...THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES (CAVE HILL) CAMPUS FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS FINA3010 – SUPERVISED RESEARCH PROJECT How Has The International Monetary Fund Impacted the Caribbean Business Environment? Student Name: William Franklyn April 1st, 2014 ID#:407002804 Professor: Mr. Wilberne Persuad Contents Introduction: 3 Literature Review: 4 Background: 4 Further look at the IMF: 4 The World Bank: 5 Loans facilities offered by the IMF: 5 Definition of Caribbean Business Environment (The Small Open Economy Model): 6 Characteristics of the Caribbean Business Environment: 6 Definition of a Financial Crisis: 7 What causes a Financial Crisis to occur? 8 Conclusion: 9 Descriptive analysis 10 Methodology 15 Conclusion 16 Social Instability: 16 Further look at the impact of the IMF’s procedures/objectives: 16 Potential Threat 17 Policy Responses: 18 Internally: 18 Externally: 18 Bibliography: 20 Introduction: This research paper aims to analyze the process of The International Monetary Fund in Barbados and how the country was affected by their guidelines. Barbados has been said to be one of the developing countries within the Caribbean Business Environment. However due to external shocks as well as weak domestic policies, Barbados was forced to ask the IMF for their aid as a last option, to stabilize the country’s economy. This research paper intends to highlight...
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...Foundations of Human Development in the Social Environment Introduction Exploring the dynamics of human behavior prepares a foundation of knowledge that builds practice skills. The primary step in helping a client is assessing, which includes investigating and determining the changes that affects a recognized problem or issue from a wide range of perceptions. There are always reasons why people act in the manner they do and it is the human service professional’s job to verify that reason. A normal development milestone has serious impacts on the client and social workers must understand these milestones to provide information to the clients. Appropriate assessments of client behavior are relevant to the biological, psychological, and social development systems that operate together and affect behavior. Bio-Psycho-Social Dimensions of Development With the realization that people are complex, workers have a primary focus on the vibrant interactions between biological, psychological, and social aspects of development. These interactions ultimately affect the client’s overall health. For example, a medical illness such as anxiety can provide insight on the dimensions of development. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2010), if a person is diagnosed with anxiety their psychological state of mind is already affected and the illness is a present problem. The anxiety will cause the person to isolate themselves from others and affect the sociological dimension. Mood...
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...BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO WORKING PAPER SERIES Macro-Finance Models of Interest Rates and the Economy Glenn D. Rudebusch Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco January 2010 Working Paper 2010-01 http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/papers/2010/wp10-01bk.pdf The views in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Macro-Finance Models of Interest Rates and the Economy Glenn D. Rudebusch∗ Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Abstract During the past decade, much new research has combined elements of finance, monetary economics, and macroeconomics in order to study the relationship between the term structure of interest rates and the economy. In this survey, I describe three different strands of such interdisciplinary macro-finance term structure research. The first adds macroeconomic variables and structure to a canonical arbitrage-free finance representation of the yield curve. The second examines bond pricing and bond risk premiums in a canonical macroeconomic dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. The third develops a new class of arbitrage-free term structure models that are empirically tractable and well suited to macro-finance investigations. This article is based on a keynote lecture to the 41st annual conference of the Money, Macro, and Finance Research Group on September 8,...
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...MORTGAGE PORTFOLIO ANALYZER: A QUASI-STRUCTURAL MODEL OF MORTGAGE PORTFOLIO LOSSES TECHNICAL DOCUMENT 1 Mar 4, 2011 Roger M. Stein Ashish Das Yufeng Ding Shirish Chinchalkar ABSTRACT This document outlines the underlying research, model characteristics, data, and validation results for Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer, which is an analytic tool to assess credit risk measures, capital levels and stress scenarios for portfolios of residential mortgages. Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer comprises loan-level econometric models for default, prepayment, and severity. These models are integrated through common dependence on local macro-economic factors, which can be either simulated at national, state, and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) levels or input in the form of stress scenarios. This integration produces correlation in behaviors of loans across the portfolio. The simulation incorporates a multi-step Monte Carlo approach and generates monthly P&I cash flows and losses which enables the model to be used for ALM applications or to be combined with an external cash flow waterfall tool and used for simulation of RMBS transactions. Scenario and stress testing is also done in a multiperiod framework. Furthermore, the model accommodates both loan-level and portfolio-level mortgage insurance. The resulting tool can be used for analyzing the credit risk in both portfolios of whole loans and RMBS transactions. © 2011 Moody’s Research Labs. All rights reserved. Many past and present members...
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...Case: The OD Letters Problems Macro The macro problem of the company is the lack of commitment from the previous team leader of the XRS Laser group has affected the perception of the group throughout the company and has also resulted in poor results from this group. The project lead had a lackadaisical attitude and his actions promoted this type of attitude and behavior with his team, especially in completing projects. This attitude and his behavior was recognized by his group and they followed-up the same approach. Although John attended the company’s team leadership courses, perhaps the company did not enforce these behaviors and did not follow-up and conduct periodic audits. The company should not only coach relationships with their subordinates, they need to follow-up and oversee the effectiveness of these sessions from beginning to end (new paradigm). Micro Though the personnel in the XRS Laser group may be competent employees, the company needs to ensure that through placing a strong reliance on work teams means that the manger must also have the ability to help the team become more keenly aware of how it operates. Currently, the XRS Laser group is behaving under a group content and is displaying the attitude and behavior of their project manager, John. When the team is more aware of how it operates, it will be better able to analyze and solve its own problems. The company would not have to hire a new project manager (Ryan) to bring about positive...
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...of violent crimes. This study uses empirical research to link gang violence with homicide rates. A majority of studies only looked at the micro level of gang attribute violence and homicide correlation. Costanza focused on the macro level using 154 U.S. cities to determine if active gangs directly correlated with homicide rates. Criminologist in the 1990’s paid special attention to the structural factors contributing to the all-time peak of violence in the young men demographic. Researchers have remained focused on the patterns of homicide within the context of the violence peak in the 90’s. Costanza chose to “focus explicitly on the plausible empirical link between street gangs and homicide offending in central cities throughout the Unites States”. The factors that lead to an increase in homicide include the drug market, guns, and gang presence. Recent studies have shown that it is a combination of factors, as opposed to just financial opportunity, that lead to gang membership. The reason for the lack of macro level studies of gang violence has been due to the lack of gang related studies. Maxson in 1992, published a study that systematically documented the number of gangs and gang members. This new data has presented the opportunity for more macro level research of gang related violence. Throughout the history of gang related organizations, the media and academia have assumed a correlation between street gangs and violence. Even though this pattern has been alluded to...
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...AMITY UNIVERSITY MAURITIUS Course : MBA (by Distance Learning) Module : Strategic Management Coursework Title : Examining Strategic Management for Chicken Delight Ltd Date Of Submission: 23 April 2015 Lecturer: Mr. Narain Presented by: Ramdin Devesananda INTRODUCTION It is the beginning of a new era that the fast food industry has gradually breakthrough the Mauritius lifestyle. Due to the globalisation process, many fast food franchises are now available in Mauritius. Whether these fast foods have revolutionised Mauritius, today these products form part of our lifestyle and culture. People rely on their convenience to enhance their lives and productivity. But in the fast and increasing competitive business environment of today, the right marketing approach is necessary to compete with competitors. The ability to develop effective marketing strategy which enable the firm to become more responsive and adaptable to the market will perhaps more than ever before, differentiate the winners from the losers The rational of developing marketing strategies is to respond to the increasing high demand in fast food and to eventually increase the market share of chicken Delight Ltd. The answer lies in the fact that Chicken Delight Ltd franchise is in the fast food industry, selling fried chicken, chips and burgers, and its main and direct competitor is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Chicken Delight Ltd is relatively new on the Mauritian market and Kentucky Fried Chicken has...
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...Assess the usefulness of interactionist approaches to the study of society- 33 marks Interactionism is an action theory which is based on the micro level, they are bottom-up approaches which focus on the actions of individuals. They emphasise free will as they are more voluntaristic than structural theories. Whereas, structural theories such as functionalism are macro, top down and deterministic. They believe that individuals are puppets who are manipulated by society. There are four important action theories which all emphasise action but differ in how far they see a role for structural explanations of behaviour. Webers social action theory and symbolic interactionism assume that the social structure can influence how we act. Phenomenology and ethnomethodology reject the idea that there is a social structure, they believe that society is a social construct instead of it being a real thing. Weber(one of the founding fathers of sociology) attempted to classify actions into four types. Instrumentally rational action is where the individual figures out the most efficient way of achieving the goal. An example of this is how businesses may calculate that the most efficient way of maximising profit would be to pay low wages. Value rational action is what the individual does in the belief that the action is desirable for their own sake. An example of this is a believer worshipping their god in order to get to heaven despite having no way of knowing whether it will gain him/her...
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...highlights; all theorists, ideas, and concepts are not included. Because human behavior is complex and the social work profession is broad, numerous theories are utilized for social work practice at the micro-meso-macro levels. These theories focus on human growth and development, psychological and social functioning, and social service delivery. Some theories emphasize social and economic justice. All theories are value-laden and come out of a socio-historical context. Thus, all theories should be critiqued with attention paid to their cross-cultural applicability. DEFINITIONS: Theory—interrelated sets of concepts and propositions, organized into a deductive system to explain relationships about certain aspects of the world (e.g., the theories listed below). Perspective—an emphasis or point of view; concepts at an earlier level of development (e.g., a “strengths perspective”) or at a broader and higher level of abstraction (ex: a “humanistic perspective” or a “developmental perspective”) Paradigm—an archetype or mode of thought; a general way of seeing the world (e.g., “modernism” or “post-modernism”) Practice Model—a guide for practitioner interaction that operationalizes theory; includes concrete actions and techniques (note: some theories have more well-developed practice models than others) Dimension—a feature that can be focused on individually or separately, but can only be understood in relation to other features (as in “dimensions of human behavior” or a “multi-dimensional approach”...
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...However, by using China’s panel data of 35 main cities stretching from 1998 to 2007, we find that there is no stable relationship between house price and economic fundamentals. House price has deviated upward from the economic fundamentals since government started macro-control of the real estate market. We consider that the mechanism between the house price and economic fundamentals is distorted by China’s real estate policy, especially its land policy. Meanwhile the policy itself is an important factor in explaining the changes of China’s house price. Then we estimate the dynamic panel data model on house price and the variables which are controlled by real estate policy. The result shows: land supply has negative effects on house price; financial mortgages for real estate have positive effects on house price; and the area of housing sold and the area of vacant housing, which reflects the supply and demand of the housing market, has negative effects on house price. We also find some differences in house price influence factor between eastern and mid-western cities. Finally, we propose policy suggestions according to the empirical results. Keywords house price, economic fundamental, real estate policy, dynamic panel data model JEL Classification E31, R20, R31 1 Introduction Ever since China’s central government decided to stop welfare-housing Received August 10, 2009 Huayi Yu ( ) School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China E-mail: rucyhy@gmail.com ...
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...leaders with challenges as well as opportunities. Ackoff and Gharajedaghi (1996) defined a system as “a whole defined by one or more functions, which consists of two or more essential parts” (p.13). Systems Theory, Systems Analysis and Systems Thinking examines input, processes, outputs and outcomes, with ongoing feedback. Social systems (groups, supply and demand, friendship, etc.) range from very simple to very complex. Complex systems, are comprised of numerous subsystems are arranged in hierarchies, and integrated to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. Internal dynamics and effectiveness The structure of an organization macro (focus on larger social structural challenges) or micro (focus on everyday challenges) can have a direct effect on company productivity and effectiveness. Kilduff and Brass (2010) suggest at the macro level can consist of a broad spectrum of social processes...
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...and the evolution of development perspectives. The study reviews the work of different authors and their perceptions about the evolution of development. A brief summary of the developed economic models has also been included, as most journals have mentioned these theories in their reviews. Development has come a long way over the last sixty years as both a scholarly discipline and as an enterprise. It became very significant after the Second World War and was considered the same as industrialization. Its objective was very clear: to raise incomes and offer goods and services to poor people, who couldn’t have access to them before (Rapely, 2007, p. 1). Evolution can be defined as the self-transformation of a system under study (Witt, 2002, p. 9). Six decades ago, depression and political developments had made first world countries rely on Keynesian models in political and economic circles. This further influenced third world countries whose confidence was supported by the emergence of structural economics in a bid to enter the industrial age. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, those involved with development studies tried to answer the question relating to what it means for the economy to be developed. In a bid to answer this question, many economic models were developed to explain this phenomenon (Onyeka, 2014). These development theories mainly focused on analysing the social-economic phenomenon of development, and they offered opportunities for...
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...Osnabrueck, Germany University of Osnabrueck, Germany a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t The analysis concentrates on direct and indirect price increases, induced shifts in international trade and structural changes in the oil importing economies. The paper at hand asks, whether a stabilizing effect via international trade and domestic structural change on the GDP of oil importing countries can be observed, if a permanent oil price increase occurs. At least for Germany, structural change from consumer goods to investment goods industry and an improvement of international competitiveness limit negative impacts of increased energy prices. Analysis is based on the extensive and disaggregated global GINFORS model and the detailed INFORGE model for the German economy. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Article history: Received 15 July 2008 Received in revised form 13 January 2009 Accepted 27 May 2009 Available online 6 June 2009 JEL classification: Q43 C53 C67 F17 Keywords: Global modelling Energy prices and the macro economy International trade 1. Introduction Oil price shocks have negative impacts on oil importing countries. There seems to be evidence for this plausible result from the literature of econometric studies with vector autoregressive models conducted by Darby (1982), Hamilton (1983) and others. The impact has weakened over the last decades with lower energy intensity of the major economies. The Energy Information Administration (2006) also points...
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...The United Kingdom has the seventh-largest economy in the world, has the second-largest economy in the European Union, and is a major international trading power. A highly developed, diversified, market-based economy with extensive social welfare services provides most residents with a high standard of living. The UK joined the European Economic Community (now known as the EU) in January 1973 and it is a founder member of the World Trade Organization. The United Kingdom is one of the world’s leading advanced economies. And it is the second biggest exporter of services in the global economy and ranked eighth in global exports of goods. The United Kingdom is the world's fifth-largest trading nation, highly dependent on foreign trade. It must import almost all its copper, ferrous metals, lead, zinc, rubber, and raw cotton and about one-third of its food. The United Kingdom's exports manufactured items like telecommunications equipment, automobiles, automatic data processing equipment, medicinal and pharmaceutical products and aircraft. Its main trading partners are European Union countries, The United States, China and Japan. United Kingdom is also the European Union's only significant energy exporter. It is also one of the world's largest energy consumers, and most analysts predict a shift in U.K. status from net exporter to net importer of energy by 2020, possibly sooner. Oil production in the U.K. is leveling off. Therefore, UK should export the oil energy from foreign countries...
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...multinational approach in business, the international marketing approach should be used. This means that companies should be aware of external environmental factors, including those external to the country in which they are based. According to Yüksel (2012), an effective method to determine the macro-environmental effects on a company and the company's ability to take these conditions and choose an appropriate direction is the PESTEL analysis (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal). To utilize this tool even further, one can apply PESTEL and the effects of the macro-environment to their business and evaluate the apparent or implicit effects on the marketing mix. Companies such as Qantas, an Australian airline company could greatly benefit from the application of PESTEL analysis. After a huge financial loss in 2011 and a huge decline in market share forcing a major structural change and the cut of 1000 jobs (Gelineau 2011), Qantas needs to observe the effects the macro-environmental effects on its marketing mix. By doing so, it will gain more insight towards making a decision of majority ownership. It must be noted, that while an in depth analysis of each of the PESTEL macro-environmental factors is important, this report will take a broad approach, analysing the political, socio-cultural, technological and legal factors in relation to the marketing mix of Qantas. |Political Factors Firstly, it is important that marketer's realise the...
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