||Madainn mhath|
|Good afternoon||Feasgar math|
|What’s your name?||Dè an t-ainm a th’ oirbh?|
|My name is XXX||Is mise XXX|
|Goodbye||Mar sin leibh|
|Thank you||Tapadh leat|
|Please||Ma ‘s e ur toil e|
|How are you?||Ciamar a tha thu?|
|Fine||Tha gu math|
About a quarter of the population of Scotland professes active membership of a religious faith, although just 12% regularly attend church. Scotland’s religious community is overwhelmingly Christian, of which two thirds adhere to Presbyterian churches, and a fifth to the Roman Catholic church. There are sizeable Islamic communities in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and a significant Jewish community, particularly in Glasgow. 45% of people in Scotland consider themselves to be agnostics or atheists.
Scotland’s position on the edge of the European continent with water on three sides means that the weather is quite varied. Records show that May and June are usually drier than July and August.
Edinburgh’s annual rainfall is only slightly greater than London’s and many of the east coast towns actually have less annual rainfall than Rome.
Generally speaking, the east coast tends to be cool and dry, the west coast milder and wetter. July and August are normally the warmest months, with average temperatures of 15-19 C.
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To better understand the burden imposed by fatal accidents in the mining industry, it is necessary to develop measures of the economic component of loss to complement
existing surveillance research efforts. The Fatalities Cost in Mining web application, developed by the NIOSH Mining Program, uses an adapted version of a well-known
cost-of-injury methodology to estimate the societal cost of an individual fatality based on key characteristics of the fatally injured miner. In this model, the cost
of a fatal injury has two main components: (1) a one-time direct cost and (2) an annual series of indirect costs beginning at the victim's age at death and ending at
age 67 (estimated retirement age). The direct cost is the estimated medical cost associated with the fatal injury. The indirect cost estimate has two components: the
victim's wage value (wage and benefits adjusted for growth) and the victim's household production value (time spent performing household tasks and providing care to
household members). For each year between the year of death and age 67, the calculator sums the two indirect cost values and then adjusts them for the time value of
money using a real discount rate. The web app adjusts all costs for inflation using the GDP deflator.
Please select one of the options below to estimate the societal costs of mining fatalities. The “New Search” option allows for the selection of specific characteristics
of the mining fatality from historical fatal injury data. The “Open a Saved Search” option is for loading a previously saved search. Selecting none of the boxes in a
variable category has the same effect as choosing all of the variables. To view all data from all years, make no selections in step 1 and proceed to step 2.
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|Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product|
MAJOR CHANGES TO THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
The central international standard for national accounts statistics is the System of National Accounts (SNA), which was revised in 1993 (SNA93). The edition previously used by the ABS in compiling the ANA was published in 1968 (SNA68).
The changes brought about by SNA93 are widespread. The revised system comprises a more comprehensive and integrated set of accounts than its predecessor. In particular, what are currently known as the NIEP accounts, the I-O tables, the financial flow accounts and the balance sheet in the ANA have been brought together in a fully integrated way. This allows users to examine not only the production relationships in the accounts but also the ways in which these relationships affect Australia's net worth and financial position. Further, the introduction of satellite accounts through the use of complementary and alternative concepts and classifications will extend the analytical capacity of the national accounts in areas such as tourism, health and the environment.
The changes have been 'backcast' as far back as required to maintain consistency of time series. For current price series in the production account of the NIEP accounts, this is generally back to 1959-60.
A more detailed description of changes to the structure of the accounts and changes which have led to revisions in the level and movement of GDP is contained in the Information Papers Implementation of Revised International Standards in the Australian National Accounts (5251.0), Introduction of Chain Volume Measures in the Australian National Accounts (5248.0) and Upgraded Australian National Accounts (5253.0).
The last issues of the ANA to be released on the SNA68 basis were the June quarter 1998 releases of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (5206.0) and Australian National Accounts: Financial Accounts (5232.0). However, as a complete set of national accounts on the SNA93 basis could not be produced prior to the timetable for this edition of Yearbook Australia, all data presented in the present section are on the SNA68 basis.
These documents will be presented in a new window.
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Bitcoin and Cryptoccurency technology is a must read for enthusiasts and investors alike. This book will tell you everything you need to know about the new internet of money.
This book will answer the following questions and a lot more.
- How does Bitcoin and its blockchain work?
- How secure is your Bitcoin investment?
- How anonymous are users of cryptocurrencies?
- Can cryptocurrencies be regulated?
The courses and the book covers decentralization, minin, the politics of Bitcoin and altcoins.
Accompanying the book are free lecture videos which can be found below and on the princeton.edu website
Lecture 1: Introduction to Cryptocurrencies
Lecture 2: How Bitcoin Achieves Decentralization
Lecture 3: Mechanics of Bitcoin
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Berkeley Laboratory scientists designed simulations to determine how much biofuel is needed for the whole bioproduct extraction process to be labeled as cost-efficient. Their results showed that the target levels are actually modest and within reach.
The development of biofuels over the past years is part of the strategy to decrease the demand for petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels. However, biofuels are yet to reach the level where they can compete with petroleum-based fuels in terms of cost production. Conventional biofuel production often involves genetically engineered plants that can produce essential chemical compounds, or bioproducts.
These bioproducts are extracted from the plant, and the remaining plant parts are converted into fuel. This led scientists from the Berkeley Laboratory to investigate exactly how much bioproduct does a plant need to determine if the whole extraction process to be determined efficient, and how much bioproduct should be produced to reach the target ethanol selling price of USD 2.50 per gallon.
To do this, the researchers studied existing data of well-studied plant-based bioproduct production. They used this data to make simulations that will determine the factors involved in extracting bioproducts using the context of bioethanol refinery, which means that bioproducts will be extracted from the plant and the remaining plant materials will be converted to ethanol.
Their results determined that the bioproduct levels needed to accumulate in plants to offset the production cost recovery is quite feasible. Using limonene as an example, they calculated that an accumulated 0.6% of biomass dry weight would already produce net economic benefits to biorefineries. To illustrate, it means harvesting 10 dry metric tons of sorghum mass from one acre will only need 130 pounds of recovered limonene from that biomass to say that the whole production process is efficient.
According to the scientists, this new finding can provide new insights into the role of bioproducts to improve biorefinery economics. The results also offer the first quantitative basis for implementation of this cost-saving strategy for future studies on plant-based biofuel breeding and engineering. The scientists also recommended that crops need to be engineered to produce a broad range of bioproducts in order to provide options and diversify products in the market.
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This paper is basically concerned with two major questions, which will be pointed out in the following. Therefore the researach is divided into two parts. Very specific questions are written down and the answers are given to the questions in the following. Therefore there is no table of contents necessary due to the fact that the paper is very much based on political science. The research is based on empiric analysis of the topic.
1. The member state level and the European (EU) level do not work separately but constantly “overlap” in the EU decision-making process (for example by way of committees).
This question in general implies that we are talking about multi-level governance. Committees are an example for multi-level governance but they are not the answer to the question. I could finish answering this question here, because the answer is simply ‘yes’, there is an interaction between the state level and the european level. And this is a part of multi-level governance in the European Union. But what is it and how does it work?
Multi-level governance by definition is “the reallocation of authority upwards, downwards and sidewards from central states.” So that means that sovereign states in the first run must not give up their sovereignty in many cases but they have to transfer their authority to institutions of the European Union. For example the overlapping of state interests and the cooperation of states with the european institutions in the committees is an example for the reallocation of authority, though the state remains sovereign according to her national interests.
Also the principle of subsidiarity is closely related to this concept because behind each and every step forward in the european integration process lies the fear of the member states to lose sovereignty. From a realistic point of view international relations today in a system of the European Union still are about sovereignty. Absolute Sovereignty doesn’t exist anymore because the international system has other also actors than states which are seen as subjects under international law. So the state’s interest is to maintain relative Sovereignty. The principle of multi-level governance – the cooperation of state authorities with authorities of the European Union – stresses the link between sovereignty and european flexible integration. Flexible Integration per definitionem is the gradation of rights and obligations among member states (internal flexibility) and among the european contractual partners (external flexibility). This flexibility offers the opportunity to get over structural decision blockades by an incoherent connection of different levels in the decision-making process according to the multi-level governance to create new political volume in the EU.
As we have discussed the theoretical background we can turn over to the so-called comitology. The term ‘comitology’ is used for the committee procedures in the European Union. This procedure oversees the acts implemented by the European Commission. That’s it’s main purpose. As I have already stated, the comittees are a part where the state level and the european level come together. A committee is composed of member state officials chaired by the Commission. So the member states have the right to discuss their special concern(s) in this forum. This forum is only possible because both sides, the european level and the state level, were thinking about a specific regulation before, though the proposal is always initiated by the Commission. What I say is that nobody is really unprepared if this particular proposal is of national interest. Sometimes it can be that a state has simply not a real interest in a specific topic. But in general it is the forum where state and european interests come together.
Most EU legislation is not enacted by the Council and the Parliament but is implemented by the executive duties of the Commission. So all legislative proposals and other legislative documents must be considered within a committee. So the link between member state’s opinion and the opinion of the european institutions is given by the committee procedure
The term "governance" refers to the decision-making processes in the administration of an organization. Different nations and different organizations within a nation may approach governance concerns. Sometimes it is also used for ‘govern’ or more often it even stands for ‘government’. http://www.ifpri.org/themes/Gov/govglossary.asp
Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks (2001), Types of Multi-Level Governance, European Integration Online Papers (EioP) Vol. 5 No 11. http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2001-011a.htm
Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (consolidated version of the Nice treaty) says: „ The Community shall act within the limits of the powers conferred upon it by this Treaty and of the objectives assigned to it therein. In areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Community shall take action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved by the Community.”
Fritz Scharpf (1985), Die Politikverflechtungsfalle: Europäische Integration und deutscher Föderalismus im
Vergleich, Politische Vierteljahresschrift 26 (4), 323.
Flexibility and the future of the European Union. A Fedeal Trust Report on flexible integration in the European Union. Karen Smith on flexible integration. http://www.fedtrust.co.uk/admin/uploads/FedT_Flexibility_report.pdf
Arthur Benz (1998), Politikverflechtung ohne Politikverflechtungsfalle . Koordination und Strukturdynamik
im europäischen Mehrebenensystem, Politische Vierteljahresschrift 39 (3), 558.
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The Treasury manages public spending within two ‘control totals’ of about equal size:
- departmental expenditure limits (DELs) – mostly covering spending on public services, grants and administration (collectively termed ‘resource’ spending) and investment (‘capital’ spending). These are items that can be planned over extended periods.
- annually managed expenditure (AME) – categories of spending less amenable to multi-year planning, such as social security spending and debt interest.
Depreciation is a measure of the reduction in the value of an asset over time, due in particular to wear and tear. For example, in the absence of maintenance spending, the value of the roads network would decline over time as the weather and traffic cause potholes to emerge. In the National Accounts, depreciation is measured by assuming different assets have different lifespans and that their value depreciates smoothly over that lifespan.
We forecast depreciation by sub-sector: central government, local authority and public corporations. It has a complicated impact on the public finances, as illustrated by the table below:
Only general government depreciation (central government and local authority) affects total managed expenditure (TME). It increases AME spending, but is directly offset in current receipts, where it increases public sector gross operating surplus (GOS) by an equal amount. These effects all net off in terms of public sector net borrowing, but depreciation does increase the current budget deficit. In the past, governments have used the current budget balance as the main fiscal target (for example, the Labour Government’s ‘golden rule’ from 1997 to 2008 and the Coalition Government’s ‘fiscal mandate’ from 2010 to 2015).
In our latest forecast, we expect general government depreciation in 2018-19 to amount to £31.2 billion (with £18.6 billion of central government depreciation and £12.7 billion of local government depreciation). That would represent 3.8 per cent of total public spending, and is equivalent to £1,100 per household and 1.5 per cent of national income. Public corporations’ depreciation amounted to £9.7 billion in our latest forecast (£340 per household and 0.5 per cent of national income).
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A disciplined spending plan
The last few times I have taught my TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR MONEY workshop to younger adults, I find myself coming back to a really basic concept called a Disciplined Spending Plan.
Ironically, this concept is so basic that it’s what I teach young children when I donate my time to schools. Every now and then I donate my time to teach kids about money and when I do, I always talk about four things you can do with money:
The conscious spending grid
When I teach children, including my own boys, I take a piece of paper and divide the page into 4 quadrants. In each quadrant, I have the kids write each of the four things you can do with money into each of the grids. (Just so you know, these grids are no different than money jars, piggy banks, etc)
I then give the kids play money and ask the kids to put money into each of the 4 quadrants.
With really young kids, I don’t tell them what each of the quadrants means. They just have fun splitting up the money into different boxes. Instinctively, most kids split up the money and put some in each box. (As adults, we call this diversification)
Once they are done, I then show them what they will look like in the future.
- SPEND BOX – If you put money in this box, there will be nothing there in the future.
- SAVING BOX – If you put money in this box, there will be the same amount in the future. In other words, savings is good to have because it is liquid but it does not really pay interest.
- INVEST BOX – This box has more money than you put in which illustrates the idea of having your money make money even when you do nothing.
- SHARE BOX – This box has a chocolate heart in the box which represents a good deed in exchanges for good feelings.
The point of the exercise is to show kids the future impact/consequence of their actions today.
Teaching adults the same concept
Ironically, I have been teaching this concept to adults because so many people employ a wing-it strategy when it comes to spending. When you get a tax refund, what do you do with it? When you get a bonus, what do you do with it? Most people employ a spending strategy based on what their needs are today or at that moment.
The whole idea of a disciplined spending plan is that it’s a plan. I’ve often said a plan looks into the future to make the future more predictable. Instead of winging it, having a conscious spending plan means you have thought about the 4 things you can do with your money and the best way to do it.
Here’s an example of a conscious spending plan:
Mary and Sam have decided their spending plan looks like this:
- 5% to saving (TFSA)
- 10% to investing (RRSP)
- 5% for sharing
- 80% for spending
When Mary got an inheritance of $250,000 they applied their disciplined spending plan to the amount immediately:
- $12,500 went straight to their TFSA
- $25,000 went to their RRSPs
- $12,500 went to 3 different charities
- Although the remaining $200,000 was allocated to spending, they decided to pay off a $75,000 line of credit, take the family to Hawaii ($14,000), replace washer and dryer ($5000) and buy new furniture for the family room ($10,000). The rest of the money was put into a savings account.
When Mary and Jack sold some of their old furniture on Kijiji for $1000, they applied for the money according to their conscious spending plan. When Sam got a tax refund back from the government, he asked Mary if he could use it to buy a new set of golf clubs.
Having a conscious spending plan makes saving and investing easier because it makes the decision automatic. As you can see from Mary and Sam, you can always apply for money differently but it just fosters discipline by having a pre-determined plan that was thought out instead of ad hoc.
What do you think of the disciplined spending plan?
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Economic profit is the difference between total revenue and total economic cost. Total revenue is measured as the sales receipts of a firm, that is, price times quantity sold. The economic cost of any activity may be thought of as the highest valued alternative opportunity that is foregone. To attract economic resources to some activity, the firm must pay a price for these factors (labour, capital and natural resources), that is, sufficient to convince the owners of these resources to sacrifice other alternatives and commit the resources to this use. Thus, economic costs may be thought of as opportunity costs, or the costs of attracting a resource from its next best alternative use. Accordingly, the term economic cost refers to all costs, both explicit and implicit, including a normal return (profit) for owners of the financial resources.
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Real vs. Nominal
Supplementary resources for high school students
Definitions and Basics
Definition: The nominal value of a good is its value in terms of money. The real value is its value in terms of some other good, service, or bundle of goods. Examples:
- Nominal: That CD costs $18. Japan’s science and technology spending is about 3 trillion yen per year.
- Real: A year of college costs about the value of a Toyota Camry. Those tickets to see Van Halen cost me three weeks’ worth of food!
Relative price is another term for the real price of a good or service. When we say that the relative price of computers has fallen in recent years, we mean that the price of computers relative to or measured in terms of other goods and services—such as TVs or cars—has declined. Relative prices of individual goods and services can decrease even if nominal prices are all increasing, because of inflation.
Real versus nominal value, at Investopedia.com
Real value is nominal value adjusted for inflation. The real value is obtained by removing the effect of price level changes from the nominal value of time-series data, so as to obtain a truer picture of economic trends. The nominal value of time-series data such as gross domestic product and incomes is adjusted by a deflator to derive their real values….
Gross Domestic Product, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
In practice BEA first uses the raw data on production to make estimates of nominal GDP, or GDP in current dollars. It then adjusts these data for inflation to arrive at real GDP. But BEA also uses the nominal GDP figures to produce the “income side” of GDP in double-entry bookkeeping. For every dollar of GDP there is a dollar of income. The income numbers inform us about overall trends in the income of corporations and individuals. Other agencies and private sources report bits and pieces of the income data, but the income data associated with the GDP provide a comprehensive and consistent set of income figures for the United States. These data can be used to address important and controversial issues such as the level and growth of disposable income per capita, the return on investment, and the level of saving….
In the News and Examples
Tax Freedom Day: Americans work 4 months to pay this year’s taxes. The amount of time varies by state. Tax Freedom Day 2018 is April 19th. TaxFoundation.org.
Tax Freedom Day® is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year. Tax Freedom Day takes all federal, state, and local taxes and divides them by the nation’s income. In 2018, Americans will pay $3.39 trillion in federal taxes and $1.80 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total tax bill of $5.19 trillion, or 30 percent of national income. This year, Tax Freedom Day falls on April 19th, 109 days into 2018.
A Little History: Primary Sources and References
Real versus nominal value. [Editor’s Note: This useful explanation was originally published at Answers.com but is no longer available on that site.]
In economics, the nominal values of something are its money values in different years. Real values adjust for differences in the price level in those years. Examples include a bundle of commodities, such as Gross Domestic Product, and income. For a series of nominal values in successive years, different values could be because of differences in the price level. But nominal values do not specify how much of the difference is from changes in the price level. Real values remove this ambiguity. Real values convert the nominal values as if prices were constant in each year of the series. Any differences in real values are then attributed to differences in quantities of the bundle or differences in the amount of goods that the money incomes could buy in each year….
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As the German government gets ready for a major overhaul of its landmark renewable energy act, the fundamental problem is cost.
The Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, or EEG law, set up the country's system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) and mandatory purchases for independent renewable energy producers. This system has been highly successful, driving down solar costs and prices around the world. It has reduced emissions, diversified the power supply, reduced fuel imports, created jobs and driven down wholesale market prices.
But it has come at a high cost, which is explained by basic economics: total cost = P x Q.
These three simple graphs describe the price (P), the quantity (Q), and the resulting bill that German policymakers are now grappling with.
Graph 1: Price
Source: Fraunhofer Institute
With FITs, regulators look at the cost of new renewables and set a price tailored to each technology and size of project, plus a reasonable profit. On the theory that deployment would drive the technologies down the cost curve, regulators set up a regular “degression” of FIT prices, resetting prices annually.
FITs for solar started out at high levels in the early 2000s, and saw a steady decline as deployment costs came down. But cost declines began to outpace the ability of regulators to lower the FIT rates, causing a PV explosion. In 2010, regulators started to review FIT rates more frequently. By 2013, they were doing it monthly.
Graph 2: Quantity
Source: Zentrum für Sonnenenergie und Wasserstoff (ZSW)
Solar started growing rapidly in 2009 and exploded over the next three years, with 7 gigawatts per year added to an 80-gigawatt German power system. At the end of 2013, there were 1.4 million solar installations providing 35.7 gigawatts of capacity -- more than any other power source -- though only 5.8 percent of energy. Solar installations fell by half in 2013, as regulators clamped down on deployment.
Graph 3: The bill
Source: Agora Energiewende
While regulators cut the FIT price by half between 2010 and 2012, the huge amount of solar built blew up the EEG-Umlage, the surcharge customers pay to cover the above-market costs of the FIT. It doubled between 2010 and 2013.
The third graph, taken from a new online calculator developed by the group Agora Energiewende, shows the size and components of the surcharge. Solar is gold in the graph, with past installations in shaded gold and expected new installations in solid gold.
The solar portion of the surcharge rose from €3.35 billion in 2010 to €6.84 billion in 2011 and €8.68 billion by 2013. The total Umlage rose to almost €25 billion this year, though €4 billion of that is the “liquidity reserve,” shown in solid red, a fund to cover errors in estimation. This excess will be refunded to consumers, driving down the Umlage for the next few years.
Still, the Umlage will rise as new renewables come on-line, albeit at a more gradual pace as regulators impose “corridors,” or growth targets. The energy ministry expects the EEG surcharge to rise to 7.7 euro cents by 2020, with the Centre for European Economic Research pegging it at 8.3 euro cents. With FIT contracts in effect for twenty years, the surcharge won’t come down to stay anytime soon.
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The best things in life are free, so they say. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they do not have value. It also doesn’t mean that it will cost you nothing to get them. It just simply means that these things are not bought by money — neither cash nor credit. You do not pay money, but you still pay the cost.
The truth is, there is a price for everything.
Everything comes with a price. The price is what you are willing to give in exchange for something. It is a way of measuring the worth of a thing — thus the phrase “if the price is right.”
Most often than not, the price can alter your perception of things. If the price is right, you will either sell it or buy it. Similarly, if the price is not right, no matter how much you like something, you will most likely decide to just forget it.
Money cannot buy happiness, they say. Although some people use their money to buy temporary happiness, there are times when you need to pay something else to be happy in life, such as time.
More time to do the things that you love.
More time to spend with your loved ones.
More time to spend for yourself.
In this case, the price of happiness is time. Unfortunately, however, time (and more of it) is not always free.
What does it mean to make more time for the things that make you happy? Simple — it just means you need to sacrifice other things.
For example, if spending more time with your loved ones makes you happier, you may need to spend less time at work. This could, in turn, result in getting lesser pay, having unfinished tasks, not getting a promotion, putting the quality of your work at risk, or even risking losing your job. These are a few of the sacrifices you need to make and the price you have to pay to buy that kind of happiness.
Depending on your situation, you can then decide if the price is right or not.
If happiness means playing an online game, watching your favorite TV series, or reading a good book after a long day at work, you need to sacrifice a few hours of sleep to stay up late to do these things. In this case, sleep (or the lack thereof) will be the cost of your “happiness”.
However, if you’re too exhausted from work, your perception of this after-work entertainment may change, and you might then decide that happiness, at that moment, is actually getting more rest rather than staying up late to do the things that you love.
In this scenario, you chose your health over entertainment because you feel like your health is not the price you are willing to pay for such temporary pleasure. This is how price can change your perception of things.
If someone did you wrong and you choose to get angry, the cost of your holding grudges against that person is your peace of mind. While it’s true that forgiving that person will not make you any richer or poorer, you are buying your own peace with forgiveness.
If the fault against you is too grave to be forgiven and you want to seek revenge, one of the prices you have to pay to get this is to undergo some moments of anxiety.
What is more valuable to you? Getting even, or your own peace of mind?
Value is subjective
You pay for the choices you make in life, as well as for the actions you choose not to take. Understanding the true cost of a thing, and what its value means to you, can alter your perception of whether it’s worth paying for or not.
Value, however, varies from one person to another. What is valuable to you may be worthless to another.
“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”
If you’re a vintage collector, you may be willing to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars, for a broken, centennial-old watch. But another person who doesn’t recognize the value of antique objects may see this as absurd.
A sports enthusiast who is not interested in music would rather pay to go to a soccer game than watch an expensive concert for free. A health-conscious person would be happier to receive a basket of fresh fruits as a gift than a box of expensive chocolates.
This only means that the price becomes right if you are paying it for the things that are of more value to you compared to its cost.
Everything comes with a price
No matter what you want in life, you have to give up something to get it.
Some of the most common costs that we pay for the things that we want are:
One needs to make a sacrifice or two for everything because nothing in this world is free. No, not even love. Because love, too, comes with a price.
Follow @simplybeni on Instagram
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Roger Senserrich, Director of Communications at Connecticut Voices for Children
Martin Ravallion. The Economics of Poverty. History, Measurement and Policy. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir. Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives. New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2013.
Analysis of a society’s wealth and income distribution may show how gains from growth are distributed, but does not necessarily offer any coherent explanations regarding the experience of living under extreme scarcity, or which public policies help those who have least.
The books concerning us here attempt to answer these two questions through economic analysis strictly focused on the reality and experience of poverty, but from completely different perspectives. Ravallion’s approach in The Economics of Poverty is to provide a global overview of poverty; his book is a comprehensive manual that offers a journey through the theoretical and empirical knowledge of poverty. In Scarcity, in contrast, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir approach the problem of poverty from the opposite extreme by studying how it affects those who suffer from it.
Ravallion opens his book with a broad review of the role played by poverty analysis in economic theory. Classical economists in the early 19th century usually only considered solutions or strategies for improving the situation of the neediest as tools for promoting social stability, not as an end in themselves. It was not until the end of the same century, firstly with utilitarianism and secondly, above all, with the emergence of the labour movement, that poverty and inequality started to occupy a central role in public debate in the industrialised countries.
Ravallion uses this historical rundown of theoretical debates as an introduction to the complexities involved in analysing, measuring and fighting poverty. Each section of the book combines non-technical information with formal explanations of economic theory.
The Economics of Poverty is exhaustive. Following the theoretical overview, the book’s second part details the problem of the definition of poverty, which varies according to how we measure the access to resources, opportunities, services or financial security of those affected.
The empirical part of the book highlights the relevance of indicators. Ravallion examines the extensive literature on the global evolution of inequality and poverty levels, both overall and for each country, plus theoretical models of inequality and development, and how they adapt to the reality of data. Ravallion closes the book with a run-through of dozens of strategies for fighting poverty, from direct transfers to trade liberalisation, and including universal services and administrative reforms, and shows the empirical evidence of the effects of each.
The principal virtue of The Economics of Poverty is its enormous scale: it examines an extraordinarily complex problem from a wide variety of perspectives. Ravallion is fully aware of the considerable theoretical and practical differences involved when talking about poverty in developing countries and in rich countries. The author focuses above all on the problems of the first group, undoubtedly more compelling, and often sidelines the problems and public debates of the richer countries.
Despite these limitations, The Economics of Poverty is an authentic encyclopaedia of public policies, indicators and strategies used the world over. It is an immensely useful reference work, both for understanding poverty and for thinking about and assessing possible solutions.
When analysing poverty from an aggregate perspective it is easy to miss nuances regarding what is happening behind the statistics, the story behind the data. If Ravallion offers a large-scale view of poverty, Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir take the opposite route: Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives revolves precisely around the experience of poverty. Scarcity does not seek to talk about poverty’s causes, but its consequences. It is an almost minimalist book, which focuses on those suffering poverty directly and how it affects their lives.
The starting point for Mullainathan and Shafir is found in behavioural economics, and specifically, in the effect of scarcity on the capacity of those suffering it to take rational decisions. The authors start off with an apparently simple but very powerful idea: the difficulty we all experience when making decisions in situations of stress. Their argument is that poverty brings with it situations of deprivation, which means that those affected by it live in a state of continual tension that prevents them from taking effective action.
Those affected by situations of deprivation live in a state of continual tension that prevents them from taking effective action.
Mullainathan and Shafir combine a dense volume of empirical evidence from both natural and laboratory experiments to develop this idea. Scarcity and deprivation generate a cognitive response that makes us focus on the short term, on trying to find solutions for immediate problems. The authors describe decision-making as a bandwidth problem: in the absence of stress we can evaluate options and prioritise by thinking about the long term, but in situations of scarcity our brain responds on the defensive, trying to fix only what is right before us. This focus on the immediate explains, for example, the difficulty that people on low incomes experience when trying to save money, avoid indebtedness or attend training courses for several months without being distracted by other problems. Our mind is designed to respond to emergencies and focus all our attention on what we have right before us; this can be useful in situations of danger, but is not very operational when trying to find a job or pay the rent.
The direct implication of this theory is that apparently irrational decisions by poor people are in fact a consequence, not a cause of poverty. The constant tension of not knowing whether you will make it to the end of the month is an extraordinarily tough experience, almost unimaginable for a middle-class person. It can even be a cause of post-traumatic stress; it is no surprise, therefore, that this clouds the decision-making process.
The complexity of poverty: from the data and major tendencies to the difficulty of translating public policies into effective interventions.
The result is that families facing poverty often act impulsively, attending immediate needs instead of planning for the medium-term. Scarcity explains why a poor family will spend money on escapist activities, seeking ways to relax in the face of an overwhelming avalanche of emergencies and problems, and how family tension can lead to children performing less well at school or the work performance of parents themselves suffering.
If we want to reduce poverty, therefore, the priority must be to promote public policies that change this vicious circle by simplifying the decision-making process or through programmes designed to reduce the immediate stress levels of families.
According to the authors, a system of public nurseries could be more effective if places are automatically assigned, thus parents do not have to waste time deciding on which nursery they are going to send their children to. A professional training programme will begin with basic general training classes, and will only give options to choose and specialise once the students are comfortable with the system.
One effective intervention would be to make cash transfers directly to people needing them, whether through assistance grants aimed at services (public housing, for example) or direct cash transfers. Any programme that reduces the perception of scarcity in an immediate way will mean that its recipients will be able to face other long-term problems (savings, health, education) more calmly.
The problem of the argument presented in Scarcity, however, is that it responds to a very limited question, the experience of poverty, but without tackling its causes. Although it is a useful answer and necessary for a certain rhetoric that tends to lay blame on victims of poverty for their own situation and to understand why escaping from it is so complicated, this analysis is only valid to explain the persistence of poverty in certain contexts, not the causes. It is very useful for assessing the design of public policies that aim to break with poverty traps and promote social mobility, but not for tackling economic development strategies.
It is here, again, that the monumental volume of Ravallion, with its ambition, complexity and detail, proves itself to be essential. Both books, overall, are a powerful reminder of the complexity of poverty. Ravallion offers us the data and major tendencies; Mullainathan and Shafir, the difficulty of translating public policies into effective interventions.
In Spain barely 3.3% of the total of social transfers in the year 2016
targeted children, against the European average of 9%. However, this study
shows that it is the most effective way of eradicating poverty.
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The collection of our recycling is only one half of a story which is actually global in scale and represents a multibillion dollar industry worldwide
In the United Kingdom, recycling is seen by many as a localised issue. What we throw away from our homes and workplaces everyday into an assortment of recycling bins is controlled by our local authorities who collect, measure and offset it against their own, localised targets for reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. Yet the collection of our recycling is only one half of a story which is actually global in scale and represents a multibillion dollar industry worldwide (Roberts, 2012).
The trade in recyclable materials internationally is not a new experience. As early as the First World War, waste ash and grease was traded across Europe for the making of bricks and explosives respectively (Brinker, 1919). The rapid rise of metal trading throughout the 1970s however led to the recycling phenomenon we currently see in Chinese cities, where the hugely lucrative trade in scrap materials is fuelling a large part of the Asian economy.
China has arguably become the new international hub of recycling. Scrap materials are transported there from the USA, the EU and Japan primarily, but also from every large consumer market of China’s goods. For the most part these scrap materials are metal based: lighting ballasts, copper cables, iron based car chassis, aluminium radiators and electric motors (China’s largest source of copper) are all collected from around the source countries by specialist dealers and exported in huge quantities each week to factories in China where they are stripped down and the metals resmelted. An average US international scrap metal dealer will spend US$1 million a week on scrap metal before export costs and some US dealers have even moved their operations permanently to China in order to increase profit margins further.
This is not to say that the recycling of metals only happens in China. Omnisource, a company operating out of Fort Wayne in Indiana, USA is home to the largest plant in the world specialising in the recycling of cables. Using a heavily mechanised and computer controlled process, cables are fed through a machine which stands larger than a football pitch and a metal ‘grain’ is produced which can be melted down for the production of new copper. While the process is highly organised and regulated, it is also expensive and so Omnisource will only recycle cable with the highest grade of copper and with the easiest level of extraction.
The remaining lower grade cable gets shipped to China, where the process for extraction is a lot simpler. At the cable recycling plant in Chizhou, Anhui Provence, a machine resembling a wood chipper is used, through which cables are diced and mixed with water to create a metal soup. The metal is then put through a process similar to gold panning whereby copper and plastics are separated over a water table. The remaining copper is ninety-five per cent pure and the plastic particulates are even collected and made into flip-flops: a fantastic example of green processing.
With such ease of extraction one has to question why the USA and the EU do not undertake this process themselves. The answer is simple – China recycles most metals because China has the highest demand for metals. Forty three per cent of global copper demand comes from China and it satisfies forty per cent of this demand from the recycling of materials that it imports from overseas.
Infographic: The Global Recycling Trade
Activities and Questions
Using the infographic on ‘The Global Recycling Trade’, compare the data from the three pie charts. What does this tell us about the future sustainability of using copper as a component in consumer electronics?
One could argue that the global trade in scrap material has been made possible by ‘containerisation’. Research the meaning and history of this term and describe how the story of recycling has been reliant on this process.
Is recycling a truly global activity? Look at the infographic on ‘The Global Recycling Trade’ and assess the extent to which this is true.
Considering the increasing fuel costs for the global transportation of goods and materials, one could justifiably question the economic validity of transporting recyclables between continents. What these costs mask however is that scrap materials taken to China generate an enormous income for the recycling plants involved in their processing. Recycled copper can fetch up to £4.75 / kg and aluminium £2.80 / kg on the London Metals Exchange (LME, 2014) which in the quantities passing through plants at Foshan and Chizhou in China has created a lucrative industry.
With recycling becoming so profitable, a further consideration has to be the reasons why the producers of the scrap (namely the USA, Europe and Japan) do not process it themselves. One reason relates to the effort and labour needed to strip and treat the recyclables. Scrap metals are rarely bought in an unmixed form as many are fashioned into alloys as part of the manufacturing process. Extra components such as plastic in casings and containers mean that stripping and sorting the scrap can be a labour intensive process for those companies not willing to invest in the huge machines needed to do the task for them. In China there is a large labour force willing to work in this industry and more importantly they have skills (such as the visual recognition of different grades of metal) that make recycling far more viable. The extra substances in the scrap such as plastics are no deterrent either: these are frequently collected as a by-product and used to make cheap consumer items such as plastic sandals.
A second reason why China is taking on the world’s recycling is because the county has become the biggest market for the recycled materials themselves. The demand for ‘second-hand’ metals is especially high in China: copper in particular finds its way back into consumer electricals (such as mobile phones and circuit boards) that the country is marketing within its own borders as well as exporting in huge numbers to developed nations. Therefore it makes enormous economic sense to import a raw material at a heavily discounted rate in order to increase profit margins on manufactured goods.
The nature of containerised transport systems also benefits Chinese recycling firms. While sending manufactured goods from China to the USA is relatively expensive, to return a single container back to China empty is a waste of resources time and money for most shipping companies. The solution would be to send back to China goods that have been manufactured in the USA but therein lies a further problem: the USA is not producing any goods that China cannot manufacture itself cheaper. A far more cost effective solution is to return the containers at a heavily reduced rate of £185 per container (about eight times less than their outbound journey of £1500 per container) and to fill the containers with scrap material that the USA cannot otherwise process. Therefore, as long as the developed world continues to consume cheap Chinese goods, there is little incentive for this economically symbiotic relationship to end.
Infographic: The Economic Viability of International Recycling
Why do manufacturers not make their products easier to recycle?
What economic conditions might lead to the breakdown of cheap containerisation for recycled goods? Discuss this with a peer and estimate how likely it is your different scenarios will happen.
Take a simple component such as a filament light bulb from a string of decorative lights. Estimate how long it would take for you to safely identify and remove the different metallic elements the bulb contains, and how much it would cost in labour based on the UK minimum wage. If tungsten is worth £20 / kg, are you able to make a profit if you process 1000 light bulbs which collectively contain 20g of tungsten? If not, how much faster would you have to work, or how much less would you have to be paid?
Recycling in the developing world could be seen to have an image problem. It is common to find descriptions of children sifting through the scrap that has been dumped in huge piles on the edge of their cities. In the past it has been seen as a common home of exploited labour and further morals are called into question when thinking about how we deal with e-waste.
Though the scrap business is far from a fully regulated and objective body, there is evidence that there is in places a greater subtly to its manner than we may at first believe. Recycling can be found at the heart of families’ private industries: it still falls on home workshops to process and recycle a lot of the scrap metal that enters China. Despite the reasonable profits that can be made from this processing, home workshops may exist because these families occupy the poorer edges of society or indeed come from victimised sections of city communities, such as the Jewish diaspora in New York city and the Ankui migrants in Shanghai. The low literacy levels needed to be a recycler and the informal nature of the work means it is open to large swathes of migrant populations, where more advanced opportunities remain closed to them.
Recycling at the big plants takes place in clean and well ventilated workshops; conditions that are essential for processing micro components in recyclables such as microprocessors. Scrap employees in China can earn up to £440 per month compared to the national average of £250 per month (International Labour Organisation, 2013) and skilled labourers on the processing line on the factory floor can earn twice that of their office managers, challenging the idea of widespread exploitation in the industry. Recycling firms have become large employers of women who demonstrate a high level of skill in being able to sort and grade scrap metals by eye: as such they are very high demand and create a working practice that becomes associated with a great deal of dignity.
The morality of reusing recycled materials has also been called into question. In Guiyu, China, where the world’s largest plant for recycling electronics is found, microprocessors are meticulously removed in clinical conditions. These microprocessors are then resold and placed in new components, which may be without the parent company’s consent, making the process potentially a form of ‘green fraud’. It is happening on such a vast scale that few companies have the ability to police it.
Evaluating these recycling practices is far from a simple process as at its core lies the recognition that any recycling of metals saves further mining for new ore in environmentally sensitive areas. This is an important consideration given that on average 165 kilograms of ore is mined for every kilogram of copper produced. With positive social and economic aspects to recycling being evidenced in China, it may be difficult to find counterarguments to its continuance. Different scales of analysis may reveal differences in perception: China’s gains may be to the detriment of the European Union and while transporting recyclables to China may be a viable option now, its effectiveness may decline as African nations become more industrialised and economically competitive.
Infographic: Challenging perceptions of the recycling trade
Use eight variables to create an impact assessment on a bipolar scale of recycling through China. Try to use a variety of social, economic and environmental factors to score and then make a decision on the extent to which recycling is sustainable.
Who is responsible for policing the recycling industry? Make a list of players who would be involved and discuss with a peer each of their capabilities to fulfil this role.
How has the identity of a recycler changed over time?
The profile of recycling has been changed dramatically by the rise of China industrially. As well as becoming the powerhouse of consumer goods manufacturing, the nation has also invested in ways to deal with waste – a growing problem with which the developed world is either unwilling or too ill-equipped to cope. Such change in circumstances has changed our view of recycling and our perceptions of those employed at its ground level work, and created a strong economic model for other developing countries to follow. However as the morals of handling some types of e-waste become of greater concern, the future of recycling may become less well-defined and a new model for dealing with such scrap may need to be found.
The process by which waste materials are changed into new products. As well as reducing the need for the extraction of natural resources from the environment, it also prevents waste materials from being burnt or left in landfill sites, which damages the environment further.
London Metal Exchange (LME)
Founded in 1877 in London, the LME is the world’s largest market for the future buying and selling of metals. They deal with delivery contracts between metal ore extractors and manufacturing industries.
A process by which the importing of foreign made products is stopped in favour of making those same goods in country, reducing the country’s dependency on foreign industries. This practice has traditionally been deployed by the Asian Tigers and more recently by China.
A large scale transport system that uses steel shipping containers to move cargo effectively over large distances. The containers’ standardised dimensions mean they can be easily moved from one mode of transport to another (e.g. from ship to train or truck) without the need to unload at each stage. The containers and their contents can also be tracked more easily using a simple computerised system
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
A hierarchy of processes that aims to protect the environment by decreasing the amount of waste that ends up in landfill. It says that one’s first priority in dealing with waste is to reduce the amount of waste one creates (for example by reducing the amount of packaging around food products). One should then try to reuse the waste in its original form (but possibly with a new purpose) before finally recycling it.
E-Waste / E-Scrap
The discarded devices or parts of devices of an electronic origin. It forms the fastest growing sector of salvaged material and large numbers of people from nations such as China and India are informally employed in its recycling, sometimes through dangerous and morally questionable practices.
With reference to a named resource, describe the inequalities seen in its patterns of production and consumption (6)
Describe how technological processes can create a more sustainable world (8)
Explain how recycling can reduce an individual’s eco-footprint (4)
Evaluate the success of a large scale waste management scheme (12)
Analyse the extent to which ‘green practices’ are creating a fairer world (10)
Evaluate the impact of outsourcing for a specific global industry (10)
Brinker, J. (1919) Out of the Garbage Pail – Into the Fire, Popular Science Monthly
International Copper Study Group (2013) World Copper Factbook
International Labour Organisation (2013) Global Wage Report 2012-2013, International Labour Office, Geneva
London Metal Exchange (2014) Pricing and Data
Roberts, N. (2012) Recycling industry now worth £23bn in UK, Materials Recycling World
Unless otherwise stated, all data in the above piece relates to figures taken from Adam Minter’s lecture: Junkyard Planet (Nov 2014)
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How to Calculate Tax Revenue Per Capita
Tax revenue per capita is a measurement of how much tax the federal or state gets per working person, on average. Per capita means "per person," and hence the calculation is simple if you have data regarding tax revenue and working populations. Tax revenue per capita ignores some forms of taxes such as capital gains or land taxes and concentrates on income tax per working adult.
Obtain data regarding income tax revenue. This may be either at the state or federal level, depending on which level you wish to base your calculation on. Such data can be obtained from the Tax Foundation, the Internal Revenue Service or the Bureau of Economic Analysis. If you wish to calculate tax revenue per capita from both the federal and state level, you will need data for each. Tax revenue data is usually available on an annual basis.
Obtain data regarding the taxable population. This is available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Data for a country's total population will not do. Remember that not everybody in a country is employed and thus not everybody is taxed. Thus, you will need to obtain data regarding the population over or under the working age. This data must be in the same year as tax revenue.
Divide the income tax revenue by the taxable population. This will give you tax revenue per capita in a given year. Remember that tax revenue per capita refers to income tax, that is, tax levied on employment. It ignores tax received on property, capital gains or corporations. Such data is reflected in a state's gross receipts but not in income tax revenue.
- Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images
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Privacy and cybersecurity issues, due to the granular nature of data collected through the use of digital smart meters, have been well documented. Here is a quotation from a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) document published in August 2010:
“Smart meter data raises potential surveillance possibilities posing physical, financial, and reputational risks. Because smart meters collect energy data at much shorter time intervals than in the past (in 15-minute or sub-15-minute intervals rather than once a month), the information can reveal much more detailed information about the activities within a dwelling or other premises than was available in the past. This is because smart meter data provides information about the usage patterns for individual appliances—which in turn can reveal detailed information about activities within a premise through the use of nonintrusive appliance load monitoring (NALM) techniques…. For example, research shows that analyzing 15-minute interval aggregate household energy consumption data can by itself pinpoint the use of most major home appliances. … NALM techniques have many beneficial uses, including pinpointing loads for purposes of load balancing or increasing energy efficiency. However, such detailed information about appliance use can also reveal whether a building is occupied or vacant, show residency patterns over time, and reflect intimate details of people’s lives and their habits and preferences inside their homes.” [emphasis added]
Full Reference for the above quotation: NISTIR 7628, “Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security: vol. 2, Privacy and the Smart Grid,” August 2010, pp 13-14.
According a 2009 report for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, entitled, “Smart Metering & Privacy: Existing Law and Competing Policies,” it was stated that “insufficient oversight of this [smart metering] could also lead to unprecedented invasions of consumer privacy. Many intricate details of household life can be gleaned from information obtained via advanced metering infrastructure.” [emphasis added] This statement was followed with the figure shown below.
In January 2011, the US Government Accountability Office issued a document entitled, GAO Report #GAO-11-117, “Electricity Grid Modernization.” Summary information for the report includes the following:
“GAO identified the following six key challenges:
1) Aspects of the regulatory environment may make it difficult to ensure smart grid systems’ cybersecurity.
2) Utilities are focusing on regulatory compliance instead of comprehensive security.
3) The electric industry does not have an effective mechanism for sharing information on cybersecurity.
4) Consumers are not adequately informed about the benefits, costs, and risks associated with smart grid systems. [emphasis added]
5) There is a lack of security features being built into certain smart grid systems.
6) The electricity industry does not have metrics for evaluating cybersecurity.”
For the full report, refer to the following link: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11117.pdf
Specifically for the City of Naperville, Illinois, government officials generally state that smart meters cannot determine the personal habits of residents. For example, in response to the question, “Can the utility monitor my consumption and know when I’m home?” … the response was, “The utility cannot detect the presence of people in their homes; only the consumption of electricity is measured for billing purposes.”
[Reference: Naperville Smart Grid Initiative Question/Response Inventory, dated March 25, 2013.]
How does the above statement compare with the facts? Does the smart meter only measure consumption of electricity for billing purposes?
First of all, we have the comments by Naperville City Council member Robert Fieseler on August 16, 2011, at a City Council meeting, where he stated, “No one is able to opt-out of this program the way it’s now set up. You’ll get a new meter. The contract we have with the Department of Energy and the funds that we’ve accepted and the obligations that we have in my view require us to have the 57,323 meters. We do need each meter on each house because we need to be able on a point by point basis know who is using what electricity when. We also need to know whose electricity is on or not.” . . . Why? Why do you need to know this?
The above statement would strongly suggest that the utility is collecting much more data than are required for billing purposes. Below is a link/play button for the actual audio recording from the City Council meeting. Listen for yourself.
How can the City state that with a smart meter, “… only the consumption of electricity is measured for billing purposes.”? The smart meter utilized by the City of Naperville collects usage data of a granular nature every 15-minutes. Thus, if you do the math, this same digital smart meter records a consumer’s electrical usage up to 2,976 times per month. For a customer with a traditional fixed-rate pricing program, only one (1) consumption data point needs to be measured and recorded per month for billing purposes. The City of Naperville thus records almost 3,000 times more consumption data than required for billing purposes. What is wrong with this picture? The public relations claims do not line up with the facts, … or the “truth.”
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Daily carbon dioxide emissions are spiking again as economies roar back to life from pandemic lockdowns. Scientists worry that countries may miss their chance to reboot greener economies unless governments embrace long-lasting structural change.
Initially, emissions plummeted when governments implemented confinement measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Last month, a team of scientists released an estimate of daily carbon emissions from January through April. Global emissions decreased “massively,” said lead researcher Corinne Le Quéré, particularly in April, when the world reached its lowest daily emissions level in 15 years.
Two months later, emissions are rebounding towards pre-pandemic conditions as countries reopen. Some countries have introduced green recovery plans, while others, like the United States, are rolling back environmental protections.
Economic downturns often coincide with lower carbon dioxide emissions, but the effect disappears when economies bounce back and rely heavily on how governments implement stimulus plans. Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped 1,4% in 2009 during the global financial crisis, then rebounded a whopping 5,1% in 2010 after aggressive government efforts stimulated national economies. Since then, emissions have increased by about 1% per year.
“The big question, the one that matters hugely for the direction of carbon emissions in the future, is what our world governments are going to do this time around,” Le Quéré said. “We need organised, structural change to tackle climate change.”
Daily carbon dioxide emissions tanked during coronavirus restrictions and are slowly increasing. You can see the small dip in global emissions from the financial crisis in 2009 and the swift rebound afterwards. Credit: Le Quéré et al., Nature Climate Change (2020); Global Carbon Project, CC BY 2.0
Fewer Vehicles, Less Carbon
Daily emissions as of 11 June were around 5% below pre-pandemic levels and “decreasing rapidly,” according to a technical report presented by the authors. The team has projected that annual emissions will be 4%–7% lower this year than last.
Surface transportation had the largest impact on emissions reductions during lockdowns. Surface transportation—including cars, buses, trucks and shipping—had the largest impact on emissions reductions during lockdowns. On the lowest emission day, 7 April, 43% of the drop came from fewer vehicles burning fuel. Other substantial decreases came from less energy use in power and industry.
By contrast, aviation had the largest relative anomaly of any sector: emissions fell by 60% and “the sector literally collapsed during the lockdown,” Le Quéré said. In the big picture, however, aviation accounts for roughly 3% of annual CO2 emissions, so the reduction was dwarfed by decreases in other sectors.
Emissions estimates come from a grab bag of online data. Carbon dioxide emissions are usually reported years after they occur, so creating a near-real-time estimate was novel. The team members pulled publicly available data on personal mobility, home energy use, traffic congestion, flight departures, steel production, and other proxies to re-create activity in six economic sectors using 577 individual time series. They then calculated the emissions from each and their relative drop during the restrictions. The scientists published their results in the journal Nature Climate Change in May.
“These folks dug up scraps of information…to produce rough estimates of emissions within two weeks of the time period of interest.” Gregg Marland, an adjunct research professor at Appalachian State University who was not involved with the study, called the analysis “creative.”
“It takes the United Nations two and a half years after a year ends to get questionnaires back from all countries on energy use, from which to calculate CO2 emissions. These folks dug up scraps of information from many sources to produce rough estimates of emissions within two weeks of the time period of interest.”
“Call me in 3 years and I will give you a good estimate of how close they came,” Marland added. “I am betting that they are close enough to be able to draw meaningful conclusions.”
On 7 April, emissions sank 17% globally, and surface transport was largely the cause. Industry and public sectors also decreased emissions by around 20% each, and power dropped by 7%. Residential energy rose by 3%. Emissions now are rising again. Credit: Le Quéré et al., Nature Climate Change (2020); Global Carbon Project, CC BY 2.0
A post pandemic world
“We still have the same roads, we have the same cars, we still have the same heating systems for the other sectors, and the same industries.
”Le Quéré believes the CO2 reductions are short-lived, as the recent data shows. “As soon as the confinement eases, then they come back up again,” she added. “Nothing has changed around us. We still have the same roads, we have the same cars, we still have the same heating systems for the other sectors, and the same industries.”
“The changes in emissions during confinement are not structural changes. They are forced behaviour changes—they are painful, they are brutal even,” Le Quéré said. Future reductions will rely on positive changes that boost quality of life and create jobs.
How? Le Quéré has some ideas: invest in green infrastructures, build cycle paths, insulate homes, install heat pumps, install renewable power and “electrify everything.” Cook vegetarian meals, train workers to renovate homes and plant more trees. She urges countries to stop investing in fossil fuel infrastructure: no new roads and no more coal plants “if we can help it.”
A University of Oxford working paper that surveyed 231 financial experts suggests that climate-friendly recovery packages make more economic sense, while others argue that prioritising environmental reforms will leave struggling companies behind.
Geeta Persad, an assistant professor of climate science at the University of Texas who was not involved with the emissions study, said that some new behaviours may stick around after the pandemic, like tele-commuting, but they’re not enough to offset carbon emissions.
“The results highlight that individual action alone is not sufficient to achieve climate mitigation goals,” Persad said. “Large-scale shifts in energy production are required.”
At times, some countries’ emissions dipped to about 30% below their pre-pandemic levels. The analysis looked at 69 countries, which are responsible for 97% of the world’s emissions. Credit: Le Quéré et al., Nature Climate Change (2020); Global Carbon Project, CC BY 2.0
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Headline photograph: Credit: Attila Kisbenedek/Contributor/AFP via Getty Imagess By Jenessa Duncombe
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Key components of most modern electronics and green energy technologies, as well as defense systems, are made from a small number of elements and critical metals called rare earths. Indeed, rare earth elements are the basis for much of modern technology due to a range of relatively unique electronic, magnetic, optical and catalytic properties.1 From lighting to lasers, magnets to X-ray units, glass tints to electronics, these “rare” minerals are ubiquitous in modern technology. (See Figure 1.)
Industrialization & China’s Rare Earth Monopoly
Despite the name, rare earths are relatively abundant in Earth’s crust. Unfortunately, these elements are seldom found in economically exploitable concentrations, except in the People’s Republic of China. There, rare earths are abundant and in relatively high concentrations. However, the Asian superpower has exercised strategic controls over their mining, use and export.2 Thus, China currently holds about 97 percent of the global market, a de facto monopoly on trade in rare earths.
In the last few years, China has withdrawn increasingly larger amounts of rare earths from the export market, claiming it was necessary to protect the environment and to satisfy growing domestic demand. However, China’s demand is not primarily due to increased domestic consumption of products that require rare earths; rather, it is because companies that require those elements have begun to shift operations there from other countries in order to gain less expensive access. Much of the output of these new factories is for export. For instance:
- Partly to secure rare earth supplies, General Electric recently closed its last U.S. light bulb factory and is opening a new factory in China to make compact fluorescent lights.
- Despite receiving more than $58 million in grants, loans and tax incentives in 2007 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (in addition to federal support), Evergreen Solar closed its solar panel plant in the state and began a joint venture in China.3
- A U.S. specialty lighting manufacturer, Intematix, and Japanese manufacturers, Showa Denko and Santoku, have also opened new factories in China — specifically to secure access to affordable rare earths.4
In 2008, factories outside of China used nearly 60,000 tons of rare earths. In the past two years, however, the Chinese government has limited exports to just 30,000 tons per year, driving up global prices. Outside China, the prices of rare earths are much higher than just a few years ago. For instance, in 2009, cerium oxide, used as a catalyst and in glass manufacturing, cost $3,100 a ton. It now costs as much as $110,000 per ton outside of China — four times its domestic price.5 In addition, China has begun to consolidate rare earths production into a single state-owned company that currently controls 60 percent of Chinese production. This firm sells primarily to domestic companies recommended by the government.6
China’s Geopolitical Influence Due to Rare Earths
China has already proved willing to use rare earths to extract favorable political concessions from other countries. For example, on September 7, 2010, a Chinese fishing boat in a disputed portion of the East China Sea collided with a Japanese coast guard vessel. The Japanese arrested the fishing boat captain. The incident sparked a heated diplomatic row, leading China to restrict rare earth exports to Japan, its largest buyer, for several months. When Japanese authorities refused to release the captain, China retaliated by halting rare earth exports to Japan altogether.7 Japan soon relented and released the captain, and China resumed rare earth exports — at reduced levels.
Increasing Supply by Mining
Due to rising prices and the unreliability of China as a supplier, many countries and international companies have begun to seek alternative supplies, including new mines. Under the most pessimistic projection in the study, total global rare earths production will grow from 123,310 tons per year to 293,403 tons per year in 2017. By contrast, under the most optimistic projection in the study, 327,244 tons of rare earths would be produced worldwide in 2017.
Supply and demand vary for different rare earth elements. A few rare earths are available worldwide, but for several of the most critical ones, industries receive only 50 to 74 percent of the quantity demanded. By 2014 (at the earliest), supply of only one of the most important rare earths will meet or exceed demand, and for two of those top five, supply won’t match demand until 2016.
How and where will supply increase? Gareth Hatch of Technology Metals Research projects China will remain the largest single source for rare earths through 2017. However, its dominance will wane sharply for some rare earths as early as 2013, and it will supply less than half of each rare earth element by 2017. New supplies are on the horizon.
Though reliable data for rare earth operations outside of China are lacking, the most likely sources are five mines: Lahat (located in Malaysia), Karnasurt (located in the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation), Buena Norte (located in eastern Brazil), Orissa-Kerala (located in various coastal regions of India) and Mountain Pass (located in California).
Figure One: Selected Uses of Rare Elements
NAME SELECTED USES
Yttrium Lasers, Metal Alloys
Lanthanum Batteries (including those in electric cars)
Cerium Lenses, Glass
Praseodymium Aircraft, Lighting, Electronics, Magnets (including those in wind turbines)
Neodymium Lighting, Magnets, Electronics (including wind turbines and electric cars)
Promethium X-Ray Units
Samarium Glass, Magnets (including those in wind turbines)
Europium Lighting, Fluorescent Bulbs, Video Screens
Gadolinium Neutron Radiology, Video Screens
Terbium Lighting, Magnets, Video Screens
Dysprosium Magnets, Video Screens (including wind turbines)
Holmium Glass Tint
Erbium Metal Alloys
Ytterbium Stainless Steel, Other Metal Alloys
Lutetium Metal Alloys, Nuclear Technology
Tellerium Metal Alloys, Electronics (including solar panels)
Source: “Rare Earth Elements—Critical Resources for High Technology,” U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet 087–02, Table I. Available at http://pubs. usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs087-02/
What’s your take? Please feel free to leave a comment below! Tune into tomorror for part two of this two-part series. References and sources can be found online at www.ncpa.org/pub/ib108, while Burnett blogs about environmental issues and more at www.environmentblog.ncpa.org. For more information, please visit www.ncpa.org.
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Accounting or financial ratios are the relationship between two categories of a financial statement analysis. They form the basis of fundamental analysis because they provide us with information related to operating effectiveness which can lead to better planning for research, management, production costs, etc.
For example, if we look at a company’s current assets and current liabilities and divide the first one over the second one, we will get an accounting ratio, known as a current ratio. The purpose of the current ratio is being able to compare a particular company’s information with past years or with other companies and identify weaknesses and strengths.
Computing Accounting Ratios
It is important for accountants to keep in mind that accounting ratios are one way of comparing the financial performance of companies across a specific industry. Because accounting ratios don’t take into consideration the company’s size and industry, it is just a simple mathematical comparison based on proportions given by the numbers previously mentioned.
In addition, financial ratios and financial statement analysis have limitations, which is why accountants must realize that the financial ratio can be positive or negative depending on the industry and the field that’s being studied.
Other examples of accounting ratios include quick ratio, current ratio, debt to equity ratio, acid-test ratio, contribution margin ratio, interest coverage ratio, debt to total assets ratio, gross margin ratio, return on assets ratio, profit margin (after tax) ratio, total assets turnover ratio, fixed asset turnover ratio, times interest earned ratio, liquidity ratio, working capital ratio, dividend payout ratio and free cash flow ratio.
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The Financial Statements for the University of Glasgow can be downloaded from the hyperlinks under. In consolidated financial statements , all subsidiaries are listed as nicely as the quantity of ownership ( controlling interest ) that the parent firm has in the subsidiaries. Notes to financial statements (notes) are extra information and facts added to the end of financial statements that enable clarify distinct things in the statements as properly as present a more comprehensive assessment of a company’s economic condition.
The report format is structured so that the total of all assets equals the total of all liabilities and equity (identified as the accounting equation ). This is ordinarily deemed the second most significant monetary statement, considering the fact that it gives information and facts about the liquidity and capitalization of an organization.
The four simple financial statements may well be accompanied by substantial disclosures that provide additional facts about particular subjects, as defined by the relevant accounting framework (such as normally accepted accounting principles ). Quick-term or present liabilities are anticipated to be paid within the year, when lengthy-term or noncurrent liabilities are debts anticipated to be paid following a single year.
Economic analysts rely on data to analyze the efficiency of, and make predictions about, the future path of a company’s stock price. Financial statements (or economic report) is a formal record of the monetary activities and position of a enterprise, individual, or other entity.
They could use either of two accounting approaches : accrual accounting , or price accounting, or a combination of the two ( OCBOA ). A total set of chart of accounts is also utilised that is substantially diverse from the chart of a profit-oriented business enterprise.
This is the least used of the financial statements, and is generally only incorporated in the audited financial statement package. In contrast to the balance sheet, the earnings statement covers a range of time, which is a year for annual financial statements and a quarter for quarterly financial statements.
Financing activities consist of cash flows from debt and equity. The three principal financial statements are the earnings statement, balance sheet and money flow statement. A profit and loss statement gives information on the operation of the enterprise. Notes are also applied to explain the accounting methods utilized to prepare the statements and they help valuations for how certain accounts have been computed.
Financial analysis is then performed on these statements to present management with a far more detailed understanding of the figures. Any items within the financial statements that are valuated by estimation are part of the notes if a substantial difference exists involving the amount of the estimate previously reported and the actual outcome.
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Data quality is already an existing issue in the world of enterprise data management. A Gartner report in 2013 surveyed a wide range of companies and found that data quality issues cost them on an average $14 million a year. These bad records are not just human error but are also caused due to defects in software and/or malicious activity that corrupt the database. Cleaning existing databases is expensive and messy at the most but not impossible. With blockchain, comes added safety and security against changes in historical transactions through its immutability. That same immutability backfires when you have incorrect data present in the blockchain. Removing bad data becomes an insurmountable hill if proper mechanisms are not implemented from day one.
Example Case Issue
Take for as an example a Hyperledger Fabric based consortium of steel suppliers and consumers collaborate for the supply chain management. The steel consumers and suppliers want to keep the terms of deals private between customer and supplier. At the same time, it is more cost effective for the steel market to manage on a common blockchain for auditability and trust. A given consumer and their supplier can create channels and have the data shared across the designated parties, adding in logistics and transportation suppliers. This combines the advantages of blockchain with the security of a private channel.
As the Fabric is currently only Crash Fault Tolerant (CFT), issues will arise when any single node malfunctions and it starts to add erroneous and unwanted data on the blockchain. In this scenario, the data cannot be removed and has the possibility of corrupting the chain. The immutability of the chain plays a double edge sword that is not conducive to the business and in line by traditional IT data management practices.
This issue is not limited to consensus mechanisms that are only CFT. Even with the added security provided by the advanced consensus of Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) these issues can arise. Whereas Bitcoin and Ethereum Classic rely on a preponderance of mining nodes to manage consensus and thus transaction integrity, private blockchains run with a significantly smaller network of nodes to be cost-feasible. 67% of the nodes in a blockchain network will need to maintain consensus for a valid chain.
On our example supply chain blockchain, if a compromised node successfully commits illegitimate transactions the entire chain of record is called into question. Here again, blockchain benefits end up become unusable and even damaging. It not only invalidates the blockchain but requires a full rollback to before the unwanted events occurred
The bottom line is that there must be a tool to deal with data issues on the blockchain. The dilemma is that making it easier to modify the blockchain due to malfunction of the node also makes it easier for malicious attackers to modify existing legitimate transactions. This will defeat the core value of using a blockchain for immutability and improved trust. At the same time, an immutable record of bad data does not fulfill the core value of blockchain and adds a barrier for Enterprise adoption.
Examples of remediation measures include:
- To balance the need for immutability and integrity with the need to resolve data issues, a governance mechanism using currently available capabilities of blockchain should be established for managing such issues. For example, proposing an “correction” to modify blockchain data can include minimum mandatory review period of 30 days using a proposal system can be leveraged to correct data issues and preserve integrity. This gives the participating members of a blockchain the ability to vote on proposed corrections while also minimizing the opportunity to leverage the correction mechanism to be used for malicious attacks.
- Another option is to allow modification of records based on consensus. To enable this, node operators will be required to keep a redundant “clean” set of records as backups. Removing a record will be a difficult choice as the chain would require to be rehashed. Even with being rehashed, there are additional complications. The new “clean” blockchain would have replace the existing one and lead to downtime. This downtime could be minimized by adding new transactions to a “temp” channel with the same configurations and add the records to it. While the old chain is replaced, the new transactions can be migrated after restoration.
- Another consideration is the nature of the malicious activity. Sizable hacks of history usually involve a perpetrator who has been hiding in the systems for days if not months. For higher valued data, more sophisticated attackers work over longer periods to help avoid detection. So, a 30-day review period for a proposal to reverse a transaction may not be long enough. One way of fixing it can involve a range on transaction value reversal. Lower valued transactions can have a review period of 30 days and substantially higher ones can have a minimum of 20 days.
In case of a public company, which needs to disclose financial revenue to shareholders and have an audit conducted, 20 days might imply far of a stretch. For such scenarios, 20 days can be reduced to 10 days or lower if the CFO and CEO of all participating companies sign off. This feature of escalation can be used to reverse unapproved transactions for private companies too.
The governance can be conducted for such edits on the chain through a smart contract that helps ensure high availability of the chain. Using distributed private key across multiple managers will reduce the possibility of fraudulent proposal to amend the chain.
As prevention is better than a cure, robust mechanisms can be implemented to reduce fraudulent transactions. Blockchain provides speedy settlement of transactions but not all transactions are required to be settled in a matter of minutes if not seconds. For transactions not requiring immediate settlement can include additional authentication, usage of side chains for transaction validate and slower settlements to allow for additional review.
Examples of preventative measures include:
- The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) has framework meant to deter internal fraud and external hacks which can cause great loss for any organization. Under its integrated framework for internal controls, risk assessment section suggests using segregation of duties. This can be achieved in a private chain using a weighted key. It can be implemented in a more complex hierarchical structure for higher denominations.
- Each transaction can be tied to a document trail which includes Payment Voucher, Purchase Order, Receiving Report and Invoice. This is the existing recommended means of reconciling transactions in case of disputes as it adds an additional source for reconciliation, which helps discourage their effort.
- As channels have a limited number of participants in a private blockchain ecosystem, they become more susceptible to hack and become a soft target. To prevent issues with invalid transactions, a method like Bitcoin’s Lightning Network can be implemented. This method creates an initial transaction on the main chain and ongoing transactions are done privately. For private chains a hash of the channel state can be regularly added to the main network, this adds a checkpoint for channels while providing the safety of channels.
- Another way of managing blocks would be to create a minimum of two chains, one that performs the transactions and others which manages the smart contract execution. A third and optional one can be used to manage identity. As most transactions do not require instant settlement, they can be put under pending transactions like a market sell order which can be placed by anyone and needs to have a buyer to be accepted. This reduces the possibility of bad blocks. Time under review for massive transactions can be altered accordingly.
- The State of Data Quality: Current Practices and Evolving Trends by Ted Friedman | Saul Judah
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This article appeared originally in Gulf News: link to original article
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”…
This article tells the tale of two countries that took two, distinct paths towards reforming their economies and uplifting their people out of poverty. The two are Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the break-off year is 1979.
Before I embark on comparing the different economic factors that shaped the country’s position, as well as elaborate on the economic scene in each, I would first like to point out a few commonalities. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are oil producers and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members — oil was discovered in Iran in 1908 and in Saudi Arabia 30 years later.
Iran in the 1960s and 1970s even boasted a western-educated population of technocrats, driving Iran’s economic reforms and at the time, an advantage that many countries did not possess. So, what happened?
Looking back at data from the 1960s, and in 1968 to be more specific, Iran had double Saudi Arabia’s GDP and four times its population, making Iran’s GDP per capita half that of Saudi Arabia. One may argue here that Saudi Arabia had an advantage from the beginning, being a smaller population with newly founded oil wealth.
However, economic and other factors tell a different story altogether.
The year 1979 was when Iran shifted its focus from internal economic reforms that would drive future growth, to using whatever US dollars it got access to towards destabilising the region around it.
In the past four decades, Saudi Arabia has spent more on education, culminating in higher literacy rates for its population among different age groups, providing in return better employment prospects. Saudi Arabia’s GDP today is 1.5 times that of Iran. Not only that, GDP per capita for each Saudi citizen, adjusted for purchasing power, is almost three times that of an Iranian citizen. (Purchasing power is a reflection of economic growth and a stable, strong currency.)
Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate is today half that of Iran’s average — 5.6 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively. Unemployment rates in areas outside Tehran could be anywhere between 30 per cent and 60 per cent.
When looking at youth unemployment figures, the rate stands at 26.7 per cent for Iran and 36.2 per cent for Saudi Arabia, with the youth population being 23.7 per cent and 26.6 per cent in Iran and Saudi Arabia respectively.
Now even though both countries enjoy favourable demographic trends, Iran is better positioned to make use of its youth population (aged under 25), as well as those in their “prime working age” (aged 25-54), given the fact that Iran’s population today is twice that of Saudi Arabia. So, in absolute terms, Iran has the numbers advantage with its demographics.
But wait a minute. Iran’s demographic advantage is expected to ebb in the 2040s, after which its population will go through the same demographic breakdown that haunts Japan and Europe today, and which the US and China are moving towards. The question to be asked here is, what is Iran doing about that? The answer is: Nothing.
Pensions in Iran, which should be in an excellent position given the demographic advantage, are already coming under a lot of pressure due to failure in maintaining adequate funding in the pension system. After all, billions of dollars are being spent everywhere but on the domestic economy despite the fact that Iran’s economy requires $200 billion (Dh734.6 billion) in annual investments, as per its Development Plan (2017-22). And that’s to only keep unemployment at its current rate and avoid an increase in it.
Ending economic isolation
In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal, known as the ‘Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’ (JCPOA), with six world powers: the US, UK, Russia, France, China, and Germany. The deal was supposed to end Iran’s economic isolation that started in 1979, and to allow Iran’s banking and financial sector back into the international trade system.
This would have allowed Iran’s access to the dollar, the world’s reserve currency, which would guarantee its business transactions and bolster its banking sector’s liquidity (Iran’s banking sector risk is evaluated by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit (EIU) to be triple C, which is high risk).
As a result of signing the JCPOA, Iran received tens of billions of dollars in immediate relief, followed by government and business delegations knocking on Tehran’s door for business opportunities to service a population of more than 80 million.
Well, why not? After all, it’s all about common, commercial interests and exploiting the most profitable business opportunities in a world generally plagued by slow economic growth. And so, for all of those government and businesses delegations, Iran was the place to be.
I am afraid they’ve knocked the wrong door.
Across the Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia has done in two years what hasn’t been done in the past 40 years, providing more significant opportunities that have been selectively and deliberately overlooked, except that those opportunities do not carry with them the same nuclear threat when clauses in the JCPOA become void.
What’s happening in Saudi Arabia goes beyond the economic reforms that normally take place in countries seeking to shake up old economic structures and adopt newer and more modern ones. What’s happening in Saudi Arabia is not a 2030 vision that will increase revenues, but rather about Saudi Arabia’s target to quadruple its non-oil revenues.
The economic reforms are also about increasing the private sector’s contribution to the GDP to more than 50 per cent, in order to move from crude oil exports to refined petroleum products with a target of 75 per cent of exports being local components.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s economic overhaul includes the public listing of 5 per cent of its oil icon, Saudi Aramco, as part of its attempt to increase its sovereign assets by a factor of 10.
What’s happening in Saudi Arabia is worthy of nothing but outmost admiration. So, why is the wrong door being knocked on? For starters, Saudi Arabia is 30 places up the rank in Ease of Doing Business in comparison with Iran, based on the 2018 report published by the World Bank. The same has been observed in previous reports. Also, Iran ranks 131st out of 176 countries on the corruption index.
It has yet to improve its ranking by some 60 places to be at par with Saudi Arabia, which has already taken drastic measures to tackle corruption and prove its sincerity in pursuing a long-term economic agenda.
Finally, and in a model that I developed a few months back to measure development across different health, education, social and human development indicators in order to quantify hardship in countries; Saudi Arabia ranked 27 while Iran ranked 79.
The indicators, if anything, point to Saudi Arabia’s more serious attempt towards economic and other reforms compared to Iran.
In conclusion, Saudi Arabia and Iran are both at a demographic advantage that will vanish in 25-30 years, highlighting therefore the importance of economic reforms and fixes towards reducing unemployment, increasing purchasing power, and reducing poverty. Since 1979 and all the way to signing the JCPOA, economic pain in Iran has been self-inflicted.
And yes, sanctions did reduce Iran’s income from natural resources, but the little forex that Iran possessed and gained has not been put into domestic use nevertheless.
In contrast, and once achieved, Saudi Arabia’s recently announced economic plans are only going to widen the gap between the two economies — Saudi Arabia is already today the largest economy in the Middle East.
The last thought that I want to leave you with: Is destabilising the region worth Iran’s domestic economic pain?
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Business is a regular process of earning a profit by satisfying consumer’s needs through the manufacturing of goods, reselling of products, providing services or carrying out all three together.
It is an occupation which requires a particular set of skills and expertise to derive maximum profit out of it.
It also includes those activities which indirectly help in production and exchange of goods such as transport, insurance, banking, warehousing etc. Every business enterprise whether it is carried on a small or a large scale deals in goods and services for earning of money.
If an enterprise is to survive, grow and expand, it must yield profit. So it includes all the commercial and industrial activities that provide goods and services to the people with an objective to earn profit.
Types of Business
The previous instancehas made it clear that business involves goods or services or both. Aperson has first to select the kind of business line he wants tooperate.
Thus, it can be broadly classified as into the following types:
- Service: An activity performed to earn money through customer satisfaction is known as a service. It involves professional skills and expertise.
E.g. A professional teacher earns money by taking tuition class
- Merchandising: Merchandising means procurement of goods from manufacturers or wholesalers, at a low price and selling it at a higher price to make a profit. It is also known as a retail business.
E.g. A florist selling flowers
- Manufacturing: Making profit through production or creation of goods from raw material in such a way that it derives some utility to the consumer is known as a manufacturing business.
E.g. Processing of sugarcane in a sugar mill to get fine sugar
- Hybrid: A business which involves all the three activities, i.e. manufacturing of goods, merchandising of products and delivering service falls under the hybrid category.
E.g. A furniture seller, who manufactures furniture, buys old furniture and sells it at a higher price after repairing and also provides services for polishing old furniture.
Importance of Business
Business is aself-employment opportunity for a person to become self-independentand master of his ideas. It is not only beneficial to the owner butalso makes an impact on society.
To get a detailedunderstanding of the importance of trading activities to the ownerand the society, let us go through the following points:
- Revenue Generation: It is the key to revenue generation for the business owner since it brings in profit and proves to be a source of income for the owner.
- Economic Growth: It is essential for the economic growth of a country since high revenue means higher tax collection.
- Improves Standard of Living: A country with more industrial units and companies experience a higher rate of employment and better living standards.
- Bulk Production: Manufacturing units involve large-scale production, which ultimately reduces the cost of production, and people get a continuous supply of goods at a reasonable price.
- Innovation: It involves brainstorming and generation of new ideas which opens up the way for innovation and creativity.
- Generates Employment: It is a long-term process which requires the human resource to function correctly. Therefore, it creates job opportunities.
- Market Expansion: A good strategy and high customer satisfaction lead to a strong customer base aiming at market expansion.
- Provision of credit by banks: The Commercial banks and specialized institutions are providing credit facility to the traders for producing goods and doing business on large scale.
- Communication and Transport: The fast developed means of Communication and transport helping the traders in these days in providing goods to the customers at the right times, right place and right price.
- Business supplies Services: Services occupy an important role in modern business life. The major services which are growing in importance are banking and finance, insurance, medical and health, education, legal, domestic servants, engineering and other professionals etc. All the services which perform simple or difficult task for earning profit are regarded an important part of business.
- Insurance: The various types of business risks which may happen due to fire , theft, flood, earthquake, strikes etc. can be insured and the loss if any arising out of the risks an be recovered. So insurance has given stability to the business.
In the modern world, all the above mentioned elements play important role in business. It has increased the comforts of life of the people by mass production and distribution of goods.
The banking sector, insurance companies, the fast means of communication and transport play a vital role in business in the present day of world.
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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published this week a new patent application (U.S. 62/345,399) from the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) adding to a previously issued U.S. patent on a proprietary production method using corn in the industrial manufacturing of a raw material called monoethylene glycol (MEG). MEG is an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of antifreeze, plastic bottles for pop or bottled water, and polyester clothes. Today, MEG makes up about 30 percent of the bottles and polyester. The patent covers an improvement in the process conditions to increase efficiency from approximately 60 percent to 85 percent yield.
“Production efficiencies that drive yield while reducing cost drive success - this holds true in manufacturing as well as in farming,” said Pete Brecht, a farmer from Central City who chairs Iowa Corn’s Research and Business Development Committee. “Patenting research that improves production efficiencies of corn-based bio-MEG helps us eliminate the need for petroleum-based ethylene derivatives. This creates more environmentally friendly consumer bioplastic products and increases demand for Iowa corn farmers.”
The current way bio-MEG is made is through a conversion of sugarcane ethanol, which is usually sourced from Brazil, to ethylene, but still the majority of MEG comes from fossil fuels. ICPB’s patented process can eliminate the added costs of bio-MEG by going from corn sugar to MEG in one step.
Most MEG currently goes into making polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used for beverage bottles, polyester textiles, and films, but MEG can also be used as anti-freeze, coolants, aircraft deicers and industrial solvents. Plastic companies are currently making limited quantities of bottles utilizing biobased MEG made from sugarcane-based ethanol imported from South America. In 2016, 62 billion pounds of MEG were sold. The market continues to grow at the rate of about four percent a year and that four percent equates to about 94 million bushels of corn.
Investment of checkoff dollars in research and business development allows for a direct return on Iowa corn farmer investments. Consequently, ICPB research programs have continued to grow. ICPB research programs aim to find new and innovative uses of corn, such as plastics and industrial chemicals. ICPB develops and licenses intellectual property to partner with companies; this strategy will increase the commercialization of new products related to corn and create new opportunities for corn farmers.
The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB), works to develop and defend markets, fund research, and provide education about corn and corn products.
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This content also appeared on JSI’s “The Pump” blog.
Rapid urbanization presents an urgent challenge for the world’s low- and middle-income countries. More than half of world’s population (3.9 billion) now lives in a city; by 2050, this number will skyrocket to 6.3 billion, with 90% of growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
An estimated one-third of the urban population (nearly one billion people) lives in poverty. These shifts have created and exacerbated a number of health issues – including the pressing need for immunization strategies and guidelines geared specifically toward urban populations.
Tailoring the Expanded Programme on Immunization service delivery
strategies to fit the context and realities of growing urban immunization inequity will help close this equity gap.
Take the example of Kenya, home to some of the largest informal settlements in the world: while the proportion of Kenyan children who received three doses of DPT (to protect against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus) rose from 86% to 90% between 2009 and 2014, significant inequity in immunization coverage exists. DPT3 coverage in the poorest wealth quintile is 10% lower than in the highest quintile. According to a World Health Organization estimate, in 2013, approximately 353,000 people were unimmunized or under-immunized in Kenya. Moreover, the lowest immunization coverage is found among the children of the poorest households in informal settlements informal settlements, where mothers have low levels of education.
With this in mind, USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) conducted a situation analysis in Kisumu City, Kenya to assess the immunization status of children in slum areas, and to understand the challenges and barriers to access and utilization of immunization services among the urban poor. Kisumu City has a well-planned central area with government offices and housing for high- and middle-income residents. Surrounding the central area to the east are the unplanned slum areas, where the bulk of poor migrants settle. The city has 70 health facilities – 20 public and the remainder private, faith-based, or owned by a nongovernmental organization (NGO) – with immunization services provided at 35 (50%) of the facilities.
We found that aggregated facility-level coverage data masks inequity
in immunization coverage in slum areas.
In Kisumu City, immunization services are primarily facility-based and, due to lack of funding, there are no outreach services for slum areas. In addition, the city’s health facilities do not have a strategy to ensure equity in immunization coverage, particularly for the slum population.
And while 2016 data showed high coverage for all vaccines in health facilities, these facilities did not disaggregate immunization data by slum and non-slum areas for monitoring coverage. Moreover, rapid household surveys showed only half of the children in the slum areas of Kisumu City had access to immunization as measured by Pentavalent 1 coverage.
The graph below shows the number of children (12–23 months) MCSP found to be fully, partially, and never vaccinated in Kisumu City slum areas selected for a rapid survey. Access to immunization in these areas is nearly universal, with only two children found to have never received vaccinations; however, many children drop out before completing all immunizations. Overall, 30% – 75% (60% on average) of children in each surveyed slum in Kisumu City began their immunization series, but did not complete their remaining vaccinations.
Numerous challenges proved to be obstacles to providing
immunization services to urban poor areas.
Health facility workers named numerous challenges to their provision of immunization services: staff and supply shortages; lack of provider training and funding for outreach; large catchment areas, and frequent migration of people. And because community health volunteers are not paid, most are inactive and unavailable to, for example, follow up with children who missed a vaccine.
Mothers had their own reasons for not being able to fully vaccinate their children. These included “unfriendly” or untrained immunizers at health facilities, and fears of side effects. Others had religious objections or cited competing priorities, such as both parents working outside the home.
“I missed the date to return to the facility for just one day due to a genuine cause, and I feared the nurse will shout on me,” said the mother of a partially immunized child. “So I preferred not to go to the facility due to fear of abusing language of the nurse. Also, I thought she could be rough in giving injection to my child as she is annoyed with me.”
Some simply expressed a lack of motivation – they felt too tired to take their child for vaccinations – while others said their providers did not tell them the date they should return for the next vaccination. Some expressed a fear of HIV testing when visiting the health facility for vaccinations.
That said, other mothers were committed to overcoming barriers and getting their children vaccinated. They understood that vaccines could protect their children from devastating diseases like polio, and that they believed vaccination was their child’s right.
One mother of a fully immunized child said: “A nurse injected my child while talking with another nurse and the vaccine splashed out. The nurse repeated the injection. I felt so bad that I thought I should not return for the subsequent doses, but I went back, as I know the importance of immunization.”
Local leaders in Kisumu City now have the tools necessary to develop a strategy for immunizing the urban poor that is based on an understanding of available resources and outreach activities needed at the facility level. With these tools and more information, leaders can assess their resources and better determine if and how they can extend and improve the quality of immunization services among the urban poor. An important component of the urban immunization strategy is developing a system for tracking infants as they move into, out of, and between slums to ensure that they complete their immunizations.
The first step to meeting the immunization needs of the urban poor is
revealing these obstacles to vaccine access.
Worldwide, immunization averts up to 3 million deaths every year. The World Health Organization estimates that the remaining under-5 deaths — approximately 1.5 million annually — could be prevented with existing vaccines. However, we must expand access to those who need vaccines the most to close these remaining coverage gaps.
While the findings from MCSP’s situation analysis are unique
to the Kisumu City setting, the assessment methodology can be used to do similar immunization assessments in other urban settings.
Successfully reducing or eliminating the spread of vaccine preventable diseases requires reaching every child with immunization. Developing new immunization strategies to reach the world’s large and growing urban poor populations will help to protect some of the most vulnerable children from debilitating and life-threatening disease.
MCSP continues to work with global, regional and national policymakers to develop such strategies, and to promote the Kisumu City assessment as an effective method for gaining an understanding of the immunization needs in an urban poor area and beginning a discussion around reaching and serving the population with immunization services.
To shape our strategy, we must first have the data. This methodology allowed us to map the reality on the ground and clearly identify inequities. Knowing where our efforts are best spent brings us closer to ensuring that every child – regardless of location – is healthy and thriving.
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Solar parks proliferate in Europe and boost development of renewables, but the issue of land use is often raised. A new trend is to produce energy and cultivate crops at the same time, in other words use agrivoltaic systems.
One example is the Torreilles solar park, in the South West of France. The plant’s total power capacity is 9.6MW and stretches for 43 hectares along the so-called “Route du soleil”, near Perpignan. It can produce 14,000,000 kWh per year, enough to supply 5,200 families or allow 1,400 electric cars to travel around the world, saving 1,100 tons of CO2.
The system consists of 96 greenhouses equipped with solar panels. It hosts an “organic" poultry farm, which is free-range, with the animals fed on grains grown on site. Fruit plants are also grown, with a section for exotic species.
The Torreilles park is innovative not only for its structure, but also for its financing system linked to a European cross-border campaign to crowdfund renewables. Platforms Lumo, based in France, and Oneplanetcrowd, in the Netherlands, co-financed the project collecting 800 thousand euros in two rounds, coming from 350 French investors, and 130 Dutch investors.
Nowadays, starting a campaign involving projects and investors from different European countries is not easy. “Investment regulations are not harmonised between States,” Olivier Houdaille, general director of Lumo, tells youris.com, “The biggest challenges were to make sure that no rule was breached and that investors understood the proposed framework.”
“Simply said, a platform can only offers its services in its own country, unless it gets a permit in each country where it’s active. Thus crowdfunding, also born to streamline bureaucratic procedures, ends up mediating between different regulatory frameworks,” explains Maarten de Jong, general director of Oneplanetcrowd. “We met Lumo during the EU project Crowdfundres and we were both eager to make a crossborder project work. So we discussed and jointly developed a solution to allow investors from both countries to have the same financial conditions.
“The owner of the park (the Irish renewable energy developer Amarenco) set up a dedicated intermediate structure, with a governance granting Lumo with the required control to protect investors’ interests,” explains Houdaille. The local entity, called Amarenco Crowd SAS, is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to which the investors of Oneplanetcrowd provided a loan. Lumo was in the board of this entity.
With the capital of the crowd, the SPV bought bonds issued by the Torreilles project entity, Ferme PV6 SAS. The payments of the bonds are then used to repay, through the Oneplanetcrowd platform, the Dutch investors who, thanks to this solution, have had the same financial conditions (three-year payback period, five percent annual interest rate) as the investors of Lumo.
“With this campaign French and Dutch investors contributed together to fund the same project, managed by a platform of its own regulatory area,” says Houdaille.
Many of the constraints limiting the action of the platforms result from the lack of a European crowdfunding market. "A EU wide crowdfunding license would be ideal but is not realistic at this point in time,” claims de Jong. “The best option would be to make the MiFID license really work as a passport, giving easy access to all the EU nations. This is not the case. Local limitations apply even though you have MiFID.” (Editor’s Note: the “Markets in Financial Instruments Directive” has been in force since 2007. It will be updated in 2018 to increase transparency across the EU financial markets. The current EU regime provides a reasonable degree of risk mitigation, due to disclosure requirements and classification of risk profiles of the investors).
Lumo and Oneplanetcrowd have opened up a path. The Torreilles scheme is tailor-made for French and Dutch rules but “it could possibly be extended to other European countries,” Houdaille says. Nevertheless, action at the EU level is required, he adds: “We proved that we can somehow partially overcome the obstacles by ourselves, but the cost of it is a burden on platforms. The equivalent money and energy could be saved and then reallocated to launch more crowdfunding campaigns.”
youris.com provides its content to all media free of charge. We would appreciate if you could acknowledge youris.com as the source of the content.
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Making the Switch: From fossil fuel subsidies to sustainable energy
This report estimates fossil fuel subsidies to be around USD 425 billion. Such subsidies represent large lost opportunities for governments to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development.
Removal of consumer subsidies can lead to carbon emission reductions (6 to 8 per cent by 2050 globally), Reductions that can be improved further with a switch or a "SWAP" towards sustainable energy. This report describes the scale and impact of fossil fuel subsidies on sustainable development. It describes the SWAP concept to switch savings made from fossil fuel subsidy reform, towards sustainable energy, energy efficiency and safety nets. The report provides potential SWAP outlines for Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco and Zambia. "Making the Switch" was written for the Nordic Council Ministers by the Global Subsidies Initiative of IISD and Gaia Consulting.
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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has launched a “unique web portal dedicated to renewable energy cost analysis.” The portal provides access to IRENA’s data and analysis at no cost to users.
“IRENA has developed the most current and comprehensive global database of renewable energy project costs available to the public. Our new portal makes this resource available for policy makers, businesses and the renewable energy community worldwide,” said Dolf Gielen, Director of the IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre in Bonn, Germany, and project leader for this initiative.
“The data shows that the costs of renewable energy are declining, sometimes rapidly. Investment and policy decisions can now be based on the latest, verified data from a trusted source,” added Gielen. “Recent cost reductions, notably for solar photovoltaics, have profound implications for social and economic development opportunities and for millions of people’s aspirations for a better life. On economic grounds, their access to modern energy should be renewable based,” he said.
According to IRENA, the new portal “showcases IRENA’s position as the global source for cost and performance data of all renewable energy technologies. The web portal makes the latest and best cost data, as well as the Agency’s analysis, publications, presentations and charts accessible to the public. Often, the lack of up-to-date, accurate and reliable data on cost and performance was seen as a barrier to the uptake of renewable energy technologies.”
The portal is accessible to the public at www.irena.org/costs, free for all users.
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The plan, dubbed Kenya Plastic Action Plan, is a private sector-led Policy and Action Plan that seeks to enable a circular economy for the environmentally sustainable use and recycling of plastics in Kenya.
According to a statement from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) the plan identifies specific actions that the public and private sector should undertake to achieve a circular economy. This includes waste management at the county level, formation and regulation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and establishment of recycling value chains and standards.
Speaking during the launch, Environment Chief Administrative Secretary, Mr Mohamed Elmi noted that the government is keen on driving Kenya into a zero-waste management policy.
Kenya has a growing human population and an increase in urbanization. The urban centers have attracted a large population of informal settlements dwellers and the middle class. This urbanization and increased affluence has led to increased waste generation and complexity of the waste streams.
This trend is compounded by growing industrialization of the Kenyan economy. Despite the existence of laws and policies guiding waste management, weak implementation and poor practices have led to towns and cities being overwhelmed by their own waste, consequently affecting public health and the environment.
Over the years waste management has been the mandate of the local Authorities. However, most local authorities did not prioritize the establishment of proper waste management systems and hence allocated meager resources for its management. Further the councils lacked technical and institutional capacities to manage waste. This has led to the current poor state of waste management which includes indiscriminate dumping, uncollected waste and lack of waste segregation across the country.
“Our economic activities need not jeopardize the ecological balance. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry aspires to turn Kenya into a zero-waste society. The Kenya Plastic Action Plan is an important first step towards this. I commend KAM for being proactive and urge the private sector to continue working with the government to create a circular economy in the country,” remarked CAS Elmi.
Also at the event, KAM Chair Sachen Gudka noted that local manufacturers are now beginning to apply circular economy in their operations as they seek to promote sustainable waste management.
“The role of the manufacturing sector in the circular economy rests in sustainable waste management and Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes. A huge opportunity remains in the development of a waste management and recycling industry in Kenya that would contribute to the Big 4 Agenda,” said Mr Gudka.
The KAM Chair added that the plan will set the pace for proper management of all waste in the country.
“The Action Plan identifies the specific actions that the public and private sector should undertake to achieve a circular economy. Circular economy aims to eradicate waste—not just from manufacturing processes, as lean management aspires to do, but systematically, throughout the life cycles and uses of products and their components.
We visualize that the Plan will set the pace for the proper management of all other wastes in the country through proper disposal, segregation and recycling, hence promoting a circular economy,” Mr Gudka concluded.
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Ag. Director-General, Mr Mamo B. Mamo noted that a clean environment is everyone’s responsibility and that public-private partnerships are key to achieving a circular economy.
“We shall continue to engage our partners and stakeholders as we seek to tackle plastic waste. This calls for innovation and shared vision, which the Kenya Plastic Action Plan seeks to achieve. We need to turn challenges into opportunities and set a global example for plastic waste management,” said Mr Mamo.
KAM is also a signatory of the Oceans Plastics Charter, which is a commitment to sustainable design, production and after-use markets, plastic collection management and other systems infrastructure through Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and supporting research and innovation and new technologies.
According to a study on awareness on environmentally sound solid waste management by communities and municipalities in Kenya by Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), key milestones have been achieved in formulation of laws and regulations on solid waste management in Kenya by National and County Governments.
“However, these laws have not been streamlined with the requirements of the Stockholm Convention particularly to stop open burning of waste.” The report adds.
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What is evaluation in financial education?
Evaluation is defined as “the systematic assessment of the operation and/or outcomes of a program, compared to a set of explicit or implicit standards, as a means of contributing to the improvement of the program” (Weiss, 1998). Financial education program evaluation is the process of systematically assessing the implementation of a financial education intervention and comparing learner achievements with program goals and objectives to determine the success or failure of the educational program.
These definitions point to two primary objectives of evaluation:
- exploring the operations or process of a financial education intervention, and
- exploring the learner outcomes or achievements as a result of participation in the intervention.
These two primary objectives, while not mutually exclusive, correspond the two broad types of evaluation: (1) formative evaluation, and (2) summative evaluation.
|Formative Evaluation ||Summative Evaluation |
Formative evaluation helps educators decide whether the program is meeting the needs of program recipients,whether the activities implemented are of high quality, and whether any improvements are required. By engaging in formative evaluation, the educator is able to identify whether the desired program activities and processes are being implemented with fidelity and quality. The educator can identify and capitalize on the program's strengths and identify and rectify the program’s barriers and weaknesses. A good formative evaluation provides data to support these areas, ultimately helping educators make program improvements.
Summative evaluation helps educators document participant outcomes associated with or attributed to financial education programs. Summative evaluation provides data to show whether or not a program is effective in promoting learning about financial education concepts and behavior change, including the actual and perceived benefits associated with services. These findings also can provide data to justify the continuation of the program or to request additional funding by illustrating the relative cost-benefit ratio. Documented program outcomes help funding agencies measure the worth of programs and allocate more funds to stronger educational programs.
Example: A formative evaluation of a financial education program might explore the participants needs and components of implementation quality, including:
- Does the financial education program or curriculum address participant needs?
- Is the information presented relevant to the participants?
- Are the materials being implemented as intended?
- Is the material presented in an engaging manner?
- Are there positive relationships between the educator and the participants?
- Do participants regularly use financial education services?
Example: A summative evaluation of a financial education program might explore the outcomes associated with participation in the program, and participant experiences, including:
- Do participants demonstrate improvements in intended outcomes after participating in the services?
- Is there a significant change in participants’ outcomes before and after participation?
- Do participants demonstrate better outcomes than nonparticipants?
- Are participants satisfied with the services provided?
- Do participants believe the services benefitted them?
- Do participants experience long-term benefits?
It is not uncommon for an evaluation to encompass both formative and summative priorities. This is particularly true for summative evaluation because it is important to examine the consistency and quality of implementation (features of a formative evaluation) when exploring participant outcomes. How the intervention was delivered will impact whether, or how much, the participants benefit from the intervention. In this way, information about how the intervention was implemented and delivered can help explain (or even be used to statistically predict) changes in participant outcomes and impact in summative evaluation processes.
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“Crude Oil The Supply Outlook” is a report to the Energy Watch Group published in October 2007. The main objective of the report was to project the future availability of crude oil up to 2030.
The report concludes that the peak of world oil production was in 2006, earlier than some other authorities. The authors say that “One reason for the difference is a more pessimistic assessment of the potential of future additions to oil production, especially from offshore oil and from deep sea oil due to the observed delays in announced field developments.”
The report states that, “The most important finding is the steep decline of the oil supply after [the] peak” [of oil production]. The projections for global oil supply are dramatically different from those of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The conclusion of the report is blunt and worrying, “The major result from this analysis is that world oil production has peaked in 2006. Production will start to decline at a rate of several percent per year. by 2020, and even more by 2030, global oil supply will be dramatically lower. This will create a supply gap which can hardly be closed by growing contributions from other fossil, nuclear or alternative energy sources in this time frame.” The authors add, “The world is at the beginning of a structural change of its economic system. This change will be triggered by declining fossil fuel supplies and will influence almost all aspects of our daily life.” The IEA is also strongly criticized, “The message by the IEA, namely that business as usual will also be possible in future, sends a false signal to politicians, industry and consumers – not to forget the media.”
This report is a well-researched and authoritative document, anyone interested in the question of “peak oil” and energy resources should read it.
Report Download: Crude Oil The Supply Outlook
Website: The Energy Watch Group
The Energy Watch Group consists of independent scientists and experts, “Crude Oil The Supply Outlook” was published in Ottobrunn, Germany, October 2007
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Considered by economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the financial crisis brought with it a threat to bring down numerous financial institutions. In order to prevent this, a bailout was performed by banks of the national governments, however this only provided a means to prevent the crisis from escalating, what it did not remedy was the drop of the stock markets.
The crisis has long since pasted but we take a look back at what caused the crisis to happen.
Ripples in the Economic Pool
Prior to the financial crisis, interest rates started to spike up and ownerships of homes were at a saturation point, this was also accompanied by early distress signals. The year 2004 saw homeownership in the United States rise to 70%. However, by the final quarter of 2005, home prices started to plummet causing a chain reaction that lead to about a 40% decline in the United States Home Construction Index the year after. This did not only affect new homes but also numerous subprime followers who could not endure the increasing interest.
This catastrophe caused the year 2007 to start with ill news from numerous sources and every month saw at least one subprime lender file for bankruptcy. By the month of February and March around more than 25 subprime lenders filed for bankruptcy, which paved a way for a tide.
One thing led to another and news regarding the problems of the subprime markets began to spread and piquing the general public’s interest. Eventually, horror stories about the problem began to leak out.
The 2007 news reports narrated how financial firms who had ownership of more than $1 trillion in securities along with the backing of the now failing subprime mortgages was enough to start the economic tsunami that would eventually lead to the financial crisis of 2008.
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“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.“
There are many decisions that go into financial investment and planning needs. The question that is likely to have the greatest impact on the financial future is how much investment risk will an investor will take.
A life without risk is impossible. Risk is everywhere – even walking down the street comes with a small risk. Whatever a person is doing in life, it is important to understand his tolerance for risk. An investor may feel more comfortable limiting the amount of risk that is exposed to by not participating in certain activities or may prefer to take more of a risk in the hope of achieving greater rewards.
Some level of risk will always be present, no matter what an investor does with his investments. It’s important to understand this from the start. There are many different types of risks involved in investing. Understanding them can help everyone involved make the most appropriate decisions.
The most usual types of Investment Risks are:
Market Risk, sometimes called volatility, is the risk that an investment will be unpredictable and may fall. They can do this at any time, mildly or severely, for any number of reasons. All investors must plan for losses at some stage. The nature of stock markets makes them unavoidable.
Inflation Risk is the risk that a return is below the rate of inflation. Over a long time, this can reduce the purchasing power of the wealth even though an investor may not feel you have lost anything in numeric terms. Cash is especially vulnerable to the impact of inflation.
Interest Rate Risk is the probability of a decline in the value of an asset resulting from unexpected fluctuations in interest rates. Interest rate risk is mostly associated with fixed-income assets rather than with equity investments. The interest rate is one of the primary drivers of a bond’s price.
Opportunity Cost Risk is the risk that an investor misses one opportunity by taking another, and that the one the investor didn’t take would have brought a better result.
Credit or Counterparty Risk is the risk of an investment product provider going bust.
Liquidity Risk is the risk that an asset cannot be sold when you wish to sell it.
Shortfall Risk is the risk that a portfolio will not generate a rate of return sufficient to meet an investment goal. This may be because of lower market returns or because it has not taken sufficient risk within the portfolio to generate the required return. The magnitude and consequences of the potential shortfall deserve special consideration from investors.
Exchange Rate Risk is the risk that the exchange rate moves against the initial investment when investing in an asset that is priced in a currency other than the local currency.
Country Risk is the risk of the degree to which political and economic unrest affect the investment of doing business in a particular country.
The Risk Profile is a level of investment risk that is right for an investor at a certain time and for a given financial objective. The ideal risk profile will give to an investor a realistic chance of achieving what he wants, with an acceptable level of uncertainty attached.
The Investor Risk Profile will consist of the following four areas:
Risk Tolerance is how an investor feels about investment risk. It’s about the psychology of taking risks with money. How will an investor react if there is a sharp market fall? Will investing become a source of stress and anxiety for an investor, or will he be relaxed as markets go through their natural cycles?
Capacity for Loss looks at the overall financial position. Can an investor afford to make a long-term investment and to take the risk of losing money? What proportion of his total wealth is invested? Ideally, an investor would not have to access his investment in an emergency and sell during a market low.
Investment Objectives are about what an investor wants his wealth to do for him in the future. Buying a house or a car, saving for a comfortable retirement or leaving a legacy to loved ones are all possible goals. The investment objectives reflect the type of person that the investor is and his priorities in life.
Knowledge and Experience is there to ascertain investor understanding of different investment types and to learn more about his past experience with investing.
Volatility is a common way to measure the uncertainty, or degree of daily change, in the value of a portfolio. Investors want returns based on how much risk they accept in an investment. Usually, the higher the risk, the better the reward and vice versa.
The investor risk profile is usually assessed by using a questionnaire.
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Andy Hecht | Jun 30, 2020 21:48
This article was written exclusively for Investing.com
Cotton is perhaps one of the most volatile commodities to trade on the futures exchange. Since 1972, the price of the fluffy fiber has traded from a low of 26.44 cents to as high as $2.27 per pound. The leading cotton-producing countries in the world are China, India, the United States, and Pakistan. China and India are the leading consumers.
Each year, weather conditions in producing nations determine the size of the crop. However, 2020 has been anything but typical.
The global pandemic has weighed on the demand side of the equation, as has the ongoing trade friction between the US and China. Cotton is a member of the soft commodities sector of the asset class. Cotton futures trade on the Intercontinental Exchange. The price was just below 60 cents per pound at the end of last week on the now active month December futures contract.
In early January 2020, optimism over the “phase one” trade deal between the US and China lifted the price of nearby cotton futures on the Intercontinental Exchange to almost 72 cents per pound.
Source, all technical charts: CQG
The weekly cotton chart, above, highlights a gap dating back to the weeks of April 29, 2019, and May 6, 2019, from 74.78 to 73.20 cents per pound. In early January, when the market believed that the first trade deal between the US and China was a stepping stone to a comprehensive agreement, cotton made it to a high of 71.96 cents per pound.
But the market ran out of steam, and the spread of COVID-19 around the world created two problems for the light-weight fiber. First, the demand for consumer goods evaporated as factories shut down to limit the spread of the virus. Second, China’s behavior at the start of the pandemic caused friction with the US and other nations around the world.
The price of cotton futures dropped to a low of 48.35 cents per pound in March, while markets across all asset classes were collapsing. Cotton traded at its lowest price since 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. In 2008, nearby cotton futures found a bottom at 36.70 cents per pound.
There are many similarities between the price action in commodities markets in 2008 and 2020. The global financial crisis a dozen years ago triggered a period of risk-off behavior on markets that caused prices to drop significantly.
The US Fed and central banks around the world came to the rescue in 2008 by slashing short-term interest rates and purchasing assets that pressured rates further out along the yield curve to drop to historically low levels. In the years that followed, commodities prices experienced sharp rallies that took prices of many raw materials to multiyear or all-time highs in 2011. Cotton was one of the agricultural commodities that reached a record peak in 2011.
In 2020, the response from central banks and governments to coronavirus has been even more extreme than in 2008. The US Treasury borrowed $530 billion from June through September 2008 to fund stimulus measures. In May 2020, the US Treasury borrowed $3 trillion, and more borrowing is likely on the horizon as the number of cases of COViD-19 climbs in parts of the US.
Time will tell if we get a similar result over the coming years in commodities markets, but the price tag for stimulative measures could be highly inflationary. A flood of liquidity weighs on the value of fiat currencies. At the same time, the US Dollar Index has weakened since the March peak that took it to the highest level since 2002 at 103.96.
As of the end of last week, the index stood at below 97.50. Along with unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus, a weak US dollar could also ignite commodity prices on the upside over the coming months and years.
In 2008, cotton dropped to its lowest price since 2001 when it traded at 36.70 cents per pound. Less than three years later, the price was over six times higher.
The quarterly chart above, shows the move that took the price to a high of $2.27 per pound in March 2011. The previous all-time peak for cotton futures was in 1995 at only $1.1720.
At around the 60 cents per pound level at the end of last week, cotton futures continue to experience selling pressure. Technical support is at the March low of 48.35 cents with resistance at the early 2020 peak at just below the 72 cents per pound level.
Cotton is sitting in the middle of the 2020 trading range at 60 cents. If producers begin to cut output and demand returns in 2021 and 2022, we could see a significant recovery in the price of the fiber futures.
The most direct route for a risk position in cotton is via the futures and futures options on the Intercontinental Exchange. For those who wish to speculate on the price of cotton, the iPath Series B Bloomberg Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE:BAL) does an excellent job tracking the price of cotton on a short-term basis.
The forward curve in the cotton futures market is relatively flat around the 60-61 cents per pound level. Without contango, the cost of rolling a long position to the next active month is low.
I would only purchase cotton on price weakness in the current environment. The tensions with China and the chance of additional outbreaks of COVID-19 continue to weigh on the price of the agricultural product.
However, if 2020 turns out to be anything like 2008, cotton is currently on sale at a bargain-basement price.
Written By: Andy Hecht
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Over the past couple of decades, rapid advancements in fintech have reduced the number of cash-based financial transactions in many countries around the world.
Many governments and financial authorities are discouraging the use of physical money and encouraging the transfer of ‘digital information’ to conduct financial transactions.
In the UK, this year was the first year where debit card payments overtook cash payments. The ease of contactless technology being hailed as the reason for the increase. The banking trade body UK finance found a total of 13.2 billion debit card payments were made in 2017.
Whether it’s using credit and debit cards, card-swipe, point-of-sales (POS) machines or even e-wallets and payment apps, the world is heading towards a cashless society.
Take Sweden for example, the world’s most cashless country with over 95% of financial transactions being digital. Fellow Scandinavian country Denmark is also a cashless leader, The central bank of Denmark stopped printing bank notes back in 2016.
Even the countries in other parts of the world – especially Asia – are making huge strides to become cashless. India in 2016 pulled all 1,000 and 500 rupee notes from circulation – 86% of the total currency. Vietnam in early 2017, announced a new policy to reduce cash transactions and improve the electronic payment infrastructure to make the country cashless by 2020.
The Benefits of a Cashless Society
There are many driving forces behind governments around the world wanting to push a cashless society agenda. The first one obviously being to help kerb illegal activities such as drug trafficking, tax diversion and other immoral offences. But there is also a bigger picture and its one with many benefits.
- The Costs are Lower
Electronic transactions are cheaper than cash transactions because they eliminate the costs associated with the printing, storage and transportation of large amounts of cash. India alone faced an annual currency operating cost equating over $3394 million according to a study by Tufts University.
Then there’s advantages from the individual’s perspective. Cashless transactions are usually protected by end-to-end encryption, fraud-preventing technology and digital receipts and so not susceptible to physical theft, unlike the physical cash notes or coins.
- Greater Financial Inclusion
The drive towards digitalisation is enabling more individuals to access financial services. This can be seen in low and mid-income countries especially, countries such as India, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Kenya. The growth of a cashless society and development of its associated supply-side infrastructure are pushing digital payment methods deeper into rural areas. Previously these areas accessed credit largely through informal channels. By eliminating a reliance on cash and by formalising the credit network, financial systems are becoming more inclusive, affordable and transparent for all sections of society in general, but especially for weaker sections and low-income groups.
What this means for remittance
The decline in cash payments is also having an impact on how people are remitting money abroad. Business Insider Insights found how whilst the digital share of global remittance is still fairly small at 6%, the rate of growth the market is seeing is extremely fast, especially with digital start-ups growing at pace.
So why are digital remittances on the rise? For exactly the same reasons as stated above. It’s cheaper, quicker and more inclusive to remit money digitally. Startups are undercutting incumbents’ fees in certain corridors. Traditional banks and Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) charge hefty – often not known to the sender – transactions fees and add margins on FX conversions, which reduce the amount actually transferred. On top of that they also take days to process transactions due to the legacy infrastructure for traditional money transfers. New digital disruptors are putting a stop to that. The low-cost online remittance services eliminates both issues faster than legacy firm businesses.
But it’s not all about cost, it’s also about experience and convenience. As the cashless revolution gains momentum, consumers are getting used to an easier and more convenient way of paying for things. Mobile phone payments are increasing year on year, the simplicity of hitting pay on your phone and carrying on with your day is no longer a luxury but an expectation. In 2018 people are now used to a great digital experience and that is what digital remittance companies are offering that many of the traditional companies aren’t.
A cashless society will become a reality and if the traditional remittance companies are going to survive they need to be digitally native and offer easy straightforward transfers, with short transaction times and no hidden charges.
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Discuss the concept of Stock Market with special reference to Pakistan.
A stock exchange is an organized market place in which securities such as bonds and common and preferred stocks are bought and sold. The origins of today’s stock exchanges unusually were informal gatherings of merchants and others who traded securities. The Stock Exchange for Stock Market is the market place of join stock companies, where stock certificates of big business enterprises, debentures, government bonds and bills of exchange are bought and sold. Those who have surplus cash with them and are interested to earn interest or profit without doing business by themselves purchase shares or bonds etc. at the stock exchange. In case they fall in need of money they sell these financial assets at the stock exchange.
Role and Performance of Stock Exchange
Money invested in stock exchange plays the double role for investment. On one hand, it earns interest or profit for the investors and. on the other hand, it is used by companies or government in business enterprises. Thus, money supply increases to the extent by which investment is made by the people in the stock exchange. In this way. stock Exchange is a source of money supply in a country.
A company may issue different types of shares, namely preferred shares, participating preferred shares, common or ordinary shares. The preferred shares enjoy priority with respect to dividends, and if the company is liquidated to division of assets. Dividends on preferred shares are generally paid at a fixed rate. The preferred shares are sometimes divided into Class A or prior and Class B or rights. The participating preferred shares enjoy the added benefits of earning extra dividends based 011 dividends paid to common shareholders.
The common stock, held by the majority of shareholders, represent a residual interest in the company. Dividends paid on common stock fluctuate with the earnings of a company. However, low dividends do not necessarily suggest low profitability. When a company is expanding it may decide to forge dividends in order to plough back profits and finance growth from retained earnings. Shareholders in such case would be willing to forge lower dividends, now in anticipation of even higher profits and dividends in the future.
Following documents or financial assets are traded in the stock exchange; Shares
In order to run a joint stock company, the amount of investment is collected by selling shares of the company. The shareholders elect the board of directors which makes investment in a project to earn profit. The profit is then distributed among shareholders as divided. A ‘Share” therefore, is a part of total investment of a joint stock company and a certificate issued to that effect is called share certificate.
It is a financial document like share certificate. It is also issued by a joint stock company. The main difference between a stock certificate and a share certificate is that in the case of former any number of shares out of shares given on a stock certificate can be sold while in case of latter all shares given on a share certificate will have to be sold at a time.
In order to expand their business joint stock companies sell debentures to get loans from the people at a certain rate 01 interest. Debenture is therefore a loan document. The debenture holder does not share the profit/loss of the company like a shareholder.
It is also a loan document on which joint stock companies or government gets loan from the people at a certain rate of interest. who-so-ever holds bond is its owner e.g. prize bonds in Pakistan; but debenture can only 1- held by a person in whose name it is issued.
Membership of Stock Exchange
Brokers are members of the stock exchanges but an outsider can also use the exchange by employing a member as an agent. The broker can reject this relationship and this occasionally happens when a broker considers an account too small to be acceptable and establishes minimum acceptable limits or is willing to accept only certain kinds of business, for example institutional accounts or active trading accounts. Once the Order is placed and accepted, the relationship becomes one o. principal-agent, as an agent the broker has a fiduciary duty to act in good faith with respect to his customer. Arguably, the most significant task a broker is expected to perform is obtaining the best available price in the execution of customer orders.
The price of membership varies with the performance of the stock market a id the amount of income from brokerage business. It increased from a mere Rs.0.3 million 1985 to Rs.12.5 million during the boom in 1994. There is generally a difference in the unofficial and official price of seats as there is a 12.5% tax on the sale of a seat.The required qualification for a member is as follow:
– Age should not be less than 21 years.
– Citizenship should be Pakistani.
– Should not be of unsound mind.
– Should not have been convicted of any offense involving fraud or breach of trust.
– Should not have been adjudicated as insolvent or suspended payment or compounded with creditors.
– Should be experienced in the brokerage business for a period of not less than two years (this condition can be waived when such a person is in respect of means, integrity and background considered by the Governing Body to be otherwise qualified for membership).
– A specified net capital balance has to be maintained in the capital account at all times.
Role of Broker
The role of brokers can be termed “as one of dual capacity where brokers act as jobbers for their own portfolios and as brokers for their clients. It is important that these functions when performed by the same brokerage house are kept separately apart. It is not uncommon for brokers to quote the highest price when a stock has to be purchased and quote the lowest price for a sale to clients. In addition, brokers are allowed to raise corporate finance for their clients prompting the stockpiling or dumping of stocks on the basis of privileged information.
Status of the Stock Market in Pakistan
The market’s growth since 1990, however, is truly phenomenal and unprecedented in the history of the exchange. The table presented below illustrates both the increase in breadth as well as depth of the market since 1989. The number of companies listed on the KSE increased rapidly from 487 in 1990 to 683 in June 1994. At the same time listed capital rose from Rs.28 billion to Rs.77 billion, an increase of 175%, while market capitalization increased from Rs.53 billion to Rs.416 billion, an increase of 685%. The average daily turnover of shares grew tenfold from 1 million shares to over 10 million shares during the same period. Share ownership broadened with the number of shareholders rising from 300,000 in 1990 to 1.5 million in 1994. While prior to 1990, 95% of all shareholders were based in Karachi the percentage has declined to 60%, reflecting growing geographical dispersion in share ownership.
By the end of 1991, Pakistan’s equity market had been ranked second among the five leading emerging capital markets in the world, by the International Finance Corporation in terms of the return obtained by investors. The surge of activity in the equity market was the result of a concerted programme of liberalization and deregulation of the financial sector initiated by the GOP in 1989.
In order to promote foreign investors, the policy environment has been greatly improved and a large number of restrictions on foreign investors have ben abolished. Pakistan has been ranked among one of the six leading markets namely Argentina. Brazil, Malaysia, Peru and Turkey, where government policy environment is most hospital to foreign investors and allows them virtually unrestricted access to the local stock market, as well as free repatriation of income and capital. (The Economist, September 25. 1993). It is now estimated that approximately US$ 1,00 million has been invested in the stock market by foreign investors (Lakhani, 1994).
The number of Pakistan country funds floated abroad included: The Pakistan Fund (US$ 22.6 million) lead managed by Citicorp, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Pakistan Growth Fund (open end fund of US$ 25 million) lead managed by Credit Lyonnaise International Asset Management Ltd., also listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Pakistan Fund (US$ 60 million) oversubscribed threefold and lead managed by Morgan Stanley, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Pakistan Special Situation Fund. In addition, a variety of funds such as the Moghul Regent Fund (US$ 50 million and managed by W.I. Car), listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. Fidelity Investment, Baring Investment, Schroeder Investment, G.T. Asset management, Genesis Management, Saudi Aggad Investment Ltd.. Commonwealth Equity Fund and Morgan Stanley have invested a percentage of their portfolio in the market.
Transactions are recorded on the ready board. In terms of listed capital the textile sector, the financial sector and fuel and energy have the largest share.
Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)
The daily turnover of shares at the KSE which was recorded at 1.12 million in WO and 13.18 million in 1995 increased to 42.17 million in 1996. During July-March 095-96 the number of listed companies increased by 33 as compared to 56 in the same period last year. As on 30th March 1996, total number of listed companies stood at 775. “he total turnover of shares recorded unprecedented growth of 148 percent over the same period last year from 1421 million shared during the first nine months of 1994-95 to 524 million shares in the first nine months of the current year. The amount of fund capitalized during the current year amounted to Rs. 15.17 billion compared to Rs. 35.62 million in the same period last year. The market capitalization and the KSE 100- . companies Index have however, showed a declining trend compared to last year’s.
Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE)
The Lahore Stock Exchange has constantly strived to improve its infrastructure facility and rules and regulations. There was marked increase in the share turnover at the .SE. Total turnover of shares recorded an increase of 219 percent from 632 million Shares in the first nine months of 1994-95 to 2013 million in the first nine months of the Current year. During July-March 1995-96. 17 new companies were listed as compared ) 43 companies in the same period last year. Total listed companies stood at 635 as on 31.3.1996. The fund mobilized during the first nine months of the current year amounted Rs. 2.15 billion as against Rs.6.12 billion in the same period last year.
Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE)
The Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) was opened in August 1992. Investment and industrialization activities in the northern area of the country are being promoted by the ISE. The performance of ISE during the period under review was encouraging. The analysis of the available data indicates that the total turnover of shares and total paid-up- Capital increased by 173 percent and 30 percent respectively during July-March 1995-96 compared to the same period last year. A total of 25 new companies have been listed during this period as against 23 companies listed during the comparable previous period. Total trading in this period was 1 14.453 million shares. Government has taken various measures for strengthening capital market. Some important measures relating to the capital market are as Under:
– Foreigners and overseas Pakistanis are now allowed to make new investments without any prior approval.
– Foreign investors can now own up to 100% of equity in a venture.
– Remittances of dividends and disinvestment proceeds no longer require the State Bank’s, permission.
– Access to borrowings by foreign companies has been greatly liberalized.
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