The Nature of Demand for Shipping Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Demand for Shipping Essay The shipping industry is engaged in the production of water borne transport of goods and people. This industry can be defined as a group of individual industries or sectors operating within different markets and reacting to different economic conditions. The primary economic function of shipping services is, like all transport, to bridge the gap which exists between producer and consumer. Shipping is an expanding, global business which carries most of the worlds traded goods; it is relatively free of capacity constraints, and less harmful to the environment than other transport modes. The future offers substantial opportunities for the shipping industry, bringing with them the potential for significant inward investment and wider economic benefits for the world. For example if we look in to the economic contribution of shipping in UK we can see Efficient shipping is vital to our economic well-being: 95% of our external trade by weight (77% by value) and 7% of domestic freight tonnage (but around 25% in terms of tonne kilometres), moves by water. So when we will judge the nature of demand for shipping we have to look into the traditional demand supply rules of economic theory. Human wants are the core of all economic activities. This is the core of economic analysis that how people choose what needs they are going to satisfy through the use of which resources. In economics, demand means effective demand or demand that is backed by ability to pay. The demand for shipping is effective demand because it has actually been satisfied by the world fleet. Generally demands for transport results from demand for goods. Without the demand for goods there would be no demand for transport. Here transport itself is not the primary demand, its the secondary one. Where it (the demand for transport) derives from the need of goods to be transported. Thats why the demand of the mode of transport, here shipping, is a derived demand. So shipping demand is determined by the final consumers for the Product. Here the level of sea borne trade determines the number of shipping and cargo space required. For Example, after 02nd world war ,the rapid world wide industrialization, resulted in concentrated centres of production and consumption, which led to rapid growth of world trade and particularly shipping. 3 So Shipping is directly related to world trade. And world trade is directly related to world output or production. Here industrial economic development is the central factor in the volume of sea borne trade, but the volume can also be influenced by technological development and political factors. And this demand for shipping is mainly derived from two sources, the demand for the commodities for industrial utilisation and demand for those commodities for final consumption. As said before that shipping demand is an effective demand because the demand for the quantity of an economic good which can be transported by ships at each and every possible price during a given time period. And also because the shipping of commodities creates utility because it creates user value in a number of ways like 4 1. The Utility of Place and Location : Shipping makes it the availability of goods in a certain place where they are wanted. For example Australian apple or Costarican banana is available in the UK super market. 2. The Utility of Time : Shipping makes the availability of goods when they are required heating oil during the winter. 3. The Utility of Form :Shipping services contribute to make the change in the material or physical form of a good in such a way to increase its ability to satisfy wants. For example ,middle east crude oil converted to gas or petroleum in refineries adjacent to consumer markets. 4. Intangibles: Like other services, shipping service is also intangible in that it does not result in the physical production of a commodity. The growth rates of 1999 had been strongly distorted by the Asian crisis. In 2000 a sound recovery took place. Both world trade growth of 8. 0 per cent and the world output growth of 3. 0 per cent represent favourable values, but did not entirely approach to the higher levels in 1994, 1995 and 1997. For the years 2000 and 2001, OECD and other international organisations expect a growth rate of real world output of 4.3 per cent and 3. 8 per cent, respectively, with clearly higher rates for world trade, namely about 10 per cent and more than 8 per cent, respectively. This will boost especially world container shipping towards even higher growth rates5 Table 01: World Output, World trade and shipping trend 1993 to 2010. (IMF/World Bank ISL-Estimates) Source: ISL Shipping Statistics and Market Review 2000 Table 02: World merchant fleet Annual tonnage changes as of January 1st, 1987-2001 (dwt-% change) Source: ISL Shipping Statistics and Market Review 2000

Interpretation of A Feminist View on Pornography Essay -- Critique Reb

Interpretation of A Feminist View on Pornography The article that I will be breaking down in the following paper is â€Å"Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech† by Catherine A. MacKinnon. I believe the best area to start is to briefly describe MacKinnon and her article. MacKinnon is a professor of law at the University of Michigan. The article deals with the affects of pornography on society. MacKinnon feels that some pornography should be illegal. Her reason for this view is not that she finds it offensive, but rather that she considers it as a form of sexual discrimination. There are many different views on pornography ranging from the belief that it is harmless fantasy all the way to it being a prime factor of the deterioration for society. MacKinnon says that pornography subordinates women and institutionalizes male supremacy. She even goes so far as to say that it is a political practice. Advocates of pornography claim its ultimate end to be pleasure, but MacKinnon says that the actual end is power. The article will att empt to prove a correlation between pornography and the violence taken against women, as well as their social and economic inequality. I feel that the article itself is poorly written, but will attempt to make her points a little easier to understand. I feel the necessity to state that the feelings of the paper are that of my views on MacKinnon’s article. They are not my views and may in fact be, misinterpretations of her views. To spare us the confusion, I will rebut it with my views that pornography is harmless, at the end of the paper. The article starts with a brief passage on sexual equality in society. Her presentation of the argument is to explain it as if she agreed with it, only to refute it by say... ...hy. It is a genre in which men are completely subordinate, and women have all the power. Her article is so weak because it does not take that into account. I know that is only one case, but we have stated time and again that philosophy must be consistent. If she cannot/does not take dominatrix into account, then her philosophy is inconsistent. To fully explain this article and pornography would require a lengthy paper that exceeds the requirements and purpose of this prà ©cis. I will end my paper by saying that I believe everyone has a right to free speech and equality, and I appreciate the article for what it was worth, but I do not feel it is justifiable or relevant to society. She bases her entire argument on an improvable correlation of pornography and sexual discrimination. Not to mention the fact that women also buy pornography. But that is a whole other prà ©cis.

Analysis Of The Three Financial Models

IntroductionBankruptcy refers to the state of an individual who is unable to pay his or her debts and against whom a bankruptcy order has been made by a court. Such orders deprive bankrupts of their property, which is then used to pay their debts. Bankruptcy proceedings are started by a petition, which may be presented to the court by (1) a creditor or creditors; (2) a person affected by a voluntary arrangement to pay debts set up by the debtor under the Insolvency Act 1986; (3) the Director of Public Prosecutions; or (4) the debtor. (Smullen and Hand, 2003).If we assume that a corporation is a separate legal entity thus qualifying as a legal person, we can adopt the above definition to define bankruptcy in the context of the corporation or corporate bankruptcy as the state of a corporation that is unable to pay its debts and against which bankruptcy order has been made by a court. (Smullen and Hand, 2003).Analysis of the models for predicting bankruptcy.There are three main approach es to predicting bankruptcy which include: accounting analytical approach, option theoretical approach and the statistical approach. Becchetti and Sierra (2002: p. 2100).   Under the statistical approach corporate failure risk is analyzed through four widely known methods which make use of balance sheet ratios: linear or quadratic discriminate analysis, logistic regression analysis, probit regression analysis and neural network analysis.For the purposes of this paper we will limit our analysis to three basic financial models, which include the Z-Score model, the discriminant model and the Black-Scholes-Merton Probability. We also describe the application of these models in corporations.1. The Z-Score Bankruptcy Prediction ModelThe Z-score prediction model was developed by Altman in 1968. (Grice and Ingram, 2001: p. 53). The Z-score model applies multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA) and employs financial ratios as input variables to predict financial distress. (Tzeng et al, 200 7: p. 297). According to Grice and Ingram (2001: p. 53), Altman (1968) used a sample of 33 non-bankrupt manufacturing firms from 1946-1965. Grice and Ingram (2001) assert that despite the fact that the z-score model exhibit high accuracy rates using both estimation and hold-out samples, (95% and 84%), its generalizability to industries and periods outside of those in the original sample has received little attention.This model has be widely used in a variety of industries to evaluate financial conditions of firms and it is continuously being used in many business situations including bankruptcy prediction and other financial stress conditions. Grice and Ingram (2001) carried out a test on the z-score model based three basic tests which include the model’s ability to predict bankruptcy today as opposed to periods in which it was developed, the usefulness of the model in predicting bankruptcy in non-manufacturing as well as manufacturing firms and its ability to predict bankrup tcy in financial stress conditions other than bankruptcy.Their findings show that although the model is useful in predicting bankruptcy as well as other financial conditions, the models accuracy is significantly lower in recent periods than that reported in the original work by Altman (1968).Grice and Ingram (2001) also find significant differences in the model’s coefficients from those reported by Altman. Based on these findings, Grice and Ingram (2001) suggest that better accuracy can be achieved by re-estimating the model coefficients using estimation from periods close to test periods. In addition Grice and Altman (2001) find that the including non-manufacturing firms in the sample, further weakens the accuracy of the model.1.1 Application of the Z-Score modelCommercial banks use the model as part of the periodic loan review process; investment bankers use the model in security and portfolio analysis. It has been employed as a management decision tool and as an analysis t ool by auditors to assess their clients’ abilities to continue as going concerns (Grice and Ingram, 2001: p. 53).2. The Black-Scholes-Merton Model.According to Reisz and Perlich (2007) following from Black and Scholes (1973) and Merton (1974), the common stock of a firm can be seen as a standard call option on the underlying assets of the firm. It is assumed that shareholders have sold the corporation to creditors, and hold the option of buying it back by paying face value (plus interest) of their debt obligations. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 2). On the other hand, using put/call parity, we can see shareholders as holding the firm’s assets (bought after borrowing money from creditors) as well as a put option with exercise price equal to the face value equal to value of debt.(Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 2). In the event where the where the firm value is below the exercise price, that is, where the price of the firm is below the face value of the debt at maturity, share holders can freely work walk away without repaying their debt obligations. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 2). This is similar to selling the firm to the bondholers at the face value of the debt. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 2). Reisz and Perlich, (2007: p. 2) asserts that such an equity-based valuation model can lead to better bankruptcy predictions.In a study by Hillegeist et al. (2004), it was found that the probabilities of bankruptcy backed out from the a Black-Scholes-Merton structural model are up to 14 times more informative that ones inferred from accounting-based statistics such as the Altman (1968) Z-score. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 2). However despite the merits of this Black-Scholes-Merton model, it does not provide any rationale for observed managerial (bounded) risk choices. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 3). In addition, probabilities of default (PDs) coming from this framework are miscalibrated. (Reisz and Perlich, 2007: p. 3).3. The Mutiple Discriminant ModelMultiple discriminant analysis (MDA) is a statistical technique employed in the classification of an observation into one of several a priori groupings, dependent upon the observation’s individual characteristics. It is primarily useful in the classification and/or prediction in problems where the dependent variable appears in qualitative form for example, male or female, bankrupt or non-bankrupt. Therefore the first step is to establish explicit group classifications. The number of original groupings may be two or more.The MDA model is advantageous in that it considers the entire profile of characteristics common to the relevant firms, as well as the interaction of these properties. Conversely, a univariate study can only consider the measurement used for grouping assignments one at a time. Another important advantage of the MDA model is the reduction of the analyst’s space dimensionality.   When analysing a comprehensive list of financial ratios in assessing a firm’ s bankruptcy potential, there is reason to believe that some of the measurements will have a high degree of collinearity or correlation with each other. (Altman, 1968).3.1 Application of Multiple Discriminant ModelFollowing its first application in the 1930s, the MDA model has been used in many studies and disciplines. In its earlier days it was used only in Biology and behavioural sciences. Today, the model has been applied successfully in financial problems such as credit evaluation and investment classification. For example, Walter made use of the model to classify high and low price earnings ratio firms, and Smith applied the model in the classification of firms into standard investment categories.BIBLIOGRAPHYA market-based framework for bankruptcy prediction. Alexander S. Reisz and Claudia Perlich. Journal of Financial Stability, 2007, Pages 1-47.  A real-valued genetic algorithm to optimize the parameters of support vector machine for predicting bankruptcy. Chih-Hung Wu Gwo- Hshiung Tzeng Yeong-Jia Goo   Wen-Chang Fang. Expert Systems with Applications Volume 32, 2007 Pages 397–408  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Bankruptcy†Ã‚  Ã‚  A Dictionary of Finance and Banking. John Smullen and Nicholas Hand. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.   Ã‚  http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t20.e278Bankruptcy risk and productive efficiency in manufacturing firms. Leonardo Becchetti and Jaime Sierra Journal of Banking & Finance,  Volume 27, Issue 11,  November 2003,  Pages 2099-2120Tests of the generalizability of Altman’s bankruptcy prediction model. John Stephen Grice and Robert W. Ingram. Journal of Business Research Volume 54, 2001 Pages 53-61.Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis and the Prediction of Corporate Bankruptcy. Edward I Altman. Journal of Finance, Volume 27, Issue 4, September 1968, Pages 589-689.

Gothic Elements in The Telltale Heart - 1088 Words

Gothic Elements in the â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† The classic short story of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, written by one of the all time masters of horror, Edgar Allen Poe, has always been used as an excellent example of Gothic fiction. Edgar Allen Poe specialized in the art of gothic writing and wrote many stories that portrayed disturbing events and delved deeply into the minds of its characters. In The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe revolves the plot around a raving individual who, insisting that he is sane, murders an old man because of his` â€Å"vulture eye†. The three main gothic elements that are evident in this story are the unique setting, the theme of death and decay, and the presence of madness. Unlike many other works of gothic fiction, this story†¦show more content†¦The narrator can think of nothing else but killing the old man with which he lives even though he has nothing against this man and actually doesn’t mind him. He finds the man’s eye to be so repulsive that the only way to deal with it is by destroying the old man. The eye is described as resembling â€Å"that of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it.† The narrator also describes how this eye makes him feel when he states that â€Å"I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness – all a dull blue, with a hideous veil that chilled the very marrow in his bones.† This startling quote helps to deepen the story’s suspense. The theme of violence is also shown when the murderer describes what he does with the old man’s body after killing him. â€Å"First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms an d the legs.† The theme of decay is evident throughout the story as well because it is the associated process with death and because of several descriptions in the story, such as the dim lighting, the creaking door hinges, and the loose floorboards, all which can be used as evidence of decay. The old man gives the reader the image of a man whose body is aged and frail as well. The third and final element of gothic literature that can be found in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is that of the presence of madness and the thin boundary line thatShow MoreRelatedGothic Horror Stories Essay2239 Words   |  9 PagesUnlike The Red Room and The Monkey’s Paw, the setting of â€Å"The Telltale Heart is not significant to building up suspense; however there are a few elements that do. How is tension and suspense built up and maintained in at least two Gothic horror stories? The genre of Gothic Horror was developed during 19th and early 20th century and had a popular appeal to the new middle class people who sought entertainment. Gothic Horror has common characteristics of suspense, fear and would oftenRead More The Cask of Amontillado1774 Words   |  8 Pagesits predecessor. Bradbury seeks to retain Poe’s love of the double and the secretive (Gothic mentalities where the reader is meant to be a bit uncertain about what they’re reading and what’s going on) while adding, most notably regarding â€Å"TCoA,† the things Poe never had much care for: a beginning, an end, and reason—thus making â€Å"Usher II† not only an homage to Poe’s work, but a companion piece whose beating heart lies within the original work. Poe, according to Professor Epstein of the Queens CollegeRead MoreI Became Insane, With Long Intervals Of Horrible Sanity Essay1986 Words   |  8 PagesI became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. ― Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is an American poet well-known for his eerie and gothic based themes. In fact, his tales of mystery and horror were the first to give rise to detective stories. In his short story, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† (1843), Poe invites us to experience a sinister and mystifying murder through the mind of the murderer, the narrator himself. This self-narrated tale takes place in a house that the narrator shares with an old