Unintended Consequences from the Naked Economies” - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2054 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? Introduction Charles Wheelan considers global economy as naked amidst the current economic challenges in the book, Naked Economics. The book critically analyzes the concept of unintended consequences by integrating the aspects of individualism and the society as the contributors of globalization and its impact on economic growth. This paper will, therefore, analyze the ideas of Wheelan regarding unintended consequences in economic expectations in relation to other scholars. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Unintended Consequences from the Naked Economies†" essay for you Create order The findings indicate that there are negative as well as positive consequences that emerge from certain decisions make within and outside an organization that contribute to the overall outcome. The outcomes normally influence the economic impacts on an individual, society, and the entire globe. While addressing the virtue of â€Å"Undressing the Dismal Science,† Charles Wheelan identifies that decision-making in regard to ethics and moral regulations are the major contributors of unintended consequences. According to him, the unintended consequences can either be an unexpected benefit or a drawback that result from an introduced policy or regulation (Wheelan 25). Noting that production is the key to an economic development, Wheelan observes that every agent is entitled to optimize output in a way that benefits the society and the organization at large. The productivity is seen to be on the increase upon globalization. Through the emergence of global economies, determining factors such as skills, education, and governmental policies are improved. Consequently, individuals gain the ability to control and manage resources, leading to a positive impact on the economy (Wheelan 77). Nevertheless, it is important to consider the fact that globalization may result into negative effects. Wheelan maintains that the United States’ government has some of the best global economic policies. The government ensures checks and balances in the monetary and market value to promote fair trade (Wheelan 102). However, the unintended consequences are inevitable. First, developers and agents tend to emphasize on their own benefits. The resultant effect is normally a negative outcome on pricing as well as the working environment. Moreover, the problem mostly affect the strong economies whereby much control over the workforce in terms of skills, level of education, and health leads to lower productivity (Wheelan 123). Secondly, globalization increases outsourcing, including hiring workers from overseas. Consequently, the local professionals lose their jobs while the growing economies absorb them. Essentially, wheelan’s assessment indicates that the outsourcing concept is beneficial at first as it saves time but eventually becomes disastrous as the economic growth is slowed down. Negative consequences An example of a negative economic consequence is the move by the federal government to impose minimum â€Å"Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)† standards for some types of vehicles. According to Mims (Np), there was the need to regulate the fuel consumption in a bid to improve the environment. However, poor structuring of the rules led to some leakage, especially in States like California. Some manufacturers continued to sell low-fuel-economy vehicles to other states amidst the higher-fuel-economy policy in California. By so doing, they were able to satisfy the state’s as well as the national standards. Some economists averaged the leakage in California to be 74%, a much higher level as compared to the national regulation (Mims Np). Therefore, the intention to reduce the emissions was not met, hence, the continued negative effect on the environment. Elsewhere, Mittelstaedt et al. (68) reiterated that the United States suppressed the production and supplies of alcohol in the 1920s. This move led to the closure of many small-scale manufacturers and opened up the market for large-scale producers and eventually, high demand as well as rise in the prices. Few years later, it was realized that many illegal alcohol industries cropped up across the country and held more criminal organizations which funded the brewers. Similarly, the prohibition intended to improve the war against illegal drug trade but instead strengthened the drug dealers by enhancing their power and profitability (Mittelstaedt et al. 68). Initially, the use of illicit drugs and abuse of alcohol was seen as a factor that lowered the productivity. However, the introduction of strict laws led to a new problem that was associated with rising capital to fight the emergent illegal trade and the drug cartels. Positive Economic Consequence Christopher Mims’ article in the Wall Street Journal indicated a positive consequence on the introduction of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) as from the 1970s. From his article, Mims said that â€Å"the lower cost of ATMs allowed the banks to expand into more branches, thus employing more people† (Mims Np). The primary intention of introducing the devices was to expand the banking services, and more so for the entrepreneurs and the government-owned premises. However, the expansion has also led to the increase in the number of tellers and other operators. Besides, there are more manufacturers, servicemen, and software operators, all who benefit from the business either directly or indirectly. In yet another observation, medicines have unintended consequences which are mainly considered as side effects. Conversely, some of the side effects are beneficial. A good example as explained by Dahler-Larsen is aspirin (Dahler-Larsen 12). Dahler-Larsen explains that aspirin is an anticoagulant as well as a pain reliever. Apart from these actions, the drug is also beneficial in the prevention of heart attack and the reduction of the severity of thrombotic strokes. Similarly, Viagra was initially designed as a drug the lower blood pressure. Later, during clinical trials, it was discovered that one of its side effects was genital stimulation which is the most current and widely used purpose (Dahler-Larsen 16). All in all, the primary consequence of an action or economic benefit can eventually yield a new and positive benefit upon utilization. Individual motives Individuals have different motives that are critical in influencing unintended consequences. The author, Wheelan, observes that people work hard to make their lives better, mostly for their own benefit (Wheelan 44). Actually, the products that make life enjoyable and easy are always on high demand, a fact that enhances the growth of an economy. However, different people have different preferences. There is, therefore, a sharp distinction between various groups including those working within the same organization. For instance, the rich do not worry about their basic needs as compared to the poor (Wheelan 53). At times, the less fortunate get humiliated as they work in the private sectors where they feel that they benefit the wealthy proprietors. On the other hand, the proprietors are sometimes not sensitive to the needs of their workers. These perceptions normally become a great setback to productivity, thus poor economic performance. Scholars provide an idea that as far as someone does something to profit him or herself, others also benefit. Essentially, the fundamental intention of any investor is to make profit from the resources available. Mittelstaedt et al. (68) considers the virtue of ownership of a property. Through his observations, he notes that the owner exercises some rights to it to a point of imposing obligations which may be negative to the consumers. At the end, both the owner and the consumer can develop reliable expectations about the property. For example, the buyer may be in a position to assess the end price. If the expectations are not achieved, the seller may lose the buyer or end up disposing the product at an unintended price (Mittelstaedt et al. 68). It is, therefore, important to evaluate individualism in a bid to plan and execute the likely consequences. Social structures Wheelan expresses the social structures in the context of global economies and the gap between the poor and their employers (Wheelan 43). The rich form small groups that seem to enjoy subsidies that risk the overall economy over time. The groups normally develop powers that enable them to manipulate the laid down policies by blocking the legislations that would benefit the whole society. As a result, the global perspective of trade and the efficiency in driving the economy is interfered with in a way that favors the few. On the other hand, the poor continue to depend on them and remain undermined by their inability to influence the political class and the respective investors (Wheelan 177). At times, the upcoming businesses meet restrictions that promote the concept of monopoly. Through monopoly, the producers do not have enough driving force to improve the quality of their products because of lack of competition; hence, the continued loss of productivity and innovations. Regardless of whether the outcome is positive or negative, the unintended consequences are greatly dependent on human social settings. Since the masses are not certain about the course of human choices or nature, they only depend on guesses (Mittelstaedt et al. 69). Economists hold on the fact that personal decisions must be considered while interacting with others opinions for the purpose of minimizing the risk of failure (Mittelstaedt et al. 71). In essence, the knowledge of the expectations helps in analyzing social perceptions and different ways of making moral decisions. Incentives As mentioned earlier, increasing productivity is the main driver to a successful economy. To optimize the production, entrepreneurs employ the concept of incentives to motivate the employees who in turn work towards their own benefit as they get the rewards. These incentives can either be in form of compensation, recognition, rewards or appreciations. Naked Economies, therefore, tends to expose the idea of individualism in the entire economic development processes since both the employers and the employees work hard upon the promise of reward (Dahler-Larsen 12). It is true to say that economies do well where there are motivators. Primarily, incentives are used with the intention to achieve the expected goals in an organization. However, the expectations are not met while in some cases, they are exceeded. According to Mittelstaedt et al. (68), one of the major drawbacks of incentives is risking the virtue of teamwork or cooperation. Providing an incentive to individual performance tends to break collective responsibility as the individuals tend to improve work output at personal level. It is important to influence a collective role by designing programs that target the general behavior rather than a divided culture. For positive consequences, the recognition activities must be built on transparent and trustworthy approaches where no employee is unequally treated or demoralized (Dahler-Larsen 12). Equilibrating forces Equilibrating forces in an economy are normally influenced by the empirical trends in the demand and supply of a commodity. These are the forces that determines the market price of a product or service; hence, becoming the legitimate as well as realistic drivers of the economy. The main role of the forces is to ensure an acceptable balance between the quantities supplied and demanded (Mittelstaedt et al. 68). Therefore, an economy is referred to be at equilibrium when the opposing forces are balanced in both static or dynamic states and either in a single or multiple markets. In most cases, the equilibrium is not attained; thus, the emergence of unintended consequences. These consequences are normally brought about by economic shifts that comprise of factors such as change in customer preferences, financial crises or deflation, government policies, and natural calamities. For instance, if the preference for a certain product drops, the demand lowers while the supply exceeds the market requirement (Boudon 17). This experience leads to a temporal state of imbalance and the expected price is lowered. Boudon’s analysis indicated that the 2008’s financial crisis led to imbalance in the housing business (Boudon 32). On the other hand, natural disasters such as fire outbreak may lower production and consequently, the supply but an increased demand while floods may increase the need for the replacement of the damaged goods. Basically, any prompt change in the quantities demanded or supplied to the market is highly unexpected; hence, unintended conse quence. Conclusion The findings indicate that there are negative as well as positive consequences that emerge from certain decisions make within and outside an organization that contribute to the overall outcome. The outcomes normally influence the economic impacts on an individual, society, and the entire globe. Charles Wheelan identifies that decision-making in regard to ethics and moral regulations are the major contributors of unintended consequences. The unintended consequences can either be an unexpected benefit or a drawback that result from an introduced policy or regulation. All in all, the consequences are controlled by the prevailing factors such as the involved individuals or parties, the society, appropriate use of incentives, and the equilibrating forces that control pricing. Therefore, it is important to make proper decisions for the sake of minimizing negative impacts while maximizing the positive impacts.

Gun Control A Reference Handbook - 1639 Words

Although, he is mostly known for his contributions to science and mathematics, Plato, a Greek philosopher, too held views on armament control. To expand, he reflected praises for an oligarchy government, a government with all power, along with favoring the withdrawal of arms from citizens and a desire to enforce the holding of weapons in his state. Plato also wished to impose obligatory military training and have military operations once a month, as mentioned by Earl R. Kruschke in his book Gun Control: A Reference Handbook. The policies that Plato once respected are much like policies that are in place and are in consideration for the future. Gun control, a major issue throughout the world, is a controversial topic within many countries.†¦show more content†¦Patrick J. Charles, a former legal analyst, presents an illustration from eighteenth century England, Thomas Erle, a former general, brought to the attention of the Parliament that â€Å"every substantial householder i n any town or city should be provided with a good musket in case of invasion†. Other beliefs of the people in this era were that firearms were for the purpose of suitable protection, which both gun rights and gun control advocates are in support of. In relation, Kruschke describes a case that takes place under Germanic Saxon laws. Under these laws, men obtained the requirement to join the army and any man who withheld land was to have armor and weapons. Furthermore, training in the practice of the people’s weapons, along with â€Å"annual military exercises for the purpose of review† were in place. In the countries that enacted laws for the handling of arms, a large amount of preparation obliged the government to ensure proper use of weapons. In like manner, there was an abundant amount of other laws practiced in the past to benefit the control of hunting, crime, and carrying of arms. In England there were countless laws on hunting privileges. Many laws of the f ifteenth century focused on this concern. King Henry VII had multiple rulings forbidding certain weapons to help reduce hunting in his kingdom, but

A Day Without a Phone free essay sample

Over this past weekend, when given the challenge to shut off my phone for 24 hours, I didn’t believe I could make it. My phone is probably involved in almost every activity I do throughout the day. Weather its taking notes down for my classes or tweeting my latest pointless thought. It guides me when its dark, tells me when its going to rain, and even notifies me when I get poked on Facebook. I can honestly admit to being one of those people who are completely dependent on their phones. Knowing this about myself I had to factor in three important variables; what day, what am I going to do, amp; of course how will I notify people of my whereabouts! Being the weekend and all, its kind of hard not being on the phone making plans for the night. How will I go about organizing a little get together with the close friends? So I thought to myself, Friday and Saturday are too important to be out of the loop. We will write a custom essay sample on A Day Without a Phone or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I finally made my decision that Sunday is perfect! I mean, who cares about Sunday? It’s a day of relaxation so I thought it would be perfect! Now I had to plan, what am I going to do. Earlier this weekend a friend of mine who was actually visiting from Florida had called me wanting to meet and catch up. Right before turning my phone off late Saturday I gave him a call explaining the situation, he laughed and told me to come pick him up from his aunts at 12 AM and to just simply get out of my car, walk to the front door, and knock. (Obviously texting a simple â€Å"here. † Would have been simpler). Besides that I thought I would just wing it and see where the day takes me. Now I just had one last issue, I got to hide it! Knowing myself pretty well, I knew it was a bad idea to have the phone around me, if I planned to actually commit to this. I decided to simply leave it in my mother’s possession for safekeeping. With these three issues resolved I’m now ready to, â€Å"slide to power off†. So Sunday begins. I woke up at around 11AM (kind of late due to the fact I couldn’t set the alarm on my phone). I got out of bed rushed out to the kitchen and looked at the oven for the time! I quickly proceeded to shower and get ready. At 12AM I arrived at my friends aunts house to pick him up, knocked on the door and he came right out (no big deal after all). We then went to lunch and spent a few hours talking and playing some call of duty on my Xbox. Without noticing, it was almost 6 at night! Wow! I was impressed. By this time I probably would have had to plug my phone in for the second charge of the day! Now it was time to go to the gym, I usually use my phone to play music but I had to bust out my little mp3 from back in the day. At the gym I’m rarely on the phone so this hour and a half went by swiftly has well. When I returned home I showered and started preparations to begin on my homework. It being 8PM now I thought the worse was over! So I read my 20 pages of Feed and did some of my history assignment and probably finished at around 9:30PM. At this point of the day I didn’t even remember I didn’t have my phone glued to my side. I realize now that having all those cool features and apps on my phone only makes me waist my time and procrastinate on the important things I should be doing. The last few hours till midnight I simply watched a few episodes of The Walking Dead to pass the time. It really wasn’t much of a challenge after all; it was actually very relieving not being involved in any social media and texting throughout the day. Perhaps I will make this an event for every Sunday!

The Tennis Serve Essays - Anatomical Terms Of Motion, Elbow, Serve

The Tennis Serve The tennis serve is the stroke that puts the ball in play and is often referred to as the most important stroke in the game of tennis. It has become a principle weapon of attack and is used to place the opponent on the defensive by forcing a return from the weak side or by moving the receiver out of position. A good strong serve can sometimes be the basis of winning a game of tennis. I have included eight picture sequences to illustrate the tennis serve. Represented in picture A is the stance of the serve. In this part of the serve, the person needs to take a position sideways to the net, about three or four feet to the right center mark behind the baseline. The left foot is two to three inches behind the line, the toes pointing toward the net post. The back foot is parallel to the baseline and spread conformably from the front. Pictures B and C represent the preparation phase. In these pictures, the execution of the ball toss is performed. The ball toss is the key to a well-executed serve: a good release consistently places the ball in the proper hitting position. A poor release can throw off timing and ultimately cause a bad serve. In pictures D-F the action phase is represented. In picture D of the action phase, the elbow reaches a position slightly higher than the shoulder, then the elbow bends and the racket head drops down behind the back into what is called the back scratching position. In picture E, the ball should be at its maximum height of the toss before striking it. In picture F, the last of the action phase, the movement of striking the ball is explosive in an upward and forward motion until contact Pictures G and H represent the follow through. In the follow through the action is performed up and out, not down, in the direction of the intended target area. The follow through is a natural continuation of the stroke. A good follow through will help prepare for the next step in approaching the net for a return. Kinematics is defined as the study of motion. It is compiled of different bodily planes and different joint motions. In the beginning of the serve, during the stance (picture A), the feet are outwardly rotated. The hips and the trunk are extended. The left shoulder is slightly flexed along with the right shoulder and the shoulder girdles are slightly abducted. Both of the wrists are pronated with the elbows slightly flexed. During the preparation (pictures B and C) the feet are still in an outwardly rotated position. The hips slightly abduct with the trunk still in full extension. The shoulders are abducted, with slight elevation of the shoulder girdle. Both elbows are extended, but the right wrist stays in a pronated position and the left wrist is supinated. During the action (pictures D-F) the right foot inwardly rotates along with it performing planter flexion but the left foot stays in an outwardly rotated position. The hips are adducted but then they shift to abduction. The trunk starts in hyperextension then get fully extended and slightly rotate to the left. Both knees flex but the left knee extends while the right knee stays flexed. The left shoulder goes from flexion to extension while the right shoulder performs high diagonal adduction. The left elbow goes from extension to flexion and the right elbow goes from flexion to extension. The left hand goes from supination to pronation while the right hand stays in a pronated position. Finally, during the follow through (pictures G and H) the left foot inwardly rotates along with some planter flexion. The right foot inwardly rotates and goes back to a naturally flat position. Both hips are flexed along with the flexion of the trunk and it's rotation. The left shoulder remains in an extended position but the right shoulder follows through with the high diagonal adduction, while both shoulder girdles perform abduction. The right elbow slightly flexes but the left elbow extends. The knees go from flexion to a greater degree of flexion. The kinematics of the tennis serve is a complicated thing, it consist of