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The Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) invested a substantial amount of energy and money to win grant funding from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers for administering after school programs among its schools and their nonprofit partners.
Like many school departments across the country, the Louisiana DOE needed to demonstrate performance aligned with federal requirements, and it hoped to go even further: to produce outcomes evidence of sufficient quality to meet the “gold standard” of scientific, third-party review. But the scale of the initiative, which began in the early 2000s with 20 school districts and 30 nonprofit agencies serving approximately 20,000 students, overwhelmed manual and disparate data collection obligations. Worse, participating districts were funded within staggered annual funding rounds or “cohorts”; to produce acceptable reports for federal evaluators, the state had to aggregate data by their correct cohorts, a monumental challenge made more complex by the sheer volume of the participating parties.
Solution: Sophisticated but simple platform collects higher-quality inputs, automates reporting outputs
In 2002, Louisiana turned to Cityspan, a cloud-based data management platform that expands and improves the state’s ability to manage data. The Cityspan platform included a number of important building blocks that improved the quality of the data collected, managed and reported:
Precise site-level reporting
While the state provides the data collection tools, each site gathers its data and gets reports on its own. Simple, intuitive interfaces prove vital in an environment with high personnel turnover and limited access to technology resources. Even with minimal or no training, field staff can input accurate data that conforms to the terminology required by federal regulators and other evaluators.
Flexible outcomes tracking
Under federal grant requirements for 21st Century Centers, youth outcomes can be measured through either teacher surveys, student grades or standardized state assessments. Cityspan has the flexibility to aggregate data in any of the three outcomes categories the state and school districts choose. Regardless of the categories chosen, the outputs remain compliant with federal rules.
Conformance with federal performance reports
For busy program staff, assembling data manually for federal reports can be a confusing process prone to unintentional error. Cityspan incorporated federal regulatory requirements into its platform’s algorithms, producing outputs that exactly correspond to each of the eight different sections of the annual performance reports demanded by evaluators.
Results: First scientifically rigorous proof of programs’ impact on academic performance
In 2003, the Louisiana DOE’s after school programs had to do more than meet federal performance requirements. Its outcomes reports were submitted to a rigorous analysis, conducted and reviewed by expert social scientists, that pit program outcomes data against a comparable control set.
Thanks to the depth, precision and reach of the data collected and organized through the Cityspan platform, Louisiana proved the efficacy of its programs through a 2004-2005 evaluation, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, titled, Academic Outcomes in Louisiana’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers. After reviewing 16 programs involving 5,375 youth, the evaluators concluded that the 21st Century Learning Centers out-of-school activities made a statistically meaningful improvement in academic performance for youth who participated in the programs for thirty days or more.
Benefits at a glance:
- Facilitated data collection at 229 individual sites
- Aggregated data to conform with the 21st CCLC Annual Performance Reports
- Supported annual renewals among multiple program cohorts
- Informed the first scientifically rigorous proof of programs’ contribution to academic progress
- External Study – A Profile of the Evaluation of 21st Century Community Learning Centers – Louisiana
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The introduction of renewable energies such as solar power and wind power has recently been promoted to increase the use ratio of zero-emission power sources for the realization of a low-carbon society. Meanwhile, the “Green New Deal,” which was released soon after Obama’s inauguration as U.S. president in 2009, raised worldwide public concern over next-generation power supply networks (a smart grid, and so on). Since then, research and development of new electric power infrastructures and related electrical equipment have been promoted. Further, the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant amplified the public’s expectations for the construction of an electric power infrastructure that does not primarily depend on nuclear power generation and alternatively increases the use of renewable energies. However, the electric power generated by solar and wind depends on weather conditions, and therefore the output fluctuates. Connecting large numbers of renewable power plants to the electric power network without taking any measures against their unstable output will cause problems, including rise of voltage, frequency fluctuations, and surplus power generation.
Various solutions to the above problems have been proposed. These proposals should meet the requirements for the construction and operation of (1) an environmentally conscious system, (2) a system that ensures a stable supply of high-quality power, and (3) a safe and efficient power supply system. “A technology that can interconnect zero emission, safe solar and wind power plants efficiently at low cost with keeping the quality of electricity” is essential to realize these requisites against the above prevailing social background. Energy storage technologies, battery technologies, are drawing attention as a solution to the above requirements. Storage batteries are expected to expand their use in the fields shown in Fig. 1. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. began to develop a redox flow battery(1) in the 1980s. Since then, Sumitomo Electric has carried out several demonstrations to confirm the usefulness of redox flow batteries in stabilizing the supply of renewable energy. This paper describes the outstanding features of redox flow batteries and reviews the demonstration test results.
Click on the above icon for the FULL PDF version
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- What are considered variable expenses?
- Can government bonds lose value?
- What does variable income mean?
- How do you calculate variable income?
- What is an example of variable income?
- Is rent a variable expense?
- What are the 4 types of expenses?
- What is a variable expense for adults?
- Are groceries a variable expense?
- Is fixed income safe?
- Can fixed income funds lose money?
- What are examples of variable costs?
- Where are variable costs on income statement?
- What is the best fixed income investment?
- What is considered fixed income?
- What is the difference between fixed income and variable income?
- What security is known as variable income security?
- What variable means?
- What are examples of fixed income?
- What is variable costing used for?
- How do you calculate total variable manufacturing cost?
What are considered variable expenses?
Variable expenses are defined as such because the amount you spend may vary each month.
Although variable costs are quite often discretionary expenses, some may be necessities.
Buying gas for your car each month is a variable expense, as are car repairs and maintenance.
Grocery shopping is also a variable expense..
Can government bonds lose value?
Like all long-term bonds, Treasury bonds carry a significant risk that the interest rates will rise during that 30-year period, reducing the value of your bond. As a result, long-term issues often pay a higher rate of interest to compensate the bond purchaser for that risk.
What does variable income mean?
Variable Income,” means any money that Sam earned that changes from week to week. In the same way, “Fixed Expenses” mean any money that Sam has to pay every week, and “Variable Expenses” mean any money that Sam chose to spend this week.
How do you calculate variable income?
Variable Costing Income StatementContribution Margin =Revenue – Variable Production Expenses – Variable Selling and administrative expenses.Net profit or Loss = Contribution Margin – Fixed production expenses – Fixed Selling and administrative expenses.
What is an example of variable income?
Variable income means income which is not fixed and includes fee, overtime pay, perquisite, allowance, bonus, gratuity, commission or other reward or remuneration in respect of or in relation to the office or employment of an individual, and any fringe benefits.
Is rent a variable expense?
Variable costs vary based on the amount of output produced. Variable costs may include labor, commissions, and raw materials. Fixed costs remain the same regardless of production output. Fixed costs may include lease and rental payments, insurance, and interest payments.
What are the 4 types of expenses?
You might think expenses are expenses. If the money’s going out, it’s an expense. But here at Fiscal Fitness, we like to think of your expenses in four distinct ways: fixed, recurring, non-recurring, and whammies (the worst kind of expense, by far).
What is a variable expense for adults?
Variable expenses, also called variable costs, are expenses that can change over time. … Variable expenses differ from fixed expenses, such as your mortgage or rent, that remain the same throughout the term of your loan or lease.
Are groceries a variable expense?
Variable expenses are costs that change over time, such as groceries or movie tickets. Because these costs might fluctuate over a week, month or year, it can be challenging to pinpoint what you’ll spend.
Is fixed income safe?
The U.S. Treasury guarantees government fixed-income securities and considered safe-haven investments in times of economic uncertainty. On the other hand, corporate bonds are backed by the financial viability of the company. In short, corporate bonds have a higher risk of default than government bonds.
Can fixed income funds lose money?
Bond mutual funds can lose value if the bond manager sells a significant amount of bonds in a rising interest rate environment and investors in the open market demand a discount (pay a lower price) on the older bonds that pay lower interest rates. Also, falling prices will adversely affect the NAV.
What are examples of variable costs?
Examples of variable costs are sales commissions, direct labor costs, cost of raw materials used in production, and utility costs. The total variable cost is simply the quantity of output multiplied by the variable cost per unit of output.
Where are variable costs on income statement?
Variable costs are explicitly labeled on a variable costing income statement. Under sales revenue, there should be a line item labeled “Cost of Goods Sold” and “Variable Selling, General and Administrative Expenses”. Sum these two line items to determine total variable costs.
What is the best fixed income investment?
Best Fixed Income Investments for a Low-Rate EnvironmentOnline Savings Accounts. The current yield on a 1-month Treasury bill is less than 0.10%—that’s also approximately the average APY traditional banks offer for savings accounts. … Certificates of Deposit. … Corporate Bonds. … Defined-Maturity Bond ETFs. … High-Yield Bond ETFs. … Municipal Bonds.
What is considered fixed income?
Fixed income is an investment approach focused on preservation of capital and income. It typically includes investments like government and corporate bonds, CDs and money market funds. Fixed income can offer a steady stream of income with less risk than stocks.
What is the difference between fixed income and variable income?
In a variable income security, payments change based on some underlying benchmark measure such as short-term interest rates. However, in this and subsequent chapters, by fixed income securities we mean debt securities that yield a regular return in the form of interest.
What security is known as variable income security?
Variable-income securities, also known as variable-rate securities, are typically valued by investors looking for higher returns than those offered by fixed-income securities. … In exchange for this risk, investors in these securities demand higher returns than their fixed-income counterparts.
What variable means?
apt or liable to vary or change; changeable: variable weather;variable moods. capable of being varied or changed; alterable: a variable time limit for completion of a book. inconstant; fickle: a variable lover. having much variation or diversity.
What are examples of fixed income?
What are some examples of fixed-income securities?Bonds. … Savings bonds. … Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) … Treasury bills. … Banker’s Acceptances. … NHA Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) … Strip coupons and residuals. … Laddered portfolio.
What is variable costing used for?
Definition: Variable costing, also called direct costing, is an accounting method used to allocate production costs to product being produced. This method allocates all variable-manufacturing costs to the product during the period.
How do you calculate total variable manufacturing cost?
To determine the total variable cost the company will spend to produce 100 units of product, the following formula is used: Total output quantity x variable cost of each output unit = total variable cost.
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Moving average is frequently used to understand underlying trends and helps in forecasting. MACD or moving average convergence / divergence is probably the most used technical analysis tools in stock trading. It is fairly common in several businesses to use moving average of 3 month sales to understand how the trend is.
Today we will learn how you can calculate moving average and how average of latest 3 months can be calculated using excel formulas.
Calculate Moving Average
To calculate moving average, all you need is the good old AVERAGE excel function.
Assuming your data is in the range B1:B12,
- Just enter this formula in the cell D3
- And now copy the formula from D3 to the range D4 to D12 (remember, since you are calculating moving average of 3 months, you will only get 10 values; 12-3+1)
- That is all you need to calculate moving average.
Calculate Moving Average of Latest 3 Months Alone
Lets say you need to calculate the average of last 3 months at any point of time. That means when you enter the value for the next month, the average should be automatically adjusted.
First let us take a look at the formula and then we will understand how it works.
So what the heck the above formula is doing anyway?
- It is counting how many months are already entered – COUNT(B4:B33)
- Then it is offsetting count minus 3 cells from B4 and fetching 3 cells from there – OFFSET(B4,COUNT(B4:B33)-3,0,3,1). These are nothing but the latest 3 months.
- Finally it is passing this range to AVERAGE function to calculate the moving average of latest 3 months.
Your Home Work
Now that you have learned how to calculate moving average using Excel, here is your home work.
- Lets say you want the number of months used to calculate moving average to be configurable in the cell E1. ie when E1 is changed from 3 to 6, the moving average table should calculate moving average for 6 months at a time. How do you write the formulas then?
Don’t look at the comments, go and figure this out for yourself. If you cant find the answer, come back here and read the comments. Go!
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The Brief History Of Bitcoin
Bitcoin was originally brought to life in 2009 by mysterious creator Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity has never been revealed. While Bitcoin was not the first digital currency in existence, it was the first to solve a major issue that had previously held back other currencies like Nick Szabo’s BitGold.
It managed to solve the dreaded double spend issue by using block confirmations, making it the first viable decentralized payment option. This advancement was not lost on supporters of the digital currency movement, and they quickly began to adopt Bitcoin as a currency.
In the early days of Bitcoin, before exchanges, the value of the coins was negotiated on popular hobbyist forums like Bitcointalk. While primitive, it was an effective means at establishing trade for the currency. Communities like these also helped to facilitate what’s believe to be the first product based purchase made using Bitcoin.
This event is widely celebrated by cryptocurrency enthusiasts as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”, because it marks the occasion that Laszlo Hanyecz negotiated a deal with another BitcoinTalk user to trade 10,000 Bitcoin for two Papa John’s pizzas. While many see this as a failure based on how much Bitcoin would be worth in the coming years, trades like these paved the way for further adoption.
Soon, companies like CoinBase emerged, and as early as 2013, they reported selling over $1 million dollars worth of digital currency. At the time, Bitcoin was worth just $22. However, Bitcoin continued to fascinate the masses, and Bitcoin trading volume still managed to exceed 2 trillion dollars in 2018 despite the market downturn.
PRO TIP: Hire bloggers through ContentFly!
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Negotiable instruments are signed documents that contains a promise to pay a specific amount of money to the bearer or assignee at a specified date or on being demanded. These instruments are transferrable in nature, allowing the person or entity to use the instrument most appropriately.
There are three types of Negotiable Instruments, namely Bill of Exchange, Cheques and Promissory Note.
Meaning of Bill of Exchange
Bill of Exchange is a negotiable instrument which is a legally binding document containing an order to pay a certain sum of money to a person within a pre-determined time frame or on-demand by the bearer of the instrument.
A creditor issues Bill of Exchange to a debtor for payment of money owed by the debtor for the goods and services availed. A prominent feature of Bill of Exchange is, it needs to be accepted by a debtor to in order to be valid.
It is used in business to settle the outstanding debt between the parties involved in the transaction. There are 3 parties involved in the bill of exchange, they are:
- Drawer: Drawer is the person who issues the instrument in order to receive a payment.
- Drawee: Drawee is the person who needs to pay the amount to the drawer.
- Payee: Payee is the person who receives the payment. In most cases, the drawer and the payee are the same individuals unless it is transferred to third party payee by the drawer.
Meaning of Promissory Note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument containing written promise to pay a certain amount of money to its holder by an individual or an entity either on demand by the holder or at a pre-specified date.
The most important feature of Promissory Note is, once it is drawn by the debtor, it need not be accepted by the creditor.
Two parties are involved in the promissory note. They are:
- Drawer/Maker: Drawer is the debtor who promises to pay the amount to lender or creditor.
- Payee: Payee is the creditor who is been promised by the borrower or debtor about the pending payment.
Key Differences between Bill of Exchange and Promissory note represented in a comparison format are as follows
|Bill of Exchange||Promissory Note|
|A negotiable instrument issued to order the debtor to pay the creditor a certain sum of money within a specific date or on demand.||A negotiable instrument issued by the debtor with a written promise to pay the creditor a certain amount within a specific date or on demand.|
|Mentioned in Section 5 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881||Mentioned in Section 4 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881|
|Three parties involved i.e a drawer, the drawee and a payee.||Two parties involved i.e a drawer/maker and the payee|
|Drawee needs to accept the bill of exchange before payment.||No acceptance required from the drawee.|
|Liability of drawer is secondary and conditional.||Liability of drawer is primary and absolute.|
|Dishonouring of instrument|
|Notice served to all the concerned parties involved in the transaction on dishonouring the instrument.||No notice served to the drawer in case of dishonouring the instrument.|
|Bill of exchange can have copies.||The promissory note allows no copies.|
|Is it Payable to drawer/maker|
|Yes, the same person can be drawer and payee.||The same person cannot be drawer and payee.|
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Hurricane Maria’s Turbulent Wake Leaves Behind An Island Of Opportunity
By Susan Reed
Originally published on WBUR
October 3, 2017
Well before September’s storms, Puerto Rico suffered from a Gordian Knot of financial problems. Deep in debt, it was hard for the island to raise revenue through taxes because so many working people had left to seek better jobs on the mainland. Now longtime residents who lost homes, businesses and the jobs are evacuating. Puerto Rico’s tax base keeps shrinking at a time when the cash-strapped government needs money to fix storm damage.
The destruction caused by Maria offers Puerto Rico the chance to “leapfrog their energy system to the next generation of electric grids,” said Larry Sherwood, president and CEO of IREC, an independent organization that promotes renewable energy. He suggested building the grid with as many renewables connected to it as possible, making sure that critical needs such as shelters, hospitals, emergency management facilities and water treatment centers be powered by a combination of sources and backed up with batteries so they could still operate if the grid goes down. Massachusetts has already launched an effort to update its energy storage.
Sherwood recommended building resiliency into the grid using smarter inverters, an interactive technology that keeps power going to one area after it has failed in another.
READ the article in its entirety.
Image: Ramon Espinosa/AP
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We all know that money can be used to buy things, and money can also be used to make more money. Whether you’re just starting from scratch or have some money stashed away, when you begin to save and invest, you will be able to put yourself on the road to financial wealth. By creating wealth you can achieve your long-term financial goals.
Many people use the words savings and investing interchangeably. Both play an important role in your financial plans but these words have very unique concepts. It’s important to understand the difference between them and the need for each. In the first part, we will look at savings and the different options you have.
Savings is the building block in helping you to create the capital needed to feed your investments that can ultimately bring you wealth in the future. Savings should always come first and it usually means putting money away in a bank. As a general rule, especially in today’s economic climate, your savings should be sufficient to cover all your personal expenses such as rent, phone, insurance, food, clothing, and other unexpected expenditures for at least six months.
Having six months of accumulated savings for personal expenses will provide you the financial cushion needed in the event you lose your job without having the pressure that comes from living paycheck to paycheck. Savings should also be available for making specific purchase in the near future like purchasing a computer, furniture and car.
Savings will provide you with a low fixed rate of return and you can generally withdraw your money easily whenever you want. In addition, your money is safe which means you will not lose your money because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guarantees the safety of your savings deposit of up to $250,000.00 per bank if an FDIC insured bank fails.
Savings can include the following type of accounts:
• Savings Account: are offered by banks. The bank lends your money to people and businesses that need loans. In return for using your money, the banks pays you interest. You can withdraw your money at any time.
• Certificates of Deposit: is a bank account that pays a higher rate of interest than a savings account. You will earn a predetermined rate of return with the condition you do not withdraw your money for a certain period of time, such as 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc. If you decide to withdraw your money before the predetermined period, you will have to pay a penalty.
• Money Market Account: is another type of a bank account that resembles a checking account and a savings account. It generally pays a higher rate of return than a regular savings account but lower than a Certificate of Deposit. You must maintain a minimum balance ranging anywhere from $500 – $2,500 or more or pay a fee if you go below it. You can write checks against the funds, however, there is a limit on how many checks you can write per month (most banks will allow only three checks per month) without incurring additional withdrawal charges.
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President Obama signed a three-month extension of federal highway funding on July 31, less than 24 hours before the funds were set to run out. The short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which funds safety, highway, transit and other transportation-related programs, is the 34th short-term, stopgap bill in the past six years.
Despite collaboration between congressional transportation, tax and public works committees, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives were unable to come to an agreement on how to fund a multi-year highway bill. In a first-step toward a potential long-term agreement, the Senate passed a three-year bill to pay for infrastructure spending; however, the House did not consider the bill before leaving town for August recess. The Senate is hopeful their passed legislation will lay the ground work for an agreement on a long-term proposal between both chambers.
About 50% of funding on infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges and other non-highway projects, comes from the federal government’s HTF, which is paid for by the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax. The federal government then allocates money from the HTF to states based on size, highway usage and necessity while states fund the additional 50%.
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Raising alcohol prices. Would drinking by high school students be lower if alcohol prices were higher? Do peers cause cause others to drink more often or heavier? Researchers asked these questions. They used data from nation-wide federal research.
The researchers found that peers were significant in the choice to drink. But they had no real impact on the frequency of drinking. That included heavy episodic or binge drinking.
Similarly, the price of alcohol had no real impact on the drinking of high school students.
- Peer drinking has a significant effect on the decision of high school students to drink.
- Alcohol prices do not affect the quantity or frequency of alcohol consumption by high school students.
The researchers concluded that ‘no significant impact on underage drinking will result from low-tax states’ increasing excise taxes on alcohol so they are similar to those of high-tax states.’ These findings are important for policies to reduce underage drinking.
- Ajilore O., et al. Alcohol consumption by youth. Peers, parents, or prices? Econ Hum Behav, 2016, 23, 76-83. DOI 10.1016/j.ehb.2016.07.003. PMID 27507725
- Gruenewald, P., et al. Alcohol price, beverage quality, and the demand for alcohol. Alco Clin Exper Res, Jan, 2006.
- Lau, H. Cost of Alcohol as a Determinant of Alcohol Consumption. In: Gibbins, R., et al. (eds.) Res Adv Alco Drug Prob, Vol. 2. NY: Wiley, 1975. Pp. 211-245.
- Manning, W., The demand for alcohol. The differential response to price. J Hlth Econ, 1995, 14(2), 123-148.
- Nelson, J. Binge drinking and alcohol prices. Health Econ Rev, 2015, 5, e6.
- Nelson, J. Meta-analysis of alcohol price and income elasticities. Hlth Econ Rev, 2013, 3, 17.
- Ornstein, S., and Levy, D. Price and income elasticities of demand for alcoholic beverages. Rec Adv Alco, 1983, 1, 303-345.
- Ruhm, C., et al. What U.S. Data Should be Used to Measure the Price Elasticity of Demand for Alcohol? Working Paper #17578. Washington: NBER, 2011.
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It is the budgeting which represents these resources providing investments and these investments consumed within organizations. It includes two ways; obtaining investments and using them. It is the budgeting which includes the destination of avenues and expenses. It represents two values; the plans and objectives. Budgeting standard; converting objectives to numbers. Budgeting content; the destination for the future attaining present. It provides information concerning planning analysis so, it is the role of the manager to analyze information regarding budgeting. It is the analysis which represents estimating production and changing decisions. After analyzing, it is forecasting which comes. Forecasting; planning! It is the forecasting process which the manager evaluates achieving objectives. It is the market share which exceeds the customer satisfaction. It exceeds the profit and value.
Mission statements; objectives and roles. Mission statement; moral ethic and aim unity. It is the mission statement which represents the starting point of the planning process. To make successful projects and programs, it is important to establish plans and strategies. It is normal to define budget as a tool which helps to make plans and strategies starting projects and programs. It includes different tools to achieve balance. Strategic objectives; market share.
Strategic objectives; leading market. It is important to have the whole congress between the strategic plans and operational ones. To establish objectives and strategies, it is essential to realize the available resources and potential dangers. It is the role of the manager to implement SWOT analysis before determining the strategies. To reach these strengths and weaknesses, it is the internal environment which the manager implements to recognize them.
Internal environment; requires analyzing. It is the internal environment which helps to identify the completive advantages which determine the market share which the organization can occupy. Competitive advantages; differentiate advantages and cost advantages. It is the source of the competitive advantages which includes the resources; representing the substantials such as share capital and assets and intangibles such as trademarks and patents, and capabilities representing the usage of resources through the strategic plans. Mission statements; the source for objectives. SWOT analysis; the source for the mission statements.
The external environment analysis; require analyzing. It is important to analyze the external environment to recognize the opportunities and limits. Control tool. When budgeting, it is important to lay a standard for performance. It is the benchmark which identifies the essential workstation. When finishing, it is the actual activity which appears after analyzing the performance and comparing its standard to the activity. Tracing plans; realizing variances. Reasons analysis; gap analysis. It is budgeting which includes tracking variances and deficiencies and correcting actions and paths. Evaluation tool. It is important to relate capability to performance. It is evaluated to reward remuneration considering performance.
Communication tools, sales managers; researchers, production managers; outputs. It is the inventory which determines units requiring checking purchases and materials. It is the raw material which identifies units. Motivational tool. It is motivational to allow the employees to realize the targets and observe them. It is reasonable to make the targets attainable to help the employees achieve them. Budget manual. Descriptive instructions. It is the budget which is a system requiring guidelines for preparing and operating.
Team lead; preparing a budget and finishing its process. It is the needed time to make a budget from beginning to end.
Distribution instructions; budget information: This information is inserted and interrelated. It is the distribution instructions which determine roles concerning which department will begin and which will fulfill.
Planning calendar: It is the planning calendar which is a private one designed specifically for the budget process. It includes dates concerning schedules including descriptions for the given information regarding transferring it among departments.
Participative budgeting; to help the employees realize that they enjoy such ownership. It is the role of the managers to lay the standards which represent the mission statement so; the lower can transform these general objectives into strategic plans. The departments’ managers estimate the objectives which can achieve these plans and deliver that to the budget committee. It is the budget committee which receives the working paper from different departments’ managers and reviews them.
Theoretical standards; efficient operations. It represents the best approach which makes the operation perform well.
Budgeting; future destination. It is the budget which represents the future destination for the definite activity. It is the tool which helps maintain the resources and invest them effectively and successfully. Activity-based budgeting processing; considers activities. It considers the activity rather than the project. It considers the cost of the activity rather than the output of the project. When tracing the direct costs and expenses, it is appropriate to use the activity-based costing and traditional one. When allocating the indirect costs and expenses, it is the traditional system which joins these expenses to represent a cost center distributing them using a certain method. Zero-based budgeting processing; preparing it. It represents the budget which lacks information to make its calculations from the zero base.
Operational budget; represents activities. Sales budget; the first preparation for the master budget. It is the sales budget which considers assumptions and tolerations. Its procession evaluates the sales forecast of units and money. Delta change affects the production budget. It is the delta change of the inventory which affects the production budget. It is the delta change which is considered the variance between the ending inventory and beginning one.
Financial Budget; financial statement: It includes the capital budget and cash budget. It represents these investments which include long term projects so; it plans these projects and controls them. It acquires assets merging them so, it must proceed the operational budget as it determines the production method used.
Cash budget; inputs steps from incoming statements and costs. It considers the cash received and cash paid and; it considers the projected cash collection schedules which are the destination and disbursements (which is the assumption).
Forecast; basis: It is the forecast which is considered the base of the plan. It is reasonable to make plans when accomplishing future events and expectations as well. It makes impressive conjunctions which help to determine the demand output and ratio.
Quantitative method; numerical method. It is the quantitative method which represents data analysis so; it includes the casual and time series analysis. It is the causal analysis which happens when observing effective causes among variances.
Correlation; variables. It determines the relation which represents two variables. It determines if their relation is strong and unified. When squaring the correlation, it represents the positive number. This value indicates the change which Y causes concerning the change which X causes explaining these changes.
Regression analysis; deriving the equation. It is the variable coefficient which represents the number of units concerning Y when changing a unit concerning X. To establish the equation and find a relation, it is necessary that the conditions and circumstances remain substantive. It assumes that the relation between X and Y remains linear.
Time series analysis; following data. Time series analysis; determining appropriate data for forecasting. It is the time which represents the independent agent. Cyclical fluctuation; periodical vacillation. It is the cyclical fluctuation which represents the general economy and concerns the crisis.
Seasonal variation; provisional industry. It is the seasonable variation which concerns the industry which varies in a timely manner. Smoothing technique; removing irregularity.
Learning curve; work experience. It is time; which workers require to produce units which decrease as there are additional units. These additional units which are produced suppose that time consumption decreases when producing the second unit provided that there is a duplication of the production. It is reasonable to realize that time which is required to produce units, decreases at a fixed rate when doubling the production of these units so, this fixed rate represents the learning curve.
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Notes To Financial Statements
Notes to the financial statements are an integral part of the statements and are required by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Notes to financial statements,sometimes referred to as footnotes, are used to provide additional information about a business's financial condition and methods used at arriving at the amounts presented in the financial statements.
These notes contain important information about such things as the accounting methods used for recording and reporting transactions, any pending lawsuits or regulations that may affect the business, and other information that should be disclosed in order to properly analyze and evaluate the financial condition of the business.
The Good News
While these financial statements were prepared from just a very few transactions, my goal was to introduce you to what formal financial statements are needed and what’s involved in preparing them even though the bookkeeper may or may not be required or responsible for preparing them. Many businesses have their accountant or CPA (Certified Public Accountant) prepare or review their financial statements.
Another plus, nowadays, good accounting or bookkeeping software will automatically generate these statements. While this is great, we still need to be aware of that ole saying “GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out”.
Are we there yet ?
Analyzing Financial Performance
While preparing financial statements is critical to the success of a business, it’s only half the battle. In order for a business to fully benefit the financial information needs to be analyzed and compared. A few tools used are comparing past performance with current performance and comparing how the business stacks up against its competitors or similar businesses.
While the Financial Statements presented in this lesson are simplified versions of the “real” world and were compiled from only a few financial transactions, the concepts and methods used are the same as you would use for a business with a multitude of transactions.
So you know – things do change !
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are continually working on projects and changes to the financial statement presentations as well as the accounting rules may result.
Now's not the time to give up. You've made it this far and have only one lesson left to complete the course.
Yes, if you need one, you can take a break before moving on to our Final Review after the Videos and Testing.
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LOS ANGELES - Raising the physical activity levels of adults worldwide by a nominal amount — as little as 20 additional minutes of moderate daily exercise would suffice — could raise the global economy by as much as $446 billion USD by 2050, according to a new analysis from RAND Europe.
The benefits of physical activity have been proven time and again, from lowering risk of diseases like breast and colon cancer to positively impacting mental health, but an increasing number of people across the globe are living more sedentary lifestyles, and researchers wondered what kind of effect this could have on the global economy.
For optimal health benefits, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week. Ideally, this exercise should be spread out over the course of the week, and that breaks down evenly to about 21 minutes of walking or about 11 minutes of running per day.But many people don’t hit these baseline recommendations.
“In high-income Western countries, almost 40 percent of the population is inactive, compared with about 16 percent of people in low-income countries. It is estimated that every year, physical inactivity is associated with up to 5 million deaths worldwide, and contributes to healthcare expenditures, as well as lost productivity,” the RAND analysis determined.
The Vitality Group commissioned RAND Europe to analyze the potential global economic effects of a general increase in the public’s amount of physical activity under three different scenarios:
- Scenario 1: Every adult completes at least the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.
- Scenario 2: Every adult increases their physical activity level by 20 percent — this means that those who currently do not exercise would not be improving their physical activity.
- Scenario 3: Every adult who currently meets the recommended physical activity levels boosts their physical activity by an additional 20 percent, and every adult who is currently below recommendations reaches the threshold.
Hikers in a park, Salurn, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.
The RAND analysts used a combination of literature review, statistical modeling and a multi-country macroeconomic model to determine the potential global and individual country outcomes of improving the population’s physical activity levels while also taking into account changes in demographic composition over time.
If the first scenario were carried out and every adult completed the baseline recommendations for physical activity, global GDP could increase by between $134 billion and $446 billion by 2050.If the third scenario were carried out and all adults increased their physical activity, global GDP could increase by between $524 billion and $760 billion by 2050.
Due to its size, the U.S. economy would experience the biggest impacts in the third scenario — U.S. GDP would increase by $138-200 billion by 2050. China would be the second-most impacted country, with increases to its GDP estimated to fall between $100-$146 billion. Germany and the UK would see the next greatest impacts — RAND estimated both countries’ GDP’s would increase by $15-22 billion.
The analysts determined that reduced levels of presenteeism — when employees show up to work but are not able to function to their fullest ability — would account for a whopping 70 percent of the estimated gains to GDP. This points to what the analysts interpret as “a significant relationship between inactivity and productivity loss.”
Another major factor contributing to the estimated increases to GDP by 2050 is the effect that a widespread increase in physical activity would have on the demand for health care services. Findings suggest that billions of dollars in global health care could be saved, amounting to an estimated $16-20.6 billion globally by 2050.
The analysts acknowledge that such a widespread change would be difficult, but the payoff would be immense in terms of creating healthier and more prosperous societies.
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A bank account records and maintains the transactions between an individual and a financial institution. People use bank accounts to store money, whether they need a general place to keep all their financial records or just want to save up money for a special occasion or item. Bank accounts also make budgeting much easier, since your financial transactions remain in one place.
There are many types of bank accounts, the most common bank accounts being:
- Money Market
- Certificate of Deposit
- Overdraft Protection
Most people start out by opening a checking and savings account. A checking account, in the simplest terms, stores your money in an active account, allowing you to pay for things, deposit and withdraw money. Banks and other financial institutions generally don’t impose too many limits for checking accounts, making them the simplest bank account to open. A checking account is typically linked to a debit card, which allows most to immediately pay for many things.
Savings accounts let people save money, as long as they deposit their funds into the mostly passive account. You can withdraw and deposit money into a savings account, however you can’t use a saving account to pay for items using a debit card.
Before even opening a checking and savings account, you should research the various banks and financial institutions out there to get an idea of the type of policies you want to follow. If you travel a lot, you’re better off using more prolific banks for convenience, rather than a smaller one.
When shopping checking and savings accounts, you may need to check the minimum requirements for that particular account. This means that many banks charge a monthly maintenance fee that corresponds with your monthly minimum balance. If you can’t afford a monthly maintenance fee, you should choose a bank that omits it all together.
Don’t forget to check up on a bank’s policies to find what other fees you need to pay, as well as overdraft options in the case of you overdrawing funds. In closing, you should choose a bank for financial institution bank with the most attractive bank account options for your lifestyle.
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Although it seems to get closer with every new wave of technology, currency expert Lana Swartz explains why a truly “cashless society” remains unlikely, and perhaps even undesirable.
Waiting in line at a local coffee shop, a customer today could witness three or four different payment methods in the brief few minutes before they reach the counter. George Washington’s classic mug might peer out from a few dollars now and then, but the swipe of a credit card or a quick tap of a mobile transaction system are more common sights.
Every year, more payment methods are joining the ranks of systems like PayPal, bitcoin, Apple Pay and Google Wallet, seemingly speeding the rapid march toward the long-discussed “cashless society.” But the days when all transactions are conducted via plastic cards and digital transfers may not be as close as we think.
Lana Swartz, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and co-editor of the book “Paid: Tales of Dongles, Checks and Other Money Stuff,” argues that cash isn’t likely to disappear from daily life in the near future. She points out that despite news to the contrary, it remains nearly as popular as ever and until there’s another payment method that can simulate the freedom and egalitarian nature of cash, it’s unlikely to be dethroned any time soon.
“You have to keep in mind that the ‘cashless society’ isn’t new. It’s something that has been envisioned since the 1860s,” Swartz said.
“In fact, at that time the U.S. didn’t even have a consolidated national currency, so depending on how you define cash, the dream of the cashless society is older than cash itself.”
Swartz’s research focuses on money as a communication technology, and she is the University’s resident expert on the history of payment infrastructure.
Although the dream of a cashless America may have begun with science fiction writers like Edward Bellamy in the 1860s, Swartz points to the 1950s as the first time that new payment platforms began to make it a more viable possibility.
“During that time, Diner’s Club emerged as the first universal third-party payment system, connecting individual cardholders with big networks of stores and other merchants,” she said. “For the first time, there was a company whose business was connecting customers and merchants.”
Prior to the Diner’s Club card system, department stores and other businesses had long offered credit card-like metal charger plates, but they could only be used at the business that issued them. The Diner’s Club card was accepted at hundreds of locations across the country.
It arrived just as Americans had begun traveling the nation’s interstate highway system, offering them a new level of freedom as they traveled hours away from their local banks. At the same time, Diner’s Club also exposed the biggest barriers to a cashless society, highlighting issues of race and class that still dog the cash-free solutions of today.
Diner’s Club itself did not discriminate by race and it was often used by minorities to make advance hotel and rental car reservations in the 1950s and 1960s.
“But many African-American cardholders later described showing up ready to pay with their Diner’s Club card and being met by a prejudiced clerk who refused to honor their reservation unless they got cash,” Swartz said. “Cash is legal tender and can’t be turned away. So Diner’s Club – even despite itself – became a locus of de facto segregation.”
It opened the door to refusal in a way that was not possible with cash, foreshadowing the way that many successive payment methods would remove some barriers, only to create others.
After Diner’s Club, the world witnessed the rise of Visa. Its creator, Dee Hock, originally envisioned Visa’s system of sending standardized messages to transfer funds between a purchaser and a merchant as a great equalizer. He thought that it would lead to the creation of a global currency, removing banks and governments as the final arbiters of money.
Instead, it opened another barrier to entry in the marketplace. Cardholders not only had to have a bank account to use it, but soon they also had to prove that they met a certain credit score requirement. Both are thresholds that do not exist for cash.
“If you think about it, cash is really a public infrastructure for payment. If I want to pay you with it, there’s no real barrier to stop me. I just give you cash and our transaction comes to an end. It’s self-clearing,” Swartz said. “It doesn’t require any additional infrastructure and it’s provided as a tax-funded public service for the nation-state.”
In some ways, those low barriers to entry have hurt cash’s public image over time.
“Increasingly, cash is associated with tax-avoidance, with grey- or even black-market economies,” Swartz said.
Despite this tarnish, the same attributes that can make cash suspicious – low traceability and lack of identifying information – also make it desirable in an era where new digital payment methods are sharing a lot more than the contents of a user’s bank account.
“Any private business that seeks to deliver payment services has to figure out how to monetize itself somehow, and that could be through selling user data or perhaps advertising to users,” Swartz said.
Often in her research and interviews with industry insiders, Swartz will hear cashless payment systems described as the “holy grail” of digital marketing, not only because they can trace consumer shopping habits and deliver targeted advertising, but also because they can track the effectiveness of the advertising through location and point-of-sale data.
In addition to concerns that consumers will have to pay for these cashless services by offering up their privacy, there remain several more basic barriers to entry that aren’t a problem for cash. While, in theory, new digital payment platforms are available to everyone, they still require access to a computer, smartphone or tablet and a certain level of digital literacy in order to use them.
Swartz suggests that until these roadblocks can be removed with a method that mimics the accessibility of the dollar, the “cashless society” is not advisable, much less inevitable.
“What I think we’re transitioning to now is actually a cash-lite society, but it’s like the idea of the paperless office. We’ve had email and electronic files for a good 30 years, but we still can’t totally do away with the printers and the hard copies,” she said. “I anticipate that though we’ll see less cash, we won’t see the end of cash for quite some time.”
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In the spring of 2015, Californians were forced to start thinking very carefully about how much water they used. After four years of drought, Governor Jerry Brown imposed water restrictions throughout the state, ordering cities and towns to cut their water usage by an average of 25%. Cars went unwashed; lawns slowly turned brown, or else were replaced with drought-tolerant plants and mulch. Residents who broke the new rules faced fines of up to $500 per day.
In a severe drought such as California’s, it’s easy to see why saving water is important – and why failing to do so can cost you money. But even if your area is getting plenty of rainfall right now, water still isn’t free. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American household pays $474 a year for water and sewage charges, or $2 for every 1,000 gallons of water it uses. So every time you leave the faucet running while you wash dishes or brush your teeth, you’re literally watching your money go down the drain.
The cost of water use isn’t limited to what you pay on your water bill either. If the water running down your drain is hot water, then you’re also wasting energy, adding extra dollars to your monthly gas or electric bill. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heating water accounts for about 17% of household energy use, costing the average American family between $400 and $600 a year.
By trimming your household water use, you can keep more of that money in your pocket – and possibly help fend off the next drought in your area. And, in many cases, it takes only a few simple changes to save the planet and your dollars at the same time.
Saving Water Indoors
If you want to cut down on your personal water use, the best place to start is at home. Since home is the place where you spend the largest share of your time – and where you most often bathe, wash dishes, and do laundry – it’s the place that provides you with the most opportunities to save.
The EPA says a typical American family of four goes through 400 gallons of water a day, and 70% of that is used indoors. The bathroom accounts for the largest share of water usage, but you can also save water in any room where it is used, including the kitchen, the laundry room, and any room in which there is a plumbing leak.
Finding and Fixing Leaks
One of the most important ways to save water at home is to find and fix plumbing leaks. Even a small leak can add up to big water losses if left unfixed. According to the EPA, the average household loses 10,000 gallons of water each year to plumbing leaks – enough to wash 270 loads of laundry. About 10% of homes have leaks major enough to cost them 90 gallons of water per day,
Fixing minor leaks, such as dripping faucets, leaking valves, or worn toilet flappers, is an easy DIY job that doesn’t require a plumber. According to the EPA, repairing these easily corrected leaks can save you around 10% on your water bills. And better yet, it stops those small leaks from turning into big ones that could require a plumber to fix.
One way to determine whether you have any water leaks in your home is to check your water bill during the winter months, when you’re not using a lot of water outdoors. The EPA says that if a family of four is going through more than 12,000 gallons per month, that’s a sign of a serious leak problem. You can also check your water meter right after everyone leaves the house in the morning and check it again as soon as you get home. If any water was used during the day when no one was home, you know there’s a leak somewhere.
Once you know there’s a leak, you need to figure out where it is. You can sometimes detect surface leaks by examining your faucet gaskets and pipe fittings to see if there’s any water on the outside of the pipe. If you think your toilet tank might be leaking, you can check by putting a drop of food coloring into the tank and seeing whether any of the color has seeped into the bowl after 10 minutes. Flush the toilet right after this experiment to make sure you don’t stain the tank.
As soon as you’ve identified a leak, take steps to fix it. Even if you’ve never done it before, there’s a wealth of DIY tutorials and videos online that you can find with a simple Internet search. The EPA’s WaterSense website also provides links to a variety of online resources on how to fix leaky faucets, toilets, and showerheads.
In the Bathroom
According to the EPA, more than half of all water used inside a home takes place in the bathroom. The toilet alone can account for 27% of a family’s water usage. So it makes sense that if you want to cut your household water consumption, the bathroom should be the first place to look.
Here are several easy steps you can take to cut back in the bathroom:
- Turn Off the Tap. The EPA says a standard bathroom faucet runs at about 2 gallons per minute (gpm). This means that letting the bathroom faucet run for a few minutes each day while you shave or brush your teeth can cost you as much as 300 gallons a month. You can also save water when you shave by plugging up the sink when you rinse your face and using that water to rinse your razor as well.
- Take Short Showers. A bathtub holds around 36 gallons of water, while a standard showerhead uses about 2.5 gallons of water per minute. That means that as long as you keep your time in the shower to 14 minutes or less, a shower uses less water than a bath – and the shorter the shower, the more you save. By cutting your daily shower from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, you can save 375 gallons per month.
- Switch Off the Shower. You can use even less water in the shower by switching off the water when you don’t need it. One you’ve wet yourself down, you can switch off the water while you soap up, shave, or wash your hair, and then switch it back on to rinse off. If you can switch off the shower water for just two minutes a day, you can save another 150 gallons a month.
- Adjust Your Toilet. If the toilets in your home were installed before 1990, they could be using anywhere from 3.5 to 7 gallons of water with every single flush. However, there are a couple of ways to reduce this amount without having to replace the entire toilet. One way is to install a toilet tank bank – a bag filled with water that hangs inside the tank, displacing water and reducing the amount it takes to refill the tank. You can also retrofit an older toilet by installing a fill cycle diverter – a simple plastic device that directs more water to the tank and less to the bowl during refill, so both the tank and the bowl fill at the same time. Either of these tools can save you half a gallon per flush, and a video by the Regional Water Providers Consortium shows how to install them. Toilet tank banks and fill cycle diverters are often available from your local water provider, but if you can’t find one, you can save the same amount of water with a free, quick fix: just put a half-gallon milk jug filled with water in the tank.
- Install Faucet Aerators. With a small investment of money and time, you can adjust your bathroom faucets to use less water. A simple gadget called a faucet aerator, which only costs several dollars and twists right into place on the tip of your faucet, can cut its maximum flow rate from 2.2 gpm to 1.5. Make sure to choose a faucet aerator bearing the WaterSense label for the greatest possible savings. The EPA says replacing standard faucets and aerators with WaterSense models can save a family as much as 700 gallons of water per year – close to 60 gallons per month.
- Get a Better Showerhead. A change that costs a little more up front, but also offers bigger potential savings, is to replace your standard 2.5-gpm showerhead with a WaterSense showerhead, which uses no more than 2 gpm. The EPA estimates that replacing just one showerhead with a WaterSense model would save the average family 2,900 gallons of water per year, along with more than $70 in energy and water costs. Top-rated water-saving showerheads cost around $30, so the investment would pay for itself in less than six months.
- Upgrade Your Toilet. For even bigger savings, you can replace an older toilet with a new toilet, which uses only 1.6 gallons per flush – or, better still, a WaterSense toilet, which uses no more than 1.28 gallons per flush. According toSave Our Water, replacing an old toilet with a modern toilet can save a family about 38 gallons of water per day, while upgrading to a new WaterSense toilet can save 45 gallons. That adds up to between 1,140 and 1,350 gallons per month. You can buy a new standard toilet for as little as $90, while WaterSense toilets start at around $250.
In the Kitchen
The kitchen faucet is another good place to install a low-flow faucet aerator. Cutting the flow rate means that while you use less water every time you wash a dish, it also takes a bit longer to fill pots or drinking glasses. Some kitchen faucet aerators have extra features, such as the ability to switch between a stream and a spray, or a swivel that can direct the water in any direction, which is useful for cleaning the sink.
Other water-saving strategies for the kitchen include:
- Wash With Less Water. Instead of letting the water run steadily as you wash dishes, fill up the sink or a basin with hot, soapy water. The EPA says this can cut your water use from 20 gallons to 10 for a sink-load of dishes. If you want to be even more efficient, fill a second basin with clean water for rinsing the dishes, rather than using the tap. You can also clean dishes with less water if you scrape off extra food before you start and let your dirty pots and pans soak for a while, rather than trying to scrub them clean under a running faucet.
- Fill the Dishwasher. Dishwashers vary widely in the amount of water used. Older dishwashers can use as much as 16 gallons per load, while new models bearing the ENERGY STAR label require no more than 6 gallons – and use less electricity as well. However, even an older dishwasher uses less water when it’s fully loaded than washing the same number of dishes by hand. Scrape the excess food off your dishes before putting them into the dishwasher, but don’t rinse them. According to Consumer Reports, modern dishwashers pack enough punch to get dishes clean without any pre-rinsing, and the EPA says skipping this step can save you as much as 10 gallons of water per load.
- Upgrade Your Dishwasher. To save even more water, replace an older dishwasher with a new ENERGY STAR model. This can save you up to 10 gallons per load – which, if you run your dishwasher about four times per week, adds up to more than 2,000 gallons per year. A new ENERGY STAR dishwasher costs at least $500, but Consumer Reports estimates that it can save you $35 a year on your utility bills.
- Cook With Less Water. When you cook, choose a pot that’s the right size for the job. If you pick a pot that’s too big, you could end up using more water than you really need.
- Don’t Defrost With Water. Instead of running water over food to thaw it, put it in the refrigerator to defrost overnight, or else use your microwave. In addition to wasting water, thawing food under hot tap water is unsafe because it promotes the growth of bacteria, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
- Rinse in a Pan. When you wash fruits and vegetables, put them in a pan of water instead of running each one under the faucet. When you’re done, you can use the water in the pan to water house plants. You can also use your plants to dispose of an ice cube you’ve dropped on the floor instead of just tossing it in the sink.
- Chill Your Water. Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator. That way, when you want a glass of cold water, you don’t need to let the faucet run until the water cools down.
- Skip the Disposal. Instead of washing vegetable scraps and peels down the garbage disposal, toss them in acompost pile to make free fertilizer for your home vegetable garden.
In the Laundry Room
According to the California Energy Commission, the average American household does about 300 loads of laundry per year. Old-fashioned washing machines use around 40 gallons of water per load, so that adds up to a whopping 12,000 gallons per year.
There are several ways to get that number down:
- Only Wash Full Loads. By waiting to do your laundry until you have enough to fill the washing machine, you can do fewer loads and use less water and energy overall. If this cuts back your total laundry by five loads per month, that’s a savings of up to 200 gallons. Washing full loads is especially important if you have a front-loading washer, which uses the same amount of water no matter how full it is. If you have a top-loading machine, you can save some water when doing smaller loads by selecting a lower water level or smaller load size.
- Only Wash in Cold Water. Using cold water instead of hot doesn’t cut your water usage, but it saves a lot of energy. Experts say that cold water can do a perfectly good job of cleaning clothes that aren’t heavily soiled or greasy – especially if you use a cold-water detergent. According to Consumer Reports, switching to cold water can save the average family about $60 a year in energy costs. As a bonus, Smithsonian says clothes shrink less and retain their color better when washed in cold water.
- Upgrade Your Washer. While older machines use around 40 gallons of water per load, modern ones use only 23 gallons per load, according to ENERGY STAR. New washers bearing the ENERGY STAR label are even more efficient, using just 13 gallons per load – and they use about 25% less energy as well. If your household goes through the average 300 loads of laundry per year, replacing an old washer with a new ENERGY STAR model will save you 8,100 gallons of water. It can also cut your utility bills by around $180 per year, according to ENERGY STAR. ENERGY STAR washing machines start around $500.
Saving Water Outdoors
The EPA reports that American households use approximately 29 billion gallons of water each day. On average, about 30% of that – 9 billion gallons – is used outdoors for purposes like watering lawns and gardens, washing cars, and filling swimming pools. However, in the summertime or in dry climates, families use as much as 70% of their water outdoors. So during the summer months, saving water outdoors can make an even bigger dent in your water bill than cutting water use indoors.
Watering the Lawn
The lawn is the biggest water hog in many yards. However, that doesn’t mean that the only way to cut back on your water usage is to let your lawn go brown, as many Californians did in 2015. In fact, watering less could actually improve your lawn’s health, since many American families give their lawns much more water than is actually needed. Over-watering can drown your plants or lead to problems such as shallow roots, weed growth, fungus, and disease, according to theEPA.
In addition to running up your water bill, excessive watering causes problems for the environment. When your yard has more water than the soil can hold, it runs off over the ground surface, carrying chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides with it. This runoff often ends up in streams and lakes, contributing to pollution. By watering less, you can both prevent pollution and reduce the amount of pesticide and fertilizer you need to use in your yard – keeping still more money in your pocket.
According to the EPA, in many areas of the country, a grass lawn needs about an inch of water per week to stay healthy – including the amount it gets from rainfall. To figure out how long it takes to give your lawn this amount of water, try putting a few empty tuna cans around the yard while you run the sprinkler and seeing how long it takes them to fill with half an inch of water. Then you can just run the sprinkler for that amount of time twice a week, skipping one watering each time it rains.
Here are several other tips for watering wisely:
- Adjust for the Weather. In hot, dry, or windy weather, your lawn needs more water, while in the cooler months it needs less (or even none). One good rule of thumb is never to water when the soil is already wet; wait until it’s dried out to a depth of about an inch. Another way to see if your lawn needs water is to walk around on it and see how the grass reacts to being stepped on. If it springs back upright, it doesn’t need any more water. You can also keep an eye on the color of the grass. Grass shouldn’t look as bright green in the summertime as it does in cooler weather, but if it starts to take on a grayish color, that’s a sign that it needs more water.
- Water in Zones. Because water evaporates more quickly in warm, sunny spots, the sunny areas of your lawn need more water than the shady areas – about 30% more, according to the California Urban Water Conservation Council (CUWCC). To avoid wasting water in shady areas, set up your sprinklers in zones, and run the ones in the sun more often than the ones in the shade. You can also adjust the watering schedule based on the flow rate of the sprinkler and the other plants in that area of the yard.
- Water Deeply but Infrequently. Your lawn will be healthier if you give it a good soaking once in a while, rather than just a little water every day. The CUWCC recommends waiting until the landscape is dry, then watering it long enough to soak the soil to a depth of four to six inches. This encourages your grass to grow deeper roots, making it better able to tolerate drought in the future.
- Choose Your Time. If you water your lawn in the middle of the day, a lot of the water will evaporate in the hot sun before it soaks into the soil, and you’ll end up having to water again sooner. By watering in the cool hours of the evening or early morning, you can cut evaporation loss. Save Our Water estimates that this can save you as much as 25 gallons each time you water your lawn. Also, avoid using sprinklers on windy days, since this results in uneven watering and scatters water onto paved areas that don’t need it.
- Position Sprinklers Properly. According to Save Our Water, sprinklers waste as much as 12 to 15 gallons per use on paved areas, such as streets and sidewalks. To prevent this waste, check your sprinklers frequently and reposition them as needed to keep their spray on the lawn, where it belongs.
- Cycle Your Sprinklers. According to the CUWCC, most sprinklers apply water faster than the ground can absorb it – particularly if you have heavy clay soil. To make sure the water soaks in fully, it’s better to spread out your watering over two or three short cycles, instead of spraying it all on at once. You can set sprinklers to run for a specified amount of time by attaching a timer valve to your outdoor faucet.
- Shut off the Flow. If you water your lawn by hand, make sure the spray nozzle on your garden hose has a shut-off valve. That way you can shut off the water while you move the hose from spot to spot, rather than letting it continue to run. One good choice is a “watering wand” with a shut-off built into the handle.
- Mow Correctly. Cutting your grass too short forces it to put all its energy into new growth, rather than into developing deep roots that help it get water and nutrients. It also exposes more of the grass blades to the sun, increasing evaporation. To grow a healthy lawn that requires less water, raise the blade on your lawn mower so that you don’t remove more than one-third of each blade of grass when you cut it. The CUWCC says the ideal grass height is two to three inches for tall fescue, two to two-and-a-half inches for bluegrass, and one inch for warm-season grasses such as Bermuda and zoysia.
- Recycle the Clippings. Instead of bagging up the grass clippings when you mow, leave them on the lawn. As they break down, they return water and nutrients to the soil, reducing the need for both water and fertilizer. A good way to remember this rule, along with the previous one, is to “cut it high and let it lie.”
- Reduce the Lawn Size. Turf grass is one of the most water-intensive plants you can grow in your yard. By reducing the size of your lawn, you can significantly reduce your outdoor water use – as well as the amount of time you spend mowing. You can cut back the size of your lawn by planting new trees and shrubs, expanding flower beds and vegetable gardens, or adding a patio or garden path. You can also replace some or all of the grass with ground covers, native grasses, or alternative lawn seed mixes containing herbs and wildflowers. The Regional Water Providers Consortium has a video on ways to reduce the size of your lawn, and an Internet search for “reduce lawn size” turns up many pages devoted to the subject.
In and Around the Yard
Although the lawn is often the thirstiest part of a yard, it’s not the only area that consumes water. Here are some tips for conserving water in the rest of the yard:
- Water Wisely. Many of the tips for watering your lawn properly also apply to the rest of the yard. Setting up sprinklers in zones, watering deeply but infrequently, watering in the evening, and adjusting for the weather make sense for all your plants.
- Use Mulch. Adding two to three inches of mulch or compost around the base of trees and other plants reduces evaporation and cools the soil, so you need less water. It also helps prevent weeds and keep the soil healthy. According to Save Our Water, for every 1,000 square feet of garden that you add mulch to, you can save 20 to 30 gallons each time you water. When mulching trees, be careful to keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk to prevent rot.
- Check Your Plants’ Water Needs. Mature shrubs only need to be watered twice a week in the summertime, and some native plants need even less water. On the other hand, newly planted shrubs and trees need more frequent watering because their root systems are still growing. The EPA’s WaterSense Water Budget Tool can help you calculate how much water your plants need. You can also consult your local cooperative extension, which you can find using this USDA map.
- Know Your Plants. Get to know the plants in your yard and learn to recognize when they’re showing signs of drying out. For instance, many plants wilt when they need water – but wilting can also be a sign of disease or a sign that the roots are dying from over-watering. Also, some drought-resistant plants curl up their leaves in hot weather to conserve water, which can make them look like they’re wilting. So if you’re in doubt, check the soil moisture before adding more water.
- Look Into Xeriscaping. If the plants in your yard use more water than you’d like, you can replace some or all of them with plants that have lower water needs. This practice, called xeriscaping, can reduce your yard’s water needs by 30 to 60 gallons per watering for every 1,000 square feet, according to Save Our Water. The EPA site provides tools for designing a water-conserving landscape, including the Water Budget Tool and a list of plants appropriate for different regions.
- Try Drip Irrigation. A drip irrigation system is basically a water-filled tube with a small hole that slowly drips water into the soil right at the base of a plant. This sends water directly to the roots where it’s needed, rather than onto the surface where it can be lost through runoff or evaporation. According to Save Our Water, drip irrigation is at least 90% more efficient than surface watering and also helps prevent disease and reduce weed growth. Types of drip systems include emitters, microsprays, and soaker hoses. You can hook up a drip system to your garden hose and operate it by hand or connect it permanently to your home water source and run it with an automatic controller, which makes watering your yard virtually effortless.
- Use a Smart Controller. If you have your irrigation system on a timer, you have to remember to turn it off when it rains so you aren’t watering wet ground. However, a WaterSense-labeled irrigation controller can sense how much water is in the soil and switch on automatically when it’s needed. You can use this type of controller for both sprinklers and drip systems, and should be able to find one on sale for less than $100.
- Check for Leaks. According to the EPA, an irrigation system with a leak just 0.03 inches across – about the thickness of a dime – can waste about 6,300 gallons of water in a single month. If you use a sprinkler system or a drip irrigation system, check it before you set it up in the spring to make sure it hasn’t been damaged by freezing weather. Also, when you hook up your garden hose, check that it isn’t leaking at the point where it connects to the spigot. If you see any drips, try tightening the connection, adding some pipe tape, or replacing the washer in the hose. If you’re setting up a new irrigation system, or if you want to make sure yours is working efficiently, you can use the EPA site to find a WaterSense-certified irrigation professional in your area.
- Use Rain Barrels. Another way to cut your water bill is to replace some of the household water you use outdoors with captured rain water. The simplest way to do this is to redirect one of the downspouts on your roof into a barrel that you can either dip into by hand or hook up to a garden hose or soaker hose. According to the CUWCC, a 50-gallon rain barrel costs about $100, and a 1,500-foot roof will easily fill it after a one-inch rainfall. If you fill and empty the barrel four times over the course of the growing season, you’ll save 200 gallons of household water. The barrel can also provide a backup source of water in times of drought. However, the EPA warns that collecting rainwater is illegal in some states, so you should check with your state water agency before installing a rain barrel at home.
Other Outdoor Uses
Along with watering lawns and landscapes, people use water outdoors for pools and other water features, as well as for cleaning. Here are some ways to keep these other outdoor water uses under control:
- Get Out the Broom. If you need to remove dirt and debris from the driveway, steps, or sidewalk, use a broom rather than a hose. According to Save Our Water, a standard garden hose uses anywhere from 5 to 20 gpm, so if it takes you five minutes to hose down the pavement, that’s anywhere from 25 to 100 gallons down the drain. If you need to remove spills or stains that can’t be swept away, try spraying down with a little bit of water and then using a broom instead of the hose to scrub the stain away. Alternately, you can get a “water broom” attachment, which boosts the water pressure of your hose by mixing in air. This cuts the flow rate to around 2.8 gpm, though it costs more than $200.
- Don’t Hose Down the Car. The best way to wash your car is to take it to a commercial car wash where the water can be recycled. A basic wash only costs around $5 and probably does a more thorough job than you could do at home with a hose. However, if you don’t have the time or the cash to spare, fill up a bucket full of water and use that to sponge down the car. A bucket holds about two gallons of water, so compared to a five-minute hose-down, you’ll save anywhere from 23 to 98 gallons.
- Keep Pools Covered. If you have a pool, keep the cover on when you’re not using it to cut the amount of water lost to evaporation. Covering the pool also helps keep it warmer at night, reducing your energy costs for pool heating.
- Watch the Water Level. When you fill up the pool, keep an eye on the water level so it doesn’t overflow and waste precious water. Plug the overflow line when you add water, as well as when you use the pool, so that any extra water stays in the pool rather than running down the drain.
- Keep Water in the Pool. Diving, splashing, and water fights all splash a lot of water out of the pool, requiring more water to refill it. That doesn’t mean you should ruin everyone’s fun by banning these activities completely, but remind swimmers not to get too rowdy. If you use an automatic pool cleaner, turn off the tile-spray device. It can send water splashing up out of the pool, and a lot of its spray evaporates before it even hits the tile.
- Shut Off Fountains. Ornamental water features, like fountains and waterfalls, are pretty to look at, but there’s no point running them when there’s no one around to enjoy them. By shutting them off, you reduce the amount of aeration in the water, so less of it evaporates – and you save on energy as well.
Some of the biggest water-saving strategies, such as replacing older appliances and plumbing fixtures, cost a fair bit of money up front. If you buy a new $700 dishwasher to save $35 a year on your utility bills, it will take your new appliance 20 years to pay for itself – if it even lasts that long.
Other water-saving tips cost nothing, but don’t save you all that much. For example, saving the little bit of water you use to rinse fruits and vegetables won’t make much of a dent in your water bill – though every little bit helps.
However, some water-saving strategies give you a really big bang for your buck. Taking shorter showers, washing only full loads of laundry, and cleaning the sidewalk with a broom rather than a hose can all save you 200 gallons or more per month – without any money spent up front. All it takes is a minor change in your habits.
Admittedly, old habits can be hard to break, and adapting to a new, water-conscious lifestyle may be tricky at first. But the longer you stick to your new plan, the easier it becomes. In time, things like washing your dishes in a basin or shutting off the water as you shave will become second nature. And once you get used to your new, lower utility bills, you’ll shake your head in amazement at all the money you used to send down the drain.
What steps have you taken to save water at home?
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Different Types of Letters of Credit
Buying or selling something always carries risk, especially if you're not familiar with the organization you're dealing with. And even when you have trusted business partners, unforeseen circumstances can cause disruptions with real financial consequences. Fortunately, there are ways to manage your risk.
A letter of credit is a payment method that smoothes the way for international trade and a variety of other transactions. With a letter of credit, buyers and sellers can reduce their risk, ensure timely payment, and be more confident about reliable delivery of goods or services. Learning about different types of letters of credit can help you choose which one to use and understand what you’re working with.
Commercial Letter of Credit
This is a standard letter of credit that’s commonly used in international trade, and may also be referred to as a documentary credit or an import/export letter of credit. A bank acts as a neutral third party to release funds when all the conditions of the agreement have been met.
Standby Letter of Credit
This type of letter of credit is different: It provides payment if something fails to happen. Instead of enabling a transaction, a standby letter of credit provides compensation when something goes wrong. Standby letters of credit are generally similar to commercial letters of credit, but they are only payable when the payee (or “beneficiary”) can prove that they didn’t get what was promised in an agreement. Standby letters of credit are a form of insurance that ensures you’ll get paid, and they can also guarantee that services will be performed satisfactorily.
Confirmed (And Unconfirmed) Letters of Credit
When a letter of credit is confirmed, another bank (presumably one that the beneficiary trusts) guarantees that payment will be made. Exporters might not trust a bank that issues a letter of credit on behalf of a buyer. For example, if the exporter is not familiar with that bank, the seller may lack confidence that the payment will ever arrive. As a result, the exporter might require that a bank in their home country confirm the letter. If the issuing bank fails to pay—and the exporter can meet all of the requirements of the letter of credit—the confirming bank will have to pay the exporter (and attempt to collect from the issuing bank later).
Back-to-Back Letters of Credit
A back to back letter of credit allows intermediaries to connect buyers and sellers. This somewhat complicated strategy uses two letters of credit so that each party gets paid individually: An intermediary gets paid by the buyer, and a supplier gets paid by the intermediary. The final buyer and the intermediary might use a “master” letter of credit, and the intermediary and supplier use a letter of credit based on the master letter.
Revolving Letters of Credit
A revolving letter of credit is useful for multiple payments. If a buyer and seller expect to do business repeatedly, they may prefer not to get a new letter of credit for every transaction (or for every step in a series of transactions). This type of letter of credit allows businesses to use a single letter of credit for numerous transactions until the letter expires, and letters might be valid for three years or less.
Sight Letter of Credit
Payment under a sight letter of credit occurs as soon as the beneficiary submits acceptable documents to the appropriate bank. The bank has several days to review the documents and ensure that they meet the requirements in the letter of credit. If the documents are in good order, the bank must pay immediately.
Deferred Payment Letter of Credit
With this type of letter of credit, payment does not happen immediately after the documents are accepted. Some agreed-to period of time passes before the seller receives funds. A deferred payment letter of credit is naturally a better deal for buyers than for sellers, as it allows the buyer time to find fault with something the seller does. These letters may also be known as term or usance letters of credit.
Red Clause Letter of Credit
With a red clause, the beneficiary has access to cash up front. The buyer allows for an unsecured loan to be issued as part of the letter of credit, which is essentially an advance payment. The seller or beneficiary can then use the money to buy supplies, manufacture goods or complete work, and ship goods to the buyer.
Irrevocable Letter of Credit
An irrevocable letter of credit cannot be changed without authorization from all parties involved. Almost all letters of credit now are irrevocable, because revocable letters of credit simply do not provide the security that most beneficiaries want.
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Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made in building this tool, we are not to be held liable for any damages or monetary losses arising out of or in connection with the use of it. Full disclaimer. This tool is here purely as a service to you, please use it at your own risk.
How to calculate APY
To calculate APY, you’ll need to know your interest rate (e.g. 2%) as well as the compound frequency (how often the interest is calculated for snowballing, e.g. monthly or quarterly).
The formula looks like this:
- r = Annual interest rate (as decimal)
- n = the number of times your product calculates compound interest in a year (e.g. 12 for monthly, or 4 for quarterly).
Looks a bit complicated? No worries.
When comparing financial products, it’s good to get your figures right. That’s why we’ve created this quick and useful APY calculator, which you can use to work out the APY for different savings and investments. You can adjust all the necessary rates to see what your actual, end-of-year interest will be on that risotto. Sorry, on the financial product.
And the outcome? Well, if it's an investment, the higher the APY number, the better.
What is APY?
APY stands for ‘annual percentage yield’, sometimes also known as ‘annual interest yield' or the ‘effective annual rate’. When it comes to savings and investments, the APY is the actual amount of interest earned in a year. It takes into account the impact of compounding to give an accurate figure for the year’s interest.
Calculating the APY of a financial product is therefore useful for determining its profitability, and comparing it against other investment options.
What is the difference between APY and nominal interest rate?
The nominal interest rate is also called the base rate of a product. It’s the basic, advertised-everywhere, not-including-compounding, number-on-the-tin rate. The APY rate is the figure that includes the regular compounding. You can enter either within our calculator (indeed, our calculator will work out the APY rate for you, if you enter the nominal rate).
Think of the nominal interest rate as a bag of dry rice, with the calories listed on the packaging. The nominal interest rate is not a lie, just as the calorie information is not a lie, but you aren’t going to eat that rice plain, just as your savings and investments won’t exist in a vacuum. So the actual calories consumed / interest earned will depend on the conditions you’re cooking in: whether that’s butter, cream and parmesan cheese hiking the calorie count way up, or interest compounding which snowballs the amount of actual interest earned on a product.
Continuing this analogy, then, the APY is like checking the calories on a risotto where the restaurant lists this on the menu. (Morally, let’s set aside the concept of calories on menus, or putting cream in risotto.) It’s a calculation of the actual, finished, compounded, end-of-year interest amount. The cooked, compounded risotto.
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A large number of people who have not obey paid taxes is due to the lack of public information about the benefits of taxes. We recommend that you learn the benefits and functions of the following taxes to be more tax-wise. Taxes are very beneficial for the country. In the meantime, perhaps you must call the most trusted bruno calfat advogados in tax law, so you can solve your problems with taxes easily and quickly.
Generally, many taxes are used for:
Financing state expenditures, such as expenditures that are self-liquidating.
Funding reproductive expenses, such as expenditures that provide economic benefits to the community.
Financing expenses that are not self-liquidating and not reproductive.
Financing unproductive expenditures.
So by obediently paying taxes, people will benefit:
Public facilities and infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, schools, hospitals.
Defense and security, such as buildings, weapons, housing to their salaries.
Food and Oil Fuel Subsidies.
Environmental and Cultural Sustainability.
Development of mass transportation equipment, and others.
The tax has a very important role in the life of the state, so the tax has several functions, including:
Budget function (Budgetair), namely tax is used as a tool to enter funds optimally into the state treasury based on the applicable tax laws, so that the tax serves to finance all expenses related to the government process. Taxes are used for routine financings, such as employee expenditure, goods shopping, maintenance, and others. For development financing, money is spent on government savings, namely domestic revenues minus routine expenses. The government savings were increased continuously from year to year according to the increasing financing needs of development.
Function Regulates (Regular), namely tax used by the government as a tool to achieve certain goals and complementary functions of the budget. The government can regulate economic growth through tax policy. For example: in the context of investments, both domestically and abroad, various types of tax relief facilities are provided. In order to protect domestic production, the government sets a high import duty for foreign products.
Stability function, namely tax makes the government have funds to carry out policies related to price stability so that inflation can be controlled. This can be done by regulating the circulation of money in the community, tax collection, effective and efficient use of taxes.
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Any good financial adviser will tell you that investing in stocks is a risky business, but you can use metrics to bend the odds a little more in your favor. One such metric is the price-to-earnings, or P/E, ratio created by Peter Lynch; it helps investment analysts compare intrinsic stock value with market value. Used in conjunction with a stock chart, this ratio can be used to predict future earnings.
The P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the price of a company with its earnings. For example, if the stock price of a company is $50 and the earnings per share for the year are $2, the P/E ratio is 25x. This means the company's stock price is trading at a multiple of 25 times the earnings per share of the company.
Interpreting the P/E Ratio
Analysts use the P/E ratio by comparing it to other companies in the same industry. Think of the P/E ratio as a price tag: A high ratio means the price of the stock is priced high relative to other stocks in the same industry, and a low ratio means the price of the stock is priced low relative to other stocks in the industry. For example, if the industry average for P/E ratios in the fast food industry is 25x, a company with a ratio of 15x is considered underpriced compared to the amount of earnings received per share. This might lead an investment analyst to conclude the stock was undervalued and prompt a purchase order until the P/E ratio is 25x. For our example, assume the P/E ratio for the industry is 25x and the earnings per share is on an upward trend, from $1 in the first quarter, or Q1, to $2 in the second quarter, or Q2, and $3 in the third, Q3.
A stock can be charted over any given period, while earnings per share are generally only reported quarterly and annually. For this reason, you should use a stock price chart with a quarterly or annual time frame. For our example, we'll use a quarterly measurement. Assume the stock chart shows that the stock price has gone up from $20 in Q1, to $25 in Q2, to $30 in Q3 and it looks like it's approaching $35 in Q4. You want to predict earnings for Q4.
The first step is to calculate the P/E ratio for Q1, Q2 and Q3. Then take that average and apply it to the average stock price in Q4. Using the prices and earnings in our example, the P/E ratio is calculated for Q1, Q2, and Q3 in the following way: Q1 P/E ratio = Q1 Stock Price / Q1 Earnings = $20 / $1 = 20x, Q2 P/E Ratio = Q2 Stock Price / Q2 Earnings = $25 / $2 = 12.5x; and, Q3 P/E Ratio = Q3 Stock Price / Q3 Earnings = $30 / $3 = 10x. The downward trend in P/E ratios is telling you that the stock price of the company is not keeping pace with the earnings in the company, and you may have an opportunity to purchase the stock at a discount. The average of these three ratios, 14.2x, is calculated by multiplying 20x by 12.5x by 10x and then dividing by 3. The calculation is: (20x * 12.5x * 10x)/ 3 = 14.2x Assume your stock chart shows stocks increasing to $35 in Q4. Divide the stock price by the average P/E ratio for an earnings prediction. In this case, the calculation is $35 divided by 14.2x, or $2.47 earnings per share for Q4. This number should be considered an upper limit, because the price chart shows an upward trend, and an average was used in the example calculation.
Sharon Barstow started her career in investment banking and then crossed over to the world of corporate finance as a financial analyst. She specializes in banking and corporate finance topics to include treasury management, financial analysis, financial statement analysis, corporate finance and FP&A. In addition to writing, she is the co-owner of a small dog bakery in rural Ohio.
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In August 2012, the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank published a review of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The review revealed some serious problems with the FCPF and the Independent Evaluation Group recommended that the World Bank should re-think its approach to REDD.
Instead of re-thinking REDD, the World Bank continued pouring money into the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the Carbon Fund.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, and a re-think is long overdue. Last week, REDD-Monitor received this article with the request that it be published anonymously.
The most cost-inefficient tree-saving scheme ever: The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
In June 2007, the World Bank announced that it was planning an international fund of at least 250 million dollars to fight deforestation, and thus to help reduce climate gas emissions. Bank spokesman Werner Kornexl said that, innovatively, the program “will be performance based, so a country will only receive funds after it was measured and verified that the emissions were reduced“. The fund had been requested by the G8 group of rich countries but, said Kornexl, it “is something that we have been working on already for some time”. It would be announced in December that year at the Bali climate summit as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Ten years later, the FCPF has grown to more than $1.1 billion, most of which has been committed by the governments of Norway, Germany and the UK. But it has proven to be a staggeringly ineffective way to reduce deforestation, with astronomical administrative costs and nothing to show in the way of prevented deforestation. This article reveals the truth behind FCPF’s finances, and looks at what’s gone wrong.
FCPF consists of two parts:
- the Readiness Fund, which is supposed to assist countries in preparing a REDD+ strategy and carrying out other improvements in governance which ready it for taking part in large-scale REDD projects; and
- the Carbon Fund, which will purchase supposed emissions reductions from implemented REDD projects, most of which are supposed to be on a large (‘jurisdictional’ meaning state or province-wide) scale in tropical countries.
In the original design of the FCPF, countries were supposed to progress through the readiness process, supported by the Readiness Fund, and then advance to the implementation of programmes to benefit from the Carbon Fund when they were ‘ready for REDD’.
In practice, the readiness process has proven to be heavily bureaucratic, and so glacially slow that the FCPF’s supporting governments – impatient to try and show REDD working at a large scale – have progressively reduced their expectations of, and requirements for, any meaningful readiness having been achieved before countries embark on REDD ‘proper’. The hurdle of showing ‘readiness’ now consists merely of tropical governments carrying out a self-assessment of their supposed readiness measures. These sometimes seem to consist of little more than making paper changes, holding a few meetings of officials, and making vague policy commitments. The FCPF does not carry out any independent, objective, assessment of whether the country could genuinely be said to be ready for the tens of millions of dollars’ worth of forest carbon transactions that will follow with the Carbon Fund payments.
Gaining acceptance into the Carbon Fund has nevertheless proven difficult for most countries. Because the Fund requires REDD projects of a scale way beyond what has even been attempted before (mostly unsuccessfully), and is based on generating ‘trade-quality’ carbon credits, the technical demands of producing credible proposals are beyond almost all tropical governments. Most proposing governments so far have relied on international agencies (such as WWF) or REDD project developers to prepare their proposals for them. Even these proposal writers have shown their woefully poor understanding of the areas of tropical forest which they are intending to establish as carbon enclaves. Because of the fundamental impossibility to really show that their interventions will actually work – and won’t just shift deforestation elsewhere, for example – proposers (assisted by the FCPF) have resorted to technically complex and, they hope, near-undetectable ‘fiddles’. A favourite has been to choose a ‘reference area’ (i.e. comparing the proposed project area with other parts of the country) which has previously experienced high rates of deforestation, and to claim that the area to be covered by the Carbon Fund project would experience similar high levels without the intervention of the project. This means that so-called ‘Emissions Reductions’ could be achieved – and sold – simply if deforestation in the project area does not reach the same kind of high levels as in the falsely selected high-deforestation comparison area.
Because of the need for such complex deceptions, which the FCPF seems both unable and unwilling to detect, proposal documents have grown to astonishing sizes. That for the Democratic Republic of Congo (covering the entire 12 million hectare province called Mai Ndombe that, as yet, exists only in name) runs to 297 pages of dense technical information. It seems highly unlikely that anyone apart from the document writers – WWF and Wildlife Works Carbon – really understands the proposal.
The overall result is that, 10 years after the FCPF’s launch, only two countries, DRC and Costa Rica, have been accepted into the Carbon Fund project pipeline. Both proposals are currently claimed to be undergoing World Bank internal due diligence, but will no doubt be approved later this year. Not a single agreement has been developed to actually purchase ‘emissions reductions’. Not a single ton of carbon emissions has yet been prevented by the FCPF.
Yet by the end of 2015 – the most recent year for which figures are available – the FCPF had managed to spend nearly $55 million. Both the Readiness Fund and the Carbon Fund have incurred an astonishingly high level of ‘transaction costs’. Although the figures are slowly improving, administrative costs, “fund management” charges, Bank staff and consultancies etc have so far absorbed 64% of total expenditure. (See Figure 1 below, and Tables 1-3 at the end of the article. All figures are derived from the FCPF’s own annual reports.)
Germany, Norway and the UK (known collectively as the “GNUs”) account for more than three-quarters of the investment in the FPCF overall, and 90% of the investment in the Carbon Fund (see Figure 2). The FCPF’s levels of transaction costs would never be allowed in any programmes being run directly by any of the three main supporting governments. Typically, programmes are expected to have no higher than 10% administration costs. Programmes funded by Britain’s Department for International Development are obliged to follow strict ‘value for money’ requirements. But the UK’s contribution to the FCPF is not managed by DFID, but by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which seems able to circumvent such requirements. Norway’s contribution is managed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, which also regularly circumvents the country’s usual aid rules.
In April 2016, Norway’s Secretary General, Ministry of Climate and Environment, Tom Rådahl, said that “Efficient management of the funds channeled through NICFI is an important success criterion for … the Government and the Norwegian Parliament.” In the case of the FCPF, the only way this could be true is if the Norwegian government and parliament thinks that “efficiency” means being able quickly to disburse funds to the World Bank, which then entirely wastes them.
The FCPF has to rank as the most inefficient means of saving forests ever. It’s time donor governments pulled the plug on this shocking waste of public money.
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The day after becoming president in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt called for a four-day "bank holiday," which placed an embargo on the export of gold and temporarily closed all banks while they were investigated by federal examiners to determine their solvency. Most banks were open again within a month.
A Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and also in the Republic of Ireland. Although there is no legal right to time off on these days, the majority of the population not employed in essential services (e.g. utilities, fire, ambulance, police, health-workers) receive them as holidays; those employed in essential services usually receive extra pay for working on these days. Bank holidays are so called because they are days upon which banks are shut and therefore (traditionally) no other businesses could operate.
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The Wealth of Nature. Economics as If Survival Mattered.
John Michael Greer, New society Publishers, United States, June 2011
The Wealth of Nature proposes a new model of economics based on the integral value of ecology. Building on the foundations of E.F. Schumacher’s revolutionary “economics as if people mattered”, this book examines the true cost of confusing money with wealth. By analyzing the mistakes of contemporary economics, it shows how an economy centered on natural capital—the raw materials that support human life—can move our society toward a more productive relationship with the planet that sustains us all.
The Wealth of Nature suggests public policy initiatives and personal choices that can help alleviate the economic impact of peak oil. These strategies must address not only financial concerns, but the issues of resource depletion and pollution as well. Examples include:
Adjusting tax policy to penalize the use of natural nonrenewable resources over recycled materials
Placing public welfare above corporate interests
Empowering individuals, families, and communities by prioritizing local, sustainable solutions
Building economies at an appropriate scale.
Profoundly insightful and impeccably argued, this book is required reading for anyone interested in the intersection of the environment and the economy as we enter the twilight of the Age of Abundance .
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Intuitively, if we go back to the early stages of the lockdown, what comes to mind? Financial difficulties, job losses, small business closures, people getting amortization, etc.
Now, how would you feel if I told you that people’s financial savings increased in April-June 2020?
Consider the data compiled by the Reserve Bank of India. In April-June 2020, household financial savings ₹8.16 trillion. For a perspective on how big it is, in April-June 2019, household financial savings ₹2.02 trillion; In July-September 2019 ₹4.85 trillion and over the next two quarters ₹4.2 trillion and ₹5.14 trillion respectively.
Percentage of GDP (GDP), It looks even heavier. This is up from 21% of GDP in April-June 2020 (lockdown quarter) to 4% of GDP in April-June 2019. It was 9.8%, 8.1% and 9.8% respectively in the following three quarters. In the quarter after April-June 2020, do you expect savings to increase as things gradually open up and people are getting their livelihoods back?
In July-September 2020, housing savings ₹4.92 lakh crore, or 10.4% of GDP. The data quoted here are from the latest issue of the RBI Bulletin; We do not have data for October-December 2020.
Now, rationality. Household savings also fell by 24% in April-June 2020, up from 21% in GDP.
However, in absolute terms, ₹Four times more than 8.16 trillion ₹2.02 trillion in April-June 2019. It has to do with the human response to emergencies. When things seem vague, you never know how bad it will be. Discretionary cost reduced; One reason is the closure of outlets. While a section of the population is losing jobs, opting for a temporary ban on loans — now that we know it is not the entire population — is saving those who have access to means more than spending.
To take a step back from the aforementioned data, home financial savings is a minus flow of net financial liabilities of financial assets. In April-June 2020, the flow of financial assets ₹Much more than 7.38 trillion ₹3.83 trillion in April-June 2019, but less than that ₹2020 January-March 7.86 trillion, which is a normal quarter. The big difference is the flow of financial responsibilities. In April-June 2020, it was negative ₹0.78 trillion more than positive ₹1.81 trillion and positive in April-June 2019 ₹2.72 trillion in January-March 2020. That is, people paid their obligations in April-June 2020, but usually they add to it. At a time when people are choosing a temporary ban on loans, meeting financial obligations is a confusing issue. But we are talking about hard data.
In July-September 2020 things were normalized. The flow of financial assets increased ₹7.47 trillion, but an influx of financial liabilities ₹2.55 trillion, which means people are added to financial responsibilities. Home loan to GDP ratio increased to 37.1 per cent in July-September 2020. It was 35.4 per cent in April-June 2020. Preliminary indications are that the household financial savings rate will decline further in October-December 2020 with the intensity of consumption and economic activity. . A similar trend was observed during the global financial crisis in 2008-09, when the GDP growth rate was 1.7% and moderated as the economy grew.
What do we learn from all this? When we face a crisis, say, a risk or lack of food, our body releases an emergency response force to deal with the situation. At the time of the pandemic-induced financial crisis, more and more people wanted to save. A basic principle of financial planning is that you have an emergency fund equal to six months’ expenses. People generally follow the principle of income – expenses = savings / investments. Ideally, it should be income – savings / investments = expenses. As long as you are adequately protected, you do not have to come forward with an emergency response if necessary. RBI data covers the entire population (India) as well as urban or semi-urban centers (India). To that extent, good people need to plan financially for emergencies.
Joydeep Sen is a corporate trainer (debt markets) and author.
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Digital Transformation – The Digitalisation Of Accounting
The digital transformation of organizations is rapidly changing central functions such as accounting and finance. The digitalisation of accounting has brought massive benefits to organizations through process optimization and improved data analytics. Technologies such as AI, robotics, and blockchains are helping accountants to give fast, error-free services to tech-savvy clients.
The modern consumer has fully embraced technology, and their demands of real-time reporting, personalised, and fast service can only be met through the digitalisation of accounting. According to a study by the IMA, one-third of accounting teams are spending anywhere from 51% to 75% of their time on repetitive, low-value tasks. Additionally, 56% of the surveyed accountants said they need automation just to keep up with their increasing workloads. The introduction and implementation of purpose-built technology for accounting and finance are helping organizations to reap the benefits of lower costs of production, marketing, and distribution.
The benefits of accounting digitalisation:
- Lower operational cost
- Improved productivity, time management, and accuracy
- Enhanced process control and data analysis
- Automated payment and collection processes through a structured electronic document sharing
- Improved transparency of processes
- Improved competitiveness
- Enhanced customer service
The opportunities in digitalisation of accounting:
- Account processing– AI-powered invoice management systems can help streamline invoice processing.
- Procurement and purchasing– Automation can help businesses turn their procurement and purchasing process paperless, through implementations of machine learning and robotics.
- Audit– The digitalisation of audits improves efficiency and accuracy. Instead of paperwork, auditors can access digital files that have a detailed digital trail that can be traced.
- Closing process– Machines can crunch numbers much faster than humans. Digitilaisation can help accountants to manage closing entries more accurately and speedily.
- Expense management– AI-powered machines can efficiently read receipts, audit expenses, and reports, and alert management whenever it detects any discrepancy.
- Customer service– Chatbot implementation can greatly improve customer service by efficiently solving common customer questions and queries regarding bill dues, account balances, etc.
The challenges of digital accounting:
- Digitalisation of processes that are currently not adequately optimised.
- Heavy reliance on legacy systems that are not outdated.
- Lack of transparency regarding the financial consequences of digitalisation of projects.
- Internal conflict regarding the allocation of resources between short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives and strategy.
- No direct employee involvement in the comprehensive modernisation strategy of the company.
The strategies companies can adopt to embrace digitalisation of accounting:
Instant bookkeeping service
Bookkeeping services are essential for organizations, and it can be a very time-consuming task. With the help of cloud computing, accountants can easily access all receipts, file, and compute tax returns from the cloud. Digitalisation can help accounting firms to offer instant bookkeeping services.
Easy filing of tax returns
Digital accounting is making filing of tax returns easier and paperless. Integrating all accounting needs into one online channel ensures a streamlined workflow for financial operations.
Management of staff’s payroll
Machines can help accountants to manage staff payroll with real-time information, and improve overall efficiency and accuracy of the accounting process. Cloud computing can handle staff management issues such as NI liabilities, PAYE, Holiday emoluments, leave allowances, travelling per diem, etc promptly.
AI and machine learning predictive capabilities can be utilised to offer live financial forecasts to clients. Cloud accounting can help accountants to make the best-updated valuation of stock and commodity markets.
Better client experience
Digital accounting can help accounting firms to improve their customer experience through personalisation of services tailored according to customer’s needs. It can help businesses to offer real-time updates.
The digitalisation of accounting is beneficial for organizations to reap the benefits of technology and deliver exceptional customer service. As machines take over monotonous and repetitive tasks, accounting professionals have more time to contribute their skills in other areas. At Alkye, we help our clients to implement digital transformation with the help of our digital solutions, while also enhancing their customer experience with a comprehensive CXM.
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If your company acts as a financial institution, it is affected by various legislation, including federal laws such as The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Non-compliance to GLBA can lead to severe civil and criminal penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.
Check out our new infographic and learn:
- about the fundamentals of GLBA
- how GLBA affects your everyday business operations in practice
- what GLBA means for information security and
- how to avoid violating GLBA and safeguard sensitive data with email archiving.
What is GLBA?
The Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), is a federal US law enacted to monitor and control the ways financial institutions handle sensitive private information of individuals.
Who does it affect?
It applies to companies that offer their customers any sort of financial products or services, such as loans, insurance or investment advice. This specifically applies to banks, credit reporting agencies, debt collectors, security companies, tax preparation companies, real estate companies, insurance companies and any correspondent companies doing business with them.
GLBA consists of three parts:
- The Financial Privacy Rule, dealing with disclosure of confidential financial information;
- The Safeguards Rule, obliging financial institutions to provide security programs to protect confidential information;
- The Pretexting Provisions, prohibiting the access to private information under false pretenses.
The Act also requires institutions to provide written privacy notices explaining their practices of sharing information.
How does it work in practice?
In practice, GLBA focuses on the security and confidentiality of private information stored and shared through email correspondence. In accordance with GLBA, companies are required to have secure access controls for protecting information storage and email retention periods of six years.
To comply with this law, financial institutions have to take special care of optimizing, tracking and storing their digital data.
How to Comply with Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act with Email Archiving
Server breakdowns, lack of storage space and Big Data piled up in email communication impose great challenges for maintaining transparent and safe business. To comply with all three segments of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, companies need to optimize and secure their data storage and email communication.
By opting for an email archiving solution, companies can guarantee their clients that their sensitive data is carefully stored and manipulated and that it will be readily available in case a legal dispute occurs.
5 Benefits of Email Archiving
1. Safe information backup
Email archiving protects you from accidental deletion or damage of sensitive information as it backs up all sent and received documents in a stable format. This means you’ll have an efficient recovery strategy even in cases of system breakdowns.
2. Storage space optimization
By deleting and deduplicating emails and documents in your company inboxes, email archiving helps you reduce the digital content exchanged and shared. In a simple and automated way, it helps you create additional storage space needed for the stability of data during the retention period required by the law.
3. Transparent communication
In accordance with GLBA, companies are obliged to safely handle clients’ confidential information. With email archiving, you can easily monitor all internal and external communication. This will give you more control over the sensitive information and make data handling and protection much easier.
4. Information and Property Protection
An email archiving tool helps you meet all regulatory and legal requirements and minimizes the risk of intellectual property theft and false pretenses in email communication. It provides simple communication tracking without employing additional resources for handling legal issues.
5. Efficient Legal Discovery
One of the greatest benefits of email archiving is the automation of eDiscovery by custom made data indexing and archiving. In cases of legal disputes, email archiving can help you track down and present the data promptly, in accord with the GLBA compliance standards.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Failing to comply with Gramm-Leach-Bliley can lead to business disruption and heavy fines, up to five years of imprisonment and damage or loss of brand reputation. By adopting an efficient automated email archiving solution, you can successfully comply with GLBA and provide a transparent and trustworthy business practice to all your clients.
Jatheon’s email archiving tool can help you manage multiple risks, efficiently respond to compliance needs and optimize the internal and external business communication. To learn more, contact Jatheon.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia announced on March 19 that it was reducing the cash rate to a record low of 0.25% in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus.
What is the cash rate?
The RBA defines the cash rate as the ‘interest rate on unsecured overnight loans between banks’. When one bank is low on cash it may need to borrow some from another bank. The cash is paid back the next day, plus interest. The cash rate defines that interest.
The cash rate – a domino effect
The cash rate has a direct impact on the banks, but it also has a knock-on effect for major areas of the economy. The RBA can increase the cash rate as a way of slowing down the economy and reducing inflation. Conversely, the RBA can decrease the cash rate as a way of encouraging lending, spending and speeding up the economy in times of recession.
Typically, when the cash rate is reduced the banks will do two things:
- Reduce the interest rate on their variable rate mortgages
- Decrease the interest rate on their savings accounts
The impact the cash rate has on home loans
As I mentioned earlier, the cash rate can impact the rate that banks set on home loans. Decreases in the cash rate will typically reduce the interest rate on home loans – a saving that is passed onto the consumer.
The following graph from Mozo demonstrates the impact that the cash rate could have on your mortgage repayments:
|Cut||New Rate||New Repayment||Monthly Savings||Yearly Savings|
What does this mean for me and what should I do next?
This means that the interest rate on your mortgage could drop. However, this is only an option if you are on a variable rate mortgage. If you are on a variable rate mortgage you should take the following steps either on your own or with your mortgage broker:
- Assess the interest rate on your mortgage – decide whether it is competitive compared to the current market rate. This is particularly pertinent if you have a standard mortgage without the need for specialised features, such as a redraw facility.
- Check your lender’s website – are they planning on cutting mortgage rates? If not, feel free to contact your mortgage provider anyway and ask them about a potential cut.
- On your own, or with your mortgage broker start assessing the rates and options available for you on the market.
- If there is a much better deal, prepare the appropriate paperwork (or have your broker prepare it for you) and organise the switch to your new provider.
Marc has been a professional lender for 28 years. After beginning his career in 1990 with a UK Building Society, he moved to Australia where he held several different retail banking roles. In 1999 it became clear to him that a mortgage broker would eventually become an obvious choice for someone looking for a home loan so he took the plunge and became an independent broker. He hasn’t looked back since!
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Tracking your finances as a young person is something you need to learn. It may seem like a tricky process, but with time, you get to adapt, and all that will pay in the near future. Your personal finances need to be accounted for. You need to know whether you are spending more than you get or whether you are misusing your funds. In this article, you will find several tips that will help you plan your finances efficiently.
Table of Contents
Maintain a Balance between Income and Expenses
Your income needs to be more than your expenses. What you spend must not be more than what you earn. It is important that you note down all the expenses you incur, be it monthly or weekly. Then compare this with your net income. If the balances do not add up, then this means it is time you cut off some unnecessary expenditures that drain your finances.
Expenses such as paying your student loan and rent are necessary expenditures that should be accounted for in your finances. When you spend more than you earn, you will have nothing to save for either emergency or for future plans. Therefore, you must consider a balance between your income and expenditure.
This is one of the wisest financial decisions you could ever make. Uncertainties occur from time to time. Therefore, when you keep an emergency fund where you pump in money, say monthly, you will be able to handle any emergency that may arise. Open a savings account that will hold your emergency cash. As a young adult, you may not have so many responsibilities. However, as time goes by, you may want to further your studies or pay for a medical bill. The emergency fund will come in handy at that moment.
To insure some of the assets you own is a bold financial move. This will protect you from incurring any future losses that may dig a hole in your finances. For example, your car may be involved in an accident, leading to costly repairs. You will thank yourself for getting car insurance prior to the accident. Therefore, as you plan your finances, consider insuring your property, such as your house, car, and your motorcycle.
Planning your finances is a vital step in your goal of financial stability. By setting attainable goals, you will channel your finances towards positive endeavours. Goals such as early retirement and investing in assets will keep you on your toes on how you spend and plan for your finances. Write down your goals and commit to following them. Your financial plan should align with your goals, as well.
As a young adult, it is important to be focusing on saving for your retirement. The earlier, the better. Time flies and retirement may come sooner than you anticipate. Therefore, be wise about it and channel a portion of your funds towards your retirement.
As you make a financial plan, make it a priority to do away with any form of debt you may already have. Debts such as student loans may accrue huge interest rates when not paid in due time. Allocate a portion of your finances towards eliminating this debt. Also, do not focus on acquiring unnecessary debt in your youth. These debts may weigh you down financially in the future.
One way to ensure you stay out of debt is by having an emergency fund that will cater to any unanticipated expenditures. Debts are only beneficial if you are acquiring an asset that will earn you money.
Considering Financial Planning Seriously
Financial plans help you manage your finances with ease. By planning your finances, you efficiently allocate your money to the various expenses and savings. A financial plan will guide you out of debt and build a good spending culture.
All the above tips will help you as you plan your finances. It is also important that you incorporate having fun and vacation in your budget. These are also going to be expenditures, and they are worth it because you are, in a way, rewarding yourself for the excellent work that you do. Also, having a clear budget will help you stay on track with your financial plan. If all this is quite difficult to accomplish on your own, hire a financial advisor at a small fee to help you have a firm grip on your finances as early as now. Do not wait until it’s too late to make this important decision.
Commit yourself to a good financial discipline, and you will reap the rewards later in life. Most young adults spendthrift their money without a care about what the future holds. Be different and stand out by utilizing these tips.
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Governments have an important role in scaling up IB through the development and implementation of enabling environments for the development of inclusive business models.
The good news is that globally, there is an increase in supportive policy action on inclusive business.
2018 ended with significant momentum on inclusive business policy as the G20 published the G20 Call on Financing for Inclusive Business and relaunched the G20 Global Platform on Inclusive Business with a summary of G20 inclusive business policies.
Recent policy reforms in Asia show the strong political will to spur inclusive growth and improving the lives of the poor and low-income population. In 2017, the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) acknowledged the strong support for inclusive business by its member states and called for greater emphasis on creating an enabling environment for inclusive business in ASEAN, among others through conducive rules and regulations.
Evidence that inclusive business policies work emerged from the Philippines. In 2018, the first full year of implementation of the policy, five projects were approved which target to source USD 5 million worth of goods and services from the BoP and directly hire at least 185 and engage over 1,000 individuals, at least 30 per cent of which are women, from the marginalised sectors.
Countries in the European Union and the EU support inclusive business through their overseas development aid programmes. This momentum is significant and is a clear indicator that policymakers globally aim for enabling environments for inclusive business, so that the lives of people living at the base of the pyramid will improve.
According to the G20 Inclusive Business Framework, “Inclusive businesses provide goods, services, and livelihoods on a commercially viable basis, either at scale or scalable, to people living at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers. In addition to these commercially inclusive activities, businesses may also pursue broader socially inclusive goals. Inclusive business should promote sustainable development in all its dimensions – economic, social and environmental.” The G20 Inclusive Business Report for the 2016 Summit explains that inclusive businesses do thereby contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals in several ways. IB can reduce poverty, shrink inequality, and contribute to sustainable economic growth. The two main reasons why IBs have difficulties to scale their business are a lack of financing and capacity among the BoP. Other obstacles are a shortage of market information and sector-specific frameworks. Pioneering companies implement IB models to tackle these problems. However, government support can increase the impact even more. This can be done by enabling inclusive businesses to enter and operate in the market, supporting them to integrate the BoP into their value chains, and empowering the BoP themselves to participate in value chains.
Many countries have already recognised the potential of inclusive businesses as resources to leverage private-sector development and simultaneously help the poor.
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Andres Guadamuz and Chris Marsden explain the origins of blockchain, highlight some of its applications and look to its future
Regulators have jumped on regulation of Bitcoin yet the UK Treasury and its Chief Scientific Advisor have celebrated its technology, Blockchain.The blockchain could bring everything that is good about Bitcoin and translate it into decentralised applications. This will certainly merit further disinterested independent research in the coming years, separated from the hype and financial self-interest of the Bitcoin community. Bitcoin is a revolutionary idea in achieving decentralisation, but suffers from the current implementation based on libertarian economic dogma and critical mistakes, such as the potential for a large entity with access to large computing power to take over the public records. The wider research questions relate to the future of fiat currencies, and the possibility of social production and sharing based on blockchains as the basis for the record of exchange. The most interesting development turns the blockchain, Bitcoin's proof-of-transaction open log, into a platform for creating a smart contract decentralised platform. We may very well be talking about blockchain in the future, and Bitcoin might simply be known as the first implementation of open ledgers.
Before we examine blockchain's future, let's look at its brief past.
Blockchains Invented for Bitcoins
Bitcoin was developed in 2008 as a concept by an anonymous developer going by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, who posted a paper detailing the currency to a cryptography mailing list. The paper details a decentralised system with no issuing authority that would serve as both a means of exchange but also as an anonymous and fully open log of all transactions (known as the blockchain). People running a client that would 'mine' value by verifying transactions would create the value, which encourages users to allocate processor time to confirm trades.
The paper gained some traction in cryptology circles, and it was coupled with the anonymous registration of the Bitcon.org domain, as well as the release on 9 January 2009 of the first version of the Bitcoin client. The currency continued to become more popular, but it was not until the creation of the Silk Road in 2011 that it achieved more mainstream notice.
Bitcoin was devised as a non-fiat currency; in other words, its proponents claim that it has 'real' value. The value arises from computing power, that is, the only way to create new coins is by allocating distributed CPU power through computer programs named 'miners'; the miners create a block after a period of time that is worth an ever-decreasing amount of bitcoins in order to ensure scarcity. Each bitcoin consists of 100 million smaller units, called a satoshi. The operations performed to mine are precisely to authenticate other transactions, so the system both creates value and authenticates itself, an elegant and simple solution that is one of the appealing aspects of the currency. Once created, each Bitcoin (or 100 million satoshis) exists as a cryptographic address that is part of the block that gave birth to it. The person who mined the coin owns the address, and can transfer it by sending value to another address, which is a 'wallet' file stored in a computer. The blockchain is the public record of all transactions.
Another way of looking at the currency is that Bitcoin is simply allocating value arbitrarily to a program that performs the mathematical equations necessary to support the creation of a bitcoin. It is a self-referential and circular currency, and its only value is that which people give it, just like fiat money but with faith placed in computer programming not sovereign states.
Bitcoin has undoubtedly become the most talked-about cryptocurrency, but it is easy to forget that it began mostly as a proof of concept. Because the software is completely open source, any developer can download it, modify it, and create his or her own version of the software. This capability has led to an explosion of alternative bitcoin implementations, popularly known as altcoins. There are no limits to the number of altcoins that can be released, but in practice there are a few dozen real alternatives that implement minor or major changes, these are known as forks.
There is no single reason why a developer should fork the original code and create their own version. Some may do it to improve the code, to create better security, to modify some of the existing parameters, as a joke, or to attempt to convert altcoins into bitcoins.
Some of the most popular implementations are:
· IxCoin (IXC): The International eXchange Coin is the first Bitcoin clone, it was released in 2011 and it can be mined at the same time as BTC. It also has a limit of 21 million coins, but much shorter mining period (all coins should be mined in 2015).
· Namecoin (NMC): It is one of the most innovative altcoins. It uses Bitcoin to create a decentralised domain name system outside of the existing international system operated by ICANN. The service allows the registration of domain names that cannot be shut down or taken over by law enforcement.
· Litecoin (LTC): This is one of the more popular Bitcoin alternatives, it was created specifically to fix perceived shortcomings in BTC, and it boasts faster transaction verification times and improved storage efficiency.
· Ripple (XRP): In the strict sense, Ripple is not a direct Bitcoin fork, but it borrows some of the main ideas of Bitcoin, such as being an open source decentralised ledger. It is both a currency and acts as an exchange protocol for existing currencies and altcoins.
· Dogecoin: This started as a joke BTC fork in 2013, but quickly became a currency in its own right, with a 2015 estimated market capitalisation of over $15 million USD, making it the fourth most popular altcoin. The name comes from Doge, the popular Internet meme.
· Bitcoin XT: This is a very recent and controversial fork to the original Bitcoin source code that adds two main changes, the block size is increased, and it removes the need to download the entire blockchain.
Blockchain Technology Benefits
There are various problems with existing financial markets and currencies that the cryptocurrency is trying to address. Some of the crypto-currrency benefits are:
· Transparency. One of the key benefits of Bitcoin is that all transactions are publicly available and verifiable in the electronic ledger called the blockchain. This provides an unprecedented level of transparency and peer verification, and as it will be shown in the last section, it is one of the features that transcends the currency elements.
· Security. Bitcoin uses the 256 bit version of the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), an encryption protocol designed by the National Security Agency in the US. The protocol maintains the integrity of the blockchain, but is also used to sign and secure BTC wallets, providing a mathematical proof that transactions are performed from the owner of the wallet. The signature also prevents the transaction from being altered by anybody once it has been issued.
· Lower transaction costs. While in theory Bitcoin transactions could be free between all parties, the system usually has transaction fees that vary from one exchange to the other. Usually, the transaction fee will go to the miner (as an incentive to miners), and these transaction fees are a function of difficulty. Even with these fees, Bitcoin still boasts lower transaction costs when compared to other payment methods, with some merchants estimating that the average is at 1%, as opposed to other intermediary clearinghouses such as PayPal and Western Union, which charge from 2-4%. However, it must be noted that some researchers believe that low transaction costs are not sustainable in the future.
· Anonymity. Bitcoin is theoretically anonymous. A person in possession of BTC in an encrypted wallet can spend it in any service without identification. While the anonymity aspect has clearly made it attractive as a means of payment for illegal goods and services, it could be used for less nefarious purposes, such as funding campaigners in authoritarian regimes.
· Resilience. Bitcoin is a decentralised currency with no central authority and no issuing body. This means that it is resilient to attacks, and in theory it also means that it cannot be brought down.
· Engine for innovation. While it is easy to ignore some grandiose claims made by some Bitcoin developers, such as the claim that it will destroy fiat currencies, or that it has the potential to combat poverty and oppression, it cannot be denied that its creation has given a much needed push towards innovation in the way in which we think about money, financial institutions, and centrality. Anything that encourages innovation is to be welcomed.
This list is non-exhaustive, and only shows some of the most cited benefits of the virtual currency. There are some benefits that are more difficult to quantify. For example, there is little doubt that whatever may happen with Bitcoin, its creation has revolutionised how we think about money, value and payments in general. It is possible to be sceptical of Bitcoin, yet to be awed by its elegance and the ambitious nature of its implementation. Even if BTC was to disappear tomorrow, it is possible that some applications of blockchain technology will survive, and be adapted for re-use.
Clarity and Size in Blockchains
A main selling points of Bitcoin is transparency. The client itself is open source, and all transactions are open to scrutiny because all transactions must be verified by the whole, so it is possible to look at each individual transaction in the public blockchain to scrutinise the outgoing and incoming wallet addresses. The addresses do not identify the person, only the possessor of the key that unlocks the address. This makes it both anonymous and transparent at the same time, a feature that explains Bitcoin's popularity with the technical community.
How transparent? Ron and Shamir examined very old 'dormant' addresses in the blockchain, and assumed that these were probably lost coins from the time when people were testing the technology and deleted their wallets. The authors calculated the historical number of lost coins to be 1,657,480 bitcoins. Considering the certainty of later losses, the total value of lost coins could very well double that number. Developer John Ratcliff conducted a similar study of the blockchain, and identified a very large number of dormant coins, what he called 'zombie coins', which amount to 30% of all the Bitcoins ever mined.
How big? The size of the Bitcoin blockchain is starting to become a problem; at the time of writing it was reaching 40 gigabytes. This has some practical implications for BTC as a currency, as the size of the blockchain may hinder the speed with which transactions are verified. Average transaction times vary a lot depending on network loads, but currently it ranges from 6-12 minutes per transaction. As blockchain size increases with more transactions, hosting of the entire blockchain could become a problem as well, as it is thought that the blockchain may reach 3 terabytes in size within 10 years.
Alternative uses of blockchain protocols
A blockchain is quite simply any open, cryptographic, decentralised ledger, so in theory it can be implemented into any sort of scheme, financial or not, that requires a record of transactions. As has been stated repeatedly, in Bitcoin the ledger is public and decentralised, and since anyone can check past, present and proposed transactions, there is increased reliability in the system. The main function of the blockchain in Bitcoin is to avoid the potential of double-spending money. However, the blockchain idea is independent of the existence of Bitcoin. In the offline world, barring counterfeiting, it is impossible to double-spend money as people hold limited amount of physical currency. Monetary transactions however more often occur as the digital movement of value from one account to the other. The idea is for the holding institution to contain a master ledger, in other words a record of the money in all of the accounts, making it possible to follow movements from one to the other.
In order to have a viable blockchain alternative outside of the Bitcoin implementation, a developer can use existing protocols and open source code to create a verification mechanism that must fulfil three important functions which are key to any blockchain distribution. These are:
- Proof of Work. The proof of work (POW) is the way in which Bitcoin rewards miners for conducting transaction verification operations, which are expensive computational transactions. Any blockchain alternative will have to have an alternative POW pay-out if the intention of the technology is not monetary. This could be social, such as solving mathematical equations or finding prime numbers.
- Authentication. This is the main function of a blockchain, the implementation must be designed to validate transactions securely and unequivocally.
- Decentralization. The blockchain must be decentralized, so copies of the entire ledger cannot be held centrally. This presents a few technical problems, such as the increasingly unmanageable size of the blockchain as more transactions accumulate.
There are hundreds of such potential applications in the financial markets, such as bonds, stocks, and derivatives; but it would also be possible to apply the same type of technology to automated contracts, or even copyright licensing agreements. The idea is to attempt to bypass the difficulties of contract formation and other legal transactions by allocating rights and responsibilities through electronic tokens that then would be recorded in the common ledger. A recent report explains:
'While all of the high-value applications of the first wave of blockchain innovation are explicitly financial, this is not the case for the second wave of blockchain innovation, which primarily rests on the idea of a "smart contract". Put simply, a smart contract uses software code to implement human intentions by dynamically carrying out instructions embedded in tokens associated with a contract, rather than relying on legal texts interpreted by courts, regulatory bodies or other legal institutions.'
But this principle might not only apply to contracts, but also to distributing and allocating rights within decentralised organizations themselves.
There are already a number of tools that are being developed to take advantage of the blockchain beyond payment systems and cryptocurrencies. One of the most publicised has been Project Ethereum which creates 'a blockchain with a built-in Turing-complete programming language, allowing anyone to write smart contracts and decentralized applications where they can create their own arbitrary rules for ownership, transaction formats and state transition functions.' In other words, Ethereum is a protocol for smart open ledgers where users can allocate their own rules and values. Ethereum has released an open source mining application to the public, directed mostly at developers, and users can mine its own currency called 'ether' by allocating processing power to validate transactions. The system will allow users to create legal documents that can be validated through the blockchain while at the same time allowing users to mine the new currency.
D-Cent is a European project that has proposed the creation of a social blockchain toolset that will allow adopters to generate their own alternative currency. The interesting part of this scheme is that it changes the economically-minded proof of work with a social one, which will be decided upon by the community. Another project called Chain is proposing to use blockchain protocols to pay for mobile minutes, to verify energy credits, to store loyalty points, and to scrutinise securities. Many other projects are being announced all the time, with applications as varied as blockchains replacing the Land Registry, smart solar panels, and to help run stock markets.
Concluding Thoughts: Hype Cycle or Real Deal?
The field of IT Law is replete with grandiose claims of life-changing technologies that will revolutionise our lives, and it is often too easy to fall prey to the latest meme adopted by every commentator. Talk of the blockchain is reaching the level that previous technologies received, such as the cloud and 3D printing. While the reach of these is indeed great, we cannot lose sight of the limitations that exist within the Bitcoin environment. Furthermore, the idea of conducting legal transactions automatically by means of smart contracts and intelligent agents is not new. Every generation brings a new crop of books and papers claiming that we are about to make lawyers a thing of the past, and most transactions will be taken care of by computers, yet lawyers persist.
Despite this critique of the Bitcoin meme hype, the blockchain itself has immense potential, particularly for transactions that require transparency, resilience, and decentralisation. Bitcoin may be the equivalent of SecondLife a decade later, a liberating technology that is overhyped and poorly executed, so blockchains may be the equivalent of Web2.0 social networks, a truly transformative social technology.
Dr Andres Guadamuz is senior lecturer in intellectual property law at the University of Sussex. Professor Chris Marsden is chair in Internet law at the University of Sussex. They direct the Information Law Group at the university.
Vandezande, Niels (2014) Between Bitcoins and mobile payments: will the European Commission's new proposal provide more legal certainty? Int. J Law Info Tech 22 (3): 295-310. doi: 10.1093/ijlit/eau003; HMRC, 2014. Revenue & Customs Brief 09/14: Tax treatment of activities involving Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencies, issued 3 March 2014. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief0914.htm; Szczepa?ski, Marcin (2014) Bitcoin: Market, economics and regulation, European Parliamentary Research Service Document 140793REV1 at http://www.eprs.ep.parl.union.eu
Walport, Sir Mark (2016) Distributed Ledger Technology: beyond block chain, Government Chief Scientist, 19 January, at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492972/gs-16-1-distributed-ledger-technology.pdf HM Treasury (2015) Digital currencies: response to the call for information, March Update, at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414040/digital_currencies_response_to_call_for_information_final_changes.pdf
Guadamuz, Andrés and Marsden, Christopher (2015) Blockchains and Bitcoin: regulatory responses to cryptocurrencies, 20 First Monday 7 at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6198/5163
Dini, Paolo (2012) Community currencies and the quantification of social value in the digital economy. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/47349/.
History of Bitcoin, (2015), http://historyofbitcoin.org/.
Market capitalization is obtained by multiplying the current value of a currency with the number of available coins.
Kaskaloglu, K. (2014) 'Near Zero Bitcoin Transaction Fees Cannot Last Forever.'
The International Conference on Digital Security and Forensics (DigitalSec2014), http://bit.ly/1SffTwJ.
Christin, N. (2013). 'Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace'. In Proceedings of the 22nd international conference on World Wide Web (pp. 213-224).
Feld, S., Schönfeld, M., & Werner, M. (2014). 'Analyzing the Deployment of Bitcoin's P2P Network under an AS-level Perspective'. Procedia Computer Science, 32, 1121-1126.
Britto, J. & Castillo, A. Bitcoin: A Primer for Policymakers, Arlington VA: George Mason University (2013), p.14.
Ron, D. and Shamir, A. (2012) 'Quantitative Analysis of the Full Bitcoin Transaction Graph.' Cryptology ePrint Archive, Report 2012/584, http://eprint.iacr.org/2012/584. Note the 'vigorous debate' over their methodology: http://bit.ly/1BbT0Gk.
Ratcliff, J. W. 'Rise of the Zombie Coins.' LTB Blog (June 22, 2014), http://bit.ly/1BbSWGt.
Brito & Castillo (2013), p.3.
Ali et al (2014), p.267.
Ibid, p. 17.
Ibid, p.18.
Ali et al (2014), p.271.
Ibid, p.7.
Roio et al (2015), p.28.
Reuters (2015) GERTRUDE CHAVEZ-DREYFUSS: Honduras to build land title registry using bitcoin technology May 15,
The authors do not claim to be immune from this.
The inimitable Jon Bing was already writing about legal decision-making by automated systems in 1977, see: Bing J, & and Harvold, T. (1977). Legal Decisions and Information Systems, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Leith, Philip (2010) The Rise And Fall Of The Legal Expert System, European Journal of Law and Technology, Vol 1, No 1, http://ejlt.org/article/view/14, reviews many usch claims. Earlier, see Susskind, R. E. (1986). 'Expert systems in law: A jurisprudential approach to artificial intelligence and legal reasoning.' The Modern Law Review 49(2), 168-194.
Stokes, Robert (2012) Virtual money laundering: the case of Bitcoin and the Linden dollar, Information & Communications Technology Law Volume 21, Issue 3, PP.221-236 DOI: 10.1080/13600834.2012.744225;
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The sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Paris agreement target a global cleaner energy transition with wider adaptation, poverty reduction and climate resilience benefits. Hydropower development in the transboundary Koshi river basin in the Himalayan region presents an intervention that can support the SDGs whilst meeting the regional commitments to the Paris agreement. This study aims to quantify the benefits of proposed water resource development projects in the transboundary basin (4 storage and 7 run-of-the-river hydropower dams) in terms of hydroelectric power generation, crop production and flood damage reduction. A hydro-economic model is constructed by soft coupling hydrological and crop growth simulation models to an economic optimization model. The model assesses the potential of the interventions to break the vicious cycle of poverty and water, food, and energy insecurity.
In South Asia, 281 million people are undernourished, 362 million people have no access to electricity and at least 600 million depend on biomass for cooking. Within this region, the highly populated (10% of the world population) Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) transboundary (that spans China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh) basin that has highest concentration of rural poor (with limited access to energy, food and clean drinking water ) in any given region of the world, while having largely untapped hydropower (eg: 42 GW in Nepal) deserves particular attention.
Although the Ganges basin has enormous potential for multipurpose reservoirs and run of the river (ROR) projects (especially in Nepal), it ironically suffers from energy scarcity and inadequate irrigation facilities. Ganges sub-basins like the Koshi present a developmental conundrum as they tend to be underdeveloped with high levels of poverty and acute energy scarcity, despite their rich natural endowment with fertile soils and abundant water resources. Given the current largely unmet needs of power, irrigation, and flood regulation that hinder regional development, there is substantial scope for using WRD projects as engines for low carbon growth and climate resilient rural development utilizing the energy-water-food nexus. Previous research identified 11 high potential WRD projects in the Koshi river basin, of which 4 are storage and the remainder run-of-the-river (ROR) dams.
The performance of the identified WRD projects depends on factors such as river flow, water management rules, and upstream and downstream water use. A basin-scale analysis is therefore essential for integrated water resources management. In order to assess the basin-wide economic benefits of the WRD projects and their sustainability in the light of future climate change, a coupled hydro-economic model is developed, paying special attention to the economic value of the storage space and irrigation capacity that can be created by surface and groundwater using hydroelectric power from the proposed set of dam projects in the Koshi basin and the stability of these benefits under future climate change.
The results of the integrated hydro-economic model, combining the WEAP and DSSAT model in an economic optimization procedure show that the expected benefits from the proposed multipurpose WRD projects in one of the poorest regions in South Asia can be significant in terms of generated electricity and enhanced agricultural production at the basin scale.
The possible basin-wide flood protection benefits through the creation of aquifer storage, identified in a recent World Bank study for the Ganges basin were also quantified in this study, but appear to be limited, and highly dependent on the available technology to use groundwater aquifers to store floodwater. The estimated benefits under the baseline scenario of USD 2.3 billion gross per year outweigh the estimated annual costs of USD 0.68 billion for the 11 hydropower projects. Even if the investment costs would be twice as high as estimated to account for cost overruns (or vice versa, if the benefits would only be half of what they are expected to be based on this study), the benefits from the 11 projects would still outweigh their costs, generating a net benefit of USD 0.9 billion per year (or USD 0.5 billion if the benefits would be 50% less than estimated here). These results are robust when accounting for future climate change. The results highlight the fact that the development of hydropower in the Koshi basin can support the mitigation and adaptation goals of the Paris agreement and achieve the SDGs within the basin.
Finally, the findings reported here have important policy implications for achieving water, food and energy security, as well as mitigating the impacts of climate change. Benefits derived from hydropower, irrigation and flood moderation can serve as a catalyst for economic and social development, and help to achieve a number of the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending hunger, alleviating poverty and providing increased access to water and energy services as well as support the goals of the Paris agreement. However, the development of the proposed projects will critically depend on building mutual trust and favourable regional cooperation between India and Nepal.
© The authors.
Amjath-Babu, T. S., Sharma, B., Brouwer, R., Rasul, G., Wahid, S. M., Neupane, N., ... & Sieber, S. (2019). Integrated modelling of the impacts of hydropower projects on the water-food-energy nexus in a transboundary Himalayan river basin.
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This refers to there only being two suppliers available to provide a specific good or service to customers.
An example of a duopoly is Airbus and Boeing dominating the aircraft manufacturing industry. Like oligopolies, duopolies share many of the disadvantages of monopolies, limited consumer choice or influence and limited supplier motivation for resource efficiency; however there can be price and brand differentiation within a duopoly which provides limited consumer choice. There is sometimes perceived to be a greater risk of collusion between two companies dominating the market than there might be with a larger number of suppliers.
Duopoly is a term normally found in business economics and financial management.
Explore our learning zone to discover more
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Most Texans already know that the state’s fortunes were and are fueled by oil and natural gas. What many don’t realize, however, is just how much the future of the Lone Star State will be powered by renewable energy. With the Green Energy in Texas series, we will explore various aspects of the green energy industry and keep you informed on how those changes and innovations might affect your Texas electricity bill.
2017: Are We Seeing a New Dawn for Solar Power in the Lone Star State?
News Flash! Texas generates the most electricity with wind in the nation. But while there’s also a strong potential for solar-produced electricity in the state, it has been largely ignored in favor of bigger profits from less expensive wind farms — until now.
In recent years, a variety of solar costs affecting the industry as a whole lowered to make solar power even more attractive. In particular, the price of polysilicon used to make photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels has declined in recent years. In the first quarter of 2014, polysilicon cost $21.70/kg, and they fell even further by the first quarter of 2016 – to $14.16/kg. Prices for PV modules (typically 6×10 solar cells) are expected to fall from US $0.38/Watt at the start of 2017 to US $0.33/Watt by the end of 2017 due to fierce global competition between manufacturers.
The other big factor pushing development is the extension of the federal investment tax credit. Both residential and utility solar projects can receive a 30% tax credit when construction on the project begins – as long at it’s before 2019. The tax credit will benefit homeowners and help utility-scale solar power projects recoup their investment more quickly. And this will make them better positioned to compete against fossil fueled power plants.
How Does This Impact Solar Power in Texas?
Currently, Texas has roughly 500 megawatts of installed solar generation. However, solar power development is expected to boom in 2017. This past June, ERCOT released its Long-Term System Assessment, revealing that, if current trends continued, solar would generate 200,000 MW by 2031 — about 17% of all power in Texas. To boost this prediction, by August 2016, 8.32 GW worth of solar projects under development had applied to ERCOT for grid connection.
Will This Solar Power Impact My Texas Electricity Bill?
Because solar farms ultimately have to compete against wind and natural gas fired plants, it’s unlikely they will increase your electricity bills – though transmission costs from your local utility company might be a different matter.
The biggest change may come from coal. Many experts believe the declining costs for solar and other renewable energy sources may already be contributing to the end of aging coal-fired generation in Texas because ultimately it will be too expensive to compete.
In the next installment of Green Energy in Texas, we’ll explore the basics of photovoltaic (PV) cell technology.
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Britain’s energy regulator issued the first of its annual Electricity Capacity Assessments. Its conclusions could have wide-ranging impacts on energy prices and has provoked rumours of potential black outs in 2015.
Ofgem expects some coal-fired power stations will have to stop generating electricity because of long-standing environmental legislation. The power stations are deemed too environmentally damaging to keep operating and may have to be closed before the winter of 2015-16.
This means that the amount of spare electricity capacity in the network to keep your kettle boiling could dip from a comfortable 14% to a much more risky 4% in three years time. The risk of power cuts then becomes much greater.
Risk of power cuts
Power cuts and possible price hikes – sounds like something needs to be done. In fact, the issue of electricity capacity has been on the political agenda for some time. And in May the government published a Draft Energy Bill to deal with this (the full legislation will be published later this year).
The Energy Bill will aim to address the issue of a shortfall in electricity, the idea being that it will put in place mechanisms to secure the billions of pounds worth of investment that we need for new power generation like wind farms and nuclear power plants.
Ofgem also urged the government to make a decision on what is known as a capacity mechanism which is basically a way of ensuring a certain amount of capacity is available. Of course that’s all essential if we want to keep the lights on but who foots the bill for that investment? You guessed it, we, the consumer are picking up the tab.
Affordable energy for everyone
We want to see the government put affordability for the consumer at the heart of the reforms to the energy market. If you’re already struggling to pay your bills you cannot be expected to stump up endless amounts of cash. We will be pressing the government to make sure affordability is high on the agenda in the Energy Bill.
Domestic energy bills have been on the up in recent years and that’s unlikely to change in the near future. This is partly due to the need for investment in new power generation. And even if we don’t make this investment, prices are likely to go up due to our reliance on gas generated abroad.
Time and again you’ve told us that rising prices for gas and electricity are one of your major concerns so we want to make sure that no further strain is put onto household budgets this way. Do you think the government is doing enough to make sure we have an affordable energy system?
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The transparency law of United States has been in force since 1966 and with it has earned 83 points in the Global Right to Information Rating (RTI Rating). With that score United States is now ranked 69 in the transparency ranking formed by 123 countries, meaning it is among those that must improve its laws in order to guarantee access to information.
This index ranks countries giving them a score of 0-150 depending on the strength of its legal framework which guarantees the right to information.
In the next table you can also see the scores obtained by United States in each of the groups that make up the index. Access the list with the classification of all countries by clicking on RTI Rating and the economic information for United States by clicking on Economy of United States.
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- PRIMARY INCOME OR MAIN INCOME
- INVESTMENT INCOME
- NET INCOME
- GROSS INCOME
In simple words whatever you are earning is your income .For example if you are salaried person salary is your income .
If you are small business person than net business income is your income .
There is a myth that Income is Capital .You can describe income is Increase In Capital not Capital Itself.
Income is part of Capital .
Conversion of Income into Long term Capital
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To exist today is to be connected. Inter-industry, supranational integration of supply chains is the field of active research. Large old consulting companies, such as IBM, Microsoft or EY, as well as new independent projects are already integrating their solutions into public platforms. For example, Microsoft announced the launch of an identification system based on the Bitcoin blockchain, with Civic being one of its partners; Amazon extends its service from IBM’s platforms to Ethereum.
Until now, there has never existed a supranational platform where participants of long supply chains could plan everything from start to finish. When tracking & accounting systems are compatible-by-default, transactions are not to be made spontaneously, and not necessarily in a local-interaction-points logic. Every business transaction is to be an act of the activity being registered in the complete supply chain. An act of planning gives birth to the transaction; it starts to fully exist before it actually happens. Each individual actor now depends not only from direct partners (buyers, suppliers, and capital providers), but also from all other participants in the supply chain, along its entire length.
Since your failure becomes the failure of others, everybody suddenly cares about you.
Illustration: Stochastic Method vs Analytical or Why Could Free Market Lose to Plannable Supply Chains
Let’s determine the area of this figure cut from a piece of cardboard.
1. Stochastic Method (aka Free Market)
We have no theory and no idea about planimetry. We have no ruler, no scales, no beakers. We cannot measure distances and angles, we cannot weigh the cardboard and compare the mass with one of the known-area samples of the same material and the same thickness, we cannot put the figure in water and calculate the displacement volume.
Without a ruler, we must start with obtaining the unit figure whose area is exactly 1 unit. It doesn’t have to be a square, but it needs to fit the measured figure completely, with minimum margins, like this:
Then we wait for rain and — once it’s raining lightly, only a little — put the two-layer sandwich under it. We let the drops cover the boards, but only as long as we can distinguish the individual drops. Then we count the number of drops inside the figure and divide by the total number of drops. The ratio is the wanted area, measured in units. The more drops (statistical set) we collect, the more accurate the result. This is the simplest interpretation of a very popular Monte Carlo method.
The described approach allows us to obtain a very approximate answer, but considering the level of ignorance and a state of being without tools for research, it’s a great compromise.
Every transaction in the free market is like a drop of that rain. The free market relies on the natural flow of natural incentives; it simply waits for decisions of market participants and voters on all issues and averages the results, in the form of equilibrium prices and democratic management decisions. To function better, the free market “needs a bigger board”, to involve as many countries as possible.
Of course, there are elements of planning and regulation but, globally, free markets do not represent a sufficiently coherent and sustainable system; ultimately, the system lacks a solid scientific basis. Although Nobel prizes in economics are given on a fairly regular basis, including those for theories that contradict each other, people do not live in accordance with any “universal laws of nature” and do not obey any rules that would serve all of humankind.
This disarray system is quite attractive: it postulates the goal of avoiding violence and stimulates initiative. The system was tested by life in a statistically significant number of cases over a long time period. There are drawbacks as well. While based on the belief of the equality of all, the system rolls down to an excessive economic inequality, both among people and among regions. The system is weak when faced with urgent or very large tasks, such as the global energy shortage.
2. Analytical Method (aka Plannable Supply Chains)
If we have a long enough ruler, our approach to area measurement changes:
- Choose a reference point and a step;
- Mark the entire field with two angled sets of parallel lines (the grid);
- Count how many parallelograms (elements) get inside the target shape and add half the number of crossed (boundary) elements.
Compared to the previous method, this method is more accurate and the role of luck is almost null. Of course, the choice of reference point and the angles of the grid affects the results, but with sufficient resolution of the measurement, this dependence is insignificant.
Many companies don’t rely solely on the natural market; they have long-term plans. In fact, sometimes they even artificially create demand. Since the basic material needs of people in rich countries have been met decades ago, there is no real sense in many things a typical modern consumer basket contains, less so in their periodic renewals.
Planning is natural for humans; however, although it’s reasonable, it’s not easy. Even basic planning tasks may puzzle. For example, manufacturing bolts, nuts, gaskets, and spring rings takes different technologies that spend different amounts of energy per mass and per product unit, and create different relative amounts of waste. That is, with a change in the volume of production of complete sets, the energy and waste utilization change non-linearly. In relation to the total number of different products in the sub-economy under consideration, the number of arithmetic operations to calculate a balanced production plan is growing faster than the degree of 3. Until now, the tracking systems and computing power necessary for accurate transnational production planning have never been combined into a sufficiently powerful single fist.
Suppose that, in addition to the ruler, we got a pair of dividers, a protractor, and most importantly — a miracle of planimetry knowledge. From the height of such wisdom, we can select regular parts inside the figure (triangular and elliptic elements, the area of which can be calculated by simple formulas) and apply the previous method to the remaining “chaotic” boundaries. Accuracy is up, labor costs are down.
Planned economy is not a command economy!
The “laws” of economics, even if they exist in the truly scientific sense, can hardly be changed, but they can be tamed, just as a carefully constructed dam does not cancel gravity, but turns the threat of flooding into a source of light and heat.
In a conventional economy, the consumer (chaotic, irregular) sector is dominant and everything is based on it. Personal consumption and personal income determine the limits of the possible. If the economy turns around a small amount of money, the large-scale transformation that requires huge investments is impossible.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The physical limits lie elsewhere. In our analogy, the consumer sector is an outside contour area, the “irregular boundary”. The inner core of the system can be scientifically managed; it can be based on the “laws” (that we don’t know just yet) and corresponding formulas, making it fully predictable.
Just as we can distinguish analytically computable areas in our figure — “ellipses” and “triangles” — we can reserve “regular” sectors in the economy. Vital and comprehensive industries, such as energy, can be taken care of in “analytical” circuits, independent of the market forces, the institution of ownership, and the construct of “money” itself.
If you spend three hours to collect firewood in your deep-forest off-grid cabin, and then spend three hours reading a book by the fireplace, do you value these activities equal? In supply chains, the order in which things happen is important. Without energy, nothing can be created. In a city where there is no electricity, within a few days there will be no functioning municipality. Just summing up the contribution of energy to the GDP, on the same grounds as sales of a mobile app store, is neglecting common sense. If we were to observe the true value of the sector, our attitudes towards regulating it would be way stricter.
Money in such a sub-system serves only as a means of accounting; it creates no profits. In the “regular” sectors of the economy, planning will provide added value to the extent the society is willing to contribute to its survival. The amount of effective spendable demand of the population will cease to be a physical limitation, as it is in the quantitative theory of money.
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A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is created and managed through the use of advanced cryptographic techniques known as cryptography. Cryptocurrency made the leap from being an academic concept to (virtual) reality with the creation of Bitcoin in 2009.1 While Bitcoin has attracted a growing following in the following years, it has captured a great deal of attention from investors and the media alike. April of 2013 when it hit the record of $ 266 per year. bitcoin after rising 10x in the previous two months.
Bitcoin had a market value of over $ 2 billion at its peak, but a 50% drop shortly thereafter sparked intense debate over the future of cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular.2 So these altcoins will eventually replace conventional currencies. and will one day become as ubiquitous as dollars and euros? Or are cryptocurrencies a fad that will disappear in no time? The answer is in Bitcoin.
The future of cryptocurrencies
Some economic analysts predict that there will be a big shift in cryptocurrencies as institutional money enters the market.3 Additionally, there is a possibility that cryptocurrencies will float on the Nasdaq, which would add even more credibility to blockchain and its uses as an alternative to technology conventional. currencies. 4 Some expect all cryptocurrencies they need to be a verified exchange-traded fund (ETF). 5 An ETF would certainly make it easier for people to invest in Bitcoin, but there still has to be demand that they want to invest in cryptocurrencies, the which may not be automatically generated with a background.
Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that uses peer-to-peer technology, which allows all functions, such as currency issuing, transaction processing and verification, to be done collectively by the network.6 While this decentralization frees For Bitcoin from government manipulation or interference, the downside is that there is no central authority to ensure things run smoothly or to support the value of a Bitcoin. Bitcoins are created digitally through a “mining” process that requires powerful computers to solve complex algorithms and process numbers. Currently they are created at the rate of 25 Bitcoins every 10 minutes and will have a limit of 21 million, a level that is expected to reach in 2140.7
These features make Bitcoin fundamentally different from a fiat currency, which is backed by the full faith and credit of your government. The issuance of fiat currency is a highly centralized activity controlled by a nation’s central bank. Although the bank regulates the amount of currency issued in accordance with its monetary policy objectives, there is theoretically no upper limit on the amount of that currency issued. Additionally, local currency deposits are usually insured against bank failures by a government agency. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has no such support mechanisms. The value of a Bitcoin totally depends on what investors are willing to pay for it at any given time. Furthermore, if a Bitcoin exchange is closed, customers with Bitcoin balances cannot resort to recover them.
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So says the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee — a group of economists charged with officially determining whether the economy is in a state of expansion or contraction:
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met yesterday by conference call. At its meeting, the committee determined that a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007 and the beginning of an expansion. The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months.
**In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity. Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month. **
A recession is a period of falling economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. The trough marks the end of the declining phase and the start of the rising phase of the business cycle. Economic activity is typically below normal in the early stages of an expansion, and it sometimes remains so well into the expansion.
Of course, the fact that the recession technically ended means little to the millions of businesses and workers still suffering. But now we can officially gauge how far behind economic growth the labor-market recovery is trailing:
Employment never returned to where it was after the eight-month 2001 recession, caused by the stock and tech bubbles: The unemployment rate continued to tick up for two years after that recession’s technical end, and dwindled down only slowly. And now, the jobs gap is even greater.
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|After-tax Profits - Y/Y change||4.3%|
Corporate profits are derived from the national income and product accounts and are expressed in several measures. Econoday's focus is on the most relevant measure for the total economy, after-tax profits.
Corporate profits are the lifeblood of investment spending. Profits are the income of a corporation. When profits are strong, then companies will be able to increase their capital spending. This could allow better growth prospects for a company and is likely to increase its underlying value. When corporate profits decline, then capital spending tends to decline. Without the potential for growth, a company could be at a disadvantage, particularly in our global economic environment.
Corporate profits also reveal the health of an organization. When a company's profits are anemic during economic expansion, it suggests that the company is not performing efficiently. The value of an inefficient company is determined by its stock price. Thus weak profits signal lower stock prices. When a company's profits are relatively strong, even during an economic downturn, it usually means that the organization is well-managed. The higher value for this type of company is reflected in a higher stock price.
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The ‘How Money Works’ program explores techniques to earn money and manage it by budgeting, saving and investing.
Qatar’s youth are learning about best practices related to earning money, budgeting, planning saving, investments and banking.
In an effort to improve financial literacy in the younger population, Qatar Islamic Bank’s ‘How money works’ program graduated 515 secondary school and university students from more than 70 institutions in Qatar in the first semester of Academic Year 2020/2021.
‘How Money Works?’ is a three-year innovative financial literacy programme by QIB, in collaboration with Injaz Qatar and aims to educate the young generation in Qatar on elementary notions and practices related to finance and business.
The program was held virtually in September and October 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, and over the course of three sessions saw record attendance. Since its launch in 2018, the programme has benefited more than 1,300 students.
“We look forward to kicking off the last semester of the program in February 2021, and to continue contributing to educating future leaders and empowering the youth of Qatar to make informed decisions in their everyday life,” said Mashaal Abdulaziz al-Derham, assistant general manager, head of corporate communications & quality assurance at QIB.
According to the Union of Arab Bankers, 2 out of 3 adults in the world are financially illiterate – in other words, most people around the world lack an understanding of basic financial concepts.
Researchers link positive credit outcomes as adults to participation in youth financial literacy courses. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the private sector, governments, and civil society organisations’ collaboration on financial education for high-school students.
The project is also part of one of the core objectives of Qatar’s Second Strategic Plan for the financial sector 2017-2022, which is designed to promote financial inclusion and financial literacy within the country.
The plan which was launched by Qatar Central Bank (QCB), Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) and Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) constitutes an important building block for achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030.
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Unclaimed money is money left untouched by its owner in organisations like banks, or with a person such as a solicitor. The length of time that passes before it becomes unclaimed money is generally 5 years. In certain cases it can be less than 5 years.
After the organisation, or person has been unsuccessful in trying to find the owner, most unclaimed money is transferred to us, the Public Trust or Treasury.
We administer unclaimed money that comes under the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. Some examples are:
- deposits in banks and financial institutions
- money in solicitors' trust accounts
- unpaid wages and employee benefits (including unpaid holiday pay)
- proceeds of life insurance policies.
Some types of money are not considered unclaimed under the Act and are managed by Treasury. These include:
- any unclaimed money covered by the Public Finance Act 1989
- bona vacantia or ownerless money
- other types of property such as cryptocurrencies
Treasury has examples showing which types of unclaimed money are held by other agencies.
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Since the Great Recession in 2008, the economic recovery has been particularly slow, especially when compared to the historical norm. Between 1947 and 2016, the average growth rate during economic expansion periods was 4.19%, but during the current expansion between 2009 and 2016, the GDP growth was merely 2.12%, half of the long term average (see Table 1).
Normally, we would expect a V-shape recovery after a deep recession, but this recovery is more like a L-shape. Many economists attributed the slow growth to structural reasons such as aging population or slow productivity growth, but we believe cyclical and policy factors may have more impacts here.
Table 1: The Growth Rates of GDP and Its Components (Q2, 1947-Q4, 2016)
Table 1 shows the comparison of the average growth rates of GDP and its components between the most recent expansion and all the expansion periods after WWII. Consumption, investments and government spending all underperformed the historical averages. Moreover, the government spending had a negative contribution to the GDP growth. We may be able to explain the slow growth of each component and total GDP with the following three charts.
1. High household leverage hampered consumption as households had to save more in order to reduce debt burden. Figure 1 shows that after reaching its highest level of 95.5%, the household debt-to-GDP ratio declined to 78.8% as saving rates increased.
Figure 1: House Debt-to-GDP Ratio and Personal Savings Rate
2. The efforts and austerity measures to balance federal budgets worked against economic growth. Figure 2 shows budget deficits as a percentage of GDP reached the highest post-WWII level (-9.8%) after the Great Recession. The US government, especially the Congress rushed to cut spending and balance the budgets. Those efforts may be necessary, but they slowed the economic recovery.
Figure 2: Federal Budget Deficit as a Percentage of GDP
3. Excess capacity dis-incentivized business from increasing investment spending. Figure 3 shows the current total industry capacity utilization rate of 75.5% was well below the pre-crisis level.
Figure 3: Total Industry Capacity Utilization Rate
How can we get out of the low-growth “new normal”? Fiscal policies such as infrastructure spending and tax cuts can definitely help. After eight years of fiscal conservatism, the government balance sheet is in a better shape. The US budget deficits have improved from 9.8% of GDP to 3.2%. It is a better time for us to use fiscal measures to stimulate the economy, especially after we have exhausted other tools like monetary policies.
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You’ve probably heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but do you know what they do? The Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) are often called “government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs). These entities are privately owned, but they get support from the federal government. The GSEs play a significant role in the mortgage market; in fact, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee many of the mortgages in the United States.
If you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan and are having trouble paying your mortgage or are facing a foreclosure, various workout options are potentially available to you. Homeowners with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, for instance, have access to specific mortgage-relief options after suffering a financial hardship due to COVID-19. For example, suppose you received a forbearance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (see below). In that case, you won’t necessarily have to repay skipped amounts in a lump sum when the forbearance period ends. Under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, you might qualify for:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide stable funding for the housing and mortgage markets, but they don’t make loans directly to home buyers. Instead, the GSEs support the nation’s housing finance system through the secondary mortgage market by purchasing or guaranteeing home mortgages.
Here’s how the secondary mortgage market works: A borrower typically gets a home loan directly from a bank or mortgage company. In most cases, though, the original lender won’t hold on to the loan. Lenders usually sell the loans they originate to other banks or investors, like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, on what’s called the secondary mortgage market. The mortgages that the GSEs buy must meet strict criteria. These loans are called “conforming loans.” After purchasing loans from banks and mortgage companies, the GSEs either hold the mortgages in their portfolios or aggregate (pool) them into debt securities called mortgage-backed securities, which are then sold to investors. This process is called “securitization.” To reduce the investors’ risk, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac often guarantee payment of principal and interest on their mortgage-backed securities in exchange for a fee. By guaranteeing the loan, the GSEs agree to pay the investor even if the borrower defaults.
Because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continually purchase mortgages from banks and mortgage companies, lenders have a steady cash source to keep making loans to new borrowers.
The CARES Act permits homeowners with federally backed mortgage loans, like ones that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac purchased or securitized, to get a forbearance.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, suspended foreclosures and REO evictions because of the coronavirus pandemic. The foreclosure moratorium applies to Fannie- and Freddie-backed, single-family mortgages. The REO eviction moratorium applies to properties that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has acquired through foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure transactions. Also, across the country, various states and cities have imposed temporary foreclosure and eviction suspensions.
Borrowers with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans get access to specific mortgage-relief programs and foreclosure avoidance options. One possibility is a Flex Modification, a unique loan modification program for borrowers with GSE-owned loans. The Flex Modification program generally lowers an eligible borrower’s mortgage payment by around 20%.
If you received a CARES Act forbearance, you get access to different repayment options, like Flex modifications and other kinds of modifications, when the forbearance expires.
To learn more about Flex Modifications and other workout options for borrowers with Fannie Mae loans, go to Fannie Mae’s Know Your Options website. To find out if Fannie Mae owns your mortgage loan, go to www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup or call 800-2Fannie (800-232-6643). For more information about Freddie Mac and how it works, go to the Freddie Mac website. To find out if Freddie Mac owns your mortgage loan, use Freddie Mac's Loan Lookup tool.
If you’re behind in your mortgage payments—or think you soon will be—and want to learn about different ways to avoid a foreclosure, consider contacting a HUD-approved housing counselor. A housing counselor can help you understand the specific options available to you, whether Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or another entity owns your home loan. You can also call your servicer to learn about different options. If you want to learn about foreclosure procedures in your state, including how long the process takes, talk to a foreclosure lawyer.
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What Does Predictive Analytics Mean?
Predictive analytics describes a range of analytical and statistical techniques used for developing models that may be used to predict future events or behaviors. There are different forms of predictive models, which vary based on the event or behavior that is being predicted. Nearly all predictive models produce a score; a higher score indicates that a given event or behavior is very likely to occur.
Predictive analytics, along with data mining techniques and predictive models, relies on multivariate analyzing techniques, including time-series or advanced regression models. These techniques allow organizations to decide on relationships and trends and predict future behaviors or events.
Techopedia Explains Predictive Analytics
Some common examples of predictive models are those used by credit bureaus for developing credit scores. The credit bureaus make use of information, including income, outstanding loan balances, credit history and so on, to develop a credit score for predicting whether the person is likely to be able to repay his or her present and future debts.
Predictive analytics offers the following benefits:
- Provides a quantitative foundation to rapidly recognize, confidently practice and rationally assess opportunities
- Helps to identify the type of individuals to target, how to get in touch with them, when to contact them and what messages should be used for communicating with them
Organizations that make use of predictive analytics in their day-to-day activities achieve the following benefits:
- Enhance business processes to improve decision-making and achieve the ability to automate, optimize and direct decisions as per demand to reach business goals
- Manage current challenges and boost the probability of future success
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Economics Questions Case Studies Example
In appropriative doctrine, the first user is protected against later arrival. The law applied here is first in use, first in right. The rights of the first person to use a scarce resource like water are protected and due to high demand, the first people to apply for water connection gets the first priority. This is connected to stochastic dominance where gamble A receives the first order stochastic dominance over gamble B.
Inefficiency in economics means that scarce resources are not put to their best use. Inefficiency leads to market failure where the market cannot produce optimally to support the needs of the economy. Inefficiencies mainly arises where when the market is not perfectly competitive especially in monopolies. Most of public goods are produced by the government and therefore the government has the sole power to produce that good. Such goods will be highly priced and the production will be low since demand from the whole public is high and every person is fighting to use that one scarce resource. In this case, water is a scarce resource and it is also a public good and since its provision is through the government it leads to inefficiency in production to meet the whole demand. The government should protect the interests of water users in the provision for the service is privately owned. This can be done through passing laws of consumer protection. Therefore we expect market failure to arise in the absence of a well-functioning market for water rights.
The reason why output maximizing level of technology is not the same as the profit maximizing level of applied water is because there are some water components which are not included in the production process. After obtaining water from its source, the water has components such as consumed water quantity, non-consumed water quantity and non-recoverable water quantity.
Analysis of water-use efficiency potential is not easily identifiable because one cannot differentiate between beneficial and non-beneficial consumptive uses.
Consumptive use refers to water that is unavailable for reuse in the from which it was extracted due to incorporation into plant biomass, evaporation, transfer to another basin, seepage to a saline sink and contamination.
According to Caswell-Zimmerman (1986), the choice of a farmer’s irrigation technology can have a large influence on the demand for water applied, therefore description of how farmers select irrigation methods.
Current market Price
Initial quantity Quantity after quality improvement
Programming valuation of water is the marginal contribution measured as the change in sectorial output from the real allocation of water across the entire economy.
Hedonic valuation of water is the pricing method used to estimate the economic values for ecosystem or environmental services that directly affect market prices. It is commonly applied to variations in housing prices and Consumer Price Index that reflect the value of local environmental attributes. Hedonic model use regression analysis to analyse data. It is a revealed preference method also called demand theory.
Programming valuation method applies to the entire economy while hedonic valuation applies to values of ecosystem. Hedonic valuation applies to services which directly affect the market prices while programming valuation does not apply to market prices.
Please remember that this paper is open-access and other students can use it too.
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Low-income individuals pay a higher amount of taxes compared to high-income earners under a regressive tax system. That's because the government assesses tax as a percentage of the value of the asset that a taxpayer purchases or owns. This type of tax has no correlation with an individual's earnings or income level.1?
Regressive taxes include property taxes, sales taxes on goods, and excise taxes on consumables, such as gasoline or airfare. Excise taxes are fixed and they're included in the price of the product or service.
Sin taxes, a subset of excise taxes, are imposed on commodities or activities that are perceived to be unhealthy or have a negative effect on society, such as cigarettes, gambling, and alcohol. They're levied in an effort to deter individuals from purchasing these products. Sin tax critics argue that these disproportionately affect those who are less well off.
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Financial Statements for Decision-Making
Learn how journal entries, consolidating ledgers, and preparing the final accounts support the decision making process.
Take this certificate on your own.
Start now and learn at your own pace.
CertificationView course modules
Financial Statements for Decision Making is a free online course that teaches the processes involved in preparing the types of financial records for decision-making. This course will enhance your knowledge of the interactions between financial transactions and financial records. The course begins with an illustration of passing journal entries and preparing financial statements using key accounting principles.
Next, you will learn about recording a series of transactions involving credit payments and supplies - purchases and sales returns. You will also study the effects of transactions such as drawings and cash purchases, as well as applying the real account principle. Then, you will analyze the process of consolidating the journal entries in the ledger account using Excel spreadsheets. Finally, you will discuss different aspects of the ledger and how to prepare the profit or loss statement and the balance sheet.
This free online course aims at teaching you the interactions between financial statements and its function in decision-making for individuals and businesses. This course will be of interest to students, accountants, financial enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in applying information from financial records.Start Course Now
Types of Financial Records
Types of Financial Records - Learning Outcomes
Accounting Principles for Journal Entries
Recording Journal Entries
Effects of Journal Entries
Consolidating the Ledger Account
Types of Financial Records - Lesson Summary
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Recognize the fundamental concepts of financial accounting
- Identify the types of financial statements
- Explain the double-entry system of accounting
- Evaluate the effects of different types of financial transactions
- Analyze the process of preparing the final accounts
- Identify major assumptions of the cash flow statement
- Categorize the major activities of the cash flow statement
- Distinguish the direct and indirect methods of cash flow statements
- Recognize the importance of the annual report to the stakeholders
- Describe the importance of financial statement analysis to decision-making
All Alison courses are free to enrol, study and complete. To successfully complete this Certificate course and become an Alison Graduate, you need to achieve 80% or higher in each course assessment. Once you have completed this Certificate course, you have the option to acquire an official Certificate, which is a great way to share your achievement with the world. Your Alison Certificate is:
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All Certificates are available to purchase through the Alison Shop. For more information on purchasing Alison Certificates, please visit our FAQs. If you decide not to purchase your Alison Certificate, you can still demonstrate your achievement by sharing your Learner Record or Learner Achievement Verification, both of which are accessible from your Dashboard. For more details on our Certificate pricing, please visit our Pricing Page.
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- What are the six major characteristics of a pure market economy?
- What is a pure market economy sometimes called?
- Which is the best example of a market economy?
- What is a pure market economy?
- What are the disadvantages of a pure market economy?
- What are the 5 market failures?
- Is a positive externality a market failure?
- Why is a pure market economy bad?
- What are the 4 types of market failures?
- What causes market inefficiency?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the free market system?
- What are the pros and cons of a market economy?
- What is a pure free market?
- Who has a pure market economy?
- Why a market economy is the best?
- Who has a free market economy?
- Who benefits from the free market economy?
- What are the 5 features of a market economy?
What are the six major characteristics of a pure market economy?
What are the six major characteristics of a pure market economy.
Freedom of enterprise, little or no government control, freedom of choice, private property, profit incentive, and competition..
What is a pure market economy sometimes called?
A pure market economy is sometimes called pure. capitalism.
Which is the best example of a market economy?
The United States is the best example of market economies where the free flow of goods and services facilitates and protects both producers and consumers. First, there is no governmental control, and the exchange of goods and services is determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply.
What is a pure market economy?
PURE MARKET ECONOMY: An economy, or economic system, that relies exclusively on markets to allocate resources and to answer all three questions of allocation. This theoretical ideal has no governments, markets are used to make all allocation decisions.
What are the disadvantages of a pure market economy?
Disadvantages Of A Free Market EconomyPoor Quality. Since profit maximization is the biggest motivation for firms, they may try to reduce their costs unethically. … Merit Goods. Goods and services that are not profitable will not be produced or run. … Excessive Power of Firms. … Unemployment and Inequality.
What are the 5 market failures?
Types of market failureProductive and allocative inefficiency.Monopoly power.Missing markets.Incomplete markets.De-merit goods.Negative externalities.
Is a positive externality a market failure?
With positive externalities, the buyer does not get all the benefits of the good, resulting in decreased production. … In this case, the market failure would be too much production and a price that didn’t match the true cost of production, as well as high levels of pollution.
Why is a pure market economy bad?
Disadvantages of a Market Economy Market economies are also not without disadvantages: Disparity in wealth and mobility exists in market economies because wealth tends to generate wealth. In other words, it’s easier for wealthy individuals to become wealthier than it is for the poor to become wealthy.
What are the 4 types of market failures?
The four types of market failures are public goods, market control, externalities, and imperfect information. Public goods causes inefficiency because nonpayers cannot be excluded from consumption, which then prevents voluntary market exchanges.
What causes market inefficiency?
Due to the structure of markets, it may be impossible for them to be perfect. Reasons for market failure include: positive and negative externalities, environmental concerns, lack of public goods, underprovision of merit goods, overprovision of demerit goods, and abuse of monopoly power.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the free market system?
The advantage of a free market economy is that when it works, it can both reward and perpetuate innovation and hard work. A disadvantage of free market economies is that they are inherently more risky and thus tend to favor those who start out with more capital and resources.
What are the pros and cons of a market economy?
This means that companies will produce enough of a product, _and only enough, t_o meet consumers’ needs.Pro: Competition Drives Down Prices. … Pro: Minimizes Waste. … Con: Disregard of the Greater Good. … Con: Outcomes are Inequitable. … Pro or Con: Compromises Are Often Necessary.
What is a pure free market?
A free market is one where voluntary exchange and the laws of supply and demand provide the sole basis for the economic system, without government intervention. A key feature of free markets is the absence of coerced (forced) transactions or conditions on transactions.
Who has a pure market economy?
The United States is the world’s premier market economy. One reason for its success is the U.S. Constitution.
Why a market economy is the best?
The advantages of a market economy include increased efficiency, productivity, and innovation. In a truly free market, all resources are owned by individuals, and the decisions about how to allocate such resources are made by those individuals rather than governing bodies.
Who has a free market economy?
Switzerland and Australia round out the 2019 top five, having 81.9% and 80.9% free economies, respectively. The United States, with the world’s most advanced financial markets, is 76.8% economically free, as of 2019.
Who benefits from the free market economy?
Supporters of a free market economy claim that the system has the following advantages: It contributes to political and civil freedom, in theory, since everybody has the right to choose what to produce or consumer. It contributes to economic growth and transparency. It ensures competitive markets.
What are the 5 features of a market economy?
Characteristics of a Market Economy (free enterprise)Private Property.Economic Freedom.Consumer Sovereignty.Competition.Profit.Voluntary Exchange.Limited Government Involvement.
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No matter what kind of investment you are making, there is always a degree of risk you are willing to take. Entrepreneurs are the best at assessing these risks, throwing their money and time, and ultimately making the big bucks from those otherwise risky investments. Personal risk tolerance is the amount of risk that an investor is comfortable taking or the degree of uncertainty that an investor is able to handle. Risk tolerance often varies with age, income, and financial goals. It can be determined by many methods, including questionnaires designed to reveal the level at which an investor can invest but still be able to sleep at night. The reward for taking on risk is the potential for a greater investment return. If you have a financial goal with a long time horizon, you may make more money by carefully investing in higher risk assets, such as stocks or bonds, than if limit yourself to less risky assets. On the other hand, lower risk cash investments may be appropriate for short-term financial goals.
An aggressive investor, or one with a high risk tolerance, is willing to risk losing money to get potentially better results. A conservative investor, or one with a low risk tolerance, favors investments that maintain his or her original investment.
Many investment websites offer free online questionnaires to help you assess your risk tolerance. Some of the websites will even estimate asset allocations based on responses to the questionnaires. While the suggested asset allocations may be a useful starting point, keep in mind that the results may be biased towards financial products or services sold by companies or individuals sponsoring the websites.
Risk Tolerance VS Risk Capacity
Risk tolerance involves a feature known as risk capacity, which identifies the amount of risk you can afford to take. This differs from the risk you are willing to take. For example, you may be comfortable with an aggressive, high-risk portfolio, but if you have only a few years to reach your investment goal, such as retirement, it may not be appropriate to have a portfolio of 100% stocks. In this case, you might be better served with a more conservative portfolio to preserve the investment assets you’ll need for retirement.
Main Points of Risk Capacity
- Risk capacity and risk tolerance work together to determine the amount of risk taken in an investor’s personal portfolio.
- Risk capacity often has to do with an investor’s income and financial resources.
- Risk tolerance usually depends on many factors, including one’s financial plans for the future, income, job, and age.
The problem many investors face is that their risk tolerance and risk capacity are not the same. When the amount of necessary risk exceeds the level the investor is comfortable taking, a shortfall most often will occur in terms of reaching future goals. On the other hand, when risk tolerance is higher than necessary, the undue risk may be taken by the individual. Investors such as these sometimes are referred to as risk lovers.
Taking the time to understand your personal risk situation may require self-discovery on your part, along with some financial planning. While attaining your personal and financial goals is possible, reason and judgment can be clouded when personal feelings are left unchecked. Therefore, working with a professional may be helpful.
Reach out for more information on our Contact Us page.
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1. 14,000 ships go through the Canal each year; 2/3 of these are headed to or from the United States.
2. A crossing takes eight to ten hours.
3. The Canal is currently financed by tolls; one luxury cruise ship paid $226,194 for passage, an all-time record.
4. New ships are often forty feet wider than the current Panama locks. Within ten years most new container ships won’t fit through the locks.
5. Any rebuilding would involve considerable flooding of territory and the relocation of Panamanian citizens.
6. The Panamanian economy is relatively healthy, but heavily reliant on canal revenue.
7. Many Panamanians are reluctant to have their country take on the full cost of reconstruction.
Here is one account of how the Canal might be rebuilt.
The bottom line: We have a classic bargaining game here. Building a broader Canal is profitable, but who should pay? The longer the Panamanians hold out, the more likely the U.S. will sweeten the pot for improvements. Since the Canal is an object of national pride, they won’t just sell equity in the project. In the meantime they might give the Chinese a larger hand in the project, just to make us nervous. My prediction? The improvements will take at least five to ten years longer than they ought to.
By the way, if you’ve never seen the Canal, I recommend a trip to Panama. For me it is one of the world’s great wonders and the country is lovely.
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In our previous post we have already talked about carbon offset projects and their importance. We have also talked about one of the biggest currently existing CO2-compensation programs – The Gold Standard. In this post we will introduce another one of such programs – the Verified Carbon Standard Program or The VCS Program.
The amount of projects supported by the VCS is just slightly smaller as compared to the relevant amount of the Gold Project programs: 1300 vs. 1400. During the course of its existence, the VCS projects have removed more than 200 million tonnes of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
The organization administering the VCS currently has the name of Verra (even though formerly it had the same name as the program itself). Verra is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington D.C.
History of the program
The history of VCS dates back to 2005. That year several global environmentally-oriented organizations gathered a team of global carbon market experts to draft the first requirements. Among these organizations were The Climate Group, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and The World Economic Forum. Very soon after the project initiation The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) joined the team. Already after 3 years, by 2008, the newly-developed standard was widely accepted all over the globe.
The goal and how it works
Just like the Gold Standard, the VCS focuses on ensuring that the emission reductions promised by various environmental projects actually took place. The projects that satisfy all the strict conditions of the program gain tradable greenhouse gas certificates or Verified Carbon Units (VCUs). Individuals and companies can buy or sell these Carbon Units on an open market.
According to Verra, the approved projects must satisfy the following requirements:
- One of the obvious requirements is that all the emission reductions must be real. Sufficient proof that the activities took place must exist.
- The emission reductions must also be measurable, i.e. they must be quantifiable using recognized measurement tools.
- Emission removals and reductions must be permanent. This requirement exists due to the fact that some projects may possess a risk of reversibility. Therefore, the risk of reversal must be minimized. Moreover, in most cases a mechanism to replace reductions or removals of greenhouse gases in case a reversal occurs, should be in place.
- The VCS also checks whether the stated reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are additional to what would have happened as usual scenario. This means that the stated removals or reduction must be additional to what would occur if a certain project did not exist.
- Each VCU must be unique. There can exist only environmental activity related to a certain certificate. This requirement ensures that the environmental benefits are not double-counted.
Several other requirements and criteria exist to ensure the proper and transparent functioning of all the projects. You can check them in more detail in VSC official program guide.
The VCS includes a wide range of projects. The goals of the projects vary from renewable energy to forest management and wetlands restoration. The latter deals with emission reductions in mangrove jungles, marshes, deltas and many other wetlands. These requirements are the first existing ones for restoration and conservation activities across wetland ecosystems. You can find more details about these fascinating projects here.
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The Lok Sabha cleared the Finance Bill 2019. In the Finance Bill 2019, the Minister proposed to raise tax rebate for people having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500, which will effectively ensure that they don’t have to pay any tax. Those having income of up to Rs 8-9 lakh too can take advantage of this if they invest in tax saving schemes.
In the Bill, standard deduction has also been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000,besides a host of tax benefits to home buyers.The tax proposals are aimed at helping “poor and middle class people living on tight budget”, Goyal said while moving the Finance Bill which contains tax proposals of the government.
The next government, which will be formed after the upcoming general elections, will come out with full budget in July. It will also come up with a Finance Bill containing the tax proposals for 2019-20.
Did You Know?
Direct taxes are paid in entirety by a taxpayer directly to the government. It is also defined as the tax where the liability as well as the burden to pay it resides on the same individual. Direct taxes are collected by the central government as well as state governments according to the type of tax levied. Major types of direct tax include:
- Income Tax: Levied on and paid by the same person according to tax brackets as defined by the income tax department.
- Corporate Tax: Paid by companies and corporations on their profits.
- Wealth Tax: Levied on the value of property that a person holds.
- Estate Duty: Paid by an individual in case of inheritance.
- Gift Tax: An individual receiving the taxable gift pays tax to the government.
- Fringe Benefit Tax: Paid by an employer that provides fringe benefits to employees, and is collected by the state government.
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76 – Public benefits, private benefits, and extension
This is the fourth instalment of a series that examines a simple framework for choosing environmental policy instruments, as outlined in PD#73. The framework is based on levels of public and private net benefits of changing land management, and a set of simple rules. This time we focus on the use of extension and compare it to positive incentives.
In PD#73 I showed how a set of simple and reasonable rules can lead to a map of efficient policy instruments (Figure 1). The context is an environmental manager considering prospective projects to change land use in particular ways on particular pieces of private land. The map below shows that the choice of instruments depends crucially on the levels of public and private net benefits from those projects. A particular project to change land use in particular ways on particular pieces of land would be represented by a dot somewhere on Figure 1. Depending on where the various dots lie, different types of policy response are recommended.
Figure 1. Efficient policy mechanisms for encouraging land use on private land.
Extension (e.g. education, technology transfer, communications generally) is a relatively cheap policy instrument that helps landholders to learn about the available land management practices, including practices that environmental managers would like to see adopted. (By “cheap” I mean cheap per hectare of adoption that it generates, when used in appropriate circumstances, relative to, say, payment of financial incentives.)
Only for projects that fall in the top-right area is extension likely to accelerate adoption of the land practices with high public benefits (e.g. environmental benefits). We know that those are the practices with positive public benefits because they are in the top half of the graph. Extension can work to generate adoption for these projects because the private net benefits of adoption are positive – they are on the right side of the graph – and extension could help landholders to realise this. Extension alone could not generate sustained adoption for projects in say the Technology development area because, from the perspective of private landholders, those projects generate costs larger than the benefits.
In the simple framework of PD#73, we didn’t consider the fact that, even though private net benefits from land-use change are positive in the top-right area, there may still be costs and impediments to learning that must be overcome. We also did not discuss the effect that extension can have on the lags to adoption. In reality, extension may shorten, but will probably not eliminate, the lags.
In PD#75 we argued that adoption lags (in the absence of extension or incentives) would be related to the level of private net benefits, with longer lags for practices with lower private net benefits. If we use the illustrative adoption curve from PD#75, and make some other assumptions, then we can map the area where extension will generate sufficient public benefits to offset the costs of the extension – where the benefit:cost ratio (BCR) from extension is at least 1. For the purpose of this discussion, I will assume that (a) extension reduces the adoption lag for any project by two years, (b) the real discount rate is 5%, (c) extension costs about $2/ha/year (20% of the assumed learning costs associated with land-use change, expressed in annualised form). Given those assumptions, extension could pay off anywhere above the BCR =1 line in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Benefit:cost ratios from use of extension, allowing for adoption lags and learning costs
It is not worth paying for extension if the public net benefits are too low (below about $25/ha/year in this example).
If we require higher BCRs from our investment in extension, we need to select projects that will generate higher public net benefits, and also higher private net benefits, up to a point (the point where the lag without extension is shorter than the benefit of extension). As we move further to the right side of the graph, increasing the private net benefits starts to reduce the net benefits of extension, because landholders are more inclined to adopt the new practices even without extension.
Figure 2 above can be combined with the comparable graph for incentives (Figure 3 in PD#75) to generate a new map of where positive incentives or extension would be preferred (Figure 3, below). This is a modified version of the original map in Figure 1, allowing for the additional complexities we have now built in.
Figure 3. Revised map of efficient policy mechanisms allowing for adoption lags and learning costs.
The differences between Figure 1 and Figure 3 are:
• Public benefits need to be a little higher to justify positive incentives, so we would be slightly more likely to fall back on technology development;
• Extension is not worthwhile if public net benefits are not sufficiently high, and is replaced (or perhaps supplemented) by positive incentives if there are low private net benefits.
Realistically, a BCR of 1 is not sufficient to offset program fixed costs. Figure 4 shows a version of the map if we require a higher benefit:cost ratio of 2.0 to justify positive incentives or extension. The effect is to require higher public net benefits to justify the selection of projects.
Figure 4. Revised map of efficient policy mechanisms allowing for adoption lags and learning costs, if positive incentives and extension require BCR = 2.
This figure helps to identify how environmental programs should target their efforts to achieve high payoffs. It indicates that projects are more likely to generate high payoffs to investment in positive incentives or extension if the private net benefits are closer to zero. For those projects with net private benefits that are not too different from zero, land-use change can be prompted with modest incentives, or extension can accelerate the adoption of practices that would not otherwise be adopted quickly.
It is notable that the targeting of investment depends at least as much on the level of private net benefits as on public net benefits. Indeed, the choice of high BCR projects is even more sensitive to private than to public benefits.
David Pannell, The University of Western Australia
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Children, even at a very young age, learn about money by observing parents. Besides through observation, parents can teach young children essential money skills by following some of the tips below.
Let children handle small coins and currency notes so they get a feel of it. As they learn to read numbers and letters, help them read the ones on the coins and notes. As they learn basic math skills, put a few coins on the table and let them count the numbers in different combinations. You are slowly building up their capability.
These days credit cards have become primary modes of payment and children also see parents taking money out of ATMs. Unless explained, children may assume that all they need is a plastic card that they need to have over to get things or to get cash from the machine. Parents must sit down and explain to children how money is made - through hard work. Explain what you do to children, your work, your business etc., If possible, take them to where you work so they know that mom and dad put in a hard effort to earn money. Tell children that money comes out of the ATM only because you had put it there in the first place. Also, when you get a credit card bill, talk to your child about it.
When shopping for vegetables or clothes or books or toys, read out the price of items so children know there is a price associated with everything. Do tell children when something is expensive. They need to understand early that the cost of an item is a factor in a decision to purchase. Many bookstores have discount tables, where items are on clearance. Take children there and explain their purpose.
Children are always attracted to new objects and asking us to buy things for them. Even if we can afford it, it is important that we follow a process to buy something. Rushing out and buying it immediately or buying it because the child pesters us, are bad signals for children. Use different techniques. For example, associate some of the buying with a birthday or other special occasion. Associate other purchases with an achievement or good behaviour. And if you see a sale, and decide to buy something, explain to the child that you bought it because it was cheaper to buy now and store it away for later.
Of course, while doing all this, don't forget to live life a little. Surprise your children once in a while. There is nothing like a 1000-watt smile from a surprised child. And the best part is that the surprise does not have to be expensive. It can be as simple as cotton candy or a dinner outing to a local restaurant or a movie.
Help children differentiate between what they need and what they want. For example, when buying clothes, food, books etc., explain to them that these are essentials that must be bought. When buying toys etc., explain to them about things that you want, that you have to adjust to fit within a budget and can live without.
Use real life situations to make the point. For example, you can explain why you chose to buy a Hyundai rather than a Ferrari. Or why only a certain number of clothes (of various kinds) are all that are required. Ask your kids simple questions like "How many shirts can one person wear at a time?" or "How many cars can one person travel in at one time?" etc., When you go out to a mall or to a shop, you can point out various things to your children and ask them if it is something they need or something that they want? Over time, they will clearly understand the distinction and will benefit from it.
It is also particularly important that you make this distinction when you buy things. Children often tend to see only your outward purchasing behaviour rather than the reasons for it. So if you make a medium to large purchases like a new clothes, a saree or a computer etc., explain to your children why it was needed. If it was not needed, but a want, then take the time to explain either how you waited to buy it till you saved enough and other details about it.
Advertising often prompts children to make requests. Read our article about advertising and explain advertising to your children.
Discussions about retail brands probably become more relevant when children are above 8.
Teach children the habit of saving early. For example, buy them a piggybank. Every Friday empty the coins in your pocket and give it to them to put in their piggybank. You can open the piggybank once every 6 months or so and use the money.
A great way to teach charity is to combine it with the savings piggybank. When you open the piggybank every six months, you can have your children count the money and give half to charity and use half for things they would like to buy.
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Driverless cars are preparing for launch in Milton Keynes, Partha Panda takes a look at how the new innovation will change the motor insurance market globally
Driverless cars are no longer being talked about as a future technology - they are on the roads. From the time of announcements of launches by different institutions and organisations (Celtic-Plus Wisafecar, Vislab, Google), things have moved fast towards operational, on-road driverless cars. In 2013, Volvo announced the world's first large-scale test of driverless cars, involving 100 cars on the streets of Gothenburg in Sweden by 2017 and possibly earlier, while Milton Keynes in the UK predicted operational cars by 2015. Lawmakers have not been far behind - as of 2013, three states in the USA, California, Florida and Nevada, have passed laws permitting autonomous cars.
Driverless or autonomous cars have built-in technology to sense surroundings and make driving decisions. The sensing data collected is transmitted to separate infrastructure, and processed. This includes road features, signs and traffic lights, spotting pedestrians, lane markings, guard rails, overpasses, speed limits, accident prone areas, map information and vehicle-to-vehicle information.
Information is collected through a multitude of instruments - cameras, radar, ultrasonic detectors, lidar (light detection and ranging), gyroscopes, accelerometers and altimeters. These provide data to answer the questions of what is happening around the car, where it is and where it should go.
Road traffic crashes are the ninth leading cause of death and account for 2.2% (1.3 million) of all deaths globally. An additional 20-50 million people are injured or disabled. This costs US$518 billion globally, costing individual countries 1-2% of their annual GDP. Both the human and monetary costs of road accidents provide a mind-numbing reminder of the everyday dangers on roads.
For non-life insurance companies, motor insurance accounts for a significant part of their insurance portfolio - sometimes more than 50%. Motor insurance accounts for a large proportion of the claims due to liability claims arising from injury to people.
Driverless cars are likely to bring down the accident rates drastically - to as much as 1% according to some estimates. Reduction of accident rates will bring down the cost in terms of human lives as well as in monetary terms. For the insurance industry, it will mean a huge reduction on the claims reported and paid for under motor insurance.
The insurance industry is still trying to understand the transformation impact that driverless cars will have on the business. The possible benefit of reduced claims cost is there, but there are associated positives and negatives to this which insurers will have to focus on to make the changes to their business models. Considering the reality of having driverless cars on the roads within the next 3-5 years, insurers will have to move quickly in the following key areas:
a) Rate making for motor insurance: There will be a complete change in the way rating and underwriting is done. Rate making for motor insurance typically focuses on key parameters (with variations by insurer and geography). Table 1 (right) lists the rating parameters impact from driverless cars.
Driver rating will be of less importance, since the vehicle itself will combine the driver capabilities. The vehicle rating will have to include more factors for rating of the equipment to drive the 'driverless' capabilities, for example the radar, cameras, software for the programming and record of accidents for the equipment manufacturer. The location rating takes on prominence due to the place of storage of the vehicle and its equipment. The security of the vehicle with its software and hardware is important since the whole premise of safe functioning of the vehicle depends on this equipment, the tampering of which can result in malfunctioning.
Insurers will have to evaluate premiums in line with the lower accident rates due to lower loss ratios for the line of business. The rate-making will have to keep in mind that though the frequency of accidents is expected to go down, the severity of the same can be high due to the high cost of equipment involved in the accidents.
b) New product types: The conventional motor insurance product coverage focus will no longer be completely applicable, since the risk focus for the product will change. Present motor insurance products are around the coverage of liability (to others) and/or physical damage (to own vehicle and accessories). The third party liability for both vehicle damage and bodily injury will assume higher proportions of importance with specific products focusing on them due to the high value of the equipment and higher possible severity in accidents. In some regions, comprehensive cover is provided without collision cover. This will change since collision cover will be a key focus too.
c) Claims: Who is responsible for the claim? This question of to whom to assign liability in accidents will be a challenge. Will it be the owner/driver of the car or its manufacturer or the equipment or software manufacturer? Insurers will have to work with regulators to decide liability for claims while formulating the laws and rating for driverless cars. Insurers will also have to contend with a higher amount of loss per claim due to damage of expensive equipment, though the frequency is expected to come down.
d) Data usage and analytics: All decisions with regard to rating, products and claims will have to depend on the large amount of data analysis generated from the vehicle and its 'sensing'. This data will cover manual interventions, road conditions, traffic and other vehicle movements, accidents and vehicle diagnostics and will have to be analysed and sent back to the vehicle without lag to enable the vehicle to function 'driverless'. Insurers will need to use this data for risk rating, loss development, vehicle categorisation, location analysis and accident analysis, among others. The challenge for insurers is to be able to take in the large quantum of data coming their way. This includes having the physical IT infrastructure, data management capability and analytics to manage the data and churn out the required analysis. Considering the level of maturity of many insurers in data management and infrastructure, this is the first step that needs to be taken for readiness for driverless cars on roads.
Back to the future
Driverless vehicles will change the face of transportation with significant impact on insurers. It is imperative that the insurance industry is able to harness this change - be ready for managing the data, prepare for new products and rating and create a new claims management eco system. The connected car, which has been talked about only theoretically, has now become a reality - bringing with it a completely new way of working for the insurance industry.
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How is technological advancement changing the labor market?
The Urban Institute will cohost the Reimagine Communities Symposium in Plano, Texas, on October 3, 2018. In a series of posts this month, we’ll explore the theme of the conference: how we can harness technology to create more inclusive communities and create pathways to economic opportunity.
“The robots are coming.” “No jobs are safe.” “The way we work is coming to an end.”
These fears around automation and technology’s impact on jobs continue to grow as innovations have the potential to change the employment landscape. Although millions of jobs could be lost as a result of new technologies, millions of jobs will also be created (it’s still unclear whether there will be enough new jobs).
Concerns about robots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) miss that the advent of technology is more likely to change jobs, not eliminate them. In manufacturing, companies are experimenting with having floor and line workers use mechanical exoskeletons to reduce strain and fatigue when lifting heavy objects. And in sales, representatives will need to become more capable with online marketing and engagement to adapt to customer preferences.
Technology is changing the way we work, but concerns about which jobs are lost and which are gained—and who those changes affect—are important in considering whether people will have the opportunity to shift from working in the jobs of yesterday to the jobs of tomorrow.
Which jobs are poised for growth, and which face declining demand?
The impact of automation and artificial intelligence is an acceleration of a trend decades in the making. Switchboard operators have recently been replaced by phone and interactive voice response menus, and many grocery store clerks have been replaced with self-checkout machines. With advances in AI, reports claim that truck drivers, paralegals, and even surgeons might see their occupations upended by changing technology.
In this environment, tech jobs could seem like the only occupations with guaranteed job growth. But they’re not the only ones. Although there is a growing need for developers and data scientists, jobs in personal care and the medical industry are expanding even faster.
The need for more home health aides—as well as growth in other health-related occupations—is driven largely by the aging baby boomer population entering retirement and by technological advances that increase the effectiveness of care.
Research has shown that the need for basic data processing skills and manual labor will decline over the next decade, while cognitive, social, and emotional skills will be more in demand. These skills—such as solving complex problems, working in teams, giving advice, and demonstrating leadership—facilitate more human interaction. Many growing health- and service-related jobs require skills that robots and automation can’t replace.
How these changes could affect income, gender, and racial and ethnic disparities
An important difference between the jobs being lost and the ones being gained is the difference in pay. Many of the lost jobs are middle-skill occupations that pay middle-class wages (the 2017 median annual wage was $37,690). The tech-related jobs replacing those positions are much higher paying, while such jobs as home health aide and personal care aide pay less.
Many workers in the occupations that are losing jobs do not have the skills to easily move into those higher-paying jobs. Jobs like information security analysts and software developers require at least a bachelor’s degree, and most statistician jobs require a master’s degree. Few of the fastest-declining occupations require anything higher an associate’s degree.
The difference between declining jobs and growing ones also affects racial or ethnic and gender equity. Women make up nearly 90 percent of word processors and typists—the job that will see the biggest decline over the next decade. Women of color are overrepresented in this occupation, with black and Latino workers holding 40 percent of these jobs.
Growing occupations at the higher end of the pay scale tend to employ more men and fewer people of color. Men fill 80 percent of both information security analysts and app developer jobs, while people of color make up 20 percent and 12 percent of those occupations, respectively.
And in growing occupations that pay less (home health aides and medical assistants), women fill 90 percent of jobs, and people of color make up more than 40 percent of medical assistants and 50 percent of home health aides.
The skills and education needed for future high-paying jobs continue to increase, while jobs like home health aides require less education, pay less, and provide fewer opportunities for career advancement. Given persisting racial and ethnic gaps in educational attainment, these differences could lock many people of color out of the opportunity provided by technological advances in the labor market.
Ensuring technology’s effect on work benefits everyone
Technological advancements are changing the way we work, reducing the need for some occupations and expanding the need for others. Jobs that aren’t experiencing rapid change in growth are still seeing rapid change in technological adoption, which requires workers in those fields to learn new skills.
Along with these changes could come advances in productivity, creating high-paying, high-quality employment for people in the position to take advantage of the growth of these good jobs. But there is also a risk, especially among those without advanced degrees, that people will lose jobs paying middle-class wages and get locked out of better jobs.
Efforts to make these changes are under way. Communities are collaborating within their local workforce systems to create reskilling programs targeted to the needs of local employers, and expanding apprenticeship programs have been shown to create employment opportunities for women. National nonprofits such as Opportunity@Work and Code2040 have developed workforce development and training programs targeted to people of color and others underrepresented among the high-paying, fast-growing jobs.
Although these efforts are promising, employers, employees, educators, and policymakers need to ensure that more people can pursue these opportunities and to ensure that technology improves the way we all work.
Capital One, a funder of the Urban Institute and cohost of the Reimagine Communities Symposium, provided support for this work.
Photo by Hero Images/Getty Images.
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Risk Assessment results feed directly into the Risk Management phase. Risk Assessments evaluate the probability and magnitude of contaminant-related effects, while Risk Management is a process used to:
- Decide whether a level of risk is acceptable in a larger context (socially, economically and politically); and/or,
- Select risk reduction options (i.e., either technical or policy-based solutions), and assess cost-benefit of the options.
Characteristics of Effective Risk Management Strategies
Experience from industrialized countries show that certain characteristics are likely to promote an effective and successful risk management decision-making process:
Current: Risk reduction strategies need to remain up to date with evolving national policies and priorities, new scientific findings or technological developments, and they need to take into account the effectiveness of existing strategies.
Participatory: Numerous stakeholders play a role in the development of an effective Risk Management strategy. Consequently, effective risk communication and dialogue must be apparent in all Risk Management activities.
Informed: Risk management decision-making requires various types of information such as statistical data, probability studies, information about local customs and practices, knowledge about the nature of past and present exposure, economic analyses, information about regulatory and other control options, etc.
Contextual: Risk reduction strategies should be adapted to the political, cultural and socio-economic context as well as local realities.
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Beyond 2020: the UK climate policy gap
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the statutory body set up to advise UK government on climate change, has urged Parliament to restore investor confidence by reviewing its post-2020 policies.
In its first official report to the new Parliament, the CCC described progress to reduce emissions in recent years as “good” but voiced concerns over whether this can be sustained through the 2020s.
The UK is currently on track to meet its legally-binding carbon budgets for the period up to 2022, and in 2014 emissions decreased by an impressive eight per cent compared to 2013.
However, part of this decrease was thanks to a mild winter, and when accounting for the weather, emissions reductions re-adjust to just six per cent.
The reduction also largely reflects a switch from coal to gas in the power sector, with limited underlying progress elsewhere in the economy. The CCC therefore argues that the UK’s current trajectory is unsustainable in the long-term.
The CCC points to the lack of policies currently due to be in place beyond 2020 as the key risk to future progress and recommends the Government extend some of its current funding arrangements into the next decade to boost green investment.
A large number of the Government’s existing policies and funding programmes are due to expire before and shortly after 2020, including:
- The Local Sustainable Transport Fund, which provides funding to local authorities for sustainable transport initiatives (2016)
- The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) subsidy scheme for domestic and non-domestic renewable heat technologies (2016)
- The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) energy efficiency scheme for domestic properties (2017)
- The Green Deal energy efficiency funding scheme (no end date but funds running out)
- Emissions per mile efficiency targets for cars and vans (2020)
- Subsidies and grants for electric and ultra low emission vehicles (2020)
- The Levy Control Framework (LCF), which caps the Government’s funding for renewable energy subsidies, including the micro-generation Feed in Tariff (FiT) subsidy (2021)
- Climate Change Agreements (CCAs), which set voluntary targets for certain industries in return for tax deductions (2023).
Without early action to extend these schemes or establish replacements, the CCC argues that the Government risks creating an uncertain “stop-start” investment landscape that will damage green business and ultimately lead to higher costs further down the line.
Its recommendations for the Government are as follows:
- Electricity: Extend funding for renewable energy under the LCF to 2025 and set decarbonisation targets for the power sector through the 2020s to give the sector a 10-year lead time for investment
- Buildings: Establish an action plan to address the “significant shortfall” in low carbon heat deployment and extend the RHI scheme to 2020; set out the future of the ECO scheme and other energy efficiency initiatives beyond 2017; implement the zero carbon buildings policy for new homes from 2016 and non-domestic buildings from 2019; and develop a strategy to address increasing flood risks
- Transport: Maintain support for the up-front costs of electric vehicles beyond 2020 while they remain more expensive than conventional vehicles and push for stretching 2030 emissions targets for new cars and vans at the EU level
- Infrastructure: Make a number of key infrastructure decisions as early as possible, including the future of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and infrastructure for heat networks and electric vehicles
- Land and water management: Introduce firm measures to ensure that all agricultural soils are sustainably managed by 2030 and review the effectiveness of schemes to protect peatlands and other natural ‘carbon sinks’.
The recommendations have received praise from commentators across the economy.
Paul Raynes, director of policy and manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, said: “Industry will welcome the recognition of the current gap in government policy to deliver emissions reductions during the 2020s.
“The progress report shows significant potential for emissions reduction from industry but only if government takes the right approach, one that works with and supports industry during this challenging transition.”
The Government is due to respond to the CCC’s recommendations by 15 October 2015, but has already announced that it is scrapping its ‘zero carbon homes’ policy for new homes and buildings – one of the CCC’s main recommendations.
Posted under General Interest on 21 July 2015
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Of course, any benefits from reducing climate change have global effect. Gayer and Viscusi refer to one which estimated that for a global reduction in the effects of climate change, the United States would receive 7-10% of the benefits. They point out that if the U.S. benefited relative to it share of world GDP, it would receive 23% of the benefits from reducing effects of climate change. Here's a recent example comparing global benefits to domestic costs (footnotes omitted):
More recently, the EPA proposed regulations to limit CO2 from existing power plants.In other words, the estimates are that the global benefits of the rule exceed the costs, but the U.S. benefits are much smaller, and may possibly (depending on how other factors are counted) not exceed the costs.
For this rule, EPA estimated climate benefits amounting to $30 billion in 2030 using a 3 percent discount rate. However, assessing these benefits in a manner that is consistent with the methodology developed by the Working Group, only 7 to 23 percent of these benefits would be domestic benefits. As a result, the domestic benefits amount is only $2.1 billion-$6.9 billion, which is less than the estimated compliance costs for the rule of $7.3 billion. (Note, however, that EPA also claims substantial air-pollution co-benefits for this rule, associated with reductions in particulate matter and ozone.)
This concept of counting global benefits of U.S. regulatory actions is a clear departure from established practice. U.S. environmental laws and guidance for regulations are quite careful to specify that the cost-benefit calculations should be done for Americans. Explicit guidance for regulatory authorities from President Obama, as from previous presidents, has emphasized that they are to consider costs and benefits for "the American people."As once example, Gayer and Viscusi write:
Subsequently, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) developed a guidance document (known as Circular A-4) for regulatory impact analyses that maintained an emphasis on domestic benefits but permitted the reporting of foreign benefits if reported separately: “Your analysis should focus on benefits and costs that accrue to citizens and residents of the United States. Where you choose to evaluate a regulation that is likely to have effects beyond the borders of the United States, these effects should be reported separately.”But even if this practice of counting global benefits in the cost-benefit calculation is a departure from the norm, should it become standard practice? Or is it the kind of practice that will only be followed when convenient? The practice of counting global effects in U.S. government cost-benefit decisions raises some tricky issues. As Gayer and Viscusi point out, if U.S. government actions are to take benefits to foreign citizens into account on a regular basis, the policy implications could be striking.
It is important to note that granting the GHG [greenhouse gas] benefits to non-citizens equally to the benefits to citizens represents a dramatic shift in policy, and if applied broadly to all policies, would substantially shift the allocation of societal resources. The global perspective would likely shift immigration policy to one of entirely open borders, as the benefits to granting citizenship to poor immigrants from around the world would dominate any costs to current U.S. citizens. It would suggest a shift away from transfers to low-income U.S. citizens towards transfers to much lower-income non-U.S. citizens, elevating policy challenges such as eradicating famine and disease in Africa to the most pressing concerns for U.S. policymakers, trumping most domestic efforts in terms of their impact on social welfare. And a shift in policy towards fully counting the costs and benefits towards citizens of all other countries would suggest a drastic change in defense policy. A shift in policies to foster such efforts, while in many cases worthwhile, would not be consistent with the preferences of the U.S. citizens who are bearing the cost of such programs and whose political support is required to maintain such efforts.
It's easy to imagine other difficult situations that would arise. Imagine that U.S. environmental standards are tightened, and that as a result some U.S. companies decide to locate their manufacturing elsewhere. In this case, the economic gains received in other countries would be counted as a plus for the policy, which would presumably could be used to offset any economic costs the policy created in the U.S. economy.
Even if one takes the reasonable position that the U.S should give weight to benefits and costs incurred in other countries, there is a question of who determines how much weight will be given. Imagine a U.S. law which requires that U.S. companies abroad operate in a way that has certain standards for lower pollution, worker safety, not bribing public officials, and the like. Now also imagine that the other country would prefer not to have such laws, or to have lower standards. If the government of another country does not favor such laws, does the U.S. claim that people of that country gain anyway?
Economists often work with models that assume a diminishing marginal utility of of income: that is, gains or losses to people with low levels of income should have more social value than same-sized gains or losses to those which higher levels of income. (For example, this is the standard justification why society should favor a degree of redistribution, because the social cost of transferring a certain amount of income from those with higher incomes is less than the social benefit received by the recipients who have lower incomes.) But if this kind of cost-benefit analysis is to be applied to the world as a whole, costs and benefits in low-income countries will receive a greater weight than costs and benefits of the same size in high-income countries.
It seems to me that as a practical matter, the current federal rules about evaluating costs and benefits of government regulatory policies are correct: that is, evaluate them first in terms of effects on U.S. citizens, and if there are also effects on the rest of the world, by all means list them--but list the non-U.S. effects separately.
Bayer and Viscusi write: "The question of whose preferences are to be counted in the calculation of net benefits is known as standing. There has been limited academic discussion about economic standing, with the more recent studies suggesting that standing cannot be resolved based on principles of benefit-cost analysis but instead depends on the ethical consensus of society ..." Of course, this is both true and a way for economists to make sure that the buck does not stop with them, but instead is handed off to "the ethical consensus of society."
Epilogue: When thinking about how people regard their own well-being, in comparison to how they regard the well-being of people who live in faraway places, I always remember the comment by Adam Smith in his first book, The Moral Sentiments (Chapter III, Part III), where he points out
that for most people, losing your little finger would feel like a much larger calamity than the death of hundreds of millions of people in a faraway place like China. (Here, I quote from the ever-useful version of the book at the Library of Economics and Liberty website.)
Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connexion with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befal himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own.Smith goes on to argue that people should and in fact do care about those who live elsewhere. I would add that governments should care about those in other places, too. But whether it's the case of climate change, or some other issue, it's important first to be clear on whether U.S. policies have benefits that exceed costs for the U.S. population, and then to look at the global dimensions.
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This article was originally published by the H.E. Butt Foundation’s Folo Media initiative in 2017.
Can you pay your bills, buy “extras” like a new shirt or a meal out and still put money in the bank every month?
Chances are your answer depends on a number of variables, but the most important variable may be where you live.
In San Antonio, the median income is about $46,000 per household. The cost of living is 93.2 percent of the cost to live in the United States—meaning it is 6.8 percent cheaper to live in San Antonio. The United States’ average income is just over $56,000. The poverty threshold for a family of four is just over $24,000.
Of course, $24,000 isn’t really “making it.” Various sources have attempted to find what a livable income in San Antonio looks like. One study puts the figure at $46,152. Another puts it at $59,507.
But in segregated San Antonio, the only way to get a clear sense of what’s happening is to look at the city zip code by zip code. I compared zip code data to the Economic Policy Institute’s median income data and found that many Bexar County residents are living paycheck to paycheck.
Thirty-four out of 57 Bexar County zip codes do not make enough to put money in the bank at the end of the year. Those people represent the poor and working class, who are one hospital bill away from not being able to pay for rent.
Even some of the zip codes that are ahead are barely making it. Just west of Lackland Air Force base, 78245 has $117 left at the end of the year, according to EPI. That works out to $9.71 a month. For a family of four, that is enough for a few school supplies or maybe an appetizer at dinner once a month.
That kind of savings does not move the needle for those families. In a city where generational poverty, stagnation and income inequality are prevalent, these numbers are only one indication of the underlying problem that much of the population faces and other parts of the population never see.
Check out the spreadsheet here.
Note: EPI median income calculates housing, food, childcare, transportation, health care, other necessities and taxes per city based on Census and American Community data. Housing cost is for an average two-bedroom for a family of four. EPI does not account for savings.
While median income is calculated for each zip code, the cost of living is an average for the city, because no data sets exist for comfortable living per zip code to the best of our knowledge.
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Keynes’s Theory of Business Cycles
John Maynard Keynes was an British economist. He wrote book ‘General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’ in 1936.
According to Keynes’s theory, in the short run, the level of income, output or employment is determined by the level of aggregate effective demand. In a free private enterprise, the entrepreneurs will produce that much of goods as can be sold profitably. Now, if the aggregate demand is large (if the expenditure on goods and services is large), the entrepreneurs will be able to sell profitably a large quantity of goods and therefore they will produce more. In order to produce more they will employ a larger amount of resources.
In short, a higher level of aggregate demand will result in greater output, income and employment. On the other hand, if the level of aggregate demand is low, smaller amount of goods and services can be sold profitably. This means, that the total quantity of national output produced will be small. And a small output can be produced with a small amount of resources. As a result, there will be unemployment of resources.
The changes in the level of aggregate effective demand will bring fluctuations in the level of income, output and employment.
According to Keynes, the fluctuations in the economic activity are due to the fluctuations in the aggregate effective demand. Fall in aggregate effective demand will creates the conditions of recession or depression. If the aggregate demand is increasing, economic expansion will take place.
Now the question arises
What causes fluctuations in aggregate demand ?
The aggregate demand is composed of demand for consumption goods and investment goods. So, aggregate demand depends on the total expenditure of the consumers on consumption goods and entrepreneurs on investment goods. Propensity to consume is more or less stable in the short run, fluctuations in the aggregate demand depends primarily on fluctuations in investment demand.
Keynes shows that the fundamental cause of fluctuations in aggregate demand and in economic activity is the fluctuations in investment demand.
Investment demand is very unstable and volatile and brings business cycles in the economy.
Explanation of the Keynes’s Theory –
Let’s start from the phase of economic expansion to explain Keynes’s theory of business cycles.
We first explain how in Keynesian theory expansion comes to an end and recession sets in.
During an economic expansion two factors eventually work to cause investment to fall.
First, during the expansion phase increase in demand for capital goods due to large scale investment activities leads to the rise in the prices of the capital goods. Higher prices of the capital goods raise the cost of investment projects (cost of production) and reduces marginal efficiency of capital (expected rate of return).
Secondly, as income rises during the expansion phase, the demand for money increases which raises interest rate. Higher interest rate makes some potential, projects unprofitable. This causes fall in marginal efficiency of capital on one hand and a rise in interest rate on the other which in turn causes decline in investment demand. Declining trend of investment, raises doubts about the prospective yield (profits) on capital goods which is more important factor in determining marginal efficiency of capital (rate of return) than the cost of investment projects and rate of interest.
When among businessmen pessimism sets in about future profitability of investment projects stock prices tumble. The crash in stock prices worsens the situation and causes investment to fall even more. Fall in prices of shares, reduces wealth of household.
Wealth according to Keynes is an important factor determining consumption. So the decline in stock prices, reduces autonomous consumption demand of household with the fall in both investment and consumption demand, aggregate demand declines, which result in accumulation of unintended inventories, with the firms. This induces the firms to cut production of goods.
Besides the rise in cost of capital goods and the rise in interest rate towards the end of the expansion phase, it is the fall in expected prospective yields that reduces the marginal efficiency of capital (rate of return) and causes investment demand to fall.
This induces a wave of pessimistic expectations among businessmen and speculators. These pessimistic expectations, cause stock prices to tumble. They cause a further fall in the marginal efficiency of capital. Turning Point from expansion to contraction is caused by a sudden collapse in marginal efficiency of capital.
A sudden fall in the marginal efficiency of capital causes a leftward shift in the investment demand curve.
Decrease in investment does not automatically decrease the rate of interest.
According to Keynes, a decrease in investment expenditure causes a decline in income, which in turn reduces consumption expenditure. The reduction in consumption expenditure further reduces income and the process of reduction in income continues further.
The total fall in income (change in income or ∆Y) due to an initial decline in investment (∆I) will be equal to change in investment multiplied by the value of multiplier.
If Marginal Propensity to Consume is 0.75, the multiplier will be equal to four. Thus, a decline in investment by 100 crores will lead to a decline in income by 400 crores.
The multiplier process magnifies the effect of decline in investment expenditure on aggregate demand and income and further deepens the depression.
As income and output are falling rapidly under the multiplier effect, the employment also goes down.
So, the Keynes theory of income multiplier plays and significant role in causing magnify the changes in income, output and employment, following a reduction in investment.
In Keynes’s views, wages and prices are not flexible enough to offset the decline in investment expenditure, and restore full employment.
This is in sharp contrast to the classical theory, where changes in wages and prices ensures continues full employment.
In Keynes model wages and prices are ‘sticky’ downward, which implies that through wages and prices do not remain constant, But when demand falls wages and prices will fall, but not sufficient to restore full employment in the economy.
Since wage and price flexibility does not ensure the recovery of the economy, out of the state of depression. Keynes thinks that marginal efficiency of capital must rise to stimulate investment.
During depression investment falls to a very low level capital stock begin to wear out, and requires replacement, some existing capital equipment become technologically obsolete and has to be abandoned. This generates demand for replacement investment. A long period of time is necessary for existing capital to depreciate because most capital goods are durable, as well as irreversible.
By durability of capital goods, mean that they last for a long time and by irreversibility, mean, that they cannot be used for purposes other than those for which they are meant.
Collapse of marginal efficiency of capital is the main cause of upper turning point. Similarly, the revival of the marginal efficiency of capital (rate of return) is the cause of lower turning point which is recovery from the recession.
Restoration of Businessmen’s confidence is the most important, yet, the most difficult to achieve. Even if the rate of interest is reduced, the investment will not increase. This is because of the absence of confidence, that profitability in investment may remain so low that reduction in the interest rate will stimulate investment.
The interval between the upper turning point, and lower turning point is conditioned by two factors.
1. The time necessity for wearing out of durable capital assets, and
2. The time required to absorb the excess stocks of goods left over from the boom.
As the stock of capital goods goes down, there grows a scarcity of capital goods, then the expected rate of returns (profits) rises, which induces the businessmen to invest more. When level of investment increases, income increases by a magnified amount due to the multiplier effect.
Over time as depreciation of capital stock occurs, some existing capital equipment becomes technologically obsolete, the size of capital stock declines. New investment must be undertaken even to produce a reduced depression level of output.
Once investment increases, it induces further rise in income and consumption demand through the multiplier process. Now, the multiplier works to magnify the effect of increase in investment on raising aggregate demand. The businessmen becomes optimism, which increases stock prices. All these factors increases the economic activity.
However, this recovery process takes a very long time. So, Keynes suggests that the government should not wait for long for the natural recovery to occur. He advocated for the active intervention by the government to raise aggregate through fiscal policy (that is increasing its expenditure or reducing taxes).
He argued for the adoption of policy of deficit budget to boost aggregate demand, and lift the economy out of recession or depression.
Keynes business cycle theory is self generating. In it the economy passes through a long phase of expansion, but eventually some forces automatically work, for example, the growing abundance of capital stock, which reduces marginal efficiency of capital. Pessimism which overtakes businessmen. This causes a reduction in investment, which is responsible for bringing downswing in the economy.
The idea that it is the fluctuations in investment that brings about the fluctuations in the level of economic activity, is an important contribution, made by Keynes.
Keynes provided a definite relationship between a change in investment and the resulting change in income and employment, this relationship is given in his theory of multiplier.
The Critical Appraisal of Keynes’s Theory –
Keynes has made three important contributions to the business cycle theory.
First, it is fluctuations in investment in that cause changes in aggregate demand, which bring changes in economic activity (income output and employment).
Secondly, fluctuations in investment demand are caused by changes in expectations of businessmen. Regarding making a profits (marginal efficiency of capital, or the rate of return).
Thirdly, Keynes put forward an important theory of multiplier which tells us how changes in investment, bring magnified changes in the level of income and employment.
But, Kingston’s theory of multiplayer alone does not offer a full and satisfactory explanation of cycles, a basic feature of the cycles is its cumulative character, both in upswing and downswing. That is, once economic activity starts rising or falling, It gathers momentum for a time.
So, what we have to explain is the cumulative character of economic fluctuations. The theory of multiplayer alone does not gives adequate explanation for this.
For example, suppose that investment raises by 100, rupees, and that the magnitude of multiplayer is 4, from the theory of multiplayer, that national income will arise by 400. And if multiplayer is the only force at work, that will be the end of the matter, with the economy reaching a new stable equilibrium at a higher level of national income. But in real life this is not likely to be so, for a rise in income produced by a given rise in investment will have further repercussions in the economy. This reaction is described in the principle of the accelerator.
According to the principle of acceleration, a change in national income will tend to induce changes in the rate of investment.
While multiplier refers to the change in income as a result of change in investment, the acceleration principle describes the relationship between a change in investment, as a result of change in income.
In the above example, an income has risen in by 400 rupees, people spending power has risen by an equivalent amount. This will induce them to spend more on goods and services. When the demand for the goods rises, initially, this will be met by overworking the existing plant and machinery. All this leads to an increase in profits with the result that businessman will be induced to expand their productive capacity and install new plants.
They will invest more than before, which will income which in turn will lead to a further induced increase in investment. The accelerator describes this relation between an increase in income and the resulting increase in investment.
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Greenhouse gases mix with the air and, unlike other pollutants, spread around the entire planet. It doesn’t matter where GHG reductions take place — as long as they do.
With all the social distancing and change in manufacturing, a lot of reduction has happened — as a side effect. Earth gets a break and the skies clear up. Still, pollution increases by thousands of tons per second.
This will not continue for long. Eventually, we will be back in to our daily lives and so will our production, consumption, and pollution. What then?
Why carbon offsets don’t work (yet)
The Problems are fourfold.
First, offsetting elsewhere doesn’t reduce or prevent the initial emissions. Operations aren’t improved locally. It’s more difficult and expensive.
Second, offsetting doesn’t incentivize efficiency and improvement. It takes on the role of a tax similar to absolution.
Third, there is fraud such as selling offsets that have already been sold, never existed, or would have occurred anyway.
Fourth, it is incredibly difficult to properly measure emission and offset.
There are various emission trading systems for compliant and verified GHG reduction, but they are fairly complicated and rarely an option for SMEs or individuals. The climate continues to deteriorate at a dangerous rate, which isn’t being taken seriously enough as studies show.
We are on the right path
Generally, there are two steps. First, we are increasing efficiency. Second, more and more companies offset what can’t be prevented as a temporary fix using more and more verified and sustainable projects rather than questionable initiatives in developing countries.
This is also due to the proven track record of ETS (emission trading systems) worldwide ensuring carbon neutrality can be achieved.
Global offset may never be the end-solution but act as a means to bridge gaps until optimum efficiency has been reached which can and always should be strived for but is impossible to accomplish as is with perfection. Increasingly more economical operations and culture are not limited to obligation and ethical responsibilities.– UniWorld
By targeting increased revenue strategically, sustainable business and lifestyle can come as a side product or vice versa. This is achieved by making carbon offset, carbon credit and ETS simple and accessible and providing oversight and funding for improved manufacturing.-Cool Japan Holdings
Very difficult: reliably measuring Co2 emission and offset
Put up a sensor, measure the emission and then you know right? Sadly, it’s not that easy.
Offsetting carbon emissions: ‘It has proved a minefield’– Article on the Guardian
Example: A projects that focuses on energy efficiency is selling offsets from a South African project known as Basa Magogo. They encourage poor households who make coal fires in perforated cans called imbawulas to build the fire in a different way: instead of using paper, then wood with coal on top, they are to build them with most of the coal on the bottom, thus producing more heat and less smoke.
But how does anybody check how many have built their fires this way? And how many imbawulas must burn this way for how long before a tonne of carbon is saved? Project managers confessed that nobody had asked this question before. And even if: properly measuring Co2 requires hardware not very accessible in developing countries.
Using the Due connect 3.3v to 3V3, GND to Ground, Rx(DIO19) to Tx, and Tx(DIO18) to Rx….Data Scientists talking about Co2 measurement instruments in a competition to optimize farming – not exactly an easy conversation to follow
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EUR/SEK Signals & Technical Analysis
About the EUR/SEK (EURO & Swedish Krona)
The EUR/SEK pair is the abbreviated term used for the Euro & Swedish Krona. This pair does not have a nickname. Before we get into the particulars, what exactly does the EUR/SEK rate mean? The exchange rate tells you how many EURO (the quote currency) are required to purchase one Swedish Krona (base currency). For example, if the pair is trading at 10.71 it means it takes 10.71 Russian Ruble to buy 1 âEuro"
Breaking Down âEUR/SEKâ
The euro (â¬; EUR) is the official currency of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union. The euro is the second largest and second most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar. The euro is divided into 100 cents.
Whereas, Under the foreign currency exchange market place, SEK is the abbreviation for the Swedish krona which is the official currency of Sweden. it is one of the most top trading currencies in the world and accounts for about 2 percent of the Forex (FX) market. The exchange rate of SEK depends heavily on the monetary policy of Sweden. The country's central bank is known as the Sveriges Riksbank, the world's third oldest bank, and oldest central bank
Correlation is merely a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things.
Positive correlation â The positive relationship merely is when pairs move in tandem with each other.
In the forex world, USD/SEK, CHF/JPY, and SEK/JPY pairs are positively correlated
Negative correlation â In contrast, a negative relationship is when forex pairs move in the opposite direction, For example, CHF/JPY, SEK/JPY, and AUD/USD
Economic Events: The movement in the Europian and Swedish Krona events determine the exchange rates. Top of the line economic events includes GDP, Employment Change, Industrial Production, and Consumer Price Index. Better than forecast data increases the demand for related currency and impacts the value of either the Euro and Swedish Krona causing fluctuations in the EUR/SEK exchange rate.
Major Economic Events
Gross Domestic Product â the gross domestic product is the central measure of economic growth in the region.
Employment Change â The Sterling is also sensitive to changes in employment, as slacks in the labor market causes a drop in Inflation rates.
Consumer Price Index â Since one of the goals of the BOP is to maintain price stability, they keep an eye on inflation indicators such as the CPI. If the annual CPI deviates from the central
Industrial Production â This measures a change in the total inflation-adjusted value of output produced by manufacturers, mines, and utilities.
Political Events - Another critical factor is the political aspect. Instability, as seen in the Brexit referendum, can entirely change the direction of the currencies. So, stay up-to-date on the latest political and economic news.
What Determines the EUR/SEK exchange Rate?
Several factors can impact the EUR/SEK rate valuation, including:
ECB & SEK Monetary Policies: The European Central Bank & Sveriges Riksbank control the supply of money in the market, to keep the economy on track. A dovish policy, which is also known as expansionary policy, from either of the central banks, weakens the related currency. In contrast, a hawkish monetary policy (contractionary policy) strengthens the currency
The EUR/SEK is traded in amounts denominated in the US Dollar.
Standard lot Size: 100,000
Mini lot size: 10,000
One pip in decimals 0.0001
Pip Value: $1.05
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The water, natural resources, and ecosystems in the Barnegat Bay watershed contribute an economic value of $2 to $4 billion annually to the New Jersey economy. This report examines that economic value in three ways:
1. Economic value directly related to the Barnegat Bay watershed water resources and habitats. The Barnegat Bay watershed contributes over $4 billion in annual economic activity from water quality, water supply, fish/wildlife, recreation, agriculture, forests, and public parks benefits.
2. Value of goods and services provided by Barnegat Bay watershed ecosystems. Using natural capital as a measure of value, habitat in the Barnegat Bay watershed provides $2.3 billion annually in ecosystem goods and services in 2010 dollars, with a net present value (NPV) of $73.3 billion, calculated over a 100 – year period.
3. Employment related to Barnegat Bay watershed resources and habitats. Using employment as a measure of value, natural resources within the Barnegat Bay watershed directly and indirectly support over 60,000 jobs with over $2 billion in annual wages. The purpose of these estimates is to demonstrate that the Barnegat Bay watershed provides real and significant economic benefits to the Garden State and are worthy of investment to keep these natural resources healthy and productive. Estimates were made by taking values from existing literature and studies and applying them to the Barnegat Bay watershed using ecological economics and benefits – transfer techniques described in this report.
Values are converted to 2010 dollars based on the change in the Northeast Region Consumer Price Index, except where noted. Note that the values in the three categories are not summed because there is some overlap between certain values within each category that could result in double counting. For example, the jobs of fishermen that contribute to employment and wages are also a factor in the economic activity generated from fishing, and the ecosystem values of forests for water-quality benefits may be at least partially captured in the economic value of water supply. Accurately determining (and eliminating) this overlap is difficult within the scope of this analysis. The estimates presented in this report are as inclusive as possible, given a lack of data for some economic sectors, yet are not meant to be used to compare and contrast uses of Barnegat Bay’s water resources for their value. Some values were not included in these estimates because the data to assess them either are not readily available or do not exist. For example, the full amount of economic activity and jobs associated with the industries that rely on the Barnegat Bay watershed for their processes is not included here, because identifying those companies and gathering information on their economic activity is beyond the scope of this analysis.
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The Government is planning to offer UK motorists £5,000 to incentivize them to buy an electric or hybrid car. A new plan has been formulated to create ‘electric car cities'. The Government has set aside £20 million to build a network of electric charging points and will start offering people money from 2011 to upgrade their vehicles for a more eco friendly version.
The aim of the new plan is to cut the significant levels of CO2 our cars emit whilst the monetary incentive makes electric vehicles a viable option. At the moment the average electric car costs £12,000 - quite a lot of money to invest into a technology many of us are still getting our head around.
Of course the new plan will only have a good effect if the electricity at the charging points comes from a renewable source not coal fired power stations. Also the money being offered would only be enough to help some of us buy an eco car but, given the way trends go, the more of us who see the benefits and ease of having something, the more others are likely to buy into that idea or product too.
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What Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is an electronic payment system, but really it's just a computer program.
When you run the program, it connects to other computers running the same program all over the world. This creates a massive network of computers that can communicate and share information with each other. All of this happens for one reason… to share a file, and this file is called the blockchain.
The blockchain is a file that contains transactions. Anyone can make a transaction and insert it in to a computer on the network. From here, it will be passed from computer to computer until everyone has a copy. Eventually, this transaction makes it in to the blockchain.
However, there's a problem.
You can actually insert two conflicting transactions in to the network at the same time. For example, you can buy a pizza in one transaction, then create another transaction and use the same bitcoin to buy some beer. If you insert both of these transactions in to different ends of the network at the same time, some computers will get the pizza transaction first, and some computers will get the beer transaction first.
Who should get the Bitcoin?
Both of these transactions can't be written to the file, as that would be a "double-spend". Still, we have a network of computers with conflicting transactions on them, and no single computer is in charge. So how can we decide?
Bitcoin solves this problem through a system called "mining". Instead of writing all new transactions on to the blockchain (and writing double-spends on to the file), all new transactions get held in a waiting area called the "memory pool". From here, each computer can collect the transactions from their memory pool in to a "block", and try to add this block of transactions on to the blockchain. Whoever adds their block on to the blockchain first decides which transaction makes it.
So this is where the competition starts…
Each computer starts by putting their block (every block is different) through what's called a "hash function". This hash function takes in a block, and scrambles it to produce a random number from it. Unusual, I know, but this is what hash functions do. Interestingly, nobody knows what number a hash function will spit out based on the data you feed in to it – you just have to try it and find out.
Anyway, the contest here is to try and get a number from this hash function (or to be precise, a "block hash") that is below a certain threshold number. If you can manage to get a low enough number from your block, you can add it on to the blockchain.
And that's the competition.
For example, let's say I have the beer transaction in my memory pool. I will construct a block, put that beer transaction inside it, then put that block through the hash function. If the number that comes out isn't below the threshold, my attempt has failed. However, I can always make a tiny adjustment to the data inside the block (e.g. add a bit of extra data to the end of the block), and put it through the hash function again.
So "mining" basically involves hashing my block as fast as I can, trying to be the first to get a result below the threshold. If I get lucky, I will be the first computer on the network to do so. If this happens, I can send this block to all the other computers on the network, and they will add it on to their blockchain. Then, because this block contains the beer transaction, the conflicting pizza transaction gets kicked out of memory.
So by pure luck and randomness, the beer transaction is the one that makes it in to the blockchain.
The beer transaction may have entered the network slightly after the pizza transaction, but it doesn't matter. It just so happened that a computer with the beer transaction in its memory was able to build a block and get a low enough hash for it before anyone else, so all nodes accept this block and add it to their file. Any conflicting transactions that are in memory get thrown away.
Upon receiving this new successful block, nodes will drop the current block they were working on and go back in to their memory pool to create a new one. This means that the blockchain is constantly being built, with new blocks of transactions being added on to the chain roughly every 10 minutes.
As a result, we have a system where anyone can insert transactions in to a network of computers, and these computers will all work hard to try and add them on to a shared file.
Thanks to this system of "mining" (preventing any double-spends from being written to the file), we have created an electronic payment system that runs over a network of computers, and it all runs without a central point of control.
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The laws of economics state that the greater the scarcity of a resource, the greater the value it commands. Scarce land in a prime locality is expensive compared to large tracts of agricultural land. Scarce diamonds are infinitely more expensive than common iron.
This law is applicable as much to the skills and knowledge that we as human beings possess. Any skill that is tough or difficult to obtain commands a premium. Think about the surgeon who undergoes 15 years of training to learn the trade; an iOS software coder or the elite athlete. We all know these people earn far more than the average. If that is the case, then why does every student and young adult not want to equip themselves with such skills? Do we not want to earn great economic rewards i.e. a huge income? While everyone does want to earn high incomes, to develop these unique and scarce skills, one must spend several hours practicing often boring tasks. We all want to be entertained and not be bored – therefore most people will not spend the time and energy required to learn these scarce skills. Most will choose the easy way out – go for that movie or hit “like” on entertaining Instagram pictures instead of working out a boring mathematics problem. They will tell themselves their interests lie “elsewhere”, on a suitably easy and “interesting” task.
This is great news for those out there who are focused and on the path to build unique capability. You know you are building a scarce resource. So, the next time you see your friends “having fun” during crunch time, smile and pick up that boring mathematics workbook or swim that extra lap during practice. You know what makes diamonds and what makes common iron.
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This week, we learned that there are two different ways of reporting the contribution margins variable and absorption costing. The authors made a point that one method is more useful for internal purposes, and the other is more useful for external reporting.
Lets think about a company that produces dinner ware (plates, bowls, cups and saucers, for example). Some of the dinner ware is intended for daily use (stoneware that is dishwasher and microwave safe), and other dinner ware is for special occasion (fine china or bone china, with gold trim that cannot go in the microwave!) Daily use dinnerware is less expensive than special occasion dinnerware. Imagine that there is consistent demand year-round for the daily use dinnerware, but there are seasonal spikes in demand for the special occasion dinnerware (i.e. wedding season and the holiday season). Additionally, gold is an important component of special use dinner ware, yet the price of gold varies.
Explain how fixed manufacturing overhead costs are shifted from one period to another under absorption costing. Would you recommend absorption costing for the daily dinner ware, the special occasion dinner ware, or both?
What arguments are there in favor of treating fixed manufacturing overhead costs as product costs? As period costs?
Under absorption costing, how is it possible to increase net operating income without increasing sales? Explain using the dinner ware example.
Write at least 300 words
Post at least two replies to either peers or the instructor
Write at least 150 words per reply
Absorption costing treats all manufacturing costs as product costs whether they are variable or fixed (Noreen, 2017). For this reason, fixed manufacturing overhead costs would be included in the cost of goods sold under the absorption costing model. Additionally, a portion of fixed manufacturing overhead cost is allocated to each unit of product along with the variable costs. In variable costing, the fixed manufacturing overhead is not included in the product costs.
It would make sense to imply absorption costing be used for the special occasion dinner ware. In absorption costing, costs are transferred to finished goods and only when the units are sold do these costs flow through to the income statement as part of cost of goods sold (Noreen, 2017). In variable costing, fixed manufacturing overhead costs are considered to be period costs just like selling and administrative costs and are taken immediately to the income statement as period expenses (Noreen, 2017). Since the special occasion dinnerware demand fluctuates, at times the company may have significant inventory on hand. Implementing the absorption method will allocate some of the fixed manufacturing overhead to be absorbed in inventory, otherwise the variable method would immediately expense the inventory on the income sheet. The benefit is that that if inventories increase, fixed manufacturing costs are deferred in inventories. Thus, there is an increase net operating income.
Treating manufacturing overhead as a period cost will expense them as they incur. Treating manufacturing overhead as a product cost by absorption will attach a cost to each product that takes into accountant all costs of production. The benefit is that absorption costing can provide a company with a more accurate picture of profitability than variable costing (Maverick, 2019). Additionally, absorption costing methods are compliant with generally accepted accounting principles.
Maverick, J., Absorption Costing: Advantages and Disadvantages. Investopedia. March 12, 2019.
Noreen, E. (2017). Managerial Accounting for Managers (4th Edition). Mcgraw-Hill Education.
Once again I find that what appears to be very complex when introduced is actually not. Accounting seems to have a way to make things as complex as they can be. It may be that I am not comprehending the complete meaning, but I will try to demonstrate an understanding of the concept in as simple of terms as possible.
The difference between the way that the two methods report contribution margins comes down to a single factor. The Absorption method treats fixed manufacturing overhead (FMOH) as a product cost (cost of goods). The Variable method treats FMOH as a period cost.
The way this can be used in different situations is as follows.
Absorption method shifts costs from one period to the next as sales/production varies, which is better for products that have varying demand, varying market value and varying fixed costs. The Variable method keeps values more stable by spreading the FMOH evenly across periods, which is better for products whose value and fixed costs are more stable.
I would recommend the Absorption method for the for the special occasion dinner ware, whose market value varies during different seasons, and whose materials (gold) also vary throughout the year. I would recommend the Variable method for the every day dinner ware whose value and materials remain more stable.
I do have one question – It is easy to see that the Absorption method would work great for those products with varying values and materials costs, but would not that method work out the same in the long run for stable products, because while it allows for the variables, if those numbers do not vary, wont the figures then work out as stable? I really hope that someone can address this question for me.
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By Betsy Anaya Cruz* (IPS)
HAVANA TIMES – When it comes to development, the agricultural sector fulfills several important functions, including providing food to the population, supplying raw materials to the food processing industry, generating foreign exchange through exports, and releasing foreign currency in the form of import substitution. In addition, it is a sector that generates jobs and that allows development in the communities where it takes place.
In Cuba, attention has traditionally been focused on the sugar industry, which has been a major source of economic activity in Cuba since neocolonial times.
The country became known as an exporter of sugar and importer of other foods. First, sugar was exported to Spain, then to the United States, and later to the former Soviet Union and the rest of the socialist bloc. Regarding food imports, by the end of the 1950s they represented approximately one fifth of total imports, 47% of dietary energy, and 53% of the protein consumed in Cuba.
Between 1959 and 1989, new economic strategies were pursued that included food production as a secondary purpose. The agricultural sector was provided with more materials than the average of other Latin American and Caribbean countries, and even, in the case of fertilizers, that of North America. However, even with this stimulus, Cuban agricultural yields remained well below those of these regions.
Additionally, during this time more than 40 agricultural research centers were created, and progress was made in agro-industrial integration. However, this only occurred in a small group of products, especially the sugar industry and its export. Dependence on imports continued. In 1989, 57% of calories and 62% of protein consumed in the country came from imported food.
The crisis that ensued [with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Socialist bloc] forced a change in the technological paradigm in the face of the sharp cut in imports. This reality uncovered many lessons from the previous period:
-Having sufficient resources does not in itself guarantee efficient agricultural production with high yields.
-External dependency makes the sector very vulnerable.
-The agricultural model based on large farms is less manageable and efficient than the one based on smaller farms.
-Centralized resource allocation management is inefficient. Every operative needs autonomy to manage their activity.
-Issues such as the production process structure, how to encourage production, and the relationship between farmers and industry are keys to the sector’s success.
-Warehousing and associated services (such as transport) are also important so that greater production results in greater consumption.
-Farmers need market space so that they can channel their production and earn additional income.
During the 1990’s, a group of important transformations were implemented, whose purpose was to increase sovereignty over our food supply.
Special development programs were designed to increase production of some commodities (such as pork). Almost two decades later, in 2007, President Raúl Castro drew attention to the inconsistency between the amount of land that lay idle and our dependence on food imports, which cost approximately two billion dollars each year (a figure that is still accurate today).
Once again, a package of measures was implemented to stimulate food production, but to date it has not shown any truly significant results.
This begs the question, what has happened to food production in Cuba? Why is it impossible for our agricultural sector to feed the population to a greater extent, despite the fact that on paper our country has always prioritized this objective? Is it a question of production problems? Is it that the soil quality does not allow increased production, for example? Is it a property ownership issue, as some authors suggest? Is it that we do not have sufficient material resources? Is the blockade keeping us from achieving this goal?
As we ponder the answers to these questions, 2020 finds us at a crossroads. As Economy Minister Alejandro Gil would say, we do not know what will happen to our imports with the worldwide coronavirus scourge. Will the producer countries continue to export? How do we maintain our rate of consumption when it is so dependent on foreign purchases?
If the transformations (the programs for which have been similar over time) have not occurred so far, it is time to implement different, more effective, and innovative alternatives, with fewer slogans and more objectivity.
What can be done to get a different result?
I propose some steps we can take. We must act quickly, even in the midst of this situation. My proposals are:
Apply scientific research findings to production; equalize management of all types (state, cooperative and private); stimulate the relationship between the different agricultural sectors (producers, warehousing, commerce, industry, and service providers); introduce pre-financing programs by industry or other areas.
Also, reduce the bureaucracy that is at the very heart of the agriculture system and invest time, energy, and resources in the production area and other key links in the chain; remove all obstacles to production; allow the formation of second-degree cooperatives for harvest collection and other activities; and above all, give flexibility and autonomy to growers (state and non-state), allowing them to help design diverse solutions to this complex and pressing problem.
*Betsy Anaya Cruz is an economist and Director of the Center for Cuban Economic Studies at the University of Havana.
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Many business people and even experienced intellectual property Attorneys and practitioners lack the in-depth appreciation of what joint ownership really means in practice, but they accept it nonetheless because “it seems fair” or “it has always been done that way.” In reality, joint ownership of intellectual property is fraught with danger and contrary to common perception, it is often unfair and, even worse, is usually unworkable.
Who owns the inventions and the resulting intellectual property rights created when cooperating and collaborating with an external party is a key issue which needs to be clearly defined for all parties concerned within the intellectual property terms and conditions section of the cooperation agreement. Ownership of the intellectual property which arises as a result of the innovation is the most critical issue to resolve.
Intellectual property ownership in cooperation agreements
It is important that intellectual property ownership is agreed in a cooperation agreement before any work takes place, although I accept that this is often not possible. At the very least, intellectual property ownership should be discussed and agreed before any money has been expended on the patenting process. When a company pays for external innovative work to be conducted, it will typically expect to own any resulting intellectual property. It may also expect to manage the filing of any patent applications at the Patent Office and to maintain any granted patents at its own expense. A company will typically seek to own all inventions relevant to their business, but needs to accept that the other party, especially if it is a University, can own the intellectual property. In such a case, the company will then usually seek exclusive access rights for a negotiable period. The rules of intellectual property ownership can vary according to different national legislation, and it is therefore important to take these into consideration.
Jointly owned intellectual property perceived as the ‘fair’ solution
With more and more companies and organisations entering into this type of collaborative innovation joint venture, strategic alliance, or other form of collaborative arrangement, joint ownership of IP rights has become quite commonplace. The most common form of intellectual property allocation in collaborative innovation projects is some form of joint ownership, because joint ownership is perceived to be a “fair” solution in situations involving multiple parties.
Jointly-owned intellectual property may also be the “’easy” option, as it does not require in-depth discussion about how the intellectual property should be divided out, plus it does not seem to give any advantage to one party over another. Unfortunately, joint ownership of intellectual property is fraught with danger.
Avoid jointly owned intellectual property
It is advisable to avoid jointly owned intellectual property rights. Jointly developed intellectual property rights may be defined as intellectual property rights developed together by the two or more parties, where the list of inventors includes employees from both parties and where the parties share the cost and risk of the research and development work and its results. Jointly owned intellectual property rights however may be defined as two or more parties having shared ownership and control of the very same intellectual property rights or patents. This may mean that a joint decision is required by all parties for practically any or all disposal of the intellectual property rights. It may mean that any exploitation rights must be handled contractually for example, with written consent needed from one party for the other party to enforce its rights, with perhaps some limitations specified for the sub-licensing and/or licensing of rights and with an obligation to share license revenues.
Challenges at each and every stage
Jointly owned intellectual property rights face challenges at each and every stage of the patenting process and differing business needs create different patent coverage needs. The drafting, filing and prosecution of a patent therefore becomes complicated and more expensive, and the end result may not be optimal for some or all of the parties involved. The licensing of jointly owned patents dilutes the value for both owners if a license is available from both owners. There is no effective means to grant a covenant not to sue or a non-assert. The divestment of jointly owned intellectual property rights also creates challenges. The value is diluted since it is only possible to transfer the owner’s share, not the entire rights. Also warranties typically require full ownership. When declaring essential patents for an interoperability standard, both owners must declare and commit to the same rules to make the declaration effective. If involved in patent litigation, most countries require both owners as plaintiffs and without common interest to sue, the patent is basically worthless. As far as business accounting is concerned, it may be a tough challenge to put the correct financial valuation of jointly owner intellectual property rights onto the company’s balance sheet.
There are differences in intellectual property law, or the interpretation of intellectual property law, between jurisdictions. The “territorial” nature of intellectual property refers to the fact that countries enact their own intellectual property laws, typically by statute, and these intellectual property laws have no application or force outside the country in which they are enacted.
It is most important to realise that there are multiple regimes of intellectual property protection. The situation with joint ownership becomes even more complicated if multiple forms of IP are involved, each with differing default rules. For example, contrary to the US patent rule joint owners of a US copyright must share royalties. Almost all useful products are protected by multiple forms of intellectual property such as patents, designs, trademarks and copyright. Such complexity arises for example when a software product that is covered by both patent and copyright is licensed by a joint owner. Joint owners would need to determine which percentage of the software product is exempt from royalty-sharing under US patent law and which percentage is subject to royalty sharing under US copyright law.
There are a number of alternative and better approaches worth considering instead of agreeing to jointly owned intellectual property. One party may own all of the intellectual property generated as a result of the collaborative innovation and license it to the other party. The portfolio of intellectual property created may be divided out between the parties, based on the vested interests of each party. If multiple parties are involved in the collaborative innovation, and there is a large portfolio of intellectual property in existence, then a “patent pool” type arrangement may be considered, with an administrator appointed. Or the intellectual property portfolio may be divvied up between the parties to distribute the costs and provide coverage with cross licenses.
Personally, I would recommend to avoid jointly owned intellectual property like the plague. If the parties do decide that joint ownership is the best solution, then the most important thing to remember is that the agreement between the parties should set out in detail the worldwide rights and obligations of all of the parties involved in relation to the jointly owned intellectual property. Joint ownership should never been seen as the “easy option”.
This is a guest post by Donal O’Connell
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Whilst salmon often used to be considered a luxury item, thanks to the advances in fish farming it is now a weekly item on many people’s shopping lists. In fact, worldwide consumption of salmon is now three times higher than it was in 1980. The transition from high-cost food to weekly commodity is in part thanks to the aquaculture system of farming salmon in oceanic pens.
Salmon aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world, accounting for a huge 70% of the market and it’s likely that this will increase. This is partly due to the fact that, in comparison to other methods of protein production aquaculture is far more efficient. As a comparison, it takes 8.7 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of beef yet it only takes 1.2 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of salmon.
Additionally, traditional fisheries are no longer providing the amount of fish they were due to depletion of stocks. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that another 40 million tons of seafood will be required per year by 2030, just to meet current consumption rates. It’s obvious then that a lot of this will have to be met by more aquaculture.
Like any farming, successful aquaculture requires close monitoring of fish stock to ensure health and the industry is turning to robots to help them achieve this. Annette Stahl is an Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She has been working on developing robotic vision to help keep fish stocks healthy by early detection of diseases. Integrating a degree of automation to everyday tasks also saves time and makes existing systems more practical to use.
Stahl’s system uses automated surveillance to monitor the fish for problems such as lice. Salmon lice are a big problem in aquaculture pens where the salmon live at a higher density than they would in the wild. The robotic cameras monitor the way the fish behave, and pick up some subtle changes such as movement and gill actions which can be an indicator of stress. Stressed fish are much more likely to die when treated for lice, so if they can be treated as soon as these early warning signs are evident then the prognosis for survival is far higher.
The system can also be used to spot holes in the pens, which can then be repaired quickly before fish escape. It can also measure the number of fish in each pen, which is important for calculating the amount of feed and also allows farmers to calculate market prices with a greater degree of accuracy.
There are a number of challenges that need to be overcome when developing robot vision to monitor salmon behavior. Underwater conditions often mean that visibility will not be 100%, so the robot needs to be able to function in less than perfect visibility. Also, reflections from the salmon scales need to be taken into account. Lastly, the cameras and software needs to be capable of measuring fish that are often moving at high speed and changing direction quickly.
Whilst robots are not yet widespread in aquaculture, given the huge increases in production that are needed to meet demand, it’s highly likely that they have an important role to play.
Top image: Salmon fishing. (Public Domain)
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What is Annual Income?
Annual Income Definition
The term Gross Annual Income, or GAI, is the total income earned by an individual through their salary, wages, interest, and dividends within a given tax year.
Annual Income Meaning
Annual income may be used to either mean the total annual revenues minus total annual cost of goods sold for a company or the total annual salary, wages, interest, and dividends received by an individual within the tax-year.
Gross Annual income for companies is also known as Gross Profit and for individuals may be known as top-line income.
Annual Income Example
Any analysis of earnings begins with GAI.
In analyzing a company’s earnings GAI will often be disaggregated into Gross Margin, which is GAI as a percentage of total revenue earned.
This figure is then useful for comparing against other companies with similar Market Capitalizations or similar industries.
For example, the performance of a company which makes $300 million in GAI and a company of smaller size which makes $30 million GAI in the same industry can be compared when you further derive the Gross Margin.
If the former has a margin of 10% whereas the latter has a margin 25%, investors may say the smaller company is relatively outperforming the former.
How to find a Company’s Annual Income
For public companies, Gross Annual Income is presented in the first three lines of the income statement on their Form 10-k.
It is important to remember that Gross Annual Income is calculated over a company’s fiscal year which may be different than the calendar year.
Annual Income Analysis
If a company plans to experience significant costs of goods sold or significant revenues at the end of the year, they may be motivated to defer either until the beginning of the next year to control their GAI thereby managing investor expectations.
For this reason, financial analysts will often look at subsequent quarterly reporting to determine if the company is shifting significant transactions.
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Milton Friedman’s Magical Thinking
CAMBRIDGE – Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s birth. Friedman was one of the twentieth century’s leading economists, a Nobel Prize winner who made notable contributions to monetary policy and consumption theory. But he will be remembered primarily as the visionary who provided the intellectual firepower for free-market enthusiasts during the second half of the century, and as the éminence grise behind the dramatic shift in the economic policies that took place after 1980.
At a time when skepticism about markets ran rampant, Friedman explained in clear, accessible language that private enterprise is the foundation of economic prosperity. All successful economies are built on thrift, hard work, and individual initiative. He railed against government regulations that encumber entrepreneurship and restrict markets. What Adam Smith was to the eighteenth century, Milton Friedman was to the twentieth.
As Friedman’s landmark television series “Free to Choose” was being broadcast in 1980, the world economy stood in the throes of a singular transformation. Inspired by Friedman’s ideas, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and many other government leaders began to dismantle the government restrictions and regulations that had been built up over the preceding decades.
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Ratio Analysis Assignment Help
Exactly what do you indicate by ratio analysis?
Ratio analysis is utilized to assess different elements of a business's operating and monetary efficiency such as its effectiveness, liquidity, success and solvency. The pattern of these ratios with time is studied to inspect whether they are enhancing or degrading.
Exactly what is a monetary ratio analysis utilized for?
Financial Ratio Analysis. Monetary ratios are mathematical contrasts of monetary declaration accounts or classifications. These relationships in between the monetary declaration accounts help financiers, lenders, and internal business management comprehend how well a company is carrying out and of locations requiring enhancement.
Is return on properties a solvency ratio?
A: There is no substantive distinction in between the interest protection ratio and times interest made (TIE); these are 2 names for the very same measurements of service solvency. Protection ratios, just like liquidity ratios, reveal the capability of a company to satisfy particular monetary responsibilities.
Exactly what are the ratios in accounting?
An accounting ratio compares 2 elements of a monetary declaration, such as the relationship (or ratio) of present possessions to present liabilities. The ratios can be utilized to assess the monetary condition of a business, consisting of the business's strengths and weak points.
Exactly what is the significance of monetary analysis?
Monetary analysis is the procedure of examining organisations, tasks, spending plans and other finance-related entities to identify their efficiency and viability. ... When taking a look at a particular business, a monetary expert carries out analysis by concentrating on the earnings declaration, balance sheet and capital declaration.
Exactly what are the success ratios?
Success ratios are a class of monetary metrics that are utilized to evaluate a service's capability to create revenues compared with its costs and other appropriate expenses sustained throughout a particular time period.
Exactly what is the meaning of monetary ratios?
A monetary ratio or accounting ratio is a relative magnitude of 2 picked mathematical worths drawn from a business's monetary declarations. Frequently utilized in accounting, there are lots of basic ratios utilized to attempt to assess the general monetary condition of a corporation or other company.
Exactly what is making use of ratio analysis?
Ratio Analysis is a type of Financial Statement Analysis that is utilized to get a fast sign of a company's monetary efficiency in numerous essential locations. The ratios are classified as Short-term Solvency Ratios, Debt Management Ratios, Asset Management Ratios, Profitability Ratios, and Market Value Ratios.
How do you determine ratio analysis?
The financial obligation ratio is computed by dividing overall liabilities by overall possessions. Both of these numbers can quickly be discovered the balance sheet. Here is the computation: Make sure you utilize the overall liabilities and the overall possessions in your computation.
Exactly what is the performance ratio?
Effectiveness ratios determine a business's capability to utilize its possessions and handle its liabilities successfully. Some performance ratios consist of the stock turnover ratio, property turnover ratio and receivables turnover ratio. ... The typical stock of ABC is $20 million.
Why it is essential to do a monetary ratio analysis?
Ratio analysis offers a clear understanding about success, liquidity, solvency and effectiveness of company entity. The significance of ratio analysis emerges due to that the procedure of ratio analysis sums up and streamlines the mass of accounting information stemmed from the Financial declarations.
Exactly what is the analysis of monetary declarations?
MEANING of 'Financial Statement Analysis' The procedure of examining and assessing a business's monetary declarations (such as the balance sheet or earnings and loss declaration), consequently acquiring an understanding of the monetary health of the business and allowing more reliable choice making.
Exactly what is a horizontal analysis in accounting?
A horizontal analysis is a treatment in basic analysis where an expert compares ratios or line products in a business's monetary declarations over a specific time period.
Exactly what are the liquidity ratios?
Liquidity ratios are a class of monetary metrics utilized to identify a business's capability to settle its short-terms financial obligations responsibilities. Typically, the greater the worth of the ratio, the bigger the margin of security that the business has to cover short-term financial obligations.
Exactly what is the significance of pattern analysis?
A pattern analysis is an element of technical analysis that attempts to anticipate the future motion of a stock based upon previous information. Pattern analysis is based upon the concept that exactly what has actually taken place in the previous provides traders a concept of exactly what will occur in the future.
Exactly what is the working capital ratio?
The operating capital ratio is the exact same as the present ratio. It is the relative percentage of an entity's present possessions to its present liabilities, and is meant to reveal the capability of a service to spend for its present liabilities with its existing properties.
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Financial Ratio Analysis. Monetary ratios are mathematical contrasts of monetary declaration accounts or classifications. The financial obligation ratio is computed by dividing overall liabilities by overall properties. Performance ratios determine a business's capability to utilize its properties and handle its liabilities efficiently. Some effectiveness ratios consist of the stock turnover ratio, property turnover ratio and receivables turnover ratio.
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At the end of each accounting time period, a business wipes clean its revenue and expense accounts in order to prepare them for use in the subsequent period. The values accumulated in these accounts are transferred to an aggregate account called either Net Income or Net Loss depending on the situation, which then has its value transferred to a more permanent account on the balance sheet. Net Income (Loss) is calculated thus -- the business' total revenues for the period minus its Cost of Sales to produce its Gross Profit, its Gross Profit minus selling and administrative expenses to produce Operating Profit, and then its Operating Profit minus interest and taxation to produce Net Income or Loss.
Determine what section of the income statement the missing part should be included in. Most businesses have one revenue section at the very beginning, followed by the expenses incurred in acquiring or producing the goods or services intended for sale and were sold, followed by their selling, administrative, and general expenses, and then their interest on debt and taxes on income.
Determine the total value of the section in which the missing part should have been included. Most sections will list the total value of all expenses found in that section at either the beginning or at the end, listed under either a name that indicates their nature as a sum of all such expenses for the period or simply called by the name of their section. For example, the total value of all selling, general, and administrative expenses might be called either Total Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses or simply Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses.
Deduct all listed components of the section's added-up value in order to calculate the value of the missing part. For example, if the business's Cost of Sales has value of $80,000, is composed of raw materials and labor costs, and raw materials has value of $60,000, then its labor costs can be calculated to be $20,000.
Sometimes it isn't possible to find missing parts on an income statement without resorting to other documents. There isn't always enough information on the income statement itself to deduct the values of missing parts.
- Sometimes it isn't possible to find missing parts on an income statement without resorting to other documents. There isn't always enough information on the income statement itself to deduct the values of missing parts.
Alan Li started writing in 2008 and has seen his work published in newsletters written for the Cecil Street Community Centre in Toronto. He is a graduate of the finance program at the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Commerce and has additional accreditation from the Canadian Securities Institute.
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There has been rock salt for a long time, and the variety of useful uses for him on a large scale, and there is increasing demand for rock salt, which prompted the owners of capital to go to invest in the establishment of salt factories, to become in the hands of producers and consumers alike determine the competitive uses of salt.
Uses of industrial salt
In the oil industry,
salt is used to increase the density of soil and clay,
which increases the efficiency of drilling operations and makes them safer,
noting that salt is not widely used in offshore drilling.
In the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers are increasing the demand for salt,
because it is used in the formulation of capsules and in the production of saline solutions that have extensive secondary uses,
representing a large proportion of the total national salt industry.
Without a doubt, the greatest demand for salt is to be used to remove the accumulated snow on the roads in winter, it can be said that 60-80% of the salt is used by the government to provide safer driving surfaces. Salt reduces the freezing point. Therefore, the use of salt before snow prevents snow formation and accumulation on the roads.
Secrets of industrial salt
However, the salient use of salt is its intensive use in the chemical industry, especially in the detergent and soap industry.
On the one hand, it has the ability to increase the solubility of water-soluble materials.
salts have a great ability to separate the components of the soap industry,
Used extensively in the manufacture of soap and its derivatives.
On the other hand,
salt also enters the field of solar energy, especially in the manufacture of solar panels,
so where available solar energy, increased the demand for salt, and this occurs mostly in the continents of Africa and South America.
As we have seen, there are countless uses of salt, and applications of salt use are many and many,
which means a great demand for it, and although the salt is not rare and easy to obtain,
the increasing demand for salt over time makes There is a fluctuation in the prices of manufactured salt, especially salt, which is used for security and safety purposes.
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Peril vs. Hazard in the Insurance Industry: An Overview
The words "peril' and "hazard" may seem virtually synonymous but they mean very different things in the insurance industry.
A peril is a potential event or factor that can cause a loss, such as the possibility of a fire that could engulf a house.
A hazard is a factor or activity that may cause or exacerbate a loss, such as a can of gasoline left outside the house door or a failure to regularly have the brakes of a car checked.
Essentially, a hazard makes a peril more likely to occur or makes it worse.
- A peril is a potential adverse event.
- A hazard makes that event more likely.
- Hazards are divided into three classifications: physical, moral, and morale.
Peril means danger, and it has a connotation of imminent danger. A rockslide is a peril to anyone standing underneath the cliff when the rocks start sliding.
In insurance contracts, the perils that are covered are usually specified. Fire, wind, water, and theft, are the perils that are commonly listed. However, note that the language may indicate that the damage will not be covered in certain circumstances, such as if the insurance company finds that neglect by the insured caused the damage or made it worse.
This is the root cause of many disputes between insurer and insured. For example, the insurer may deny a claim for roof damage after a storm, citing owner neglect in not replacing an old roof.
In effect, the insurer is citing maintenance neglect as a hazard.
Before deciding to provide coverage, an insurer may consider the particular hazards that make one candidate riskier than most others. A hazard may be any action, condition, habit, circumstance, or situation that makes a peril more likely to occur or a loss more likely to be suffered as the result of a peril.
The insurance industry commonly divides hazards into three categories: physical, moral, and morale.
Physical hazards are actions, behaviors, or conditions that cause or contribute to peril. Smoking is considered a physical hazard because it increases the chance of a fire occurring. It also is considered a physical hazard in regard to health insurance because it increases the probability of severe illness.
Frayed electrical wiring or liquid spills are physical hazards, as are a number of activities, such as working at high altitudes and operating heavy equipment.
Moral hazards are wrongful behavior or conduct.
Health insurance companies are concerned with moral hazards that lead to fraudulent claims, such as auto accident victims who invent or exaggerate their injuries.
The insurance industry itself may be a morale hazard. Having insurance may make people less careful about avoiding injury or illness since they have insurance to cover the costs.
A business owner who ignores health and safety concerns in the workplace has created a moral hazard. Failing to properly maintain business structures is a moral hazard.
Morale hazards are careless or reckless attitudes that can cause peril.
It has been speculated that the insurance industry itself causes a morale hazard. That is, an individual who is covered by insurance might be less likely to safeguard health or property than one who will lose everything if a disaster occurs.
Even the legal system is sometimes considered a morale hazard as it may encourage people to sue for monetary gain even when they have little or no cause.
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The Power Sector Benefits of Transitioning to Lower Global Warming Potential and Energy Efficient Refrigerants in Room Air Conditioners
With India's already high ambient temperatures, rising middle class and fast-growing economic needs, air conditioning use is increasing rapidly. In fact, it is projected to grow five-fold from 2005 to 2030, resulting in increased demand on India's power grid. India's air conditioning market is in need of, and primed to adopt alternative refrigerants that reduce stress on the energy grid, operate more efficiently, open up new export markets and combat climate change.
Using alternative AC refrigerants is the low hanging fruit to combat climate change. The default refrigerant, technology used by most Indian manufacturers today, is HFC-410A that has a global warming potential (GWP) of 2,088. HFCs have the potential to raise the global temperature by 0.5°C all by themselves by 2100.
Alternative energy efficient technology is available for room air conditioners. Switching to RAC refrigerants with lower GWP than the business-as-usual technologies commonly used in today's market could result in a 15 percent energy savings for India's stressed power grid. This new report discusses the use of these commercially-viable alternative refrigerants and what it can mean for achieving India's national energy and climate goals, alleviating the burdened energy grid, and providing a growing export market for domestic manufacturers.
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The paths that currency takes throughout its lifecycle are fascinating. A dollar bill starts life at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, travels to the Federal Reserve, then is sent into circulation. The average dollar bill is in circulation for six years; during that time, it can go from one end of the country to the other and back again. Dollar bills, on average, travel two miles each day, and end up with 55 different people per year.
When we think of currency moving, we often picture coins and bills changing hands at cash registers or hanging out in wallets and ATMs. But a huge part of our currency is digital, and many transactions take place without any physical currency present. Like cash, digital currency is in a cycle: from consumer to business, from business to bank or employee, and back around again. One of the most common types of digital transactions are transactions within the same bank, which simply involve updating the bank’s financial information.
Other common digital transactions involve moving digital money between banks. You probably aren’t thinking about it, but every time you swipe your credit or debit card, send aninternational money transfer, or make a purchase online, you’re instigating a bank-to-bank transaction and helping the economy. If you want to learn more about how money moves throughout our world and our economy, check out the infographic below, where you can find out how long a $100 bill stays in circulation, and how many notes the Federal Reserve gets each year!
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In Canada, we import $48 billion of food each year from around the world. That’s a lot of food and there are many reasons—including pandemics—why it’s a risk. As COVID-19 strains our food supply and tightens borders, it’s a great time to think about Canadian food self-reliance.
Let’s look at some more numbers.
The global population will grow to 10 billion by 2050, and the world will need to produce about 70% more food to keep up. If this doesn’t already sound like a huge challenge, we’ll need to figure out how to do it with our proverbial hands tied behind our backs.
For starters, the global food system is changing the climate on which it heavily relies. Since agriculture accounts for around 30% of global carbon emissions, the world must both increase food supply and reduce emissions at the same time—all while under threat of increasing climate-related challenges like rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of extreme weather. Additionally, global pollinator loss is estimated to decrease world food productivity by 23%.
Then there is food safety. Today, four million Canadians get sick annually from contaminated food—11,500 are hospitalized and 250 die. As the global food system struggles to keep up with demand, food safety becomes an even bigger challenge.
For example, the US recently increased the speed allowable for poultry inspection by 25% to 175 birds per minute. 175 birds a minute! For human inspection. Despite trade protections, our chicken imports were expected to hit record highs in 2020—mostly from the US. In Canada, the rate for poultry inspection is 50 birds per minute or less.
Meanwhile, produce is by far the leading source of food poisoning. Each year, we can expect a recall of Romaine lettuce from California or Arizona as a matter of course. In fact, over the last 20 years we averaged about 1.5 outbreaks annually. Despite this, the US FDA recently pushed back the compliance deadline for stricter inspection of agriculture water (a leading cause of pathogen outbreaks). Canada imports 90% of our leafy greens, almost all from the US.
The increasing complexity of global food chains makes finding solutions to these challenges exponentially more challenging, and largely out of our control.
So, let’s take control. But how?
In Canada, we have lived with these vulnerabilities partially of necessity. Our climate is not exactly ideal for year-round farming! But a food revolution is underway as technology enables new efficiencies and possibilities. We can grow a more diverse number of crops locally through technological improvements in open field farming, advanced greenhouses and emerging indoor controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Meanwhile, the technology for alternative protein like plant-based meats, cellular agriculture, insects and algae is ideal for developing within our northern climate.
Taking control of our food security is one of the big reasons we founded Fieldless Farms. We are still in early days, but as CEA technology improves, we can reclaim more-and-more food chains with safe, reliable, and delicious produce, all year long. While it’s no silver bullet for Canadian food self-sufficiency, it can be part of the long-term solution to economically replace imports. Today, lettuce and herbs can be grown competitively, and Canada happens to have the largest lettuce trade deficit in the world, worth about $500 million a year. But on the near horizon we can see growing berries and some small vegetables economically too.
We need a national effort to grow and manufacture more of the foods we import today. At Fieldless Farms, we’re proud to be part of a movement to feed Canadians a more complete modern diet, safely from within our borders. For us, it’s not just a $48 billion economic opportunity, it’s also an insurance policy for our country’s food supply.
Jon Lomow is the CEO of Fieldless Farms
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We explore some of the key points, like the role that luck plays in success, why poor people buy lottery tickets, and the differences between getting wealthy and staying wealthy.
Here are some of the highlights from our discussion:
Doing well with money has little to do with how smart you are and more to do with your behaviour around money. Money is a lot more about behaviour and a lot less about knowledge and understanding of numbers.
Financial success is not a hard science. To a certain extent financial outcomes, both successful and unsuccessful, are driven by luck and behavioural characteristics, independent of intelligence and the skill of the investor.
No-one is crazy, every decision that someone makes about money makes perfect sense to them. For many people, their attitude towards money is built from wanting to avoid the situation of not having any money – it might not be rational but it’s not wrong.
People can be broadly divided into two groups – the rational investor and the reasonable investor. There is the rational investor, doing the calculations and treating money as something that doesn’t have emotional value, and the reasonable investor, who recognises the emotional baggage that money has associated with it. For example, when it comes to renting or buying – for the rational investor it makes more sense to rent and put the money that you would’ve used into the stock market. However, intuitively we are led to believe that renting is throwing money down the drain and the cultural significance of home ownership in the Western world is so significant that many people choose the property route which also appears to provide a degree of safety for their money.
Luck plays a disproportionate role in monetary success but people often avoid acknowledging it. Whilst no-one doesn’t think that luck plays a role in financial success, since it’s so hard to quantify and rude to suggest that people’s success is a result of luck, the default stance is to implicitly ignore luck as a factor of success.
It’s non-sensical to risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need. Reputation, happiness, freedom, family and friends are the most valuable assets we hold – we need to recognise our point of ‘enough’ when we are at risk of risking these important things for more money and more status.
You don’t need tremendous skill or luck for tremendous results, you just need compounding and time. Warren Buffet’s $84 billion wealth is a result of nearly 75 years of strategic investing but, equally importantly, due to the powerful effect of compounding. When it comes to the decisions of the rational investor, they will try to maximise their own personal chances of staying in the game for the longest time.
Getting money and keeping money are two entirely different skills. To get money involves luck, skill and putting yourself out there and taking risks. To keep money requires frugality, recognition the role that luck played in your accumulation of wealth, recognition that it might not continue forever and recognition around what is enough.
Planning is important but the most important part of every plan is planning for when the plan doesn’t go according to plan.
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By Lin Smith
Origination of the Green Climate Fund
November 30, 2013–The idea for the Green Climate Fund originated at the 2010 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun, Mexico. According to the drafted document, which can be viewed at gcfund.net, its purpose is, “to make a significant contribution to the global efforts to limit global warming, by providing support to developing countries to help limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate with low-emission projects and climate-resilient development.” The Fund was to limit the emissions that would take place with the Industrial Revolution that would soon evolve in undeveloped nations, by working and funding a cleaner Industrial Revolution for those nations using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, preventing a further rise in global temperatures. In last week’s article on planetearth5.com, “The Demographic Transition”, by John Hidore, it was stated, “A country’s stages of the Industrial Revolution and population growth have merged from one to the next, but do not take place at the same time. Many less developed countries have not yet changed to an industry based economy, still being an agricultural society.” The Green Climate Fund was to provide grants and lend funds to the developing countries, working closely with the countries that would be most impacted by global warming, by channeling funds where needed and closely monitoring them for efficiency and effectiveness.This project has been in the development stage for several years, having a projected date of action starting in 2020.
The Warsaw Climate Talks
In the past two weeks, 9,000 people gathered in Warsaw for the Green Climate Fund Summit conference, including representatives from 195 countries, plus world environmental groups. This conference was to map and plan the action of the Green Climate Fund. Manfred Konukiewitz, of the the Green Climate fund board, stated, “Climate finance is a critical part of the international effort to combat climate change and address the impact of ever more serious climate change. The Fund is stepping up its work to deliver effective results in developing countries and ensure that the impact of funding for adaptation is maximized.”
The conference in Warsaw succeeded in creating frustration among several organizations, resulting in a walk out of these groups. Greenpeace walked out stating, “Expectations were that the developed countries were going to put money on the table, but what happened was a farce! It was the opposite of what we expected.” The environmental groups showed dismay with the lack of leadership, as Poland performed a political shuffle of their environmental ministers during the conference plus hosting a coal industry summit during the Green Climate Fund talks. This led to the belief by many that Poland was not serious about combating global warming. The environmental groups stated, “We are walking out to send a strong message due to total inaction at the talks, due to lack of ambition and finance, at a time when we need the most action.” They believe that rich countries are not pledging enough money in proportion with the climate damage they have caused. So question is, where will the money come from? Some believe, at least in part, that it should be raised with a carbon tax on the trillions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, which allow the price of these commodities to remain relatively low.
The bickering continued with the developed nations not wanting to take responsibility for further weather catastrophies, as underdeveloped nations thought they should. Connie Hedegaard, EU Climate Commissioner stated, “We cannot have a system where there will be automatic compensation whenever severe weather events are happening one place or the other around the planet. You will understand why that is not feasible!” Ban Ki Moon, The UN Secretary General told the Financial Times, “While national delegates bicker, human activity is leading to rising global temperatures, as stated by a new climate report released September 2013. It is much more than a wake up call. It is an emergency alarm bell. We have to take urgent action.” The conference ended with giving developed countries until 2015 to establish their “contribution” plans (meaning no commitment!) to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, with nothing being finalized until the next conference in Paris in 2015.
Solutions To the Global Warming Crises
If we can’t seem to organize soon enough on a large, global scale, (much environmental damage will be done by 2020, the target date of action for Green Climate Fund) then everyone on every level needs to step up to the plate–and quickly! Individuals, communities, states and nations need to be contributing to saving our planet at a personal, state and national level. Todd Gitlin, in his article “How to Stop Apocalyptic Climate Change,” states, “The institutions of our ruling world have a powerful stake in the mad momentum of climate change, the energy system that’s producing it and the political stasis that sustains and guarantees it. They are so powerful they seem unbreakable. Don’t count on them to avert the coming crisis. They can’t because, in some sense, they are the crises!”
A final thought–would it be possible for the developed nations to cut their defense programs in half and contribute that money towards defending our planet?
- How rich countries dodged the climate change blame game in Warsaw | Graham Readfearn (theguardian.com)
- Climate change crisis fund to assist poor countries almost empty (theguardian.com)
- Climate fund for developing nations to be launched soon: UN (rediff.com)
- 200 Billion Dollar Green Climate Fund (lunaticoutpost.com)
- Cabinet rethinks Australia’s backing of global Green Climate Fund (theguardian.com)
- Zambia urged to prepare for Green Climate Funding (times.co.zm)
- Final Report from United Nations Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland (ivoter.com)
- Green Climate Fund ‘can power poor’ (eco-business.com)
- US backtracks on financial commitments to climate change (thehindu.com)
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Supplementary resources for high school students
Definitions and Basics
Technology, at Dictionary.com
- 1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.
- 2. the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature.
- 3. a technological process, invention, method, or the like.
- 4. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization.
Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
Between 1760 and 1860, technological progress, education, and an increasing capital stock transformed England into the workshop of the world. The industrial revolution, as the transformation came to be called, caused a sustained rise in real income per person in England and, as its effects spread, the rest of the Western world. Historians agree that the industrial revolution was one of the most important events in history, marking the rapid transition to the modern age, but they disagree vehemently about various aspects of the event. Of all the disagreements, the oldest one is over how the industrial revolution affected ordinary people, usually called the working classes. One group, the pessimists, argues that the living standards of ordinary people fell. Another group, the optimists, believes that living standards rose….
In the News and Examples
Tim Harford on Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy, EconTalk podcast episode, November 2017
Financial Times columnist and author Tim Harford talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Harford’s latest book, Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. Highlights include how elevators are an important form of mass transit, why washing machines didn’t save quite as much time as you’d think, and the glorious illuminating aspects of light throughout history.
Michael Munger on Sharing, Transaction Costs, and Tomorrow 3.0, EconTalk podcast episode, October 2018
Economist and author Michael Munger of Duke University talks about his book, Tomorrow 3.0, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Munger analyzes the rise of companies like Uber and AirBnB as an example of how technology lowers transactions costs. Users and providers can find each other more easily through their smartphones, increasing opportunity. Munger expects these costs to fall elsewhere and predicts an expansion of the sharing economy to a wide array of items in our daily lives.
Arnold Kling on Education and the Internet, EconTalk podcast episode, October 2012
Arnold Kling, economist and teacher, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about recent technological innovations in education and Kling’s forecast for their impact on learning and how they might affect traditional education. Examples include the recent explosion of online lessons and classes, new teaching styles that exploit those offerings, and the nature of learning in various kinds of classrooms and student-teacher interactions.
Kevin Kelly on the Future of the Web and Everything Else, EconTalk podcast episode, March 2007
Author Kevin Kelly talks about the role of technology in our lives, the future of the web, how to time travel, the wisdom of the hive, the economics of reputation, the convergence of the biological and the mechanical, and his impact on the movies The Matrix and Minority Report.
Consuming Spam Mail, by Declan McCullagh on Econlib, February 12, 2001
Paper junk mail has to have postage…. Not so with email…. From an economic perspective, spam is just another form of pollution, an activity that imposes costs on people without their permission….
Telecommunications, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
It would be difficult to overstate the significance of telecommunications in today’s economy and virtually impossible to overstate its likely importance in the future. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, telecommunications has become the central nervous system of the economy. Just as the railroads once promoted economic growth and development, telecommunications is now globalizing markets, reducing transactions costs, expanding productivity, and directly increasing economic well-being….
Research and Development, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
Research and development (R&D) is the creation of knowledge to be used in products or processes….
Internet, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
The Internet’s main function is to reduce the cost of transmitting information, and that is really all it does. Since the Internet only moves electrical pulses from one location to another, it is capable only of transmitting products that can be digitized—and that comes down to various forms of information (including digitized entertainment).
A Little History: Primary Sources and References
Timothy Brook on Vermeer’s Hat and the Dawn of Global Trade, EconTalk podcast episode, February 2008
Timothy Brook, professor of history at the University of British Columbia and author of Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the expansion of global trade between Europe and the rest of the world, and in particular, North American and China. He discusses the differences and similarities between Chinese and Western attitudes toward trade and exploration and the implications for innovation and knowledge.
Change and Progress with Uncertainty Absent, by Frank Knight. Part II, Chapter 5 from Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit
We turn now to the third grand division of theoretical economics, the study of the use of resources in the increase of resources for the making of goods and in the refinement of wants alongside of and alternative to their direct use in making goods for consumption….
Creative Destruction, from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) coined the seemingly paradoxical term “creative destruction,” and generations of economists have adopted it as a shorthand description of the free market’s messy way of delivering progress. In Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942), the Austrian economist wrote:
The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation—if I may use that biological term—that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. (p. 83)
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Edited by Alexander-Stamatios G. Antoniou and Cary L. Cooper
Chapter 6: The adverse effects of recession-related events on the health and well-being of individuals
Almost everyone has been affected by the global recession that started in September/October 2008. During a recession or economic crisis, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, downsizing and privatizations are inevitable. Recession is a stressful event that affects most organizations and the ensuing major organizational changes result in stressful layoffs and unemployment. The employees or survivors who remain after organizational change may perceive the consistent threat of job insecurity and may need to work longer hours to keep their jobs. Hence, both layoffs and survivors suffer from stress-related health problems (physical and mental health) and negative effects on their well-being (career, financial, physical, psychological and social). This chapter will discuss the model of occupational stress in recession, and the adverse effects of recession-related events on the health and well-being of individuals. The effects of the aftermath of recession on health and well-being will also be discussed. The environmental adaptation-level theory explains how a curvilinear relationship can occur between the recession and the outcomes, which suggests that people may adjust to the adverse effects of recession and the effects may level off gradually. Ways of coping with recession at the individual level will also be discussed in this chapter.
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Public Finance Assignment Help
Get immediate aid for Public Finance Assignment assist & Public Finance research assistance. Our Public Finance Online tutors assist with Public Finance tasks & weekly research issues at the college & university level. Public finance is the research study of the function of the federal government in the economy. It is the branch of economics which evaluates the federal government earnings and federal government expense of the public authorities and the change of one or the other to attain preferable impacts and prevent unwanted ones. In public finance we study the financial resources of the Government. Therefore, public finance handle the concern how the Government raises its resources to satisfy its ever-rising expense. As Dalton puts it,” public finance is “interested in the earnings and expense of public authorities and with the modification of one to the other.”
The earnings made by the federal government by enforcing various kinds of taxes is made use of in numerous kinds of social or public energy jobs. The collection of funds for state functions and the usage of the resources so gotten are such important parts of the political organisation, that they are nearly specific to get attention from all who are interested in social and political queries. His letters are brought by a state firm which declares a monopoly, and in some circumstances understands a big revenue for the basic profits. The products that provide his table remain in lots of cases taxed to develop a fund for the payment of civil services. Either his earnings or home or a few of their components makes certain to be subjected to a charge of higher or less quantity, and numerous of the most regular things are just available to him on getting an expensive licence for authorization to participate in them.
If the individual of our supposition be the occupant of a town, his home might be lighted by public firm, while it is extremely likely that for one of the very first necessaries of life– water– he is reliant on his town. The method in which the simply monetary firms of the State– and still more those which have some connexion with finance– impact the members of the society in their daily presence, is being ever detailed afresh by the regular course of social life. The appropriate function of federal government offers a beginning point for the analysis of public finance. If personal markets were able to offer effective results and if the circulation of earnings were socially appropriate, then there would be little or no scope for federal government. National defense is one example of non-rival intake, or of a public great.
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If you are looking for an exciting career that involves analytical work, then a KYC Analyst is a great option, but what is a KYC analyst, and how do you enter this career?
What is a KYC Analyst?
Defining KYC or as it is also known ‘Know Your Customer’ describes the process that many large organizations use to identify their customers and the risks they pose. It is an essential element of the compliance function of a business, and due to the strict regulations for companies, especially in the financial sector, this role is more critical than ever.
Why is KYC important?
KYC is an essential function for a business that deals with financial transactions. A significant part of its role is to identify customers and their intentions. Looking further into the aspects of this job also recognizes the need for an investigative mind as a lot of detection work is carried out to prevent suspicious and unscrupulous behavior.
What does a KYC Analyst do?
A KYC Analyst has an important job of reviewing documents and analyzing aspects such as new customer accounts and new processes and policies. Other factors of the role involve looking at market trends and identifying customer behaviors to get an idea of the type of activity that happens. Compliance processes and assessing risk is also a part of the job.
Most KYC Analysts work for large organizations in the financial sector. However, other companies require this type of role, including manufacturing, technology, and consulting businesses.
The primary duties carried out by KYC Analysts include:
Evaluating new accounts
The role involves looking at new accounts and verifying information and documents on the customer. This area ensures individuals and companies are not high risk and determine whether there are negative issues that could impact the business.
Reviewing policies and processes
Every financial firm has policies and procedures in place, and these are continually changing to meet rules and regulations. A KYC Analyst will assist in reviewing these policies and making suggestions to keep everything watertight. The role involves liaising with senior management teams to discuss findings.
Analyzing market trends and behaviors
There are always trends in customer behavior. The role of a KYC Analyst will be to look at these and compare them to internal trends and findings. This insight is also often used to help other departments in a company improve the customer experience and ensure new customers are treated fairly.
What skills does a KYC Analyst need?
This role involves a lot of data integration and analysis work, so someone with these abilities is essential. Good reporting and observational skills are also required, as are time management, communication, and decision-making. The job involves liaising with a variety of people and also working with little supervision so being comfortable in these settings is vital.
Above all, it is a rewarding and interesting career that enables you to use your skills and intuition to improve customer experience.
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Did you know that the average household in America has $5,700 in debt? That debt may be held as credit card debt or other types, but it can certainly weigh down your ability to afford a comfortable lifestyle.
As someone who is in a balance-carrying household, you should know that the national average is $9,333 per household. Does that sound like the amount you’re dealing with now? If it does, then you’re not alone.
Debt levels often change by age. For instance, someone who is 75 or older is likely to have the least debt. Those under 35 may have lower debts as well. However, as people age, debts tend to get larger and then eventually wane, like looking at a mountain. Those between 35 and 44 may have an average debt of $8,235 compared to those between 45 and 54 who carry an average of $9,096. Those between 70 and 74 see a big decline in debt, carrying only around $6,465.
It’s also interesting to see that households with greater incomes do tend to have larger average rates of credit card debt, but it may not be as high of a percentage of income. For example, someone who makes less than $24,999 may not be as comfortable with carrying $3,000 in debt as someone who makes $44,999 would be, yet those in the $25,000 to $44,999 group tended to carry $3,900 in debt on average compared to $3,000 for the lower-earning group.
Regardless of your situation, if your feel that your credit cards and other debts are out of control, there is help available. You can look into bankruptcy, negotiating settlements and other options to get out of debt and back on track financially.
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When you create a simple chart of accounts, you might assign a group of numbers to each account category. Assets might use the 100s, liabilities might use the 200s, and so on. There are specific accounts within each category. You will assign each account a more specific number within its category. For example, cash is an asset, so you might label the account as 110.
The government uses a similar process to categorize U.S. businesses. Like the codes in your chart of accounts, the government has assigned SIC codes to group businesses by industry.
So, what is a SIC code, and how can you use it to benefit your business?
What is a SIC code for a business?
The government created the Standard Industrial Classification codes (SIC codes) to identify U.S. businesses. The classification system uses four-digit coded numbers that categorize businesses by industry. Every business can be categorized with a SIC code.
SIC codes were created in 1937. In 1997, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes were created to standardize industry classifications across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Despite the introduction and use of NAICS codes, SIC codes are still used in some circumstances.
What is a SIC code used for?
SIC codes are used by governments, lenders, and private businesses.
Federal and state governments might use the codes to track various industries. For example, the federal government might use the SIC codes to compare all manufacturing businesses in an economic study. More frequently, however, governments use NAICS codes for studies and statistics.
You might need your SIC code when applying for government contracts and loans. Some loans and projects might be limited to certain industries or business sizes within industries. Your company SIC code can help you and the government determine if you are eligible.
SIC codes are often used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If your business were to ever become public, you would need to know your SIC code.
Lenders might ask for your SIC code when you apply for a loan. The lender might use the code to determine if you are in a high-risk industry.
If you sell products or services to other businesses, you might use SIC codes to identify potential customers. For example, you might want to target potential clients within a certain industry. You use other businesses’ SIC codes to determine if they are good fits to sell to.
When figuring out how to do a market analysis, you might consider using SIC codes. During a market analysis, you will compare your business to similar businesses. By using SIC codes, you can be sure you are actually comparing your business to businesses in the same industry.
Understanding SIC codes
SIC codes have four digits. The first two digits classify the major group. The third digit further defines the industry group.The last digit indicates the industry sector.
Let’s say you sell home floorings, such as tile, carpet, and hardwood. To find your SIC code, you’ll look under major group 57 because it includes retail stores that sell home goods, including flooring. Then, you’ll look under industry group 571 because it’s specific to home furniture and furnishings. You’ll then see that your business SIC code is 5713, which categorizes retail stores that sell floor coverings.
Major Group: 57 – Home Furniture, Furnishings, And Equipment Stores
Industry Group: 571 – Home Furniture And Furnishings Stores
Industry Sector: 5713 – Floor Covering Stores
Primary and secondary SIC codes
All businesses have a primary SIC code. This is the main code that categorizes the core industry of the business.
Businesses can also have up to five secondary SIC codes. Secondary SIC codes classify other industries the business is involved in but aren’t the main focus. The secondary industries might overlap with your main industry or they might be unrelated.
Let’s say you own a local grocery store that also has a few gas pumps. Your core business is the grocery store, so your SIC code is 5411. Because you offer filling stations, your secondary SIC code would be 5541.
SIC codes vs. NAICS codes
SIC codes and NAICS codes have a similar purpose, but they are often used differently.
NAICS classifications are more specific than SIC classifications. With NAICS classifications, you can be more specific about a business’s industry.
The U.S. government stopped updating SIC codes in 1987. Some private data companies continue to update the SIC codes to make them even more specific than NAICS codes; however, you should be careful with these updated codes. They are not recognized by the government and may vary between data companies. For government-related purposes, you should only use the government-created list.
SIC codes are commonly used by private businesses to target and market to potential business clients. If you use a private data company to help find potential clients, the company will likely use its updated codes to narrow down the results to better suited potential clients.
For government contracting and statistical purposes, NAICS codes are used more often.
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This article is updated from its original publication date of 2/27/2015.
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You may have heard all the predictions that there is a recession on the way and it could make you nervous and you might worry if you will struggle with money or have to take out a loan. It is wise to firstly remember that predictions are not always right and that even if we do have a recession, things may not be that bad for you. It is good to think about what a recession actually is and what impact it might have on you and how you can protect against this.
What is a recession?
A recession is a term which describes the case when an economy has not grown for two consecutive quarters of a year. It is something that is measured by the government and can come about for a selection of reasons. It could be a financial crisis, a trade shock or general downturn which will cause spending to decrease. It is the decrease in spending which will cause the economy to shrink.
What impact might it have?
The government might choose to put in some measures to try stop the recession or to prevent it form getting worse including reducing taxes, increasing government spending or increasing the money supply. These could have impacts on households by making them a bit better off. However, households can be hit differently. A decline in business growth could lead to companies having to be forced to reduce their workforces and so some households could be hit by redundancy. It could also mean that salaries will not go up and so real wealth could decrease if prices continue to rise. Knock on effects could also lead to other things happening but it can be tricky to predict. It will depend on how long the recession lasts and whether just one or multiple countries are affected by it.
How can I protect against it?
Therefore, the things that you will need to protect against are redundancy and reduce wage growth. To protect against redundancy it can be wise to make sure that you are doing your job well, that you ensure your role is needed by making yourself really useful and that you are keen and enthusiastic. Although it is the role that is made redundant not the person, it will not hurt to make sure that you are always punctual and helpful as well, just to keep giving a good impression. Of course, there will still be a chance that you will be made redundant. This means that you need to think about what you could do to help this situation. Make sure that your CV is up to date so that it is ready to send out should you need to. Make sure that your skills are up to date as well. Although you may not want to pay out for formal training, you can still teach yourself a lot of things, from free online courses or books and this could be useful too.
Financially, you will want to protect yourself as well. Making sure that you maximise your savings can be very handy as it means that you will have some money to fall back on should you find that things are getting too expensive or you lose your job. It will also be helpful in getting you into good spending habits. This is because you will need to spend less in order to save some money. If you can get used to spending less, then if you really need to then you will already be used to it. It can be well worth comparing prices too and making sure you are not spending more than you need to. Again, this will help you form a useful habit, but it will also allow you to save more money.
If you think that you are likely to be made redundant, perhaps because the company that you work for are already struggling or the sector that you work in is, then perhaps you should start to look for another job and perhaps even find a new job right now. It is wise to be aware of what opportunities are available even if you do not actually change jobs right away. This will allow you to make sure that you have the right skills for the jobs that you want.
It can also be useful to familiarise yourself with websites where you can compare prices. You can compare lots of thinkg from loans such as these and insurance to food and toiletries. Using these will help you to make sure that you are buying the products that you need form the cheapest places. It should help you to be able to keep the costs of your spending down, which will help you save more in the short term and if you do get made redundant you will not be spending so much then, when you have less money available to do so.
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Fixed costs are time-associated i.e. they continue to be constant for a time frame. Fixed costs are also called overhead costs, period prices or supplementary prices. Fixed prices stay constant for a specific period. These costs are often time-associated, such because the month-to-month salaries or the rent. Economic profit is completely different from the general business term ‘revenue’. The general assumption is that firms are producing goods to maximize income.
This price advantage is established in the truth that as output will increase, fastened costs are spread over a larger number of output gadgets. In accounting, fastened costs are bills that remain constant for a time frame no matter the extent of outputs. Any small business owner will have sure fixed prices no matter whether or not there may be any business activity.
Try To Minimize Mounted Costs In Other Areas The Place Potential
The hotel is now shedding cash annually. It is making sufficient money to cowl its variable prices, however not enough to cowl its whole yearly value. Therefore, it should stop paying lease and other fastened prices, and exit the business. When common price is declining as output increases, marginal cost is less than average price. When common price is rising, marginal value is larger than average value.
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E Whole Value
And after the break-even point, the realm above the whole costs and beneath income in GBP is taken into account profit. In accounting, the breakeven level is the manufacturing level at which whole revenues equal complete expenses. Businesses even have a breakeven point, after they aren’t making or shedding cash. Other examples embody services and utilities that will come at a hard and fast cost and wouldn’t have an impact on the number of units produced or bought. For example, if the government offers limitless electricity at a fixed monthly value of $a hundred, then manufacturing ten units or 10,000 units will have the same fastened cost in direction of electricity. Total fastened costs for the period are $456,840.
- When you promote extra gadgets, your variable prices enhance.
- The administration wants to calculate the gross profit for this order by figuring out first the whole variable value.
- If you prefer to decide out, you possibly can alternatively choose to refuse consent.
- Investors and analysts may attempt to calculate the contribution margin figure for an organization’s blockbuster products.
Unlike fastened bills, you can management your variable bills to depart room for earnings. In the Cost Theory, there are two kinds of costs related to manufacturing – Fixed Costs and Variable Costs. You can use the above formulation to do a break-even evaluation. A break-even evaluation might help you see where you should make adjustments along with your pricing or bills.
The lower earnings must be explained by higher prices. A lengthy-run average cost curve is typically downward sloping at comparatively low levels of output, and upward or downward sloping at relatively excessive levels of output. Most generally, the lengthy-run common cost curve is U-formed, by definition reflecting economies of scale where negatively sloped and diseconomies of scale the place positively sloped. Long-run average value is the unit price of manufacturing a sure output when all inputs, even physical capital, are variable.
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CoST is a country centred multi-stakeholder initiative, involving Public and Private Sectors as well as Civil Societies, designed to promote transparency and accountability in publicly financed construction.
CoST builds on the principles of transparency and accountability and applies this to the construction sector. The ultimate goal is to foster greater accountability by disclosing to the public, accurate and relevant information on the value and quality of government infrastructure projects. In each country, CoST is directed by a Multi-Stakeholder Group, composed of representatives from the Civil Society, the Private sector and the Government. Worldwide, CoST is guided by the International Advisory Group (IAG) to which each participating country provides a member.
At CoST’s core is the belief that the processes involved in the construction of public infrastructure must be made more transparent. The public must be armed with the information they need to hold decision makers to account and to ensure better value for money in the construction sector.
CoST is making this ideal a reality. It works with government agencies to gather, verify and disclose information into the public realm.
Creating a more transparent sector ultimately leads to better public infrastructure, offering potentially huge human benefits, for individuals and communities across the world. It also reduces waste in public budgets, enables fairer competition in the private sector and increased opportunities for investors.
How does CoST work?
CoST is a governance initiative that employs a multi-stakeholder approach. It involves government procuring entities and oversight agencies, private sector consultants and contractors, and civil society groups working together to improve transparency. CoST is a catalyst to driving change. It encourages demand and pressure for transparency by bringing together interested stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society sectors. The ultimate result is a new governance and accountability mechanism that builds on existing government institutions, regulations, and demand for increased transparency and better construction results.
CoST seeks to complement rather than replace a country’s supervision, audit, regulatory, investigative, and judicial functions. The complexity of the construction sector presents a major challenge to improving transparency. CoST uses the disclosure of key non-sensitive information and a multi-stakeholder approach to address this challenge. The relevance and local importance of the infrastructure helps to generate public demand for better management and delivery. CoST relies on existing oversight bodies to use the information generated. CoST’s Multi-Stakeholder Groups are essential in enabling this process, using their influence to demand greater transparency.
CoST was successfully piloted in eight countries between 2008 and 2011 with funding from the UK Department for International Development and support from the World Bank. CoST International Pilot Launch took place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on May 2008. the eight countries that piloted the project for two years were Ethiopia, Malawi, Philippines, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Vietnam , Zambia and Guatemala.
The Global CoST was launched in October 2012 in South Africa and Zambia being one of the pilot countries participated in the launch.
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Access a range of climate-related reports issued by government agencies and scientific organizations. Browse the reports listed below, or filter by scope, content, or focus in the boxes above. To expand your results, click the Clear Filters link.
To plan for future sea level rise, Miami-Dade County relies on the 2019 Unified Sea Level Rise Projection for Southeast Florida developed by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. These projections are revised every five years to ensure they reflect the best available science. Based on these consensus projections, they expect sea levels to be approximately two feet higher 40 years from 2019 levels and continue rising beyond that.
In the third quarter of 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria revealed some significant vulnerabilities in the national and regional supply chains of Texas, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Drawing on lessons learned during the 2017 hurricanes, this report explores future strategies to improve supply chain management in disaster situations. It makes recommendations to strengthen the roles of continuity planning, partnerships between civic leaders with small businesses, and infrastructure investment to ensure that essential supply chains will remain operational in the next major disaster. Focusing on the supply chains food, fuel, water, pharmaceutical, and medical supplies, the recommendations of this report will assist FEMA as well as state and local officials, private sector decision makers, civic leaders, and others who can help ensure that supply chains remain robust and resilient in the face of natural disasters.
This report identifies eight distinct strategies cities are using to pay for large-scale climate resilience projects, mostly to address sea level rise and flooding. The analysis is based on a close look at how eight U.S. cities in seven states have been organizing the funding needed to implement their ambitious climate resilience plans. Each of these cities has had to find its own way to public and private financial resources, because there is no system in place for solving the problem of how to pay for climate resilience. Examining these cities’ pathways revealed common strategies that, while only reflecting the leading edge of urban climate resilience financing practices, quite likely foreshadow what other cities already or may do.
The EWN Atlas is a collection of 56 projects illustrating a diverse portfolio of contexts, motivations, and successful outcomes, presented and considered from an Engineering With Nature® perspective to reveal the usefulness of nature-based approaches and the range of benefits that can be achieved. Engineering With Nature is an initiative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers enabling more sustainable delivery of economic, social, and environmental benefits associated with water resources infrastructure. EWN intentionally aligns natural and engineering processes to efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits through collaborative processes.
Shorelines with high boat wake and wave energy face especially rapid erosion and habitat loss. A new living shoreline design from researchers at the University of Florida and the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve that uses gabion-breaks has proven successful in high-energy environments. The gabion-break design uses two lines of defense to reduce erosion along the marsh edge—porous wooden breakwalls placed in front of structures that will foster oyster growth. This manual for restoration practitioners describes a collaborative research project that tested gabion-breaks along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in northeast Florida. It discusses the project’s results and details the steps to use gabion-breaks, including planning, design, maintenance, monitoring, and costs.
This assessment of seven priority hazards was undertaken by the Florida BRACE (Building Resilience Against Climate Effects) program. Existing climate scenarios project heat, drought, and sea level rise vulnerability to the year 2100 with a high, medium, and low range of outcomes for these three hazards. Hurricane winds, storm surge, flooding, and wildland fire are more difficult to project into the future due to a significantly smaller geographic impact; for these four hazards, probability indexes were used in conjunction with historical patterns to explain possible changes to Florida’s long-term weather. Social and medical vulnerability indices were also employed to quantify social and medical vulnerability to these priority hazards.
The Tampa Bay region is known as one of the most vulnerable in the world to wind damage, coastal flooding from storm surge, and rising sea levels. The City of St. Petersburg—with over 60 miles of coastal frontage—has already felt the impacts of storms. The adverse effects from these types of environmental events often impact low-income communities the hardest, as they have the most difficulty bouncing back from stresses and shocks. The City of St. Petersburg is committed to ensuring that investments in making the city resilient are equitable and create a range of opportunities that everyone can benefit from. The Urban Land Institute of Tampa Bay convened top experts in climate resilience from New Orleans, Miami, Boston, and the Tampa Bay region to provide technical assistance to the city on creating an equitable culture of resilience. A grant from the ULI Foundation and Kresge Foundation funded this effort.
This draft Regional Action Plan in support of NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy helps communicate a regional vision for climate-related science in the South Atlantic, providing a framework for scientists and managers to prioritize and accomplish research on climate-related impacts to marine and coastal ecosystems. It promotes scientists working with partners and the management community to construct management approaches that ensure the development of science-based strategies to sustain marine resources and resource-dependent coastal communities in a changing climate. Highlights include establishing a NOAA Fisheries South Atlantic Climate Science Team, expanding scientific expertise and partnerships, conducting vulnerability assessments for South Atlantic species, and drafting a South Atlantic Ecosystem Status Report. The draft was available for public comment through March 24, 2017; the Plan will be finalized in summer 2017.
These state summaries were produced to meet a demand for state-level information in the wake of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, released in 2014. The summaries cover assessment topics directly related to NOAA’s mission, specifically historical climate variations and trends, future climate model projections of climate conditions during the 21st century, and past and future conditions of sea level and coastal flooding. Click on each state to see key messages, figures, and and a summary of climate impacts in your state.
This report is part of a series of six case studies that explore lessons that are being learned by climate collaboratives from around the United States that are bringing together local governments and other stakeholders at the regional level to both reduce carbon pollution (mitigation) and prepare for the impacts of climate change (adaptation). Each case study explores the history and development structure and decision-making methods, funding sources, roles, and initiatives of each of these climate collaboratives. A synthesis report also explores lessons that can be learned by comparing the efforts of each collaborative on climate policy in their regions. These case studies were supported by a grant from the Kresge Foundation. In developing these case studies, the Georgetown Climate Center collaborated with the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA).
The Gulf of Mexico Regional Action Plan was developed to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information to fulfill the NOAA Fisheries mission in the region, and identifies priority needs and specific actions to implement the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy in the Gulf of Mexico over the next three to five years. The Gulf contains a diverse range of habitats, including unique coral systems atop salt domes, high relief carbonate banks, and shallow coastal ecosystems that support a variety of commercially and recreationally important marine fish and shellfish. Understanding how the major climate drivers affect the distribution and abundance of marine species, their habitats, and their prey is important to effective management. Climate-related factors expected to impact the Gulf of Mexico include warming ocean temperatures, sea level rise, and ocean acidification.
Climate change impacts ecosystems in many ways, from effects on species to phenology to wildfire dynamics. Assessing the potential vulnerability of ecosystems to future changes in climate is an important first step in prioritizing and planning for conservation. Although assessments of climate change vulnerability commonly are done for species, fewer have been done for ecosystems. To aid regional conservation planning efforts, this report assesses climate change vulnerability for ecosystems in the Southeastern United States and Caribbean.
The Florida Transportation Plan (FTP) is the statewide long-range transportation plan for all of Florida. It is complemented by this Strategic Intermodal System Policy Plan, which identifies policies for planning and implementing the statewide high-priority network of transportation facilities critical to Florida’s economic competitiveness.
This report presents the common trends in how 12 local governments across the country developed and implemented stormwater policies to support green infrastructure. The local policies examined include interagency cooperation, enforcement and management issues, and integration with state and federal regulations. While a strong motivation for these policies and programs is innovation in stormwater management, many communities are moving past the era of single objective spending and investing in runoff reduction and stormwater management strategies that have multiple benefits. Green infrastructure approaches have a range of benefits for the social, environmental, and economic conditions of a community. Not only do these case studies include success stories for building a comprehensive green infrastructure program, but they also provide insight into the barriers and failures these communities experienced while trying to create a stormwater management system that includes more green infrastructure approaches.
Historically, studies about climate hazards and social vulnerability have been conducted in separate silos. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) is the first study of its kind to examine both the potential impact of natural hazards and which populations are most likely to be negatively affected. This research, commissioned by Oxfam America, includes a series of layered maps that depict social and climate change-related hazard vulnerability. The maps assist in identifying hotspots in the U.S. Southeast, which are at significant risk in the face of four particular climate change-related hazards: drought, flooding, hurricane force winds, and sea level rise. The specific region of focus is the 13-state region of the US Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Roughly 80 percent of all U.S. counties that experience persistent poverty (defined as a county in which at least 20 percent of the population experiences poverty for three decades or more) lie in this region.
A collection of case studies and information about how coastal communities can plan for and adapt to climate change. These resources represent a national guide for how coastal communities can plan and adapt. Case study issues range from coastal managers addressing sea level rise in Rhode Island to coral bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures in Florida.
This plan contains 50 separate policy recommendations to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The report estimates that if all its recommendations were implemented, the state would meet its emissions reduction targets, enjoy increased energy security, and see a net cost savings of more than $28 billion from 2009 to 2025.
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William Adzawla of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop, WASCAL, Climate Change Economics, Dakar, Senegal recently conducted a study on greenhouse gasses emission and economic growth nexus of sub-Saharan Africa.
He posits that notwithstanding the lesser contribution to global warming, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remained one of the most vulnerable to climate change due to low economic development, high dependence on natural resources for agricultural production and low technological advancement. There is also limited information on the nexus between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the region. Therefore, this study applied the Environmental Kuznets hypothesis to test the relationship between economic growth and GHG emissions in SSA and also test the effect of global GHG emission on economic growth of SSA. Using an aggregated panel data for the period of 1970 to 2012, a Vector Autoregressive and an Ordinary Least Square regression were estimated.
From the result, although the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality was established in the short run, there are no clear turning points for the greenhouse gasses. Generally, there is a monotonic decreasing relationship between economic growth and environmental quality in the long-run. Interestingly, this study showed that global GHG emission levels have a long-run effect on the economic growth of SSA.
He therefore concluded that to ensure that economic growth leads to an improvement in environmental quality, there must be a global effort to introduce innovations and technologies that can lead to increase production with little GHG emissions.
The study recommended that, SSA should consider carbon tax policies other than stringent GHG emission reduction initiatives or climate stabilization policies that would negatively affect production in the region.
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As world leaders prepare for the climate change summit in Paris in December, cutting the world’s increasing levels of carbon emissions is at the top of the agenda. For investors in agriculture, the fight against carbon is worth participating in, for instance by backing research into feeds to reduce methane produced by cattle, investing in more efficient machinery or allocating capital to sustainable forestry.
However, there is more to the climate change than the emissions problem. Another major climate change-related challenge investor must prepare for is water.
Last year was the hottest on record, and although there will be cycles of reprieve in our weather systems, nobody can ignore the ongoing threat of continued droughts in the United States, Australia and Africa. In June, NASA scientists told us that 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers can no longer be sustainably maintained.
In Asia, water management is also a tricky issue that has left potential agri investors with mixed feelings. Some fund managers have spoken to Agri Investor about future plans to invest in water management projects in China and surrounding Asian nations, but many are wary of investing in land that has been over-cultivated and polluted by industrial wastewater. In the Pacific, climate change could mean increasingly violent typhoons, and floods followed by drought.
Investors know that access to good quality water and resourceful irrigation systems also means more food can be produced more efficiently. Around the world, 795 million people continue to suffer from hunger according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015, with sub-Saharan Africa the worst-affected region. And as populations in African and Asian countries continue to grow, so will their demand for food.
There is a wealth of opportunities where investors can develop and benefit from better water management globally. In Africa, a viable water management plan is a must-have cornerstone for any strategy aiming to reduce the amount of food the continent will need to import. Countries like Nigeria, as Agri Investor reported are seeing increasing amounts of investment going into agriculture. But not enough is going into enabling infrastructure, and local governments lack basic data sets and maps that can tell investors about local water conditions in areas that they might otherwise consider putting capital into. More cost-effective irrigations systems are also needed: those running on gas and diesel are often too expensive for the continent’s subsistence farmers.
In the US, on the other hand, agribusinesses are already paying close attention to how best to manage their water resources. Investors are quickly learning from their counterparts in Australia that droughts must be tackled to prevent them from getting worse over the long term. This week Australian manager goFarm led a $3 million funding round for American water management tech company Swiim. Swiim’s chief executive Kevin France told my colleague Chuck Stanley in New York that his company’s technology could help American farmers monitor their water use. Soon, he said, agribusinesses could be selling the water that they can record as saved onto others – rather like what is being done with carbon emissions through the trading of credits.
Consultants, investment firms and the state of California are actively studying Australia’s experience of drought in order to apply lessons in water management. Expect increased regulation of agricultural water-use from the world’s governments, in particular the United States. Firms like BlueSky in Australia and Equilibrium in the US have made water management and saving a crucial part of their long-term investment plan, to mitigate some of the primary risks affecting agricultural production.
With an increasing emphasis on using technology to good effect, the developed world is getting ready to meet water-related challenges head on. And there is also a debate of what fiscal value we attach to water. KPMG New Zealand’s head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot told me this week how he hopes his country, where he says 90 percent of fresh water reaches the sea unused, can increase the amount of liquid milk it sells abroad instead of dehydrating it to make powder. “We are asking [consumers] to use some of their very limited resources,” he said. “I see that business model as being ripe for disruption.”
Wherever you look, it is clear that water management offers investment opportunities at every level – from revolutionary data systems in America and Australia, to building roads, ditches and commissioning studies for reliable water data sets in Africa.
What do you think of the opportunities in water? Get in touch at [email protected]
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You’ve heard about it a lot. Finally, you decide to experience it for yourself…
Yes. it’s investing we’re talking about.
As soon as you start your investment journey, you may come across several terms that simply seem to fly over your head. These stock market terms are used commonly by the investing and trading fraternity alike. Getting familiarised with these terms can greatly help you in your journey towards investment success.
We hope this mini stock market glossary, simplified by MoneyWorks4me, helps you stay informed and make rational decisions when it comes to investing in the Indian Stock Market.
The basic stock market term ‘stock’ or ‘share’ is used to indicate ownership of a company, representing a proportionate claim to the company’s earnings and assets.
2. Bull Market:
A commonly used term in the share market, the bull market refers to a situation where stock prices are continuously rising for a sustained period from a few months to a few years. A bull market signals improving investor confidence in the economy or global GDP, increasing sales and profits, declining unemployment, etc.
3. Bear Market:
The bear market indicates a scenario where the stock prices are rapidly decreasing (a decline of at least 20% from previous highs over at least two months). A bear market signals loss of investor confidence triggered by a slowing economy, increasing unemployment and inflation, and in some cases possible recession.
4. Asset Allocation:
Asset allocation is the practice of distributing your investments among various asset classes like equity, debt, gold, etc. in an attempt to balance the risk and reward in the portfolio. Asset allocation takes into consideration an individual’s risk profile, financial goals, and investment horizon.
Equity refers to the shared ownership of a company. This is the value of total stock/shares outstanding; the sum of money that a company’s shareholders will receive in return when all of the assets are liquidated, and the company’s debt is paid off. The accounting equation is;
Asset – Liabilities = Equity.
This is a stock market abbreviation of Current Market Price referring to the price at which the shares are currently trading.
7. Market Capitalization:
Market Capitalization tells you the current market value of a company. Based on market cap, a company can be classified as large, mid, or small. It’s calculated by multiplying the company’s total outstanding shares and its current market price.
8. Large Cap Stocks/Funds:
Another important term related to the stock market you may have heard often is Large Cap Stocks or Funds. At present, companies with more than 20000 Cr market cap values are classified as large cap stocks. Mutual funds investing at least 65% of their corpus in such companies are classified as ‘Large Cap Funds’. Most of the large cap stocks are mature and stable companies, high dividend payers, and widely tracked by the investing community.
9. Small Cap Funds:
Companies with a market capitalization of less than Rs. 5000 crores are referred to as Small Cap Stocks or Funds. Mutual funds mandated to invest at least 65% of their corpus in small cap stocks are classified as small cap funds. Small cap companies have the potential to grow faster than large and mid-companies. However, they are also extremely risky investments as their survival rate is low and many can go bust in an economic downturn. Investors should think about investing in them only if the investment horizon is long, 7-10 years.
Dividend refers to the distribution of a part of the company’s profits earned during a particular quarter/financial year.
11. Index Fund:
Index fund refers to a portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to imitate the performance and composition of a particular index. Being a passively managed fund, it has lower expenditures and fees as compared to actively managed funds.
12. Fund Manager/Portfolio Manager:
A fund manager is a person or group of persons responsible for implementing the chosen investment strategy through buying and selling stocks in the portfolio. They usually charge a fee for their work, which is basically a percentage of the fund’s average AUM or assets under management.
13. Debt Fund:
A debt fund is a type of mutual fund that invests mainly in fixed-income investments like bonds, money market instruments, etc. Debt funds usually have lower management costs as compared to equity funds.
14. Price change:
Price change signifies a change in the value of a particular security, positive or negative. Though it can be calculated across any period of time, the most commonly reported is the daily price change. Daily price change captures the difference in the price of a security over the previous day’s closing price.
15. The 52-week high/low:
52 week high/low is the highest and lowest price that the stock has traded at in the past 52 weeks. It’s an important technical indicator used to determine future trends of stock prices.
16. Return on Equity (ROE):
ROE is an important measure of the company’s financial performance. It measures how effectively a company utilizes its assets to generate profits and is calculated as Net Income / Shareholders Equity; where Shareholders Equity = Assets – Liabilities
17. The price-earnings ratio:
The P/E ratio is a ratio of the company’s share price over its earnings per share. It indicates how much investors are willing to pay for every rupee of earnings. A PE ratio can be used to determine whether a company’s share price is relatively high or low as compared to its own past or as compared to its industry peers. Keep in mind that a high PE stock is not always overvalued, while a low PE stock is not always undervalued.
18. The price to book value (P/BV) ratio:
P/BV ratio measures the market value of a company relative to its book value. P/B ratio is used by value companies with negative earnings or asset-heavy companies like banks or manufacturing companies. Generally, P/B ratios of less than 1 are considered as low. Again, a high P/B ratio isn’t always indicative of overvaluation, similarly, a low P/B isn’t indicative of undervaluation.
19. Enterprise multiples:
An enterprise value is a more accurate measure of the company’s worth as it values the firm with the perspective of a potential acquirer by including debt, the value of preferred shares, and minority interest, but minus cash. Therefore, EV multiples tend to be a better measure of valuation than their counterpart price multiples as they aren’t impacted by the changes in the company’s capital structure. The usage of enterprise multiples may differ based on the industry:
19.1 Enterprise Value (EV) / EBITDA: (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization): It’s the measure of a company’s total value ( or enterprise value) over its earnings/EBITDA. This ratio tells investors how many times EBITDA they have to pay, were they to acquire the entire business.
19.2 EV/EBIT: The EV/EBIT ratio compares the total value of a company to its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). EV/EBIT is commonly used as a valuation metric to compare the relative value of different businesses. Though similar to the P/E ratio, it makes up for some shortcomings of the latter.
19.3 Enterprise value/sales: The EV/Sales ratio compares the total value of the company to its sales. It measures how much investors are willing to pay per unit of sales. It’s used to compare companies with substantial differences in accounting policies. It’s also useful in valuing companies with negative free cash flows or unprofitable companies.
19.4 EV/FCF: Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow compares the total valuation of the company with its ability to generate cash flow. The lower the ratio, the faster a firm can generate cash to reinvest in its business or pay back the cost of its acquisitions.
20. Trading volume:
Trading volume is basically the number of shares being traded in any given period. A high trading volume indicates a high level of interest in that particular stock. It’s an important tool in technical analysis, where trading volume is used to determine the strength of the technical indicator.
In the context of stocks, liquidity refers to how quickly and easily a stock can be bought or sold without affecting its price. Eg. a stock with consistently high trading volumes is considered to be liquid, as both buyers and sellers are present in large numbers
In simple terms, volatility means how much a stock’s price moves around its mean price. Statistically, it’s a measure of the stock prices’ dispersion of returns. Usually, the higher the volatility, the riskier the stock. It’s measured as the standard deviation or variance between returns of the stock and the market index.
23. Moving Average:
The moving average (MA) is a commonly used technical analysis indicator. It smooths out price data by creating a constantly updated average price. The average is taken over a specific period of time, ranging from a few minutes to days and weeks. Moving averages are used to identify stock price direction and support/resistance levels. The two most popular types of moving averages are the Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the Exponential Moving Average (EMA).
23.1 Simple Moving Average: It’s simply the average stock price over a specified period. Eg. a five-day SMA adds up the last five days’ closing prices and divides it by five to create a new average each day.
23.2 Exponential Moving Average: EMA places more weightage on the most recent stock prices. The EMA reacts to price changes faster than the SMA, due to additional weightage on recent price data. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a better indicator than the SMA.
Diversification is an effective risk management strategy that helps reduce the risk in your portfolio. It means allocating your investments across multiple asset classes (Equity, debt, gold, and real estate). Within equities, diversification ensures you make multiple investments across industries and stocks which saves you from a major loss if one of the stocks or industry is in a bad phase.
25. Mutual Funds:
A mutual fund is a pool of funds collected from multiple investors for the purpose of investing in stocks, bonds. Mutual funds are professionally managed by a fund manager. It can be open-ended or close-ended investments (schemes with lock-in periods, cannot be bought/sold in between).
These 25 popular stock market terms are just the tip of the investment iceberg. However, this can give you a basic idea about the commonly used terms tossed about in trading platforms.
Take your first step into the world of stock market investments with expert advice from MoneyWorks4Me.
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What is Credit?
We depend on credit for so many important things in life -- whether it's for buying a car, house or computer or getting a student loan. A three-digit number -- your credit score -- can determine whether you can do these things and even how much it will cost you.
How can a simple number determine whether you can buy a house or car? If you've read How Credit Reports Work, you know that your credit report contains a history of how you've paid your bills, how much open credit you have, and anything else that would affect your creditworthiness. Your credit score boils down all of that information to a three-digit number. Using the credit score, lenders can predict with some accuracy how likely the borrower is to repay a loan and make payments on time.
How Your Score is Calculated
Although there are several scoring methods, most lenders use the FICO method from Fair Isaac Corporation. Each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) worked with Fair Isaac in the early 1980s to come up with the scoring method.
A credit score is determined much like a grade in school. Consider how a teacher calculates grades by taking scores from tests, homework, attendance and anything else they want to use, weighing each one according to importance to come up with a final, single-number score. It's the same for a credit score. But instead of using the scores from pop quizzes and papers, it uses the information in your credit report.
The number ranges from 300 to 850. Although the exact formula for calculating the score is proprietary information and owned by Fair Isaac, here's an approximate breakdown of how it is determined:
35 percent of the score is based on your payment history. This makes sense since one of the primary reasons a lender wants to see the score is to find out if (and how promptly) you pay your bills. The score is affected by how many bills have been paid late, how many were sent out for collection and any bankruptcies. When these things happened also comes into play. The more recent, the worse it will be for your overall score.
30 percent of the score is based on outstanding debt. How much do you owe on car or home loans? How many credit cards do you have that are at their credit limits? The more cards you have at their limits, the lower your score will be. The rule of thumb is to keep your card balances at 25 percent or less of their limits.
15 percent of the score is based on the length of time you've had credit. The longer you've had established credit, the better it is for your overall credit score. Why? Because more information about your past payment history gives a more accurate prediction of your future actions.
10 percent of the score is based on new credit. Opening new credit accounts will negatively affect your score for a short time. This category also penalizes hard inquiries on your credit in the past year. Hard inquiries are those you've given lenders permission for, as opposed to soft inquiries, which include looking at your own score and have no effect on the score. However, the score interprets several hard inquiries within a short amount of time as one to account for the way people shop around for the best deals on a loan.
10 percent of the score is based on the types of credit you currently have. It will help your score to show that you have had experience with several different kinds of credit accounts, such as revolving credit accounts and installment loans.
Consequences of Your Score
If you aren't careful about your credit, you could end up paying dearly for a low credit score. Not only can a low score stand in the way of getting a loan for your dream home or dream car, but even if you do get the loan, a less-than-stellar score will make it expensive. As your credit score decreases, you become more of a credit risk in the eyes of lenders. This means they'll attach a higher interest rate to your loan, and your monthly payments will jump. On the other hand, a high score will lower that interest rate.
Can I Change My Score?
Credit scores aren't fixed in stone. Because they're calculated based on your current credit report, they change every time your credit report changes. While this change may be very slight, it can also be much more dramatic. Here are some things some financial advisers say to do to try to improve your score:
Review your credit report and correct any errors you find. A shocking percentage of credit reports contain errors -- one study concluded that as much as a quarter of reports list wrong information that hurt an individual's score [source: CNNMoney]. Getting rid of these negative mistakes can improve a score dramatically.
Keep old credit accounts, even if you're not using them. Creditors look at the debt-to-credit limit ratio and the average age of your accounts.
Reduce your balances on credit cards to 75 percent or less of your available credit (25 percent is preferable).
Pay your bills on time. Assuming that there are no big errors on your report, punctual payments are the most effective way to improve your score. If you look back to the page on credit score breakdown, you'll see that payment history is the most weighty of all elements of your score. This has to do with whether you pay debts back on time and in full. This may take time to raise your score dramatically, but you'll see slow and steady improvement.
Don't let anyone make an inquiry on your credit report unless you absolutely have to. In general, the more inquiries, the lower your score. However, if you are shopping for a loan, make sure multiple inquiries occur within a few weeks, so that they can count as one inquiry on your score.
If you are planning on applying for a big loan, such as a mortgage, don't open new credit card accounts just to increase your available credit in the hopes of raising your score. Opening new accounts will at first have a negative impact. In the long term, however, having more credit available can boost your score.
How Can We Help You?
Your financial health revolves around your credit score, making it imperative that the information your credit report contains is as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Work with our credit experts and proven system to eliminate any inaccurate, obsolete or erroneous accounts... Lower your interest rates, avoid high late fees, save money and advance your credit opportunities.
Understanding how your credit score is calculated and how to read your credit report are the first steps in improving your current standing. Our Credit Education Center offers a wide variety of educational services, credit tips and resources to help you take the necessary steps to enhance your credit score and manage your financial life. Improve your score by identifying the accounts that need immediate attention and why, and understand the impact of the amount of credit you are using.
We fix people’s credit reports in a legally and trustworthy manner and fight abusive debt collectors. We turn victims into victors as we step into an otherwise unfair fight started by debt collectors, creditors and credit reporting agencies. We are focused on you and not just your case. Our lawyers and paralegals band together to analyze your case and situation from all angles to bring about the best result in the quickest manner. We will work with you to determine your case eligibility and aim to stop debt harassment & clean up difficult to remove credit report errors from your credit file.
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Where to start when, as an organisation, an investor, an entrepreneur, an employee or a consumer you want to participate in the global effort to mitigate climate change? Are there solutions out there? Where can we find resources and insights to innovate and work on meaningful projects to reverse global warming?
Project Drawdown® can be a place to start. Since 2014, this nonprofit organization has worked with academics to identify the 80 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change.
Project Drawdown: 80 substantive and viable solutions to reverse global warming
Project Drawdown was founded by environmentalist Paul Hawken to measure and model solutions to stop global warming, and to communicate those findings to the world.
The ambition of the organization, a collaborative effort of scholars, scientists and entrepreneurs, is to reach “drawdown”. Drawdown is the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. This is the point when we begin the process of stopping further climate change and averting potentially catastrophic warming.
Two levers to reach drawdown: reducing emissions and supporting nature’s carbon sinks
Project Drawdown focuses on technological, ecological and behavioral solutions that can reduce emissions or support nature’s carbon sinks.
Solutions are mapped along these 2 levers, 6 sectors and 3 sink categories. For each solution, they have estimated the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and its financial cost over a 30 year-period from 2020 to 2050.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the 6 sectors with the highest anthropogenic emissions are: electricity and heat production (25%), food agriculture and land use (24%), industry (21%), transportation (14%), buildings (6,4%) and other energy related emissions (9,6%) .
57% of those emissions remain in the atmosphere. The rest is absorbed by 2 natural sinks, land and ocean, respectively absorbing 26% and 17% of emitted greenhouse gas . Engineered sinks (human engineered carbon capture and sequestration systems), although still at a preliminary development stage are covered too by Project Drawdown.
A selection of 5 solutions to start-off
On March 2020, Project Drawdown issued their updated review . It represents the organization’s first major update to their assessment of solutions to move the world toward drawdown, since 2017.
Drilling through the 80 solutions can be overwhelming. To advance your exploratory journey into climate change action, you may start with this selection of 5, chosen here because they are applicable to a wide range of sectors and show significant impact in reversing global warming.
Projected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are indicated for each solution in parenthesis over a 30 year-period between 2020 and 2050. As shown below, these levers are significant (as a comparison, 50 billion tons CO2e are released worldwide each year by human activities ).
- Reduce food waste (87 billion tons CO2e): Roughly a third of the world’s food is never eaten, which means land and resources used and greenhouse gases emitted in producing it were unnecessary. Interventions can reduce loss and waste, as food moves from farm to fork, thereby reducing overall demand.
- Plant rich diet (65 billion tons CO2e): Consumption of meat and dairy, as well as overall calories, often exceeds nutritional recommendations. A plant rich diet is associated with less deforestation, burping cattle and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Refrigerant management (58 billion tons CO2e): Fluorinated gases have a potent greenhouse effect and are widely used as refrigerants. Managing leaks and disposal of these chemicals can avoid emissions in buildings and landfills.
- Shift to alternative transport (19 billion tons CO2e): public transit, bikes, bicycle infrastructure, walkable cities, high speed rail. Alternative modes of mobility reduce demand for fossil-fueled transportation or replace it altogether. With public and “pooled” transit, we can make the most of available seats. Compact cities, intentional infrastructure, and advanced communication technologies make it possible to walk, cycle, or simply stay home.
- Insulation (17 billion tons CO2e): Insulation impedes unwanted airflow in or out of buildings. In new constructions or retrofits, it makes heating and cooling more energy efficient, with lower emissions.
Many impactful levers are developed in the electricity and heat production sector where the challenges are high: moving away from fossil fuel electricity to renewable and low carbon alternatives, gaining efficiency in production, and improving the electricity grid. More inspiration can be found in the detailed list of Project Drawdown.
Food for thought
To complete Project Drawdown list, there should be a mention of a structural trend picking up with the Covid-19 sanitary and economic crisis.
Sobriety in consumption although not mentioned in the list of solutions of Project Drawdown® is a major lever to reverse climate change. The carbon footprint per capita (i.e., the total emission caused by the consumption of an average individual) varies by up to a factor of 20 between a rich and a developing country. Moving away from over-consumption of non-essential goods and services would limit energy consumption and anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
Due to the Covid-19 sanitary crisis, purchase of “non essential” goods and services have dropped significantly (flight travels, fashion,…). These new habits may be here to stay, all the more that they are accelerated by the economic slow-down.
It is good to have this in mind when thinking through our priorities in consumption, investment strategy, and company positioning. This will be key to adapt to the post-covid-19 future while participating in the global effort to achieve drawdown.
Fifth assessment report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014, summary for Policymakers and technical summary https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/WGIIIAR5_SPM_TS_Volume-3.pdf. AFOLU means Agriculture Forestry and Other Land Use
Source: Project Drawdown® based on Global Carbon Project analysis adjusted to include all greenhouse gases at 100-year global warming potential
Full review is available online on Project Drawdown® website https://www.drawdown.org/
Climate Data Explorer. 2017. Country Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. http://cait.wri.org
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The Renewable Energy Directive (RED, 2009/28/EG) specified the binding goal of replacing at least 10% of the requirement for fossil fuels (disregarding air traffic) with energy from renewable sources from 2020. This increases the European Union's requirements for biofuel. In the context of setting up national action plans the member states have determined the national biofuel requirements to achieve the goal. According to this, around 21 million tons of biofuel, primarily biodiesel and HVO (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil), must be provided for the diesel market alone.
This is associated with an increased demand for raw materials for the purposes of biofuel production. The question of the effects of this increase was already anchored in the directive, in which the EU Commission was commissioned to investigate possible indirect land use change (iLUC) and, if applicable, to present suggestions for adapting the legal framework conditions. This process is well underway and has led to intense and extremely controversial discussions inside and outside the EU.
UFOP does not doubt that the increased demand for biomass has effects on land use orientation. However a specific cause-effect relationship cannot be demonstrated on the basis of the study commissioned by the Commission. The quantities of raw materials required by the EU, relative to global agricultural production, are too small for this.
The intensity of the discussion between the business concerned, the EU Commission and parliamentarians in Berlin and Brussels has sharply increased at the moment. The focus is on the question of whether the so-called "iLUC factors" need to be taken into account as an additional negative value for biofuels in the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance sheet calculation. UFOP fears that in the worst case this additional requirement for GHG saving for the European biodiesel and HVO sector would mean the end of biofuel production based on plant oil. As the GHG reduction of at least 50% required from 2018 on as a precondition for market access in the EU cannot be achieved. Other markets would have to be sought out for the oilseeds previously produced in the EU for this purpose or the oil obtained from them. For the investments in the biofuels industry amounting to billions of euros an early end of the amortisation would be required. This puts many jobs in jeopardy. For the EU objectives, this would result in a supply gap that could not be closed.
The implementation of the RED requirements is a major challenge, as the iLUC hypothesis implies that the local cultivation of raw materials for biofuel production leads to the clearing of rainforest overseas and thus the destruction of biotopes. The burden of the sharply increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by this are now to be attributed to European farmers. European rapeseed growers, who produce under the strictest technical conditions designed to protect the natural environment, would thus be punished for inadequate forest protection laws in third-party states, while in countries like Indonesia, for example, tree-felling continued despite the imposition of iLUC.
Against this background UFOP's goal is to carry on fact-based and thus technical discussions with the political decision-makers: the EU Commission, the federal government and the members of parliament in Brussels and Berlin. For this purpose UFOP makes available information such as studies or specialist publications and offers itself as a discussion partner.
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The latest statistics show that the UK’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy delivered a turnover of £77bn (US$107bn) in 2016—a 3.8% increase on 2015). Meanwhile, the cost of new technologies, such as offshore wind, is rapidly going down. With the recent publications of its Clean Growth and Industrial Strategies, the UK government has set a clear ambition to build a competitive, low-carbon economy. The Industrial Strategy identifies clean growth as one of four “Grand Challenges” and the Clean Growth Strategy sets out 50 actions the government will take to support greater investment in energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies.
Providing clear market signals and supportive policies to attract affordable investment in the energy efficiency of buildings, renewable electricity, low-carbon heat and electric vehicles will be essential to deliver the government’s clean growth ambitions.
A complex picture
However, another important aspect of the UK’s future competitiveness will be the price that its businesses, especially electro-intensive industries, pay for their electricity. A new report from University College London (UCL), commissioned by the Aldersgate Group, shows that UK industry has been paying more for its electricity on average compared to industry in France and Germany but that the reasons behind this are far more complex than recent media coverage implies.
Some of the UK’s European neighbours tend to have lower industrial electricity prices because their power grids tend to be better interconnected, they engage in more electricity trading, are more supportive of collective, long-term contracts to reduce prices for heavy industry and have integrated renewable energy on their power grids in a more co-ordinated—and therefore cheaper—way. These countries have also long supported electro-intensive businesses with network and policy costs.
So, what can be done to provide competitive prices to industry as the UK continues its transition to a low-carbon power system? The short answer is that given the multiple reasons behind recent price increases, a range of policy solutions is required.
Time to rethink policy on onshore wind
The first is that the government needs to rethink its policy on mature forms of renewable energy, such as onshore wind. There is currently no clear route to market for onshore wind in the UK despite the fact it is a highly cost-competitive and low-carbon technology and could deliver electricity at prices below UK wholesale prices.
In the near term, the government could arrange another competitive, subsidy-free auction of mature renewable energy projects (known as “Pot 1” auctions). Recent research by consultancy Baringa suggests that another 1 gigawatt auction of onshore wind projects would clear at a price of around £49 per megawatt hour, which would be below the expected market price of electricity in the coming years and would deliver a net payback to consumers of around £18m in real terms over the lifetime of the projects.
In the longer term, the government could support a new market of zero carbon and tradeable electricity contracts. This would allow industrial consumers to enter into long-term contracts with renewable-energy developers, thereby giving them access to low-cost, unsubsidised clean electricity. It would also provide them with the flexibility to trade these contracts should their demand for power change over time. Importantly, businesses holding these contracts would not have to pay the carbon price, which the UCL report argues should increase in the early 2020s as coal generation is phased off the UK grid and a clearer market signal for low-carbon power generation is needed.
Handling Brexit with care
The ultimate outcome of the Brexit negotiations will also be critical. Currently, the UK is part of the EU’s internal energy market, the purpose of which is to encourage a cost-effective sharing of energy resources across borders. It does this by better aligning the rules in place in different EU member states and encouraging more interconnection links to be built between national power grids, both of which make it easier to trade electricity.
The UK currently has a limited number of interconnection cables linking it with European power grids but this is set to change with several projects in the pipeline, which would increase the UK’s ability to trade electricity with its neighbours and reduce the cost of maintaining system security at times of high demand for power. However, for these projects and benefits to fully materialise, the government will have to ensure that the UK retains an unrestricted access to the EU internal energy market after Brexit.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) or any other member of The Economist Group. The Economist Group (including the EIU) cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this article or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in the article.
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