Felicia Hemans and To My Own Portrait versus William Wordsworth and Tin

Visions of the Past Felicia Hemans & William WordsworthI will here attempt to give an idea of the links between Felicia Hemans and William Wordsworth. I will begin with a brief biography of Hemans, followed by a look at the relationship between Hemans and Wordsworth. I will end with a short comparison of Hemans poem To My Own Portrait and Tintern Abbey.Hemans Biography 1Born Felicia Dorothea Browne in Liverpool in 1793 and raised in North Wales, Hemans was by and large home-schooled by her mother. Considered a child prodigy by her family, she loved Shakespeare, was well read in several languages, and is said to have been able to quote passages from lit at length after only one reading. Felicia also studied music and drawing, and was later to include several of her sketches as frontispieces for her publications. She began writing as early as the age of eight, and her first volume, Poems was published by subscription in 1808 when she was only 14. The collection was met with some harsh reviews, which, although upsetting to the young poet, did not diminish her passion for writing. In fact, the same year saw the publication of England and Spain, or Valour and Patriotism. This volume was likely inspired by the service of her elder brothers, who both(prenominal) entered the army at an early age, and served in the Peninsular Campaigns in Spain. As her sister Anne Browne was later to write in her posthumous biography of Hemans, huntsmans horns and banners now floated through her dreams in which birds and flowers had once reigned paramount. 2Felicias father left his wife and children in 1810 to move to Upper Canada, effectively ending all contact with his family. By this time Felicia was engaged in correspondence with Captain Alfre... ... V. 1. Hemans Life and Works, 1839. P. 264. Hemans, Felicia. Quoted by Anne Browne. Memoir of Mrs. Hemans. V. 1. Hemans Life and Works, 1839. P. 2515. Byron, Lord. From a letter to the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, September 17th, 1820. Byr on A Self-Portrait, Letters and Diaries 1798-1824. V. II. London John Murray, 1950.6. Jeffrey, Lord. Edinburgh Review. October, 1829.7. The information for this section is taken from two sources Wolfson, Susan & Peter Manning. The Longman Anthology of British Literature The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. V. 2A. New York Longman, 1999. Kennedy, Deborah. Hemans, Wordsworth, and the Literary Lady. Victorian Poetry. 353 go past 1997. 267-286.8. Quoted in Kennedy, p. 268.9. Quoted in Kennedy, p. 270.10. Kennedy, p. 270.11. Quoted in Kennedy, p. 273.12. Longman Anthology, p. 736.

Inventory of the lost :: essays research papers

An inventory of the lostSuppose your father was working high in the World Trade shopping mall on Sept. 11, 2001. You have been told by authorities in New York City what intuition told you as you watched the two towers collapse Your father is dead.Yet that conclusion is a municipal bureaucracys intuition, no more(prenominal) certifiable than your own. Your fathers remains have not been found. He is presumed to have been killed largely because, first, he could not possibly have survived and, second, he has not been seen since. So your grief is compounded by a question as illogical as it is impossible for you to shake What if, somehow, he escaped? What if, in some perhaps tragicomic way that screenwriters might never imagine, he managed to get out alive? This sort of bizarre ending doesnt often run into in real life, of course. Extremely rare is the victim of war, or of violence, or of some other tragedy, whose remains are never found and identified. If survivors of those victims ge t the repelling pain of loss, they invariably get proof that the victim is, irrefutably, deceased. Not so, though, for many survivors of the 2,792 people killed at the World Trade Center. Working with body parts retrieved from mountains of rubble, the mail of New York Citys medical examiner has confirmed the identities of 1,518 of those World Trade Center victims. But scientific tests have failed to link any of the body parts to the more than 1,200 other victims.The majority of those body parts exhumed from the debris - 12,000 of almost 20,000 fragments - are a tragic inventory of the lost. Efforts to match them to known DNA samples provided by the families of victims - strands of bull lifted from combs left at home, for example - have failed, often because the retrieved body fragments were so badly incinerated, crushed or deteriorated that their DNA was unknowable.Unknowable, that is, using todays DNA technologies. faith in future technologies has led to a remarkably smart way of dealing with all those still unidentified body parts. They are being dried, one after another vacuum sealed and packaged for a time when new means of identifying human tissue may tie them to specific victims.Under a communications protocol developed by city officials working with representatives of victims families, the remains will be interred in a memorial at the site of the twin towers.

Bram Stokers Dracula: A Struggle to Maintain Victorian Upper and Middl

The priggish men and women conveyed in Bram Stokers genus Dracula ar pure and virtuous members of the upper and affectionateness class. However, hiding behind this composed and civilized conception of England lies a dark and turbulent underbelly. This underbelly is the lumpenproletariat, whom Karl Marx defined as "the lowest and well-nigh degraded portion of the proletariat the down and outs who make no contribution to the workers cause". Victorian culture discriminated against these vagrants, who were seen not only as shiftless and immoral, but dangerous as well. Sex was taboo and purity was held sacred to the Victorian middle and upper class, but prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant among the lumpenproletariat. The rich strive to be pious and good, but consider those of lower social standing to be less than human. The reaction of the characters in Dracula to the evil of the vampires female genitalia be likened to the Victorian conception of the l ower classes. They were seen as a hedonistic but powerful force, with the collective capacity to end the affluent citizens way of life. In this sense, the novel raise be viewed as a struggle to maintain upper-class Victorian traditions against the traditions of the lower class. This paper will examine the similarities between the vampires and the perception of the lower classes in regards to superstition, sexuality, inequality and the "preying" of the lumpenproletariat on the respectable middle-class. It will also examine the signs evident in the novel of the Victorian mindset.           Dracula is an aristocrat with a castle and direful title, but in reality he is more associated with the lumpen. While trapped in Draculas castle early in the novel, Jonathan discovers that he has no hired help, has been performing menial tasks such as bed-making and table setting in secret, and charge acting as the horse-carriage driver. He slumbers in dirt, much like the homeless, and is nomadic for most of the book. The Count associates himself most clearly with the lumpenproletariat in the form of a horde of gypsies who "attach themselves as a rule to some great noble"(49). They even do his bidding "The gypsies have given me these"(50) Dracula says of Jonathans ill-fated letters. Dracula attempts to hide his lumpen nature and exude an aristocra... ... "stagnant and foul" air (111). Vampires and the unworthy are projected as animal-like, and both prey on others.     Since the vampires in Dracula can be seen as a representation of the lower class, we can draw some assumptions. If one draws this parallel to its logical conclusion, the battle with the vampires, it can be seen that in the end the lower class and their perceived values are soundly defeated by the righteous ruling class, and the threat is expelled from Britain. However, this ruling class does not come out of the battle unscathed, and the Victorian tradition is generally lost. By reading Dracula as a battle to maintain Victorian tradition, one can more fully understand the actions of the characters. Their prudishness, Sewards scientific trammel to logic, and the idea of the fall from grace take on a new meaning in the light of such an understanding. Just as the characters in Dracula cling to their humanity, so too do they cling to their upper-class values in the face of the lower class.Works CitedStoker, Bram. Dracula. England Pengiun, 2003.defn"Lumpenproletariat". Oxford English Dictionary. http//dictionary.oed.com

An Unsuitable Job For A Woman: Two Detectives :: essays research papers

While reading, An Unsuitable Job for a Wo spell, by P.D. James and gift Only, by Sara P betsky, one is given the opportunity to slip in to the life of a female individual(a) detective and experience the aspects of what occurs during the process of a executing investigation as seem through the eyes of two very independent women. P.D. Jamess character of Cordelia Gray and Sara Paretskys character of V.I. Warshawski are two private investigators that display great passion for their jobs and will stop at nothing in order to close their cases. But, are inexperienced Cordelia Gary and wisecracking Warshawski blooming examples of private investigators or are they two nave women who have entered an occupation where compassion and sympathy are two traits that are better left unused. some(prenominal) Cordelia and Warshawski display great ability as women to enter a world of hate, lies and murder and take on roles that traditionally only men dared to enter. But, as they separate out thou gh evidence left behind by unknown assailants and pry into the lives of dead and living strangers, are these women real living lives of their own or are they becoming to emotionally entangled in a web of self destruction. Putting their lives in harms government agency in search of justice, an oath that they as private detectives have never took.Both women are clearly excellent detectives they solved their cases and reaped the self-gratification that comes from hard work and determination. In spite of that, are these two women really doing themselves any justice by restraining from the certain pleasures in life they yearn to experience and enjoy but have sustained from due to the career woof they have chosen, as seem in Cordelias reflection of what her life may have been like if she had chosen to attend an university and Warshawskis reflection in the park of the mother and her children. Both women are still at an age where these reflections can still become reality, yet they have chosen to continue prosecute a career that hampers their ability to achieve these personal goals. Maybe their becoming to emotionally involved in their cases is a result of their search for a way to compensate for the void their career choice has left in their lives. Both Cordelia and Warshawski became a little too preoccupied with their cases. Cordelia became so involved she was sleeping in the same house in which the murder occurred, not to mention the same bed as the deceased and she even began wearing the clothes of the young man whom she was investigating the murder of.

Engineering disasters :: essays research papers

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost due to structural failure in the left wing. On take-off, it was account that a piece of foam insulation surrounding the shuttle fleets 15-story external fuel tanks fell off of Columbias tank and struck the shuttles left wing. Extremely alive gas entered the front of Columbias left wing just 16 seconds after the orbiter penetrated the hottest part of Earths atmosphere on re-entry. The shuttle was equipped with hundreds of temperature sensors positioned at strategic locations. The salvaged flight recorded revealed that temperatures started to rise in the left wing leading edge a full minute before any trouble on the shuttle was noted. With a damaged left wing, Columbia started to drag left. The ships flight control computers fought a losing battle trying to keep Columbias nose pointed forward. Its very(prenominal) hard to say what steps, if any, could have been taken to prevent the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster from occurri ng. When mankind continues to push the envelope in the interest of bettering humanity, there will always be chances. In the manned spaceflight business, we have always had to live with trade-offs. All programs do not carry equal risk nor do they offer the same benefits. The acceptable risk for a given program or operation should be worth the potential benefits to be gained. The terminal should be a management system that puts safety first, but not safety at any price. As of Sept 7th, 2003, NASA has ordered extensive mill inspections of wing panels between flights that could add as much as three months to the time it takes to prepare a space shuttle orbiter for launch. NASA does all it groundwork to safely bring its astronauts back to earth, but as stated earlier, risks are expected. On August 14th, 2003, a major blackout swept across portions of the northeast United States and Canada. It was reported that a series of equipment outages in the Midwest led to uncontrolled cascadi ng outages of power transmission lines and generators serving parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Canada. Automatic evasive systems operated to open circuits and shut down power plants to prevent further spread of the outages. This is very similar to what happened in The Great Northeast Blackout of 1965. In both situations, the grid system shut down one generator in line at a time to protect a surge from the grade before it.

Engineering disasters :: essays research papers

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost due to structural failure in the left wing. On take-off, it was reported that a piece of foam insulation surrounding the shuttle fleets 15-story external fuel storage tanks fell off of Columbias tank and struck the shuttles left wing. Extremely hot gas entered the front of Columbias left wing just 16 seconds after the orbiter penetrated the hottest part of Earths atmosphere on re-entry. The shuttle was equipped with hundreds of temperature sensors positioned at strategic locations. The salvaged flight recorded revealed that temperatures started to rise in the left wing leading edge a full wink before any trouble on the shuttle was noted. With a damaged left wing, Columbia started to drag left. The ships flight control computers fought a losing battle act to keep Columbias nose pointed forward. Its very hard to say what steps, if any, could have been taken to prevent the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster from occurring. When mankind continues to impel the envelope in the interest of bettering humanity, there will always be risks. In the manned lieuflight business, we have always had to live with trade-offs. All programs do not carry equal risk nor do they offer the same benefits. The acceptable risk for a given program or operation should be worth the potential benefits to be gained. The goal should be a management system that puts safety first, but not safety at any price. As of Sept 7th, 2003, NASA has ordered extensive factory inspections of wing panels between flights that could add as much as three months to the sequence it takes to prepare a space shuttle orbiter for launch. NASA does all it can to safely bring its astronauts back to earth, but as stated earlier, risks are expected. On August 14th, 2003, a major blackout swept across portions of the northeastern United States and Canada. It was reported that a series of equipment outages in the Midwest led to uncontrolled cascading outages of power transmission lines and generators service of process parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Canada. Automatic protective systems operated to open circuits and shut down power plants to prevent further spread of the outages. This is very similar to what happened in The owing(p) Northeast Blackout of 1965. In both situations, the grid system shut down one generator in line at a time to protect a surge from the station before it.

Basque and Kosovo: A quest for freedom

In the latter part of the 1990s, the role of Kosovo gained inter rural areaal media attention when the armies of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic were deployed with the purpose of crushing the desire of the majority Albanian initiative for liberty (BBC News 4, 2006).In the chronology of the 20th century, the two opposing sides in the country, Serbs and the native Albanians, had launched attempts to seize attend of the volatile region (BBC, 2006). Yugoslavia was then known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes before the onset of the First World War (BBC 3, 2008).In 1929, the state was reconstituted to the name Yugoslavia (BBC 3, 2008). though an ethnically diverse autonomous state, tribal irritation was still very prevalent (BBC 3, 2008). During the leadership of Josip Broz Tito, the province of Kosovo and Vojodina was accorded autonomy by the government (BBC 3, 2008). But aft(prenominal) Titos demise, the country began to disintegrate (BBC 3, 2008). It should be note d that the Serbians constituted only a small fraction of the entire population, the province of Kosovo was held in high value by the Serbs (BBC 4, 2006).To the Serbs, Kosovo was the bassinet of the heritage, erudition and their identity element (BBC 4, 2006). In the constitution of the former Yugoslavia, the fundamental law set the parameters of the state of Kosovo as a semi-independent province of Serbia (BBC 4, 2006). The movement for independence began to gain stem in the 1980s with the demise of then Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito (BBC 4, 2006). The portents of trouble in the Kosovo province started in the powder keg township of Mitrovica (BBC 1, 2008).Two hand grenades were lobbed at the two world bodies buildings (BBC 1, 2008). The first grenade exploded in the vicinity of a United Nations edifice, the other failing to explode at the brisk offices of the European Union delegation (BBC 1, 2008). In the former Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade, protestors hurled rocks and destroyed windows in the United States embassy office as crowd control forces attempted to make against an estimated 1,000 protestors (BBC 1, 2008). The US embassy was not totally caught off guard (BBC 2, 2008).The American diplomatic building was empty at the time the rioters began their assault on the complex (BBC 2, 2008). Many foreign states had been wary that the security authorities in the country would do much of anything to try and establish control of the situation (BBC 2, 2008). The prime factor that became the trigger in the minds of the protesters was by twin events (BBC 2, 2008). First, the rioters were incensed by the promulgation of the Kosovo province of their independence (BBC 2, 2008).The other was the rapid action of the United States and many a(prenominal) another(prenominal) other countries to officially recognize the new nation (BBC 2, 2008). In a moment, history was made for the people of Kosovo (BBC 1, 2008). Premier Hashim Thaci declared that the new in dependent nation would be founded on respecting the rights of all native groups in the province (BBC 1, 2008). In the 1990s various movements for the securing of independence was established on the principles of non violent aggression (BBC 4, 2008). In 1991, tribal Albanians leaders had on its won declared independence for their state (BBC 4, 2008).In the summer of 1998, many Albanians were beginning to stage protest actions against the authority of Serbia (BBC 4, 2008). As the change magnitude protests grew, Milosevic sent police and army contingents in the region to destroy the independence movement (BBC 4, 2008). 1999 saw the international trying to broker and finalize an accord for the amends of order in the troubled region (BBC 4, 2008). The accord was accepted with reservations by the tribal Albanians but was turned down by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic (BBC 4, 2008). Basque defend a style and a way of lifeIf the struggle in Kosovo was centered on the conflict of losin g a cultural and national center, the Euskera-speaking Basques have been trying to defend their use of their language (BBC 5, 1999). For many millennia, the people of the Basque region in Spain have focused the main primer of their struggle on the preservation of their language and glossiness (BBC 5, 1999). But the history of the Basques as a people has been a mystery to many (BBC 5, 1999). Even their language, Euskera, is not connected with any of the Indo-European language groups utter in the rest of European continent (BBC 5, 1999).Not only is the preservation of their native language at the core of the struggle of the Basque people, but also its defense (BBC 5, 1999). When republic was revived in Spain after the 1975 demise of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, the language has since began to thrive and flourish (BBC 5, 1999). Of the estimated 2. 5 million Basques, Euskera is spoken by 30 percent of the population (BBC 5, 1999). An overwhelming majority of Basque chil dren take up the language at schools teaching Eukera (BBC 5, 1999). The earliest history of the Basque people pictures them as hardy and fast-growing(a) warriors (BBC 5, 1999).They fought off many invading armies from their territories (BBC 5, 1999). This they accomplished against the mighty Roman Empire, the ferocious Vikings and the Germanic tribe of the Visigoths, as well as Muslim trespassers (BBC 5, 1999). Hence many of the invading forces chose to steer away from the region (BBC 5, 1999). Also, Basques have developed the image of fearsome fisher folk (BBC 5, 1999). They were believed to have constructed vessels that they used to travel large swaths of maritime to fish for whales and cod fish (BBC 5, 1999).It was also believed that the Basques landed on the North American continent centuries before the discovery of the continent by Christopher Columbus (BBC 5, 1999). Ironically, a great number of the crew of Columbus ships was comprised of Basques (BBC 5, 1999). The struggle for an independent homeland began during the incumbency of Spanish strongman General Francisco Franco (BBC 5, 1999). In the Spanish Civil War during the 1930s, the Basques foreign the Nationalist armies of Franco sent to crush them (BBC 5, 1999). In anger, Franco declared the regions and its provinces as renegades (BBC 5, 1999).Franco found the task of crushing the nation difficult, and this is where the armed schismatic group, the ETA, or Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, was organise (BBC 6, 2008). The ETA began as a student protest group in the 1960s fiercely opposed to the stifling military rule (BBC 6, 2008). During the rule of General Franco, the Eureska language was interdicted, their unique culture was outlawed and members of the academe were incarcerated and persecuted (BBC 6, 2008). In the ensuing years of the struggle of the ETA, 820 people, many of them members of Spains police and politicians at odds with the demands of the ETA (BBC 6, 2008).Both the Basque state and the region of Catalonia have more than just their standing being components of Spain (Jason Richard Young, 2008). These two entities also want to have a greater separation from that larger political proboscis (Young, 2008). The history for the drive of independence in the Basque region originate in the 7th century, with the Catalonia cause coming in at around the 10th and the thirteenth centuries (Young, 2008). How are they similar with the Yugoslav independence movement? Both of the movements in Spain and Yugoslavia were floundered nationalism (Young, 2008).Both of the movements flopped in the integration of their ethnic components to a singular common identity (Young, 2008). The nationalisms of Serbia and the Basques were conceived as political machinations (Young, 2008). These were conceptualized as programs to preserve and protect their individual erudite associations form infiltration from assimilation from other groups, as well as designation as a distinct ethnic state (Young, 2008). T he french withdrawal from the Pyrenees in 1530 has somewhat built a wall of separation among the Spanish and French Basques (Robert Clark, 1979).References BBC 1. (2008). Kosovo MPs proclaim independence. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/atomic number 63/7249034. stm BBC 2. (2008). Serbia faces crossroads over Kosovo. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/7258842. stm BBC 3. (2008). How Yugoslavia vanished from maps. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/7251376. stm BBC 4. (2006). Flashbacks to Kosovos war. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/5165042. stm BBC 5. (1999).Analysis Basque pride. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/548545. stm BBC 6. (2008). Who are ETA? Retrieved January 13, 2009, from http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/3500728. stm Clark, R. P. (1979). The Basques, the Franco years and beyond. Nevada, U. S. A Un iversity of Nevada Press. Young, J. R. (2008). Nationalism and ethnicity as identity politics in Eastern Europe and the Basque country. Retrieved January 13, 2009, from https//circle. ubc. ca/bitstream/2429/2262/1/ubc_2009_spring_young_jason. pdf

Coffee Commodity Chain

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS ISSN 1441-5429 DISCUSSION PAPER 06/08 COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN Tine S. Olsen and Brett Inder ABSTRACT To apologise the honour increaseed on the hot chocolate trade good grasp we propose and estimate a hypothetical role clay sculpture of the umber commodity concatenation. The theoretical model consists of quaternion merchandises and five agents in the coffee bean commodity chain and predicts that damages in the coffee commodity chain move together and argon in any persona influenced by income, engineering and action. A vector defect repairion model is used to interrogation the theoretical predictions.In addition to the theoretical conclusions the empirical model confirms the beneficial fictitious character of the international Coffee Agreement and the present momentance of the level of business in determining coffee expenditures. Key words global commodity chain, vector faulting field model, coffee, note value added JEL classifica tions O01, F02, Q110, C320, F230, F14 Monash University De stragglement of Economics (Olsen), Monash University Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics (Olsen and Inder). Corresponding author Tine S. Olsen, emailprotected monash. edu. 2008 Tine S. Olsen and Brett InderAll rights reserved. No part of this paper whitethorn be reproduced in any(prenominal) form, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author COFFEE COMMODITY CHAIN 1. Introduction Between being giving and picked by a farmer in a developing country and being consumed, roughly often in a developed country, coffee passes by many adjusts of hands. Inspired by the global commodity chain belles-lettres we present propose a theoretical and an empirical model of the coffee commodity chain. We want to find out what determines the value added at to each oneness stage of the commodity chain.The question touches upon the dispersion of income among agents and countries in t he commodity chain, the prevailing market body structure at each stage of the mathematical product process, trade, bargain power and other factors influencing the commodity chain. physique 1 provides a graphical representation of the value chain for coffee in brazil nut, Colombia and the US. Figure 1 Value added at the various stages of the chain is the difference amidst input and output terms. For Brazil and Colombia manufacturing businesss division is manufacturing business toll and impact and transport is export equipment casualty deduction producer price.For Brazil international processing and transport is the difference in the midst of bit price of Brazilian coffee in US and the export price in Brazil and processing in US is the US sell price minus the moment price of Brazilian coffee in the US. For Colombia processing in US and transport is the difference between the US retail price and the Colombian export building block value. Regarding weight-loss due to cook, green coffee is the commodity at alone stages of the chain until it reaches the consumer. We follow one pound of green coffee a hanker the commodity chain and multiply the retail price by 0. since coffee looses 20% of the weight in roasting (Daviron and Ponte, 2005, p. 242, n. 5). 2 Figure 1 shows that the sh be of value added acquired by Brazil and Colombia has decreased later on 1948. Behind this observation lies that the make out to producers has decreased in Colombia but remained roughly constant in Brazil while the sh bes to domestic processing and transport devote decreased in both countries, in particular after 1990. What we attempt to explain by this psycho compendium ar the decreasing shargons of income to producing countries and the disappearing margins to exporters.The manakin of this abridgment is global commodity chains, terms of trade literature and price contagious disease literature. Commodity chains for coffee be described by Talbot (1997 2002) and P onte (2002). Commodity chain analysis focuses on the good along the nodes of the chain, and looks at the flow of the good through the commodity chain, the proceeding which take place along the chain, the geographical location of the chain, the agents involved in the chain, and the rules governing the chain (Talbot, 2002).North-South trade and growth literature is relevant in the analysis of commodity chains to model the terms of trade between North and South. Darity and Davis (2005) argue that in the composition of uneven development the North-South trade and growth literature provides insights which have been neglected by the later literature of new growth theory and new trade theory. This has encouraged us to apply North-South models to the coffee value chain. The theoretical model derived in section 2 builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000) who model unproblematic commodities used as inputs in the production of manufacturing.Where Bloch and Sapsford (2000) take an aggregate follow of primary commodities and manufactures, we here focus on coffee and hereby take an approach corresponding to Boratav (2001) who examines terms of trade for individual commodities. And just like Bloch, Dockery, and Sapsford (2004) we arsevas the effect of mark-up on reward and commodity prices on the final consumer prices. Price infection literature such as Hazell, Jaramillo, and Williamson (1990), Mundlak and Larson (1992), Baffes and Gardner (2003), Krivonos (2004), Morisset (1998) and Weldegebriel (2004) also offer a framework to analyse prices of commodities at unalike 3 odes of the commodity chain. This part of the literature views producer and retail prices as decided by worldly concern prices. In Bloch and Sapsford (2000) the price of manufactures, which is a good higher up in the value chain if it is interpreted as roasted coffee, is a function of the price of primary products because primary products are inputs in the production of manufactures. In the transmission literature it is fabricated that the price formation happens in the world market and that market forces allow prices movements to filtrate sight to producers and consumers.The price trickles down because of trade, price signals and arbitrage. The causality between world prices and producer prices is therefore face-to-face in the terms of trade literature and the price transmission literature. The contradiction is created because the value chain literature focuses on the flow of goods while the transmission literature focuses on the flow of information and market signals. We disregard look at the problem in multiple cartridge clip frames. In the long run, prices may be determined by economic fundamentals and fundament be modelled fit to the terms of trade literature.In the hapless run the price may be a burden of the global market situation and the transmission literature is applicable. We here propose a theoretical model which builds on the terms of trade literature but t he corresponding time accommodates features from the price transmission literature. The choice of countries in the empirical model poses the main limitation of the empirical analysis. Coffee is consumed in all countries across the world and production statistics are visible(prenominal) for 71 countries1. Though an analysis comprising all down and producing countries is possible, the approach here is to that look at a few countries.The countries for analysis in this study are the largest producer, Brazil, the largest consumer, US, and Colombia as a country which depends heavily on coffee. 2 In the following, the theoretical model is presented in section 2. The empirical model, data and explorative data analysis are presented in section 3 and section 4 reports the results. The theoretical hypotheses and empirical results are evaluated in section 5, which concludes. 4 2. theoretic Model The commodity chain, which spans from producers to consumers, is modelled in the form of the p rices at each node of the chain.The model builds on Bloch and Sapsford (2000), but instead of primary commodities and manufactures, we here follow the same commodity along the chain and the commodity is an input in the production at the next stage of the chain. The producer and intercessor one (often the exporter) meet in market one where the producer price is determined. In market twain intermediary one sells the commodity to intermediary both (often the importer) for the export price. In market tierce intermediary two sells the commodity to intermediary three (often the roaster) for the import price.Finally in market quatern intermediary three sells the commodity to the consumer and receives the retail price. The model has this set of agents to reflect what price data is available at the various stages of the sum chain. Except for intermediary three, each agent takes the price and quantity produced in other markets as given. This assumption makes the markets separable. Inter mediary three determines the price in market four by mark-up and we hereby follow Bloch and Sapsford (2000) in the assumption of distinct market structures in developing and developed countries.The assumption of imperfect competition in market four reflects the high concentration in the coffee roasting heavens as described by Talbot (1997). The commodity is produced by the farmer according to the production function G = Ae? 0t L? 1T ? 2 ? G . G (1) Where, in the case of coffee, G is green coffee, LG is the labour input in coffee production, T the number of coffee trees and ? G is a random dread term, such as weather. t is time and represents technological relegate in the production techniques. ? 0 , ? 1 and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology.The number of trees is assumed to be fixed in the short term and is therefore non a shifting input. 5 Exporters constitute the regard side in market one. They have the production function X = Be ? 0t L? 1 G ? 2 ? X , X (2) wher e X, in the case of coffee, is green coffee packed, choose and graded and located in the producing country. LX is the labour input necessary to export the product. It should be noned that green coffee, which is the output produced by the farmer according to the production function (1), is an input in the exporters production function.As before, t represents technological progress and ? 0 , ? 1 , and ? 2 are elasticities of inputs and technology. The shocks, ? X , may represent strikes or other random shocks to the production process. The production functions for importers and roasters are defined in a similar manner with coffee from the previous part of the chain as an input. 1 M = De? 0t L? M X ? 2 ? M (3) R = Fe? 0t L? R1 M ? 2 ? R (4) Equation (3) is the production function for importers and equation (4) is the production function for roasters. M is green packed and sorted coffee imported into the consuming country.R is roasted and shew coffee sold in retail. The importer empl oys labour LM and the roaster employs labour LR . The factor prices are as follows. The price of LG is the wage rate in agriculture, wG the price of LX is the wage paid by exporters, wX . The price of LM is wM and the price of LR is wR . Coffee at stage J of processing has price pJ , e. g. G has the price pG . It is assumed that all inputs have positive but diminishing marginal products in all four production functions 1 ? 1 0 , 1 ? 2 0 , 1 ? 1 0 , 1 ? 2 0 , 1 ? 0 , 1 ? 2 0 , 6 1 ? 1 0 and 1 ? 2 0 . It is also assumed that inputs together do not give rise to increasing returns to scale ? 1 + ? 2 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 1 , ? 1 + ? 2 1 and ? 1 + ? 2 1 . 2. 1 Price Determination in grocery One In market one we assume perfect competition and the price paid to farmers, pG , is determined by equalizer in the market with demand and supply for green coffee. Supply is determined by profit-maximising coffee farmers and demand by profit-maximising exporters. Profit maximisation g ives the supply function pG = wG? 1? 1 ? Ae? 0tTG 2 ? G ? ? ? ?1/? 1 G (1 1 )/? 1 . (5) The optimal amount of coffee demanded by the exporter who profit maximises is ( ) 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) G = ? p X Be ? 0t ? X pG ? 1 ? 1? 21? ?1 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (6) . The equilibrium price in market one is derived by equating supply given by equation (5) and demand in equation (6) ln( pG ) = a0 + a1 ln( p X ) + a2 ln( wG ) + a3 ln( wX ) + a4 ln(T ) + a5t + ? G (7) Where ( ( a0 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 1 A? 1/? 1 B? 21? ?1 ? 1? 1 ) (1 1 )/? 1 (1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ), a 0 0 (8) a1 = ? 1 ? ?1 ) , a1 0 (9) a2 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a2 0 (10) a3 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ) , a3 0 (11) a4 = 2 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , a4 0 (12) a5 = ? ( ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ) ? ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ) (13) & ?G = ? ( (1 ? ?1 ) ln(? X ) ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? G ) ) (14) 7 ? = (1 ? ?1 ? ?1? 2 ) ?1 (15) The coefficients volition be interpreted in section 2. 5 below together with the rest of the coefficients of the model. 2. 2 Price Determination in Market Two In market two exporters sell to importers. The price is once more(prenominal) determined by equilibrium between demand and supply.Supply is determined by profit maximisation by exporters and demand by profit-maximising importers. Supply in market two by the exporter is measured from what amount of coffee is demanded in market one 1/(1? ?1 ? ? 2 ) X = ? Be ? 0t p X ? 1 + ? 2 ? X pG ? ? 2 ? 2 ? 2 wX ? ?1 ? 1? 1 ? ? ? (16) The demand function by importers is derived by profit maximisation in a similar manner to the derivation of the demand function for exporters above. Making use of the symmetry of the production functions, the demand function is similar to (6). The price in market two is determined by equating demand and supply n( p X ) = b0 + b1 ln( pG ) + b2 ln( pM ) + b3 ln( wX ) + b4 ln( wM ) + b5t + ? X (17) where the bs are b0 = ? ?( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( B? 2 ? 2 ? 1? 1 ) + ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln ( ? 2? 1 ? 1? 1 1 D ? 1 ) ? , b0 0 ? ? (18) b1 = 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) , b1 0 (19) b2 = ? (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b2 0 (20) b3 = 1 (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ) , b3 0 (21) b4 = 1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , b4 0 (22) b5 = ? ? 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) + ? 0 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) (23) 8 ? X = ? ( ( ? 1 + ? 2 ? 1) ln(? X ) + (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) ln(? M ) ) (24) ? = (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) 0 (25) ?1 2. 3 Price Determination in Market ThreeIn market three, intermediary three purchases green coffee from intermediary two, or in the example of Brazil, the roasters purchase the coffee from the importers and produce roasted coffee according to the production function (3). The roasters demand and the importers supply are again given by profit maximisation. Given the similar production functions for roasters and importers, the derivations of the equilibrium price are as for market two. The equilibrium price is (expected signs in parentheses beneath the coefficients) ln( pM ) = c0 + c1 ln( p X ) + c2 ln( pR ) + c3 ln( wM ) + c4 ln( wR ) + c5 t + ? M + + + + ? (26) + /?The signs of the coefficients are determined in a similar way as in market two since the market set-ups are identical. 2. 4 Price Determination in Market Four In market four the price is not determined by supply and demand, but kind of by a mark-up on the unit of measurement cost function because of imperfect competition. This is one of the conclusions by Prebisch (1950) and Singer (1950) which Bloch and Sapsford (2000) also model. The price is determined by p M? ?L w pR = m ? R R + M ? R? ?R (27) Where m is the mark-up. To derive pR the cost-minimising demands for labour and green coffee are derived and inserted into (27) which gives the price of oasted coffee ln( pR ) = d 0 + d1 ln( R) + d 2 ln( pM ) + d3 ln( wR ) + d 4 ln(m) + d5t + ? R (28) where 9 ( ) ( ) d 0 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 1 ln( B) + ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 2? 1? 1 + ? 2 (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln ? 1? 2 ? 1 , d 0 0 (29) d1 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) (30) ?1 ?1 ?1 (1 ? ?1 ? ? 2 ) , d1 0 d 2 = (? 1 + ? 2 ) ? 2 , d 2 0 and d3 = ? 1 (? 1 + ? 2 ) , d 3 0 (31) d5 = 0 (? 1 + ? 2 ) 0 , d 5 0 (32) ? R = ? (? 1 + ? 2 ) ln(? R ) (33) ?1 ?1 ?1 ?1 2. 5 Hypotheses Before commencing to estimate the system of the four equations, equation (7), (17), (26) and (28), it is necessary to address data limitations.To test the four equations for the coffee market it is necessary to have reinforcement in coffee farming, wages in the coffee-exporting sector, wages in the coffee-importing sector and wages in the coffee-roasting sector. These wage data are not available and the wages in producing countries, wG and wX , will be approximated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in producing countries, y P . Wages in the importing sector and the roasting sector in the consuming country, wM and wR , are approximated with the GDP per capita for a consuming country, yC .In addition to data on wages, data on coffee trees limit the empirical analysis since data for coffee trees or acreage are not available for the desired timeframe of the analysis. The quantity of coffee trees enters equation (7) and coffee production enters equation (28). both(prenominal) variables are in the empirical model represented by world coffee production. The alterations to the theoretical model, give the following four equations ? pG = a0 + a1 p X + a2 y P + a4 q + a5 t + ? G + + + /? ? + /? (34) 10 p X = b0 + b1 pG + b2 pM + b3 y P + b4 yC + b5 t + ? X (35) ? pM = c0 + c1 p X + c2 pR + c3 yC + c5 t + ? M (36) R = d 0 + d1 q + d 2 p M + d 3 yC + d 4 m + d 5 t + ? R (37) + + + + + + + + + ? + + /? + + /? + /? 1 ? The expected signs of the parameters are indicated under the respective parameters +/ indicate that the sign is uncertain from the adjusted theoretical model. World production is q, and the coefficients on income in market one and three are defined as ? a2 = a2 + a3 = ? ?1 (? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 ) * c3 = c3 + c4 = ? 1 (1 ? ? 2 ) ? ?1 (1 ? ? 2 ) (1 ? ? 1 ? ? 2 ( ? 1 + ? 2 ) ) (38) ?1 (39) The coffee commodity chain model consists of the four simultaneous equations in equation (34) to (37) from which hypotheses can be derived. archetypically, it is apparent that all prices are positively correlated. An increase in the price of coffee in market i1 (increased input price) shifts the supply curve in market i left since it increases marginal costs and the equilibrium price is higher and the quantity traded lower. An increase in the price of coffee in market i+1 increases the supply in market i+1 and hereby the demand for coffee in market i and increases the price in market i. Secondly, the coefficients on national incomes have mixed signs. They depend on the input elasticities of labour at different nodes of the chain.If the input snap fastener of labour in coffee growing (importing) is comparatively large compared to the input elasticity of labour in ? ? coffee exporting (roasting) then a2 ( c3 ) will be positive. It may be assumed that production processes are relatively more labour-intensive early in the commodity chain because of less relian ce on capital. In market two the coefficient on producer income is positive because it is an input price for exporters. In contrast consumer income is an input price for importers and decreases the export price. The coefficient on income, d 3 , in market four expresses a markup, and is positive.Overall coefficients on national incomes are expected to pull coffee prices 11 up, only with the exception of the income in the consuming country which is assumed to depress the export price of coffee. Thirdly, coffee production has a positive impact on the retail price, but a prejudicial impact on the producer price. It is expected that the effect of output is largest on the producer price because prices paid to producers are primarily influenced by conditions in the coffee market while the retail prices in consuming countries are outcomes of many factors, such as market structures, wages and technology.In a system with all four equations the coefficient on production is therefore expected to be negative. Fourth, the effects of technological change on the prices in markets one, two and three are uncertain, and negative for the retail price in market four. If it is assumed that production methods become more technologically progressive the higher up they are in the chain, the coefficients on the time stylus will be positive in market one, two and three. Constants a0 , b0 , c0 and d0 , are positive but do not have any economic interpretation. G , ? X , ? M and ? R are random shocks with expected value zero. ?G , ? X and ? M are linear combinations of shocks to production in two markets. Therefore, the residuals generated by estimation of equations (34), (35), (36) and (37) are not independent of each other. gain groundmore, any given price in the commodity chain depends on the prices at the previous and next stage of the chain. The four equations are thence simultaneous, and the econometric model accommodates for this. 3. Econometric Model and Preliminary Data Analys isAnnual data from 1948 to 2004 are employed to estimate the theoretical model. An empirical analysis of the commodity chain for coffee from a single origin in a time serial framework is not possible due to data limitations. Instead eight price serial publication are used. These are producer 12 and export prices in Brazil and Colombia, import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, import unit value of (all) coffee in the US, the world price and the US retail price of coffee. Given the non-stationarity of the time series used to estimate the model, a vector error correction model (VECM) is appropriate.A VECM captures long haul paths of the series in the cointegrating vectors and short-term kinetics in the error correction equations. It is formulated as ?y t = ?y t + ? 1? y t ? 1 + L + ? p ? 1? y t ? p +1 + ut , (40) where y t = ( ptG , B , ptG ,C , ptX , B , ptX ,C , ptM , B , ptW , ptM ,US , ptR , yt )? , ? is the loading vector of coefficients on error correction terms, ? is th e coefficient vector for the cointegrating vector, ? j is the coefficient matrix on lag j and ut is the vector of error terms. ptG , j and ptX , j are respectively the producer and the export price in country j, where B is Brazil and C is Colombia. tM ,US ? B is the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US, ptM ,US is the import price of (all) coffee in the US, ptW is the world price and ptR ,US is the retail price in the US. yt is relative income between consuming and producing countries and is used to avoid that the rank of ? = ? is not higher than the number of truly endogenous variables. According to the theoretical model national incomes have an impact on coffee prices, but coffee prices do not have an impact on national incomes. This is though not true for Brazil and Colombia for parts of the sample.Today Brazil and Colombia no longer rely heavily on export earnings from coffee (ICO, 2003) but historically this is not the case, and this analysis covers 1948-2004. Therefore, yt is treated as an endogenous variable. Sources for prices are as in Figure 1 above. World production of coffee is included as an exogenous variable. Source are Departamento Nacional do Cafe (1938, 1939/40), Deaton and Laroque (2003) and FAOSTAT online (2007). Real GDP are from Maddison (2007) and GGDC (2005) and the US CPI from BLS (2005a) has been used to reach nominal GDP. 13 To determine the stationarity properties of the series, unit root tests are carried out.It is pointed out by Morisset (1998) and Krivonos (2004) that coffee price responses may be asymmetric and we follow Enders and Granger (1998) and conduct unit root tests for variables which possibly adjust asymmetrically. The results are outlined in submit 1. confuse 1 All variables in Table 1 are expressed in natural logarithms. Lag-length is determined by the Akaike Information Criterium (AIC) and inclusion of a make out is decided from visual inspection of the series and the decision noted under Trend where y ind icates that a trend is included and n that it is not.The F-statistic for the possibleness that the series has a unit root shall be held up against the Enders and Granger (1998) critical value of 7. 07 when a trend and a constant are included in the regression and 5. 14 when only a constant is included. The results in Table 1 show that all series but world production have one unit root and hence are non-stationary and integrated of order one. The test statistic for the stationarity of world production is c drop away to the 5% critical value by Enders and Granger (1998), so depending on significance level the series could also have been concluded to be nonstationary.It is not important to correctly identify the stationarity properties of world production, since the series is not an endogenous variable in the VECM and furthermore, it enters the model in first differences. No series adjusts asymmetrically according to this analysis, and asymmetries are disregarded when formulating the empirical model. Due to the possible impact from the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) a dummy variable, which takes the value one in the years the agreement was in place (1962 to 1989), is included. The ICA dummy is included in the short regressions because the ICA had an impact only on prices in the short run.In the long run quotas were adjusted to meet market forces on supply and demand, but in the short run quotas stabilised coffee prices. 14 4. Results Before estimating the VECM in equation (40) the lag-length and the rank of the VECM are determined. Schwartz Information Criteria points at one lag and the AIC and the HannanQuinn Criteria point towards four. In the estimation process the model was first estimated with one lag and tests of the residuals indicated no problems regarding normality. There was no need to expand the number of lags and the model reported here has one lag.With one lag Johansenss co integrating test gives the following rank of the VECM Table 2 Using the trace test, the venture of rank one cannot be rejected, and from the maximum-eigenvalue test the hypothesis of no cointegration cannot be rejected. The test statistics are close to the 5% critical values which makes the decision regarding the rank of the matrix equivocal. The trace statistic for the hypothesis of one or less cointegrating vectors is close to the critical value, but the test statistic for the hypothesis of rank three or less is firely rejected.Therefore, according to the trace statistic there are one or two cointegrating vectors. Looking at the maximum-eigenvalue statistic, the test statistics and 5% critical values are relatively close until the hypothesis of three or less cointegrating vectors. Again, rank up to two is acceptable according to the test statistics. A model with two cointegrating vectors is preferred because this indicates seven trends among the nine variables and some variables function trends. 4. 1 Long-Run Equilibrium The preferred model has the following two estimated cointegrating vectors 15 ptW = 0. 24 ptM ,US ? B + 0. 4 ptX ,C + 0. 15 ptX ,B + 0. 18 ptR ,US (2. 95) (2. 22) (2. 61) (4. 01) ? 0. 05 ptG ,B + 0. 34 ptG ,C ? 0. 28 yt ? 0. 00 t + 0. 43 (3. 58) (6. 35) (2. 86) (3. 76) ptG ,C = ? 0. 23 ptM ,US + 0. 10 ptM ,US ? B + 1. 05 ptX ,C + 0. 91 yt + 0. 01t + 1. 97 (5. 05) (0. 70) (5. 71) (5. 09) (41) (4. 51) (42) t-statistics are in parentheses under the parameter estimates. The first cointegrating vector, CIV1, in equation (41) represents the long-run equilibrium in the world market. The blink of an eye cointegrating vector, CIV2, in equation (42) represents the long-run equilibrium between the two Colombian prices.The two cointegrating vectors are anchor by commencing with a general model with one cointegrating vector and all nine endogenous variables in this cointegrating vector. Insignificant variables in the cointegrating vector are removed sequentially. It is clear that the US import unit value is not signi ficant in CIV1 and it is moved out to a second cointegrating vector. Other variables were included in CIV2 if they see significant coefficients in CIV2 or exhibit significant error correction. According to the first cointegrating vector, CIV1, six prices move together in the long run, and one moves opposite to this group.The world price, the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US, the export price in Brazil, the export unit value in Colombia, the US retail price and the Colombian producer price all move together in the long run. Five of the prices have roughly the same influence on the common path, but the world price, to which CIV1 is normalised, dominates through a higher coefficient (one). The Brazilian producer price moves in opposite direction to these six prices, but has a small coefficient in equation (41). The prediction of the theoretical model is that all prices should move together.Therefore, the coefficient on the Brazilian producer price contradicts the model, but the coefficient is small. 16 The second cointegrating vector, CIV2, shows Colombian prices (producer and export price) and the import price of Brazilian coffee in the US move together in the long run. It is clear that the two Colombian prices dominate the movements of the group of prices since the Colombian export price obtains an estimated coefficient above one and CIV2 is normalised to the Colombian producer price.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US is the to the lowest degree influential in the group since its estimated coefficient is 0. 10 and hence a tenth of the estimated coefficient on the Colombian prices. The import unit value of (all) coffee into the US enters CIV2 with a negative coefficient indicating that the Colombian prices and the import unit value of coffee in the US move in opposite directions to each other in the long run. As the Brazilian producer price in CIV1, this poses a challenge to the theoretical model which predicts that all prices should mo ve together.However, the US import price and the Colombian producer price are far from each other in the coffee commodity chain and the coefficient is less than a quarter of the coefficient on the Colombian export unit value. Therefore, this coefficient, like the Brazilian producer price in CIV1 above, does not mean that the theoretical model is rejected, and prices are found to more or lessly co-move in the long run. The coefficients on relative income are significant in both cointegrating vectors but have different signs. When relative income decreases, the six prices in CIV1 increase. In contrast, the three prices which co-move in CIV2 decrease.The effect of relative income on coffee prices in the long run are hence not clear from looking at the cointegration vectors. scientific progress, here modelled as a time trend, obtains estimated coefficients in the cointegrating vectors of the same sign as relative income. Technological progress hence moves the two groups of prices in different directions. Alternatively, if something else than technological progress is the reason for the coefficients on the time trend, something else makes the two groups of prices diverge over time. Over time the six prices in CIV1, which are 17 lose to the world market, move closer together. Opposite to this, the Colombian producer price moves away from the path of other prices in CIV2. 4. 2 Short-Run Dynamics The short-run structures show how the series adjust towards the long-run equilibria, and how the endogenous variables respond to shocks in exogenous variables. actus reus correction towards the two long-run equilibria happens according to the estimates in Table 3. Table 3 Whether a variable error corrects and revitalizes the long-run equilibrium between prices in a cointegrating vector is determined by looking at its sign in the cointegrating vector (the sign of ? and its sign in the loading matrix (the sign of ? ). If the combined sign is negative, the variable works to wards restoring equilibrium. The two export prices, ptX ,C and ptX , B , and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US, ptM ,US ? B , are the only variables which significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1. These three prices work to restore an equilibrium which is reign by the world price. The world price in contrast moves further away from the equilibrium when a shock has created disequilibrium.The import price of Brazilian coffee into the US and the Colombian export price significantly adjust to disequilibrium between the prices in CIV2. Though the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US was not significant in determining the second long-run equilibrium (CIV2), it significantly works to restore it. The estimated parameters on the error correction term in the equations for the import unit value in the US, the Colombian producer price and relative income are not different from zero. This suggests that these variables do not 18 ork to restore t he long-run relationship described by CIV2. The Colombian producer price is an important determinant of the equilibrium described by CIV2, but it does not adjust to restore this equilibrium. It thus influences other prices, but is itself not influenced by other prices. Relative income does not adjust to disequilibrium between the variables in CIV1 but its error correction towards the equilibrium described by CIV2 is significant on the 10% level. Relative income therefore works in part to restore the equilibrium between (among others) the Colombian prices in CIV2.This could show that any endogeneity of relative income is due to the importance of coffee prices for national income in Colombia. In addition to the error correction terms, the short-run equations include exogeneous variables. The four exogenous variables in the VECM are a constant (c), the dummy for the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) and the current and lagged first difference of world production of coffee, d(qt) and d(qt-1). The estimated coefficients on the exogeneous variables in the short-run regressions are presented in Table 4. Table 4None of the estimated constants in the short-run equations for prices are significantly different from zero. This suggests that time trends have been captured in the cointegrating vectors, but it is evident that the constant is positive and has high t-statistics in the equations for the price of coffee imported into the US and the retail price in the US. This indicates that the prices, which have increased in an unexplained way, are prices in the US and that value added is largest further up in the coffee commodity chain. The constant is also positive with a high tstatistic in the short-run equation for the Colombian producer price.This could indicate that the attempts by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia3 (FNC) to influence the prices of Colombian coffee have been successful. 19 The estimated coefficient on the ICA dummy is positive in the e quation for relative income and in six equations for prices but negative in two equations for prices. However, it is never significant. The ICA increased six of the eight prices and it should be pointed out that the most significant, though not significant even at the 10% level, increases are for export prices and the import price of Brazilian coffee into the US.It was not producers which gained from ICA but rather exporters and importers of Brazilian coffee. So, there is weak evidence that while exporters cleared from the agreement the producers did not the effects of the commodity agreement did not trickle down and reach them. First differences of world production and lagged world production enter with negative and significant signs in all regressions but one. This stresses the importance of production in determining prices in the short run. This is predicted by the theoretical model increased production lowers price regardless of where in the chain the price is situated. . 3 Wea k Exogeneity rises of weak exogeneity are carried out to further test the driving forces in the system. A weakly exogenous variable has an impact on the long-run path of the variables of the system, but is not itself influenced by the variables in the system. The results from likelihood ratio tests are given in Table 5. Table 5 In Table 5 the test statistics for the world price, the import unit value into the US, the Colombian export unit price, the US retail price and the two producer prices are lower than the 5% critical value, and the null hypothesis can not be rejected for these variables.These six prices are hence weakly exogenous. Agents at the ends of the chain, retailers, importers and producers, are hence not responding to deviations from the long-run equilibrium relationships between prices. As such, they are somewhat isolated from the world market. This is not 20 surprising since the price transmission literature asserts that the price determination happens in the world. Further up and down the chain other factors, such as market set-ups, intervention and incomes determine the prices.The hypothesis of weakly exogenous relative income is clearly rejected, indicating that it is correct to model income as endogenous in the system as discussed above. Also, the likelihood ratio test shows that the causality between prices and relative income is uncertain. Coffee prices and national incomes in Brazil and Colombia are interrelated. Coffee prices are important determinants of income in Brazil and Colombia, but national incomes also determine coffee prices. Regarding relative income it is clear that the results are equivocal.The coefficients in the cointegrating vectors obtained different signs and it may or may not be weakly exogenous according to the error correction coefficients and weak exogeneity tests. The final set of results which can shed light on the effect which relative income has on prices, is impulse response functions. They were estimated for the VECM and show that relative income has a negative impact on all eight coffee prices and hence that a decreasing income gap between producing and consuming countries increases coffee prices. 5. DiscussionRegarding the central question of what determines the value added at each stage of the commodity chain, it can be concluded that the prices definitely determine each other, and that from outside the system of prices quantity has a large impact, but only in the short run. In the long run, relative income has an effect on all prices, and a closing income gap between producers and consumers increases prices. In addition, prices move in response to changes in technological progress. In this concluding section four overall conclusions are drawn. The first is of how the prices influence each other.The second is of how relative income impacts prices. The three is 21 of how production influences prices. And last how the time trend, which represents technology, influences prices. It is of utmost importance to determine which prices are detached from the chain. The theoretical model predicts positive correlation between the prices and this is generally found in the empirical model both by long-run co-movements and by adjustments to restore the long-run equilibria in the short run. Both CIV1 and CIV2 show co-movement among prices, but the VECM is estimated with two cointegrating vectors.This indicates that there may be a break in the coffee commodity chain since one group of prices moves together in one manner while the other group moves in a different manner in the long run. The world market prices in CIV1 move together but the Colombian prices in CIV2 do not follow their movement, and the Colombian prices may be detached from other prices, possibly due to FNC. Since the Brazilian producer price is not significant in CIV2 and moves against the other prices in CIV1 it can be said to also be detached from the value chain.The error correction properties of the system and the weak exogeneity tests show that prices in the middle of the chain work to restore the two long-run equilibria. The prices at the ends of the chain, the producer prices and the retail price, and the dominating world price do not error correct. The lack of error correction by the prices at the ends of the chain indicates that they are not influenced by the long-run paths and points at breaks in the coffee commodity chain.The empirical results suggest that the world market is characterized by close linkages between prices but retail price and producer prices are less integrated with other prices. This finding may support the arguments made by the price transmission literature. The limited trickle down of price signals to producer prices confirm the findings of Fitter and Kaplinsky (2001) and Ponte (2002) who argue that surplus created along the chain falls on agents further up the chain, and not on producers. The discussion of intervention and integration in the 22 ransmission literature (Baffes and Gardner, 2003 Hazell et al, 1990 Krivonos, 2004 Mundlak and Larson, 1992) explain why the Colombian producer price and export price, which have experienced considerable intervention by FNC, are detached from other prices. It is not possible to reach an unequivocal conclusion regarding the impact of relative income by looking at the cointegrating vectors, short-run dynamics or weak exogeneity tests. It is concluded that decreasing income gap increases prices in the world market, whereas it decreases the Colombian producer price.The negative relationship between relative income and all eight prices found by the impulse response functions confirms the expected signs of the coefficients on income in market one and two. The negative relationship between relative income and prices extends to market three. However, since income in consuming countries occurs in the numerator of relative income, relative income should obtain a positive coefficient if the hypothesis of decreasing importance of labour along the coffee commodity chain is confirmed. A negative ? c3 in equation (36) suggests that the roasting sector relies more on labour than the importing ector, in light of the discussion of equation (35) above. Incomes significance in the determination of producer prices, both in the theoretical and the empirical model, offers support for the terms of trade literature, where prices are determined by underlying macroeconomic factors. Relative income also helps explain divergence of producer and retail prices as these prices reflect relative overall economic performance of producer countries compared to consuming countries. The theoretical model predicts that there is a negative relationship between prices and production. This is fully supported by the empirical model.The negative and significant coefficients on the differences of world production show that it could be the supply curves which shift outwards and create the decreasing prices. 23 Accordi ng to the theoretical model the sign on the time trend (technological progress) is unknown and depends on whether the supplier or the demander in a given market experiences the most significant technological innovations. The negative sign of the estimated coefficient on the time trend in CIV1 shows that the prices in CIV1 move closer together over time than what is explained by relative income.Technological progress can be the explanation for this. A negative sign indicates that the technological progress is largest for the supplying parties in markets one, two and three and/or the negative sign of d 5 is confirmed. The latter case is particularly neat since CIV2, which holds a positive time trend, does not contain the US retail price, and the different signs of the time trend in the cointegrating vectors are not conflicting. They are not conflicting because in CIV1, which describes all four markets, d 5 causes a negative time trend.In CIV2, which describes market one, two and three , a5 , b5 and c5 represent relatively bigger technological progress by demanders which creates a positive time trend. A positive time trend could occur in market one, two and three in the theoretical model if the technological progress is largest for the demanding parties in these three markets. This development is not unlikely in the coffee commodity chain if agents along the chain become more able to improve their production methods (technological progress) because they become wealthier either through market power and/or the value they add to coffee.This hypothesis can however not be tested with the data used for this analysis, but touches on the discussion in Ponte (2002). Therefore, the positive time trend in CIV2 could be capturing technological progress or some factor not included in the model that coincides with the passing of time. Market power and bargaining power are examples of unmodelled variables in the VECM. The almost significant positive constants in the regressions of US prices show that US import and retail prices tend to increase more than other prices.This could capture the mark24 up, m in (37). The negative constant in the short-run regression for the Brazilian export price could be caused by the coffee commodity chain being a trader-driven commodity chain, as argued by Talbot (2002), where international traders trade large amounts of coffee with very little margin. Looking at the value chain for Brazil in Figure 1 confirms this, since the value added at the exporting stage, which is denoted processing and transport in Brazil, reduces to almost zero after 1990.It is no coincidence that this is the year after the breakdown of ICA, and it is also argued by Ponte (2002) that this event changed the power relations along the coffee commodity chain. The empirical model gives some insight into issues which are not explicitly modelled in the theoretical model. The theoretical model did not predict which prices would be dominating and which would b e adjusting to movements in other prices. However, it is found that the world price is dominating and the export prices are responding.Boratav (2001) found that the ratio between world price and export unit value was stable, and the analysis here can extend the conclusion by suggesting that the export prices follow the world price. If the aim is to create a more equal income distribution among agents in the global coffee commodity, this analysis offers some insights of policies to achieve this. Income levels in coffee-producing countries are important determinants of the coffee prices and low national incomes pull coffee prices down even though the retail and import price in consuming countries might increase.Unless the general income level in producing countries increases increased income in consuming countries will not trickle down to the coffee farmers. Alternatively the structure of the chain can be changed and an income distribution more favourable for coffee farmers could be a chieved. At the international level the International Coffee Agreement increased coffee prices, but more so export and import prices than producer prices. If the aim is to benefit those in the global coffee commodity chain who has the least the farmers an international agreement is 5 hence not the most efficient tool. Improved technology for farmers and increases bargaining power are other factors which would redistribute value within the commodity chain. Producer and retail prices which are detached from the world market, technological progress mainly by demanding parties in the chain and increasing mark-ups (or market or bargaining power) in consuming countries are all findings which support the idea by Darity and Davis (2005) to bring Karl Marx back into the picture.Though international commodity agreements, producer cartels and attempts to change the structures of the centre and periphery are not policies currently in vogue, it may be reclaimable to keep them in mind when eng aging in the world coffee market. 26 Value Chain for Brazil 1950 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 20 0 40 20 40 % 60 % 60 80 80 100 100 Value Chain for Colombia 1950 Processing in US International processing and transport Processing and transport in Brazil Brazilian producers share 1960 1970 1980 year 1990 2000 Processing in US and transportProcessing and transport in Colombia Colombian producers share Fig. 1. Distribution of the Coffee Dollar along the Commodity Chain. Sources Brazilian and Colombian producer prices FAO (various years), FAOSTAT (2006) and ICO (2005). Export and import unit values FAOSTAT online (2006) and U. S. Department of Commerce spot of the Census (1989). Wholesale prices for Brazil IFS (various years). US Retail prices BLS (2005b). 27 Table 1. Asymmetric Unit Root Tests n 1 pW n 1 pM,B-US n 1 pM,US n 1 pR,US y y 8 4 0 0. 19 0. 33 0 1 3 1 0. 2 0. 48 4 1 3 0. 66 0. 78 2 6 3 0. 65 0. 55 4 6 6 0. 31 0. 99 6 0 5 0 0. 99 0. 99 0 2 5 4 0. 37 0. 07 1 8 n 0. 99 0. 99 3 3 0. 00 0. 97 5 3 0. 98 0. 87 0 3 0. 52 0. 89 4 3 0. 42 0. 69 2 0 0. 22 0. 90 9 1 0. 55 0. 89 5 1 0. 93 0. 92 5 8 0. 75 0. 60 25. 499 1 1 I(1) symm . . . . I(0) symm 1 26. 032 0. 38 0. 00 I(1) symm 0 Unit Root 5 0 8. 87 q y 4 bartletts White Noise pX,C Asymmetric Adjustment 1 0. 97 Lags Lags n 0. 95 0. 32 pX,B 0. 59 0. 53 1 8 1. 21 n 1 0. 15 pG,C 0 1. 31 1 0. 99 2. 62 n 0. 19 0. 19 Trend 1. 80 pG,B Bartletts WhiteNoise s Asymmetric Adjustment Conclusion Unit Root Analysis of serial publication in Levels Analysis of Series in 1st Differences Series 29. 849 26. 732 28. 028 0 0 0 28. 842 32. 509 27. 076 29. 196 I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm I(1) symm 28 5 5 4 1 6 Unit Root contains the F-statistic for the hypothesis that the series has a unit root. Asymmetric Adjustment contains the p-value for the hypothesis of symmetry. Bartletts White Noise contains the p-value from Bartletts periodogram-based test for white noise.The null is that the error terms ar e white noise. indicates that the lag-length selected by AIC did not result in white noise residuals and increasing the laglength did not amend the problem and the lag-length was hence decreased until the indicated number of lags. indicates that residuals from the regressions with the first difference of relative income fail Bartletts periodogram-based test for white noise regardless of variations of the number of lags and the lag-length is chosen by AIC. Table 2.Rank for VECM(1) with nominal prices and relative income Trace Test Maximum-Eigenvalue Test 5% 5% Test Critical Hypothesized Test Critical No. of CE(s) Statistic Value Prob. * Statistic Value Prob. * None 232. 686 228. 298 0. 031 49. 706 62. 752 0. 486 At most 1 182. 980 187. 470 0. 083 46. 246 56. 705 0. 367 At most 2 136. 734 150. 559 0. 230 36. 528 50. 600 0. 617 At most 3 100. 206 117. 708 0. 372 31. 817 44. 497 0. 570 At most 4 68. 389 88. 804 0. 570 21. 460 38. 331 0. 885 At most 5 46. 929 63. 876 0. 556 19. 020 32. 118 0. 728 At most 6 27. 909 2. 915 0. 628 13. 839 25. 823 0. 736 At most 7 14. 070 25. 872 0. 652 8. 642 19. 387 0. 761 At most 8 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 5. 428 12. 518 0. 536 Trace test indicates 1 cointegrating equation at the 5% level. Max-eigenvalue test indicates no cointegration at the 5% level. * MacKinnon-Haug-Michelis (1999) p-values. 29 30 Table 3. Error Correction Parameters ? pW 2. 04 pM, US 0. 52 pM,US3. 68 pX,C 2. 33 pX,B 4. 20 pR,US 0. 99 pG,B 1. 73 pG,C 0. 96 y -0. 16 CIV1 (1. 64) (0. 44) (2. 92) (2. 09) (3. 04) (1. 59) (0. 94) (1. 11) (0. 97) EC ? N 0. 99 Y 0. 07

Cognitive Competence

Tomorrows Leader Term paper content cognitive Competence Wai (Synergy) Content get out 1 1. Definition cognitive competenceP. 3-4 2. Theory of cognitive competenceP. 5-8 3. Factors affecting cognitive competenceP. 9-10 4. Importance of cognitive competence in leadershipP. 11-12 5. Ways to enhance the level of cognitive competenceP. 13-14 Part 2 Self evaluationP. 15-17 Part 3 ReferenceP. 18-19 Part 1 Definition of cognitive competence 1. Cognitive competence is defined as the ability to perform adequately those cognitively complex tasks considered essential for living on ones birth in this society. Willis SL. (1996). Everyday cognitive competence in elderly persons conceptual issues and empirical findings, Oct36(5)595-601) 2. The ability to develop and apply the cognitive skills of self-talk, the reading and interpretation of social cues, development steps for hassle-solving and finding making, understanding the perspective of others, understanding behavioral norms, a positive attitude towards life, and self aw atomic number 18ness. (The W. T. Grant Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence (1992 136)) 3. schoolman and smart achievement. include the ability to single-valued function logic, analytic thinking, and abstract reasoning) (Catalano, R. F. , Berglund, M. L. , Ryan, J. A. M. , Lonczak, H. S. , Hawkins, J. D. (2002). Positive younker association in the United States Research findings on evaluations of positive y come outh development programs. Prevention and Treatment, 5 (15), 1-106. ) This three definitions be little bit different. The third one is too narrow as it just mentioned academic and intellectual achievement. The second one, on the other hand, is non specific enough. In my understanding, I think cognitive competence is best defined using the first both definitions. Cognitive competence is defined as the ability to perform adequately those cognitively complex tasks considered essential for living on ones own in this society. It withal includes understanding the perspective of others, understanding behavioral norms, and self awareness. Theory Hui & Suns model (2007) This model divides cognitive competence into three types of thinking 1. fictive thinking, a musical mode of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions (which may look unsettling at first). 2.Critical thinking, which includes reasoning, making references, self-reflection, and coordination of multiple views. Critical thinking has been described as the change of purposeful, self-regulatory judgment, which uses reasoned consideration to evidence, context, conceptualizations, methods, and criteria. (Facione, Peter A. Critical Thinking What It is and Why It Counts, Insightassessment. com) 3. Rational thinking refers to logical or reasoning beingness involved in the thought process. It refers to providing reasons or rational behind thoughts or ideas.It adds an element of cal culation and planning to a steam of thoughts sort of than basing them on emotion or personal opinion. It is a kind of objective process of thinking and an analytic approach to any problem. Rational thinking is found on reasons or facts and is hence much more calculating and realistic. Geiwitzs model This model divides cognitive competence into three steps of thinking 1. hit the hay what, to k without delay what is the problem 2. Know how, to cognise how the problem provoke be fermentd 3. Know wherefore, to know why choose particular method to illuminate the problem, or to evaluate the method currently use. What How WhyIn Hui and Suns model, creative thinking is the innovative way of thinking. It every(prenominal)ows mass to give voice immature things or idea. Critical thinking is used when commenting on something, e. g. in writing editorials. As for rational thinking, it is used when analyzing. In my opinion, the second model is easier to understand. And it shows progres sive levels of cognitive competence, whereas the first model hardly divides our thinking into three different slipway. Therefore, I would further explain cognitive competence using the second model for reference. busy the example of inventors of the worlds first airplane the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur.This is an total example to illustrate the concept of cognitive competence and the Geiwitzs model. Applying the Geiwitzs model, the Wright brothers aim was to make out a flying machine, this is the know what level of cognitive competence. They then started to think and design this machine, and this is the know how level of cognitive competence. Finally they evaluated the products (whats good and not good about it) and thought how to improve further. The know how and know why steps repeated. And finally an mature airplane was invented. Start Know what to invent a flying machine Know how How to built a better flying machineKnow why Why this model is good/not good enough R epeat A satisfatory model is invented Another example to illustrate is the development in spicy jump styles. The styles used in high-jumping has changed from initially scissors style, to straddle style, and finally the Fosbury style which is still using nowadays. Start Know what to jump high Know how What jumping style Know why Why this style is good/not good enough Repeat A satisfatory syle is invented Factors affecting cognitive competence I think the factors affecting the development of ones cognitive competence can be divided into intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors.Intrinsic factors are those confine to yourself, while extrinsic factors are those influenced by the environment. For intrinsic factors, I think there are intelligence, personalities, experience and past experience. For intelligent, I think it is not difficult to imagine that it is historic for high cognitive competence. Intelligence is particularly important for the know how and know why stage. Only if you ar e wise enough can you think of a smart way to solve problem that no one has ever think of or find out what is the problem of existing method being used by other make do.Moreover, intelligence is kind of inborn therefore, cognitive competence is also inborn to a certain extent. As for personality, I think people with different personality may affect his/her performance in problem solving and the presentation of his cognitive competence. For example, if a person lacks confidence and likes to deal with problem in a low risk aspect, he/she may not aban tire out the existing widely used method to tackle the problem and use immature methods even though he is clever enough to think of many other new potential methods. They may only attempt the new ways when they are 100% more effective and safer than the existing ones.Knowledge and past experience are very similar. They both can be regarded as memory. They are very important factors that affect cognitive competence. When tackling probl ems, memory always acts as your reference, it gives you base information and background about the problem. And help you to frame out the solution in relation to this reference. Like the case of the Wright brothers, when they tried to invent a flying machine, their knowledge in engineering gives them basic information of how to build it. It is interesting to notice that sometimes past experience may hinder our cognitive performance.For example, when you are dealing with a project you are very familiar with, you might too much into your experience and knowledge and think that it is impossible to explore new methods. For extrinsic factors, there are surroundings (e. g. family background, situation of the problem) and the nature of problem Environment is the major extrinsic factor affecting ones cognitive competence. It determines many of intrinsic factors including past experience, knowledge and even personality. Environment can also affects ones attitude to deal with the problem, t hus performance of cognitive competence.For example, the due date of your proposal is tomorrow morning and now is already three oclock in the morning and you havent even started yet. I am sure you may feel fearful and will not spend much time to think of the new ideas. Moreover, family socialization also affects cognitive competence and intelligence of people. (Grundmann, M. Teo, Thomas Socialization, intelligence, and cognitive competence (1997)) Another one is the nature of the problem. It determines ones past experience and knowledge are useful or not. It is because the past experience and knowledge can not apply to all situation.Importance of cognitive competence in leadership Cognitive competence is important in leadership. A research points out that cognitive skills were found to be directly correlate with high-level of leadership performance in a MLE (Military Leadership Exercises) research. (Marshall-Mies et al. , 2000) Often included intelligence, general skills, crystal lised skills (e. g. oral and written expression and comprehension), and creative or divergent thinking capacities are cognitive capabilities that should influence leadership performance. (Connelly, Gilbert, Zaccaro, Threlfall, Marks & Mumford, 2000).I also accommodate that cognitive competence is important in leadership. First of all, leader with higher level of cognitive competence can deal with different kinds of problems with his own way of thinking. That means they can find out his own most effective way to tackle the problem without copying others method. This gives the leader independency that he does not need to rely on others too much. It also gives them maturity that they can have their own way of thinking. Independency and maturity surely are the important factors of a leader. This makes people happy and feeling safe to follow you.Secondly, leader with high level of cognitive competence can have great division to the team. They can give out a lot of useful ideas that no o ne has thought of before. This already makes them the strongest ones or the most unique ones in the team. lot would love to follow leaders which are stronger than them. Again, this makes them feel safe. Finally, leaders with high level of cognitive competence can have a clear question and know what is wrong in the team. They know what the team should do (goal). And they evaluate the performance of the team, and find out what should be improved.That means they are not only using cognitive skills in problem solving, but also in team management. It is because team management itself is already a task. tidy sum with higher cognitive competence usually have higher IQ and are conflicts encountering (Heydenberk R. A. and Heydenberk W. R. , Increasing Meta-Cognitive Competence through Conflict Resolution(2005)) Ways to enhance the level of cognitive competence Before discussing how to enhance the level of cognitive competence, I think we should first identify what cannot be changed or be improved.They are called constrains. Through understanding what are the constrains, we can focus on what can and what should be improved. The constrains include family background, intelligence and personality. These factors are sort of fixed, or can only have little change. So, to cite the level of cognitive competence, I think it is effective that we try to learn as much as possible. This is to enhance our knowledge and enrich our experience. As mentioned, knowledge and past experience are two important factors affecting ones cognitive ability.This is because they are our own cums of information about the problem being coped. We can make use of this information to find a way to solve the problem. We may not figure out any new method, at least we know how people deal with it previously. In Janet E, Et Al, The Role of metacognition in Problem Solving, four steps of thinking is also mentioned to guide people to solve problems. They are 1. Identifying and defining the problem 2. Ment ally representing the problem 3. Planning how to proceed 4. Evaluating what you know about your performanceThis way of thinking can help people to organized their thoughts, so that they can deal with the problem step by step. I think it is a quite useful way to improve cognitive performance because it makes people organized and focus on one job at a time. This prevents them from being interrupted from different sources. Furthermore, it helps people to think logically. Part 2 Self-reflection Hong Kong students are known to be a copycat. We are blamed to have low level of creativity and afraid to try new things. People always say that we just copy things from others or textbooks without digesting them.But I think it is not totally my case. I am not a false student. I used to be very creative in primary school. Others describe me as naughty. It is because all my creativity is used in inventing new ways to play tricks on my classmates. I remember one time I played a game in an activity class. My teacher ask my grouping to use a deck of playing cards to build a tower as high as we can. Then we started. Other groups are using the traditional method (see left). Obviously it requires high technique. Therefore they can only built towers with few floors high. But I figured out another method.I folded up two cards, turned them sideway to make two L shape walls, put them facing each other to make a satisfying wall, on top of it I placed a flat card. And I repeated to do this. Of course, my team built the highest tower. But guess what happened next. My teacher told us that was against the rules. Playing cards are not supposed to be folded (She didnt tell us before the game). We lose that competition at the end. I think, later on this event, my creativity started to slowly bury in my heart deeply. When I recall this event, I discover one important thing.That is our creativity is often being limit by our teachers, and our education system. Teachers set all the projects, homework with rules and restrictions, trying to make them easier to mark and compare. But this made our assignments all looking the same. Examination questions have all the model answers, this made our student the same person who can only memorize answers without digesting the questions and answer them in their own way. Not that I dont have critical thinking and creativity. It is just because they have to be thrown away to survive in HKs education system.Take the example of A-level exams, the curriculum is very tight that teachers even cannot have time to teach us all the topics included. How would I have time to individually explore all the topics taught? Instead, in order to get high grades in this exam, I spent most of the time on memorizing past papers model answers. I know it would not help my cognitive development, but getting into a good university is more important to me. I believe this is also the problem of many students. Now, when I am given a problem to solve, I still try my best to explore the alternatives.May be this is due to my personality. I just dont like to be the same with others. I like to be unique. But I think I am not creative as I was small anymore. Apart from the reason about the restrictions set by teachers just discussed, another possible reason may be due to my own knowledge and experience. As I mentioned in part 1 of this report, knowledge and experience, although can help to solve your problem, they sometimes hinder your cognitive performance. Sometimes this happens to me. I just rely too much on the knowledge and experience, and cannot think out of the box.But the major reason is still because of the education system in HK. But in the university, a place to train students critical thinking and creativity, I think that this problem would become less severe. To improve my cognitive abilities, I think the best way is to train to have independent critical thinking. Dont rely too much on knowledge from any sources and my own or oth ers past experience. Always try my best to look for other possible alternatives. Although this might spend a lot more time and at the end there may not come up any new things. But I think the process can also help me to develop my cognitive skills.Although it might hinder my cognitive performance, I think it is still important to enrich my knowledge and diversify my horizon. This is because learning more can let me compare different theories and thus train my independent critical thinking. They are also my valuable first encountered source when any problem comes to me. Part 3 Reference Willis SL. (1996). Everyday cognitive competence in elderly persons conceptual issues and empirical findings, Oct36(5)595-601 The W. T. Grant Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence (1992 136)Catalano, R. F. , Berglund, M. L. , Ryan, J. A. M. , Lonczak, H. S. , & Hawkins, J. D. (2002). Positive youth development in the United States Research findings on evaluations of positive y outh development programs. Prevention and Treatment, 5 (15), 1-106. Grundmann, M. Teo, Thomas Socialization, intelligence, and cognitive competence (1997) Marshall-Mies et al. , 2000 Connelly, Gilbert, Zaccaro, Threlfall, Marks & Mumford, 2000 Heydenberk R. A. and Heydenberk W. R. , Increasing Meta-Cognitive Competence through Conflict Resolution(2005)

Essay on “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” Essay

Leon Botsteins Let Teenagers Try Adulthood tattles ab come to the fore how proud schools argon obsolete and why they should be abolished. He feels that schools argon run like a popularity contest and that elevated school is a waste of time. Botstein goes on to say that how well up a school does in teams sports is how well the community will support that school. He also believes that high schools should be abolished since children dont learn anything and the rules they play by in school argon non the same rules of conduct story. Botstein also thinks that since teenagers are maturing at earlier ages that they should be allowed to make full-grown decisions at earlier ages as will. According to Botstein, junior high schools should be removed and replaced with a K-10 school and the graduation age of 18 should be dropped to 16. Botstein states At 16, young Americans are prepared to be taken seriously and to develop the motivations and interests that will serve them well in adult li fe. (Botstein, 2007)Leon Botstein made some good points as to why high schools should be abolished, but get rid of high schools is non the answer. He neglects to say that high schools are in that location to help teenagers develop the skills they motive to succeed in life.The American high school needs to make a couple of changes to be to a greater extent effective in helping teenagers develop the skills to succeed in life. The school formation should try to implement a little more diversity in the school. Like Botstein said they need to enter a world where they are not in a lunchroom with only their peers. (Botstein, 2007)Schools should make it a graduation requirement that all students take a class on leadership and how to handle pop off when they are under pressure. These types of classes will help prepare them for situations they will encounter in life. It is important that we prepare these teenagers for leadership roles. Although some might say that these skills are wise (p) through the work force it is better to prepare them for the future rather than let them fail. Another skill that teenagers will need in life that is developed in high school istheir communication skills. In high school all teenagers do is communicate with each other. Even though Botstein does not believe that missing this social interaction would matter, it really does. In life everyone needs some sort of social interaction.When someone applies for a job they need to be able-bodied to talk to the employer, they need to be able to communicate instructions to others. These communication skills are all learned while students and teenagers are in high school. If high schools are removed from our society, many people will not be learning important skills and they will not be able to have a successful life. If two years of high school is cut think of the impact it would have on society. We would be sending teenagers out into the world who are not ready for it. The classes that are t aken in junior high and high school are important to everyone. While in junior high and high school the students are learning how to fine tune their skills they need to be able to go out into the world and succeed. Without these schools students would not develop the skill they need to be able to make deadlines, how to use their time wisely to be more efficient. Sure these things can be learned in the workforce, but wouldnt you want to hire someone who was already prepared kinda of spending the extra money to train them.When Botstein talks more or less the problem with the high school system is the poor quality of recruitment and training for high school teacher he is absolutely correct. He fails to talk nearly why it is this way. As Americans we dont im mystifye enough money into our cultivation system. The money that we spend on professional athletes could be use to better prepare our teachers. Some teachers feel that they shouldnt work hard because they are not getting paid enough to do their job correctly. You pass off better quality teachers in colleges because the pay is better. College professors are getting paid between 20,000 40,000 more than high school teachers. We as Americans need to re-evaluate our budget and put more money into our school system so that we can get the kind of teachers we fare out teenagers really deserve. Botstein states that adults should face that fact that they dont like adolescents and that they have used high school to isolate the pubescent and hormonally active adolescent away from both the picture-book idealized innocence of childhood and the more accountable would of adulthood. (Botstein, 2007) That is definitely not the case we might dislike some adolescents but not all.There are some adults who do not know how to handlethe changes that these adolescents are going throw, but isolating them is not the answer. We as adults need to find a way to educate these adolescents as well as their parents about these change s and how to deal with them. If we can find a way to implement this in the high school program than abolishing high school wouldnt be an option to fixing the problem. We as Americans need to stop thinking about a quick solution to a problem and starting thinking about long term solutions that will actually work. If we decide to remove high school from our society and allow adolescents to graduate at the age of 16 instead of 18 we will be destroying our society. Sure adolescents mature at an early age, but do you really think they are ready to make adult decisions at the age of 16. At that age their bodies are still going through changes and they are still learning how to become an adult.They last two years of high school are important and it helps teenagers to prepare for what is in stored for them. Maybe one day we would be ready to have teenagers graduate early, but there are still too many problems in our school system to have that happen. We need to focus on fixing the problem w ithin our education system instead of getting rid of high schools. High school is there to fine tune the necessary skills we need to succeed in life without them most people would not be where they are today. Although Botstein made some good points about high school and the way our society deals with teenagers, we need to put all of our energy in changing the high school system instead of just abolishing it.ReferenceBotstein, L. (2007). Let Teenagers Try Adulthood. In B. Spatt, Writing from Sources (pp. 175-177). capital of Massachusetts Bedford/ St. Martins.