Foreign Direct Investment---Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foreign Direct Investment---Economics - Essay Example What exactly are foreign direct investments, and why have they increased so steadily What factors make foreign direct investments such a popular global occurrence A foreign direct investment, as the name states, involves corporations who invest long term overseas. There are four types of FDI's for business corporations to choose from. The most commonly preferred for more corporations are mergers and acquisitions. They involve a transfer of assets from the originating corporation to the one which is foreign based. (Wikipedia, 2006). Greenfield investments are investments or expansions for a new corporation. There are two forms of vertical foreign direct investments which involve backward vertical FDI and forward vertical FDI. Backward vertical FDI involves an out of the country business which provides resources/assets to a domestic business. Forward vertical FDI involves a business abroad that sells the amount produced of a business's domestic production(s). A.T. Kearney Inc. is a global management consulting firm that is an active member of the Global Business Policy Council. This council aids and advises head executives on geopolitics, macroeconomics, technological changes, and macroeconomics worldwide (A.T. Kearney, 2006, p.1). A.T. Kearney spent over seven years surveying numerous head executives from over one thousand corporations worldwide for their opinions on future FDI growth and objectives. The companies and their executives that were surveyed comprise seventy percent of the cumulative FDI. In December 2005, A.T. Kearny published their findings in their FDI Confidence Index. The survey was comprised of sixty-eight countries that contribute ninety percent of the global FDI (A.T. Kearney, 2006, p. 2). They selected the top twenty-five countries according to their FDI confidence. These countries were ranked by a score given from zero to three. Scores closer to three was given to those countries with the highest amount of FDI conf idence. For example, China received the highest FDI confidence rating for a score of 2.197. Why would China be interested in foreign direct investments A country such as China is interested in FDI's to improve the economic state of its own country based on the numerous benefits of foreign enterprise investing. There are many advantages and attractions for foreign markets to invest in one of the worlds largest and growing markets. China's population was estimated in 2005 at over 1.3 billion people. It holds a large share of twenty percent of the world's total population estimated at 6.5 billion people. (Prasad, Eswar & Wei, Shang Jin,2005). Many multinational corporations will choose to invest in densely populated countries such as China. Companies will choose China because their own country lacks a sufficient labor supply. The cost of China's labor force is dramatically low in comparison to other surrounding Asian countries. Many foreign direct investors have found this cost effective and have created and brought millions of jobs to China. The US, a country which owes the m ajority of its yearly population growth from immigration, would find China to be a valuable source of manpower as well as an ever increasing and developing economy. On the other hand, the population growth has become so overwhelming high for China that the government has had to

Defining Race and Ethnicity Essay Example for Free

Defining Race and Ethnicity Essay The use of the terms race and ethnicity is varied. The two terms are misused as if they are identical. The casual and common appearance of the terms side by side in the public discourse may discourage people from regarding them as distinct terms. Race is based on the premise of biological and physical differences. the concept of race included any essential zing of groups of people which held them to display inherent, heritable, persistent or predictive characteristics, and which thus had a biological or quasi-biological basis. Ethnicity is an embodiment of values, institutions, and patterns of behavior, a composite whole representing a peoples historical experience, aspirations, and worldview. Ethnic classification, either externally imposed or intrinsically engendered, often defines peoples membership to a group. Aside from social constructs, ethnicity is innately more central to human experience and identity than race. I do not believe that these concepts should be important to society. Racial and ethnic categories are neither fixed across societies nor within a society. Racial and ethnic categories are fluid and changing depending on the socio-political context of a society at any given time. Ethnic and racial differences do not inherently lead to conflict. Instead, these differences can take on a social meaning of hierarchy leading to conflict when divided groups fail to negotiate. In such cases, the imbalance of power, not the racial or ethnic differences per se, is the underlying cause of the conflict. In each of these cases, it is critical that the topic of race and ethnicity receives continual examination. The ideology and myth of racial and ethnic differences cannot be validated to support or legitimate superiority, privilege, or conflict as has often been the case in both historical and global contexts.

Irony in Tim O’Brien’s How to Tell a True War Story Essay -- How to Te

Irony in Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† â€Å"This is true.† (O’Brien, 420) – with this simple statement which also represents a first, three-word introductory paragraph to Tim O’Brien’s short story, â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story†, the author reveals the main problem of what will follow. â€Å"Truth† – when looked up in a dictionary, we would probably find definitions similar to sincerity and honesty on the one hand, and correctness, accuracy or reality on the other hand. When looking at these definitions, one can make out two groups of meaning: While sincerity and honesty are very subjective, correctness or accuracy are supposed to be objective by nature. One can be sincere and still not report the truth, due to the simple fact that one does not know any better. Accuracy, however, is supposed to represent facts, bits and pieces of information that paint a picture of an event, untouched by opinion or attitude. In his short story, O’Brien unravels step by step the irony in the double meaning of truth, implied in this first statement, â€Å"This is true†, to the reader which is then woven through the entire story. By trying to characterize what constitutes a true war story, but never really achieving this goal, the true irony of his short story is revealed. Even though in some instances giving away his opinion explicitly, the sheer contradiction of honesty and reality becomes even more visible in an implicit way by following O’Brien’s explanations throughout the story while he deconstructs his first statement. The incongruity between his first statement and what is actually shown in his examples does not need any explicit statements to drive home his message. An interesting combination of recalled events and editorial commentary, the story is not set up like a traditional short story. One of the most interesting, and perhaps troubling, aspects of the construction of â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† is O’Brien’s choice to create a fictional, first-person narrator who might just as well be the author himself. Because â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story† is told from a first-person perspective and O’Brien is an actual Vietnam veteran, a certain authenticity to this story is added. He, as the â€Å"expert† of war leads the reader through the story. Since O’Brien has experienced the actual war from a soldier’s point of view, he should be able to present the truth about war... ...r because it seems impossible to reconstruct an event from this objective point of view. Maybe the point of telling stories is not trying to recreate the reality of a past event, but it is the message that matters because that might be in the end the only thing that does not necessarily depend on single details of the story, but on the overall picture of an event. That is why to O’Brien another important component of a war story is the fact that a war story will never pin down the definite truth and that is why a true war story â€Å"never seems to end† (O’Brien, 425). O’Brien moves the reader from the short and simple statement â€Å"This is the truth† to the conclusion that, â€Å"In war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself and therefore it’s safe to say that in a true war story nohting much is ever very true† (O’Brien, 428). These two statements frame the entire irony of the story, from it s beginning to its end. Almost like the popular saying â€Å"A wise man admits that he knows nothing.† Works Cited O’Brien, Tim. â€Å"How To Tell a True War Story.† The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2003. p. 420-429.

John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education; Philosophy Essay

Daniel Dwyer Mykytyn, N. January 11, 2013 HZT 4U1-01 John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education John Locke, famous sixteenth century philosopher and â€Å"Father of Classical Liberalism† wrote a work based on the human mind and learning methods entitled Some Thoughts Concerning Education. This work outlines Locke’s views on how the brain absorbs and remembers new ideas through a theory known as the â€Å"tabula rasa† or blank slate. This theory constitutes that humans are born with a blank mind and that as we are taught new concepts, they are inscribed into this blank slate and remain there until we pass on.According to Locke, the goal of education is not to create a scholar, but to create a virtuous man. He believes that learning morals is more important than any other kind of learning. He believes that education should create a person who obeys reason instead of passion. One of the most emphasized points in Locke’s work is that children shoul d enjoy learning and that there is no good reason that they should dislike learning and love playing. This idea covers almost two thirds of his work on education as Locke believes that we should begin teaching humans correctly from a young age.All together, John Locke’s work emphasizes three base ideas, the concept of the tabula rasa, moral learning is more important than any other kind of learning, and that children should enjoy learning. The first subject being covered is the subject of the tabula rasa or blank slate that allows humans to think freely in a sense. The concept of the tabula rasa, as told by John Locke, delves into the human mind deeper than one could simply comprehend by studying the surface of the human mind. Locke explains part of a pre-established concept introduced by Aristotle, known as priori and posteriori knowledge.His work places more emphasis on posteriori knowledge in that this learning method imposes that humans are born with a blank slate in thei r mind and that as they learn, subjects and ideas are essentially burned into their minds. This is based off of the basic â€Å"nature versus nurture† concept in that humans learn in one of two ways. These are either through nature, in which we are born with knowledge and that we are basically unlocking it through experience and all learning is basically recollection.The other method emphasized by Locke is nurturing, humans are taught through action and all learning is just the basic collection of new ideas. Locke held firmly the idea that with the tabula rasa, one is given the ability to bend their mind and tailor themselves to certain ways of learning. This is an important point in Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education because it is the basis for the entirety of this work. This lets people define who they are, or, their character. If every human were to learn through recollection then truly we have no freedom as this means our character and mind are virtually pr edestined for us.Tabula rasa gives humans the freedom to learn on our own and shape our own characters without having to worry about what might come in our predetermined fates. This also slightly mixes in a single quality of priori knowledge in that once we learn something, it is permanently engraved into our minds, and as we grow older, lose our knowledge as we might, it is simply because we can not recall it. It is held within the library of knowledge that is our brain, but we simply can not remember it. The second argument I would like to introduce is John Locke’s personal views on virtues.Locke was a general liberal Protestant Christian, meaning he held very strong his values and ethics. This is apparent when he explains that moral learning is more important than any other kind of learning. Locke believed that the goal of education was not to raise a man of passion, but to raise one of reason and morals. He also held that another goal of education was not to create a scho larly man, but to create a virtuous man, much like Locke himself. Normally, on the standpoint of religion, philosophers were men of science and logic.Locke directly opposed these earlier ideas by stating that morals, virtues, and ethics were a more important section of learning than any variety of math, algebra, chemistry, etcetera. More specifically, Locke wanted the educational system to instill what he named, the Principle of Virtue. This was an idea that Locke wished to impose that would divert a child’s mental attention from their appetites and desires to reason. Locke deeply rooted his philosophies in his devout dedication to Christianity. Locke strongly supports moral learning because e believes that one who holds strong morals and implements them in their daily lives can improve the quality of society as a whole. He believes that society looks well upon the virtuous because society profits from virtuous acts. Locke wanted to teach these values to young people still go ing through earlier stages of development so that they would be passed down through generations as the ideal behaviours. The third and final point is Locke’s strong emphasis on the teaching methods implemented on young children. He held a strong belief that children were the future of our society, and he was correct.This is why he disliked the educational system of his time. He did not like the concept of children being taught languages, mathematics, and science because he knew and he understood that children dislike learning these subjects. He believed that children could have fun learning due to his theory that children hate learning and love playing because they are forced to learn and they are not forced to play. Children enjoy playing because it is an instinct for children to prefer having fun and playing games than being forced to learn the difficult new concepts held within mathematics, algebra, science and languages.He says that children should be nurtured and taken s eriously regardless of their behaviour or situation. In saying this, what he means to say is that children should not be beaten, or scolded, and that behaviour, good or bad, should be taken lightly and that children should not be punished for causing trouble due to their age. Locke also puts emphasis on the point that every child’s mind is different, and that teachers should tailor their education towards certain students’ characters.Locke stresses that all children should learn a manual skill such as carpentry, painting, or playing an instrument as it offers relief from the stressful hours spent learning in school. The point of Locke’s essay is to take a stand against schools in a sense. He does this by criticizing their teaching methods and offering ideas on how children should learn and how they should grow. He implements his own opinion by utilizing a strong Christian background and by analyzing the minds of young children.He argues many points and opinions in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, but the most strongly emphasized are the concept of the tabula rasa, that moral learning is the most important form of learning, and that children should be taught through less strict methods of teaching. He believes that people grow through development of the mind, rather than recollection of complicated ideas. In the nature versus nurture argument, Locke strongly supports the notion of nurturing the brain and makes that a strongly opinionated statement through one of his most influential works, Some Thoughts Concerning Education.

Compare and contrast essay “traveling through the dark” and “woodchuck” Essay

â€Å"Traveling through the Dark† by William E. Stanford and â€Å"Woodchucks† by Maxine Kumin a man must make the choice of nature and its ways. Both poems have their similarities and differences. Traveling through the dark and woodchucks share various ways of similarities, Man vs Nature Death situations are involved in both poems. Through the use of narrations both poems have different attitudes. Traveling through the dark starts off dark and progress towards a more serious tone and, the reader sympathizes with the main action in getting the dead deer off the road. So he can prevent future deaths. Both poems use strong verbs to communicate the point effectively as possible. Traveling through the dark has no rhyme scheme and follows contemplative tone, that comes from the decision of life and death which sets the mood of the poem: sadness and despair. Kumin uses â€Å" beheaded† and â€Å"hooked† to illustrate the images to she wants to communicate. In Woodchuck, Maxine talks about the violence in killing the woodchuck and actually shows the reader the killing and violence whereas the Traveling through the dark illustrates a human reaction to the less-violent act. The poem however does have a rhyme scheme but does not conform to conventional forms of rhyme. The first stanza happens when the speaker describing their failed attempt to eliminate the pest. Following through the poem a sense of humor becomes between the writer and the woodchucks. Each poem has a violent, grim, painful and guilty tone to it, maybe some or less in others. while reading â€Å"traveling through the dark† the doe’s death and the inescapable fate of the baby fawn brings on a feeling of guilt, more so that the poem of the â€Å"woodchucks†, also in the contrast the â€Å"woodchucks poem emphasizes on violence more than its partner. Throughout the story the narrator is blood thirsty and cares only about the death of woodchucks but does not relate to what is actually happening around the time or what was happening around him the nazi period. The death of each animal leaves the reader feeling sad and hopeless. In comparison, Kumin only focuses on the man’s reaction to the the woodchucks â€Å"beheading the carrots†, traveling through the dark is more objective as compared to the woodchucks which is more emotional although they are both almost equal effective.