Discuss the overall trend in postwar aggregate productivity in the US Essay

Discuss the overall trend in postwar aggregate productivity in the US - Essay Example labor has been averaging around slightly above one percent faster than MFP: from 1953-2012, labor productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent per year, and MFP grew at an annual average rate of 1.1 percent per year ().this projects a volatile economic growth rate annually. The volatility could be attributed to measurement error in estimation arising from both series. Getting an accurate measurement of these rates is a daunting task given the fluctuations in the rates market. Another reason stems from the fact that series have certain gas between then that cyclical. To illustrate this, consider when the MFP growth fell—in fact, took on negative values—during the recessions that started in 1969, 1980-81, 1990, and 2007 ().the negative values are an indication of how less optimal the inputs have become in yielding the expected returns. Besides, a negative MFP growth can also arise from variation in the utilization rates of capital and labor over the business cycle (). In the last 60 years the long-term mean growth rates of labor productivity and MFP have varied substantially in three episodes. In the initial episode, the 1950s through early 1970s, there was a high growth of MFP.MFP growth averaged at 1.7 percent per year from 1953 through 1972. In the next episode, from the late 1970s through early 1990s, there were lower MFP growth with an average of 0.5% annually. In the last episode, from the mid-1990s up to now, experiencing an intermediate level of MFP growth of 1.0%

A look at why Gorbachev's reforms failed in the former Soviet Union Term Paper

A look at why Gorbachev's reforms failed in the former Soviet Union while Deng Xiaoping's reforms succeeded in China - Term Paper Example His policy of Glasnost or openness was also an integral part of his restructuring as well. The essence of these reforming exercises was largely the movement towards economic liberalization and plausible democratic transparency – to the extent as it augured well with the need for necessary change (Kessler, 1988, 651). Indeed, what Deng could foresee in 1978, Gorbachev and erstwhile Soviet political stalwarts took yet another eight years to conceive! China’s journey to realizing need for globalization began with Deng’s very first visit to United States for meeting President Carter. When USSR started with restructuring economy and polity, China was already way ahead in this process. Does it mean that Deng was better entrenched in the corridors of power in China than Gorbachev in Soviet Union? There can be quite few reasons behind this apparent ‘back bencher’ attitude of the Soviet Union. Despite other international political designs, China was not so globally involved with the cold war mutual vilifications and indirect fighting with the United States (US). The Soviet Union had to waste a lot of her resources and energy in the cold war with US. In view of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan and tremendous pressure upon it during cold war and dà ©tente, USSR’s weal ec onomy could not really bear the burden of a so-called socialist polity and economy – largely closed to the outside world. However, in order to critically analyze and compare both Perestroika and Deng’s reforms it is required to know the major aspects of both these perspectives. First, main aspects of Perestroika may be pointed out: The Gorbachev leadership, however, regarded its reforms in the USSR as a development of socialism, a â€Å"modernization,† as it were, of socialism to bring it up to date in the modern epoch. The policy of perestroika has †¦. The proposals of the reform movement

Removing Bubbles From Wallpaper

Removing Bubbles From Wallpaper The most important and the useful thing in decorating your house is the wallpaper. There are several wallpapers available in the market that you can apply on your own. However there are several problems that the person normally faces while applying wallpaper. The biggest problem is of the wallpaper bubble and so most of the people want to know the tips for getting a bubble out of the wallpaper. To begin with what are wallpaper bubbles? They are the bumps visible in the wallpapers surface that are caused because of the air pockets that are trapped between the wall as well as the paper. It is quite common to find such wallpaper bubbles in every wall even if the wallpapers are applied by the professionals. But that doesnt means that it is not at all possible to have the beautiful wallpaper on the wall without the wallpaper bubbles. There are several easy as well as simple DIY fixes that are best in providing you the wallpaper look smooth as well as totally free from the wallpaper bubbles. In addition there are several useful tips that are helpful in enabling one to apply wallpapers on the wall without any bubbles. Some of the tips that are considered very helpful for you to get out from the trouble of wallpaper bubble, if they have already arisen. They are as under: The first thing you can do with the air bubble is that you can cut the air bubble with the craft knife in the cross. Open the leaves from the cut put some adhesive and then again smoothen it back into the place. You can also use a pin in order to put the hole in the air bubble. After doing so you can put some of the adhesive over the hole and then leave it to dry for some days. It is also beneficial if you try pricking the hole with the help of syringe with a long needle. You can force the paste into the hole with the help of syringe and flatten it again. You can also try hard rollers on the surface. It is so because it helps in getting the bubble out of the wallpaper. All the above stated points will help you in getting a bubble out of wallpaper.

Todays Consumer Culture: Bought Self-worth and Artificial Happiness Es

"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold And she's buying a stairway to heaven. When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven." From "Stairway To Heaven", by Led Zeppelin Shopping malls didn't just happen. They are not the result of wise planners deciding that suburban people, having no social life and stimulation, needed a place to go (Bombeck, 1985). The mall was originally conceived of as a community center where people would converge for shopping, cultural activity, and social interaction (Gruen & Smith, 2005). It is safe to say that the mall has achieved and surpassed those early expectations. Unfortunately, in today's consumer culture, the mall is the center of the universe and and this has shaped consumers in a negative way. In contrast to the original concept of providing the consumer with greater choice, the mall actually limits the choices of the suburb shopper. The consumer is forced to go to the mall to full-fill shopping needs, but, once inside, also made to feel guilty if they do not make any purchases. The mall promotes materialism and superficiality, a sense of bought self-worth and artificial happiness. Housing shortages and increased mobility (car) allowed families to move away from the city and into the suburbs. These areas were designed to be self-contained, pre-packaged communities with schools, parks, homes, etc within close proximity of each other. Not far from jobs in the city, the suburbs provided the safe, enclosed realm ideal for raising families. The only problem was the fact that most stores were downtown and too far for mothers (who did most of the shopping) to driv... ...y, advocates this cycle of earning money, spending money, and buying happiness. Overall, the malls promote a sense of superficiality, a need to acquire goods for social acceptance, and an emphasis on artificial happiness. Though they began with innocent intentions, the sinister effects of changing societal values has left us in a jeopardizing situation. Our shallow "needs" for consumer goods have weakened society and compromised our position as a close community. Â   Works Cited Gruen, V., and Smith, L. (2005), Shopping Towns, U.SA.: The Planning of Shopping Centers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 2008. Miller, Daniel. Capitalism: An Ethnographic Approach. Berg, Oxford. 1997. Miller, Daniel. A Theory of Shopping. Polity Press, Oxford, 1998. Â   Â  

Ethics: Hedonism and Pleasure Essay

1) The difference between physical and attitudinal pleasure is that one is something that you can hold and grab, while the other is something that is in your mind. To expand, physical pleasure is a temporary thing. For an example: Eating key lime pie. Eating this specific pie for some people give them pleasure because it tastes good; however, when the consumption is complete, the taste eventually goes away along with the pleasure. On the other hand, attitudinal, or psychological pleasure, is a perpetual kind of happiness instead of the momentary pleasure that physical pleasure gives you. Hedonists take the side that attitudinal pleasure is intrinsically valuable; however this distinction is solely based on the fact that attitudinal please has a more lasting effect then that of its counterpart. Yet, hedonists attract and claim this position because each person is different, and the freedom to follow what makes for a good life is individualistic. 2) The Hedonism theory claims that all pleasures are intrinsically good, and that nothing other than pleasure is intrinsically good. However my objection to this statement is that the overall life satisfaction is not acquired through experiencing constant pleasures, and that experiences life only through chasing pleasurable actions will only end unpleasant. Also, hedonism states that good is pleasure and bad is pain. In distinction, if having an appetite is painful (bad) and satisfying an appetite is pleasant (good), a person will experience both pleasure and pain when satisfying an appetite. Therefore feeling pleasure and feeling pain are not the same as doing well and doing badly. Page40-41 2) If I had the chance to get into the â€Å"experience machine† I would not, because the experience machine is known to counter ethical hedonism. Doing so would only be contradictory towards my belief of hedonism. One of the arguments against plugging into the experience machine is that the experience machine limits people to a man-made reality. Gaining enjoyment without actions defeats the purpose of experiences; therefore, residual happiness is destroyed because you had no drive or will to gain that happiness. 5) I believe the strongest objection towards hedonism is that feeling pleasure and feeling pain are not the same as doing well and doing bad. A hedonist would state that all pleasure is good and pain is bad; however, one can experience pain and pleasure at the same time, which makes neither of them good or bad.

The Rising Cost of Healthcare Essay

Without a doubt healthcare costs are rising out of control. Not one of us are happy with the increases, but we have to understand what the reasons are for the increases in healthcare. American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and do not understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all reasons behind the increase before getting upset. In 2004, employer health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 1002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. These increases were lower than expected. The site to look up information on the cost of health care coverage and the breakdown on the cost is (National Coalition on Health Care, Facts on health care costs). Premiums have risen five times faster than workers’ wages, if medical spending continues to rise by just two percent more than a personâ €™s personal income, by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid will rise 8.4 percent of gross domestic product this year’s 15.6 percent by 2040, according to Congressional Budget Office projections. If all government programs stay at the same size relative to the economy, the budget will grow from 19.9 percent of GDP in 2003 to 27.1 percent by 2040, (http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb-0306-15.pdf). There are huge impacts of the rising costs of healthcare. Many people cannot afford health insurance today and struggle to pay for their medical needs. Of the families that do have health coverage, 50 percent are concerned about having to pay more for the coverage in the future, while 42 percent fear they will not be able to afford coverage at all if the rate increase keep s going the way it is. This leads to believe one of the reasons for health care cost increases: cost sharing or cost shifting. When an individual or a family does not have insurance, and cannot or does not pay their medical bills, the cost of health care rises. Over years the American healthcare system has been plagued by the continuous rise of healthcare cost. These costs include but are not limited to insurance premiums, co-pays as well as prescription drugs. One of the significant reasons for the increase is that nowadays people are living longer lives than they once did and this gives higher rates to contracting chronic diseases or developing life threatening injuries, this cause the United States healthcare system to suffer a finical  crisis. The three major parts to industries health care sector are as follows: the healthcare service industry consisting of providers such as medical practices, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and home health care agencies, next is the healthcare insurance industry consisting of both government programs such as Medicare and commercial insurers, and last is the managed healthcare industry consisting of organizations such as health maintenance organization (HMO’s) that incorporate both insurance and provider functions. Citizens of the United States are currently spending up to 15 percent of the income expenditures on healthcare. It has been estimated that the expenditures are likely to rise to about 29 percent of gross domestic product by the year 2040. The Medicare insurance program that was created in the mid-1960’s to cover the elderly that is funded by the payroll system is costing more than $5,000 per enrollee, a national cost of more than $200 billion annually. Projected cost for the Medicare will rise rapidly from 2.5 percent to 5.5 in 2030. For HMO’s they often emphasize their ability to contain costs through oversight of physician’s decisions or by implementation of capped payment scheme that aligns physician’s incentives with those of the healthcare plan. HMO’s do have lower hospitalization than traditional healthcare providers. Some people also argue that the increasing use of managed care generates positive externalities that benefit consumers enrolled in non HMO health plans. This argument typically invokes some notion of market discipline, arguing that traditional insures or healthcare providers will have to lower premiums to remain viable in a health insurance market. It may be difficult to measure the effect of HMO participation on spending and outcomes because enrollment in managed care plans often voluntary, and those who choose to enroll are likely to differ in unobservable ways from those who do not. Using data on 300,000 welfare recipients the average effect of the mandate is to increase spending by 12%. This increase may be due to higher payments to providers, higher administrative costs, the inclusion of normal level of profit for the HMO’s, or a mark-up of bids above cost. Check out this site that goes deeper into the HMO and the reason of increase to healthcare cost at; (http://www.nber.org/bah/winter03/w9091.html). Looking at healthcare outcomes it is looking like switching to a HMO does not improve the efficiency of the Medicaid program because they lead to substantial spending  increases with no demonstrable quality improvements.