Bureaucracy and self-government Essay Example for Free

Bureaucracy and self-government Essay When a government creates policies, regulations, laws and guidelines, it rigorously and astutely applies them through what is called an act and service of public administration. Public administration is then implemented within an organizational structure. The bureaucracy that this structure operates illustrate the various operatives and/or personnel and/or leaders that makes the decision and leads the methodologies, tactics and strategies to implement the said policies, regulations, laws and guidelines. The bureaucracy is likewise responsible in ensuring the efficient and effective ways and means for such act and service. In executing its mandate, public administration must be dynamic. It must have a natural course of evolution and appropriate change and improvements that responds to the multifarious and complex demands of public service; constituent needs and demands and expectations. â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is a book that gives enlightenment and on how concepts of public administration renders its appropriate service to the American people. The Book’s Insights Bureaucracy in its principle is the rational and academic structure of the organizational process in rendering service and implementing policies and procedures of any institution – like the government. The positive principle of bureaucracy has however evolved into a negative context in the modern time wherein red tape and other forms of inadequacies. It is because the bureaucracy in rendering public administration operates within two types of concepts. It is therefore very important and interesting that Dr. Cook laid out in his book that public administration in American politics is operated both within the instrumental concept and in the constitutive concept. The instrumental concept believes that the job of bureaucracy in public administration is to execute the instructions of public officials. Within the simplicity of this concept there lies the insufficiency of complete rendering of public service. That is the reason why Dr. Cook has outlined that the past two centuries of America is a struggle to create life and meaning and expectations of the instrumental concept of public administration and service. The constitutive concept believes that the job of bureaucracy in public administration is to shape and characterize public policy and political community. This concept allows formative methods that bring shape and structure to laws and policies of government. Creativity and dynamic insights and foresights of government officials and public administrators are exercised in using this concept. The concluding insight of Dr. Cook in â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government†¦Ã¢â‚¬  outlines principles of responsible public administration. Firstly, with proper responsibility in governing and administering comes along an unlimited ability. A complete and consummate commitment to adherence to the law must be characterized in the proponents of public administration. Government leaders and officials must take the rule of law as their way of life. Secondly, within the rule of law â€Å"an adequate sphere of constitutionally legitimate independence must be carved†. (Cook, 1996, page 177). This principle is coherent with what government administrators have sworn to in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. It is important that discretion of the law is carried out with integrity. The Book’s Presentation The book is presented in a very scholarly format. He extensive experience of Dr. Brian J. Cook in the study of politics and public administration render authority on the subject matter. The book is seemingly passionate in pursuing ways and means for public administration to still attain its ideals. The book traced well established historical background that served the impetus on how American government administration and management has evolved – thus providing the foundation of the conduct and manner of public administration of modern day. Whatever the course of history and evolution American politics and public administration may have tracked and traced, the book offers confidence and hope that the better of valor shall surface in public administration in America. The Book’s Author Dr. Brian J. Cook is presently a Professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public and International Affairs of Virginia Tech. He earned his BA degree in Political Science in 1977 from Cleveland State University with magna cum laude honors. His further education in government and politics earned him is masters in 1982 and doctorate in 1984 – both from the University of Maryland. He has taught; lectured and done research on politics and government since 1979. Dr. Cook has been endowed with numerous foundation and university grants and government sponsored research. He has written and published three books: â€Å"Bureaucratic Politics and Regulatory Reform: The EPA and Emissions Trading† (1988); â€Å"Bureaucracy and Self-Government: Reconsidering the Role of Public Administration in American Politics† (1996) and â€Å"Democracy and Administration: Woodrow Wilson’s Ideas and the Challenges of Public Management† (2007). In addition he has written and published numerous book chapters; peer reviewed and non-reviewed articles; book reviews; conference papers and reports covering a very wide array of thoughts, principles and theories in American politics, government, administration policies. (Brian J. Cook Curriculum Vitae, 2008, pages 1-2) Works Cited: Cook, Brian J. Bureaucracy and Self-Government: Reconsidering the Role of Public Administration in American Politics John Hopkins University Press, 1996 Brian J. Cook Curriculum Vitae, September 2008 http://www. cpap. vt. edu/doc/BJC_Curriculum_Vitae_09-08. pdf [accessed 2 June 2009]

Environmental Sustainability In The City Of Dubai Tourism Essay

Environmental Sustainability In The City Of Dubai Tourism Essay Over the recent years, has Dubai evolved to a more sustainable and eco-friendly city? This paper explains the current sustainability of Dubais construction and other means. It shows that the city has a certain lack of awareness toward the more eco-friendly living and society. Evaluating the lack of the residents initiations toward a more eco-friendly city shows that the Dubai has no requirement to be sustainable. However, the current sustainability is being improved. Many people, such as Pradeep Parmar, founder and owner of Enthusiasm Star Ltd. has tried to introduce a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bags in supermarkets around the city and the country. Jute bags are more sustainable towards the environment and he is trying to implement that into the society of Dubai. Shirish Patel, an architect who has been living in the UAE for more than fifteen years, has also tried to give more sustainable options to the projects that he has worked. In an inte rview with him, he had outlined the current pros and cons of Dubais sustainability and eco-friendliness. He also suggested that some ideas for a more sustainable and eco-friendly city. In conclusion, although many sections of Dubai are not the most eco-friendly out of all, the city is trying its best to be as sustainable as possible and they can improve on these if they try to implement some of the concepts and ideas that were introduced and outlined by Shirish Patel and Pradeep Parmar. If Dubai tries a bit harder and aims to complete their goal of total sustainability, they may just be able to reach another milestone once again. Table of Contents Abstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.1 Table of Contents2 Introduction..3 Current Positive Effects of Sustainability..4 Current Negative Effects of Construction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 Possible Improvements on Dubais Sustainability8 Conclusion11 Works Cited†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.13 Introduction: In 2005, Dubai was rated as the highest carbon footprint city in the world, as conducted with a research by the WWF Living Planet 2008 report. The UAE has been found to have the carbon footprint of about 9.5 global hectares. As a result, the UAE was ranked as the 45th highest carbon footprint country. The United States is the second largest carbon footprint country while Kuwait ranks in at third. There are quite a number of factors that outline Dubais current sustainability. The are the positives factors, such as the implementation of economically friendly public transport systems such as buses which can decrease the amount toxic pollution that is given off by heavy duty cars. In an interview with Shirish Patel, this method is discussed and analyzed more thoroughly. There are also negative factors of sustainability in Dubai such as the emission cuts and the costs of doing so. Being a new technology, sustainability is not very well known among architects who have been constructing maj or buildings such as the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa. In addition to the negative factors of sustainability, improvements of how to implement sustainability with low costs are discussed in detail with Shirish Patel in his interview. All of these factors affect the sustainability of Dubai but the true question is that over the recent years, has Dubai evolved to a more sustainable and eco-friendly city? 1st Paragraph In todays time, Dubai is most known for its luxurious lifestyle, the massive boom in construction and its ability to reach milestones in this field with the Burj Khalifa. Also it is known to be the most attractive city in the whole of the Middle East. Soon, Dubai could become the next New York City. But with so many buildings and structures that have been erected, sustainability to the environment is also a major cause for the depletion of the ozone layer in certain parts of the world. Dubai has many building with eco friendly leads such as the newly constructed Burj Khalifa and the Emirates Towers on the Sheikh Zayed Road. In an interview with Shirish Patel, an architect from the UK and has been living in the UAE for more than 15 years of his life. His input on this idea and current situation is merely based on his personal experience of living and working in this country. He believes that Dubai is trying to create a more environmentally friendly city by implementing such positive f actors such as the eco-friendly public transport systems such as buses. Also, to make life easier for many travelers in the country where heat is the main climate for around eight months, creating stations where people can sit indoors and wait for the buses to arrive. This is positive as people need not to wait in the heat but can relax in the cools of the Air conditioning system while they wait for their transport to arrive. Dubai also tries to save energy and recycle as much as possible by constructing the buses from used metals and other wastage that may be of use. He also believes that Dubai is able to improve their current sustainability on buildings by implementing new methods of construction and living. For example, many buildings could implement the new technology of solar paneling and the ability to use fiber optic wires to channel the energy collected from the solar panels and convert them to energy to give electricity to certain areas of the building. Other implementation s could be the reduction of the A/C system in certain areas of the building and the usage of natural air usage to cool the office during the times when heat is most unbearable. For example, the if a company was working in a building during the summer months, then the natural air that was stored during the winter months could be slowly used in the office. Also, the use of lights during the daytime in schools or public places should be eliminated as enough light is emitted from the Sun and the implementation of more windows could aid this situation. Many other methods of energy saving and ethical energy storage could be implemented in this situation. Aside from these implementations, the Green Building Council of UAE has tried to help with this current situation. The Green Building council is the group that was formed in the US to help sustain the over usage of energy and other methods of sustainability. Over the years, the Green Building Council has expanded to many countries and in 2009, they moved to the UAE after looking at the amount of carbon footprint that the country was making. Along with the government of Dubai, the Green Building Council has been a major part of the implementation of sustainability in the UAE for all of the major buildings and monumental sections of the city. Currently, Dubai remains at the top of the carbon footprint list, although currently actions are being taken to change the ways and methods of their expansion. 2nd Paragraph Although Dubai has taken the precautionary methods to sustainability within the city, many inhabitants are not satisfied with the methods of sustainability. For example, people are not willing to turn off the lights during the daytime as they complain that they are unable to see what they are doing. By doing this, residents are wasting unnecessary amounts of electricity during the times when it is not needed. For example, schools in Dubai use a significant amount of electricity during the day. This example is completely based on personal experience. Instead of using so much electricity during the day, they should possibly consider saving that electricity since schools run during the daytime and there is enough sunlight during the entire day. A possible extension of windows in the classrooms could aid the problem of students being unable to see in class. The schools should only be using the lights when natural sunlight is not available, such as during the winter months. Even then, the bulbs in for the lighting should be refitted with fluorescent lights, as they are much more efficient in energy conservation. Another method of conservation is possibly the implementation of intelligent building to new structures that are arising and to accumulate this method into current buildings around the city of Dubai. Intelligent Building is a concept that has been developed recently. Starting out in the US, this concept has established itself in many major countries such as the US, UK and many more. Basically, the concept behind this method was to create a system that will allow humans to remain in their comfort zones, along with controllability of the state-of-the-art technology. For example, a person would go into their room in a hotel and the computer would recognize the occupant. Then according to the calculations of the occupants current body heat, the air conditioner level is adjusted. There are many other advanced features like those and it is also manually adjustable by the occupant. Unfortunately, the costs of these projects and initiations are too overpriced since there is a certain lack of architects and engineers that are experienced in this field of work. Since there is a lack of resources, the cost of bringing these people to the city and paying them to implement their concepts of sustainability can be difficult. Also, in the current market conditions, many people will seek the opposite of this idea of involving these people since not only will it be expensive to bring them to the city and to supply them with the necessary materials, but it mean that construction and labor costs will be increased since it requires more depth. In an interview with Shirish Patel, he speaks about the unaccounted usage of water bottles and plastic bags in the country. He says that they should eliminate the amount of water bottles around the city and/or keep them exclusive to hotels and restaurants. These water bottles are unnecessarily being filled up in land fills around the city. One of the main reasons that people do not recycle is because there is no external power that requires them to do it. For example, although it is not a national law, states such as New York and Seattle enforce fines on citizens who throw away certain recyclable items. If Dubai implements such laws towards the residents of the city, Emiratis and Foreigners, then the amount of wasted recyclable items would drastically reduce. Also, the usage of plastic bags should drastically be reduced. Implementation of paper bags or the new concept of jute bags should be added in the supermarkets and other bazaars. Enthusiasm Star, a company that has specialized with jute bags in Dubai has introduced these concepts to big supermarkets such as Carrefour, Hyperpanda and other major supermarkets in the city. There are many other ways to conserve energy in Dubai but I do believe that the city is making some form of an effort to make itself a more environmentally friendly location . 3rd Paragraph In 2007, Enthusiasm Star Ltd. began an initiation to bring a product that was interesting and reusable at the same time. Jute bags were, and in some areas, is a popular trend of the Indian community. Pradeep Parmar, the Managing Director of Enthusiasm Star Ltd., says he had seen this trend for many years of his life in India. When he realized what waste plastic bags can do to environment, he decided to implement these bags to the market in Dubai. He had penetrated the strongest market available, the supermarkets. Instead of supplying the bags himself, he had pitched the idea to major supermarket brands such as Carrefour and has had many successful deals with this new concept. Today, many people use these bags as they completely reusable and quite efficient. Viewing this trend emerge in the market, many other brands, such as Gulf News, the leading newspaper company in the UAE, began giving free jute bags with a subscription of their magazine to promote the idea of conservation. If the UAE does continue to move forward in this fashion, they could be well off as a more conservative country. Although, Dubai could do much more to bring their city and the name of the country to a more sustainable and conservative location. Numerous opportunities have arisen to create a more eco-friendly society. Hotels in the UAE are quite sustainable in the current times but there could be more to help that. For example, when a new occupant checks into their room, the in-room refrigerator should be kept off unless the occupant should choose so. By doing this, the hotel will eliminate the usage of valuable electricity. Also, the bulbs in the room should be replaced with fluorescent lights to help conserve the energy. Another idea could be to refurbish the entire hotel with the Intelligent Building concept. If current and upcoming hotels would install this concept, then they would see a dramatic increase of media attention, which could boost up their sales. Since this concept is fairl y new and has been tested in the US, the hotels would be likely to assess the pros and cons of installing this new technology. It would save a lot of energy which could then be implemented in other areas of the city. Besides hotels, Dubai could also conserve energy by reduction of cars in the city. Currently, Dubai has installed eleven Metro stations around the city while thirty-six are still under construction. Once all of these stations open up, then the need of cars would be unnecessary. This would reduce the amount of petrol that is being used and the pollution that the cars are causing toward the city. Along with transportation, many people would like to ride bicycles in and around the city but there is not proper walkway or lanes around the city to implement this. If there are lanes for cyclers around Dubai, then the amount of people driving would also drastically reduce. More than the transportation that should be changed, it should be the infrastructure. Buildings around Dub ai are one of the most un-efficient and pro-wastage and they should be changed. For example, buildings should be refitted with the Intelligent Building concept and/or they should be able to conserve energy with other methods. Some other methods could be to implement recycling stations in each building. Also it should be made that the inhabitants and/or workers should be fined if they do not comply with the recycling law. Some other methods could be to conserve power in the buildings at all costs. For example, buildings such as office buildings use lights during the daytime, which uses quite a bit of energy. Many offices have windows all around the floor, so natural light is able to provide enough for the inhabitants to work during the daytime. For offices with deeper spaces, the new technology of fiber optics can help pipe in natural light to those certain office spaces. Along with the improvements of lighting in buildings, the air conditioning could be another factor. Since the air conditioning is another factor in energy conserving, the option of natural wind should be an alternative. During the winter months, the cool air should be collected and stored to be kept for the months when the heat is most unbearable. Unfortunately, since the winter months are too less in this region of the world, this option could be unsuccessful. If this option is unavailable, then energy conserving air conditioners should be implemented. By this, it means that the A/C would run for some time until the room is cool, and then switches off. All of these ideas have been outlined by Shirish Patel during the interview that was conducted. If Dubai is able to continue to sustain itself in the energy conserving world, and try to implement some of the ideas that are mentioned above, then the city is sure to be recognized not only for the amazing architecture and tourist locations, but also for the environmentally sustainability that they have been trying to accomplish. Dubai could soon b e well off known as one of the most sustainable cities of our time. Conclusion Dubai has been known as one of most carbon footprint cities in the world in 2005 and since then the city has been trying to do everything it can to eliminate that title. Dubai, also known as the concrete jungle of the Desert, has been on its way to create and break milestones and records. But with all this construction and developed going along in progress, the downturn is that they have not been paying attention at the sustainability of the buildings and other major factors in the city. Some examples are the unaccredited buildings in the city, the current Metro transportation system, the inefficiency of the cars in the city and the lack of residential facilities such as lanes for bicycling and walking. These only some of the problems around Dubai. However, Dubai has been doing its part toward the community by implementing some of the major sustainability concepts into the most known buildings in the city, such as the Burj Khalifa and the Emirates Towers. Shirish Patel, an architect who has been living in the UAE for more than fifteen years, has experienced the positives and negatives of living and working in the country and watching this expansion grow over time. In an interview conducted with him, he had outlined the necessary measures for Dubais sustainability towards their expansions overall. He suggested that Dubai introduce improvements to buildings and landmarks all over the city, and the efficiency of the citys transportation systems. For example, he suggested that people should reduce the amount spent in cars and the government should request the residents to use other transportation means such as the newly developed Metro system and other basic transportation systems such as the bicycles and walking. He also suggested that the government create lanes for cyclists in the Dubai to roam around more freely than they actually do. Other basic improvements were that supermarkets should change their methods of using plastic bags to simple paper bags and/or ju te bags. Pradeep Parmar, founder and owner of Enthusiasm Star Ltd., has helped introduce the jute bag system in the UAE in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic bags that are being used in and around Dubai. Many of these ideas for sustainability are able to be enforced by the general public in the UAE and if they could help initiate a more green and sustainable lifestyle in the UAE, specifically in Dubai, then the city is bound to receive more and more support from countries which have already implemented many of these ideas into their own cities. So, the question remains: Over the recent years, has Dubai evolved to a more sustainable and eco-friendly city? I believe that the city has not become fully sustainable and eco-friendly but they have been implementing an effort to do so.

Unemployment as an Indicator of Macroeconomic Performance

Unemployment as an Indicator of Macroeconomic Performance The rate of unemployment is one of the most important indicators of macroeconomic performance. Unemployment arises due to the distortions in the supply of labor cause by the non-competitive wage differential. During the period from 1945 until at least 1968, unemployment rates in the major European economies were extremely low by todays standards. For instance in the United Kingdom, the average rate of unemployment for the entire period was about 1.8% of the labor force and in worst years it did not even exceed 2.5%. The main driving force was autonomous rather than policy related. These forces include waves of new products and processes, spread of trade and development around the world. However the cause of unemployment problem in Europe in comparison to the United States was their labor market institutions while the United States is far more superior due to the flexibility of their labor market. In this paper, determinants of unemployment in US are the concerns with economic growth as the main concern. Economic growth of a nation is the increase in a nations real output that occurs over time. In general, growth and unemployment are closely related as unemployment affects the growth rate through the scale of operation of an economy. Besides that, FDI inflow and inflation are taken into account altogether to identify the relationship towards the unemployment rate. 1.1 Background As unemployment is one of the most important economic indicators, the unemployment rate provides useful information such as how the labor market works as well as the percentage of human capital that is not used in the production process, which is especially crucial towards policy makers. Consequently, it is important to analyze the factors that impact the unemployment rate regardless short or long term perspective. The United States of America is a developed country which has one of the largest population and production in the world (Encyclopedia, 2010). As unemployment are explained by structural factors mainly by inflexible labor market. One may wonder the about the impact which economic growth, inflation and FDI have on the unemployment rate of the United States of America as the clutches of unemployment are hard to escape even for a develop country, especially for US which possesses by far the most flexible labor market. As a case study, the United States of America has been chosen as the research country. United States of America is reckoned to be particularly appropriate as United States of America labor market has proven by all accounts to be more dynamic in the sense of a higher level of job turnover, resulting in high vacancy levels at any point in time. Recently, unemployment rate in the United States of America has been found to be as high as 9.6% as of August 2010 compared to the 4. 1% ten years ago (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). In the mean time the real GDP growth in 2000 was at 4.14% when the unemployment rate was 4.1% while the real GDP growth in 2003 was at 2.49% when the unemployment rate was 5.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). From here, it can be seen that unemployment rate moves in the opposite direction of economic growth, yet there were different versions of results concluded by different previous researchers. 1.2 Problem Statement Unemployment has been a famous macroeconomic variable that researchers tend to use to study on but even with so many researches carried out, some of the results obtained are not consistent with one and another. For instance, the debates among Monetarist and Keynesian views of unemployment as well as the new contributions of Lucass approach and new Keynesian Economics shows that there was no reason to account for growth in the unemployment model. However, a significant innovation occurred with Pissarides'(1990) formulation of an unemployment theory in equilibrium. In many previous attempts, he formalize a unique framework to study the labor market dynamic perspective, providing useful tools to analyze both long and short run unemployment. Pissarides also introduced a first link between long run unemployment and growth which matches the neoclassical framework of economic growth. ( Pissarides, 1990 Ch. II) In the case of US, its economy began its current economic recovery in December 2001. However, rather than experiencing employment growth, not only did the unemployment rate increase but the number of new jobs created in the economy actually declined significantly during the first year of the recovery (Seyfried). Thus this paper is conducted so as to affirm the relationship of economic growth has on the unemployment rate of the country. As some results obtained by past researchers showed that economic growth impacts unemployment whereas the others came to a conclusion that unemployment causes economic growth whereby the existence of Granger Causality relationship is quite possible. In this study, economic growth, inflation and FDI serves as explanatory variable to determine the relationship towards unemployment rate in the United States of America. 1.3 Objectives This study aims to investigate the determinants of unemployment rate in the United States of America with economic growth as the main concern in addition with inflation and FDI (foreign direct investment) to further assure that it is coherent with the results obtained from previous studies. 1.3.1 Specific objectives This paper aims to examine the relationship between economic growth, inflation and FDI towards the unemployment rate. On the other hand, this paper serves to probe further into the relationship between economic growth, FDI, and inflation towards unemployment to sustain the existence of granger causality relationship. 1.4 Significance of study The contribution of carrying out this study is to allow policy makers to have an insight of unemployment so as to allow them to decide on suitable policy that will help bring down the unemployment rate while sustaining appropriate inflation level and attract sufficient FDI inflow. The results generated will help provide insight to the nature of the relationship between economic growth, inflation, and FDI towards unemployment. It would be useful to policy makers to know the rate and relationship of economic growth as it is necessary to reduce the unemployment rate, or at least keeping it from rising. Moreover, in previous studies, FDI is found to have impacted the unemployment rate indirectly through spillover effects from economic growth. In this study, however, FDI is incorporated directly to affect unemployment growth; therefore the effectiveness of the implemented policy will be taken into account more effectively. CHAPTER 2: Literature Review 2.1 Conceptual Model According to Alexopolous (2003), in the case where there is technological growth in the economy, families will increase their investment in capital, which in turn increase the amount of family purchased consumption workers receive over time. As a result, firms optimally increase the wage rate proportionately in order to prevent workers from shirking on the job. Therefore, the rate of unemployment along the balanced growth path will not change over time, since the marginal product of labour and the marginal cost of labour grow at the same rate. Based on De Groot, in general, growth and unemployment are intimately related for two reasons. Unemployment affects the scale of operation of the economy and thereby the growth rate. Growth affects inter-temporal decisions of workers about where to allocate on the labor market once they are laid off, and thereby it affects equilibrium unemployment. According to Brecher (2007), rapid economic growth and FDI, accompanied by higher per capita income, usually increase output growth. Thus, domestic firms and foreign multinational corporations will demand more labour force with skills to create products. Hence, economic growth can promote future employment growth for labour force based on new Keynesian theory of the output-inflation tradeoff. Some studies found that overseas investment replaced domestic employment in developing countries; however, the same result did not happen in developed countries. Tremblay (2007) pointed out that based on classical economic theory, the Phillips Curve illustrated long-run tradeoff between unemployment and inflation. There is an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment, that is saying inflation will rise when unemployment decrease and vice-versa. Futhermore, Luciano Fanti and Piero Manfredi (2003) mention that the neoclassical Solow model, which still provides excellent econometric fits and shows a globally stable positive growth equilibrium, but also shows two restrictive features as regards the scope of this paper: (1) it does not take into account the stylized fact of the existence of unemployment, which is generally not only positive but also strongly fluctuating; (2) in such a model fluctuations have never been endogenously determined Meanwhile, Martin Zagler (2006) noticed that the cost associated with economic growth is structural unemployment, as structural change destroys jobs in one firm and creates jobs in another. The source of unemployment is the rate of intra-sector structural change associated with faster economic growth. Besides, Bonatti (2007) says that an increase of the workers influence on the political process may raise the fraction of GDP allocated to finance the welfare state, thus leading to a higher unemployment rate and to a lower growth rate. The research work done by Chang (2007) noticed that when the degree of trade openness of Taiwan is larger, the unemployment rate of Taiwan will increase, this is because the young men and young women in Taiwan desire to extend their education in working age. According to Phillips (1998), the negative relationship between inflation and unemployment can be explained through governments expansionary policy to increase the consumption level of the citizens. As labor market tightens, unemployment rate will fall as money wages tended to rise more rapidly. Unemployment will then increase as government tries to control the inflation rate. This is because the increment in wages is closely related with the increase in price. Therefore, the trade-off between these two variables can be seen. 2.2 Methodology Effects panel regression methods were used by Zagler (2006) on the relationship between economic growth and unemployment. Moreover, Zagler (2006) checked his estimated model with the unit-root test to test the stationary of the model. In order to obtain information about the relationship between inflation and unemployment, the procedure of den Hann was employed by Bae (2006), which has the advantage as no assumptions about the order of integration in the variables of interest is required. The procedure estimates a vector regressions (VAR) model and analyzes the correlations of VAR forecast errors of inflation and unemployment at long horizons. Chang (2007) used vector autoregression method of variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis are applied to analyze various relationships among foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, unemployment and degree of openness in Taiwan. Besides that, he also uses the unit root test of augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF and KPSS) test to examine the stationary properties of the economic time series. The appropriate lag-length in the ADF regression is selected by minimizing the Akaikes information criterion (AIC). He also uses co-integration test to determine whether there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among variables and weak exogeneity, and multivariate Granger-causality test to determine their causal direction in the short-run between all variables. Besides, he also has applied the VAR technique of variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis to analyze various inter-relationships between FDI, unemployment rate and GDP variables in the case of Taiwan from the period of 1981 to 2003. Meanwhile, Eric Heyer, FrÃÆ' ©dÃÆ' ©ric ReynÃÆ' ¨s, Henri Sterdyniak (2006) present the results of the DF-GLS unit root test to test the growth rate of consumer price and also unemployment rate. 2.3 Empirical Result Zagler (2006) has carried out a research which empirically investigated the link between economic growth and unemployment, using micro econometric evidence for the United Kingdom. The results generated showed a significant and negative relationship between unemployment and economic growth. According to the result generated by Muscatelli and Tirelli (2001), it is proven that there is a negative relationship between economic growth and unemployment as Japan, Germany, Italy, France and Canada. This result is generally in favour of those theories which predict a negative linkage between unemployment on economioc growth Besides, Pehkonen (2000) stated that a fall in GDP has significant relationship with unemployment as a drop in the GDP in Finland leads to an increase in the unemployment since demand for labor have shrunk. Therefore, Pehkonen (2000) concluded that unemployment would increase as a result of a decrease in economic growth. Meanwhile, Mitra and Sato (2007) found that the major links between external scale economies and growth are perceived in terms of technical efficiency, and higher growth is taken to reduce the unemployment rate. Futhermore, Scahaik and Groot (1998) found that the unemployment and economic growth relationship in imperfect competition economy and different periods, where structural changes occur, has a negative correlation and effect of different degrees through testing the structural stability. Chang (2007) proved that economic growth as well as FDI have negative effects on unemployment as FDI are expected to generate economic growth by encouraging the expansion of trade and foreign investment. In addition, according to Solows growth theory, employment for labour force with skill can further promote economic growth and this can be verified by Taiwans economy model. Okuns law stating that reducing unemployment for labour force can promote further economic growth is then verified. Furthermore, unemployment is very sensitive to changes in GDP and vice versa, which does lend support that rising economic growth can obviously affect unemployment for labour force. shock of unemployment rate has negative effect on economic growth . He also mentions that the shocks in economic growth and FDI inflow decrease the unemployment rate. This means that rapid economic growth and FDI inflow, accompanied by higher per capita income can promote future employment growth for labour force. In the research study of Meckl (2001), correlation between growth and unemployment is shown to be positive if the research sector is of the high-wage sector in the economy, and negative if the research sector is the low-wage sector. Arico (2003) has already observed that the rate of growth is negatively related with the rate of unemployment. If the growth rate increases, it will decrease the net rate at which the stream of profits is discounted. For each firm the entry will result less costly. More vacancies will be created, reducing the unemployment rate. (Capitalization effect).On the other hands, It will reduce the life-time of each firm, by increasing the price for human capital. Each innovation will generate fewer vacancies than before. That will be reflected in an increase of the rate of unemployment. (Indirect creative destruction effect). Besides, Fanti and Manfredi (2003) has shown a negative relation between unemployment and growth , though we should also mention the positive relation between unemployment and growth obtained in the particular creative disruption context according to Schumpeters idea. Fanti and Manfredi alsomshows a surprising relation between unemployment and growth (via effects on population which is an endogenous engine of growth): this relation can be either positive or negative depending on the relative levels of cost of childrearing of workers and unemployed persons and the level of unemployment benefits. Meanwhile, Bonatti (2007) noticed that reduction of government transfers in favor of the workers allows decreasing the ratio of total tax revenues to GDP, thus monotonically increasing the growth rate and leading to a lower unemployment rate. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Data Analysis 3.1.1 Unemployment Rate In this study, unemployment rate is the main study which was examine by using some explanatory variables. According to BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2009) those people who are with jobs can be considered as employed. On the other hand, a person will be classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. Dixon Shepherd (2002) stated that the unemployment rate can be considered as one of the most important indicators of macroeconomic performance in a country. The data of unemployment rate is obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which if measured in percentage from those people who are 16 years old and above from year 1970 to 2007. The method which BLS used to calculate the unemployment rate in United States is: X 100% 3.1.2 Real Gross Domestic Product Real gross domestic product (Real GDP) in a country can be measured by the total output value of goods and services which produced from the domestic labor in the country in a given year, expressed in base-year prices. In this study, it is expected that there is a negative relationship between the Real GDP and unemployment rate in United States. The source of the United States Real GDP data is from the World Bank World Development Indicators and International Financial Statistics of the IMF. On the other hand, the data obtained was converted to a 2005 base year. The formula to calculate the data of United States Real GDP is as below: 3.1.3 Foreign Direct Investment Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a kind of investment which is made to serve the business interest of the investor in a company which is in a different nation distinct from the investors country of origin. An example of FDI is a foreign company comes into a country to build or buy a factory and run a business there. Many economists believe that FDI is good for an economy, because it provides domestic job opportunities and increase domestic capital. In this study, net inflows of foreign direct investment in the measurement of current US Dollar are used. A net inflow of foreign direct investment is the total amount or value of the investment flow into United States from foreign investors to operate their business in United States and negative relationship between foreign direct investment and unemployment rate is expected in United States. 3.1.4 Consumer Price Index Consumer price index (CPI) is measured that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services in a country, such as transportation, food, rental fees and utilities fees. CPI is one of the measurements of inflation rate. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the prices for the goods and services used to calculate the CPI are collected in 87 urban areas in United States from about 23,000 retail and services establishments. The CPI data used in this study included all consumer items in United States from year 1970 to 2007. 3.2 Research Framework 3.2.1 Unemployment rate and Real Gross Domestic Product Based on the study, unemployment and real gross domestic product is expected to be negatively related. Edward (2007) stated there is a negative relationship between real gross domestic product and unemployment because of the theory of Okuns law. According to Okuns law, 1% increase in the unemployment rate will decrease GDP by 3%. However, Christopher (2010) said that, Okun coefficients can change over time because the relationship of unemployment to output growth depends on laws, technology, preferences, social customs, and demographics. 3.2.2 Unemployment and Consumer Price Index Consumer price index is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation. This is because large rises in CPI during a short period of time typically denote periods of inflation. Therefore, we expect that there is an inverse relationship between the rate of unemployment and rate of inflation. According to the Phillips Curve theory, if the unemployment is high, inflation tends to be low. The diagram below shows the Phillips curve. Inflation Phillips curve Unemployment However, the result shows a positive relationship in our regression model. This problem will occur because of the multicolinearity problem in our regression model. But when one independent variable by one independent variable with the unemployment is tested, negative sign for consumer price index and unemployment are obtained. Bae (2006) stated that there is a positive long run relationship between unemployment and inflation. 3.2.3 Unemployment and Foreign Direct Investment In this study, inflow of foreign direct investment were expected to affect the unemployment rate significantly and expected that foreign direct investment has a negative long run relationship with unemployment. Foreign direct investment will increase job opportunities so, unemployment rate will decrease. Shu (2007) stated that FDI have negative effects on unemployment as FDI are expected to generate economic growth by encouraging the expansion of trade and foreign investment. 3.3 Econometric Methodology 3.3.1 Introduction This chapter consist the used of the method to examining the relationship between the unemployment and economic condition in United State by using the time series data ranging from the year 1970 to 2007. First, the result testing will start with the test of stationary by using Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test and proceed with the cointegration test. Secondly, the Multiple Regression Analysis and several ways to detect the assumption of the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM). The multicollinearity is used to test the correlation analysis. Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test is used to test the existence of serial autocorrelation, Autoregression Conditional Heteroscedasticity Test is used for testing the heteroscedasticity variance of error of the model and Ramsey RESET Test is used to detect the linearity regression and misspecification error. Unemployment = f (RGDP, FDI, CPI) RGDP = Real Gross Domestic Product FDI = Foreign Direct Investment CPI = Consumer Price Index The change in unemployment is our main study that we want to examine with using a few of variables which are RGDP (Real Gross Domestic Product), FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and CPI (Consumer Price Index). y = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1Ln (RGDP) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (CPI) + ÃŽÂ ²3 (FDI) + Econometric Model with Expected Sign: = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1L (RGDP) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (CPI) + ÃŽÂ ²3(FDI) (-ve) (-ve) (-ve) Where +ve indicates that there is a postive relationship between the explanatory variable and dependent variable. On the other hand, -ve indicates that there is a negative relationship between the explanatory variable and dependent variable 3.3.2 Unit root A unit root test is used to examine whether a time series variable is stationary. In the model, T-statistic, F-statistic and R-squared are used to determine to ensure the validity of the test statistics is stationary. The result will become spurious regression problem if the non-stationary series in the ordinary least square (OLS) regression is used. Spurious regression result in high significant T-statistic and highly value for the coefficient of determination R-squared, and the R-square is larger than Durbin Watson. Therefore, if the stationary does not hold, estimate is not consistent and result will be misleading. To avoid the spurious regression problem, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF) is used to examine the stationary of the variable. An Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF) is used to test for a unit root in a time series sample. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) statistic used in the test is a negative number. Therefore, the more negative value is, more power the rejection of the hypothesis that there is a unit root at some level of confidence. The equation for Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test Where ÃŽÂ ± is a constant, ÃŽÂ ² is the coefficient on a time trend and p is the lag order of the autoregressive process. ÃŽÂ ± = 0 and ÃŽÂ ² = 0 corresponds to modeling a random walk and ÃŽÂ ² = 0 corresponds to modeling a random walk drift. By including lags of the order p, the ADF formulation allows for higher-order autoregressive processes. This means that the lag length p needs to be determined when applying in the test. One possible approach is to test from high orders and examine the t-value on coefficients. The criterion such as the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Schwarz-Bayesian information criterion (SBIC) or the Hannan-Quinn information criterion (HQIC) test is used to examine the lag length. 3.3.3 Granger Causality The Granger Causality test indicates that a time series Y is said to be Granger caused by X if X helps the prediction of Y or equivalently if the coefficients on the lagged X are statistically significant. Granger Causality shows two-way causation in the case. X Granger causes Y and Y Granger causes X. It usually through a series of t-tests and F-tests on lagged values of X and lagged values of Y. 3.3.4 Multiple Regressions The ordinary least squares (OLS) or linear least squares are a method to examine the unknown parameters in a linear regression model. It is used to assume the distribance, ui. According to Gujarati (2003), ui stands for the normal distribution representing zero mean and constant variance, à Ã†â€™2 in the multiple regression models. With the normality assumption, OLS estimators 1, and 2 are linear functions of ui. Therefore, if ui are normally distributed, so 1,and 2 will make hypothesis testing more straightforward. OLS estimators of the partial regression coefficients are identical with the maximum likelihood (ML) estimators. There are the best linear unbiased estimators (BLUE). Besides, the least-square estimators are best unbiased estimators (BUE); it means that they have minimum variance in the entire class of unbiased estimators. 3.3.5 Multicollinearity Multicollinearity shows the two or more independent variables in a multiple regression model are highly linearly related. The multicollinearity test is perfect if the correlation between two independent variables is equal to 1 or -1. Multicollinearity will occur when there is a strong linear relationship among two or more independent variables. The equation below is refer the variables is perfectly multicollinear if there exist one or more exact linear relationships among some of the variables. Estimates for the parameters of the multiple regression equation is The ordinary least squares estimates include inverting the matrix XTX where, It indicate that if the linear relationship (perfect multicollinearity) is exactly with the independent variables, the rank of X is less than k+1 and the matrix XTX will not invertible. One of the detection of multicollinearity is used detection-tolerance or the variance inflation factor (VIF) for multicollinearity where R2j is the coefficient of determination of a regression of explanatory j on all the other explanators. Tolerances of less than 0.20 or 0.10 or a VIF of 5 or 10 and above reveal a multicollinearity problem. 3.3.6 Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM test is a test of autocorrelation that is basically allows for nonstochastic regressors such as the lagged values of the regressand; higher-order autoregressive schemes such as AR (1), AR (2), etc and higher-order moving averages of white noise error terms such as t. Two variable regression models to illustrate the test, regressors can be added to the model and also lagged values of the regressand can be added to the model. Yt =ÃŽÂ ²1 +ÃŽÂ ²2Xt +ut The error term ut assume that the pth-order autoregressive, AR (p), Ut = ptut-1 + ptut-2 + à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+pput-p + t. where t.is a white noise error term. The null hypothesis H0 can be show as Ho: p1 = p2 = à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ = pp = 0 (no autocorrelation) At 5% significant level, if the computed p value of Chi-square is less than Chi-square tests, do not reject the null hypothesis, meaning that there is no autocorrelation problem. If computed p value of Chi-square is more than Chi-square tests, reject the null hypothesis, meaning that there is autocorrelation problem. 3.3.7 Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity Test In econometrics, Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model assume that the variance of the current error term is related to the previos one. Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity model is used to model the time series with time-varying volatility such as stock price. 3.3.8 Specification error Ramsey Regression Equation Specification Error Test (Ramsey RESET test) is used to examine the specification error. The specification test for the linear regression model. More specifically, it is used to test the specification error in the equation. As the result, if the non-linear combinations of the independent variables have any power in explaining the dependent variable, means that the model is mis-specified. Consider the model Ã…Â · = E {y | à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ } = ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ The Ramsey test is used to test whether the (ÃŽÂ ²1à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)2, (ÃŽÂ ²2à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦,(ÃŽÂ ²k-1à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)k has any power in explaining y. The Ramsey test is executed by calculate the following linear regression Ã…Â · = ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ + ÃŽÂ ²1Ã…Â ·2 +à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+ ÃŽÂ ²k-1Ã…Â ·k + ÃŽÂ µ After examine the test, the means of the F-test is to determine whether ÃŽÂ ²1 through ÃŽÂ ²k-1 are zero. If the null hypothesis reveals that all regression coefficients are zero, means that the null hypothesis cannot be reject, the Ramsey test is unable to detect any misspecification. If the null hypothesis is rejected, means that the model is misspecification. 3.3.9 Jarque-Bera Test of Normality Jarque-Bera test of normality is used to test the normally distributed. It is large-sample or an asymptotic test and based on the OLS. The test first calculates the skewness and kurtosis measures of the OLS residuals. JB = n Where the n = sample size, S = skewness coefficient, and K = kurtosis coefficient. The normally distributed variable, S is zero and K is three. Hence, the Jarque-Bera test of normality is a test of the joint hypothesis that S and K are zero and three, respectively. Therefore, the value of the Jaque-Bera statistic is expected to be zero. For the null hypothesis the residual is normally distributed, asymptotically (i.e., in large samples) the Jarque-Bera statistic gives the chi-square distribution with two degree of freedom showed by Jarque and Bera (Gujarati 2003) For the alternative hypothesis the residual is not normally distributed. At 5 significant levels, computed p value is less than Jarque-Bera statistic, we can reject the null hypothesis that the residual is not normally distributed whereas computed p value is more than Jarque-Bera statistic, we do not reject the null hypothesis that the residual is normally distributed. CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 Introduction This chapter consists of the results and interpretation of the relationship between Unemployment as an Indicator of Macroeconomic Performance Unemployment as an Indicator of Macroeconomic Performance The rate of unemployment is one of the most important indicators of macroeconomic performance. Unemployment arises due to the distortions in the supply of labor cause by the non-competitive wage differential. During the period from 1945 until at least 1968, unemployment rates in the major European economies were extremely low by todays standards. For instance in the United Kingdom, the average rate of unemployment for the entire period was about 1.8% of the labor force and in worst years it did not even exceed 2.5%. The main driving force was autonomous rather than policy related. These forces include waves of new products and processes, spread of trade and development around the world. However the cause of unemployment problem in Europe in comparison to the United States was their labor market institutions while the United States is far more superior due to the flexibility of their labor market. In this paper, determinants of unemployment in US are the concerns with economic growth as the main concern. Economic growth of a nation is the increase in a nations real output that occurs over time. In general, growth and unemployment are closely related as unemployment affects the growth rate through the scale of operation of an economy. Besides that, FDI inflow and inflation are taken into account altogether to identify the relationship towards the unemployment rate. 1.1 Background As unemployment is one of the most important economic indicators, the unemployment rate provides useful information such as how the labor market works as well as the percentage of human capital that is not used in the production process, which is especially crucial towards policy makers. Consequently, it is important to analyze the factors that impact the unemployment rate regardless short or long term perspective. The United States of America is a developed country which has one of the largest population and production in the world (Encyclopedia, 2010). As unemployment are explained by structural factors mainly by inflexible labor market. One may wonder the about the impact which economic growth, inflation and FDI have on the unemployment rate of the United States of America as the clutches of unemployment are hard to escape even for a develop country, especially for US which possesses by far the most flexible labor market. As a case study, the United States of America has been chosen as the research country. United States of America is reckoned to be particularly appropriate as United States of America labor market has proven by all accounts to be more dynamic in the sense of a higher level of job turnover, resulting in high vacancy levels at any point in time. Recently, unemployment rate in the United States of America has been found to be as high as 9.6% as of August 2010 compared to the 4. 1% ten years ago (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). In the mean time the real GDP growth in 2000 was at 4.14% when the unemployment rate was 4.1% while the real GDP growth in 2003 was at 2.49% when the unemployment rate was 5.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). From here, it can be seen that unemployment rate moves in the opposite direction of economic growth, yet there were different versions of results concluded by different previous researchers. 1.2 Problem Statement Unemployment has been a famous macroeconomic variable that researchers tend to use to study on but even with so many researches carried out, some of the results obtained are not consistent with one and another. For instance, the debates among Monetarist and Keynesian views of unemployment as well as the new contributions of Lucass approach and new Keynesian Economics shows that there was no reason to account for growth in the unemployment model. However, a significant innovation occurred with Pissarides'(1990) formulation of an unemployment theory in equilibrium. In many previous attempts, he formalize a unique framework to study the labor market dynamic perspective, providing useful tools to analyze both long and short run unemployment. Pissarides also introduced a first link between long run unemployment and growth which matches the neoclassical framework of economic growth. ( Pissarides, 1990 Ch. II) In the case of US, its economy began its current economic recovery in December 2001. However, rather than experiencing employment growth, not only did the unemployment rate increase but the number of new jobs created in the economy actually declined significantly during the first year of the recovery (Seyfried). Thus this paper is conducted so as to affirm the relationship of economic growth has on the unemployment rate of the country. As some results obtained by past researchers showed that economic growth impacts unemployment whereas the others came to a conclusion that unemployment causes economic growth whereby the existence of Granger Causality relationship is quite possible. In this study, economic growth, inflation and FDI serves as explanatory variable to determine the relationship towards unemployment rate in the United States of America. 1.3 Objectives This study aims to investigate the determinants of unemployment rate in the United States of America with economic growth as the main concern in addition with inflation and FDI (foreign direct investment) to further assure that it is coherent with the results obtained from previous studies. 1.3.1 Specific objectives This paper aims to examine the relationship between economic growth, inflation and FDI towards the unemployment rate. On the other hand, this paper serves to probe further into the relationship between economic growth, FDI, and inflation towards unemployment to sustain the existence of granger causality relationship. 1.4 Significance of study The contribution of carrying out this study is to allow policy makers to have an insight of unemployment so as to allow them to decide on suitable policy that will help bring down the unemployment rate while sustaining appropriate inflation level and attract sufficient FDI inflow. The results generated will help provide insight to the nature of the relationship between economic growth, inflation, and FDI towards unemployment. It would be useful to policy makers to know the rate and relationship of economic growth as it is necessary to reduce the unemployment rate, or at least keeping it from rising. Moreover, in previous studies, FDI is found to have impacted the unemployment rate indirectly through spillover effects from economic growth. In this study, however, FDI is incorporated directly to affect unemployment growth; therefore the effectiveness of the implemented policy will be taken into account more effectively. CHAPTER 2: Literature Review 2.1 Conceptual Model According to Alexopolous (2003), in the case where there is technological growth in the economy, families will increase their investment in capital, which in turn increase the amount of family purchased consumption workers receive over time. As a result, firms optimally increase the wage rate proportionately in order to prevent workers from shirking on the job. Therefore, the rate of unemployment along the balanced growth path will not change over time, since the marginal product of labour and the marginal cost of labour grow at the same rate. Based on De Groot, in general, growth and unemployment are intimately related for two reasons. Unemployment affects the scale of operation of the economy and thereby the growth rate. Growth affects inter-temporal decisions of workers about where to allocate on the labor market once they are laid off, and thereby it affects equilibrium unemployment. According to Brecher (2007), rapid economic growth and FDI, accompanied by higher per capita income, usually increase output growth. Thus, domestic firms and foreign multinational corporations will demand more labour force with skills to create products. Hence, economic growth can promote future employment growth for labour force based on new Keynesian theory of the output-inflation tradeoff. Some studies found that overseas investment replaced domestic employment in developing countries; however, the same result did not happen in developed countries. Tremblay (2007) pointed out that based on classical economic theory, the Phillips Curve illustrated long-run tradeoff between unemployment and inflation. There is an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment, that is saying inflation will rise when unemployment decrease and vice-versa. Futhermore, Luciano Fanti and Piero Manfredi (2003) mention that the neoclassical Solow model, which still provides excellent econometric fits and shows a globally stable positive growth equilibrium, but also shows two restrictive features as regards the scope of this paper: (1) it does not take into account the stylized fact of the existence of unemployment, which is generally not only positive but also strongly fluctuating; (2) in such a model fluctuations have never been endogenously determined Meanwhile, Martin Zagler (2006) noticed that the cost associated with economic growth is structural unemployment, as structural change destroys jobs in one firm and creates jobs in another. The source of unemployment is the rate of intra-sector structural change associated with faster economic growth. Besides, Bonatti (2007) says that an increase of the workers influence on the political process may raise the fraction of GDP allocated to finance the welfare state, thus leading to a higher unemployment rate and to a lower growth rate. The research work done by Chang (2007) noticed that when the degree of trade openness of Taiwan is larger, the unemployment rate of Taiwan will increase, this is because the young men and young women in Taiwan desire to extend their education in working age. According to Phillips (1998), the negative relationship between inflation and unemployment can be explained through governments expansionary policy to increase the consumption level of the citizens. As labor market tightens, unemployment rate will fall as money wages tended to rise more rapidly. Unemployment will then increase as government tries to control the inflation rate. This is because the increment in wages is closely related with the increase in price. Therefore, the trade-off between these two variables can be seen. 2.2 Methodology Effects panel regression methods were used by Zagler (2006) on the relationship between economic growth and unemployment. Moreover, Zagler (2006) checked his estimated model with the unit-root test to test the stationary of the model. In order to obtain information about the relationship between inflation and unemployment, the procedure of den Hann was employed by Bae (2006), which has the advantage as no assumptions about the order of integration in the variables of interest is required. The procedure estimates a vector regressions (VAR) model and analyzes the correlations of VAR forecast errors of inflation and unemployment at long horizons. Chang (2007) used vector autoregression method of variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis are applied to analyze various relationships among foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, unemployment and degree of openness in Taiwan. Besides that, he also uses the unit root test of augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF and KPSS) test to examine the stationary properties of the economic time series. The appropriate lag-length in the ADF regression is selected by minimizing the Akaikes information criterion (AIC). He also uses co-integration test to determine whether there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among variables and weak exogeneity, and multivariate Granger-causality test to determine their causal direction in the short-run between all variables. Besides, he also has applied the VAR technique of variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis to analyze various inter-relationships between FDI, unemployment rate and GDP variables in the case of Taiwan from the period of 1981 to 2003. Meanwhile, Eric Heyer, FrÃÆ' ©dÃÆ' ©ric ReynÃÆ' ¨s, Henri Sterdyniak (2006) present the results of the DF-GLS unit root test to test the growth rate of consumer price and also unemployment rate. 2.3 Empirical Result Zagler (2006) has carried out a research which empirically investigated the link between economic growth and unemployment, using micro econometric evidence for the United Kingdom. The results generated showed a significant and negative relationship between unemployment and economic growth. According to the result generated by Muscatelli and Tirelli (2001), it is proven that there is a negative relationship between economic growth and unemployment as Japan, Germany, Italy, France and Canada. This result is generally in favour of those theories which predict a negative linkage between unemployment on economioc growth Besides, Pehkonen (2000) stated that a fall in GDP has significant relationship with unemployment as a drop in the GDP in Finland leads to an increase in the unemployment since demand for labor have shrunk. Therefore, Pehkonen (2000) concluded that unemployment would increase as a result of a decrease in economic growth. Meanwhile, Mitra and Sato (2007) found that the major links between external scale economies and growth are perceived in terms of technical efficiency, and higher growth is taken to reduce the unemployment rate. Futhermore, Scahaik and Groot (1998) found that the unemployment and economic growth relationship in imperfect competition economy and different periods, where structural changes occur, has a negative correlation and effect of different degrees through testing the structural stability. Chang (2007) proved that economic growth as well as FDI have negative effects on unemployment as FDI are expected to generate economic growth by encouraging the expansion of trade and foreign investment. In addition, according to Solows growth theory, employment for labour force with skill can further promote economic growth and this can be verified by Taiwans economy model. Okuns law stating that reducing unemployment for labour force can promote further economic growth is then verified. Furthermore, unemployment is very sensitive to changes in GDP and vice versa, which does lend support that rising economic growth can obviously affect unemployment for labour force. shock of unemployment rate has negative effect on economic growth . He also mentions that the shocks in economic growth and FDI inflow decrease the unemployment rate. This means that rapid economic growth and FDI inflow, accompanied by higher per capita income can promote future employment growth for labour force. In the research study of Meckl (2001), correlation between growth and unemployment is shown to be positive if the research sector is of the high-wage sector in the economy, and negative if the research sector is the low-wage sector. Arico (2003) has already observed that the rate of growth is negatively related with the rate of unemployment. If the growth rate increases, it will decrease the net rate at which the stream of profits is discounted. For each firm the entry will result less costly. More vacancies will be created, reducing the unemployment rate. (Capitalization effect).On the other hands, It will reduce the life-time of each firm, by increasing the price for human capital. Each innovation will generate fewer vacancies than before. That will be reflected in an increase of the rate of unemployment. (Indirect creative destruction effect). Besides, Fanti and Manfredi (2003) has shown a negative relation between unemployment and growth , though we should also mention the positive relation between unemployment and growth obtained in the particular creative disruption context according to Schumpeters idea. Fanti and Manfredi alsomshows a surprising relation between unemployment and growth (via effects on population which is an endogenous engine of growth): this relation can be either positive or negative depending on the relative levels of cost of childrearing of workers and unemployed persons and the level of unemployment benefits. Meanwhile, Bonatti (2007) noticed that reduction of government transfers in favor of the workers allows decreasing the ratio of total tax revenues to GDP, thus monotonically increasing the growth rate and leading to a lower unemployment rate. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Data Analysis 3.1.1 Unemployment Rate In this study, unemployment rate is the main study which was examine by using some explanatory variables. According to BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2009) those people who are with jobs can be considered as employed. On the other hand, a person will be classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. Dixon Shepherd (2002) stated that the unemployment rate can be considered as one of the most important indicators of macroeconomic performance in a country. The data of unemployment rate is obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which if measured in percentage from those people who are 16 years old and above from year 1970 to 2007. The method which BLS used to calculate the unemployment rate in United States is: X 100% 3.1.2 Real Gross Domestic Product Real gross domestic product (Real GDP) in a country can be measured by the total output value of goods and services which produced from the domestic labor in the country in a given year, expressed in base-year prices. In this study, it is expected that there is a negative relationship between the Real GDP and unemployment rate in United States. The source of the United States Real GDP data is from the World Bank World Development Indicators and International Financial Statistics of the IMF. On the other hand, the data obtained was converted to a 2005 base year. The formula to calculate the data of United States Real GDP is as below: 3.1.3 Foreign Direct Investment Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a kind of investment which is made to serve the business interest of the investor in a company which is in a different nation distinct from the investors country of origin. An example of FDI is a foreign company comes into a country to build or buy a factory and run a business there. Many economists believe that FDI is good for an economy, because it provides domestic job opportunities and increase domestic capital. In this study, net inflows of foreign direct investment in the measurement of current US Dollar are used. A net inflow of foreign direct investment is the total amount or value of the investment flow into United States from foreign investors to operate their business in United States and negative relationship between foreign direct investment and unemployment rate is expected in United States. 3.1.4 Consumer Price Index Consumer price index (CPI) is measured that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services in a country, such as transportation, food, rental fees and utilities fees. CPI is one of the measurements of inflation rate. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the prices for the goods and services used to calculate the CPI are collected in 87 urban areas in United States from about 23,000 retail and services establishments. The CPI data used in this study included all consumer items in United States from year 1970 to 2007. 3.2 Research Framework 3.2.1 Unemployment rate and Real Gross Domestic Product Based on the study, unemployment and real gross domestic product is expected to be negatively related. Edward (2007) stated there is a negative relationship between real gross domestic product and unemployment because of the theory of Okuns law. According to Okuns law, 1% increase in the unemployment rate will decrease GDP by 3%. However, Christopher (2010) said that, Okun coefficients can change over time because the relationship of unemployment to output growth depends on laws, technology, preferences, social customs, and demographics. 3.2.2 Unemployment and Consumer Price Index Consumer price index is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation. This is because large rises in CPI during a short period of time typically denote periods of inflation. Therefore, we expect that there is an inverse relationship between the rate of unemployment and rate of inflation. According to the Phillips Curve theory, if the unemployment is high, inflation tends to be low. The diagram below shows the Phillips curve. Inflation Phillips curve Unemployment However, the result shows a positive relationship in our regression model. This problem will occur because of the multicolinearity problem in our regression model. But when one independent variable by one independent variable with the unemployment is tested, negative sign for consumer price index and unemployment are obtained. Bae (2006) stated that there is a positive long run relationship between unemployment and inflation. 3.2.3 Unemployment and Foreign Direct Investment In this study, inflow of foreign direct investment were expected to affect the unemployment rate significantly and expected that foreign direct investment has a negative long run relationship with unemployment. Foreign direct investment will increase job opportunities so, unemployment rate will decrease. Shu (2007) stated that FDI have negative effects on unemployment as FDI are expected to generate economic growth by encouraging the expansion of trade and foreign investment. 3.3 Econometric Methodology 3.3.1 Introduction This chapter consist the used of the method to examining the relationship between the unemployment and economic condition in United State by using the time series data ranging from the year 1970 to 2007. First, the result testing will start with the test of stationary by using Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test and proceed with the cointegration test. Secondly, the Multiple Regression Analysis and several ways to detect the assumption of the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM). The multicollinearity is used to test the correlation analysis. Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test is used to test the existence of serial autocorrelation, Autoregression Conditional Heteroscedasticity Test is used for testing the heteroscedasticity variance of error of the model and Ramsey RESET Test is used to detect the linearity regression and misspecification error. Unemployment = f (RGDP, FDI, CPI) RGDP = Real Gross Domestic Product FDI = Foreign Direct Investment CPI = Consumer Price Index The change in unemployment is our main study that we want to examine with using a few of variables which are RGDP (Real Gross Domestic Product), FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and CPI (Consumer Price Index). y = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1Ln (RGDP) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (CPI) + ÃŽÂ ²3 (FDI) + Econometric Model with Expected Sign: = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1L (RGDP) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (CPI) + ÃŽÂ ²3(FDI) (-ve) (-ve) (-ve) Where +ve indicates that there is a postive relationship between the explanatory variable and dependent variable. On the other hand, -ve indicates that there is a negative relationship between the explanatory variable and dependent variable 3.3.2 Unit root A unit root test is used to examine whether a time series variable is stationary. In the model, T-statistic, F-statistic and R-squared are used to determine to ensure the validity of the test statistics is stationary. The result will become spurious regression problem if the non-stationary series in the ordinary least square (OLS) regression is used. Spurious regression result in high significant T-statistic and highly value for the coefficient of determination R-squared, and the R-square is larger than Durbin Watson. Therefore, if the stationary does not hold, estimate is not consistent and result will be misleading. To avoid the spurious regression problem, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF) is used to examine the stationary of the variable. An Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF) is used to test for a unit root in a time series sample. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) statistic used in the test is a negative number. Therefore, the more negative value is, more power the rejection of the hypothesis that there is a unit root at some level of confidence. The equation for Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test Where ÃŽÂ ± is a constant, ÃŽÂ ² is the coefficient on a time trend and p is the lag order of the autoregressive process. ÃŽÂ ± = 0 and ÃŽÂ ² = 0 corresponds to modeling a random walk and ÃŽÂ ² = 0 corresponds to modeling a random walk drift. By including lags of the order p, the ADF formulation allows for higher-order autoregressive processes. This means that the lag length p needs to be determined when applying in the test. One possible approach is to test from high orders and examine the t-value on coefficients. The criterion such as the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Schwarz-Bayesian information criterion (SBIC) or the Hannan-Quinn information criterion (HQIC) test is used to examine the lag length. 3.3.3 Granger Causality The Granger Causality test indicates that a time series Y is said to be Granger caused by X if X helps the prediction of Y or equivalently if the coefficients on the lagged X are statistically significant. Granger Causality shows two-way causation in the case. X Granger causes Y and Y Granger causes X. It usually through a series of t-tests and F-tests on lagged values of X and lagged values of Y. 3.3.4 Multiple Regressions The ordinary least squares (OLS) or linear least squares are a method to examine the unknown parameters in a linear regression model. It is used to assume the distribance, ui. According to Gujarati (2003), ui stands for the normal distribution representing zero mean and constant variance, à Ã†â€™2 in the multiple regression models. With the normality assumption, OLS estimators 1, and 2 are linear functions of ui. Therefore, if ui are normally distributed, so 1,and 2 will make hypothesis testing more straightforward. OLS estimators of the partial regression coefficients are identical with the maximum likelihood (ML) estimators. There are the best linear unbiased estimators (BLUE). Besides, the least-square estimators are best unbiased estimators (BUE); it means that they have minimum variance in the entire class of unbiased estimators. 3.3.5 Multicollinearity Multicollinearity shows the two or more independent variables in a multiple regression model are highly linearly related. The multicollinearity test is perfect if the correlation between two independent variables is equal to 1 or -1. Multicollinearity will occur when there is a strong linear relationship among two or more independent variables. The equation below is refer the variables is perfectly multicollinear if there exist one or more exact linear relationships among some of the variables. Estimates for the parameters of the multiple regression equation is The ordinary least squares estimates include inverting the matrix XTX where, It indicate that if the linear relationship (perfect multicollinearity) is exactly with the independent variables, the rank of X is less than k+1 and the matrix XTX will not invertible. One of the detection of multicollinearity is used detection-tolerance or the variance inflation factor (VIF) for multicollinearity where R2j is the coefficient of determination of a regression of explanatory j on all the other explanators. Tolerances of less than 0.20 or 0.10 or a VIF of 5 or 10 and above reveal a multicollinearity problem. 3.3.6 Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM test is a test of autocorrelation that is basically allows for nonstochastic regressors such as the lagged values of the regressand; higher-order autoregressive schemes such as AR (1), AR (2), etc and higher-order moving averages of white noise error terms such as t. Two variable regression models to illustrate the test, regressors can be added to the model and also lagged values of the regressand can be added to the model. Yt =ÃŽÂ ²1 +ÃŽÂ ²2Xt +ut The error term ut assume that the pth-order autoregressive, AR (p), Ut = ptut-1 + ptut-2 + à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+pput-p + t. where t.is a white noise error term. The null hypothesis H0 can be show as Ho: p1 = p2 = à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ = pp = 0 (no autocorrelation) At 5% significant level, if the computed p value of Chi-square is less than Chi-square tests, do not reject the null hypothesis, meaning that there is no autocorrelation problem. If computed p value of Chi-square is more than Chi-square tests, reject the null hypothesis, meaning that there is autocorrelation problem. 3.3.7 Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity Test In econometrics, Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model assume that the variance of the current error term is related to the previos one. Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity model is used to model the time series with time-varying volatility such as stock price. 3.3.8 Specification error Ramsey Regression Equation Specification Error Test (Ramsey RESET test) is used to examine the specification error. The specification test for the linear regression model. More specifically, it is used to test the specification error in the equation. As the result, if the non-linear combinations of the independent variables have any power in explaining the dependent variable, means that the model is mis-specified. Consider the model Ã…Â · = E {y | à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ } = ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ The Ramsey test is used to test whether the (ÃŽÂ ²1à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)2, (ÃŽÂ ²2à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦,(ÃŽÂ ²k-1à Ã¢â‚¬ ¡)k has any power in explaining y. The Ramsey test is executed by calculate the following linear regression Ã…Â · = ÃŽÂ ²Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ + ÃŽÂ ²1Ã…Â ·2 +à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦+ ÃŽÂ ²k-1Ã…Â ·k + ÃŽÂ µ After examine the test, the means of the F-test is to determine whether ÃŽÂ ²1 through ÃŽÂ ²k-1 are zero. If the null hypothesis reveals that all regression coefficients are zero, means that the null hypothesis cannot be reject, the Ramsey test is unable to detect any misspecification. If the null hypothesis is rejected, means that the model is misspecification. 3.3.9 Jarque-Bera Test of Normality Jarque-Bera test of normality is used to test the normally distributed. It is large-sample or an asymptotic test and based on the OLS. The test first calculates the skewness and kurtosis measures of the OLS residuals. JB = n Where the n = sample size, S = skewness coefficient, and K = kurtosis coefficient. The normally distributed variable, S is zero and K is three. Hence, the Jarque-Bera test of normality is a test of the joint hypothesis that S and K are zero and three, respectively. Therefore, the value of the Jaque-Bera statistic is expected to be zero. For the null hypothesis the residual is normally distributed, asymptotically (i.e., in large samples) the Jarque-Bera statistic gives the chi-square distribution with two degree of freedom showed by Jarque and Bera (Gujarati 2003) For the alternative hypothesis the residual is not normally distributed. At 5 significant levels, computed p value is less than Jarque-Bera statistic, we can reject the null hypothesis that the residual is not normally distributed whereas computed p value is more than Jarque-Bera statistic, we do not reject the null hypothesis that the residual is normally distributed. CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 Introduction This chapter consists of the results and interpretation of the relationship between

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas Essay -- fight

Dylan Thomas was born in the Britain in 1914. He was a Welsh poet and writer who wrote exclusively in English. According to Poets Organization,† His father was an English Literature professor at the local grammar school and would often recite Shakespeare to Thomas before he could read† (1). The home education developed his writing style which led him to have his first piece of work published in 1925. The poem,† Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night† was written by Dylan Thomas in 1945 during the last illness of his father's life. Thomas addressed this poem to his father whose eyesight and general health were failing. He expresses a powerful message about the flight and passage of death in his poem. Meanwhile, he begs his father to fight against the darkness which is taking over and leading him into the afterlife. In this villanelle form poem, through the use of the metaphor language and images, especially the parallelism, writer gives examples of wise men, goo d men, wild men, and grave men to his father who was dying at the time this poem was written and also tires to convince his father to fight against the coming death. Thomas thinks a man who is dying in an old age should not die quietly, but fight with death until the last second. He begins the poem with second-person point of view and constantly reminds readers not to go gently into death and darkness, but rather to fight with them. To express the death and darkness, In the first stanza, Thomas uses a metaphor in which day represents life, night represents the afterlife and close of day represents the moment of death,† Do not go gentle into that good night,†¦, at close of day†(line 1-3). The first line of the poem is also a refrain. To makes reader notice this sentence, wri... ...getic, warm, intimate acts. â€Å"Fierce tears† images passion in nature. Thomas hopes that his father can fight with death. He also asks him not be indifferent or accept death mildly. Life is limited; therefore we need to fight to do the most and the best things without any doubting. Even when we face with death, we also need the passion to live, no matter what the result is. So the poet naturally prays his father to fight with death again in the last stanza, â€Å"Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, Rage, against the dying of the light† (line 18-19). The cycle of life and death formed a constant underlying theme in this poem. Thomas once brings readers into the darkness and death meanwhile, makes readers understand the meaning of life and death. Even at the end of life, everyone should attempt to "burn" with life, to "rage against the dying of the light". Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas Essay -- fight Dylan Thomas was born in the Britain in 1914. He was a Welsh poet and writer who wrote exclusively in English. According to Poets Organization,† His father was an English Literature professor at the local grammar school and would often recite Shakespeare to Thomas before he could read† (1). The home education developed his writing style which led him to have his first piece of work published in 1925. The poem,† Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night† was written by Dylan Thomas in 1945 during the last illness of his father's life. Thomas addressed this poem to his father whose eyesight and general health were failing. He expresses a powerful message about the flight and passage of death in his poem. Meanwhile, he begs his father to fight against the darkness which is taking over and leading him into the afterlife. In this villanelle form poem, through the use of the metaphor language and images, especially the parallelism, writer gives examples of wise men, goo d men, wild men, and grave men to his father who was dying at the time this poem was written and also tires to convince his father to fight against the coming death. Thomas thinks a man who is dying in an old age should not die quietly, but fight with death until the last second. He begins the poem with second-person point of view and constantly reminds readers not to go gently into death and darkness, but rather to fight with them. To express the death and darkness, In the first stanza, Thomas uses a metaphor in which day represents life, night represents the afterlife and close of day represents the moment of death,† Do not go gentle into that good night,†¦, at close of day†(line 1-3). The first line of the poem is also a refrain. To makes reader notice this sentence, wri... ...getic, warm, intimate acts. â€Å"Fierce tears† images passion in nature. Thomas hopes that his father can fight with death. He also asks him not be indifferent or accept death mildly. Life is limited; therefore we need to fight to do the most and the best things without any doubting. Even when we face with death, we also need the passion to live, no matter what the result is. So the poet naturally prays his father to fight with death again in the last stanza, â€Å"Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, Rage, against the dying of the light† (line 18-19). The cycle of life and death formed a constant underlying theme in this poem. Thomas once brings readers into the darkness and death meanwhile, makes readers understand the meaning of life and death. Even at the end of life, everyone should attempt to "burn" with life, to "rage against the dying of the light".

Aristotle :: biographies biography bio

Background Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had. - Aristotle, Politics * Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira in northern Greece. * He was the son of Nicomachus, a physician with close connections to the Macedonian court. * Some believe it to be his father's influence that gave Aristotle his interest in anatomy and the structure of living things in general. * He was a Greek philosopher and scientist. Life / Career Education is the best provision for the journey to old age. - Aristotle * Aristotle went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy at the age of 17. He stayed for 20 years, first as a student and then as a teacher. * Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, after the death of Plato in 347 BC. Here he counseled his friend, Hermias of Atarneus, and married Hermias' niece and adopted daughter, Pythias. * After Hermias' execution at the hands of the Persians in 345 BC, Aristotle travelled to Pella, the Macedonian capital. * In 342 BC, he began tutoring King Philip II's young son Alexander, who later became known as Alexander the Great. * When Alexander became king in 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens where he founded his own school, the Lyceum. * The Lyceum was involved in a greater range of subjects than the Academy, even during Plato's time. * The Lyceum was often refered to as the Peripatetic ('walking' or 'strolling') school because many teacher-student discussions took place while walking on its grounds. * Aristotle spent the last year of his life at a family estate in Chalcis on the Aegean island of what is now Evvoia. He died in 322 BC. # Many believe Aristotle to be the most influential philosopher in the history of Western thought. * The logic of this last century was based on much of his thoughts and logic.

Our Bog Is Dood Essay

This poem is a conversation between two people, a female and a set of children. The female asks the children to explain to her why their God is good. When the children can’t agree on a reason on why their God is good they begin questioning their faith. In the first stanza of the poem you can tell that the poem is a conversation between children and an older female. â€Å"They lisped in accents mild† this line shows that they are talking about children. When children are young they usually slur in their words. â€Å"My darling little child? † confirms that the poem is between little children and an older person. It’s safe to say that our Bog is dood can be translated into our God is good. The poem starts off with what seems like the children chanting out God is good. When the older woman asks them to explain why their God is good the children get upset because they believe their faith is being questioned. In the second stanza the children respond by saying they know that their God is good because that’s what they wish. They kids say they don’t need a reason to believe that their God is good. This shows that these child a blind faith towards their God. The children are very prideful of their God who they blindly follow. They also accuse anyone who doesn’t agree or believe in their God are sinners. â€Å"You shall be crucified† the blind faith that these children posses causes these children to turn to violence towards nonbelievers. In the third stanza the older woman again asks the children what’s so good about your God. She asks them how do you know that your God is good. The children react to her questions by bowing their heads and praying. The children say that they belong to their God and that they belong to their God. At the end of this stanza I felt that the tone of the poem changes. It goes from our God is good to our God is dead. In the fourth stanza begins with the children raising their heads after being questioned about their faith. The children become upset with each other because they can’t agree on what is good about their God. Each of the children had a different definition for what was good. They all had conflicting views about their faith. In the fifth stanza the older lady leaves the children after she gets them to question their faith. She left because she didn’t want to see them realizing that they had a false image of God. She felt as if it was better to just walk away and leave the children alone. The last three lines of the poem I believe that the â€Å"encroaching sea† is religion in general. People blindly follow God and it gets to a point where they are going to drown in the religion. I believe that the children in the poem follow God because that’s probably the only thing that has been taught to them and when they begin questioning their faith it feels like they don’t have anything else to believe in. The last line in the poem shows that the older woman has not been sucked into religious conformity. The theme of this poem is about blindly following religion. The poem is basically a conversation between an older woman and a couple of children. The poem begins with the children firmly believing that their God is good, but then when they are asked to give reason why they begin to question themselves. The children aren’t able to agree on a reason why their God is good and this is where the tone in the poem shifts to our God is dead. The older female in this poem makes the children realize that they are blindly following something that they know nothing about.

Global warming: a human impact Essay

According to Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, global warming was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896 and is stated as the warming of planet’s surface due to â€Å"emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases. † Thus global warming can be described as an increase in average temperature of the earth’s surface air and oceans in recent times and its predicted continuation. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted a rise in temperatures by 1. 1 to 6. 4 ° C i. e. , 2. 0 to 11. 5 ° F between 1990 and 2100. The global average atmospheric temperatures near the earth’s surface rose from 0. 74  ± 0. 18 ° C i. e. , 1. 3  ± 0. 32 ° F in the last century. The general scientific opinion prevailing on the climatic change is that â€Å"most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. † Certain human activities such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and agricultural activities result in release of green house gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Natural phenomenon such as solar temperature variations and volcanoes too had an impact on global warming. This rise in global temperatures has serious implications such as rise in sea levels, changes in pattern of precipitation thus leading to droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes and ice shelf disruption such as the Larsen Ice Shelf. Other implications could be variations in agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduction in summer stream flows, extinction of species and increase in the range of disease vectors. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) stated that global warming could also lead to â€Å"deadly heat waves and spread of disease. † Extreme heat waves in 2003 caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and over 1500 deaths in India. Dengue fever virus carrying mosquitoes survived previously at an altitude of 3,300 feet but recently they were found at 7,200 feet in Andes Mountains of Colombia, similarly malaria was detected at higher altitudes in Indonesia. Disease-carrying mosquitoes are spreading as climate shifts allow them to survive in formerly inhospitable areas. Mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever viruses were previously limited to elevations of 3,300 feet but recently appeared at 7,200 feet in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. Malaria has been detected in new higher-elevation areas in Indonesia. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia stated that more than 160countries signed the Kyoto Protocol an international agreement to combat global warming. The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the countries ratifying this protocol are committed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and five other green house gases. Developing countries such as China and India which rank second and third largest CO2 behind the US are exempted from meeting the emission standards in this protocol. Increase in CO2 leads to its dissolution in ocean water and forming carbonic acid resulting into ocean acidification meaning a change in pH of ocean waters and consequently a total change in the eco-balance leading to disappearance to certain species of living forms in the ocean. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), simple measures such as usage of renewable sources of energy like sunlight, wind, wave energy and replacement of decade old coal burning power plants with cleaner and efficient ones would curb the global pollution and help in reducing carbon dioxide pollution positively. Concluding the paper I would like to state that sincere efforts are required to made by the governments in countries like the US, China, India and Japan to minimize pollution with the help of governmental and non-governmental organizations for a better life to future generations. Works Cited Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Global warming (2007). Page retrieved on March 8, 2007 from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Global_warming Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Kyoto Protocol (2007). Page retrieved on March 8, 2007 from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol Natural Resources Defense Council. Global Warming Basics (2007). Page retrieved on March 8, 2007 from: http://www. nrdc. org/globalWarming/f101. asp Natural Resources Defense Council. Consequences of Global Warming (2006). Page retrieved on March 8, 2007 from: http://www. nrdc. org/globalWarming/fcons. asp.