Marks and Spencer and John Lewis Pension Schemes Case Study

Marks and Spencer and John Lewis Pension Schemes - Case Study Example Until now workers of M&S did not have to make any contribution towards their own pension from their salary and they were entitled to a small part of their final salary as retirement income. Thus compared with John Lewis pension scheme in which workers do not have to make contributions towards the final salary scheme and retirement income from their existing salaries, Marks & Spencer pension scheme has changed so that workers will have to make a final contribution towards their final salary scheme or they may receive lowered benefits later. There are conflicts of interest between employees and trustees in both John Lewis and Marks and Spencer. However John Lewis is a partnership business which means it is largely controlled by employees. The employee trusts adequately maintain the benefits of employee ownership structures and in case of John Lewis there is breakdown of the strict dichotomy between employees and trustees with employees having direct ownership to an extent. However in case of Marks& Spencer, the trustees are responsible for funding and the pension scheme and the employee trustee distinction is quite obvious with both potential and real conflicts within Marks and Spencer. The John Lewis Partnership had still... 3. Defined Benefit/Defined Contribution. Which type of provision suits each organization and why The John Lewis Partnership had still recently reduced the benefits of its pension scheme to cut the costs of its operations and maintenance. However in the last year, with profits up to 27% increase, 85m has been marked out for pension based funds which would be nearly 10% of the company's budget (John Lewis, 2007). The pension costs being very high for the company when compared with other companies, the cutting down of pension costs provide reasonable savings for the company. Recent changes in the M&S salary schemes mean that pension contribution will have to accrue benefits at a slower rate or there has to be limits on the rate at which pensionable salaries rise. Contribution and benefits are tied in case of M&S salary and pension scheme as members contribute to their own salary and benefits by using some for later retirement income. In case of John Lewis benefit schemes, employee contributions are not direct and usually employees are subject to these schemes for their benefit on r etirement. 4. John Lewis Partnership is not a quoted company. How does that affect its pension policy (if at all) Is it a "better or worse" situation in this regard than Marks and Spencer John Lewis being not a quoted company but rather run by the concept of partnership showing that employees claim direct ownership to the business (John Lewis, 2007). Recently John Lewis has also launched a unique share incentive plan and it remains as primarily an employee owned company and this affects its pension policy that focuses on a large share of costs on the

Figuring Fixed Costs Essay Example for Free

Figuring Fixed Costs Essay 10.1 The highest number of meals served was 4,900 in December, with the lowest of meals being 3,500 in July making a difference of 1,400 of meals served, between the two months. The cost per meal variable is 1400à ·$5500.00 for a total of $3.93 (WHDM’s) fixed cost is computed as follows $20,500.00-(3,500*$3.93) =$6,745.00 According to the following â€Å"formula: PX=A+Bx 5.77x=$6,745+$3.93† 5.77-$3.93=$6,745+ ($3.93-$3.93) 1.84x=$6,745 1.84x*1.84x=$6,745*1.84x â€Å"X=3,666 Monthly BEP 3,666*12= 43,992 BEP for the fiscal year† (Oppapers.com, 2012), for the Westchester Home- Service Meal Delivery program, since the program received 45,000 meals to serve and only needed 43,992 of them their profit is going to come from selling the other 1008 meals at a . 84 per meal making a profit of $1,854.72. 10.2 NRCC and Its BEP Annual revenue = $20.00 per subscription Annual variable rise for â€Å"making and mailing six bimonthly issues has risen 4.50 â€Å"(Martin, L., 2001) (NRCC) annual fixed cost is 6,000 + 3,900 = 9,900 Per subscription (NRCC’s) annual margin would be 20-4.5 for a total of 15.5 Making their BEP as follows 9,900/15.5 equaling 639 PX = A+Bx 20x=6,000+3,900+4.50x 20x=9,900+4.50x 20x-4.50x=9,900+ (4.50x-4.50x) 15.5x=9,900 15.5x/15.5x=9,900/15.5x X=639 No way is this feasible, because there are two staff members, who are all ready at the maxim capacity of 650, leaving no capacity for any kind of slack. References: Martin, L. (2001). Financial Management for Human Services Administrators. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon http://www.oppapers.com, 2012 http://www.studymode.com,2013 University of Phoenix. (2001). Financial Management for Human Service Administrator. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HSM 260 website.

Politics :: essays research papers

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Arafat and the PLOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? "We must remember that the main enemy of the Palestinian people, now and forever, is Israel. This is a truth that must never leave our minds." --- Palestinian Authority Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein, speaking at Al Azhar University in Gaza. (Al-Nahar, 11 April 1995; The Jerusalem Post, 17 April 1995) As expressed in the above quote, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 sparked much resentment from nearby Arab states, which immediately waged war against the new nation. Consequently, a severe refugee problem was created among the Palestinians that had been living in and near the territories that were taken over by Israel. An estimated 726,000 Palestinians were displaced; some were forced to other Arab states in the Middle East, while others were confined to refugee camps in Israel. In the mid-1950s, Arafat and several Palestinian Arab associates formed a movement known as Fatah, dedicated to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“reclaiming Palestine for the Palestinians.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? It quickly became the largest and most popular Palestinian organization mostly due to the fact that it did not define a distinct ideology, and kept a rather vague and unspecified platform in order to avoid too close an identification with any one particular Arab country. Fatah and other splinter sects eventually operated under an umbrella organization, the Palestine Liberation Organization, formed in 1964. Arafat, as a member of the Husseini family, had a niche of credibility, an advantage that allowed him to quickly generate a loyal following (Bickerton 147). Running Fatah became Arafat's full-time occupation, and by 1965, the organization was launching guerrilla raids and terrorist attacks into Israel. The PLOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Tumultuous Beginning As Israel emerged victorious in the Six-Day War of 1967, and captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict took on a heightened tension. Following th e war, Arafat moved the headquarters of the PLO to Jordan. Terrorist activity was conducted by fundamentalist splinter groups within the PLO, such as the Liberation for Palestine (PFLP), the Palestine Popular Struggle Front, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), in an attempt to draw attention to the Palestinian cause. In 1968, Arafat and the Fatah got international publicity when they inflicted a significant defeat on Israeli troops who entered Jordan. These PLO's activities increasingly troubled Jordan's King Hussein because it prevented him from considering any negotiated settlement with Israel.

Peace Essay

Christianity and Islam have similar teachings on peace and it is evident that there is a strong relationship between these fundamental teachings and the ways in which the religious traditions and their organizations actively strive towards world peace. World peace is understood in both faiths, not just as an absence of violence and conflict, but also as an overall sense of wellbeing and social cohesion. Inner peace is essential in achieving world peace, and must be attained in order to work towards peace at a higher level. Christianity teaches that peace is Christ’s parting gift and a concept that begins with Him, â€Å"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you† (John 14:27). The Catholic peace movement â€Å"Pax Christi† stands for the ‘peace of Christ’ and has launched a policy for a culture of peace and non-violence. â€Å"Pax Christi† uses the teaching of the peace of Christ to guide them, calling adherents to state that they are recognizing their responsibility to â€Å"respect life†¦practice active non-violence [and] defend freedom† (Pax Christi International Manifesto for a Culture of Peace and Non Violence 1999) in order to contribute to the achievement of world peace. Islam teaches that peace can only be attained through the submission to Allah’s will. One is able to submit to Allah through the process of jihad, which is to struggle to overcome the obstacles in the way of submission, or the process of Shahada. The Sufism movement provides Muslims with a path to follow in order to contribute to the attainment of world peace through 3 stations. These mirror the teaching that peace can only be found in Allah, encouraging the submission as the initial step in moving towards world peace, â€Å"Submitting our†¦bodies to Allah is Sufism† (Sufism Equals to Islam). The teaching of submission and anticipation of pleasing Him, establishes a Muslims role in actively working towards achieving world peace. The Quakers are a Christian denomination that follows the principal teaching of pacifism, as modelled by Jesus’ ministry. Christ’s teaching of the Beatitudes is fundamental in guiding the Quakers, especially in â€Å"Blessed are the peacemakers† (Matthew 5:9). The Quakers work towards world peace through things such as rallies and marches for peace and justice, as well as campaigning and raising awareness about social justice and supporting those looking for an alternative to violence. The Quaker’s choice to refrain from war to contribute to world peace can be seen by their silent vigils against war, such as that in King George Square. In 1660, the Quakers presented â€Å"A Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent†¦Quakers†, which has been the basis for the Quaker’s peace testimony in which they strive towards attaining world peace. Rufus Jones, a Quaker, stated that Quakers have an â€Å"obligation to assist and to forward movements and forces which make for peace in the world† (The Quaker Peace Position). Peace is a fundamental aim of Islam and teaches that war is only permitted to overcome oppression and tyranny. The Qur’an teaches that â€Å"whosoever killed a soul†¦it is as if he had killed all mankinds† (Al-Madiah 5:32). However, this is overlooked due to common misconceptions about the Islamic faith, especially due to exploitation by the media. After the violent aftermath of the London bombings in 2005, the NSW Islamic Council stated on their website, â€Å"We firmly hold the view that these killings and atrocities have absolutely no sanction in Islam†¦terrorism†¦has no support from†¦the Islamic community†¦and would never be endorsed†. Partnerships exist between Muslim, Jewish and Christian organizations so that their voices aren’t overlooked, for example the 1991 ‘Prayer for Peace’ in which it was asked, â€Å"Forgive our violence towards each other†. Even though overlooked by the media, Muslims work tirelessly towards world peace. Christianity expresses that justice must come before peace is achieved. In 1972, in the World Day of Peace Message, the Catholic Pope Paul VI said, â€Å"If you want peace, act for Justice†. Accordingly, the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), seek peace, justice and reconciliation. In a report titled, â€Å"Called Together to be Peacemakers†, Catholics and Mennonites hoped to work together to assist the WCC’s DOV, stating, â€Å"Our similar identities as ‘peace churches’†¦our commitment to be followers†¦of Jesus Christ†¦Prince of Peace. † They quote John Paul II in the World Day of Peace (2002), â€Å"no peace without justice†, adding, â€Å"in the absence of justice†¦peace is a mirage†¦justice is an inseparable companion of peace† (CTBP 177). It is evident, the relationship between the doctrine of justice before peace, and then the actions to chieve this to strive towards world peace. The Qur’an teaches that, â€Å"Allah guides those†¦to the ways of peace†¦and guides them to a straight path† (5:16), often termed ‘the paths of peace’. This teaching of being guided on a path of peace is demonstrated by the organization Muslim Peace Fellowship, declaring on their website that their main objectives are to â€Å"work together with all people of good will to keep open the straight path† and to â€Å"work against injustice and for peace†¦in our world† (Muslim Peace Fellowship Blog). This organization actively seek world peace through the use of conferences, publications, speeches and interreligious action, as well as interior work and prayer. Evidently, principal teachings in both Christianity and Islam help to guide and encourage both their roles in the attainment of world peace. The fundamental teachings act as guidelines to be interpreted by current followers in order to play a role in the triumph of world peace. There is a strong correlation between the theoretical principal teachings and he actions performed by leaders and adherents to gain peace at a world level.

Mice and Men and Great Expectations Essay

Of Mice and Men and Great Expectations, have many similarities. They both show the way certain characters are treated by society. These similarities may be strong but there are natural differences that come from the different times and places the stories are set in.-as well as the way the authors approach the topic.  Steinbeck begins Of Mice and Men by creating a tranquil scene where everything is seemingly at peace. Steinbeck creates with words images of paradise such as when he writes: â€Å"A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hill-side bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.† A river, which is said to â€Å"run deep†, is calm and slow moving. Its water is clear too, â€Å"twinkling over yellow sands,† it has warm water too and seems perfect-almost too good to be true. Inevitably it is. Of Mice and men is set in the 1930s during America’s great depression. After the stock exchange crashed in New York, money and jobs became hard to find. There was poverty all over America and California, which affected everything. Like the American dream, paradise can only exist with money. Therefore only the wealthy can enjoy this and even then it is spoilt by the poverty surrounding it. The American Dream is a paradox, just like the paradise of Salinas River. They cannot exist because they contradict themselves. Paradise is bliss but how can this exist with so much poverty and suffering in the world? The Salinas River seems briefly to have escaped the paradox. There is no sign of poverty, just peace and tranquillity. Then human life enters the scene. Human life is introduced when a path is described; â€Å"There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the highway.† It’s the point that the track has been â€Å"beaten hard† that really emphasises what effect humans have had on the river. Other animals leave tracks that are temporary and blend into the scene. Humans have left their path permanently, like a scar it proves that not even the Salinas River can reach paradise. But it is not the only scar, â€Å"In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sycamore there is an ash pile made by many fires; the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it.† Two more scars. The introduction of humans into the scene sees the end of the animal life in the scene. As the humans approach all the wildlife is scared of and the area is completely deserted. â€Å"For a moment the place was lifeless.† The peace is broken and with it any chance of the Salinas River truly becoming paradise.  The story is set in California where few people owned land. They had either lost it due to the financial problems the depression caused or were just too poor to afford any in the first place. The people needed to find work; one of the most common jobs was to work on a farm. These people became known as migrant farmers. They would drift from one farm to the next, rarely settling for long. The two characters that enter the scene are migrant farmers and are looking for work. This is the first introduction of human life into the scene. Great Expectations is set in Victorian England, where just like in 1930s California, the rich thrived and the poor suffered terribly. Even more distressing perhaps was the disease that swept through towns and killed many children as well as adults. This led to an increase in orphans, who have the same feelings of being alone and poor. They have the same problems as many others and weren’t much better off than the criminals in jail. Criminals were treated like animals, as were the poor community as a whole. Just like during the dust bowl, if you weren’t rich then you were a social outcast. After introducing the character Pip, Dickens begins describing his surroundings. Dickens goes into great detail to set the scene. He describes the area as â€Å"Marsh Country† which stretches for twenty miles up to the coast. Pip is in a secluded graveyard overgrown and derelict. Beyond the graveyard is a â€Å"dark flat wilderness,† â€Å"Intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes.† It is a â€Å"raw afternoon towards the evening.† The setting is dark and there is a sense of evil and death about the place. It seems to be building upto something sinister, and does so when the criminal enters the scene. He is described as a â€Å"fearful man, in all course grey with an iron on his leg.† He almost represents death in this scene, an evil presence trying to seize Pip.

Columbus and Genocide 2 essays

Columbus and Genocide 2 essays Recently many American families came together to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. Many Americans observe this holiday as a reminder of when Columbus discovered America. For centuries, Columbus has been hailed as a brave explorer whose daring, perseverance, and navigational knowledge led to the "discovery" of America. In grade schools across America children are taught that Columbus is a hero for discovering America. Although, what most schools in the past have not informed their students of, is the fact that Columbus did a great deal more that discover America. The fact is however that Columbus was no more the discoverer of America than Pocahontas was the discoverer of Great Britain. Native Americans had built great civilizations with many millions of people long before Columbus wandered lost into the Caribbean. Columbus never set foot on North America, nor did he open it to European trade. Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, who sailed for King Henry VII of England and became known by his anglicized name, John Cabot. Caboto arrived in 1497 and claimed North America for the English sovereign while Columbus was still searching for India in the Caribbean. After three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of the continent of Asia, South America was only an island, and the coast of Central America was close to the Ganges Ri ver. So not only did he not discover a new continent, he did not realize what he had found (McKay, Hill, Buckler, and Ebrey, 2000) Also, contrary to popular legend, Columbus did not prove that the world was round; educated people had known that for centuries. The Egyptian-Greek scientist Erastosthenes, working for Alexandria and Aswan, already had measured the circumferen...

Visual Analysis of a Beuford Smith Photograph essays

Visual Analysis of a Beuford Smith Photograph essays The piece which I will analyze was shot by Beuford Smith, and is titled These Colors Dont Run. It was taken in 1999 and is a silver gelatin print. It is displayed in Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in the Schine Student Center at Syracuse University. The issue at the heart of Smiths print appears to be race and racial tensions, as with many of the other works on display. However unlike some of the others it was not taken in the period during and before the sixties. Rather than this time, which we view as the era of racial change and the peak of racial tension in America, it was taken in 1999 a time were less attention is given to any remaining tension. Nor does the print depict an actual event which we view as a symbol of racial tension, like Million Man March in Washington D.C. and Three Placards, June 14, Anti-Apartheid Rally, Central Park, New York New York City. How exactly is Smith commenting on our current situation and what is he saying? The print is done in black and white making one think that it was in fact taken during the civil rights movement. However this assumption is quickly found to be wrong as one investigates the boys shirt which has the words Operation Desert Storm. By having viewers make this assumption and then find out that it is not so the color serves to emphasize that this is about a current issue. Also the black and white coloring makes it feel more like a factual documentation. The two focal points of the piece are the young African American boy on the out side of the shop and the elderly white woman seated at the counter looking through the glass. The boy has a sad look on his face and has his hands on to caf style tables on the sidewalk. His stance seemed determined his gaze is fixed on something in the street. Although we can assume the boy is not actually thinking of racial issues his appearance may be intended by Smith to represent the larger African American society, un...

Christmas and Winter Holiday Vocabulary 100 Word List

Christmas and Winter Holiday Vocabulary 100 Word List This comprehensive Christmas  and winter holiday vocabulary word list can be used in the classroom in so many ways. Use it to inspire word walls, word searches, puzzles, Hangman and Bingo games, crafts, worksheets, story starters, creative writing word banks, and a wide variety of elementary lesson plans in almost any subject. Be sure to customize the vocabulary you choose based on the policies of your school. Some public and private schools may only allow secular references to winter holidays, while some faith-based schools may prefer not to include secular or popular mythological references to Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, or other secular holiday  characters.   Types of Word List Activities Here are some ideas for using this vocabulary list in your classroom.   Word Walls: Build vocabulary by designating one wall or part of a wall to post large print words that all students can read from their desks.   Word Search Puzzles: You can create your own word search puzzles using one of several online puzzle generators. This allows you to customize them as appropriate for your class and school policies. For example, some schools may only allow secular references to the winter holidays. Sight Word Flash Cards: Make flash cards to improve vocabulary for early elementary students and for those with learning disabilities. Building holiday vocabulary will help them with seasonal reading. Holiday words may also be more fun for them to learn and spark interest. Hangman: This is an easy use  for  Christmas words and playing this game in the classroom can be a fun, interactive break between lessons. Poem  or Story Written Word Exercise: Have students draw three or more of the words to incorporate into a poem or story. You can assign these to be turned in or shared with the class. Poems may be rhyming or not  or in the form of a limerick or haiku. You can ask for a minimum word count for written story assignments. Impromptu Speech Exercise: Have students draw one to five words to incorporate into an impromptu speech to give to the class. You can have them draw words and immediately begin a speech, or give them a few minutes to prepare. Christmas and Winter Holiday 100 Word List AdventangelsannouncementbellsBethlehemBlitzencandlescandycandy canescardscedarcelebrateceremonieschimneyChristmas cookiesChristmas treecoldCometcranberry saucecrowdsCupidDancerDasherDecemberdecorationsdollsDonnerdressingeggnogelvesfamily reunionfestivalfirFrostyfruitcakegift boxesgiftsgoodwillgreetingshamhappyholidayhollyholyiciclesjollylightslistsmerrymiraclemistletoeNew YearNoelNorth Polepageantparadespartypiepineplum puddingpoinsettiaPrancerpresentspumpkin piepunchred/greenreindeerribbonRudolphsacredsalessauceScroogeseasonsledsleigh bellssnowflakesspiritSt. Nickstandstarstickersstocking stufferssweet potatotidingstinseltogethernesstoystraditiontraffictripsturkeyvacationVixenWinterworshipwrapping paperwreathyuleyuletide

Business Process Outsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Process Outsourcing - Essay Example One I take this opportunity first of all to commend you for the good job you are doing in the senate as our representative. Secondly, I wish to draw your attention to an important subject that is of core concern to your people – the issue of outsourcing. Outsourcing basically involves contracting out non-core business functions to a provider external to an organization. In other words, when two organizations enter into an outsourcing agreement, one agrees to exchange a certain service or set of services for payment by the other. Outsourcing is also commonly known as offshoring, strategic outsourcing and off shore outsourcing. Outsourcing has become a major practice in many a developed country, thanks to the recent developments in online technologies. Through such technologies, people across the world have built profitable and sustainable businesses that are may be managed from virtually any location in the world. As a matter of fact, many small businesses have grown and thrive on legitimate online activities and to the benefit of larger organizations domiciled hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Advantages and Disadvantages of outsourcing There are a number of reasons why organizations choose to outsource some of their services. Some of the main reasons include saving of costs according to Gamerman (15). Costs are saved when the outsourcing organization enjoys benefits such as reprising, cost restructuring and through labor arbitrage.

Report discussing Spotify's strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Report discussing Spotify's strategy - Essay Example Spotify should use current technology to be stable and compete with the other companies. Introduction Spotify is a Swedish online streaming company offering online music service to the user that they can stream up to 15 million tracks on demand by using unique technology. It still lags behind after Pandora as a market leader. Spotify also introduced lightweight software, which allows an instant listening to albums and tracks without buffering delay. Consumers subscribe monthly premium to access the service. Spotify paid free subscriptions to everyone in order to expand the rate of service (Gammons, 2012). The company offered free accounts and opened free registration in United Kingdom. Spotify closed opened registration when Spotify mobile service was released. Technology is a growing necessity in all types of businesses. As time goes, people learn the importance of technology one by one. This make it impossible to separate technology from the people as it is necessary in day-to-day activities. Technology in Spotify has brought tremendous growth in the company through advertising. Sporty can post their new services online to create new revenue streams and new markets. Technology is also important in decision-making process leading business managers and chief executive officers to focus on innovation in business (Marshall, 2012). Spotify has divided the digital music industry into two submarkets; digital download market consisting of Amazon and iTunes and streaming market which has many competitors. According to the study conducted in 2011, the revenue of digital music industry has grown by 8%. The growth rate of streaming market is greater than that of the download market. Streaming market generates 10% of the revenue of digital music industry (Marshall, 2012). Many companies with similar business models operate in streaming industry leading to strong competition in the market. Companies can only be differentiated from each other by; features regions of operati ons, variations in packaging and licensing of music libraries. The costs of switching from one streaming service to another are very high. This has created a limited compatibility and transfer between the streaming services. The streaming companies are trying to include network effects in their services by introducing social components. Users are granted permissions to create collaborative playlists, they can follow what other people, and friends are listening on the network (Daft, 2011). Network effect adds value to the services leading to attraction of more clients. Streaming companies has essential partners and record labels are natural which creates ready market with strong indirect network effects. Availability of content is important to attraction of customers. When there is large music in the library, the streaming service will be much popular. The streaming industry is a two-sided market where companies should create virtuous circle between customers and record labels. When the subscribers and users are more in a service, there should be more labels having their music recorded on the services. This will lead to attraction of more customers to the larger library available. On the other hand, it is expensive to obtain streaming rights to a large library for successful streaming of services. The primary tactic on how to gain market share is

Social Inclusion (SWFS5004) Foundation Degree Assignment

Social Inclusion (SWFS5004) Foundation Degree - Assignment Example More recent scholarly studies reveal that social exclusion is multi-faceted in character. Levitas (1998) thus sees it as a multidimensional concept, dependent on the position of a person or a group of persons in the society. He further notes that every form of societal marginalization can cause social exclusion. Social exclusion is conceptualized via various social processes and aspects of daily life such as economical, cultural, disability, political and organizational just to name a few. In the views of Levitas (1998), social exclusion is the product of an intricate process and definitely not as a result of economical disadvantage alone. Hence, the concept of social exclusion should be thought in the framework of a social organization in which four subsystems namely politics, economics, social/community and family systems are at play (Phillipson et al, 2003). Even though social exclusion is seen as multi-facial, it nevertheless still poses constant problems. Cushing (2003) further observes that the concept of social exclusion is not only multi-faceted in the sense that it is controlled by various social processes, but the idea is also relational. ... Phillipson et al (2003) also observe that exclusion and inclusion form a dynamic phenomenon. This is because within a given society, an individual can be socially excluded or included over a given period of time. For this reason, it is not wise to give all inclusive definition of social exclusion but to employ an approach that identifies deprivation factors (Pierson, 2001). A good example is deprivation of employment. In this approach, social inclusion originates from synergies between various players in local government and services as well as social partners via participation, associations and networking (Silver, 1994). Levitas (1998) observes that exclusion depends on system failures only. Within this viewpoint, social exclusion is viewed on the basis of the hetero-designation of particular groups which are termed as the excluded. Other studies neglect the human potential to build inclusion within one or several everyday spheres according to Massey & Jess (1995). A number of conce rns have been raised regarding self-designation processes, the effects of identity on inclusion as well as exclusion boundaries which may mediate in the said identities. Hence, social exclusion may depend on the role of a person who is socially excluded when he or she can offer nothing to the society in exchange for what society can give back (Phillipson et al, 2003). Moreover, individuals, groups of people and societies can lock themselves off, creating ever higher boundaries by asserting their norms in a strict and rigid style which may, as a result exclude others who do not agree with them or who are not recognized by them (Castles, 2000). There are a number of cases in which religious, political and ethnic causes have resulted

Genius and Intellectual Mentality in America Essay

Genius and Intellectual Mentality in America - Essay Example The program The Big Bang Theory is a social experiment that is not only entertaining, but reveals a great deal about a sub-culture that has emerged that is child-like in their social habits, but have intellects that exceed the average. The Big Bang Theory revolves around four males and one female. The four males all work at the same university as research scientists and two of them live in an apartment as roommates. The third male lives with his mother and the fourth male lives in an apartment by himself. A more detailed character analysis will be within this essay, just as it will be important for clear definitions to be created for the words nerd and geek, which is the foundation of the identities of the four male characters. It is in the conflict between the social status of the men to the young woman that provides the opportunity for humor and social exploration. Definitions According to Anderegg, the definitions of a nerd or a geek are often interchangeable, but the specific def initions are actually quite different. A nerd is defined by someone who tends to be focused on academics and as a result is socially awkward. A geek is defined by someone who is more focused on sub-cultures that are not as socially accepted, but are still part of pop culture. Anderegg states that â€Å"nerds and geeks possess arcane knowledge that few other people possess† (n.p.). The types of knowledge that they have often mean extensions of popular culture products, which can mean computer and electronics. This also includes playing games such as World of Warcraft, collecting action figures, reading and becoming absorbed in alternative universes through books, comic books, and graphic novels, as well as being fans of cult favorite programs such as Star Trek, Stargate, and Battlestar Galactica. One of the reasons that nerds and geeks are attracted to alternative universes is that they are not completely comfortable in the social structures of the real world. In learning abou t and inserting themselves in the fantasies of new universes, the possibilities of being a welcomed member or an imagined hero allows for the social awkwardness to be minimized (Pustz 250). In learning about those who engage in online gaming, it is possible to see that the social problems of not having the appearance of a sexually attractive body falls away with the opportunity to build an avatar that allows the individual to express their identity in a safe space, where it is arguably easier to become the more authentic self. In creating and ‘living’ a life in a fantasy world, the social problems that have impeded them from expressing themselves is melted away and they can sink or swim according to who they are on the inside (Waggoner 10). Character Analyses The lead character who exhibits the most realistic characteristics and against whom the caricatures of the other three males are balanced is Leonard. Leonard is played by Johnny Galecki who previously was on the Am erican program Rosanne, which also was a reflection of contemporary culture (IMDB). He has a realistic appearance which is not overly good looking, nor unattractive. Through the prop of a pair of glasses that dangle near the end of his nose, only to be repeatedly pushed up again, he is transformed

Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summary - Assignment Example The second step was investigating the speaks as well as distributing the peak lengths and finally random sampling all this for simplifying the major difficulty while studying cells. This is when the scientists need to use complete genome unsystematic sequencing technique to sequence the genome which is quite difficult to acquire and very expensive. One genome consists of a single double circular stranded chromosome of DNA 1, 138,006 bases long and comes in pairs. A genome contains roughly 1,090 genes encoding 1,041 proteins. In the genomic DNA, these reading frames account for 93%. 17% of these genes group depending on other organisms’ similarities and 55% are roles that have definition. An encoded protein ranges from 3235 to 172,869daltons. Some of the applications of DNA technology in medicine include syphilis cure and medicine. Syphilis researchers find it difficult to work with T. pallidum because it is not possible in the lab. The reason it is not possible is because it d oes survive outside the body of a mammal which in this case is the human being or the mammalian cells. The current method of studying T. pallidum is using a rabbit and infecting its testes. From there the symptoms start appearing and they do the same as in human beings. The other reason why study is not possible with human beings is that nobody can accept to take the risk of getting the virus. There are however, pros and cons of the technology especially having in mind that Penicillin has been the best drug of choice to treat syphilis for over 60 years. In the 1960’s, scientists came up with an alternative therapy to penicillin even though there were no signs of antibiotic resistance. The major difficulty while studying syphilis is its inability to culture in a laboratory. Scientists should come up with more ideas on how to do the study because some animals share the same traits and symptoms when sick . Scientists need to use complete genome unsystematic sequencing technique to sequence the genome which is quite difficult to acquire and very expensive. One genome consists of a single double circular stranded chromosome of DNA 1, 138,006 bases long and comes in pairs. A genome contains roughly 1,090 genes encoding 1,041 proteins. In the genomic DNA, these reading frames account for 93%. 17% of these genes group depending on other organisms’ similarities and 55% are roles that have definition. An encoded protein ranges from 3235 to 172,869daltons. Contact lenses This video talk about Contact lens solutions, which mostly come from companies, based in the United Kingdom. The contact solutions have greatly changed the lives of Britons since the companies landed in the United Kingdom 25 years ago. They are on first name terms with Billy, Hemnes and Malm. They are in a variety and come in black-brown, white, blue, veneer and Oak veneer. In these contact lens manufacturing companies, one will also find other particulars related to contact lenses like the lenses themselves although Britons do not know them as well. Since the contact lens solutions, companies opened in United Kingdom, they have been selling contact lens solutions. Swedish product lines of business have turned into a fixture in the homes of the nation. Brits purchased over eight million bookcases to

Genius and Intellectual Mentality in America Essay

Genius and Intellectual Mentality in America - Essay Example The program The Big Bang Theory is a social experiment that is not only entertaining, but reveals a great deal about a sub-culture that has emerged that is child-like in their social habits, but have intellects that exceed the average. The Big Bang Theory revolves around four males and one female. The four males all work at the same university as research scientists and two of them live in an apartment as roommates. The third male lives with his mother and the fourth male lives in an apartment by himself. A more detailed character analysis will be within this essay, just as it will be important for clear definitions to be created for the words nerd and geek, which is the foundation of the identities of the four male characters. It is in the conflict between the social status of the men to the young woman that provides the opportunity for humor and social exploration. Definitions According to Anderegg, the definitions of a nerd or a geek are often interchangeable, but the specific def initions are actually quite different. A nerd is defined by someone who tends to be focused on academics and as a result is socially awkward. A geek is defined by someone who is more focused on sub-cultures that are not as socially accepted, but are still part of pop culture. Anderegg states that â€Å"nerds and geeks possess arcane knowledge that few other people possess† (n.p.). The types of knowledge that they have often mean extensions of popular culture products, which can mean computer and electronics. This also includes playing games such as World of Warcraft, collecting action figures, reading and becoming absorbed in alternative universes through books, comic books, and graphic novels, as well as being fans of cult favorite programs such as Star Trek, Stargate, and Battlestar Galactica. One of the reasons that nerds and geeks are attracted to alternative universes is that they are not completely comfortable in the social structures of the real world. In learning abou t and inserting themselves in the fantasies of new universes, the possibilities of being a welcomed member or an imagined hero allows for the social awkwardness to be minimized (Pustz 250). In learning about those who engage in online gaming, it is possible to see that the social problems of not having the appearance of a sexually attractive body falls away with the opportunity to build an avatar that allows the individual to express their identity in a safe space, where it is arguably easier to become the more authentic self. In creating and ‘living’ a life in a fantasy world, the social problems that have impeded them from expressing themselves is melted away and they can sink or swim according to who they are on the inside (Waggoner 10). Character Analyses The lead character who exhibits the most realistic characteristics and against whom the caricatures of the other three males are balanced is Leonard. Leonard is played by Johnny Galecki who previously was on the Am erican program Rosanne, which also was a reflection of contemporary culture (IMDB). He has a realistic appearance which is not overly good looking, nor unattractive. Through the prop of a pair of glasses that dangle near the end of his nose, only to be repeatedly pushed up again, he is transformed

YOUR CHOICE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

YOUR CHOICE - Assignment Example A president’s removal from office is only possible if there is a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have both undergone impeachment trial, but retained their seats. I believe it is appropriate because it is a thorough and fair process. Original intent plays a significant role in the interpretation of the constitution and laws of congress Supreme Court. It is necessary because it helps to maintain the representative democracy under the federal Constitution and acts as a system of checks and balances. Judges who digress from the original understanding of a constitutional provision have to use their own prejudice, rationality, and social preference, which may be unfair in some cases. Even so, original intent should not be the most important criterion because decisions depend on interpretation of the constitution. State and federal courts should have the power of judicial review to appraise and nullify laws that the legislative and executive branches of government have passed, but infringe a constitutional

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The aim of this project is to design Essay

Emerging HRM issues in China

Emerging HRM issues in China The following essay will discuss some of the emerging HRM issues in China and analyse the implications for multi-national enterprises (MNEs). Initially, a brief overview of the Chinas economic landscape will be given and the role that China plays in the global environment will be highlighted. For the purposes of this essay, in-depth discussion and analysis will be on two of the main emerging issues which are the management of culture integration and HRM knowledge transfer in modern China and secondly, addressing the lack of skills and highlighting the importance of retention in China through modern HRM practices. Background information concerning current issues. Prior to the 1970s, much of the economic landscape in China was dominated by State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) (Liu, 2003). However, reforms concerning the economy, labour relations, ownership and other social systems in the late 1970s through to the 1980s opened the door to an increase in foreign investment, which mainly occurred through the joint ventures with domestic enterprises (Lewis, 2003). Since then, further reforms developed the opportunity for privately owned enterprises, and wholly foreign owned enterprises to exist in China. Due to these significant reforms, the last twenty to thirty years in China has seen its society shift in a number of ways, firstly, from the country being primarily rural farming and agricultural to urban and industrialised, secondly the economy itself shifting from being ‘rigid and centrally planned to very market orientated. Thirdly, the transition of domestic enterprises from being state owned allocations systems to representing private and collective forms of ownership. Next, there was an evident shift in the culture in China moving from being a socialist mentality dominated by Confucianism to a more diverse society with emerging capitalist values and greater openness to the global community (Wang Wang, 2006) These changes according to Selmer (2002) have meant that China has grown into an attractive and important market for international business and this attractiveness has been boosted by Chinas vast population and its entry into the World Trade Organisation. As China has become inevitably linked to the international economy, it increasingly faces the challenges of globalization which mean enterprises have to adapt to a new, fast-changing environment (Warner, 2008). As such, this type of significant growth for China may hold many implications for managers, because aided by the injection of technology and managerial expertise into Chinas economic development, China has experienced a significant economic leap forward with increased complexities in people management that have been strongly influenced by political factors, economic factors, and social systems, as well as national culture (Wang Wang, 2006) .   Managing culture integration and knowledge transfer. The first significant emerging HRM issue that will be discussed is the extent to which cultural differences in China influence the management behaviour of multi-national enterprises(MNEs) and moreover, the importance of cultural integration in a dynamic society. Firstly, organisational â€Å"culture† is defined as the norms, values and shared beliefs by employees and refers to individual behaviours which make up how work gets done in an organisation (Hill, 2007). Essentially, it is how a business outcome is achieved by the behaviours of people, and the drivers which produce desired behaviours. Beechler and Yang (1994) suggests that as the gap between the parent country culture and host country culture widens, the likelihood of the MNE conforming is reduced. However, other research by Gamble (2003) suggests that with a cultural gap, MNEs themselves conform to local customs and practices to bridge that gap. In regards to modern China, through analysis of companies such as Orica who have changed areas like recruiting practices to conform to Chinese cultural influences, it can be said that the latter HRM theory by Gamble (2003) holds true in China. Communist philosophies such as reliance on the government are also still prevalent in China and this combined with other Chinese cultural concepts such as and ‘guanxi and ‘danwei can be a siginificant barrier for MNEs trying to achieve business outcomes (Fan, 2002). Guanxi is a measure which reflects feelings in an interpersonal relationship, the moral obligation to maintain that relationship, and, the idea of being perceived as a morally correct whilst holding ones place in society (Fan, 2002). Whats important to note is that ‘guanxi influences business interactions such as employment represents and financial transactions and not just casual social interactions. The issue for MNEs here is that where in the home-country HR practices such as selection may have been based on knowledge, skills and competencies as well as pay and merit, ‘guanxi influences become a barrier to strategic recruitment and selection as local HR practices are guanxi-based and require th at relationships to be built ahead of time (Zhu, Thomson DeCieri, 2008). Another example of this barrier is that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which still heavily rely on state agencies to assign jobs from the labour market. This is due to historical and cultural roots which are derived from communist philosophies and relations of ‘guanxi built over a long period of time (Zhu, Thomson DeCieri, 2008). With such a diverse culture in China, cultural integration becomes a critical people issue for MNEs in China. This was made clear in a global survey conducted by Wang Nishiguchi (2007) that stated 67% of both Chinese and non-Chinese survey respondents agreed that cultural integration is the most important people issue and the most critical success factor for a MNEs in China. In regards to this, differences in culture between firms are also a major source of attrition, especially after mergers, and yet according to research and surveys, these differences are rarely investigated by MNEs. For example in mergers or acquisitions, companies may fail to even identify the nature of the â€Å"culture† that exists in the other company prior to merging (Wang Nishiguchi, 2007). Without defining the type of culture prevalent, it is impossible to deal properly with issues of cultural integration. In more recent times, a significant problem in China concerned company specific culture. For example, there are SOE workers that have communist philosophies that everyone is equal but when MNEs enter the scene, they are often perplexed that managers ask them to focus on customers or implement a system where top performers are rewarded while those falling behind are punished (Bacani Peavy-Sima, 2006). Many of these workers find it difficult to adjust to a culture where their performance is constantly graded against others and this is the modern dilemma for MNEs. Another example is that of Philippine company Jollibee Foods whom setup in China and experienced issues with cultural alignment. Philippine managers and employees were accustomed to a democratic environment and having the freedom to raise concerns with superiors but in China, the culture is more authoritaria n with a greater power distance between workers and superiors so it deemed acceptable for managers to be controlling and for workers not to raise immediate concerns (Bacani Peavy-Sima, 2006). MNEs also need to see some of the implications of failing to address cultural integration issues in China. The coexistence of traditional and reformed economic, institutional, and cultural systems in China has created strong resistance to change so consequently, problems arising for MNEs in human resource areas cover job design, leadership, motivation, performance and productivity improvement, and especially in organizational development through knowledge transfer (Wang Wang 2006). Knowledge transfer according to Saka-Helmhout (2009) refers the movement of knowledge, policies and practices from home countries to host countries and flow can be one-way from the parent to the subsidiary or two-ways between the parent and subsidiary. Employees in a home-country have many sources of power they can use to block the transfer of knowledge, for example, they assumingly have superior knowledge of the language and culture which can be used to promote local culture and restrict MNE impositions on them (Saka-Helmhout, 2009). It is also worthwhile mentioning that expatriates have the ability to facilitate, disseminate and transfer standardized MNE practices and knowledge into host countries. Research by Gamble (2003) suggests that companies with a high expatriate presence will abide by management practices of the MNE and be wary of traditional host country practices to close the cultural gap. This is primarily because expatriate managers play a control function role in area s such as setting overall strategy and transferring much of the administrative heritage. Expatriates also spread explicit knowledge through the adoption of employee handbooks, training manuals and standard operating procedures as well as valuable tacit knowledge of ways of managing the organisation (Taylor et al, 1996). An example of this is evident in the UK based ‘StoreCo who set up operations in China named ‘DecoStore to serve the local market. Expatriate managers for DecoStore participated in and oversaw the entire operation and this allowed for long term dialect with Chinese employees in which cultural values and expectations, on both sides, were negotiated and this set a platform for effective knowledge transfer. Essentially, DecoStore demonstrated that even a few expatriates can have a great impact as they initially operated with two UK expatriates (Gamble, 2003).. Implications of expatriates however are that in China, few expatriates can speak Mandarin and fewer can read it, consequently, some expatriates cannot talk directly to their staff, let alone read legislation in Chinese and this may have a detrimental impact on long term relations and business outcomes (Gamble, 2003). Lack of skilled labour resources and retention issues. The second major emerging HRM issue in China is the growing need for talented managers and the lack of skilled workers. For MNEs, this is stated as by far the biggest HRM challenge in China and this applies for locally owned businesses also (Bacani Peavy-Sima, 2006). According to the China Economic Review (2009), ‘the imbalance between business opportunities in China and qualified executives to manage them will get worse, before it gets better. In a recent survey of US-owned enterprises in China by ‘AmCham Shanghai, 37% of the companies said that recruiting talent was their biggest operational problem and this issue was greater than regulatory concerns, a lack of transparency, bureaucracy, or the infringement of intellectual-property rights which are all deemed as significant issues also (Bacani Peavy-Sima, 2006) . In another survey, 44% of executives at Chinese companies surveyed by ‘ The McKinsey Quarterly stated insufficient talent locally was the biggest barr ier to their global ambitions. With a population of`1.3 billion people, one would assume that labour resources are freely available and skills abundant in China but this is not the case currently and this is due to Chinas history. One reason historically is due to the ‘iron rice bowl approach of managing people in China prior to the reforms of the 1970s. Essentially, from a HR perspective, the ‘iron rice bowl approach involved cradle to grave welfare coverage, no layoff/firing policies, egalitarian pay systems, and group based rewards which coincided with lack of organizational autonomy and discretion due to the centrally planned economy at the time. (Wright, Mitsuhashi Chua, 1998). To add to this, the government controlled all resources and centralized the allocation of the material supplies, filling quotas assigned by the state, rather than improving productivity and quality. Consequently, there was no incentive for organisations to reduce costs, alter work processes for productivity or improve pro ducts. No incentive system in organizations meant that employees were not motivated and this had a detrimental impact on organisational competitiveness (Goodwall Warner, 1997). A second reason historically for the lack of skilled human capital in China was the absence of higher education in general and management training which is primarily linked to the ‘Cultural Revolution from (1966-76) where universities and educational institutions were closed and a whole generation of potential managers were lost (Wright et at, 1998). This action by those in power meant that the cohort of workers entering work came without the benefit of quality education and consequently, created human capital shortages. Therefore, a huge HR dilemma exists in that MNEs in China face a workforce supply that is synonymous with low skills, degraded motivation at both management and employee levels. To coincide with this, the growth of enterprises in China has exponentially increased demand for skills and motivated workers (Ke. et al, 2006). Another implication of these historical events are that many managers existing knowledge, skills and abilities have become obsolete and inadequate to cope with competitive business environments because of the state run systems and their lack of exposure to competitive markets. This is especially true for older managers, particularly in SOEs who hold no education beyond a high school diploma and have been appointed or promoted to existing positions because of cultural reasons or status (Lau Roffey, 2002). Under a market-oriented economy, there would be emphasis on performance, individual accountability and strategic decision making but this was not to be as these managers followed and implemented decisions made by state and local governments (Zhu Nyland, 2004). Evidently, there is a significant gap between organizations requirements and managers competencies and skills, especially in areas such as HR, marketing, and organizational analysis, which appear as relatively new concepts in China. Interestingly, organisations that successfully address the skills shortage in China stand out in a number of ways. According to Shen Edwards (2004), the most effective organisations have a clear strategic view of their labour talent needs four to five years ahead, segment their executives and identify gaps at all levels of the organization. They develop and adopt sophisticated external-recruiting techniques coupled with internal-development and training programs adapted to the local Chinese environment. As such, to address this issue, managers of MNEs in China might need to know more about simplifying products, that is, localise techniques that have worked elsewhere globally and look into finding low-capital solutions, managing strategic alliances and government relations. A higher level of cultural openness may be necessary as well. MNEs in China must therefore be prepared to recognize and address the differences between their talent needs in that country and in the rest of the wo rld which again highlights the importance of cultural integration. At telecommunications company Motorola, employees are provided with tailored offerings such as the ‘China Accelerated Management Program, for promising local managers; the ‘Motorola Management Foundation Program, to train new managers in such areas as problem solving and communication; and the ‘Motorola high-tech MBA program, a partnership with Arizona State University and Tsinghua University, which allows high-performing employees in China to earn an MBA (China Economic Review, 2009). Incentives like these also contribute to the retention of valuable skilled employees and essentially demonstrate that the MNE see â€Å"human capital† as a valuable resource, requiring investment and sound management in order to receive the best possible returns. Another example of an organisation retaining skilled talent is of Lenovo who promote young talent aggressively within, with three of its seven most senior executives are under 40 years old. (China Economic Review, 200 9. Ultimately, China proves to be a juggling act for MNEs that choose to invest into a market of extremes, with imbalances in supply and demand of skilled talent and exposure to frequently changing corporate and social domains that pose distinct challenges. Therefore, MNEs hoping to compete in China need to raise talent to the top of their agenda in order to create a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Essentially, the two of the major HRM issues occurring currently in China include culture integration issues and the problem of skilled labour shortages in contrast to rising labour demands. Ultimately, it can be said that the political and economical changes that have occurred in Chinas past has led to these significant issues and for the modern day HRM manager of an MNE in China, it is imperative not to not assume that home-country HRM practices can be applied to Chinese enterprises and ensure that the global implications of what they can learn in the Chinese context are applied. In a dynamic and ever-changing environment such as Chinas, MNEs must thoroughly analyse this environment in which they are in and look to set long term goals and address each issue through the amalgamation of Western HRM practices and Chinese HRM practices. References Bacani, C. Peavy-Sima, K. (2006), â€Å"The great buy-out: MA in China†, The Economist Intelligence Unit. Beechler, S. and Yang, J.Z. (1994) â€Å"The Transfer of Japanese-style Management to American Subsidiaries: Contingencies, Constraints, and Competencies†, Journal of International BusinessStudies, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 467-91. China Economic Review, â€Å" How to address Chinas growing talent shortage†, (2009), viewed 17 Aug. 2009, . Fan, Y. (2002), â€Å"Questioning Guanxi: Definition, Classification and Implications, International Business Review, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 543-561. Gamble, J. (2003), â€Å"Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China: the limits and potential for convergence†, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 369-387. Goodall, K. Warner, M. (1997), â€Å"Human resources in Sino-foreign joint ventures: selected case studies in Shanghai, compared with Beijing†, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 569-593. Hill, C.W.L. (2007), International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace, 6 th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York. Ke, J., Chermack, T., Lee, Y., Lin, J. (2006), â€Å"National human resource development in transitioning societies in the developing world: The Peoples Republic of China†, Advances inDeveloping Human Resources, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 28-45. Lau, A., Roffey, B. (2002). â€Å"Management education and development in China: A research note†, Labour and Management in Development Journal, Vol. 2, No. 10, pp. 3-10. Lewis, P. (2003), â€Å"New China old ways? A case study of the prospects for implementing human resource management practices in a Chinese state-owned enterprise†, Employee Relations, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 42-60. Liu, S. (2003), â€Å"Cultures within culture: Unity and diversity of two generations of employees in state-owned enterprises†, Human Relations, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 387-417. Saka-Helmhout, A. (2009), â€Å"Agency-Based View of Learning within the Multinational Corporation†, Management Learning, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 259-275. Selmer. J (2002), â€Å"Adjustment of Third Country National Expatriates in China†, Asia Pacific Business Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 101-117. Shen, J. V. Edwards, V. (2004), â€Å"Recruitment and selection in Chinese MNEs†, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 814-835. Taylor, S., Beechler, S. Napier, N. (1996), â€Å"Toward an Integrative Model of Strategic International Human Resource Management†, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 959-985. Wang, B.X. Nishiguchi, N. (2007), â€Å" MA in emerging markets a focus on China The human capital challenge†, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, London. Wang, J. Wang, G.G. (2006), â€Å"Exploring National Human Resource Development: A Case of China Management Development in a Transitioning Context†, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 176-201. Warner. M (2008), â€Å"Reassessing human resource management ‘with Chinese characteristics: An overview†, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 771-801. Zhu, C.J. Nyland, C. (2004), â€Å"Marketization and social protection reform: emerging HRM issues in China†, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 853-877. Zhu, C.J., Thomson, S.B. De Cieri, H. (2008), â€Å"A Retrospective and Prospective Analysis of HRM Research in Chinese Firms: Implications and Directions for Future Study†, Human Resource Management, Spring 2008, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 133-156.

Raving Is A Lifestyle :: essays research papers

Raving Is a Lifestyle. One of the most rapidly expanding scenes in the world is raving. The dictionary defines "Rave" as To utter in madness or frenzy; to say wildly; as, to rave nonsense, which makes you wonder why raves were ever called raves to begin with, unless of course you have been to one. I will never forget my first experience at a rave. Media portrays Raves as cesspools of filth, sex and drugs, so naturally I was very nervous about attending my first party. We sit in a circle inside the party with the lights and music assailing my senses and take out the pills. I stare at mine and sweat nervously. I have never really done drugs before, and I am going to put a pill in my mouth that someone that I do not know has manufactured in their basement. Little did I know that this was a common theme in the scene, quality control for basement pharmaceuticals is a difficult thing. I down the ecstasy and wait nervously for some thing to happen to feel something that had been e xtensively described to me, but for which I still had no idea what to expect for words can do it no justice. After forty minutes, I start to stand up to get some water, and before I know what is going on, I am already standing. It feels like I have no joints in my body, and everything is fluid. My mind is rushing and I let this sense of pure energy, goodwill and friendliness wash over my body. I feel the need for something different and wander off to make some new friends. I sit to talk to a beautiful girl by a pillar. Normally, I would be very shy and never dream of talking to a goddess such as she. Before I know what is going on, I am laying on my back with my head in her lap and she is massaging my face and neck gently, her touch so light that there seems to be almost no touch, just energy passing from her fingers to my face. I start to imagine strange worlds in my minds eye, seemingly rendered by computers full of brilliant glow-stick colors like fluorescent blues, purples and g reens, and there are strange creatures dancing and racing about. Now this total stranger is kissing me very very softly, and I am lost in space and time, I can no longer feel the floor beneath my body and the images I see are more vivid, the moment lasting for eternity.

Impact of Foreign Aid on Poverty and Economic Development in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This project focuses on the poverty profile in Nigeria, the foreign aids given to the nation to help alleviate poverty and how it affects the economic development of Nigeria. According to the World Bank website, â€Å"poverty is hunger. It is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. It is not being able to go to school, not knowing how to read, and not being able to speak properly. Poverty is not having a job, and is fear for the future, and living one day at a time. It is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. And lastly, it is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. † Poverty is the inability to achieve a certain minimum standard of living. It is multidimensional, involving not only a lack of income, but also ill- health, illiteracy, lack of access to basic social services, and little opportunity to participate in processes that influence people’s lives. Mollie Orshansky, who developed the poverty measurements used by U. S government states that poverty is â€Å"to be poor is to be deprived of goods and services, and other pleasures that people around us take for granted† (Schwartz, 2005) Poverty is pervasive; as about 1. billion people in the world still live on less than a dollar a day and nearly 850 million people go hungry every night. (World Bank) According to Jhighan (2003), poverty is a misery-go-round plaguing the less developed countries. 1. 1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The poverty level in Nigeria; as described by the World Bank (1996) is a paradox tha t contradicts the immense wealth it has. Nigeria is a country endowed with human, agricultural, petroleum, gas and large untapped mineral resources. It earned over US$300 billion from just petroleum during the last three decades of the twentieth century. Rather than recoding remarkable progress in national, socio-economic development, Nigeria has retrogressed to being one of the 25 poorest countries of the 21st century while she was among the richest 50 in the early 70s. Nigeria enjoyed steady economic growth and relative stability in the 1960s and 70s especially with emergence of the mining industries. The per-capita income grew steadily and few people were between the poverty line as the agricultural public and industrial sectors absorbed a highest percentage of the labor force. In the early 1980s, severe economic crisis shook Nigeria bringing along with them real and perceived increases in the level of poverty in the country. This was due to factors such as declining prices of oil, the country’s main export, rises in the real international interest rates that compounded the external debt and subsequent slowing down of economic activities and growth. The major underlying cause of all these was domestic policy mistakes. (Aigbokhan, 2000) In 1980, poverty was regarded as a rural phenomenon but by 1985, it had spread to urban areas. This was due to the high rural urban migration that accompanied the impetus to development generated by oil revenues. Also, the collapse of oil exports income and massive importation of food to meet the production capacity in the agricultural sector severely affected urban dwellers. Economic reforms were introduced by the government in 1986; Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which led to the removal of reduction of subsidies that were incidentally strategic to improving human welfare. Government spending on social services became dismal while the quality and quantity of public social services declined, especially in poor communities. Its social costs are reflected in increasing unemployment, cuts in social services, and general increases in the prices of basic commodities. The economic reform programme placed untold hardship on the vulnerable groups of the society such as the women, children and the aged, who make up a larger share of the poor. The standard of living of the general populace fell and led to poor access to food, shelter, education, health and other essentials of life. In 1992, urban poverty remained the same at 37. 5% while rural poverty reduced to 46%. By 1996, it was very obvious that urban poverty had become an increasing problem in Nigeria. For example, the number of people in poverty increased from 27% in 1980 to 46% in 1985. it declined slightly to 42% in 1992, and increased very sharply to 67% in 1996. In 1999, estimates showed that over 70% of Nigerians lived in poverty. The government then declared in November 1999 that the 470 billion naira budget for the year 2000 was â€Å"to relieve poverty. † By 1996, Nigeria had become the 13th poorest country in the world and occupied the 142nd rank on the human development index (HDI) scale. World Bank, 1996) With the reforms, the real growth became positive but there was still a question whether the reform alleviated poverty; how far poverty was reduced. Foreign aid is the economic help provided to communities of countries due to the occurrence of a humanitarian crisis or for the achievement of a socioeconomic objective. There are two types of aids: Humanitarian aid is the i mmediate assistance given to individuals, organizations or government for emergency relief caused by war or natural disasters. Development aid is help given by developed countries to support economic or social development in developing countries so as to create long term sustainable economic growth. The sources of foreign aids include bilateral and multilateral aids. Bilateral aid is given by the government of one country directly to another. Multilateral aid is aid from an international financial institution; such as the World Bank; the International Monetary Fund; the African, Asian and Inter-American Development Banks; the European Development Fund; and various United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme. These organizations are governed by individual contributing countries and capital markets. Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) also play a major role in distributing aids. Tied aid is the aid which the donor requires a recipient to spend some or all of its foreign aid on goods and services produced in the donor’s country. This process is called tying of aids. This can also be done by offering aid as subsidized credit for the purchase of its exports. Majority of the NGOs in Nigeria receive foreign aids from USAID (The United States Agency for International Development) USAID is an independent federal agency that receives overall foreign policy guidelines from the United States Secretary of State. It seeks to extend a helping hand to countries struggling for a better life, recovering from a disaster or striving to live. It supports economic growth, agriculture, trade, health, democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. Other organizations in Nigeria also receive funds from USAID to undertake projects ranging from HIV/AIDS prevention to bringing solar energy to a rural village. On the other hand, Nigeria is currently not eligible to receive grants through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which was established under President Bush as part of the â€Å"new agreement for global development. † Its mission is to reduce global poverty through promotion of sustainable economic growth. Before a country is eligible to receive assistance, MCC looks at their performance on 16 independent and transparent policy indicators. Nigeria is a country, strategically important to the U. S. and a country whose citizens are greatly in need. At the same time, it is a country whose government does not pass the test for receiving aid through the MCC. 1. 2STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Poverty is a persistent problem which has existed for a long time in Nigeria. A lot of policies have been applied to alleviate it but without much success. This research x-rays the contribution of foreign aids as a solution to thi s problem. The specific problems we will look at in this study are the causes of poverty and also how foreign aids can contribute to poverty reduction in the Nigerian economy. . 3OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The major objective of this study is to examine the effects of poverty and foreign aids given to us on the development of the economy. The study will focus on other micro objectives, which include: i. To analyze the poverty profile and discuss the national trends of poverty in Nigeria. ii. To review the causes, measures and impact of poverty on the GDP of Nigeria. iii. To identify the forms and roles of the foreign aids given to Nigeria. iv. To identify the relationship between foreign aids and poverty in the Nigerian economy. 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK This study uses the theoretical framework employed by Ogbuaku, Adebisi and Feridun (2006) based on the neoclassical growth model by Barro (1991). It is based on a small open economy version of the Solow (1956)-Swan (1956) growth model. The decision to study foreign aid in an open economy, as opposed to a closed, is three fold. First, most of the economies that receive foreign aid must reasonably be considered small and open. Second, to the extent that international credit markets are imperfect, some forms of foreign aid can have a positive impact on the poor. Third, in our empirical work we provide statistical evidence to suggest that greater international openness and access to credit stimulates economic growth. 5. METHODOLOGY The data for this study will be mainly from secondary sources such as World Bank reports, Central Bank of Nigeria publications such as the CBN Economic and Financial Review Bullions, occasional papers, CBN annual reports and statement of accounts, Federal Office of Statistics (Statistical bulletin) and other relevant journals. This research makes use of econometrics in estimating the relationship between poverty, foreign aids and its contribution to the development of the Nigerian economy. The multiple regression technique is used in obtaining numerical estimates of the variables in different equations. This is because the computational procedure is a component of other estimation techniques. The estimation period will be from 1981 to 2007. 6. MODEL SPECIFICATION This study uses the theoretical framework employed by Ogbuaku, Adebisi and Feridun (2006) based on the neoclassical growth model by Barro (1991). They specify a simple model of poverty and globalization as follows: POV  =     ? 0+1 ? TRADE+ ? 2FDI+  µÃ‚  (1) This model is augmented to include the foreign aid element thus: POV  =      ? 0+ ? 1TRADE+ ? 2FDI + ? 3AID+  µ   Ã‚  Ã‚   (2) Where POV is the yearly average per capita income trade is import + export /gdp fdi is foreign direct investment aid is foreign aid  µ is the stochastic error term 7. RESEARCH QUESTIONS This research aims to answer the following questions: †¢ Has foreign aids flow reduced poverty? †¢ Does foreign aid achieve its basic objectives in its recipient countries? Does foreign aid lead to a positive, negative or no effect on growth and economic development? 8. HYPOTHESIS To carry out this study, the following hypothesis will be tested based on a model to be specified and formulated to determine the relationship between foreign aids and economic development. Hypothesis 1 H0: Foreign aids have no significant impact on the econom ic development of Nigeria. H1: Foreign aids have a significant impact on the economic development of Nigeria. 1. 9SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This significance of this project can be viewed from the perspective of using foreign aids to alleviate poverty and also develop our economy. It studies the poverty profile of the nation and shows how the proper allocation of foreign aids will help improve the development of our economy. 1. 10SCOPE/ LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The research work attempts to cover the effect of the foreign aids given on the Nigerian economy and its impact on the poverty level in our nation. It focuses on the empirical analysis of the relationship between poverty, foreign aids and inflation in Nigeria. The objectives of this study cannot be achieved without encountering either minor or major problems. The major limitations of the study are those that characterize the use of secondary data. They include errors of improper data collections, errors of omission, the problem of over or under estimation of estimates, etc. 11. CHAPTERIZATION Chapter one contains the introductory part; the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study and the methodology used. Chapter two contains the literature review and theoretical framework. Chapter three explains the methodology and also includes the model specification. Chapter four covers the analysis of data. Chapter five discusses the summary and conclusion. 1. 12DEFINITION OF TERMS The key terms in this chapter include: Poverty: is the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine the quality of our life. Foreign aid: is the help provided to communities in the event of humanitarian crisis, or to achieve a socio economic objective. Economic development: is the qualitative change in economic wants, goods, incentives, institutions, productivity and knowledge or the â€Å"upward movement of the entire social system. † Gross Domestic Product (GDP): is the total final output of goods and services produced by a country’s economy, within the country’s territory. Human Development Index (HDI): is a composite index that ranks all countries based on three fundamental dimensions: longevity, educational attainment and standard of living. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1DEFINITION OF POVERTY Poverty comes in the form of deprivation. It is when there is lack of the means to satisfy basic needs. According to the Penguin Dictionary of Economics, poverty is â€Å"the situation faced by people whose material needs are least satisfied†. It also specifies that â€Å"poverty exists not merely because the needs of some low-income households are high. People are poverty – stricken when their living standard falls radically below the community average. This implies that, such people cannot have what the larger society regards as the minimum necessity for decency. Poverty is a living condition characterized by disease, illiteracy, malnutrition and squalor, to the extent that it inhibits the realization of potentials of individuals and even entire societies. It is therefore being regarded to as a socio-economic and political liability to any nation (Ekpo, 2000: 347). The poverty affects all aspects of a person’s life: susceptibility to disease, limited access to most types of services and information, lack of control over resources, subordination to higher social and economic classes, utter insecurity in the face of changing circumstances, including its psychological effect – the erosion of human dignity and self respect. The effects of poverty can not be over emphasized. It results into hunger, diseases, inadequate shelter and homelessness as part of the consequences of poverty. In our contemporary time, the poor man/woman has no voice in the society, lacks political influence, personal recognition; he is often emotionally and psychologically distressed and is always the downtrodden element in the society. (Fasoranti, 2008) 2. 2Concepts of Poverty Poverty is a multifaceted concept that manifests itself in different forms depending on the nature and content of human deprivation. It affects many aspects of human conditions, including; physical, moral and psychological. Poverty is so broad that the literature referring to the efforts of defining and estimating poverty is greater than the one concerning the strategies for overcoming poverty. The concept of poverty answers the question of what is a sufficient degree of needs satisfaction and how it is established. Different criteria have been used to conceptualize poverty. Most analysis view poverty as a result of insufficient income for securing basic goods and services. Others view it as a function of education, life expectancy, health, and child mortality, etc. According to Blackwood and Lynch (1994), poverty can be identified using the criteria of levels of consumption and expenditure. Sen (1983) relates poverty to entitlements, which are taken to be the various bundles of goods and services over which one has command, taking into cognizance the means by which such goods are acquired. Poverty can also arise as a result of inefficient use of common resources which is due to weak policy, environment, inadequate infrastructure, and weak access to technology, credit, etc. Poverty can also be described as structural or transient. Structural poverty (chronic poverty) is defined as persistent or permanent socio-economic deprivations. It is linked to factors such as lack of skills for gainful employment, limited productive resources, gender, endemic socio-political and cultural factors. Transient poverty, on the other hand, is defined as temporary or transitory and is linked to natural and man-made disasters. Transient poverty is more reversible but can become structural if it persists. Poverty was also conceptualized by Steeten and Burki (1978); broadly into four ways. They include: †¢ Lack of access to basic needs or goods; †¢ Lack of or impaired access to productive resources; †¢ Outcome of inefficient use of common resources; and †¢ A result of â€Å"exclusive mechanisms†. 3. CAUSES OF POVERTY Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs; but none of them has been able to gain universal acceptance. Possible factors include: Economic factors: 1. Recession: In general, the major fluctuations in poverty rates over time are driven by the business cycle. Poverty rates increase in recessions and decline in booms. Extreme recessions, such as the Great Depression have a particularly large impact on poverty. In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all non-farm workers in the United States were unemployed. In New York, one child in every five was hungry. 2. Economic inequality: Even if average income is high, poverty rate will also be high if incomes are distributed unevenly. However the evidence on the relationship between absolute poverty rates and inequality is mixed and ensitive to the inequality index used. For example, while many Sub-Saharan African countries have both high inequality and high poverty rates, other countries, such as India have low inequality and high poverty rates. In general the extent of poverty is much more closely related to average income than it is to the variance in its distribution. At the same time some research indicates that countries which start with a more equitable distribution of income find it easier to eradicate poverty through economic growth. In addition to income inequality, an unequal distribution of land can also contribute to high levels of poverty. 3. Food prices and Poverty: Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than rich people. As a result poor households and those within the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices. For example in late 2007 increases in the price of grains led to food riots in some countries. Decreases in food prices can also affect poverty although they tend to impact a different group – small farmers – than food price increases. 4. Democracy and Poverty: When we look at social dimensions of development, access to drinking water, girls' literacy, and health care are starkly divergent. For example, in terms of life expectancy, rich democracies typically enjoy life expectancies that are at least nine years longer than poor autocracies. Opportunities of finishing secondary school are 40 percent higher. Infant mortality rates are 25 percent lower. Agricultural yields are about 25 percent higher, on average, in poor democracies than in poor autocracies—an important fact, given that 70 percent of the population in poor countries is often rural-based. Poor democracies don't spend any more on their health and education sectors as a percentage of GDP than do poor autocracies, nor do they get higher levels of foreign assistance. They don't run up higher levels of budget deficits. They simply manage the resources that they have more effectively. † 5. Welfare states and Poverty: Currently modern, expansive welfare states that ensure economic opportunity, independence and security in a near universal manner are still the exclusive domain of the developed nations, ommonly constituting at least 20% of GDP, with the largest Scandinavian welfare states constituting over 40% of GDP. These modern welfare states, which largely arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing their greatest expansion in the mid 20th century, and have proven themselves highly effective in reducing relative as well as absolute poverty in all analyzed high-income OECD countries. †¢ The governance effectiveness of governments has a major impact on the delivery of socioeconomic outcomes for poor populations †¢ Weak rule of law can discourage investment and thus perpetuate poverty. Poor management of resource revenues can mean that rather than lifting countries out of poverty, revenues from such activities as oil production or gold mining actually leads to a resource curse. †¢ Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure worsens poverty. †¢ Poor access to affordable education traps individuals and countries in cycles of poverty. †¢ High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999 (Ribadu,2007) 6. Environmental Degradation: In  many  parts  of  the  world, environmental degradation—the deterioration of the natural environment, including the atmosphere, bodies of water, soil, and forests—is an important cause of poverty. Environmental problems have led to shortages of food, clean water, materials for shelter, and other essential resources. As forests, land, air, and water are degraded, people who live directly off these natural resources suffer most from the effects. People in developed countries, on the other hand, have technologies and conveniences such as air and water filters, efined fuels, and industrially produced and stored foods to buffer themselves from the effects of environmental degradation. Global  environmental  degradation may result from a variety of factors, including overpopulation and the resulting overuse of land and other resources. Intensive farming, for instance, depletes soil fertility, thus decreasing crop yields. Environment al degradation also results from pollution. Polluting industries include mining, power generation, and chemical production. Other major sources of pollution include automobiles and agricultural fertilizers. In  developing  countries, deforestation has had particularly devastating environmental effects. Many rural people, particularly in tropical regions, depend on forests as a source of food and other resources, and deforestation damages or eliminates these supplies. Forests also absorb many pollutants and water from extended rains; without forests, pollution increases and massive flooding further decreases the usability of the deforested areas. 2. 4MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY/INDICATORS Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty (the latter is actually an index of income inequality). . 4. 1Absolute poverty: This refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 calories per day for an adult male). The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1. 25 (PPP) per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. Estimating that in 2001, 1. 1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2. 7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. Other absolute poverty indicators include: Life expectancy: According to Encarta encyclopedia, it is the average length of life that would be observed in a population in which the currently prevailing mortality risks at each age continued indefinitely. Infant mortality: Infant mortality rate is the probability of death in the first year of life, usually stated as a number per 1,000 births. 2. 4. 2Relative poverty: According to Wikipedia, relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context, hence relative poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income. There are several other different income inequality metrics, for example the Gini coefficient or the Theil Index. Relative poverty measures are used as official poverty rates in several developed countries. As such these poverty statistics measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. The measurements are usually based on a person's yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union is based on â€Å"economic distance†, a level of income set at 50% of the median household income. 2. 5Social Aspects of poverty Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished â€Å"capability† of people to live the kinds of lives they value. The social aspects of poverty may include lack of access to information, education, health care, or political power. Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as social exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. The World Bank's â€Å"Voices of the Poor,† based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. These include: †¢ Precarious livelihoods †¢ Excluded locations †¢ Physical limitations †¢ Gender relationships Problems in social relationships †¢ Lack of security †¢ Abuse by those in power †¢ Disempowering institutions †¢ Limited capabilities †¢ Weak community organizations 2. 6 FOREIGN AID The standard definition of foreign aid comes from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which defines foreign aids as financial flows, technical assistance, and commodities that are; designed to promote economic development and welfare as their main objective and are provided as either grants or subsidized loans. . 6. 1Humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid or emergency aid is rapid assistance given to people in immediate distress by individuals, organizations, or governments to relieve suffering, during and after man-made emergencies (like wars) and natural disasters. The term often carries an international connotation, but this is not always the case. It is often distinguished from development aid by being focused on relieving suffering caused by natural disaster or conflict, rather than removing the root causes of poverty or vulnerability. The provision of humanitarian aid consists of the provision of vital services (such as food aid to prevent starvation) by aid agencies, and the provision of funding or in-kind services (like logistics or transport), usually through aid agencies or the government of the affected country. Humanitarian aid is distinguished from humanitarian intervention, which involves armed forces protecting civilians from violent oppression or genocide by state-supported actors. The Geneva Conventions give a mandate to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other impartial humanitarian organizations to provide assistance and protection of civilians during times of war. The ICRC has been given a special role by the Geneva Conventions with respect to the visiting and monitoring of prisoners of war. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is mandated to coordinate the international humanitarian response to a natural disaster or complex emergency acting on the basis of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182. The Sphere Project handbook, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, which was produced by a coalition of leading non-governmental humanitarian agencies, lists the following principles of humanitarian action: †¢ The right to life with dignity. †¢ The distinction between combatant and non-combatants. †¢ The principle of non-refoulement. 2. 6. 2Development aid Development aid is aid given by developed countries to support development in general which can be economic development or social development in developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid as being aimed at alleviating poverty in the long term, rather than alleviating suffering in the short term. The term â€Å"development aid† is often used to refer specifically to Official Development Assistance (ODA), which is aid given by governments on certain concessional terms. It is given by governments through individual countries' international aid agencies and through multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, and by individuals through development charities such as Action Aid, Caritas, Care International or Oxfam. In terms of dollars, the United States has consistently being the world’s largest donor (except in the mid-1990s when Japan briefly topped the list). In 2004, the U. S provided $19. 7 billion in ODA, with Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany as the next largest donors, (including OA, the U. S provided a total of $21. 3 billion). However, when aid is measured as a share of donor income, the most generous donors are Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden, each of which provided between 0. 79- 0. 92% of GDP in 2004. Saudi Arabia provided aid equivalent to about 0. 9% of its income. The United States is one of the smallest donors by this measure at about 0. 17 percent of U. S income in 2004, just over half of the 1970 level of 0. 32% and less than one-third of the U. S average during the 1960s. Donors have pledged since the 1960s to devote 0. 7% of their income as aid, most recently at Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in March 20 02, but only a handful of small donors have achieved this level of aid. The offer to give development aid has to be understood in the context of the Cold War. The speech in which Harry Truman announced the foundation of NATO is also a fundamental document of development policy: â€Å"in addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace and security. Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of these people. † 2. 6. 3Specific types of Aid †¢ Project aid: Aid is given for a specific purpose e. g. building materials for a new school. †¢ Programme aid: Aid is given for a specific sector e. g. funding of the education sector of a country. †¢ Budget support: A form of programme aid that is directly channeled into the financial system of the recipient country. †¢ Sector wide Approaches (SWAPs): A combination of Project aid and Programme aid/Budget Support e. . support for the education sector in a country will include both funding of education projects (like school buildings) and provide funds to maintain them (like school books). †¢ Food aid: Food is given to countries in urgent need of food supplies, especially if they have just experienced a natural disaster. â₠¬ ¢ Untied Aid: The country receiving the aid can spend the money as they chose. It improves the government’s inter-temporal fiscal balance. †¢ Tied aid: The aid must be used to purchase products from the country that donated it or a specified group of countries. It always lead to deterioration, thus suggesting a potential tradeoff between consumer welfare and government solvency in the latter case. (Chatterjee and Turnovsky;2005) †¢ Technical assistance: Educated personnel, such as doctors are moved into developing countries to assist with a program of development. Can be both programme and project aid. OECD Categories The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee puts foreign aid into three categories: †¢ Official Development Assistance (ODA): is the largest, consisting of aid provided by donor governments to low- and middle- income countries. Official Aid (OA): is aid provided by governments to richer countries with per capita incomes higher than approximately $9000 for three consecutive years; and to countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union or its satellites. †¢ Other Official Flows (OFF): Aid which does not fall into the other two categories, either because it is not aimed at development, or it consists of more than 75% loan (rather than grant). 2. 7 POVERTY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH The impact on poverty on economic growth is problematic and is not clear. It is indicated that effective anti-poverty action is difficult to achieve largely because the poverty problem is multidimensional, complex and location specific deeply rooted into the social fabric and distribution of economic and political power (Tarp, 2000). One implication of these is that donors as well as analysts of the impact of aid on poverty need to be realistic about the severity of the difficulties that are likely to be encountered and the scale of effort needed to overcome poverty. Most evaluations have shown that achievements in this area are modest at best. In general, it was found that there is a wide gap between the stated commitments to poverty reduction and the actual practices of reducing poverty in the field. Most donors have paid little attention to conceptualization and analysis of poverty and have been particularly weak in translating the poverty reduction objective into operational guidance and in their country assistance strategies. Similar pitfall applies to most analysis of the impact of aid on poverty. The main instruments of donor intervention has been a series of ad hoc projects and in these improvements have been observed over time in respect of participation by beneficiaries and gender sensitivity but few donors have been concerned about sustainability. 2. 8FOREIGN AID AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Most foreign aid is designed to meet one or more of four broad economic and development objectives. †¢ To stimulate economic growth through building infrastructure, supporting productive sectors such as agriculture, or bringing new ideas and technologies; †¢ To strengthen education, health, environmental or political systems; To support subsistence consumption of food and other commodities, especially during relief operations and humanitarian crises; †¢ To help stabilize an economy following economic shocks. Despite these objectives for aid, economic growth has always been the main yardstick used to judge aid’s effectiveness, with more aid expected to lead to faster growt h. But at a broad level, there is no apparent simple relationship between aid and growth. The absence of a simple relationship means that for some observers, it is an evidence of a failure of aid to achieve its basic objectives. But for others, it is misleading, as other factors affect both aid and growth. Not surprisingly, the views on the economic impact of foreign aid on poor countries turn out to be highly divided. Some papers, e. g. Rwabutomize(2008) and Cato Institute (2004)) totally oppose the notion that foreign aid has beneficial effects on developing economies and even go as far as saying they indeed hinder growth. Others like Karras (2006), Durbarry, Gemmell & Greenaway (2004) and Wangwe (2004) find a positive relationship between the two. Yet a lot of research finds conditional relationships between the two variables. This section gives a summary of the views from the examined relevant and available literature on this subject. 2. 9Economic impact of foreign aid in theory The impact of foreign aid on recipient countries’ economies has been a subject of research and debate among scholars and policymakers for more than five decades. There are two obvious stands in the literature of foreign aid effectiveness: one argues that foreign aid spurs growth and development of the recipient countries while the other opposes this view by arguing that aid crowds out savings and investments and thus slows down economic growth. There is also another stand that proposes that foreign aid has a conditional relationship with growth, accelerating growth only under some certain circumstances. A possible reason for the high variability of opinions on the benefits of foreign aid is that there is no generally accepted theory on the workings of foreign aid. Frameworks like the gap theory have been widely criticized in contemporary research leaving the employed frameworks highly subjective. Simon (1987) offers five criteria for economic aid disbursement. First, the recipient person or nation â€Å"needs† the help. Second, the recipient wants the help. Third, the gift will not have bad effects in the long run on the recipient or others. Fourth, the charity will be used more-or-less efficiently rather than largely wastefully or simply to obtain more money in a pyramid scheme. Fifth, the charity will not be useless to the giver. In addition, a lot of the conditional relationship between foreign aid and economic development is premised on differentiation of foreign aid categories. For instance, Annen and Kosempel (2007) differentiate between foreign aid as technical assistance (TA) and non-technical assistance (NTA). They believe that the policies which will be most effective in reducing international income disparities will be the ones that help reduce the productivity gap, and this is exactly what technical assistance is intended to do. They also explained that when foreign aid takes the form of technical assistance, it can have important effects on improving economic conditions in poor countries; at least when it is administered efficiently. Chatterjee and Turnovsky (2005) in their work classified foreign aid into ‘tied’ and ‘untied’. They posit that the link between foreign aid, economic growth, and welfare depends crucially on the mechanism through which a particular aid program, whether tied or untied, is absorbed by the recipient economy. 2. 9. 1Dissenting views On the other hand, the Cato Institute (2004) actually proffers negative economic impact. In their opinion: †¢ There is no correlation between aid and growth. †¢ Aid that goes into a poor policy environment doesn’t work and contributes to debt. †¢ Aid conditioned on market reforms has been a failure. †¢ Countries that have adopted market-oriented policies have done so because of factors unrelated to aid. There is a strong relationship between economic freedom and growth. †¢ Even aid intended to advance market liberalization can produce undesirable results. Such aid takes the pressure off recipient governments and allows them to postpone, rather than promote, necessary but politically difficult reforms. Easterly (2003) cha llenges the growth gap theory usually used to justify increase in foreign aid. He states that the â€Å"financing gap† model in which aid increases investment and that investment increases economic growth has dubious theoretical foundations and numerous empirical failings. It assumes a stable linear relationship between investment and growth over the short to medium term but there are sound reasons to doubt whether the incremental capital-output ratio is constant and thus whether the relationship from investment to growth is linear. A second key assumption of the model in which aid fills a financing gap and allows greater investment is that aid will actually finance investment rather than consumption. This assumption will hold true only if investment is liquidity-constrained and incentives to invest were favourable. Another opponent of the gap theory is Erixon (2005). He carried out a literature analysis of aid and economic growth by examining case studies of countries who have received considerable amounts of aid. He also contends that the reason countries are poor is not that they lack infrastructure; roads, railways, dams, schools or health clinics. Rather, it is because they lack the institutions of the free society: property rights, the rule of law, free markets, and limited government. He maintains that even in the face of sound policy, foreign aid fails to have the desired effect. According to him, there is much evidence supporting the view that aid largely has backed political regimes with little interest in growth and development. It would be much more sensible to scale back the levels of aid considerably; provide aid only to governments that are already reforming and agree to continue reforms; and make clear that aid will be available only for a strictly limited period. M’Amanja & Morrissey (2004), in their study contend with foreign aid–economic growth relationships based on the often wrong theoretical assumptions used as a basis for it. With respect to the stipulations of endogenous growth theory, high investment ratios do not necessarily lead to rapid economic growth; the quality of investment, its productivity, existence of appropriate policy, political, and social infrastructure are all determinants of the effectiveness of investment. Time series was used to investigate this relationship in the Kenyan economy. They focused on one element of growth and used a multivariate approach on time series data for Kenya over the period 1964 – 2002 to investigate the growth effects of foreign aid, investment and a measure of international trade. In addition, some opposition to foreign aid comes from social biases. An example is Mutambara (2008) who claims that although the stated intention is ostensibly to assist the poor economies, most foreign aid benefits the donor countries. The modus operandi has been that the rich West provides financial assistance or loans to poor nations to engage Western consultants or institutions to carry out unsustainable and useless projects on the continent. As a result, there is minimum benefit to the African country while the money is recycled back via western institutions. The Cato Institute (2004) gave its position based on economic freedom. They assert that the greater a country’s economic freedom, the greater its level of prosperity over time. Economic freedom, which includes not only policies, such as free trade and stable money, but also institutions, such as the rule of law and the security of private property rights, does not only increase income. It is also strongly related to improvements in other development indicators such as longevity, access to safe drinking water, lower corruption, and lower poverty rates. Radelet (2006) examines aid magnitudes and who gives and receives aid. It discusses the multiple motivations and objectives of aid, some of which conflict with each other. It then explores the empirical evidence on the relationship between aid and growth, which is divided between research that finds no relationship and research that finds a positive relationship (at least under certain circumstances). It also examines some of the key challenges in making aid more effective, including the principal-agent problem and the related issue of conditionality, and concludes by examining some of the main proposals for improving aid effectiveness. Karras (2006) investigates the relationship between foreign aid and growth in per capita GDP using annual data from the 1960 to 1997 period for a sample of 71 aid-receiving developing economies. More specific studies like Asiedu and Nandwa (2004) focused on whether foreign aid in education has a significant effect on growth. In carrying out their study on the effect of foreign education aid they took into consideration the heterogeneous nature of aid as well as the heterogeneity of aid recipients—they disaggregated the aid data into primary, secondary and higher education, and ran separate regressions for low income and middle income countries. Neanidis and Varvarigos (2005) examined the effects of aid transfers and their degree of volatility (different kinds of variability) on economic growth. They conducted regression analysis for a panel of 74 aid-recipient countries over the time period from 1972 to 1998. Bhandari et al. (2007) carried out a region specific study the effectiveness of foreign aid and foreign direct investment in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. They used a model that includes the labour force, capital stock, foreign aid and foreign direct investment, and is estimated using pooled annual time series data from 1993 to 2002. Before carrying out the estimation, the time series properties of the data were diagnosed and an error-correction model was developed and estimated using a fixed-effects estimator. Inanga and Mandah (2008) examines the role of two foreign aid financing agencies, Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) and Export Development Programme (EDP), in promoting Zambia’s economic growth in a country study. They assessed and analysed the impact of each of them on the growth and development of different sectors of the Zambian economy. The sector impact analysis included manufacturing, agriculture, transport, and institutional capacities. Al Khaldi (2008) analyses the trend and impact of foreign aid on the economic development of Jordan during the period 1990-2005 using for this purpose different statistical techniques. Chatterjee and Turnovsky (2005) introduced two crucial aspects of this mechanism that have been absent from previous work: the importance of the endogeneity of labor supply as an additional margin through which foreign aid may impact on macroeconomic performance; and the role played by the interaction of labor supply and public capital; and externalities associated with public capital accumulation in determining an economy’s response to a foreign aid shock. They suggest that when donors decide on whether a particular aid program should be tied to an investment activity, careful attention should be paid to the recipient’s opportunities for substitution in production, the elasticity of labour supply, and production externalities. It is perfectly possible for a tied transfer to have a presumably unintended adverse effect on the recipient economy, if that economy is structurally different from what the donor perceived. Durbarry, Gemmell and Greenaway (2004) assessed the impact of foreign aid on growth for a large sample of developing countries. They used an augmented Fischer-Easterly type model and estimated this using both cross-section and panel data techniques. This allowed them to identify not only the ceteris paribus growth effects of aid using an established conditioning set of policy variables, but also to assess the robustness of this set to the inclusion of aid, and other forms of, investment finance among the growth determinants. Annen and Kosempel (2007) tested the hypothesis that the effectiveness of aid depends on its level of fragmentation. The study presented a theoretical growth model for a small open economy that was capable of identifying the appropriate specification required for an aid-growth regression. 2. Empirical findings Annen and Kosempel (2007) found that non technical aid (NTA) has no statistically significant impact on growth; but technical aid (TA) has a positive and significant impact, except in countries where it is highly fragmented. A possible explanation for this result is that the savings rate applied to NTA is low, and therefore most of these resources are used to finance consumption instead of investment. Although the policy interaction term for NTA was found to be positive, as expected; the partial impact of NTA conditional on policy was found not to be statistically significant for any policy level. When aid takes the form of TA our results showed that it has a strong positive and statistically significant impact on economic performance. Specifically, their estimates show that for the average developing economy a 25% increase in TA will lead to about a quarter percentage point increase in its yearly growth rate. Their estimates indicate that when the level of fragmentation is high – above 73%, the partial impact of TA on growth is zero or even negative, depending on the estimation procedure. Asiedu and Nandwa (2004) also gave a conditional aid – growth relationship. They report that the effect of aid varies by income as well as by the type of aid. These results underscore the importance of the heterogeneity of aid flows as well as the heterogeneity of recipient countries when analyzing the effect of aid on growth. Aid depends on the level of development of the recipient country (low and middle income) as well as the level of education at which aid is being targeted (primary, secondary or higher). Aid in primary education enhances growth in low income countries but aid in post-primary education has no significant effect. For middle income countries, aid in primary education and secondary education has an adverse effect on growth but aid in higher education enhances growth. Thus, their results highlight the importance of taking into account the heterogeneity of aid and the heterogeneity of the recipient countries when analyzing aid-growth relationships. Sound policy is another condition given for aid to be beneficial. In the view of Al Khaldi (2008), policies are also important in the effectiveness of the foreign capital inflow, as aid has a more positive impact on growth with good fiscal, monetary and trade policies. In the presence of poor policies, on the other hand, aid has no positive effect on growth. Accordingly, there is a need of not only good policies but also the implementation of these policies as well as the proper monitoring of the aid -utilizing projects is necessary in order to avoid the mis-utilization and the mismanagement of the foreign capital resources. However, according to M’Amanja & Morrissey (2004), aid in the form of net external loans is found to have a significant negative impact on long run growth. Private investment relates to government investment and imports negatively, but positively to foreign aid though they note that the negative association between aid and growth may be due to their use of aid loans rather than grants.. Private investment has been a consistently strong determinant of growth both in the short- and long- run. The implication here is that in order to stimulate and sustain economic growth in Kenya, policy makers need to pay closer attention to factors that determine private investment. However, some findings disregard these conditions and oppose the benefits of foreign aid altogether. The results from Bhandari et al. (2007) indicate that an increase in the stock of domestic capital and inflow of foreign direct investment are significant factors that positively affect economic growth in these countries. Foreign aid did not seem to have any significant effect on real GDP. Rwabutomize (2008) reports that empirical findings reveal that foreign aid has no impact on economic growth amongst the low-income economies under investigation within the Sub-Sahara Africa region from 1990-2004. He concludes that the growth process of poor economies have not benefited from the official development assistance (foreign aid) inflows and increasing aid will not have a positive impact of growth either. Thus these economies should rely on other development resources other than foreign aid such as their domestic savings and tax revenues. Radelet (2006) came up with similar conclusions. Aid can keep bad governments in power for too long, and can undermine incentives for saving, tax collection, and private sector production. Aid relationships are made much more difficult by a complex chain of principal-agent problems that weaken information flows, introduce myriad motivations for different actors, and make monitoring and accountability more difficult. Inanga and Mangah (2008) in their study support these findings. According to them, although Zambia has, on the average, received aid of about US$ 514 million annually over the past three decades, its per capita income has declined from US$1,251 in he early 1970s to about US$ 600 in the late 1990s. They concluded that although it may be difficult to separate the effects of foreign aid finance from those of other growth-inducing factors, efficient and effective utilization of foreign aid finance can contribute to growth in a stable macroeconomic environment. As stated already, not all findings opposed the notion of beneficial foreign aid. The results from Karras (2006) show that the effect of foreign aid on economic growth is positive, permanent, statisticall y signi? ant, and sizable: raising foreign aid by $20 per person of the receiving country results in a permanent increase in the growth rate of real GDP per capita by approximately 0. 16 per cent. Using an alternative foreign-aid measure, a permanent increase in aid by 1 per cent of the receiving economies GDP permanently raises the per capita growth rate by 0. 14 to 0. 26 per cent. Wangwe (2009) states that a survey of three generations of empirical work found a consistent pattern of results. It found that aid increases aggregate savings, aid increases investment and there is a positive relationship between aid and growth in reduced form models. In Durbarry, Gemmell and Greenaway (2004) results vary according to income level, levels of aid allocation and geographical location. They report a positive coefficient on foreign aid as defined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (FAIDOECD) in 1993 as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), significant at 10%. Point estimates indicate that raising the aid/GDP (or domestic savings/GDP) ratio by one percentage point raises the growth rate by about 0. 10 percentage points. Finally, adopting an alternative measure of foreign aid – aid per capita – yields similar results, confirming a positive and significant impact on growth. Panel data also yields similar results. And lastly according to Neanidis and Varvarigos (2005), on the one hand, devoting aid inflows into productive public spending promotes growth while the related volatility has a damaging effect. On the other hand, the non-productive use of aid transfers has an adverse effect on growth while their volatility is growth-enhancing. They proffer that the general onclusion emerging from their analysis can be summarized as follows: when aid is used productively (unproductively) it has, on average, a positive (negative) effect on growth while its respective volatility has a negative (positive) growth effect. Our results propose that recipient countries should allocate the aid they receive on the most productive uses, while donors should make sure that aid provision is the least erratic p ossible. 2. 10 DEFINITION OF TERMS Economic growth: For the purpose of this study, economic growth will be represented by the annual Gross Domestic Product at current factor cost. Labour force: Labour in this context consists of the number of people aged 15 and over who are employed (that is those who currently have jobs). Individuals who do not fall into either of these groups such as the unemployed, retired people and discouraged workers are not included in the calculation of the labour force. Unemployment: The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines unemployment as the proportion of the labour force which was available for work but did not work for at least one hour in the week preceding the survey period. However, the definition used here is that of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria. The NBS defines unemployment as the proportion of the labour force that is available for work but did not work for at least 39 hours in the week preceding the survey period. Foreign Aid: is the economic help provided to communities of countries due to the occurrence of a humanitarian crisis or for the achievement of a socioeconomic objective. Foreign direct investment (FDI): FDI is an investment in real assets where real assets consist of physical things such as factories, land, capital goods, infrastructure and inventories. CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY . 1INTRODUCTION The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in Nigeria. This section starts with a theoretical framework then continues with a description of the model to be used for quantitative analysis. The regression is run using Ordinary least squares technique. The theoretical framework of this study is taken from theories, concepts, views and models. 3. 2TH EORETICAL FRAMEWORK This study uses the theoretical framework employed by Ogbuaku, Adebisi and Feridun (2006) based on the neoclassical growth model by Barro (1991). It is based on a small open economy version of the Solow (1956)-Swan (1956) growth model. The decision to study foreign aid in an open economy, as opposed to a closed, is three fold. First, most of the economies that receive foreign aid must reasonably be considered small and open. Second, to the extent that international credit markets are imperfect, some forms of foreign aid can have a positive impact on the poor. Third, in our empirical work we provide statistical evidence to suggest that greater international openness and access to credit stimulates economic growth. The two-gap model can also be employed. The first gap is the gap between the amount of investment necessary to attain a certain growth rate and the available domestic saving. Easterly (2003) examined the investment-savings gap. It goes thus: economic growth depends on investment as a share of GDP, adjusted by a factor that reveals whether investment is of high or poor quality. The amount of investment will be the sum of domestic savings and foreign aid. The model of the â€Å"financing gap† approach thus makes two key assumptions. First, it assumes the above stable linear relationship between investment and growth over the short to medium run. This assumption grows out of a Leontief-style production function with fixed requirements for capital and labour per unit of output. A second key assumption of the model in which aid fills a financing gap and allows greater investment is that aid will actually finance investment rather than consumption. This assumption will hold true only if investment is liquidity-constrained and incentives to invest were favourable. If the cause of low investment is due to poor incentives to invest, then aid will not increase investment. (Easterly, 2003) . 3 RESTATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS H0: Foreign aid has no significant impact on the reduction of poverty and hence the economic growth of Nigeria. H1: Foreign aid has a significant impact on the reduction of poverty and the economic growth of Nigeria. 3. 4 RESEARH DESIGN 3. 4. 1MODEL SPECIFICATION This study uses the theoretical framework employed by Ogbuaku, Adebisi and Feridun (2006) based on the neoclassical growth model by Barro (1991). The y specify a simple model of poverty and globalization as follows: POV  =     ? 0+1 ? TRADE+ ? FDI+  µÃ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(1) This model is augmented to include the foreign aid element thus: POV =      ? 0+ ? 1TRADE+ ? 2FDI + ? 3AID+  µÃ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(2) Where POV is the yearly average per capita income trade is import + export /gdp fdi is foreign direct investment aid is foreign aid  µ is the stochastic error term 2. SOURCES OF DATA The analysis will be based on time series data of AID, TRADE, FDI and POV for the Nigerian economy for the period 1981 – 2007. These are secondary data collected from publications of Central Bank of Nigeria such as statistical bulletin and annual reports. 4. METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS As stated in the introduction to this study, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method of regression analysis is used in this research work. The OLS is one of the most commonly employed and most important methods in estimating relationships in econometrics. Furthermore, to contain the problems associated with time series data, a unit root test; the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, is employed to test for stationarity. Other methods applied include Johansen co-integration and error correction model. 3. 5. 1Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test is used to test the stationarity in time series. Stationarity refers to the constancy in mean and variance of time series over a period of time. This will enable us to know if there is co-movement in time series in long run equilibrium. It is the augmented version of the Dickey-Fuller test for a larger and more complicated set of time series model. Stationarity test reveals the presence or absence of random-walk (unit root) in regression analysis. If the time series are non-stationary it means that our regression is spurious and as such estimates cannot be used to predict future values. The time series can then be adjusted in order to make them stationary. The augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) statistic used in the test is a negative number. The more negative it is, the stronger the rejections of the hypothesis that there is a unit root at some level of confidence. 3. 5. 2Johansen Co-integration This especially has been developed to overcome the problems of spurious regression which is associated with non-stationary time series data, in such instances, econometric results may not be ideal for policy making. The theory of co-integration arises out of the need to integrate short run dynamics with long run equilibrium. In cases where the data series exhibit the presence of unit roots, short-run dynamics properties of the model can only be captured in an error correction model when the existence of co-integration has been established. On this note, if variable are co-integrated, it shows that such variable possess the capacity to reach equilibrium in the long run. 5. LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY Using economic growth as a measure of the influence of foreign aid on poverty in Nigeria assumes that there is adequate distribution of wealth in the Nigerian economy such that gains in economic output is transmitted to poor areas. It is possible that this is not the case. In addition, it is necessary to note that the use of regression techniques always comes with limitations. The first is the common warning that correlation does not mean causation. Therefore, even if a relationship is established between the examined variables, this does not guarantee that the occurrence of one necessitates the occurrence of the other. CHAPTER FOUR EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA 4. 1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the statistical data gathered during the course of this research work is subjected to investigation and analysis. The chapter starts with the brief explanation of various criteria for decision making, followed by the analysis of the static regression equation. In order to test for the presence of unit root (i. e. , spuriousness) in the static regression equation, stationarity test would be conducted using Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF), while co-integration test using Johansen Co-integration test would also be conducted in order to establish the long-run co-movement among the variables. Finally, the error correction model will be used to test the relationships between the variables. . DECISION MAKING CRITERIA The following criteria for decision making are used in the analysis. Coefficient of determination (R2): The R-squa