Information and Communication Technology in Higher Education Essay

Introduction: Information and communication technology (ICT) is a force that has changed many aspects of the way we live. If one was to compare such fields as medicine, tourism, travel, business, law, banking, engineering and architecture, the impact of ICT across the past two or three decades has been enormous. The way these fields operate today is vastly different from the ways they operated in the past. But when one looks at education, there seems to have been an uncanny lack of influence and far less change than other fields have experienced. A number of people have attempted to explore this lack of activity and influence (e.g. Collis, 2002). There have been a number of factors impeding the wholesale uptake of ICT in education across all sectors. These have included such factors as a lack of funding to support the purchase of the technology, a lack of training among established teaching practitioners, a lack of motivation and need among teachers to adopt ICT as teaching tools (Starr, 2001). But in recent times, factors have emerged which have strengthened and encouraged moves to adopt ICTs into classrooms and learning settings. As we move into the 21st century, these factors and many others are bringing strong forces to bear on the adoption of ICTs in education and contemporary trends suggest we will soon see large scale changes in the way education is planned and delivered as a consequence of the opportunities and affordances of ICT. This paper seeks to explore the likely changes we will see in education as ICT acts as a powerful agent to change many of the educational practices to which we have become accustomed. In particular, the paper will explore the impact both current and emerging information and communication technologies will be likely to have in coming years on what is learned, when and where learning will take place and how the learning will occur. The impact of ICT on what is learned: Conventional teaching has emphasized content. For many years course have been written around textbooks. Teachers have taught through lectures and presentations interspersed with tutorials and learning activities designed to consolidate and rehearse the content. Contemporary settings are now favoring curricula that promote competency and performance. Curricula are starting to Emphasize capabilities and to be concerned more with how the information will be used than with what the information is. A. competency and performance-based curricula: The moves to competency and performance-based curricula are well supported and encouraged by emerging instructional technologies (e.g. Stephenson, 2001). Such curricula tend to require: access to a variety of information sources; access to a variety of information forms and types; student-centered learning settings based on information access and inquiry; learning environments centered on problem-centered and inquiry-based activities; authentic settings and examples; and teachers as coaches and mentors rather than content experts. Contemporary ICTs are able to provide strong support for all these requirements and there are now many outstanding examples of world class settings for competency and performance-based curricula that make sound use of the affordances of these technologies (e.g. Oliver, 2000). For many years, teachers wishing to adopt such curricula have been limited by their resources and tools but with the proliferation and widespread availability of contemporary ICTs, many Restrictions and impediments of the past have been removed. And new technologies will continue to drive these forms of learning further. As students and teachers gain access to higher Bandwidths, more direct forms of communication and access to sharable resources, the capability To support these quality learning settings will continue to grow. B. information literacy Another way in which emerging ICTs are impacting on the content of education curricula stems from the ways in which ICTs are dominating so much of contemporary life and work. Already There has emerged a need for educational institutions to ensure that graduates are able to display Appropriate levels of information literacy, â€Å"the capacity to identify and issue and then to identify, Locate and evaluate relevant information in order to engage with it or to solve a problem arising from it† (McCausland, Wache & Berk, 1999, p.2). The drive to promote such developments Stems from general moves among institutions to ensure their graduates demonstrate not only skills and knowledge in their subject domains but also general attributes and generic skills. Traditionally generic skills have involved such capabilities as an ability to reason formally, to Solve problems, to communicate effectively, to be able to negotiate outcomes, to manage time, Project management, and collaboration and teamwork skills. The growing use of ICTs as tools of Every day life have seen the pool of generic skills expanded in recent years to include information Literacy and it is highly probable that future developments and technology applications will see This set of skills growing even more. The impact of ICT on how students learn Just as technology is influencing and supporting what is being learned in schools and universities, So too is it supporting changes to the way students are learning. Moves from content-centered Curricula to competency-based curricula are associated with moves away from teacher-centered Forms of delivery to student-centered forms. Through technology-facilitated approaches, Contemporary learning settings now encourage students to take responsibility for their own Learning .In the past students have become very comfortable to learning through transmissive Modes. Students have been trained to let others present to them the information that forms the Curriculum. The growing use of ICT as an instructional medium is changing and will likely Continue to change many of the strategies employed by both teachers and students in the learning Process. The following sections describe particular forms of learning that are gaining prominence in universities and schools worldwide. A. Student-centered learning Technology has the capacity to promote and encourage the transformation of education from a Very teacher directed enterprise to one which supports more student-centered models. Evidence of This today is manifested in: The proliferation of capability, competency and outcomes focused curricula Moves towards problem-based learning Increased use of the Web as an information source, Internet users are able to choose the Experts from whom they will learn The use of ICT in educational settings, by itself acts as a catalyst for change in this domain. ICTs By their very nature are tools that encourage and support independent learning. Students using ICTs for learning purposes become immersed in the process of learning and as more and more Students use computers as information sources and cognitive tools (e.g. Reeves & Jonassen, 1996), the influence of the technology on supporting how students learn will continue to increase. B. Supporting knowledge construction The emergence of ICTs as learning technologies has coincided with a growing awareness and recognition of alternative theories for learning. The theories of learning that hold the greatest Sway today is those based on constructivist principles (e.g. Duffy & Cunningham, 1996). These Principles posit that learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by various perspectives within meaningful contexts. The strengths of constructivism lie in its emphasis on learning as a process of personal understanding and the development of meaning in ways which are active and interpretative. In This domain learning is viewed as the construction of meaning rather than as the memorization of facts (e.g. Lebow, 1993; Jonassen & Reeves, 1996). Learning approaches using contemporary ICTs provide many opportunities for constructivist learning through their provision and support for resource-based, student centered settings and by enabling learning to be related to context and to pra ctice (e.g. Berge, 1998; Barron, 1998). As mentioned previously, any use of ICT in learning Settings can act to support various aspects of knowledge construction and as more and more Students employ ICTs in their learning processes, the more pronounced the impact of this will Become. The impact of ICT on when and where students learn In the past educational institutions have provided little choice for students in terms of the method And manner in which programs have been delivered. Students have typically been forced to Accept what has been delivered and institutions have tended to be quite staid and traditional in terms of the delivery of their programs. ICT applications provide many options and choices and Many institutions are now creating competitive edges for themselves through the choices they are offering students. A. Any place learning The concept of flexibility in the delivery place of educational programs is not new (e.g. Moore & Kersey, 1996). Educational institutions have been offering programs at a distance for many Years and there has been a vast amount of research and development associated with establishing Effective practices and procedures in off-campus teaching and learning. Use of the technology, However, has extended the scope of this activity and whereas previously off-campus delivery was An option for students who were unable to attend campuses, today, many more students are able to make this choice through technology-facilitated learning settings. The scope and extent of this Activity is demonstrated in some of the examples below. The communications capabilities of modern technologies provide opportunities for many Learners to enroll in courses offered by external institutions rather than those situated locally. These opportunities provide such advantages as extended course offerings and eclectic class Cohorts comprised of students of differing backgrounds, cultures and perspectives. ï‚ ·Ã¯â‚¬  The freedoms of choice provided by programs that can be accessed at any place are also Supporting the delivery of programs with units and courses from a variety of institutions, There are now countless ways for students completing undergraduate degrees for example, to Study units for a single degree, through a number of different institutions, an activity that Provides considerable diversity and choice for students in the programs they complete. B. Any time learning In concert with geographical flexibility, technology-facilitated educational programs also remove Many of the temporal constraints that face learners with special needs (e.g. Moore & Kearsley, 1996). Students are starting to appreciate the capability to undertake education anywhere, Anytime and any place. This flexibility has heightened the availability of just-in-time learning and provided learning opportunities for many more learners who previously were constrained by other commitments (e.g. Young, 2002). Through online technologies learning has become an activity that is no longer set within Programmed schedules and slots. Learners are free to participate in learning activities when time permits and these freedoms have greatly increased the opportunities for many students to Participate in formal programs. ï‚ ·Ã¯â‚¬  The wide varieties of technologies that support learning are able to provide asynchronous Supports for learning so that the need for real-time participation can be avoided while the Advantages of communication and collaboration with other learners are retained. Emerging Issues A number of other issues have emerged from the uptake of technology whose impacts have yet to Be fully explored. These include changes to the makeup of the teacher pool, changes to the Profile of who are the learners in our courses and paramount in all of this, changes in the costing And economics of course delivery. A. expanding the pool of teachers In the past, the role of teacher in an educational institution was a role given to only highly qualified people. With technology-facilitated learning, there are now opportunities to extend the Teaching pool beyond this specialist set to include many more people. The changing role of the Teacher has seen increased opportunities for others to participate in the process including Workplace trainers, mentors, specialists from the workplace and others. Through the affordances And capabilities of technology, today we have a much expanded pool of teachers with varying Roles able to provide support for learners in a variety of flexible settings. This trend seems set to Continue and to grow with new ICT developments and applications. And within this changed pool of teachers will come changed responsibilities and skill sets for future teaching involving high levels of ICT and the need for more facilitative than didactic teaching roles. B. expanding the pool of students In the past, education has been a privilege and an opportunity that often was unavailable to many students whose situation did not fit the mainstream. Through the flexibilities provided by technology, many students who previously were unable to participate in educational activities are now finding opportunities to do so. The pool of students is changing and will continue to change as more and more people who have a need for education and training are able to take advantage of the increased opportunities. Interesting opportunities are now being observed among, for example, school students studying university courses to overcome limitations in their school programs and workers undertaking courses from their desktops. C. The cost of education Traditional thinking has always been that technology-facilitated learning would provide economies and efficiencies that would see significant reductions in the costs associated with the delivery of educational programs. The costs would come from the ability to create courses with fixed establishment costs, for example technology-based courses, and for which there would be savings in delivery through large scale uptake. We have already seen a number of virtual universities built around technology delivery alone. The reality is that few institutions have been able to realize these aims for economy. There appear to have been many underestimated costs in such areas as course development and course delivery. The costs associated with the development of high quality technology-facilitated learning materials are quite high. It has found to be more than a matter of repackaging existing materials and large scale reengineering has been found to be necessary with large scale costs. Likewise costs associated with delivery have not been found to diminish as expected. The main reason for this has been the need to maintain a relatively stable student to staff ratio and the expectation of students that they will have access to teachers in their courses and programs. Compared to traditional forms of off-campus learning, technology-facilitated learning has proven to be quite expensive in all areas of consideration, infrastructure, course development and course delivery. We may have to brace ourselves for the advantages and affordances which will improve the quality of education in the near future to also increase components of the cost. Efforts of Indian government in this aspect Realizing the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) the Ministry of Human Resource Development as per the Mission Document, ICT is the tool in education available to enhance the current enrolment rate in Higher Education, at present 15 percent to 30 percent by the end of the 11th Plan period. The Ministry also launched a web portal named â€Å"SAKSHAT† a ‘One Stop Education Portal’. The high quality e-content once developed will be uploaded on SAKSHAT in all disciplines and subjects. Several projects are in the completion stage and are expected to change the way teaching and learning is done in India. The Mission has two major components viz., (a) content generation and (b) connectivity along with provision for access devices for institutions and learners. It seeks to bR&Dge the digital divide, i.e., the gap in the skills to use computing devices for the purpose of teaching and learning among urban and rural teachers/learners in Higher Education domain and empower those, who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy. It plans to focus on appropriate pedagogy for e-learning, providing facility of performing experiments through virtual laboratories, on-line testing and certification, on-line availability of teachers to guide and mentor learners, utilization of available Education Satellite (EduSAT) and Direct to Home (DTH) platforms, training and empowerment of teachers to effectively use the new method of teaching learning etc. On the one hand, the Mission would create high quality e-content for the target groups and on the other, it would simultaneously seek to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18000 colleges in the country including each of the departments of nearly 400 universities/deemed universities and institutions of national importance. The peer group assisted content development would utilize the Wikipedia type of collaborative platform under the supervision of a content advisory committee responsible for vetting the content. Interactivity and problem solving approach would be addressed through â€Å"Talk to a Teacher† segment. It is an opportunity as well as a challenge for the bright faculty members of our Universities and Institutions of Excellence to invest their intellectual capital for the knowledge empowerment of all the learners of our Country. We need to synergize our individual efforts in this direction. Summary and Conclusions This paper has sought to explore the role of ICT in education as we progress into the 21st century. In particular the paper has argued that ICTs have impacted on educational practice in education to date in quite small ways but that the impact will grow considerably in years to come and that ICT will become a strong agent for change among many educational practices. Extrapolating current activities and practices, the continued use and development of ICTs within education will have a strong impact on: What is learned; How it is learned; When and where learning takes place; Who is learning and who is teaching. To ensure that the opportunities and advantages are realized, it will be important as it is in every other walk of life to ensure that the educational research and development dollar is sustained so that education at large can learn from within and that experiences and activities in different institutions and sectors can inform and guide others without the continual need for re-invention of the wheel. Once again ICTs serve to provide the means for much of this activity to realize the potential it holds. References Collis, B. (2002). Information technologies for education and training. In Adelsberger, H., Collis, B, & Pawlowski, J. (Eds.) Handbook on Technologies for Information and Training. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Duffy, T., & Cunningham, D. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction, Handbook of research for educational telecommunications and technology (pp. 170-198). New York: MacMillan. Oliver, R. (2000). Creating Meaningful Contexts for Learning in Web-based Settings. Proceedings of Open Learning 2000. (pp 53-62). Brisbane: Learning Network, Queensland. Oliver, R. & Towers, S. (2000). Benchmarking ICT literacy in tertiary learning settings. In R. Sims, M. O’Reilly & S. Sawkins (Eds). Learning to choose: Choosing to learn. Proceedings of the 17th Annual ASCILITE Conference (pp 381-390). Lismore, NSW: Southern Cross University Press. Soloway, E. & Pryor, A. (1996). The next generation in human-computer interaction. Communications of the ACM, 39(4), 16-18. Starr, L. (2001). Available at http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech075.shtml [Accessed July 2002]. Stephenson, J., Ed. (2001). Learner-managed learning- an emerging pedagogy for online learning. Teaching and Learning Online: Pedagogies for New Technologies. London, Kogan Page. Young, J. (2002). The 24-hour professor. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 48(38), 31-33.

Eastern Foods Essay

Introduction Eastern Foods has a lot of restaurants and fast food outlets in some countries, and as for its expansion, the company is mapping out to build its outlets in the United Kingdom. Building work is planned to be finished by first of July, so directory boards have given the task to start up business development planning procedure from first of May. The board has also required that all major issues in terms of HRM, Accounting, Marketing, and Operations Management should be found and addressed accordingly. Part (A) In some core areas of the Eastern Foods, there is going to be discussion upon overview of the challenges in HRM, Accounting, Marketing, Operations Management, and after getting familiarized with these issues, solutions will be suggested as required. Human Resource Management First issue: HRM is going to face challenges in the sphere of recruitment as there is no employment contract signed. Absence of this documentation can wake legislative sanctions against the Eastern Foods. In addition to that, hired employees after taking their money beforehand will have an opportunity to leave the work in any time without employment contract. Second issue: obviously the company will be in tough moments at the starting stage as for deficiency skills in newly employed staff. Managers intensively seek to good employees but they do not easily find them as there are very few people with good skills and experience left unemployed in current job markets. Third issue: over exploitation of employees will drastically minimize job satisfaction degree of employees which also in turn, will make them very tired. This has always been considered as one of the major issues of any organizations. Accounting First issue: accounting machines and computers will not always operate as proper as intended. So, account department will be more worrying on this potential issue. Second issue: First and foremost problem for the Eastern Foods is undoubtedly keeping correct transactions. When every outlet depends on the main financial branch, it will not always be easy to cope with various and massive numbers of financial statements. For instance, gross sales of one outlet might be 20, 500 Euro, but other outlets may be presenting less than that amount such as 13, 874, or 12,743 Euro respectively. In this case accountants will probably make mistakes in writing them. This usually happens when accountants are not well-qualified or tired of fixed working hours. Marketing First issue: Marketing department will be facing several challenges in terms of promotions and building relationships with customers as marketing system will have to first see the outcomes and statistics of other restaurants’ trends and then decide to which target segment promote. Second issue: Provided that the Eastern Foods sets up strategies such as discounts, free drinks, and so on, it will be adversely affecting the income level, and will lead to the failure of strategic plan, thus demolishing profits gained. Second issue: External and internal designs of outlets can be unattractive to the customers. As well as ingredients and types of meals may not be liked very much. For example, clocks on the walls, color, posters, and such attractive items might not be suitable to preferences of the customers. Operations Management First issue: Operations managers will have been undergoing challenges with regard to controlling and relationship with staff at the outset. Second issue: Sudden technical problems and damages are inevitable which can put the organization in urgent case Third issue: As there is a considerable discrepancy between jobs and tasks as well as in qualifications of the whole working unit, there will appear some misunderstandings when jointly decision making activities are needed. Part (B) The two most problematic areas and their solutions First area: Human Resource Management Absence of employment contract will not only cause internal issues, but it will get down reputation of the Eastern Foods in the eyes of customers. For example, there are lots of news agencies that are ready to publish and show any such issues that occur in famous areas such as restaurants, and at the same time, governmental courts will be thinking of cessation of the Eastern Foods’ operation. Furthermore, it will be easy for employees to make frauds inside the outlets because they feel confident of slipping away in any time they wish if they have not been hired based on legal contract. Moreover, if there will be no procedural justice system in the organization such as not conveying information to the employees, then, definitely communication gap will appear. Unfortunately, job advertisements newspaper is not as effective as it was before, so the managers will have been experiencing difficulties in finding proper employees. Whoever feels over exploited, no matter, whatever is p rice or reward, they will start to show their disagreement to HRM departments. This can be explained when managers neglect to employees’ personal or health related issues, that time, they need some time but, they do not want to lose their jobs as well. Late working hours can be one of the crucial reasons for the job dissatisfaction. Solutions Solution to the first stated issue is quite simple, that is setting up legal employment contract, and other legislative documents. By doing so, the Eastern Foods will raise their satisfaction degree. In a rule, employees should feel that their rights will not be violated by the organization as well as they need to make sure if they can be one of the important parts of the organization. This means when they have power in decision making process and when they are allowed to put their candidate in leadership positions,  and when they actively take in part in elections held inside the organization. Likewise, journalists from mass media such as TV channels, and Radio can take interviews from employees about their jobs and other related themes which will increase employees’ interest toward their jobs, feeling important is great indeed. Solution to the second mentioned issues is not easy, or impossible to take into control all the time because nobody will confess their inner crimin al desire, therefore, Human Resource Management must fix security cameras in each area of operations so that it will be able to observe any deeds executed inside the organization. In addition to that it will help HRM managers to sort out efficient employees, and accordingly, those employees will be rewarded in a faith way. Moreover, when work units feel that they are under observation, then, they will not likely be spending their time out of their work place and offices, and will be doing their works respectively. The third issue can be addressed by not only publishing job advertisement on newspaper but, also, by building a good rapport with fresh graduates of universities, especially, who study in tourism faculties as they are taught well on how to communicate with customers. Also, it will be easier way to involve them in free job places as they are full of energy, and do not usually, require high level of wages, and compensation. They may not have practical skills, but they can br ing in a new atmosphere, and a new look inside the organization. Usually, customers do not like being waited, so, when the staff is younger, then, they will probably take and bring the orders faster. However, these graduates involvement should not include discrimination and unethical payment rate which can also lead to legal challenges. Second area: Marketing department Marketing department can be put into difficulties if it cannot renovate and execute its role as required. When marketing, especially, promotion strategies do not work; the Eastern Foods will not be visited by high number of customers. In this globally competitive world, all restaurant businesses are striving to offer their special promotions in various forms, for example, some of them offer cheaper prices for more order while others offer high quality and service. Accordingly, it will not be easy for the Eastern Foods to create special ways to draw customers’ attention. One mistakenly  launched promotional program can be costly for the organization that in turn, may lead to imprint not interesting view on potential customers’ minds. What is more, the organization may not be able to persuade the main finance department to budget some money for launching promotional programs. For instance, if some discounts offered at the outset will not prove it unless the intended amo unt of profits comes. As a result, damage cannot be covered, and marketing department will have to ask another amount to launch a second program, in this case, directors of the Eastern Foods will not be very happy, and can put pressure onto the marketing department. Design of the outlets might not be suitable to tradition, culture and religion of the country. If so, disagreements from the local people will ruin authority of the whole organization, no matter how well it is cooking, and how health and cheap prices are, simply one mistakenly chosen design, and pictures on the wall can decrease potential clients’ anticipation. More than that, differences on the course of meals and drinks may be absent, so, customers will probably be demanding new types and new tastes, and if their demand cannot be met as early as possible, then, they will likely prefer to change their regular restaurants. This issue might happen starting from the third month of operation when people start too fed up with unchangeable dishes. Solutions The first problem can be solved by using various types of promotions. For instance, the company can choose direct advertising in which the Eastern Foods will send messages and letters directly to the potential customers. However, direct advertisement is getting more unfavorable, so, the company can address another type that is â€Å"public relations† in which the owner of the company will talk about his incipient activities, and what he has experienced, in short, life story of the company. It will increase awareness of the customers about the company which means success. Moreover, taking in part in business conferences and events can help the organization to be known in the regions, and here the store managers must get valuable advices from marketing department on what kind of preparations should they do beforehand they participate in business events. As for mass media, the Eastern Foods should hold some charity, and celebration events, and should invite radio and the TV corre spondents. Additionally, famous actors,  actress, and singers should be invited once in a week to each outlet, as we know, youngsters are keen to meet with their favorites, so they will automatically become regular clients of the Eastern Foods if they are given such kind of chance. Also, famous show programs should also be invited to lead their programs in one of the outlets once in a month. Another noticeable target area is football fans, if facilities such as television sets, special cozy cabins, and discounts are provided in every football match of the region, and then the company will undoubtedly succeed with only this market segmentation. Part (C) In general, the Eastern Foods’ primary focus should be pointed to the marketing areas and HRM because once the staffs employed are well qualified, have satisfactory skills, and do their jobs very well, then, the company will not have to be concerned on this issue in the future. Likewise, if marketing can find out how to attract customers, and deal with design, taste issue, then, customers’ number will be relatively high. Accounting personnel should not neglect to any tiny number and details in the calculation process, and all operations managers should be responsible for providing needed help, advice, and supply always on time. Moreover, technical advancements such as security cameras can lessen the number of crimes and frauds inside the company. Conclusion It can be concluded that HRM and Marketing are the two key issue areas, and the other areas such as accounting should be interminably checked, and operations managers should evaluate, observe, and control all works accordingly. Legal aspects have been discussed as well, and the roles of mass media in the success of the Eastern Foods have been found to be significantly important. References: 1. Lynch, Frances (1984) ‘Resolving the Paradox of the Monnet Plan: National and International Planning in French Reconstruction’ Economic History Review xxxvii(2): 229-43. Lynch, Frances (1997) 2. Mackinnon, Danny, Andrew Cumbers and Keith Chapman (2002) ‘Learning, Innovation and Regional Development: A Critical Appraisal of Recent Debates’ Progress in Human Geography 26: 293-311. 3. Global Internet Statistics (by Language) (2004), http://www.glreach.com/globstats/index.php3

Intellectual Property Issues - Software Piracy - why is it widespread, Essay

Intellectual Property Issues - Software Piracy - why is it widespread, what are the ethically flawed justifications people use f - Essay Example (Besen and Raskind, 1991) Software piracy may involve the distribution of unlicensed copies of proprietary software on floppy disk, CDs, hard drives, or file sharing programs and websites on the internet. Many of the instances of software piracy involve computer hacking activities where these programs are altered so that users can install and operate them on private computers without registered serial numbers, licenses, or keys. The advantage for the software pirates and their community of users is that they can enjoy all of the powerful functionality of advanced proprietary software applications without having to purchase them. For students learning these programs, the poor, unemployed, or citizens of other countries who may enjoy a minimal standard of living, software piracy may be the only way to afford or have access to these programs. Due to these issues and others revolving around software patents, there is an increasing movement to develop open source software platforms with a ll of the functionality of proprietary applications but freely distributed to download. The question of software piracy relates fundamentally to digital culture and hacking, making the issue a vital part of understanding this subculture internationally. Software Piracy & Intellectual Property File sharing and software piracy actually predated the internet and has been around nearly as long as people have been programming computers. Software is licensed under standard intellectual property, copyright, and business law, usually including a user agreement with the terms and conditions of use stipulated in advance that the customer must accept. Intellectual property law turns source code into licensed property that can be protected from theft under a common law basis. (Besen and Raskind, 1991) Therefore, the legal argument established under the current combination of copyright and intellectual property laws creates the crime of software piracy for anyone attempting to circumvent license d use by distributing cracked versions of the software that can be installed on a computer without paying. The legal argument includes the fact that the software pirate is denying the payment due for the licensed software to the company that developed it, thus weakening its business plan and sustainability. The loss of ROI therefore constitutes a criminal act, similar to copying a videotape and selling it or airing a movie without paying royalties, etc. (Besen and Raskind, 1991) The software pirates themselves refute this by pointing out that they are not necessarily costing the developing companies any income, because people who can afford it or who need licensed copies in enterprise or academia will purchase it anyway. They state rather that software piracy empowers the poor people who would otherwise be without tools and at a competitive disadvantage due to their socio-economic status. This â€Å"Robin Hood† argument can be persuasive as well, because the cost to make a di gital copy of a software title is essentially zero. (Boyle, 2004) File Sharing & Digital Culture Digital culture views hackers as heroes and the â€Å"

Does Nietzsche provide any good reasons for being sceptical about Essay

Does Nietzsche provide any good reasons for being sceptical about Christian love - Essay Example Despite being the son of a Lutheran minister, Nietzsche was a man who did not subscribe to the ideas of Christianity, especially those that dealt with love, believing that the concept of love had been completely corrupted by the church. However, he was also a great admirer of Jesus because of the manner in which he had lived his life and attempted to reform the religion of Judaism so that it could become more progressive. While this was the case, Nietzsche criticized the teaching of love in the Gospels stating that they did not hold any truth in the reality of many individuals. It was his belief that those individuals who practiced Christianity did not live their lives to the fullest because they subscribed to teachings of Gospels, which were aimed at ensuring that life was composed of absolutes. According to Nietzsche, life was not full of absolutes and the concept of love could therefore not be practiced as preached in Christianity because to do so would mean that individuals could no longer make decisions for themselves; hence remain in the fossilized hierarchy to which the church had relegated them. According to Nietzsche, because Jesus died on the cross, the concept of love died with him and this is the reason why there no longer needs to be any form of absolutes in the manner in which individuals profess love towards each other. According to him, the Christian manner of love as practiced was highly hypocritical because instead of making people happy, it made them slaves of their own actions (Hollingdale, 1999, p.21). This declaration by Nietzsche does not hold any truth because Christian teachings relating to love enabled the church to grow in strength and have continued to sustain it in the modern world despite the rapid secularization currently taking place. There have been points of view though criticized by Nietzsche that Christian teachings on love are among the elements that have ensured a continued growth in provision of charity and aid for

The latest technology has negative effects also Research Paper

The latest technology has negative effects also - Research Paper Example Their drawbacks associated with computers include the time that students and young generation waste playing games, chatting, listening to music and net surfing. In addition, the continuously changing software has made it impossible for older employees to continue working with the new technological advancements at their work places. This factor has led to an increase in unemployment. However, there is a technique available to solve this issue which involves the participation of employees in training programs but it would lead to higher costs for the businesses. The security issues that are linked to the data stored in computers are also counted as a drawback of computers (Haugen & Musser 2007). The technology has helped people in making it easier for the people to communicate, interact and share easily and speedily. Cell phones are one of the fastest ways of communication today. They have brought a great change in the communication means. People are now able to communicate each other from any part of the world. The benefit of the cell phones is that it is faster than other communication mediums and is available for the users all the time regardless of the place. The drawbacks, however, cannot be ignored. People often misuse cell phones. Younger generation wastes hours talking with friends mostly on useless topics. This does not only waste their time but also cost them in monetary terms. People also use it to send messages which include some disgracing jokes about religions, races and cultures. This fact is creating distances among the people and is posing a threat to the overall peace among the people belonging to different backgrounds (Castells, 2007). Video games are also another source through which it can be proved that technology is increasing our daily life problems. The popularity of video games has been increasing as shown by the investments made to meet the increasing demand. The innovations and technological advancements played a vital role in increasi ng the demand for video games. It has been observed that children of ages between 8 and 18 are found to have spent at least 40 hours per week in some form of media. This also includes the sharp rise in the exposure to video games by younger generation. The increasing popularity of video games has encouraged the exposure to video games to children aging 2 years with a minimum of 1 hour per day spent on games. Children falling in the age group of 8-13 years are observed to have played video games nearly 7.5 hours a week. Anderson’s (2001) research further illuminates the fact that children are exposed to video games which are never supervised by their parents or elders. Adams (2010) further explains the problem in terms of age-directed games that 85% of children play game which are designed and launched for adults. Adams’s argument points towards the heavy exposure of violence and negative exposure about female body, relationships and negative ideals in those games. Ande rson (2005) reveal the statistical data to explore the effects of media on individuals and the society. Anderson explains that by the age of 18, almost every American child is exposed to 40,000 killings by one or the other form of media. Violent games play a great role in altering the behaviors of the children. Early exposure to violence brings about a change in their viewpoints, habits and practices. Anderson’

The Medieval Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Medieval Age - Essay Example This made the Nobles rebel against the crown often, as they controlled their own local armies. In Manorialism, the 1000’s of acres which belonged to the manor was owned entirely by the nobles. They had complete administrative control over the areas. But, the military power lay entirely with the king preventing Noble's ability to revolt against their lords. Manorialism gave more freedom to the peasants, serfs and the nobles ruling them. They were freed from the duty of guarding their territories fiercely and started to concentrate on developing the areas assigned to them. This system functioned pretty much the same way as the modern governments do. The Last Crusade and the fall of the AcreVenice and Genoa both flourished in trade from 1010. The first crusade started with an emotive appeal from the pope on November 27, 1095. Christians from all over the Europe joined together and waged a war against Muslims in getting their holy land back. This is seen as a .attempt by the churc h to sustain papal control over the mass. However, the first crusade ended successfully with Antioch being captured and King Bohemund of Southern Italy and his descendants becoming its rules for the next two centuries. He encouraged the Italians to establish trade connections with Egypt through Antioch. Venice was the first state to establish trade contacts with Egypt a. They met the Egyptian merchants bringing spices from the South Asia near the Red sea, collected their goods and sold it for huge profit in the Europe.

Advantages and Disadvantages to Kraft Foods Case Study

Advantages and Disadvantages to Kraft Foods - Case Study Example Therefore, if Kraft Foods starts producing healthier products, it will establish positive relationships with different stakeholders. The move will also depict that the company is committed to corporate social responsibility (Lussier 2008, p. 223). On the other hand, the company is likely to lose some of its customers because the new versions of chocolate will have a different taste. Notably, the esteemed customers of the company have been consuming its products because of their unique taste. However, lowering the calorific value of the chocolate versions will alter the product taste. Many customers may not like the new taste. The company will also incur new costs in production. Worth noting is the fact that the company will need to source ingredients that will be used in the production of lower-calorie chocolates. In addition, the company will need to spend on advertising and promotion strategies in order to introduce the new versions into the market. In my opinion, the UK government is likely to introduce legislation that will require taxation of high-fat food products like chocolate. Since the government has experienced the financial burden resulting from medical costs associated with the high morbidity cases resulting from obesity, it is likely to take new measures. The government is also concerned about the health of children and adolescents who are more affected by high-fat food products such as chocolate bars. Therefore, there are higher chances that the government will intervene (Lussier 2008, p. 223). Denmark repealed its fat-tax law after the realization that it contributed to increased consumer prices for the high-fat products. The tax did not motivate companies to produce healthier products. On the contrary, the tax law increased consumer prices, and the consumers had to bear the financial burden.

Bussiness Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bussiness Communications - Essay Example The ones that have existed thus far have relied a great deal on the phenomenon attached with change and consistent upgrading of the needs as put forward by the business and its norms. Organization structure impacts the manner in which work is basically carried out. More than anything else it adheres to the different purposes of the discrete services and the related achievements with the passage of time. This brings to light the notion of discussing the structural basis of the organizations themselves. For starters, these organizations might not be that easy to understand at the very beginning. These can encompass a variety of different aspects, features and traditional mindsets which make up their structures. To start with, we see that an organization can either be formally aligned in its ways and means of doing things and different processes or the same might just be in a way informal in quite a few of its activities and tasks. The manner in which it runs across this paradigm is something that needs to be studied in depth before we reach further consensus on their purposes and the kind of achievements that they have had. The communication within an organization can flow in one of three ways or in all the three directions. This means that these three directions pave the way for the ease of communication and there are as such no barriers to arise from the whole equation. The first communication flow is from top to bottom, which means that the communication starts from the top management and goes down towards the middle and lower management. The second form could be the one that starts from the lower or middle management and goes up towards the top management. The third communication flow could be in the kind of peer to peer communication and interaction. This means that the employees and the workers at the same level communicate within their own capacities

Research Methods College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Methods College - Essay Example Cheerfulness enhances the quality of life and improves productivity. A positive outlook makes one upwardly mobile. A cheerful disposition naturally reaches out to help someone. This person is not sticking out his neck. He knows he is doing something within reach. He knows he is capable. He simply reaches out, achieves the purpose and continues with his course. He radiates life and all the issues that make life happy and purposeful. It is difficult to say if strengths outweigh weaknesses. If it was so easy for strengths to outweigh weaknesses, almost everybody would be happy. Even the happiest people go through bouts of depression and anxiety. However, happy people have the resilience to bounce back. They do not carry forward their depressions to another day. As a matter of fact, going through depressions and anxieties improve resilience. They make a person stronger. It is mentioned that for every 17 articles on negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, there was only one article that dealt with the emotion of joy (Happiness). Basically, it is hope that drives man to live on. As long as man has life, he also has hope. Irrespective of his constant state of mind, there is the urge within man to press on. He knows better days are ahead. Even the most hardened skeptic harbors the notion that there is the silver lining. In the ultimate analysis, one has to learn to live above factors that make for weaknesses.

The Collaborative Network of the Boeing Company Research Paper

The Collaborative Network of the Boeing Company - Research Paper Example Several production and engineering innovations were introduced by the Boeing Company. For example, one of the innovations was the construction of the 787 families of aeroplanes from a plastic resin of carbon fibre in place of aluminium that was traditionally used for the making of aeroplanes till then. This provided the Boeing Company with a way to increase the fuel efficiency of the 787 aeroplanes. The 787 aeroplanes have a communications system based on satellite installed in them to provide the passengers with access to the Internet, help improve the monitoring maintenance with the wireless networks, and make electronic flight bags accessible to the crew that consists of reference data and charts. The windows of the 787 aeroplanes are larger in size as compared to other aircraft made till then. The larger size provides the passengers with additional comfort by increasing humidity and air pressure. â€Å"With the 787, Boeing was dreaming big dreams. They wanted to create a next-ge neration plane – a plan that was everything a 21st-century airline could possibly want. And they wanted to slash the cost of production, as well as the cost of operation. It was a daunting challenge. But Infosys was up to the task, co-developing innovative solutions in Information Technology (IT)† (Infosys, 2006). The customers have responded to the Dreamliner enthusiastically. This can be estimated from the fact that in spite of certain cancellations, the Boeing Company received the orders from 55 customers for 850 aeroplanes in April 2009 (boeing.com, 2009).

Technology is important for us Essay Example for Free

Technology is important for us Essay Imagine yourself a world without the existence of the word technology? How does that world look like? For me it’s a world without evolution and creativity, a place where everyone is closed minded. Like the cavemen where we once was in the Stone age, but this time infinitely. Technology is something very important for our society and mankind. It gives us hopes and dreams to reach out for. Furthermore, it improves our lives by making it more easier and better. For example, take a look around you, the watch, the laptop, the TV and even the chair. Almost everything you see is the track of technology and have you ever imagined you life without those stuff? A good tips is by sitting on a stone an hour in the woods without bringing anything with you. After that you will surely realize how important technology really is. Personally, technology is something I really love and I have been a dreaming about creating a new technology myself. A Time-machine or something unimaginable that will change this world, in a positive way of course. However, a technology is not always something positive. Clearly, weapons and bombs that is used for war and hurting other people. So can we live without technologies? If the technology stops to evolves or improves, the time will also stops. We will lose our creativity and everything we create or produce will look the same. However that will never ever happen, because we humans are curios creature. We like to explore things and make things easier for us. Consequently, it keeps the technology in track and go forwards. To summarize, technology is something important for us and our world. We can survive without it but the world would not be as fun and easy as today. Even though some evil people use technology in bad ways like starting wars. Technology can still be used to stop wars and connect people by helping each other. For example the internet which keeps us in touch with each other even though we are miles away.

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay Welfare services are significant elements in a society, which welfare should provide, to what extent the welfare can be provided and how to provide may vary among different society. There are some models help us to understand the factors affecting the welfare system such as the Residual Welfare Model and the East Asian Welfare Model. We will examine whether Hong Kong a typical example of these two models by analyzing the social welfare policies. Social welfare refers to the well-being or betterment for individuals through direct benefits, services or disposable income (Wong, 2010). According to Ronald B. Dear, Social policies are those principles, procedures, and courses of action established in statute, administrative code, and agency regulation that affect peoples social well-being. Social Welfare Policies are some sort of these social policies. They may be thought of as those policies that affect the distribution of resources Richan (1988). In the following analysis, we will 5 main kinds of welfare policies which are housing, education health care, social care and social security to illustrate whether Hong Kong a typical example of both the East Asian Welfare Model and Residual Welfare Model or not. There are various characteristics of the Residual Welfare Model, the individual characteristics, economic characteristics and the characteristics of government and state. For the individual characteristics, people are recognized to be self-independent, self-interested and self-responsible. For the economic characteristics, laissez fair economy and the invisible hand are upheld since people believes that market can solve the social problems and to maintain the well- being of the society. The government and state are the major providers of social welfare and control to what extent the welfare can be provided. Under RWM, the government and state should not over burden itself with social welfare/ services and interfere with individual right and interests. Therefore, only the basic welfare should be provided i.e. law and order, defense, transport and communication infra- structure. Welfare seems as residual, temporary and substitutes of the normal structure of supply which means the family and the market economy. Only when the normal structure of supply breaks down, social welfare and services should be provided. In order to avoid the reliance on the welfare system, some of the welfare/ services may come with the stigma of dole or charity element. The poor is the major group of people to receipt welfare and they always recognized as the incompetent second class members of society. To ensure the welfare can be provided to the people in need, welfare will always have selec tivity. The most common method is by means test. According the Mishra, the main features show that a minimal government or state is preferred. The government just wants to provide welfare for the paupers and poor which is just minority group of the society. The services provided are just serving the basic need for them and range of statutory services is limited. Combining all these elements, welfare is just a safety net, confined to those who are unable to manage otherwise. Main features Residual 1. State responsibility in meeting needs (ideology of state intervention) Minimal 2. Need-based distribution as a value (ideology of distribution) Marginal 3. Range of statutory services Limited 4. Population covered by statutory services Minority 5. Level of benefits Low 6. Proportion of national income spent on state service Low 7. Use of means test Primary 8. Nature of clients Paupers/ the poor 9. Status of clients Low 10.Orientation of the service Coercive 11. Role of non-statutory agencies in welfare Primary Fig.1, The main features of Residual Welfare Model, (Mishra, 1984) Whether Hong Kong a typical example of Residual Welfare Model? We used the 5 main kinds of social welfare policies in Hong Kong to illustrate Hong Kong is adopting the RWM or not. Education Hong Kong provided different schemes for people to pay for their education fee. One of the education subsidy schemes is Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Government will subsidize the parents to meet towards school fees for pre-primary education of their children in the form of Pre-primary Education Vouchers. In addition, Hong Kong government announced 12 years of free education in Policy Address 2009-2010. It provides 12 years compulsory free education to children. For the Tertiary students, Tertiary Student Finance Scheme was released. Government provided larger amount of subsidies to tertiary students. The total amount of grant paid by government is $621.93 million in 2009-10. Fig.2, Publicly-funded Programmes Summary of Statistics The Continuing Education Fund (CEF) subsidizes adults who willing to pursue continuing education and training courses. Adequate applicants will be refunded 80% of their fees, a maximum sum of HK$10,000. Apparently, government pays effort on the education policies and the population covered is really broad. Health Care For the Clinics part, 70 % of primary consultations take place in private sector while others take place in government funded clinics. Moreover, there are 41 public hospitals in Hong Kong. However, there are only 12 private hospitals. And the Hong Kongs 12 private hospitals provide a total of 2794 beds. It less than 10% into the number of hospital beds in Hong Kong. Furthermore, in Healthcare Reform (2009-2010 Policy Address), government decided to increase the healthcare expenditure from 15% of the Governments recurrent expenditure to 17% by 2012. The strategy of healthcare reform reflects the governments direction of healthcare in the follow few years will still highly intervene in the healthcare services. All of these healthcare policies show that government has a quite high level of intervention and these services are open to all the Hong Kong residents without any selectivity. As a result, the health care does not match to the principles of residual welfare model. Housing Government also had launched lot of policies about housing. There are about 710  000 public rental housing in the Housing Authoritys portfolio, housing about two million people. Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) was introduced in 1997 to enable at least 250  000 families living in public rental housing to buy their flats at an affordable price which is lower than the market price. Besides, Home ownership schemes (HOS) is another ownership scheme. It is designed to assist residents to buy their own flats and HOS flats are subsidized public housing. It is easily to find that government had interfered a lot in the housing supply. The population covered not just focus on the minority. Therefore, it differs from the principles of residual welfare model. Social Care In the field of social care, it provides a wide range of services taking care of the elderly, children, young people, disabilities, the victims of domestic violence, etc. This is quite different from the RWM since the population covered is large. The most common method adopted by the HK Government to provide the welfare services is to form partnership with non-government organizations. The government give a Lump Sum Grant to the NGOs and they provide the services to those in need. The expense on the Social Welfare Organization occupied the third large proportion of the total expense on welfare in Hong Kong. Fig.3, The expense of the social services organization Social Security Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme The characteristics on providing services on social security seem more close to the RWM. The aim of social security is to provide for the basic and special needs of the members of the community who are in need of financial or material assistance (Social Welfare Department, 2008). It is a short- time help. CSSA is a safety net for those who cannot support themselves financially and bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs (Social Welfare Department, 2008). The old age, single parent and unemployment are the three major groups of people of to apply CSSA (Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme 1998-2008, 2009). In order to select the most needed, people apply for CSSA should go through the financial tests. They need to pass the income and assets tests. Office interview and home visit will conduct to investigate and verify the applicants circumstances and information provided. Since this is a short-time help, the government do not want people rely on it, there is some special arrangement for those aged 15-59 in normal health to actively seek full-time jobs and participate in the Support for Self-reliance Scheme of the Department (Social Welfare Department, 2008). Sub-conclusion In the 5 main kinds of social policies, only the social security seems to be the typical example of residual welfare model. Social security just provides short-term help and to fulfill the basic needs of the recipients. Moreover, a series and comprehensive investigation and financial test are needed. And the CSSA may cause the Stigmatization. People may have bias on those CSSA recipients. Besides Government pays effort to teach and encourage the recipient to work in other to leave the safety net. In this sense, it conforms to the principle of residual welfare model. On the other hand, the other four categories of social welfare policies are not much like the residual welfare model. They are more like universal benefits and services having no or less selectivity, because benefits available to everyone. Those policies not only provide basic needs of individual but also to improve the quality of life, cultivate the citizens, and so on. Therefore, the expenditure on welfare keeps increasing. Thus, Hong Kong is not a typical example of residual welfare model. The East Asian Welfare Model (the EAWM) Definition There is another model related to social welfare policy which is the East Asian Welfare Model. It shares the Confucian ethics and value emphasizing on education, strong family relations, benevolent paternalism, social harmony, discipline, respect for tradition and strong work ethic. To determine whether Hong Kong is a typical example of The East Asian Welfare Model, we can see if it matches the elements of the model. Dominated on economic concerns In the EAWM, welfare policies are dominated on economic concerns in order to improve the productivity of labour force and provide strong working incentive. As it aims to help increasing the productivity of an economy, it is also called as a productivist social policy. Hong Kong does match this element. There is a concept of from welfare to workin Hong Kong. When more people have their own jobs, the numbers of CSSA recipients will decreases and the productivity of an economy will be increased too. Targeted employment assistance for various CSSA Recipients In Hong Kong, the government targets employment assistance for various CSSA recipients. For example, the Three trial Enhanced Community Work Projects which includes training elements in 2005 to 2006 were aimed to enhance the employability of participants. Up to October in 2006, there were 145 Intensive Employment Assistance Projects which provided intensive employment assistance services to unemployed CSSA recipients. Hong Kong government also supports for Self-reliance Scheme (SFS) that encourages and assists employable recipients to take up paid employment so as to make them to become self-reliant. This scheme includes Active Employment Assistance programme and Community Work programme. They aimed to help people finding jobs and thus increase the productivity of Hong Kong. Regulator rather than provider The Hong government acts as a regulator of welfare policy rather than a provider in EAWM. Hong Kong matches this element since Hong Kong government contracts out the services by giving funds to different organizations and asks them to provide welfare services for it. For example, it provides funds to The Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council to build Family Crisis Support Centres in order to tackle family crisis. It also gives funds to Po Leung Kuk and Childtime International Nursery Limited to build up child care centre so as to provide child care services. It gives funds to St. James Settlement and Hong Kong Society for the Aged to provide elderly services such as building up Elderly Community Centres. Way to maintain social stability and legitimacy In the EAWM, welfare has been seen and used as a key element to maintain social stability, to get the legitimacy of governments which lacked democratic legitimacy and to ameliorate grievances. Hong Kong matches this element. In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive and government officials are not elected by universal suffrage. With less legitimacy, welfare service becomes one of the tactics to pacify the grievances and to maintain social stability. Welfares can keep social stability as when peoples needs have been satisfied, they are expected not to commit crimes. Hong Kong government does do a lot to give financial assistance to the poor. For example, CSSA Scheme gives financial assistance to those who cannot support themselves. Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme provides monthly allowance to Hong Kong residents who are severely disabled or 65 years old or above. It shows that Hong Kong government uses welfare as a tool to maintain social stability, and so as to retain the legitimacy of the government. Low social welfare expenditure Hong Kong Government expenditure on social welfare is low compared with the Western countries. The welfare expenditure (% of GDP) of some western countries is above 20%, some are up to 29%. In Hong Kong, the welfare expenditure (% of GDP) is around 8% due to the low tax rate and the reliance on the market and the family to provide welfare. Hostile to the idea of welfare state Hong Kong is also hostile to the idea of welfare state. In the welfare states, the tax rate is high such as the corporate tax rate is 25% and the personal tax is up to 58% in Denmark. The high tax can support rate of large welfare expenditure. Welfare states provide comprehensive coverage of welfare including old-age pensions, unemployment benefits health and childcare services. The welfare is also very favourable since is more than the basic needs. In Sweden, the unemployed will receive 80 percent of his or her normal income under the unemployment benefits. However, in Hong Kong, the tax rates are extremely low compared with the OECD standards. The corporation tax rate is 17.5% and personal tax rate is only 16%, around 1/3 of the OECD standard. Hong Kong is one of the places with the lowest tax rates, named as tax haven. The low tax rates encourage competition i.e. the harder you work and more you gain. In the White Paper Social Welfare into the 1990s, government stated that it worked hard to improve the dependency culture and remind the citizens incentive to work and undermines the productive engine of the economy. It is to encourage self- independence and responsibility. Significant role of the family The family plays a significant role in Hong Kong social welfare. Hong Kong is influenced by the traditional Confucian culture which is family oriented. The role of family is measured not just by its affluence but also by its core values, the kindness, caring for others and mutual support. The family members support and look after each other. The number of elderly living with their son is higher than that in Western countries. The Government policies also promote the family values to lighten the dependency on social welfare system. Under Hong Kong tax system, allowances are given to the taxpayers who taking care of their children, parents and grandparents. It is to encourage family members to look after the youth and the elderly. Besides, the Public housing allocation policy will give special consideration to the family with elderly. The housing policy is family oriented. In the Policy Address 2009-2010, CE suggested to set up a Happy Family Info Hub to promote family core values, and to introduce family education as well as support services for the family. (Policy Address 2009-2010) Piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc welfare development Welfare development in Hong Kong is piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc. There is no comprehensive long term development plans on social  welfare, for example, the public housing policy in 50s, the aims of the policy is to settle the fire victims of Shek Kei Mei squatter areas. Besides, The Government legitimacy is shattered in the 67 riot. After that, Government started the social security policy including public assistance scheme, old age and disability allowances in the early 70s. The aims of the social security policy are to deal with critical issues and maintain society stability. Social welfare policies are reactive measures to address ad hoc issues without long term planning. Conclusion In conclusion, only social security policy in Hong Kong fit the Residual Welfare Model but other policies such as housing, education, health care and social care do not fit the model. On the other hand, the social welfare systems in Hong Kong fit most of the elements of The East Asian Welfare Model. Therefore, we do not agree that Hong Kong is a typical example of both models since it is not a typical example of the Residual Welfare Model but a typical example of the East Asian Welfare Model.

Dubai Property Market Economic Theory

Dubai Property Market Economic Theory With this dissertation what I would like to achieve is the following: I will carry out extensive research on the economic theory behind booms and bursts. I will look at some of the booms and bursts throughout history. I will attempt to make my own economic model behind what caused a boom and its subsequent burst and see if this model can be applied to the economic situation of the property market in Dubai. If a number of variables existed that suggested a burst might be coming, why was nothing done to stop it? 1.2: A brief history of Dubai Thirty years ago almost all of modern Dubai was desert. In the mid 18th century a small nomadic group settled there and built a small town. This small towns underlying asset being pearls. The pearl trade attracted people from all over the middle east, all with dreams of prosperity. The town was named Daba after a local locust that consumed everything it encountered. This rapidly growing town was soon acquired by the Gunships of the British army. Britain maintained control of the area until 1971(The Independent2009). In 1971 Dubai and five surrounding sheikhdoms (Abu Dhabi, Al Fujayrah, Ajman, Umm al Qaywayn and Sharjah) agreed on a federal constitution and became The United Arab Emirates or UAE. In February 1972 a seventh Sheikhdom, Ras al Khaymah joined the UAE. At this point Sheikh Zayid Ibn Sultan Al Nuhayyan of Abu Dhabi became the first president of the UAE. The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid ibn Said Al Maktum was named vice president, and his eldest son, Sheikh Maktum ibn Rash id Al Maktum, the prince of Dubai, became prime minister. In 1990 Sheikh Maktum succeeded his father as ruler of Dubai and as vice president and prime minister of the UAE (Library of Congress2007). It was around 1971, as the British were leaving that oil was first discovered. However to say that Dubai relied on oil for its growth would be wrong. Dubai had very little oil relative to its neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi. So Sheikh Maktum had to diversify. He used oil revenues to create something he thought sustainable. Israel used to boast it made the desert bloom; Sheikh Maktum resolved to make the desert boom (The Independent 2009). It became a hub for tourism and financial services, Attracting capital and expertise from all over the globe. He invited the world to come tax free, and people came in their millions. A city seemed to descend from the heavens in thirty years. Would it be sustainable? (Source : The Independent, The Dark side of Dubai, 7 April 2009) (Source: Country Profile : UAE. Library of Congress Federal Research division, July 2007) 1.3: From Boom to bust over night. I arrived in Dubai in 2007 at a point when it was said that a third of the worlds construction equipment was in Dubai. It was the second fastest growing city in the world (second to Moscow) and appeared to be one big construction site. Skyscrapers were appearing over night to cater for increases in demand in property. However, a large part of this demand for property was merely speculatory. Investments in property appeared to be highly attractive and beneficial, especially to foreign investors earning in non dollar currencies. I say this because the dirham is pegged to the dollar (3.75 dhms per US Dollar). It was around late 2007 early 2008 that the dollar reached its weakest point making property in Dubai cheaper to people earning pounds for example. People also assumed that the dollar would one day appreciate; therefore giving investors that extra incentive. Dubais popularity was rapidly increasing and it was booming in the true definition of the word. However in September of 2008 things changed. See the following line graph of average residential sales prices to appreciate the extent of the crash. Figure 1 Residential sale prices (AED/ft2) Source: Landmark Advisory Board 2010. As you can see in Q408 both the average price of apartments and villas plummet from a mutual peak of 1500 AED/ft2 to around 900 AED/ft2 from one month to the next. This is a massive average decrease of 40 percent. I will attempt to demonstrate why this rapid increase in residential prices occurred and its subsequent decline and decide whether the boom and bust can be considered a bubble bursting in its true economic definition. Literature Review The Economic Theory and History behind Bubbles 2.1 An introduction to bubbles Essentially an economic bubble is an increase in the price of an asset or stock above its fundamental value and its subsequent decrease in value and implosion on the bubble is referred to as a burst. When asset prices increase speculators are overwhelmed by a sense of euphoria, chasing short term capital gains. A phenomenon that former chairman of the federal reserve Alan Greenspan memorably called irrational exuberance (Nial Ferguson, The Ascent of Money). Contrarily, when speculators primitive instincts turn from greed to fear, the bubble created by the initial irrational exuberance can burst with astonishing abruptness; almost overnight. Charles Kindleberger defined a bubble as a sharp rise in price of an asset or a range of assets in a continuous process, with the initial rise generating expectations of further rises and attracting new buyers generally speculators interested in profits from trading in the asset rather than its use or earning capacity. The rise is usually followed by a reversal of expectations and a sharp decline in price often resulting in financial crises (Bubble, Bubble, Wheres the Housing Bubble?) The initial boost in augmentation of the economy acts as a catalyst for both lenders and investors optimism about the future and asset prices rise swiftly. Nial ferguson refers to investors as an electronic herd, happily grazing on positive returns one moment, then stampeding for the farmyard gate the next (Nial Ferguson, 2008, 2009). 2.2 Bubbles in History The big ten economic bubbles (Charles P Kindleberger, Robert Z Aliber 2005) 1. The Dutch Tulip Bulb Bubble 1636 2. The South Sea Bubble 1720 3. The Mississippi bubble 1720 4. The late 1920s US stock price Bubble 1927-29 5. The increase in bank loans to Mexico and other developing countries in the 1970s 6. The bubble in real estate and stocks in Finland, Norway and Sweden 7. The bubble in real estate and stocks in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and several other Asian countries 1992-97 8. The bubble in real estate and stocks in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and several other Asian countries 1992-97 9. The increase in foreign investment in Mexico 1990-93 10. The Bubble in over the counter stocks in the United States 1995-2000. Also known as the .com bubble Over and over again asset, security and stock prices have reached unsustainable highs and subsequently come crashing down. From boom to bust, this process is consistently associated with ruthless insiders exploiting asymmetries of information attempting to make a profit at the cost of first time investors. In Dubai, every three months or so Emaar one of the big real estate developers (of which it is alleged that the absolute ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed has a thirty percent stake) released property for sale at increasing prices, almost instigating the bubble themselves very similar to what John Law (a convicted murderer and gambling addict) did with shares of the joint stock company named Company of the West (Compagnie dOccident) which resulted in the Mississippi bubble of 1720(Nial Ferguson, 2008, 2009). All these bubbles in History have followed similar paths; Nial Ferguson believes it possible to dissect all bubbles into five stages. 2.3 Nial Fergusons Five Stage Model (Nial Ferguson, 2008, 2009) 1. Displacement: An incident or innovation in the economy that generates new and lucrative possibilities for investors/speculators. Kindleberger refers to this as the expansion stage of the business cycle (Charles P Kindleberger, 2005). In the cases of the Dutch Tulip Bulb, The South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles this displacement was the creation of the Joint Stock Company. In the case of the US .com bubble the displacement or expansion was innovations in technology like the internet. In Dubai It could be argued that the displacement stage of the bubble was when developments were open for sale to foreign investors as opposed to previously when only locals could purchase land and property. This initial process causes a rise in spending which leads to inflated prices and increased consumption which combined translate to economic growth. 2. Euphoria/overtrading: Rising expected profits induce the appreciation in value of assets and shares. Investment soars because credit is in abundance. In Japan in the eighties Japanese investors had access to mountains of credit made available by nave bankers that didnt even contemplate a crash and the Japanese went on an investment spree. In the US in the 1990s, during the time preceding the crash .dom companies had access to almost infinite funds from venture capitalists with distorted perceptions of the future profitability of these firms (Charles P Kindleberger and Robert Z Alibir). Dubai was the same pre crash credit was very accessible; I will asses this further in my analysis segment of the dissertation. 3. Mania/bubble: The anticipation of rapid, easy capital gains entices first time investors and unscrupulous, esoteric brokers cater for this demand, in a ruthless attempt to sell assets and shares before a crash, which a seasoned broker is capable of predicting. 4. Distress: Insiders become aware that prices of assets and shares exceed their fundamental values and exploit the asymmetries of information by selling at profit. 5. Revulsion/discredit: prices begin to plummet and the electronic herd stampedes to exit the market causing the bubble to implode. The value of commodities bonds, stocks, land, buildings and houses decline to levels that are 30 to 40 percent below peak prices (Charles p kindleberger and Robert Z . Aliber, 2008, 2009), this adheres perfectly to residential duelling prices in Dubai (refer to figure 1). (Nial Ferguson, 2008, 2009). The Fundamentals behind this model are asymmetric information, availability to rapid, relatively cheap credit and the capability of capital to flow freely over geographical borders. This five stage model is accurate but basic. I will now progress to more specific models in detail behind the creation and existence of economic bubbles. 2.4 The Hyman Minsky model of instability in the supply of credit. This model created by Hyman Minsky can be used to explain financial fragility in economies. Minsky focuses on changes in the availability of credit. During periods of growth the supply of credit increases and during economic slowdowns this supply decreases. In times of growth, usually following an economic displacement like mentioned in Nial Fergusons model, investors feel more confident about the profitability of a number of investments and seek to finance these investments with credit. In the meantime, lenders become more enthusiastic about providing credit, even for investments, that prior to the expansion, had appeared too risky they become far less risk averse, reducing minimum down payments, minimum margin requirements. For individual lenders the cost of borrowing has to remain competitive too to maintain market share. However, when the mood changes, the economy slows down and fear kicks in, investors act much more cautiously. Lenders react similarly and their risk averseness increases and they supply less credit. Minsky believed that these cyclical changes in the availability of credit are a major catalyst to financial instability and are a factor in causing bubbles (Charles p kindleberger and Robert Z . Aliber, 2008, 2009). I am certain that minskys model was apparent in Dubai and definitely a defining factor of the recent burst. I will go on to prove this in the critical analysis part of the dissertation. Minsky also mentions an over-estimate of prospective returns, or excessive leverage (Charles p kindleberger and Robert Z . Aliber, 2008, 2009) during the euphoric period. Speculation suggests the acquisition of assets for the capital gain from expected surges in their value as opposed to income generated by one of these assets or for their use. The income generated by an asset or the use of an asset is considered to be the fundamental value of an asset and in bubbles the prices of assets fluctuate far from their fundamental values. This point is made clearer in the next part of the literature review. Minsky also states that a sense of euphoria or depression in one country maybe contagious in another country. I believe that the recent housing bubble in the United States and its subsequent burst influenced the real estate bubble in Dubai and was a significant cause of the crash. 2.5 Fundamental Value Researchers seem to concentrate on one of the following elements when considering a bubble: rapid appreciation of assets, overly optimistic predictions of future prices, a discrepancy between price and fundamental value and obviously a vast depreciation of assets when the bubble pops (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). Karl Case and Robert Shiller believe that A tendency to view housing as an investment is a defining characteristic of a housing bubble (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). However, Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, in their 2006 journal titled Housing, Housing, where is the housing bubble? disagree. They argue that housing can be considered a legitimate investment and that the best way to spot a bubble is to determine the discrepancy between the actual prices of houses and the fundamental value of these houses. Speculators in general do not make an attempt to calculate the underlying value of a house, they respond to expected capital gains. Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith define a bubble as a scenario where the equilibrium price of an asset is higher than the present value of the anticipated cash flow from the asset (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). Nonetheless, fundamental values may rise rapidly (for example an increase in population and therefore an incre ase in the acquisitions of houses for their use as opposed to expected capital gains, or an increase in rent) may stimulate a legitimate increase in the prices of houses. Equilibrium house prices may also increase rapidly and not necessarily be considered a bubble if their actual price is lower than their underlying fundamental value. They state that the real defining characteristic of a bubble is when equilibrium market prices cannot be answered for by the assets anticipated cash flow. Case and Shiller refer to the real estate market as being populated by amateurs making infrequent transactions on the basis of limited information and with little or no experience in gauging the fundamental value of the properties they are buying and selling'(Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). If this is true and I believe it was, in Dubai, to a certain extent (through knowing investors on a personal level) how can one expect for fundamental values to equal market prices? Most agents within the real estate market i.e. brokers, buyers and sellers seem to use what is known as comps when dealing within the real estate market. Comps are the latest sale prices of homes with similar specifications within the same area. Comps tell us how much other individuals are prepared to pay but not whether these prices are justified by the fundamental value (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). Attempting to demonstrate whether market prices differ from fundamental prices isnt easy. Figures for average real estate prices are infamously imperfect. This is mainly due to the fact that houses are not homogenous in their specifications and environments. However, the National City Corporation use a multiple regression which considers a ratio of house prices to household income in a given area to mortgage rates, population density, the ratio of household income in the given area to the national average and historical prices to determine how much actual prices deviate from their real values (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). The reason a ratio of house price and household income is used is based on theory by Karl case and Shiller that argue that housing prices are a bubble waiting to pop if the average investor is priced out of the market'(Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). There are problems with this model e.g. the historic house prices may not be based on fundamental value. Some economists including Edward Leamer argue that if house prices have increased in a larger proportion than rents a bubble exists (Margaret Hwang Smith and Gary Smith, 2006). I will attempt to look at rents versus house prices in my critical analysis section of the dissertation to determine whether this was apparent in Dubai. I will also attempt to look at the population density because I believe that it is relevant to fundamental value because an increase in population causes an increase in the demand for residential properties that will be used as dwellings. Minsky stated that a fundamental value of an asset was to do with is use and the income (rent) generated from the asset. 2.6 A brief look at the recent financial crisis in the USA. Hyman minsky stated in his interpretation of a bubble that euphoria or depression in one country can be contagious and spill over into another. I believe that the bursting of the real estate bubble in the states and the subsequent lack of worldwide credit was highly influential in the bursting of Dubais housing bubble. As per usual the great real estate and leverage bubble in the US of 2007 was instigated by a pervasive macroeconomic displacement. Prior to the 2000s banks would give loans to home owners and keep those loans as assets in their books (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). However, post 2000 the entire banking system changed. Banks carried on issuing loans for mortgages but instead of holding them as assets on their books they would keep them for a short period of time and then sell them on to investment banks who would bundle different loans with different credit ratings into mortgage backed securities, also known as collateralized debt obligations (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). Loans are split into different risk classes or tranches. So, low risk loans and high risk loans are bundled together and sold as one financial product which was deemed a good investment. This caused deterioration in lending standards (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). Employees in charge of originating loans to clients were reckless when assessing the risk of the individuals potential default especially when dealing with subprime mortgages because they knew that the bank was only going to hold these loans for a short period of time and then pass them on. Insurance companies were also insuring subprime loans with credit default swaps because they were too nave to foresee mass defaults. These innovations in the banking system made credit easily accessible to individuals who may have not been considered credit worthy before these changes (subprime). Many financial institutions held vast amounts of these new bundled securities based around mortgages and held less equity backed securities and increased their leverage ratios (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010) making them very vulnerable in the case of a crash. Highly accessible credit at attractive rates due to lowered lending standards led to a huge bubble in the prices of houses. The inflation adjusted price of a commonplace home was roughly identical in 1999 as it was in 1899; however, between 2000 and 2006 real home prices doubled (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). This is portrayed in the following line graph based on data from the Case-Shiller home price index in the US. Figure 2 Case-Shiller Home price index, 1989 = 100. Source: (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010) As you can see from the graph there is a rapid ascent in prices from around 2000 followed by a quick fall in prices starting in 2007. Prices began to decline and euphoria turned to fear. Houses were worth less than the amount of money owed to the banks and individuals began to default in mass. With massive amounts of defaults occurring, the value of the bundled mortgage backed securities or collaterized debt obligations (cdos) decreased rapidly. Many highly leveraged financial institutions holding long term assets financed by the short term mortgage backed securities did not have sufficient liquidity to continue to function (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). All credit markets were frozen, excluding the US Treasury securities markets and financial institutions did not have sufficient liquidity to cover their short term debts. In the case of a bank an example of a short term debt is a deposit and people began to fear for their deposits and runs on banks happened in the US and UK institutions with vast amount of money invested in the US housing market e.g. Northern Rock. The US government was forced to bail out a number of financial institutions to prevent a total financial collapse (Burton G. Malkiel, 2010). Banks all over the world became cautious about lending money. Amlak finance Dubai stopped lending money all together and I think this was significant in the bursting of the bubble; it ties in directly with Minskys model of cyclical changes in the supply of credit. Panic struck and a worldwide financial crisis ensued. 3 Critical Analysis In this section of my dissertation I will evaluate real life data and literature about the situation in Dubai. What caused the rapid increase in price in the housing market? and what caused the resultant rapid decline in prices. 3.1 Displacement. Economists appear to agree that every bubble starts with a displacement. A macroeconomic change, or innovation, that induces pervasive adjustments in how agents within the economy behave and perceive the future. It can also be considered a paradigm shift. In the case of the .com bubble the displacement was the availability of the interweb to mass users. In the case of the recent housing and leverage bubble of the US the displacement was innovations in the banking system and the creation of new bundled financial products and collaterized debt obligations. In Dubai I believe that there were three displacing factors: The first displacing factor occurred in May 2002. Dubai was never rich in oil like its neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi so it focused on creating a hub for tourism and commerce. It also promoted the development of real estate. In 1997 publicly quoted Emaar Properties and Al Nakheel Properties were setup (http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/articles/freehold_property.php). In 1998 emaar started developing the Dubai Marina and the Emirates Living Community; however, properties within these developments were released on leasehold contracts which mean that properties are leased out for ninety years as opposed to being owned freehold. These developments were not successful in the market. People were sceptical about the leasehold contracts. Things changed in May 2002 when the crown prince General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktum implemented a new law, stating that ex pats were able to buy property in certain areas of Dubai. The following graph shows all transactions from 1994. The graph is based on data from REIDIN.com a company that provides data and information covering all deals and transactions in Dubai since 1973. The company is an exclusive partner of the Dubai Land Department the real estate registry for the emirate. (REIDIN, DUBAI FOCUS, 2010) Figure 3 Quantity of transactions in Dubai from 1994 (Reidin.com, DubaiFocus, 2010) The graph shows that as of the changes in law about the ownership of real estate from 2002 there is not a significant increase in the quantity of transactions. In fact, there is a decline in transactions until 2005 when quantity of transactions increase rapidly from there onwards. I would still, however, consider the innovations in the legislation behind the ownership of property a displacement because without the changes, ex pats would never have been able to own property on a freehold basis and the bubble would never have happened. I say this because the vast majority of investments into the property market have come from expatriate sources. See the following chart which depicts the value of transactions by nationality. Figure 4 Value (AED) of property transactions by nationality from 1973 (Reidin.com, DubaiFocus, 2010) As you can see from the chart foreign investment is very significant in value and this could never have happened if the changes in legislation had not been made. Also, cross border transactions are a key in the creation of a bubble and as you can see from figure 4 cross border transactions are huge. Another displacing factor was hype generated by the media about talks of a new GCC currency called the Khaleeji. Talks were being had about the possibility of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain creating a new currency for their states. These talks were being had around 2006/2007 and nothing was ever finalised but if it was to happen, especially at a point in time when the dollar was weak, this new currency would be valued higher than the specific currencies of the gulf states and investments in these countries would appear even more attractive to speculators as they would rise in value from the creation of a new currency. This ties in with the next displacing factor which is the weakness of the dollar due to financial fragility in the US. In the Spring of 2006 the dollar weakened dramatically due to financial instability in the US. Towards the end of 2006 it looked as if the exchange rate was rising towards $2. In April 2007 the Dollar depreciated to over $2 and on the 27th of July 2007 it got to $2.06 the weakest it has been since 1981, it continued to fluctuate around $2 for the next five months and on the 9th of November 2007 it was $2.11. After this point, on average, the pound began to decline in value as the global recession hit the UK. The importance of this analysis about the dollar exchange rate is that it shows that from around 2006 until 2008 the dollar was relatively weak compared to the pound. Transactions for Real Estate were booming during this period as portrayed in figure 3 and a huge portion of these transactions were fuelled by investment from the United Kingdom as portrayed in figure 4. I therefore believe that the weak dollar was statistically significant in the increase of transactions from UK investors. The exchange rate of the Dollar versus the Indian Rupee shows a similar story. From around January 2007 the dollar declines in value against the rupee to a peak of around 39 rupee to the dollar. Compare this to a value of around 55 rupee in 2003. Again the weakness of the dollar compared to the Indian rupee can be argued to have catalysed vast investment from Indian investors from 2006 as the dollar was depreciating until late 2008 when the global crisis begun to have consequences on other nations e.g. India and the UK. I therefore consider this a displacement which lead to increases in transactions, increases in prices of property and overly optimistic expected prices. Refer to graphs of the dollar exchange rates versus the pound and rupee in the appendix section of the dissertation. 3.2 Euphoria/overtrading If you refer back to Nial Fergusons five stage bubble model you will see that after a pervasive macroeconomic displacement in the economy, if it is tending towards a bubble situation, an economy will experience euphoria, also referred to as overtrading. Rising expected profits induce the appreciation in value of assets and shares. Investment soars because credit is in abundance. If you refer back to figure 1 you will see that prices begin to rise steadily from 2005/2006. The number of transactions also increases rapidly from around the same period. Nial Ferguson also talks about the abundance of credit; this too ties in with minskys model of the pro cyclical supply of credit. It implies that many of these transactions were fuelled by credit or leveraged. Again this is similar to what was happening in the US before their crash. The following line graph shows the percentage of residential transactions fuelled by credit or leveraged. I have also included the percentage of residential transactions that are classed as other. I have put other transaction types into the equation because a substantial amount of transactions are classed as other. other refers to transactions that are none of the following transaction types: sale, mortgage, leasing, valuation, grant, rent, compensation and pre-registration. Im not entirely sure as to what types of transaction would be considered as other. This, I will consider a limitation in my data; however, this is data provided by a governmental entity and censorship is alive and well in Dubai. Figure 5 Percentage of residential transactions leveraged with credit. What figure 5 shows is a steady increase in the percentage of transactions fuelled by credit until 2006 when there is a vast decline in this percentage and a continuous decrease until 2009. I wonder if the global credit crunch caused by the US crash hit Dubai much earlier than people thought, however why did prices not stop falling until late 2008/2009?. There is a visible pattern here; as transactions leveraged by mortgages decreases, transactions classed by Dubai Land Department the real estate registry for the emirate as other increase. This appears to be rather dubious in my opinion; maybe the global credit crunch hit Dubai but in an attempt to maintain high prices until ruthless inside investors with asymmetries of information could leave the market with huge profits the quantity of transactions was kept high by the government, who have invested interests. Emaar Properties and Al Nakheel Properties are publicly quoted companies but ownership is predominately by wealthy governme ntal authorities. We all know that OPEC controls the supply of oil to maintain high prices; maybe something similar happened with property in Dubai. Nial Ferguson does mention ruthless inside investors have played a significant role in past bubbles; I think this could be apparent here. (Nial Ferguson, 2008, 2009). The graph shows that vast amounts of credit were used to leverage investments until 2006 when the amount declines rapidly. Probably because banks were influenced by the credit crunch in the US and feared they may have inadequate liquidity. I will analyse the pro cyclical supply of credit in a later section of my dissertation. 3.3 Mania/Bubble and distress Nial Ferguson refers to the next the next stage as mania or bubble, where first time investors are enticed to the market and seasoned investors who can predict a crash scramble to sell their investments at a profit before the crash. If you refer back to figure 3 that shows the quantity of transactions I would say that the mania/bubble stage was occurring from 2007 to 2008 at when the quantity of transactions are skyrocketing. At this point too, prices are still very high (refer back to figure 1). The closer to late 2008 the sillier the investment, as bubble bursts in october 2008. Therefore transactions around about this time have to be from first time investors who cannot see a crash. This is referred to by Nial ferguson as the distress period. 3.4 Revulsion/discredit Prices begin to plummet and the herd stampedes to exit the market causing the bubble to implode. This is apparent in late 2008 and 2009. Transactions stay high (Figure 3) but prices are declining rapidly (40 percent on average). So, investors are struck by fear and rush to sell properties even if it is done at significant los