China’s One Child Policy is said to have created a generation of ‘Little Emperors’. Assess the consequences of most families having only one or two children Essay

China’s one-child family policy has had a great effect on the lives of nearly a quarter of the world’s population for a quarter of a century, after it was introduced in 1979. One of the effects is often referred to as â€Å"Little Emperor’s Syndrome†, which is when the only child received excessive amounts of attention from relatives causing a â€Å"spoilt brat† generation to occur. This puts both social and economic pressures on the families and children. By only having one child per family it allows the family to solely use its resources on that child; thus allowing the child to often fulfill their potential, as English lessons, music lessons and an additional range of extracurricular activities are normal. Although this has positive outcomes such as a rise in the number of Chinese children going to university, it has still mainly had the negative effect of the â€Å"Little Emperors† having large expectations of everyone else, with the government now being worried about a slump in the economy, being one of the many reasons why China may drop the one child policy. One of the main issues with the one child policy is that 336 million abortions in the time of the policy have taken place, which has caused a few moral issues throughout the world, with many people questioning the policy. Although many people in China have said that it has been a positive as a way to maintain the resources in the country and stop a large increase in the population. The number of abortions is paired with the issue of gendercide in China being at an all time high, people want a â€Å"Little Emperor† and not â€Å"Little Empress† due to traditional preference, this again presents a moral issue with the policy and may lead to future problems. Over 20 million girls are aborted each year and with over 50 million Chinese girls currently missing, there is a problem brewing in that there will be a shortage of women in comparison to men which may see the population and economy of China drop. The one child policy is also a costly program for the Chinese Government with over 400,000 people currently working for the policy and annually costs $708.8 million. This is not helped by the fact that the one child policy is creating a generation of youngsters that is not as good a working force compared to the current one; this is due to the fact that the â€Å"Little Emperors† are spoiled and do not expect to work for themselves (especially in urban areas, where there are wealthier families). It is thought that with the population (Fig 1) stagnating the economy may stagnate also, due to a smaller working force and one that is less willing to work, an example of the â€Å"Little Emperor’s Syndrome† is that there has been a doubling in the number of platinum jewelry sales in China, an expensive gift usually given to children. Although the parental expectations are high, only 2% of Chinese children are able to go to university, which many Chinese scholars suggest may be a sign of the future of the stagnation of the Chinese economy. This all shows that the one child policy may not be aiding the economy that has currently been one of the fastest growing in the world, causing a few people in China to question it. The policy has also affected the children themselves, as surveys have suggested that children born during the one child policy are significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic, and less conscientious individuals. All these characteristics are due to the fact that many of these children are born as an only child, and they now have present implications for the nation. These consequences include the number of criminal incidents to increase by 7.2% in the past 3 years and over $17 billion being spent on illegal drugs; this is because many young people create groups or gangs as close relationships in the place of ones with their siblings; but also due to the fact that a surplus of men has caused an increase in violence due to the increase in young males not marrying and becoming restless. This is not going to be beneficial for the country as it is causing youngsters to be misled into crime and will also be expensive for the government to try and expel from the country. It is also a thought that in the future there will be fewer people of a working age to support a growing number of elderly dependents, meaning that China has an ageing population. (Fig 2) Unfortunately, ageing populations have significant social and economic effects on countries, and with China’s fertility rate being predicted to be as low as 1.5 [a 2.1 fertility rate is needed in China in order for sustainability] the long term effects of the One-Child policy are likely to have detrimental effects for the future; including a stagnating economy. This is made worse by the fact that there are 60 million more men than women in China, which, is only going to lead to more social problems, such as a decrease in population in the future. (Fig 1)Which is shown by a recent census, China’s population grew 5.8% since 2000, from 1.27 billion to 1.34 billion — a significant difference from the previous census, which indicated a rate of 11.7%. (Fig 1) Finally, a positive effect of the one child policy is that it has severely reduced the population of the China by roughly 400 million. This has created an abundance of resources for China, which was under some pressure for necessities such as drinking water. However, China has dealt with that through projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, but also through the one child policy allowing for the surplus resources to exist due to the decline in population growth. The lack of 400 million people has also helped reduce global warming, because, by stopping these births China has averted over 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Overall, it is clear that there are many negative consequences that have occurred or that will occur due to the one child policy, which is why it is thought that by 2020 the one child policy will no longer exist and that it will become the two child policy. The problems are economic and social problems that revolve around the idea of an ageing population that will need financial support from a spoiled generation; yet, the only environmental factors are positive- with global warming being reduced and the resources in China lasting longer and there being surplus. However, it is obvious that the â€Å"Little Emperors† are going to have to support China in their time of need, which is due to the one child policy, and it is whether they can do it or whether they have been spoiled to the extent that they are unable to run one of the biggest economies in the world. Lastly, the one child policy has probably been good for China itself, but the way that other nations now perceive China after the â€Å"brutal† one child policy, may cause them future problems.

Les Murray’s “The Widower in the Country” Essay

In â€Å"The Widower in the country†, change is conveyed in many ways. The poem shows that change can bring a life of isolation and loneliness. The poem also shows how change is not always embraced and how we should not lead a life with a lack of change. The title of the poem, the widower in the country immediately gives the reader the impression of an individual in a vast area. This lets the readers know that the widower is alone and isolated. Already, the reader already feels sympathy for the widower, not only because he has lost his wife, but he now lives alone in a vast and empty area. In the first stanza, the first line, â€Å"I’ll get up soon, and leave my bed unmade†, shows how the persona leads a life that is monotonous and repetitive each day. There is a certainty and reluctance in his tone and it seems as though he now has no reason to make his bed, as he is lonely and there is no one who will see the bed even if it was made. At the end of the stanza, â€Å"For I get up late now†, the word â€Å"now† has been deliberately placed to show how the widower has changed his behaviour. In the second stanza, the personification of â€Å"Christmas paddocks, aching in the heat†, imitates the personas own feelings, and the words â€Å"aching in the heart† look like aching in the heart, which is what the persona feels like, as he has lost his wife. Christmas is also usually a time for family gathering, and this highlights how change has caused the widower to lead a life of loneliness and isolation. This stanza is also filled with negative imagery and mundane activities- â€Å"The windless trees, the nettles in the yard†¦ and then I’ll go in, boil water and make tea.† The †¦ at the end of the sentence shows that the widowers day is filled with other activities that are more or the same, again highlighting his life that has a lack of change. The lack of punctuation in this stanza also reflects the widower’s monotonous life and again shows how change can bring a life of isolation and loneliness. In the third stanza, there is again a lack of punctuation. â€Å"I’ll stand out on the hill and watch my house away below, and how the roof reflects the†.  There is a certainty in the widower’s tone and the detached images show he doesn’t want to be in this situation. â€Å"Makes my eyes water† gives us an image of the widower in misery and crying and we feel sympathy for him. This also shows he has not embraced the change. â€Å"Close on bright webbed visions smeared on the dark of my thoughts to dance and fade away† shows how the persona has visions and memories of the past. There is a paradox between bright and smeared and this reflects the persona’s misery. Although he wishes to think of the happier times in the past, they have now become blurred and have faded away. â€Å"Then the sun will move on† shows the widowers unhappiness and â€Å"I will simply watch, or work, or sleep† is a cumulative listing of three monotonous and mundane activities, which highlights the lack of variety in the widower’s life. The sentence also shows how the monotony is never-ending. In â€Å"And evening will come on† the â€Å"and† is placed at the start of the sentence to draw attention to how the widower is so certain about his life as it is always the same, day after day. In the last stanza, â€Å"Getting near dark, I’ll go home, light the lamp and eat my corned-beef supper, sitting there at the head of the table† shows how the widower’s day is filled with even more mundane activities and his reluctance to make any changes. The fact that he is sitting at the head of a table highlights his loneliness, as he has no family, and is by himself. â€Å"Then I’ll go to bed† again shows the certainty in his tone and his lack of change. â€Å"Last night I thought I dreamed† is the only time there is a change in tense and harsh sounding images- â€Å"the screaming was only a possum ski-ing down the iron roof† follows it. The widower has lost all hope as he cannot even dream and has nothing positive to look forward to, not even in his dreams. The poem ends with its only positive image â€Å"little moonlit claws†. With uses of imagery, personification, paradox, assonance and cumulative listing, Les Murray’s â€Å"The Widower in the Country† clearly shows how change can lead to a life of isolation and loneliness.

Benefits of Foreign Direct Investment

Benefits of Foreign Direct Investment Do Host Countries Benefit From Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence From Developing Economies Executive Summary The multinational companies (MNCs) and associated foreign direct investment (FDI) play an important role in international economy. It is well-known that FDI activity can bring many significant effects to host countries. In this essay I estimate such effects from three different aspects: The first part I focus on the relation between FDI and host country wages. Previous studies show that it is a universal phenomenon that the wages in foreign companies are higher than domestic companies. The FDI activity has a positive effect to the overall wage levels of the host countries, although wages spillovers to domestic companies are not always exist. The second part I focus on the relation between FDI and host country productivity. Foreign companies have higher productivity than domestic companies; it can be supported by most of the available studies no matter what measures have bee n used. Although some findings reflected that local firms in developing countries can benefit from FDI by productivity spillovers, in more cases, the productivity spillovers are not significant, even negative. The third part I focus on the relation between FDI and host country’s economic Growth. The result shows that developing countries can benefit from FDI and achieve economic growth. Overall, the host countries, especially the developing countries, can benefit from foreign direct investment. 1. Introduction The worldwide spread of multinational companies (MNCs) and associated foreign direct investment (FDI) play an important role in reconstructing economy pattern of the world. It is well-known that FDI activity can bring many significant effects to host countries’ development. In this essay I will estimate such effects from three different aspects- the effect in wages, the effect in productivity and the effect in economic growth- by reviewing numerous relative studi es and try to find out whether host countries, especially the developing countries, can get benefits from foreign direct investment. 2. FDI And Host Country Wages In this section, I will explain to what extend does FDI influence host countries’ wages level. Whether local firms could benefit from the entrance or existence of foreign companies will be analyzed based on the previous studies. Firstly, let us take a look at the difference between foreign companies and domestic companies in regard to wages level. Almost all the available studies proved that foreign companies did pay higher wages in developing countries. Haddad and Harrison (1993) made a research on different companies’ performance in Morocco. They found that in unweighted means, foreign firms paid about 70% higher wages than domestic firms. According to weighted means, the foreign companies still paid higher real wages than domestic companies (PP.58-59). Higher wages paying by MNCs was also supported by some studies of other developing countries, such as Indonesia (Hill, 1990, Manning 1998, Lipsey and Sjà ¶holm, 2001). Lipsey and Sjà ¶holm (2001) reported that when taken the educational level into account, blue-collar workers can get 25% higher wages and white-collar workers can get 50% higher wages in foreign companies. In the conclusion part of this paper, the author stated â€Å"those higher wages for workers of a given educational level do not reflect only the greater size and larger inputs per worker in foreign plants, or their industry or location† (p.13). If considered all these factors, the foreign companies paid 12% and 20% more wages than domestic companies for blue-collar workers and white-collar workers respectively. Another evidence is taken by Ramstetter (1999), he did an research in five East Asian economies (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan) and made a report that wages in foreign plants were higher than domestic firms over 14-23 years, but the differences were not so significant in Singapore and Taiwan.

Wal-Mart operational management system and strategy Research Paper

Wal-Mart operational management system and strategy - Research Paper Example The paper tells that Wal-Mart currently maintains 120 distributions centers that service its 7,000 international stores. Wal-Mart’s investment in providing decentralized distribution networks provides the business with greater efficiency in terms of meeting delivery timelines and the ability to provide a more diverse assortment of domestic and international products. In terms of distribution, volume alone provides Wal-Mart with significant competitive advantage related to stock replenishment and strategic procurement opportunities. Wal-Mart’s main competitors, both domestic and international, include the discount retailers K-Mart, Target, Sears, Marks & Spencer, Macy’s and Zara. In the United States, Wal-Mart continues to outperform major competitors K-Mart and Sears due to its more efficient supply chain infrastructure. Sears’ is forced to put higher prices on its merchandise as Sears maintains higher overhead costs due to its centralized and rather limit ed distribution network. K-Mart is losing customer appeal due to its rather notorious neglect of the store sales environment and growing poor customer service. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, continues to devote considerable labor and financial investment into improving the aesthetics of its sales environments, backed by the significant capital and credit worthiness of this firm which rests on both domestic and foreign cash flow. Wal-Mart has also experienced significant efficiencies in its supply chain network by consolidating global procurement. In the 1990s, Wal-Mart maintained a variety of domestic and international procurement operations bases that contributed to high payroll investment. This decentralized global procurement system also limited its ability to create a streamlined procurement model while it focused on purchasing that was geographically-near its international customers. Today, however,

Aba riot, woman and African economy Research Paper

Aba riot, woman and African economy - Research Paper Example Nigeria provides such an ideal opportunity to study the contribution and state of African women. It is one of the most populated nations in Africa with varied ethnical groups. People of all economical classes are present and education levels also vary. The nation has a lot of resources though it still has economical downturns. Therefore the study of Nigerian women provides a good basis for understanding the difficulties experienced by other African women as they go through their economic activities. In this regard, I agree with Chuku that women were formidable in their contribution to the economic, political and social development1 During the 1920s, women of Ngwa community experienced increased burdens and threats towards their sovereignty in the market and their use of earnings. Despite this situation, women struggled to retain their status. Men somehow got despaired while the women remained closely focused to maintaining the production of food and palm. Martin says that â€Å"at a time when the adoption of cassava was increasing their farming and cooking duties, they managed to increase their production of kernels and to retain their control of the income obtained from selling them†2. In addition to this, they began to trade in oil and kernels. Despite their hard work, social responsibilities prevented them from spending their income on other investments such as joining enterprise opportunities and other trading activities. In fact, they were denied opportunities to own property such as bicycles. While all these were happening, the European firms decided to increase their pricing and new measuring arrangements among the traders. Women were the most affected since they had ventured into trading activities more than their men. By this time, women relied most on trades so as to make their livelihoods. The situations became unbearable for them as they were not able to offset their losses with the little gains that they could manage;

Health care and the internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health care and the internet - Essay Example Health information seeking will also be helpful for people who cannot afford a regular doctor or insurance. One of the anticipated shifts is that health care will be accessible for everyone regardless of the status or income of the individual due to consumer health information seeking. Poor people will not be able to get information themselves through internet rather they will have to rely on hospitals and doctors. The exchange of information between hospitals will be more helpful for poor people as they can go to any hospitals and their health records will be available there. For middle or lower middle class people who have access to technology can make use of health information seeking by determining, on a basic level, their health problems and then treating it through a pharmacist. People who can afford health care insurance will be getting better quality of self service because of exchange of information between hospitals. Mutual databases of hospitals will increase the service time and also provide superior health care to all people whether rich or poor. This is how health information seeking will affect everyone. With the advent of internet, health information seeking has increased greatly. People can go online and get all the information they need. Doctors give suggestion on forums and everyone can read them. Simple diseases like influenza and viral flu can be treated through simple treatment. This is an emerging trend in consumer health information seeking. Physicians are however the most trusted source of health related information. People go to them asking for advice so they remain the most authoritative source of health information. An emerging trend in health information seeking is through pharmacist. They can also provide good health care information. People are also going for public health centers in order to get health related information. Health information

Bachalor of Commerce, Knowledge and Organisational Learning Essay

Bachalor of Commerce, Knowledge and Organisational Learning - Essay Example Knowledge management has recently emerged to be a successful management strategy that can help organizations manage the available human capital in the business (Noe and Hollenbeck, 2004, p. 1-3). People in the organization are most valuable assets and therefore recruiting and retaining knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and productive people have become highest priority of modern human resources management. This piece of research paper described knowledge management, as an HRM interdisciplinary and examines how it becomes relevant in today’s business landscape. This paper presents various elements that are relevant in the knowledge management process and examines various strategic perspectives as well as suitable technologies for fostering knowledge management in the business. Knowledge Management As Noe (2002, p. 168) noted, knowledge management is a management process that the performance of a business can be enhanced by designing, implementing and strategically aligning va rious tools, processes, systems, structure and cultures with a view to create and share knowledge among its people and to use for overall business purpose. The very basic three elements included in Knowledge management are 1) creation of the knowledge through some effective strategies, 2) sharing of the created knowledge among people and 3) making it available and useful for any business purpose. Knowledge Management has been found to be useful for the organization as it helps it get the products to the target market quicker, develop innovative ideas, serve the customer well in order to maintain customer loyalty and retention and achieve sustainable competitive advantages. As Boxall and Macky (2009, p. 10) emphasized, knowledge management helps a business achieve high performance working through various strategic processes and organizational development programs. Knowledge Management has emerged to be a management tool that focuses on data, information and knowledge among the employ ees in an organization (Awad and Ghaziri, 2007, p. 26) and encompasses the processes by which experience, skills, expertise, knowledge and abilities are gathered, then shared among the people and utilized so that these can be converted to collective organizational learning process (Foster, 2005, p. 397). Knowledge Management Models Explicit and Tacit Knowledge Knowledge management talks about creating, storing, sharing and utilizing data, information and knowledge either throughout papers, documents and database, or throughout the minds of people. This is a classification of knowledge based on where data and information are stored. When it comes to the management aspects, pure data and pure information have relatively less impact for a manager whereas structured data and information are relatively highly useful and effective measures that can be used to analyze and find solutions to issues (Noe, , 2002, p. 170). Based in the above classification, knowledge management is systematic p rocess and strategic approach for obtaining and making use of knowledge in the business throughout papers or documents or computers as commonly referred as explicit knowledge or sharing and making use of the knowledge throughout the people’s minds as commonly termed as tacit knowledge. To be more specific, KM is managing either explicit knowledge, or tacit knowledge or both together effectively. In managing